Galatians 2:20
It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.

How much of my day, my week, is made up of plans that I have made for my own benefit? How important is it that my day truly become filled with the priorities of Christ for the world?

Rebuilding Together on Saturday! PACT family fun day also on Saturday! Decatur community CROP walk on Sunday afternoon! There are plenty of opportunities for seeking God's kingdom this weekend! Have a blessed day.

Romans 8:1-2
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Free to do what? Now that Easter has become reality, how will you go forth from this day?

Acts 18:9
One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you."

God speaks to us through His Word. When we read these stories of other people, we are also reading about ourselves. God is thus also saying to us, "Speak and do not be silent." Have you ever refrained from offering much needed insight to a friend? How did that turn out?

Approaching the third Sunday of Easter

After my return home, I was much buffeted with temptations; but cried out, and they fled away. they returned again and again. I as often lifted up my eyes, and he "sent me help from his holy place." And herein I found the difference between this and my former state chiefly consisted. I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the law, as well as under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now, I was always conquerer. - John Wesley

hmmmmm.. When we strive under the guidance of God's direction we always conquer, but when we strive under our own guidance, because we know best how to answer life's obstacles, we often fail.

How often do we have to learn THAT lesson before it actually sinks in?

Acts 13:44,48
The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers.

What a great day we had yesterday serving the community and living out our call to BE the church rather than simply going to church once a week. Hopefully our work had a similar impact of those we went to serve and left them praising the Lord and becoming believers.

When was the last time you shared even a small word of the Lord with someone in need?

II Corinthians 4:1
Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.

It isn't so much what I have to do today as seeking what I can do to further God's kingdom today. The more I engage in the work of our Lord, the less I worry about my own weaknesses and give thanks instead for God's strength and mercy! So...

What would God have you do today?

Thomas More was appointed as royal counselor to King Henry VII in 1518. Later, he refused to support Henry when the king took on the title of Head of the Church. This led to his imprisonment, trial, and execution.

He wrote about the joy of remaining focused on God and not being distracted by the world. This is an excerpt from A Godly Meditation:

Give me thy grace, good Lord,
To set the world at nought,
To set my mind fast upon thee.
And not to hang upon the blast of men's mouths.
To be content to be solitary,
Not to long for worldly company,
Little and little utterly to cast off the world,
And rid my mind of all the business thereof.

What draws your attention away from God? What prayer of focus helps 'rid your mind' of worldly business?

Partakers of Eternal Life

John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Abundantly! We are a part of something much greater now! Why do we feel the need to turn away from abundance? The Lord is my shepherd... my cup overflows. If I pour water into a cup until it overflows onto the ground, I have wasted it. But if the Lord fills our cup until it overflows there is no waste because there is no limit to what God can provide! God never runs out of resources or love! Look for opportunities to receive fully from God this week and live your life abundantly! Where has God blessed you so fully you can't even contain it all?

Scripture and tradition habitually put the joys of Heaven into the scale against the sufferings of earth, and no solution of the problem of pain which does not do so can be called a Christian one. - From The Problem of Pain by C.S. Leiws

If you knew that you were in fact to live for another ten thousand years, and that everyone you knew and loved would also live for another ten thousand years, what would your greatest concern be?

Easter is a Season, not just a day

Acts 11:21-24
The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabus to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord.

It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called "Christians."

Now that you have experienced anew the power and joy of our resurrected Lord, what next? In Sunday school we talked about the different ways we experience what Jesus has done for us. Is it more meaningful to say that Christ died for us, or that he rose from the dead? The two ideas do not have to be in opposition to one another, but they speak differently to the way we will respond to the gift of life we have been given. We are called to be an Easter people. Go forth and share!

John 13:7
Jesus answered. "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

We sometimes give ourselves permission to NOT understand. We can't do this or that because, after all, we are only human. We don't know what Jesus was thinking. We limit the work God can do through us by refusing to strive for a more complete submission to Christ's Will. But we are reminded here, that we will grow, just like children, and to stop trying to fully understand is to deny God's plan for us. "Later (we) WILL understand!"

What have you put off simply because you were 'only human' and therefore unable to do in God's service?

Easter Prayer

O God, our Father, at Easter time we remember the great hope of eternal life which you have set before us, and we feel within our hearts the longings for goodness and for you. Grant that nothing may hinder the hope of eternal life from coming true, and the desire for goodness and for you from being realized. - From Prayers for the Christian Year by William Barclay

Psalm 22:1,25
My God, my God, wgy have you forsaken me?...From you comes my praise in the great congregation.

What begins as a sorrowful cry of despair, closes as an exuberant song of praise. Jesus starts with the narrow view of his own circumstances, but then remembers the bigger picture and what it is God has planned. God's Will is such that Jesus can't help but be filled with joy. What brings you back to the bigger picture when you get stuck in the small view?

Meatloaf tonight for Wednesday night supper! Remember that first time visitors eat free! Come for dinner at 5:00 and stay for classes at 6:00!

Isaiah 53:11
Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.

This passage is often used to describe the journey of Jesus. When have you also learned through pain or suffering? When has God been revealed through your anguish?

Stations of the cross will be available tomorrow (Wednesday) from 12:00-3:00, and again on Thursday and Friday, for reflection and prayer. Come meditate on what it means to see light through anguish!

Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction. - From Waiting for God by Simone Weil

How tempting it is to see sin as bad behavior rather than "turning ..our gaze in the wrong direction." Once we've turned our attention the wrong way, ALL behavior is sinful! What are some of those first reminders that we have gotten turned around the wrong way?

Maunday Thursday and Good Friday services will be held this week at 7:00.

I Corinthians 11:23,24
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

What have you received from the Lord that you have been able to pass on to someone else? Many have backed away from being a Sunday school teacher because they believe they are poor teachers. They forget that every word spoken and every deed done is in fact a lesson to someone else. What will you hand on to someone else before this week's celebration of Easter?

The main question indeed is not a question of doing, but a question of being. When we speak about (being) a living reminder of God, we are not speaking about a technical specialty which can be mastered through the aquisition of specific tools, techniques, and skills, but about a way of being which embraces the totality of life: working and resting, eating and drinking, praying and playing, acting and waiting. Before any professional skill, we need a spirituality, a way of living in the spirit by which all we are and all we do becomes a form of reminding. - From The Living Reminder by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Would a stranger know you were Christian after only observing you for an hour? Would everything you say and do remind someone of the living Christ?

This Sunday is Palm/Passion Sunday. In John's gospel, half of it is about the ministry of Jesus before this week and the second half is all about this last week of the life of Jesus.

Mark 14:12
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Pssover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?"

Where ARE you going to make preparations? Have you been setting aside a place, a time, a committment for what this holiest of weeks is all about? How has this Lenten season helped you prepare for the sacrifice of Good Friday and the glory of Easter Sunday?

Philippians 2:5-8
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross.

What matters? What really matters? What does it take to really have the same mind that was in Christ? We are not invited to achieve this understanding because it is impossible, but are told to have the same mind because with the help of the Holy Spirit, it is in fact very possible! how much of your day is made up of your concerns, and how much of the day is about setting aside our concerns, becoming humble, and concentrating on God's Will?