06/06/2019
Yes, I know school is out of session but I am assigning a homework project!!!
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Go out into God’s creation. Yes, the world around you...everything is God’s creation, the handiwork of God’s amazing plan. Take your Bible with you. Look around for a very large tree that is tall and has branches that extend far out from its trunk. Lie down on the ground under that tree and pause there quietly. Don’t worry if anyone sees you, they won’t think you have lost their mind...they will be envious of you taking that moment.
Lie there and look up into the branches above you, beyond you and around you. Just imagine them being the presence and arms of God standing over you and embracing you. Just stay there in that moment...many moments...many minutes.
Before you leave this moment, open your Bible and read Ephesians 3:14-19.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Remember how this moment feels and find this moment regularly in your life. May you be refreshed by the presence and Spirit of God.
Pastor Patti
P.S. In case you cannot find such a tree, try the one I did. It is located on the church campus. At the west entrance to the church, there is a tree on the edge of the parking lot. Perfect...
Archived Posts
Patience and Trust
Sunday, in my benediction (which traditional folks did not hear) I talked about the Marshmallow Test. The original results of that test with children was that those who could delay gratification did better in life than those who could not.
Gandhi and the Sugar
I wasn’t preaching Sunday, Reverend Jackie Chandler was. And she talked about the power of influence you get when you practice what you preach. This famous illustration came to mind. It fits Jackie’s points quite well. Enjoy!
Not Just for Parents
Our current sermon series is about How To Talk Parent, but it doesn’t require any of us to be parents to appreciate the bits of wisdom OUR parents shared with us growing up.
If Not Higher
Here’s a story I wanted to use when talking about ‘what you do when no one is looking’ yesterday. It’s a wonderful illustration of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6:1-6—do what you do because of who you want to be, not so that others will take notice and praise you.
The Perfect Church
There is an old joke about the perfect church. We talked just a little about the perfect pastor, but turnabout is fair play. It goes like this:
The Clothes You Wear
Sunday I talked about Joshua the High Priest having his filthy clothing replaced by a cleaned and beautiful garments. I also used the illustration of a boy becomes a dragon—who ‘wears’ dragon scales—and is stripped of those scales in order to be restored to a boy. In fact, I could have done the whole sermon around all the clothing imagery in scripture.
What just missed the cut for Sunday’s Sermon
Naaman’s servants may actually become one of the hidden gems of the sermon. They say, essentially: “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it.”