Spiritual Friends

 

Read Galatians 6:1-5

View the July-August, 2012 Issue

If anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.

- Galatians 6:1 (NRSV)

I had taken a rock-wall-climbing challenge on a dare, despite my fear of heights. As my fingers found themselves placed in the climbing holes, my mind raced: What happens if I fall? Will someone be there to catch me? I cautiously peered down the 36-foot wall and spotted the belayer — the person who controls the tension in the rope. Belayers give climbers slack in the rope when it’s needed and pull in excess to prevent a fall. Then I was not so fearful.
In a spiritual sense, God gives us belayers in life. They may be friends, mentors, or accountability partners. God gives us relationships that encourage us upward in our spiritual growth and keep us from stumbling. These people comfort and care for us but also hold us accountable for how we live our faith.
We may feel hurt or offended when someone we love points out a shortcoming. However, spiritual friends love us in spite of our faults and challenge us to change, to grow closer to the way of Christ.

The Author

Cary Tabares (Florida, USA)

Thought for the Day

To see a picture of Cary and the climbing wall, go to devotional.upperroom.org/blog.

Prayer

Dear God, thank you for those who hold us accountable. Open our hearts and minds to accept your loving correction, and make us willing to change. Amen.

I will hear you

Jeremiah 29:11-13

29:11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
29:12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.
29:13 When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,

Upper Room Thought for the Day

What’s in My Heart?

Matthew 15:10-20

What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.

- Matthew 15:18 (NRSV)

“Watch out!” I screamed and then jumped back as a little boy careened backward while trying to kick a bouncing soccer ball. Annoyance bubbled up inside me as I looked at the spreading coffee stain on my new cream jacket. Fortunately, I didn’t have time to say anything to the child as he raced off after the ball, oblivious to the minor accident he had caused.
“Why doesn’t someone keep those kids under control?” I muttered, sounding like my grandmother many years ago. Later I wondered why I had reacted so strongly. After all, he was just a little child playing ball. He didn’t intend harm.
I hadn’t given any thought to my reaction; it just spilled out, much like that coffee. Jesus once warned his disciples that what came out of their mouths actually came from their hearts.
The Bible reminds us repeatedly to be joyful. If my heart is full of joy, when I’m knocked off balance, joy will spill out. If my heart is full of love, when something or someone bumps me, I will react in love. I resolved to be more careful about what I put into my heart because I want what spills out to be joy.

The Author

Shirley M. Corder (Eastern Cape, South Africa)

Thought for the Day

When our hearts are filled with love, life’s little collisions will not harm us or those near us.

Prayer

Loving Father, forgive us for the times our hearts have overflowed in harmful ways. Help us to bring healing and blessing to those around us, even when we’re knocked off balance. Amen.

Prayer focusThose filled with anger

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