Wednesday, March 25, 2020

A message from the Pastor: 

 Dear Friends,

               Perhaps we don’t learn how valuable something is until it is taken away from us. This past Sunday felt so strange to me. I am used to the rhythm of weekly worship. I start each week with one of our short-term study classes and then move into worship. I miss the faces, the greetings, the conversations…some
short, some longer…the music, the time in prayer. It is all a part of who I am. So, to have that taken away was difficult and even more difficult to think that it could be this way for an indefinite time. I know that many of you may be feeling the same way.

Rather than focusing on what’s missing, I want to make a few suggestions on how
to still be the church even when we are not meeting together:

1.     Pray. Pray for our health care workers and the government leaders making difficult decisions. Pray for those who have lost their jobs or whose businesses are threatened. Pray for those in hospital and nursing homes and their family members who are prevented from visiting. Pray for our educators and students.
This list could go on and on. Add to it as led by the Holy Spirit.

2.     Call. Call not only your circle of friends, but find someone outside that circle that might be neglected. Depression is a prominent health concern during such times. Let’s be sure to look out for one another.

3.     Give. Give of your time even if it is just over the phone. If possible, give to the One Great Hour of Sharing. As a reminder, we are giving money directly to the United Trinity Presbyterian Church in Hamburg, Iowa, which experienced a devastating flood last March. I understand the food basket ministry is running
short of food. You can take your donations to the Community Access Center on Pecan St. by Woods Lumber, but call before you go since they are closed to general public traffic (331-5115).

4.     Worship. Worship with us online if you can or watch a service on television (Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa at 11:00 on Sundays is one of the most easy to access from here).

I hope you have a blessed week and stay well,

Pastor John

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

A mid-week message: 

Corona Virus response…For the next couple of months we are going to take some precautions to do our part in trying to prevent the spread of the virus.  A bottle of hand sanitizer is in the Narthex.  Please use it when entering the Sanctuary for Worship!  Also, we will be doing “elbow bumps” instead of handshakes during the greeting time.  The most vulnerable people to this virus are the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions.  Guess what?  That includes a lot of us.  Let’s keep each other healthy by taking these few precautions.

Have a blessed week,

Pastor John

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

A mid-week message: 

Thomas Merton wrote this: “There is, in a word, nothing comfortable about the Bible- until we manage to get so used to it that we make it comfortable for ourselves. But then we are perhaps too used to it and too at home in it. Let us not be too sure we know the Bible…just because we have learned not to have problems with it. Have we perhaps learned…not to really pay attention to it? Have we ceased to question the book and be questioned by it?”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, February 26 - Ash Wednesday & beginning of Lent

A mid-week message: 

Douglas W. Johnson and Alan K. Waltz write this: “A reading of the New Testament, especially the Gospels that tell what Jesus looked for in people, produces a picture of a quality church member as one who has been touched and changed by the Holy Spirit. He or she is committed to doing the will of God even though
sin will test the commitment. Over the years the church has required a part of a person’s commitment to God is expressed by attendance at worship and regular observance of certain disciplines of a holy life such as prayer, sacrifice, and care for others. To specify how these must be done or carried out is not only
inappropriate but is arrogant. God’s relationship to people determines how they should pray, sacrifice and care for others.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Dennis M. Campbell writes this: “All Christian believers are called to ministry. Sometimes this idea is not understood because of the tendency to use the term ‘ministry’ to refer popularly to those who are engaged in full-time professional service in the church, usually ordained ministers. Thus we speak of one entering ‘the ministry’ and we mean the occupation of the clergy… This narrow usage of the term ministry is unfortunate, however, because it seriously truncates the wider and richer understanding of Christian ministry in the Bible
and church teaching.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

A mid-week message: 

Steve Harper writes this: “We take a giant step forward in Christian devotion when we see it more as a life to be lived than as a time to be observed. Consequently, it is more appropriate to speak of a ‘devotional life’ than a ‘devotional time.’”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

A mid-week message: 

James C. Fenhagen writes this: “The Christian faith for most people is not communicated by doctrinal pronouncements or the solemn assembly of ecclesiastical dignitaries, but by what goes on in the church in its most local setting. It is here, in the church down the street, that people are caught up in the Gospel
promise- or are turned away.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

  A mid-week message: 

A short while before his death, Rabbi Zusya made this remark: “In the world to come I shall not be asked: ‘Why were you not Moses?’ I shall be asked: ‘Why were you not Zusya?’” God has different plans for each of us. You can only be who God created you to be, not someone else.

Have a blessed week,

Pastor John

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

A mid-week message:

Henri Nouwen writes this: “The word community has many connotations, some positive, some negative. Community can make us think of a safe togetherness, shared meals, common goals, and joyful celebrations. It can also call forth images of sectarian exclusivity, in-group language, self-satisfied isolation, and
romantic naivete`. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own.”

Have a blessed week,

Pastor John

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

 A mid-week message: 

 Joyce Rupp writes this: “God’s love is such a powerful companion for us that no matter how searing or how intense the hurt of a loss is we know that our spirit need not be destroyed by it; we know that God will help us to recover our hope, our courage and our direction in life.”

Have a blessed week,

Pastor John

Wednesday Message - January 8, 2020

A mid-week message: 

Henri Nouwen writes this: “Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, ‘How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?’ There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour, or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go.”

Have a blessed week,

Pastor John

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

A mid-week message from Rev. John Wilson: 

It’s time for another round of thank you’s. First of all, thanks to choir for providing another inspirational cantata for Advent/ Christmas. I always hear many people comment on what great sound our choir has even without large numbers of singers. Well done! Also, thanks to all who decorated tables, prepared food, and helped clean up after the Christmas dinner. As always, it was delicious! And finally, thanks to the congregation for the Christmas love gift for our family. It is much appreciated.

Have a blessed week,

Pastor John

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

A mid-week message from Rev. John Wilson: 

Donald J. Shelby offers this prayer for the season of Advent: “Lord, the calendar calls for Christmas. We have traveled this way before. During this Advent season we would see what we have never seen before, accept what we have refused to think, and hear what we need to understand. Be with us in our goings that we may meet you in your coming. Astonish us until we sing ‘Glory!’ and then enable us to live it out with love and peace…. Amen.”

Have a blessed week,

John

Wedneday, December 4, 2019

A mid-week message from Rev. John Wilson: 

Henri Nouwen wrote this: “Are the great visions of the ultimate peace among all people and the ultimate harmony of all creation just utopian fairy tales? No, they are not! They correspond to the deepest longings of the human heart and point to the truth waiting to be revealed beyond all lies and deceptions.  These visions nurture our souls and strengthen our hearts. They offer us hope when we are close to despair, courage when we are tempted to give up on life, and trust when suspicion seems the more logical attitude.”

Have a blessed week,

John

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

“Every person has many blessings and at least a few misfortunes. The ones he/ she reflects upon will either strengthen or weaken him/ her. Our most necessary blessings are apt to be uncounted because they are the most common: sunshine, rain, oxygen, soil, plants, animals, and a thousand other workings of nature. The universality of so many blessings, however, does not lower their value. If this commonness tempts us to be ungrateful, let us ask: Where would we stand if the earth caved in? What would we breathe if the oxygen ran out? What would we do if the water dried up?”- Leroy Brownloe

Have a blessed week,

John

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Instead of a devotional piece, I just want to say thank you to all who made this past Sunday such a wonderful worship experience and fellowship time. Thanks to the Indy Ensemble and the brass ensemble for adding such special joy to our day of music. Thanks to our own Chancel Choir led by Larry, Ray, Mike, and Sarah. Thanks to Lyle and all the kitchen crew and all our good cooks for such a fabulous Thanksgiving meal. I can’t imagine the day having gone any better than it did Thanks to all who made the kick-off of our 150th anniversary such a memorable day.

 Have a blessed week,

John

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

A mid-week message from Rev. John Wilson: 

Here is the devotional piece for this week:

“Life is uneven. It has its ups and downs. There are days of exaltation and there are days of despair. The weather is mixed with sunshine and shadow. Some days are too short, others too long. There are valleys to traverse and mountains to climb… But in spite of all this, it is a good day when you can crawl out of bed, put on your clothes, go to the table and eat, make an honest living and be a friend to another. That day is yours.”

 

Have a blessed week,

John

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

A mid-week message from Rev. John Wilson: 

Here is the devotional reading for this week: “Unless a person watches his imagination, he is sure to have more troubles than he can handle. He already has enough without entertaining some in fantasy. Horrible imaginations give you shadowy dangers and unreal burdens, but they scare and tire as much as if they were genuine. It was Mark Twain who said, ‘I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.’”

 

Have a blessed week,

Pastor John

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

A mid-week message from Rev. John Wilson: 

Here is the devotional reading for this week: It is easier to say what you think than to think what you say. There is wisdom in holding back the full utterance of your mind for the more opportune time. Knowing what to say and when to say it will put you among the great! And the peaceful! And the happy! Proverbs 29:11 says, “A fool uttereth all his mind; but a wise man keepeth it in till afterward.”

 

Have a blessed week,

Pastor John