Owego Nazarene Church

Register NOW for our 2020 Vacation Bible School - Rocky Railway! We are excited for this outreach and discipleship opportunity for our children ages Pre-K to entering 7th grade. This year our VBS will be entirely online! Students MUST be registered by August 1st. https://docs.google.com//1FAIpQLSdOIPva_hcKDwyNCW/viewform

"See?" God says to Joshua. "I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor." (Joshua 6:2) This verse just makes me smile. Israel is... about to go up against Jericho, the first city in the Promised Land. The first city after they had crossed the river Jordan. A walled city. Its walls were so high and impenetrable that the name of Jericho was synonymous with security in Canaan. So when Israel crossed the river, Jericho locked up its gates and settled inside to wait out Israel's siege. When God said "See?", that is what Joshua saw. A city impenetrable. A city requiring a long siege. Long sieges are hard on armies. Sitting outside impossible walls for months makes an army commander wince. Sure, it was nice to know the king and his mighty men feared Israel. But then what? Israel still had to overcome that wall. "See?" God asks, and if Joshua was looking with his eyes of flesh, what he "saw" would actually shake him. Breed fear. But what God "saw" was different. God looked at the same situation and saw victory. And he was inviting Joshua to "see" the same thing. To see with God's eyes. To look upon the impenetrable walls of Jericho and see that God had given it into his hands. LOVE LOVE LOVE the eyes of God. May God give you those eyes, beloved. To look and see, not what is impossible. Not what is impenetrable. Not what is discouraging. But to see what God sees. Photo credit: Filip Baotic

The Great Depression, the world-wide economic downturn that changed the lives of millions of people, began in 1929 and lasted through 1933. For three of those y...ears, folks living and farming in the Southern Plains of the US also suffered through the Dust Bowl, unimaginable dust storms that afflicted the drought-stricken region and destroyed crop after crop. I can't imagine living through that. But do you know something? These were the people who raised and became the Great Generation. The men and women who lost so much, who went through YEARS of uncertainty, poverty, fear, and dreadful loss were the ones who raised a generation so stout-hearted and courageous that they overcame the greatest threat the world had yet seen. The children who lived through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl where the ones who went on to fight WWII. In the Great Depression years, they learned to sacrifice, to survive, to live and die with honor. They learned the value of life and understood how important it was to protect the weak. They grew loyal and responsible and dependable. The Great Depression gave birth to the Great Generation. God always uses the "Greats" of our lives to create "Greats" of His own. Our Great fears and losses and difficulties will in time turn to Great faith and peace and perseverance when we surrender them to the Lord. As we walk through our own "Great", a pandemic unlike anything we have seen before, let us open our hearts to Jesus and ask for His "Great" to come and wash the earth.

Psalm 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.Psalm 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Dear Upward Families, Thank you so much for your dedication to Upward Sports. This evening, the Leadership Team of the Church met to discuss the church’s response to COVID-19. After reviewing the relevant data and discussing a path forward, the Leadership Team decided that Upward Sports would be suspended effective immediately. There will be no games or other Upward activities at the church tomorrow, March 14th. All practices are also canceled until further notice. If the sit...uation changes in the coming weeks, we will re-evaluate and immediately contact you that Upward activities are resuming. We are committed to ending the season well, and are planning to have an Upward celebration Sunday at some point in the future. If this needs to be postponed and rescheduled from its original date of March 29th, we will let you know via email and a social media announcement. While this may mean that the Upward season is ending prematurely, we invite you to have your children participate in our other children’s activities here at the church. As of now, our annual Easter Egg Hunt is proceeding as planned on Saturday, April 4th from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM. You can sign your child up online at www.owegonaz.com. In addition, mark your calendars for Vacation Bible School 2020, August 3rd-7th. Again, we’re so grateful for your participation in Upward Sports! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kendra Seaver, our league commissioner at [email protected], or myself at [email protected]. Blessings, Pastor Phil Nase Lead Pastor Owego Church of the Nazarene

Dear Upward Families, Thank you so much for your continued support of Upward Sports! We are facing a unique challenge this year with the current public health crisis, and we wanted to let you know about the ways that we are seeking to keep all of our players, spectators, and volunteers safe and minimize the spread of illness. The Church Leadership Team is meeting this evening to discuss whether changes will be made to the games scheduled for tomorrow, March 14. If anything changes, an e-mail will be sent to Upward families by 9:00 pm tonight (Friday 3/13). Notices will also be posted on the doors at church, and the Upward Facebook page will be updated. Assume no e-mail (by 9 pm) means no changes to tomorrow's schedule.

If you're sad to see Upward ending soon (3/28 will be our last game) come back that next Saturday for our Annual Easter Egg Hunt. 4/4/20 from 11 - 1: food, games, the Easter Bunny and more!

Spaghetti and Meatballs on the menu this week!! Mmmmm.... And, remember to check your photo order page. Orders must be in by March 7th to get the discount.