This weekend an old grief returned to haunt me. My faith felt weak and limited in the presence of this old foe. So, I reached back into a sermon I preached August 19, 2012 and rediscovered the simple faith of a widow and her gift of two small copper coins and remembered a prayer that can help you when you feel you’ve run out of your resources to cope.
Category: Messages
Prayer for Uncertain Times
Learn how to pray like the Apostle Paul when facing uncertain times. St. Paul, quarantined under house arrest, gave us a map to discover power in prayer and tap into the power of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
*The Sun Valley Motel (1952) shown in the video was owned by my grandparents and was where my father returned to Phoenix in 1947. It was there also I was taken after my birth at Good Samaritan Hospital.
Behind the scenes, my grandson, Jaden (12), operated the video camera. This was about take six as he would stop the camera as I tried to explain to let it record without stopping and I would edit it later. Some of my smiling was related to his antics.
Empty Shelves
For those running low on deli items, we have extra Javelina meat and are willing to share.
Solitary BINGO
As an introvert, “social distancing” is a job perk I’ve been rehearsing for all of my life! Maybe tomorrow ... solitary BINGO. ... BINGO!
Relief
I thought I missed something … with our new toilet paper free bidet system. No sooner had I returned daisy fresh to my bedside that I felt something hard slide down the back of my leg inside my jammies, bounce off my foot and onto the floor with a plop.
I glanced at Carol and asked her if she wanted an update. I turned on the bedside lamp and there it was! My AARP card stuck to a book cover and fell into my jammies before standing.
Never have I been “more relieved”! Never had I felt more like an AARP member. #Relieved
Discover the Place of Your Resurrection
How to follow the will of God when faced with life’s uncertainty. The Apostle Paul under house arrest in Rome discovered the will of God working through him in the midst of a difficult time. St. Brendan, the Irish Monk of the 5th and 6th century reminds us how the Celtic Christians practiced pilgrimage in seeking God’s will by floating in a rudderless, hide covered boat, a coracle, until it came to rest at “the place of their resurrection.” Where is your pilgrimage taking you in God’s will? Can you rest in God’s assurance that He will unfold his plan through you?
PRAYER OF ST. BRENDAN
“Help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown.
Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with You.
Christ of the mysteries, I trust You to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know that my times, even now, are in Your hand.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,and somehow,
make my obedience count for You.”
AMEN.
In Touch with Your Creator
Even as a sick woman touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and found healing and a new life, we can get in touch with our Creator. Prayer beads, a Bible clasped in hands or even a posture of prayer can help us as we seek God’s presence and peace of mind.
Peace in a Pandemic
After hoards hunted empty shelves for bulk packages of paper products, this one paper product guarantees peace of mind and never runs out of supply – the Bible.
Ultramodern Church: Space for Worship
Contemporary services gravitate to 1990’s Jesus light rock, decibel metered sound and Walmart clad clergy. Worship leaders interpret “improve the service” as sing a tenth chorus while adding a dozen more projection slides.
So holds true Jesus teaching, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)
Inked words still wet scribed on the worship papyrus are: ultramodern, virtual and space. Ultramodern worship forms a seamless union between the church building and the members’ remote experience. The days of “My pastor never calls on me” translate digitally into “My pastor is but a click away.” Video-conferenced home and small group teaching, healing and communion bring the invisible universal church to the digital. This church’s local building could hold 50 while serving a congregation of 50,000 free of the shackles of brick-and-mortar.
Beyond a church mission plant in locations like Antigua, the ultramodern church tasks its denomination to slate a mission to Mars in order to charter a church open to person of all nations … and galaxies. Churches pass out Space-X piggy-banks to remind the children that your faith can take you places.
Live long and prosper. Amen.
God’s Continuity Plan – Ephesians Session 2
Today on Christians Need to Know. Session 2 on Ephesians: Let’s walk together in unity so we can work together as the body of Christ. Does God really call us to build monstrous public venues destined to become the next “Lost City of Z”? Through the Apostle Paul, God shows us the continuity plan for the church, which does not embrace “big business church plant” Atlas model found in the US.
The mind of a US senior pastor before Sunday Services …
