THANK YOU!
In November we focus on giving thanks- through our giving and through expressions of gratitude. May Ron Simkins’ note below inspire you to thank others in our fellowship who serve our community faithfully. A special thank you to those who work behind the scenes- washing coffee cups, supplying snacks, processing paperwork, fixing what is broken, and giving to keep all our systems in working order! –Renée
I am sitting here being thankful to God for the many people who have been blessed through New Covenant Fellowship through the 50+ years since a small group of spiritually hungry people sat in Donna’s and my living room and began asking God to open us up to more of God’s Spirit. We wanted that answer to prayer to be real and practical. And, I am thankful that those of you with whom I am currently privileged to worship and serve still want God to be with us in real and practical ways.
I am about to name three names, but I first want to say that I see, and have seen in the past, many of you allowing God to work through you to bless others. What a privilege and encouragement it is to watch that occur again and again—often so quietly without fanfare that few even know about it. Not naming each of you by name here is partly because the list would be far too long. It is also because I know that I am only aware of a relatively small percentage of the many things that could, and should, be listed.
There are two areas of God’s concern for justice that I personally pray regularly about. One is for immigrants and would-be-immigrants to be treated as humans who God cares about. The other is for truth telling and repentance (turning around) concerning how our society, and our predominately White churches, treat those who are ethnically not White. Sometimes I wonder if those prayers matter. At other times, I know that they do. And sometimes, I see with my own eyes that God is giving a partial answer to those prayers through brothers and sisters that I know. And that is where my thanksgiving for today is focused.
I cannot imagine how many hours Jeff Trask and Renee Antrosio have spent contributing to the background work that has led to the recent breakthroughs in local support for Reparations. Racist actions and policies are so prevalent in the history, and the present policies of our culture, that any breakthrough toward repentance and reparations is a breath of fresh grace. Let’s all keep praying that the seeds that have been planted continue growing and multiplying until the harvest amazes us all.
Also, please join me in thanking God for all of the things that Carolyn Vance does, and all of the hours she spends, in our community encouraging more justice for immigrants. Our cultural history has been, and our current national policies are, devasting to people who are just looking for a better life for their families. We Americans seem to think that this land that belongs to God, and only to God, belongs to us. We are just temporary managers who must answer to the Owner for our stewardship of this gift. Border policies may never be simple to do well, but they should reflect an understanding of who really owns the land. That is the goal we should pray for and work for.
Quietly, mostly behind the scenes, Carolyn never stops caring about the difficulties many
immigrants face as they attempt to find a safe place for their families. And, Carolyn never stops voicing public protest for the ways they are not honored as real humans that God cares for with the same care that God has for those of us who are Americans and/or Christians.
Caring about justice for the less empowered is God’s love (hesed in Hebrew and agape in Greek) in action. Thank you, God, for those who want to see more justice and who keep challenging the rest of us to remember how much You care.
Ron Simkins 11/2/2026