Our kindergarten through fifth graders had a great time acting out many scenes from the bible. Here are some of the highlights.
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Our kindergarten through fifth graders had a great time acting out many scenes from the bible. Here are some of the highlights.
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This Holy Week is a contrast of emotions. We who have so much are told to be slaves and wash another’s feet. We are filled with joy at the coming of the Messiah; but filled with dread when we must proclaim our faith to others. We must confront the apostle Peter in ourselves and realize we have the potential to deny Jesus. Sadly, we all must see the Judas in us; that part of us that will betray Jesus and others because of our selfish motivations. This week is seeing in the Passover Meal, not the sacrifice of a bull on Sinai or a Lamb roasted and bread made in a hurry to flee, we are to see that the Lamb is Jesus himself who offers himself for our sake. He commands us to enter into this sacrificial mystery every time we gather and take bread that becomes His Body and share a cup that is His Blood. Such simple realities become the Divine Mystery; a Meal celebrating the freedom of a people from slavery becomes the Meal that is the memorial of what Jesus did to free us from the slavery of death; a share in the Sacrifice that frees us from the slavery that Adam and Eve trapped us in because of their disobedience in the garden of Eden.
This week we climb a hill, not to see a glorious Christ, but a suffering and Crucified Lord. In Him, we see not a criminal or outcast, but every poor person who is suffering, every abused child who cries for safety, every victim of addiction, every one enslaved in human trafficking, everyone in a prison, the person trapped in a mental illness, every suffering person in the world…..on that hill, all humanity is drawn to Him and freed….every human person is washed with the love that poured from His side as blood and water.
However, if Golgotha was the end of the story, then this week would not be a Holy Week. We go to the Upper Room, the Garden, the trial, Golgotha, and the tomb that was sealed knowing the end of the story: Early on the first day of the week, the holy women went and found that all suffering and pain ends in hope, all sin that is confessed and admitted ends in forgiveness, the death itself is destroyed and life restored.
May this Holy Week be an encounter with our crucified and risen Lord.
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To view the bulletin, or to print your own copy, please click here.
http://wp1333.wp3-o1.pgservers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Bulletin-March-25-2018.pdf
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To view the bulletin, or to print your own copy, please click here.
http://wp1333.wp3-o1.pgservers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Bulletin-March-18-2018.pdf
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Last fall, I planted some tulip bulbs here and up at my brothers. I am anticipating that I will see them begin to poke up in the next few weeks. It would be easy to think that the bulbs are doing nothing all winter. But, things are happening. They are waiting for the water from the melting snow to seep down, for the earth to unfreeze, and the warmth of the sun to warm the earth and help it begin to grow. Think of what is happening as it begins to poke its head out of the ground. The tulip needs to push its way up from the ground; then once its stalk comes through, it forms a blossom and the world is changed by its beauty. Our life in Christ is like the tulip bulb. Sometimes it looks like nothing is going on; but then there are times when we see our faith bearing fruit. At times, the hard soil of our hearts needs to be broken up by the gentle warmth of God’s presence or the dew of the Holy Spirit. This gentle warmth is grace. We cannot bear fruit if we think we are the gardeners; God is the one who has planted the seed of faith within us and only with God can the seed of faith grow in us. Our life of discipleship is a constant dying and rising, of planting and harvesting, of forgiveness and joy. The life of faith needs to be lived even when it appears that nothing is happening. Our faith sustains us when we feel cold and apart from God or it seems like God is silent. This is the time when it is most important to be people of faith. We are called to remain faithful even when it looks like winter and nothing is growing, and it is dark and cold …. remember the tulip bulb and the seed in the ground…it is alive and will blossom one day. Our life in Christ means that we embrace the cross: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.” Like the seed struggles to grow; like the bulb has to work to break out of the ground; so must we. No one wants the Cross; but, it is real. Life has its struggles and challenges, but with the Cross ever before us, we will never be defeated. The Cross is the promise fulfilled. The Cross is the sign of the Seed of Life that went into the ground and rose triumphant from the grave. The Cross is scandal to the world; but, to us it is the victory and the full blossom of God’s love for all people. It is through the Cross that the law of Christ is written on our hearts. The Cross is Love; the Law of God is Love; it is Love that blossoms from our hearts into the world. As we begin this Fifth Week of Lent, may we allow Christ to plant his love in our hearts and allow it to bloom with the flowers of peace and justice. May we rise from the darkness of doubt and sin and know the light and warmth of God.
Imagine what your life would be like if you awoke tomorrow morning and found that there was no water coming into your home. What would you do? Probably you'd get a few gallons of bottled water, and feel a bit grungy and inconvenienced until the water came back on. Other than that, things would really be OK. But what if the water never came back on? And what if the stores ran out of bottled water? What if the nearest drainage ditch became the only place we could get any water at all? … Help The Thirsty