THANK YOU My family and I want to thank everyone for their prayer, cards, gifts and memorial contributions on the passing of my father Lester Riggle on June 17th. I also want to thank those that cover for me during my bereavement leave and filled the pulpit during that time; thank you Phyllis, Joyce and Pastor Brent. We felt all of your prayers and so appreciate your care! God is good! Pastor Lane and Family.

THANK YOU

My family and I want to thank everyone for their prayer, cards, gifts and memorial contributions on the passing of my father Lester Riggle on June 17^th. I also want to thank those that cover for me during my bereavement leave and filled the pulpit during that time; thank you Phyllis, Joyce and Pastor Brent. We felt all of your prayers and so appreciate your care! God is good! Pastor Lane and Family.

Within the Church we find the love and compassion of Christ our Lord!

Within the Church we find hope!

Within the Church we who are all sinners, find

forgiveness!

Within the Church we find true prayer, and the

answer to all prayers!

Within the Church we find truth, and are no longer misguided!

Within the Church we are all spiritually filled, and go hungry no more.

Within the Church we truly find spiritual joy, rather than sadness in our lives!

Within the Church we find salvation, and now know the correct path to take during our lives!

Within the Church we partake of the Holy Mysteries that cleanse us and nourish us all!

Within the Church we behold all who indeed nourish us with spiritual guidance towards the Kingdom of God!

Let us spiritually make every effort to attend the many services offered to us even during the summer months in realizing God never goes on vacation. God will accompany you during your vacation! God will also be present when you return! Remember God is with you and loves you! Have a spiritually rewarding summer!

 

Summer is here and I have my bike tuned up and I am back bike commuting to work. I like to let the congregation know this because even though you don’t see my car doesn’t mean I am not at church if you are stopping by.

Biking is one of the things I really enjoy. Alice and I have taken a number of vacations to surrounding states to enjoy their bike trails. When we ride together Alice is usually behind me drafting, drafting is a technique where one follows behind the leader as they block the wind, thereby conserving energy for later. This is the strategy Alice employs par­ticularly well when we ride our bikes in windy weather. My blocking the wind on the way enables Alice to blast past me on the final home stretch. This strategy makes me think how our spiritual journey can be likened to a bike ride. We all experience times in life where the winds blow fierce and seem to zap our energy. It's then that we need help. Who do we spiri­tually draft off of? Jesus invites all of us to follow him. But too often, we think we are able to handle every­thing that life has to throw at us until we get in over our heads and then it's often too late.

Drafting as a strategy is only good so long as you plan to employ it. Once you have spent your energy fighting the wind, you can't then blast past an obstacle. Jesus is always ready to serve as our windbreak in life. Matt. 11:28-30, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy bur­dens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." It's our choice/free­will. We can be like Alice and find the windbreak [Remember there are still hills to climb, and obstacles to pass, but with Jesus' help we will have the strength to overcome them.] or we can be like The Rich Young Man [see Matt. 19:16-22] that trusted more in the things of this world than he did in Je­sus. What's your choice?

Peace and Grace,

Pastor Lane 

They may be one

John 17:20-26

17:20 "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,
17:21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,
17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
17:24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
17:25 "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.
17:26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."


WHEREVER YOU GO

Graduations bring a commencement, or beginning, of new things.



In 1990, Dr. Seuss published Oh, the Places You’ll Go! This popular graduation gift tells in Seuss’ inimitable style of all life’s possible ups and downs, twists and turns. There will surely be excitement and slumps, fun and loneliness, purpose and confusion. And, yes, fear: “There are some [things], down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.”



The sheer determination of the storybook’s life-traveler moves him beyond trouble and fear. But God’s children don’t have to go it alone. Life cannot take us anywhere God hasn’t been first. Furthermore, he walks beside us on every winding path and around every corner.



Graduates — and all Christians — can trust in the promise of Joshua 1:9 (NIV): “Be strong and courageous … for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”



A PRAYER FOR ONE’S FAMILY

Our heavenly Father, we come as your children to praise you for putting us in our family. We thank you for the love and nourishment we have received from those in whose presence we have been placed. We confess our need for your guidance in our families. Please grant us harmony in our homes and enable us always to show respect and love for one another. In Christ’s name, Amen.

New Ministry of Communion Deacons

²³ 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, ²⁴ 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." ²⁵ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

The scripture above (Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church) contains an ancient piece of liturgy of the early Christian community, and is the basis of most communion liturgies. Methodist from the very beginning even before we were a separate church, when John Wesley organized the people called Methodist as a revival movement in the Church of England, were a strong and vital movement because of the involvement of the laity.

Today Methodism is reclaiming its roots as a movement centered on the work of the laity. As such we at First Church are launching a new ministry of Communion Deacons. In accordance to the Discipline of the Church, and after reading and training with the pastor these laypersons will be bring Holy Communion to those unable to attend worship.

We hope to start this summer. After each monthly communion service we, the body of Christ, will send out the Communion Deacons with elements that were consecrated along with elements in the service. Communion has always been brought as an extension of the congregation's worship to the sick or homebound persons. In a continuance of this long standing tradition we are looking for persons to serve in this important ministry.

Those selected to be Communion Deacons must be persons who confess a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; who participate actively in the ministry, mission, and worship of the congregation; and who strive to live out the gospel in their daily lives.

Communion Deacons shall receive training from the pastor in the following areas:

a. Theology of the Eucharist in The United Methodist Church

b. Practice of caring for shut-ins and the ill

c. Procedure for serving the Eucharist outside the worship service in the sanctuary

Communion Deacons will be commissioned at a worship service. The communion they take to the shut-ins and the ill is an extension of the Lord’s table where we celebrate the renewing power of God’s love in Christ Jesus.

Please prayerful consider if God is calling you to serve in this Important ministry.

PASTOR LANE

AFFIRMATIONS OF FAITH - Prayer

As Easter people, we believe God is Lord of both life and death. 

We believe that in an astounding act of grace, Jesus suffered and died on the cross to save us from our sins.

We believe, three days later, Jesus was raised from the dead, promising us salvation, not because we deserve it, but out of love, through grace.

 We believe we are called to respond to that gift of grace, not out of duty, but in gratitude, to seek peace, care for the ill, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, empower the oppressed and welcome the outcast; to carry on Christ's work until he comes again.

Because, as Easter people, we are confident Christ will come again. Alleluia! Amen.

The other day I came upon a devotion that spoke about a particular painting that had hung in the back of a church that the author had known as a child. As I read the description of the painting, I thought to myself that I have seen that picture at sometime but the picture I recalled seeing was by the artist Warner Sallman of Jesus knocking on the door.
 Yet the writer attributed the painting to a Holman Hunt this I thought must have been an error. The picture sounded the same, but because the devotion focused on the painter and his thought about the picture I decided to do more research. Though the descriptions seemed to match, the author of the devotion was describing a different artist picture. This caused me to investigate and locate the artist and the picture mentioned in the devotion.

What a wonder the Internet is. I was able to locate not a Holman Hunt but a William Holman Hunt a British artist that painted nearly one hundred years before Sallman. Hunt, a British artist, was well noted in his own time. His paintings hang at the British Museum and National Gallery in London. The devotion focused on his unveiling of his painting entitled "The Light of the World." When he had completed the painting, he invited friends to a private showing. All marveled at the painting until one particular friend pointed out that there seemed to be an error in the painting. "Uh, Holman - it's a beautiful painting. But - didn't you forget something?" "What did I forget?" The friend said, "The handle. There's no handle on the door." To which the artist simply replied, "Oh! No, I didn't forget the handle. When Jesus knocks on the door of your heart - the handle is on the INSIDE."

In my research of the similar paintings by two famous artist I also discovered that Sallman painting of Jesus is titled "Christ at Heart's Door” which lead me to believe that Sallman himself was aware of the story behind Hunt’s (an earlier generations famous artist) rendition of Jesus' famous statement "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." Luke 11: 9-10.

This exercise reminded me of the breadth and depth art can have. As I looked at both of these paintings I was reminded of a higher level to the meaning the pictures are conveying. I have seen various Sallman paintings over the years in countless churches yet I hadn't stopped to observe them in a way that allowed them to truly speak to me. Analogously our spiritual lives are the same. We don't really spend the time we need in seeking out the Holy. We expect God to do it all. Like what the artist William Holman Hunt wanted us to recognize in his painting we need to be about the task of working with God. We need to open ourselves to receive what God is showering on us. What Jesus is conveying to us are action words (verbs); ask, search, and knock! "And it will be given you."

If you do not perceive God as a real presence in your life maybe it is because you haven't paid enough attention, haven't looked beyond the obvious, haven't put forth effort? Remember Christ is at the door waiting for you.

Together in Christ,

Pastor Lane

P.S. check out the artists and painting mentioned above, they can be easily found on the internet.

Join me for services this Holy Week

 Palm Sunday services this weekend

(John 12:12-13)"On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, {13} Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord"

Maundy Services- 7 pm Thursday April 5th

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 ESV    

     For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Friday Evening Services 7 pm April 6th

 -Isaiah 53:5-6     “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Join our services on Easter Weekend!

John 20:1-31 ESV   "Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. ...

Let us Celebrate our Risen Jesus!

He gave His life that we might be free!

The most precious text of John 3:16 declares that "whosoever" believes in Jesus will be saved. So the invitation is to all who are willing to accept the truth. But the sad fact is that not all are interested in salvation. So only those who are genuinely interested and meet the simple conditions will reap the benefits. Therefore though "all" have the provision only "many" or a "few" will benefit from it, as they seek for it.