Wednesday, December 8, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

James Fenhagen writes this: “ The gift of holiness- which is in reality the gift of our full humanity- is received when we are able to see the world in a new way, when in faith we are able to discern and respond to God’s vision of the world through the eyes of Christ. This kind of seeing is the fruit of a contemplative vision- a vision that can only be nourished in solitude and in prayer. Prayer for the Christian therefore is not something added to our lives, something extra we do, but rather it is as fundamental to our lives as the act of breathing. It is through prayer that we are caught up in the rhythm and energy of the Kingdom that is amongst us and learn to see in a new way.” 

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Bernard of Clairvaux wrote this: “The right time for seeking God is always now. ‘Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation,’ and He promises, ‘Before they call upon me, I will say, Lo, I am here.’ And if it is by good works that we seek God, while we have time, let us do good unto men; and that all the more because the Lord Himself warns us that the ‘night cometh, wherein no man can work.’ Do you expect to find some future time in which to seek God and do good other than this present day of mercy?”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Sunday marks the beginning of the season of Advent. Norman Shawchuck offers these words about the season: “There is a divine initiative in our every encounter with God. Even before we knew our Creator, God loved us. Even before we turned to look toward God, God was moving toward us.  Our faintest yearning for God is assurance that God is already longing for us. Our first feeble step toward God is possible only because God has already been moving toward us, drawing us nearer by the divine magnet-heart of love.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

P.S. Thanks to all who helped with the Hanging of the Greens. The sanctuary looks beautiful!

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Stephanie Ford writes this: “Contemporary life provides precious little space for discernment, given the overriding burden of time. We hurry from one task to another, expressing thoughts and emotions on the fly but rarely sitting down to discern what they may be saying to us. Even accomplished multitaskers know moments of loneliness. In a quiet, predawn moment or while daydreaming between gulps of coffee at a traffic light, an ache may surface We yearn to share the ordinary ups and downs of our lives with someone, the unspoken prayers we don’t feel comfortable uttering at a church meeting and experiences like the moment when we realized God had healed our heart after years of grieving a loss.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Reuben Job writes this: “I can well understand why Christian spirituality is often described as a journey rather than a destination. The spiritual life is characterized by movement and discovery, challenge and change, adversity and joy, uncertainty and fulfillment. It is also marked in a special way by companionship, first with the One we seek to follow and second with those who also seek to follow Jesus Christ…Life is not a stationary experience. New understandings and developments continually challenge our understanding of life and our experience of God. Yet if we see the spiritual life as a journey, these cycles of change will not alarm us or turn us aside from our primary goal- to know and love God.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Here is part two of the quote on reconciliation by Doris Donnelly: “When Paul passes the mantle of ambassadorial rank to each of us, we may surmise two things: First, that God’s intention for the world is unity, and second, that the mission to gather the world as one that was begun by Jesus was left incomplete by him. That mission was delegated to the community of believers gathered in his name. Each of us is an ambassador in the service of a leader who deputizes us to spread news of peace, restoration, and collaboration to a world sorely in need of this news. There are few things about which God is more persistent than this- that each of us engage in the ministry of reconciliation and bring it to completion.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Doris Donnelly writes this: “From the scriptures we get a glimpse of reconciliation far more profound than patching up differences, or making a private peace with what’s wrong in the world, or putting a bandage over hurts inflicted in the course of living. Paul, for one, had something else in mind. Reconciliation for Paul begins ‘within,’ when we hear (and believe) God’s words of acceptance and mercy. That realignment of the hearts spills across all of our relationships, closing the gaps that distance us. Eventually, those who minister reconciliation, as well as those affected by it, create the world heralded by the angels at the birth of Jesus where peace and goodwill prevail.” (Part 2 of this quote on reconciliation will be next week)

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

William O. Paulsell writes this: “Holiness is a gift of grace. Its qualities cannot be imitated or faked. If we try to act them out, people will sense our inauthenticity, for such gifts come from deep intimacy with God. How can we cultivate such gifts in our own lives? It would be nice if we could take a course guaranteed to produce personal holiness or find some exercise or technique that would make us saints. But, of course, it is not that simple. It is not a matter of technique; it is a matter of values, of commitment, and, more than anything else, of love- love for the God who created us and has called us to discipleship.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

P.S. Thank you for all of the nice cards on Pastor Appreciation Sunday. It made my day!!

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Stephen V. Doughty writes this: “Our identity as God’s beloved children, then, embraces both who we are and who we are becoming. We are infinitely loved. We are, with all our vastly varied gifts, being renewed in the divine image, and we bear this image back into the world. We each do this in our own way- a thousand different ways, indeed a million ways and infinitely more. Our core identity comes with particular gifts. Unique gifts and graces are an expression of God’s personal love for us, a confirmation of our belovedness. No two of us act, think, or serve alike.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Paul Wesley Chilcote writes this: “The signs are unmistakable. Those who place their trust in Christ receive his peace, a peace that is unspeakable and unknown. We are thankful first and foremost for what Jesus Christ has done for us. It is by the Holy Spirit that ‘we know the things of God’ and experience God’s power in our lives. And the fruit of the Spirit is ‘the meek and lowly heart.’ Thankfulness for the activity of the Spirit in our hearts and lives marks the true Christian.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

John Mogabgab writes this: “We live in a world convinced that security is the most reliable context for freedom. The bitter irony of this conviction is that the havens of security we create are unable to provide the freedom we seek. The quest for national, economic, or personal security too often guarantees compulsive patterns of life at the expense of genuine freedom. Christian tradition offers an alternative. In biblical perspective, it is obedience rather than security that forms the proper context for freedom. Thus, the Christian vision of freedom is focused through the lens of a paradox: ‘Whoever cares for his own safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake, he will find his true self.’”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Stephen V. Doughty writes this: “After Jesus told his followers all that they would one day do in his name, he gave them a single piece of counsel.  They were to continue in Jerusalem until clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49).  This was it.  Hold.  Stay put.  Wait on the power.  Nothing more.  And absolutely nothing less.  In the midst of a people who did talk about spiritual things, they were actually, and single-mindedly, to wait on the Spirit.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Larry James Peacock writes this: “As people of peace who live in the house of love, we need to resist our culture’s fascination with violence, might, and death. Video games, TV shows, and movies are filled with images of combat and destruction. Some have suggested a new discipline of fasting from the violent images in entertainment as a method of noncooperation with evil… God speaks the language of love and affirms life. In your prayer ask God to show you where to resist the world’s fascination with violence and death. Ask God to guide you in living with love and peace.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Norman Shawchuck writes this: “Spirituality is a growing awareness of our receptivity of the spirit of God in our lives, and the means by which we can keep that receptivity alive and vital as we are formed into the image and nature of Jesus. Now we are able to serve others even as Jesus offered himself as a servant to all. This is Jesus’ spirituality, and it is his gift to all who bind their lives to him.”

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Costa Stathakis writes this: "In the opening of his letter, James gives us hope by reminding us that our life's difficulties, trials, and temptations give us an opportunity to grow. However, we need to stop and reflect on our situation: Are our present difficulties of our own doing? In what ways might these circumstances build our character? We cannot accomplish life's purpose through the attainment of ease or luxurious comfort. We accomplish life's purpose only in the achievement of Christlike character."

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Bonifacio B. Mequi, Jr. writes this: "Yet for Christ to become our light, we must do one thing: 'Repent.' Repentance always requires us to turn around, change directions, quit walking away from God and begin walking the walk of faith toward him who is God-with-us. Our continued efforts to stay on God's side and to go in God's direction encourage us in our living until that way of life becomes as natural as breathing. Our life in Christ takes a lifetime both to learn and to live out."

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Judith E. Smith writes this: "One of the myths of our culture is that control of ourselves and others is what gives us freedom. If we are in control, then obviously we can make decisions, and that leaves us free. But that is a myth. The paradox is that as we give up control to God, we actually live in a deeper freedom. The freedom of God may call us to turn all of our most precious definitions of faithfulness on their heads. It may be that the most difficult call for us to respond to is not a call that demands of us great sacrifices but a call that offers to us great gifts."

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

A mid-week message from the Pastor:

Thomas Kelly writes this: "Don't grit your teeth and clench your fists and say, 'I will! I will!' Relax. Take hands off. Submit yourself to God. Learn to live in the passive voice- a hard saying for Americans- and let life be willed through you. For 'I will' spells not obedience."

Have a blessed week,
Pastor John