Before worship this last Sunday, there were many members who shared in a prayer walk around the church inviting the presence of the Holy Spirit to be present in every space and moment. Each of us walked silently in prayer covering various parts of the church knowing that within an hour those spaces would be filled with hearts for God.
After praying through the sanctuary, I headed downstairs. As I began to walk there, I found my prayers to be mainly prayers of gratitude.
-I was grateful for the confirmation room filled with couches which would soon be filled with
6th graders and their parents. It is a nice space.
-I felt gratitude as I prepared to walk into the 5th grade Sunday School classroom. Hanging on
the wall near the door was a sheet of paper listing the SS teachers’ names...Ken Evancic,
Dave Coleman, and next--two of our youth Billy Kepler and Luke Anderson. I was so grateful
for a classroom where our youth were serving as leaders.
-I was grateful when I saw on the wall of the 4th grade SS class a memory wall of pictures of
past 4th grade classes.
I headed up the stairs…
-praying with thanks for a warm and welcoming chapel where in a few hours several people
of the Chinese community would be there praising God in their native language.
-Next door I walked into the large classroom where tables were set with Bibles and hymnals
ready for the arrival of many of our senior members who would be praying, studying and
singing praises to God.
-I prayed through the small “cry room” where parents could still be a part of worship on the
large television screen thanks to technology.
Finally I headed back to the sanctuary.
Because of the generosity of many throughout the years, we are blessed to have so many places of opportunity to worship, to study, to pray and to sing. Now this opportunity sits with the hearts of everyone who is a part of Carmel United Methodist Church today. Our forefathers and foremothers brought us this far to God’s glory. Now it is our turn. The question is for each of us…
--Will I do my part?
--Through my giving, will I express enough gratitude to God for the many blessings
I have received?
--Through my giving, will I demonstrate to God that I understand that all that I have is
His and I am simply managing what He gives?
The relationship we have to our money and possessions directly reflects our place of discipleship. May we always be growing disciples of Jesus Christ.
Blessings, Patti
Archived Posts
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I was talking Sunday about the work of Hare and Woods and their idea of ‘the survival of the friendliest.’ Essentially, they conclude that “our greatest evolutionary advantage wasn't that we could do everything ourselves. It was that we could do things together.”
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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.