October 13, 2019 - INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE HEART
CEAC, happy 30th birthday/anniversary!
I have been attending CEAC for over 15 years and all I can say is that it has been quite the journey. I obviously wasn't around when the church was started (I wasn't even born yet!) but listening to the stories of its humble beginnings is always such a joy. By the power of God working in and through a small group of committed Filipinos, a congregation of over 150 was born. What a miracle!
In these past 30 years, CEAC has gone through ups, downs, lefts, rights, and all other manner of changes in between. Some changes are easily visible to the naked eye; for example, the sanctuary as you know it today looked completely different just a few years ago (the carpet was green, there was linoleum flooring, and the seats were wooden pews). Other changes are more noticed by those who have been in the church for a long time, such as the composition of the congregation (people have gotten older, babies were added, some people started attending and others went on to different churches). We've had a number of different pastors, elders, worship leaders, song leaders, musicians, ministry heads, etc. New ministries have cropped up and others have faded out with the changing of the times.
Change is oftentimes a frightening phenomenon. When things are done a certain way for a long enough period of time, people become comfortable and set in their ways. The popular saying states, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The problem with comfort zones is that they very often lead to complacency. When we become complacent, we fail to see that things are "broke" and we deny the fact that improvement and upgrades are necessary. I praise and thank God for the people God has placed in CEAC who are the movers and dreamers, who prayerfully see the aspects of the church that need change and actually work to see those improvements happen. Thanks to the visions and actions of those people, by the power of the Holy Spirit, CEAC has continually grown and adapted over the past 30 years into a flourishing body of believers.
In the midst of all the change that happens in the church and in the world at large, it is amazing to consider the enduring constancy of God. He was, is, and will always be perfect so change is not necessary. Ever since the beginning of time God has been self-existent, self-sufficient, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, and He will stay that way until the end of the age. If God has stayed constant and unchanging since the time of Adam and Eve, and will stay the same for all eternity, then we can rest assured that this same God will fulfill all His promises to His children, including those of us who make up CEAC.
CEAC is still, of course, a work in progress; our sanctification as individual believers and as a church body never stops until we see Jesus again. During this 30th anniversary month (and especially this Thanksgiving weekend), let us give thanks to the Lord for who He is, what He has done, what He is currently doing, and what He is planning to do in and through CEAC.
Abby Zamora-Cheng