One More Thing with Pastor Tim Burchill 6.24.2024

This is a prayer that Pastor Aj wanted to pray yesterday but ran short of time to do. 

My prayer:
Thank you, God, for the joy of today.
It is still morning, and yet so many good things have come our way:
the joy of shelter, the joy of clean water coming out of taps,
the joy of food on the table.


Thank you for friends who understand us,
and the joy of meeting new friends.
Thank you that we are here in church, body and spirit,
thank you for the joy of worshipping you, our Creator.


And in the midst of joys, in all honesty
we admit that we come with fears.
Some of us have fears about new beginnings;
new schools, new relationships, new jobs.


We don’t know how we’ll do or how we’ll feel—
we are nervous and want things to go well.
There are fears about health:
aches and pains that won’t go away,


symptoms that are unexplained,
treatments that we hope will be effective.
Some of us have financial fears:
will we find work, or is our work secure,
how will we pay these bills,
have we saved enough for the future?


And then there is the fear of loneliness
that strikes us all at some points--
we fear that we won’t find people to love,
or that we’ll lose the people we do love.


God of hope, thank you that you are with us in all our fears,
and that you bring joy even in the midst of them.
Thank you for your faithfulness through time,
for the ways you have been there for us in the past,
and that nothing can separate us from your love.

 

Help us this week to have compassion for those who fear:
for those who are fleeing bombs and bullets,
for those who face governments that are oppressive,
for those who cannot worship openly, but must meet in secret.


In our own community, there are people who live with the fear of violence.
Help us to be people of refuge, who offer help and support,
and who go the extra mile when we see people in need.
Forgive us for the times we have been too wrapped up
in our own fears and joys to truly see our neighbor.


Help us this week to embrace joyful living,
being mindful of the gift of each day,
remembering our Saviour Jesus Christ
who lives in us and through us.

 

And all God's children say-  Amen

 

from Pastor Aj Mildenberg ♥

Archived Posts

 

What’s Saved Is Often Lost         

Here’s the benediction we didn’t have time for yesterday (Sunday, November 3).  It’s one of my favorite quotations (portions of a newspaper column).  I hope you find it as inspiring as I have

Leftovers Continued…

         It’s not just the fact that God is un-impressed by our leftovers, it actually goes deeper than that.  In a sense, Jesus is passionately and purposely opposed to anything leftover.  To be a follower of Jesus Christ is to work diligently to make sure that in the end nothing at all is left over.

Less Stuff and Fewer Wants

          Here’s a point I left off Sunday’s sermon due to time and length.  In dealing with an Entitled mindset it is very helpful if you can Reduce Materialism and Consumerism.

Entitlement Can Hit You in Ways You Might Never Suspect

          The people of God (Israel) were chosen by God to fulfill a unique calling—to be a light to all the other nations of the nations of the world.  God chose them because of their willingness to be used by Him for His purposes.   But after a while the Israelites began to think that they were chosen--not because with God they could fulfill a special purpose--but because they were a special people, uniquely favored and loved for who they were. 

What Kind of Love Do You Have For God?

          In Sunday’s message about Job, I talked about how important relationship is when it comes to getting answers to our questions about God.  The question that Job is really being tested on is this: can he love God for who God is—or does he only love God for what God can do for him?

The Importance of A Noise Cancelling Lifestyle

          While hiding in a cave on the mountain the word of God asks Elijah, ‘What are you doing here?’  Elijah proceeds to launch into a rather whiney rant along the lines of “No one likes me, Everybody hates me, and all my hard work and sacrifice on your behalf, Lord, has fallen on deaf ears.”

 

         And here’s what most people miss about this story: 

So Is People Pleasing Such a Bad Thing?

         This is a fair question, based on Sunday’s sermon.  Wanting to make others happy isn’t a bad thing in itself.  It’s what it does to the one who is compelled to please—someone with a compulsion to win the approval of others.