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
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.”
One of the Longest Benedictions I Ran Out of Time to Share
Maybe you know the story of how Joseph and Mary accidentally left Jesus at the gas station on their way home from Jerusalem. Well, not the gas station bathroom in Jesus’ case. Joe and Mary are far down the road before they realize Jesus isn’t with them...
So many quips and quotes...
So little time to preach
I wonder what Mary and Martha’s phones might look like:
* Martha = the open browser with 27 tabs
* Mary = the single window that matters
* Psalm 46 = God saying, “Close the tabs.”