The Days of Easter

March 10, 2010 in Uncategorized | by aylmercrc | Comments closed

This time of year you find a lot of named dates on the calendar. “Fat Tuesday” or “Mardi Gras” followed by “Ash Wednesday” and then the group of dates named “Lent”. Then after a few weeks more dates are marked on the calendar. “Good Friday” followed by “Easter Sunday” then “Easter Monday”. Some people just see these dates as a chance to have a good time. A good party New Orleans style or a big stack of pancakes, a chance to find chocolate and sweet things during a Easter Egg Hunt, possibly a Monday off from work. All of this excitement and good times seems like a carnival or a good show.

We should look at these dates more closely to see the true importance in some of them. Days like Fat Tuesday or the “Easter Egg Hunt Day” or the day off on Monday to “do as I please” make a lot of noise but not a lot of sense. Many people today treat these days as a carnival, a superficial event often used to cheer themselves up from the pain and sin they experience everyday in their lives.

The events that take place on the dates of Good Friday and Easter are historical facts which shed light over the shadows of death with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and Life through His Resurrection. The Christ on Good Friday died on the Cross and arose on Easter Sunday to life. He did not only die to cover all our sins. He died to also renewed us to a new life, eternal life, removing all our grief, pain and suffering. What days of celebration at Easter!

Search the internet, better yet, search the Bible for the facts of the cross of Good Friday and the Resurrection of Easter. Enjoy yourself in this Lenten season.

-Rev. deJong

Rev. deJong is a retired CRC minister. He resides in Aylmer and attends church at Aylmer Christian Reformed Chruch.

The deLange’s Last Sunday With Us

January 18, 2010 in Church News | by aylmercrc | Comments closed

Yesterday was Rev. deLange’s last Sunday to preach the word as the senior pastor of Aylmer Christian Reformed Church.

We wish Rev. deLange and his family God’s Blessings as he begins his new position shepherding Trinity Christian Reformed Church in Edmonton, Alberta. It certainly is difficult to part ways, and Rev. deLange’s passion for his work will certainly be missed.

Below are a couple of brief last comments from Rev. deLange

“Dear Aylmer Congregation,

It’s been a great decade among you. Today was a wonderful end to a wonderful time here. Thank you for everything, including the beautiful clock we were presented this morning!

Thank you for your partnership in ministry…

God bless you all.

There a few pictures of the day attached.

We love you all!

–Pastor Rich & Patsy deLange

Adrian deLange

January 5, 2010 in Church News | by aylmercrc | Comments closed

A few weeks ago Adrian deLange asked Aylmer CRC’s Consistory if he could offer a sermon at Aylmer CRC some time during his Christmas break. Consistory felt that as a church we need to encourage our young adults as they seek to follow the Lord’s leading. Adrian’s request was eagerly approved. You can listen to his sermon below (and it will be permanently available on the Sermon Archive page).

Adrian deLange is in the youth ministry and theology program at Dordt College. Adrian would like to thank Rev. Norman Jones for providing some assistance in completing his message.

Date Description File
January 3, 2010 Christmas Come and Gone? (Acts 1:1-11)
Adrian deLange		 Christmas Come and Gone?

Good-Bye

December 31, 2009 in Church News | by aylmercrc | Leave a comment

Dear Aylmer CR Church Family,


We love you. Aylmer CRC has been so good to us for the past 9 ½ years. We offer our sincerest thanks for your love and thank you for the ways you have forgiven us for our failings. We praise God from whom all blessings flow for we have surely felt a steady flow of love—encouragement, cards, gifts, visits, support, time away, hugs and prayers. We have felt God’s grace through the trials and experienced the power of your prayers. We are thankful to have been part of this church for the past decade. I’ve enjoyed great cooperation and fun with all of the staff and council over the years (Phil. 1:5).

As we prepare to leave Aylmer, I want to encourage you to continue to love one another deeply (1 Peter 1:22). Our mutual love for the Lord is bigger than any of our personal issues or problems. Life is too short to hold grudges and our place in the body of believers is too important to waste time alienated from one another or alienating one another. The body of Christ is diverse but united in Him. She is beautiful in her diversity (1 Cor.12). This church—and every other one—has growing pains. But better to have the growing pains than to have no growth.

I have grown through struggles in the past decade, grown to see how great God’s grace is (2 Cor.12:9). I’m thankful to God for His providence and grace. As we leave Aylmer, it is part of God’s plan for you to seek a new pastor. He may be very different from me. He may have some similarities. Whoever he is, remember that God sent him to you. Love him and his family as you have loved us.

Carry on the vision you have adopted. Support one another in fulfilling it. Love your neighbours as yourself. Show them the love of Christ. Let the community see how much this congregation loves Jesus and each other so that they want to know Jesus and be a part of this church (Mt. 5:16).

We are on the brink of a new year, the beginning of a new decade. Does it seem like ten years already since we were being warned about the potential problems with Y2K? Time goes quickly. But our time is in God’s hands. You can count on that. No matter where we live, we are united in Christ and continue to be part of His growing family.

Thank you once again for being such a blessing to our family in the formative years of most of our children. It has been a good thing to be part of this covenant community. We thank God for all you’ve done to shape us and our children into what God is calling us to be. Aylmer will always hold a special place in our hearts. God bless you!!

The deLanges—Pastor Rich, Patsy, Rachel, Adrian, Erik & Jessica

PS If you come to Edmonton, stop in for a visit.

Please post a good-bye note for Rev. deLange and his family in the comment section below. You must first click on the post title to view the comments section.