Discipleship, Teaching | by Pastor Adam Sinnett

On Sunday, January 26th, we walked through Mark 4:35-41 (“The Lord of the Storm”) and discussed, in part, the role of life’s storms as instruments in the hands of God. During my preparation I came across a poem by John Newton (most famously known for writing Amazing Grace) called Prayers Answered by Crosses. What he calls “crosses” we spoke of as “storms”. I didn’t have time to read it on that Sunday, but I still wanted to share it as an encouragement. If you’re currently in the middle of a storm or you’re praying to know God more deeply, you should read this and take heart. In God’s hands, no storm is in vain.

Prayer Answered by Crosses

By John Newton

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love and every grace,
Might more of his salvation know,
And seek more earnestly his face.

‘Twas he who taught me thus to pray;
And he, I trust, has answered prayer;
But it has been in such a way
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that, in some favoured hour,
At once he’d answer my request,
And by his love’s constraining power
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, he made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart,
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with his own hand he seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe,
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this? I trembling cried;
Wilt thou pursue this worm to death?
This is the way, the Lord replied
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I now employ
From self and pride to set thee free,
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st seek thy all in me.

Also, I love history and art, particularly when they come together. The image above is a famous painting by Rembrandt, “Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee”. If you look closely, you can see that Rembrandt painted himself into the scene. He’s in the middle of the boat looking out at you. That, of course, is fitting because the reality is we’re all in the boat with Christ at the helm. So, hang tight. He’s with you in the storm.

Christ is all!
Pastor Adam

City Life, Service

Written by Linnell Pitt, Downtown Cornerstone Church member and teacher at White Center Heights Elementary

DCC Family,

Words can hardly express my gratitude for your generosity this Advent season.  Back in late November, I posted a need on The City, hoping to get a couple people to take advantage of Black Friday to get a couple sweatshirts for my school’s sweatshirt drive.  I didn’t expect all of DCC to rally around my school and have a full-blown sweatshirt drive.

For those of you who may not have heard about DCC’s Advent “Adopt a Neighbor” campaign, I’ll give a little background.  I am a 2nd grade teacher at White Center Heights Elementary School, which is located in a very poverty-impacted neighborhood.  About 90% of the students at my school receive free and reduced priced meals, meaning that many parents and guardians are struggling to provide the basic necessities for their families.  The staff decided that we wanted to provide every child in our school with a sweatshirt as a “winter” present since a lot of the students don’t have proper winter clothes and are cold at recess.  However, with around 650 students in our school, that was a very lofty goal for us to obtain, so we reached out to our friends, family, and communities.

That is where Downtown Cornerstone Church came in!  After I posted the need on The City, Pastor Adam and Pastor David asked me if my school’s sweatshirt drive could be a part of DCC’s annual “Adopt-a-Neighbor,” and I heartily agreed.  The total number of sweatshirts given by DCC was 81, which is awesome! The sweatshirts were all so cute and stylish!  In addition, one of our church members, Natalie, got her company to do a sweatshirt drive and they raised just over 90 sweatshirts (as well as a matched cash donation). That’s a total of over 170 sweatshirts, which was well beyond what I had hoped or expected!

In the end, our school was only about seventy sweatshirts short.  That was an easy fix because many staff and community members had made cash donations, making it possible for a last-minute shopping trip to get the remaining sweatshirts.  The other teachers and I gave the sweatshirts to our students on the Thursday before winter break.  When I told my students that the teachers, staff, community, and my church had all worked together to provide brand new sweatshirts for every single student in White Center Heights Elementary, my class started clapping and cheering.  As sweatshirts were handed out, it was joyful chaos in my classroom with students dancing, singing, and jumping up and down with excitement.  Some of the kids even started a conga line!  I heard the same report from other teachers in the building, with one teacher saying that her students were “beside themselves with joy.”  The students at White Center Heights Elementary were absolutely thrilled to have new, warm sweatshirts, and just in time for our snow day that Friday.

As a church, we believe that we have been infinitely loved and served by God through the person and work of Jesus, so we give because we’ve been given everything in Christ. Thank you DCC for serving the kids of White Center Heights Elementary as you’ve been loved and served by God in Christ. We were all so blessed by your generosity.

Thank you again, and I wish you all the best in 2014!

Linnell