Wear Red this Sunday!

"What?????"

Answer:

This week it will be Pentecost Sunday.

So wear RED to celebrate the gift of

God's Holy Spirit!

The Church has traditionally used the color red for Pentecost to symbolize the flames of the Holy Spirit. At first, only members of the clergy wore red vestments, but now it is common to see members of the congregation wearing something red on Pentecost Sunday.

Red is not the only color associated with Pentecost. Red symbolizes the divided flame-like tongues but the Holy Spirit is symbolized by a white dove. White is also worn by people who are being baptized. Baptisms and confirmations are done throughout the year, but having them on Pentecost Sunday is in keeping with the day described in the book of Acts where 3,000 people were baptized.

So plan ahead, what will you wear?

Red dress, skirt, slacks, shirt, red accessories?

Or if you are male, a red tie?

But remember:

The most important thing about Pentecost is to learn what the Spirit does,

and to trust God's Holy Spirit to lead you.

Truth For Life

Read this passage: Acts 2:1-21

Who (with reason) despises the day of small things?

Zechariah 4:10a

Not me, that is for sure.

I'm taking my time these days, smelling the roses so to speak. Listening when others talk. Looking at them as they talk. Focusing on what they say and don't say. Trying not to think about my next comment as they are speaking.

This is not an easy thing to do but it has been a worthwhile habit to form.

It is also partnered with not interrupting others as they talk.

Yes, I have the habit of both. I admit it.

Now I want to cease to do those two things. I realize my life is becoming crowded mentally with so many things, many good, but even many good things, when too many, are

well.....

too much.

And so I am finding that those few who have God's wisdom,

calmer lives, richer relationships, and peace that passes all understanding

(yes, that last part is from a verse. . . .Philippians 4:7)

are not in a hurry. They are not harried. They are not too busy.

They aren't cussing, fussing, fretting, controlling others,

stressing, ranting, or raving.

They are living life well. They are following after Jesus

and imitating Him here, now.

So, I have begun, it is a small start, but a good one.

As a new member at church I have opportunity to listen,

to learn who is who, how they believe,

how they worship, how they study,

to observe how they live, how they speak,

how they care, how they share.

It is a small beginning but one I pray will

give me deeper roots, greater growth,

His peace, His understanding,

and Godly changes in me.

Pray for me, will you?

Truth For Life

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

Romans 11:33

What could ever be better than a grandchild?

(even our Avery whom we LOVE like crazy?

Give up?

2 grandchildren!

We learned today that our daughter and son-in-love are expecting "Baby M #2"

We received a large package just as we had been told to expect to arrive today.

We were to open it and then read a special email with an explanation . . .

I found the package on our front porch as soon as I got home from work. I was alone but still I burst into happy tears when I saw the words on the packing box for I had a clue yet I couldn't believe it was true and I had to wait until my husband was home. Sent a text message to husband asking him if his deposition was over . . . and kept waiting.

Husband arrived home an hour later and I had him read the special email as I set the unopened package before us and we opened it together -

to find a large box of newborn disposable diapers.

Diapers? Newborn sized diapers?

We have been officially assigned the task of personally delivering them to Nairobi upon the birth of their second child.

Will we deliver them?

ABSOLUTELY!

Truth For Life

For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done,

I will sing for joy at the work of Your hands.

Psalm 92:4

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

"The early Christians did not invent the empty tomb and the meetings or sightings of the risen Jesus..... Nobody was expecting this king of thing; no kind of conversion experience would have invented it.... To suggest otherwise is to stop doing history and enter into a fantasy world of our own. "

N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God

This is the good news which we have received,

in which we stand,

and by which we are saved,

if we hold it fast:

that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,

that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day,

and that he appeared first to the women,

then to the Twelve,

and to many faithful witnesses.

We believe that Jesus is the Messiah,

the Son of the living God.

He is the first and the last,

the beginning and the end;

He is our Lord and our God.

Amen

In Christ the world is gifted,

in Him the world is graced;

in Christ our hearts are lifted,

through Him we see God's face!

By Christ we're blessed with mercy;

with Him we live in joy!

Come, now, and sing His praises;

for Him your lives employ!

These are but a few items that we sang, read aloud,

or prayed in our church service this morning.

It was a grande celebration and rejoicing on this resurrection Sunday.

May we continue to celebrate His resurrection

by the way we speak, work, play, share, love, and care.

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Truth For Life

I have been crucified with Christ;

and it is no longer I who live,

but Christ lives in me;

and the life which I now live in the flesh

I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Galatians 2:20

it is finished. . .

Easter is nigh,

we await the hours to pass until the dawn breaks

I have participated in a prayer vigil

for our church,

our ministers, the members,

the ministries within the church,

the ministries that connect with our community,

the missionaries local and global,

and for those who will attend church tomorrow,

perhaps one of the few times they enter a local church building.

Lord, give us all ears to hear

& respond to the message

of this most holy of days,

Easter

Easter will have arrived.

I have anxiously anticipated this year's Easter

with daily Lenten devotions and journaling

which has made the season more blessed, more joyful, and rich.

I have savored more of the days since Ash Wednesday,

appreciating the dark days, the rainy days,

the signs of new growth on trees, flowering bulbs

peeking up out of the dark soil,

sounds of birds singing,

kids playing outdoors,

and sun on my face that is warm

Our traditions are simpler now that the kids are grown

Attending church on Easter is the highlight for us now

Lunch with local family is valued more each year as we

lose family members one by one to death.

And we have also added a few,

new little sweet faces,

some will be near, some far,

one is very far away,

but all are close to our hearts

and in our shared prayers

Easter is also the high point in our faith calendar,

it is the HOPE filled celebration that makes

a expresses our great joy and gratefulness for the

relationship with the God of the universe

that is now possible and practical

Christ is the resurrection and the life....

He offers us life eternal,

life with all the richness, depth,

and fullness possible.

Life as we long for it, seek it, and attempt to achieve.

And He offers it to us in community,

He with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

us with them, and with fellow believers:

in our church body,

in our family's,

in our neighborhoods,

at our place of work,

in our interest groups.

Life includes ups, downs, births, deaths,

success, failure, heartache, heartbreaks,

joys unspeakable, tears, laughter,

duty, service, pleasure, and pain.

Life is best when lived as one

follows the Master,

shares with fellow believers,

welcomes in new believers,

and shares with non believers.

He has placed eternity in our hearts. . .

and He offers us eternal life through Jesus Christ.

May your Easter be one of great joy

in your heart, soul, mind, and strength!

With gratefulness to God for what He has done

through Christ Jesus.

And for anticipation in what He has planned that is yet to come.

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Truth For Life

Jesus said to her,

I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live,

even though he dies;

and whoever lives

and believes in me will never die

John 11:25-26

Changes

the long and the short of it

(but more of the long of it)

My husband and I have made a move we never anticipated,

we never planned,

it has been painful, difficult, and awkward for me

I think I am going through the stages of grief

I really do

We have just transferred our membership to a different church

after being part of one for 31 years.

!

When I recognized a change was immediately ahead I became anxious inwardly due to our numerous connections over decades, the comfort of the known, the traditions we'd long loved,

the service in the body of Christ that God had gifted and equipped us for,

and the history we had shared, a place of belonging

I was inwardly looking backwards even as we moved forward outwardly

That is not easy to do, nor safe to do

That is not the way to live as a Christ follower.

I have had to recognize I was learning another trust lesson

I asked myself as I thought about my feelings

- did I honestly think God had no place of service in this new church?

(I had those thoughts, fleeting, but I did have them)

So after asking myself 'what is troubling your soul, girl?

I recognized the grief and lack of faith I felt

so I literally held out my hands, palms up and offered up all those concerns:

my service, my gifting, the things I had come to adore doing in the body of Christ,

my familiar place of worship, friends, service,

(everything I knew I valued) to Him as an act of faith

I had to face thoughts, hidden ones I had not yet realized, thoughts that weren't true:

Did I honestly think, that I would be set on a shelf forever forgotten, unneeded,

or now that we were 'new' in a church, become forever an "unknown"?

This is not truth, I know this -

yet I can't see what is ahead clearly, no one can

and I have been asked to serve using my gifting,

which took my breath away and gave me a glimmer of hope

(I praise Him for the hope given to me)

but as yet nothing is clear or certain or planned, and so I wait.

Telling myself to trust. He gave me a place before,

He is able to do so again.

I want to be a part OF this new body - like yesterday

but more than that I want it to be in God's time, His way, His leading,

not my emotions, my needs to belong, etc.

We are willing to take time to watch, observe, listen, learn,

and get the feel of a new-to-us church. . .

to be a part of this body. . .

to learn who is gifted in what, to enjoy their service,

to thank God for their examples

Tonight I had a moment of grief, I've shed tears, again.

I realize that I long for a friend or two in our new-to-us church

I have precious friends, especially two or three dear sisters-in-Christ at our former church

we are still in touch, but we don't regularly meet due to our different locations of worship now

I am waiting for the new ones I shall find in our new-to-us church.

I'm doing my part, honest!

I'm watching, smiling, talking, inquiring of others, offering to assist, waiting, and giving God time.

We've been in this transition since mid-October when we ceased attending our former church.

God had indeed led us, we realized that immediately

We have attended their 'potential members' classes and learned what they believe,

and what they ask of their members.

We readily welcome the call to be disciples of Christ, to attend church regularly,

no matter where we are on a Sunday,

to be readers of God's Word, pray-ers, servers within the church,

to be in fellowship with people within the church, and within our community,

to be mission minded near and far

It is a setting we have longed for

- I did not know we would experience this in America.

I really did not.

But God did.....

I have a new sense of deep gratitude for God leading us

to this place that feels more like home to me

than any church I've ever been a member of to this point in my life.

Testing 1, 2, 3.....?

A few years ago we were asked to consider move

to another city in our state for my husband's work,

I was ready to make that transition even then as we were already feeling restless,

I realized then that it would not have been terribly painful to move elsewhere

as our roots were not deep within the church.

I was grieved to recognize this.

And the move did not happen.

Now I wonder if it wasn't a 'test'.

I knew then that God would be in the move,

He would lead us to a new church home.

He would lead us to friends through the new church,

new neighborhood, and new places of work.

So while we did not move our physical belongings then,

God gave me a chance to consider the possibility.

Our move is a transfer to another place of worship within our city.

I know others do this, have done it and lived to thrive. I'm just not 'there' yet.

I'm in the faith stage. . . trusting without seeing, believing without experiencing.

Today I read this quote in our new church's Daily Devotions for the Lenten Season

which says it well for all of us, wherever we find ourselves in the midst of changes: inward or outward.

Wherever you go, God is sending you,

wherever you are, God has put you there;

He has a purpose in your being there.

Christ who indwells you has something He wants to do through you where you are.

Believe this and go in His grace and love and peace.

Rev. Richard C. Halverson

So dear friends of our former church,

we do not leave our friendships behind,

we're worshipping just a few blocks away

from where we used to meet with you.

We love you, always will.

We look forward to running into you in stores,

restaurants, parks, on Facebook, etc.

And to our future new friends -

I look forward to the time I begin to recognize who you are.

I am ready to walk life in Christ with you.

I hope to introduce you to my friends of the past decades

I can't wait to learn from you and to share with you.

I will love you always, too.

Truths For Life

I was glad when they said to me,

"Let us go to the house of the LORD."

Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem,

Jerusalem, that is build as a city that is compact together;

to which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the LORD

An ordinance for Israel -- to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

For there thrones were set for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

May they prosper who love you.

May peace be within your palaces.

For the sake of my brothers and my friends,

I will now say, "May peace be within you."

For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,

I will seek your good.

Psalm 122

Spring is peeking out . . . .

I've got some plans for a new post. . . I'll be back this weekend to publish it. Do come back soon!

"Won't you Be My Valentine?"

takes on deeper meaning

when one looks into the person for whom this day is named

Valentine was a man of long ago who shared his faith in Jesus Christ at a time

when it was illegal to publicly profess such faith.

And as a result, he was executed on February 14th.

His message was expressing a belief in Jesus,

and the love of God seen in Jesus Christ

He understood he was loved by God through Jesus Christ.

We share our love for one another if we are truly

in the spirit of St. Valentine because God loves us first

and we understand enough to be gripped

by that truth and respond to it, embracing a faith

in which God sent Jesus

We can learn of this love in His book, the Bible.

Its a journey into all kinds of possibilities.

If we want to know where God does His best

work in transforming our lives,

look no further than taking in the words of His book

but do so with open eyes and heart

The Words in His book are truly the Words of life.

Eternal Words.

Man's words are not eternal, they will pass, as will our candy,

cards, and flowers, which are expressions of our love.

And yet there is much more to this day for expressing our love.

God loves us - we often stop there.

But He loves us too much to allow usto stay the way we are.

He plans to grow us up to the image of His Son Jesus Christ

so we can be His image on earth to love Him, and to fellow man.

it is a process that begins on earth and is completed when we

meet Jesus face to face in heaven or upon His return to earth.

There is plenty of growth and change yet to come in our lives.

We will not become mature on our own;

but as we mature we can begin to see God in the world

and see that as an invitation to join Him in His work

Worship is focused upon God

and includes being engaged in the lives of other believers

to wrestle with God and what He calls us to in scripture

We are able to love because He first loved us -

we come to love the God and the overflow of that love will be seen

in our love for fellow man:

those who believe, those who have yet to believe,

and those who will refuse to believe.

That my friend, is what St. Valentine represented.

So shower God's love upon those you love,

and upon those who need love.

Truth For Life

One of them, a lawyer, asked Him (Jesus) a question, testing Him,

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

And He said to him,

'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

"This is the greatest and foremost commandment.

"The second is like it,

'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

"On these two commandments depend

the whole Law and the Prophets."

Matthew 22:35-40