05/25/2019
Memorial Day seems to have diverse purposes as we observe the upcoming weekend.
1. The original purpose was to honor those who died in serving our country.
2. This seems to have expanded to decorating not only gravesites of those who
had served our country but also our other loved ones.
3. The Indianapolis 500 weekend
4. First weekend of summer
5. Open up the lake houses
And maybe you have other purposes for the weekend. I think that no matter the activity of the weekend, I hope you will take some time to remember…
1. Remember those who have served our country so that we have freedoms that
others may not have.
2. Remember loved ones who have impacted your life directly maybe not with
physical flowers on a gravesite but with prayers of thanks.
My mom makes the journey to place flowers on the gravesites of her mother, her father, and her sister each year. The years that I have made that trip with her, I see on her face that she is immersed in memories of them. What a beautiful way to honor the deceased person but also to honor God with thanks for the life that was shared with us.
Wherever the weekend may take you, I hope that you will pause to remember...most importantly remember that God has journeyed this life with you wherever that has been and that God will move forward with you...and in fact is ahead of you.
Have a blessed and safe Memorial Weekend. Pastor Patti
Archived Posts
Here’s a preview of our congregation’s Core Values
In the coming weeks we will be exploring the importance of presence, prayers, gifts, service, witness, and growth in grace. These are at the heart of what we commit to when we join a Wesleyan grace-led church like ours. But we choose to broaden them out and state them in a new way…
The Biblical prayer we don’t know what to do with
Psalm 137 is written by people who have experienced catastrophic loss.
They have been conquered...
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: