By Admin2 on
3/28/2012 9:24 AM
What a joyous, glorious day! The human minds of the “still-in-the-flesh” men and women who went to an empty tomb could not grasp the reality that Jesus was alive, eternally alive. The huge round stone was rolled aside, and the grave was forever empty of the body of the crucified Lord. Thus we sing “up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes,” and his victory became our victory – “O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever.” Just a few short days before Jesus faced his submission to his enemies, his humiliation and punishment, his beating and his crucifixion with a deep sense of human dread. He prayed on the Mount of Olives asking the Father if there might be some other way for the atonement for human sin to be accomplished; but he prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done.”
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By Admin2 on
3/20/2012 11:22 AM
We are drawing closer and closer to the Way of the Cross, to the events of Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Today our gospel reading forces us to hear what goes so against the grain: that the God of all should willingly suffer and die. I don’t know about you, but I’m digging in my heels, trying to keep it from happening, or at least trying to stall the inevitable. Oh please, dear Lord, just this once - can’t you be a superhero?
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By Admin2 on
3/18/2012 11:50 AM
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.” What marvelous words for us to hear as we journey through Lent. They are truly a summation of all of Sacred Scripture for the Bible is a love story about God and His people. The first thing to take note of is that it was God, not us, who took the initiative in our salvation. Sometimes the impression has been given that God had first of all to be pacified before he would forgive us. So many see God as stern, angry and unforgiving. Jesus, who is the fullest revelation of who God is, shows us that God is kind, gentle, compassionate, and forgiving. Through the centuries we human beings turned away from God. But God loves us so much that he would do anything to bring us back to him. It was God who took the first step toward reconciliation.
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By Admin2 on
3/12/2012 8:35 AM
I have had the good fortune of having traveled quite extensively. Early in my traveling years I traveled mostly in the United States and Europe; later I began to travel in Asia and Africa. Asia and Africa made traveling in the USA and Europe like playing in my backyard. Asia and Africa were culturally different enough from my usual that they were able to crack open my shell of what’s usual and what to expect. They were different enough from what’s usual to open me up to look at life and life’s questions anew.
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By Admin2 on
3/5/2012 12:52 PM
"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ --- by grace you have been saved ---and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus….” --Ephesians 2:4 - 6
Lent is rather well known for it. Throughout Lent the worship services, hymns, prayers, confessions and sermons often center around what we know deep down within ourselves --- we are sinful. It is the common part of our humanity. We sin in word, deed and action. We sin by what we have done and by what we have failed to do. We sin. We know it. Lent highlights it.
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By Admin2 on
2/23/2012 1:03 PM
Finding ourselves at the beginning of Lent it is these words from John the Baptist that focus our hearts and minds in what is truly necessary for the followers of Christ: “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:29-30)
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By Admin2 on
2/2/2012 1:54 PM
 Manage Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on February 22nd. I am starting off with this information because I believe Ash Wednesday is a good day to gain focus. Ash Wednesday is the day we confess how we have turned away from God and God's Way. We are invited to name our sins and our wanderings at the same time we are invited to repent. When we can truly confess and repent we are on the road to the focus Lent brings us.
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