Coming Home

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them.   Mark 2:1-2 

And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. Mark 1:21  

But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you. Mark 16:7

 

Recently a theme at church has been “ home”. When I think about home, I think about Sioux City, not just my original home, but the home to many of my family and friends. There were visits to the grandparents, picnics in the parks, large family holiday meals and get-togethers, hiking through the loess hills, school activities, and attending church –a place where you were always welcome and loved.  For Jesus, home was Galilee. Mark talks about the early ministry of Jesus being close to his home. There were important landmarks including the Sea of Galilee, the River Jordan, the synagogue at Capernaum, a special lonely place where he could pray, and climbing up into the hills. In reading Mark, I suddenly realized that for Jesus—home was also his family, friends, neighbors, and his church. Much of his time there was spent in preaching and healing those around him who he probably knew.  He called people by name, not just his disciples, but people like Levi the son of Alphaeus—the tax collector. He frequently ate with friends in their homes. He enjoyed nature and those familiar places where he could be himself, rest, and be refreshed. In Mark 16:7, after the crucifixion, the Mary’s are told to tell the disciples that Jesus is going to Galilee, that they will see him there. He was going home—home where his ministry started, home where he had family, neighbors, and friends, and the special place where they would meet again.

 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for home—not just our family, but our neighbors, friends, community, and especially our church. Thank you for people who know us by name and care about us. Thank you for our church where we are always welcome and loved. Amen.

 

Nancy Hall

Sermon notes, Dorothee Soelle, September 3

As published in Dorothee Soelle: Mystic and Rebel by Renate Wind (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), p. 1

It’s not you who should solve my problems, God,
But I yours, God of the asylum-seekers.
It’s not you who should feed the hungry,
But I who should protect your children
From the terror of the banks and armies,
It’s not you who should make room for the refugees,
But I who should receive you,
Hardly hidden God of the desolate

You dreamed me, God,
Practicing walking upright
And learning to kneel down
More beautiful than I am now,
Happier than I dare to be
Freer than our country allows.

Don’t stop dreaming me, God.
I don’t want to stop remembering
That I am your tree,
Planted by the streams
of living water.

Translated from the German, “Träume Mich, Gott” in das Brot der Ermutigung (Stuttgart: Kreuz, 2008)

Service

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind...In humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phillippians 2:1 - 11

 

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11 :25

 
I have been dismayed at how much time and energy I have had to put into the simple act of changing cell phone service providers because I have been given a phone that is not one used by my current provider. 

There are so many large and complicated issues in our daily lives; sometimes we must meet draining challenges in our work, and other times our loved ones might need our help in addressing overwhelming obstacles.  Our own personal situations often lead us to have to sort out issues in areas where we are called to make big changes.  

I find myself in all three categories at the moment, and alongside those issues my focus is drawn daily to the upheavals our country and the world are experiencing.  Times like these require more effort to connect to God's heart and to be God's vehicle to the world he created.  

My communications with my current cell provider have been frustrating.  The customer service is truly customer disservice.  The company has done everything it can to frustrate the customer looking for essential information, and to keep the customer powerless and ostracized.  

The situation has made me realize that frustration with worldly things is a distraction from my life with God.  I am anxious to solve this problem because I don't like what it is doing to my mind.  

The one successful thing I did might not have helped to advance my request, but it helped me not to lose myself in this mess:  I wrote a letter describing how Harry Potter might need to wrestle the information I need, and filled it with references to the stories I love so much.  Who knows? Perhaps the person pushing the button of the automated email response got a chuckle out of reading my email.  Anyway, I tried to make the best of a communication that was intended to convey the resistance I was sensing by the company that supposedly is set up to "serve" customers.  

It is illuminating to note the times each day when something worldly tries to distract me from my real purpose.  Praying for blessings on each person driving alongside me on the commute to work is more important than anything except driving safely.  It is something I can do to serve the God and the people in God's world. It is small, but mighty.  Like most prayers, the power is in how it changes the feed of human consciousness, and how it changes me.  

It must be so frustrating to work in the service industry when the company you represent will not allow you to truly serve and relate to your customers.  I can recall so many instances of helpful people on the other end of a phone call or email recently, and I hope I have indicated my gratitude sufficiently to those who have served so well.  In my own work, I find that when people understand that I am ready and willing to be of service to them we accomplish great things.  We connect and we engage our gifts.  

Service is for some people their complete mission, their utter joy.  I have not been guided to that kind of purity yet in my life, but I do know how right it feels sometimes to join the forces of those who feel complete in themselves and at the same time feel completed by the service they can offer to others.  

Prayer: God who calls us to celebrate our being simply by being the gifts we can be for one another, teach me to focus on the beauty of serving you and my brothers and sisters rather than by wasting energy on things that pull me away from you. Help us all to remember these words:  (1 Peter 4:10-11:)  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies - in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.  To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen.

 
Mollie Manner

A Bad Day?

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Colossians 1:9 

 

 

Have you ever had a really bad day?  Maybe you woke up late that morning. Now at work you are listening to that one person who every word they speak is negative and normally you ignore it, but today it is just heightening your stress level. Finally you make it to lunch where the service is extremely slow, not today you think to yourself. You notice that one worker doesn't even seem to be paying attention to the fact that customers are waiting! You return to work to find out that project you thought you had more time to complete, that the deadline has been moved to tomorrow. You made it through the day and on your way home a car pulls in front of your car just missing it by inches. The driver never even looked your way. No one has had a worse day you tell your family.   

It is not easy but let us step back and look at your day. You woke up late, had you contemplated it was all in God's plan? Perhaps if you had been on your regular schedule you may have encountered that vehicle accident on your normal route. That co-worker that is so negative; perhaps they are going through a divorce and have no family support. The restaurant worker is worried about having enough money to feed their family. The driver of the car that cut you off just found out a family member is dying. Maybe these scenarios are what is happening in those individuals' lives, maybe not, we don't know.  The one thing we do know is we need to pray...pray for thanks to God for protecting us, for patience in our everyday lives, for those we encounter every day that they find peace, comfort and answers from above.  

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven I pray that I find the strength to do my best to follow in your daily plan. Help me to remember to pray for others I may encounter that they may feel your comfort and blessings. Thank you Father for all the blessings you have bestowed upon my life, in Jesus name I pray. Amen

Lori Hood

 

Peace

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

When I think about the word “Peace” and what it means to me, I think of two things: one, the peace of mind that allows me make my way in the world, and two, the peace that results when our relationships are harmonious.  Both come from God, and allowing Him to work in our lives and transform us.

If there was no conflict, there wouldn’t be opportunity for peace. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of this, or we could get “bogged down” in the futility of it all. I think that for most of us, we think of peace as all of humanity “just getting along”. But, could peace also mean learning to accept? Could it mean knowing what we stand for, but realizing not everyone else feels the same? Of course, we all believe we are the right ones (or it wouldn’t be called belief), but how about understanding that each of us comes from a different place, both figuratively and literally, and that those different places make the world beautiful and diverse. Instead of only hoping for peace and praying for peace, I’m going to start my life with peace…and, to me, that means loving you for who you are and accepting our differences…and asking God to help me with all of it!

Prayer: Dear Lord, please help me to think before I speak, and think before I judge someone else’s beliefs. Calm my heart and my head. Amen.

Donna Gustafson

Supporting Families

“Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.” I Thessalonians 5:11

 

Joshua 1:9 “I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

 

A young mother posted this on Facebook (slightly edited): “Sweaty, baby strapped to my back, three-year-old insisting that her belly hurts and NEEDS her donut that she forgot to eat after lunch, six-year-old using everything in sight as a weapon, seven-year-old wanting to spend the only dollar he has. This was my trip to the grocery store today. While I was bagging up my groceries and trying to quietly keep from losing my mind, the lady next to me asked if I have one of those phones that takes pictures. Trying not to convey annoyance to someone else adding to the million questions that made up my day, I replied that, yes I do have one of those phones.  She asked to take a picture of me with my kids. At the grocery store. Together. She told me that she wishes she had photos of herself doing everyday ordinary things with her kids. She validated the fact that a simple grocery trip is hard. She told me that what I do matters. She doesn’t miss what made the days hard, but she misses what made them sweet. I will always cherish the picture she took and the message that came with it.”

 

After reading that Facebook post, I wondered what I could do to be supportive of families. Well, I could let a family go ahead of me in the checkout line. I could give them a smile of encouragement. I could pray for them.

 

What else could you and I do? As the school year begins, families can become overwhelmed by busyness and burdened by many back-to-school expenses. At Eastridge Presbyterian Church we are encouraged to take a prayer card for one child or youth and pray for them regularly. Each of us can do something to make a difference. See the September church newsletter and weekly Lamp for many opportunities to get involved in supporting families, children and youth.

Here are two examples:

Snack Provider – Prepare a snack for the after-school program. Prayer: God, we remember your promise to be with us always. Thank you for walking with us each day. Amen.

Teacher – Prepare and teach a lesson.

Prayer: God, we remember your promise to be with us always. Thank you for walking with us each day. Amen.

Lois Poppe

 

 

The Sunken Gardens

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:3-4

 

Every time I visit the Sunken Gardens, here in Lincoln, I marvel at the gorgeous red and white blossoms that line the sidewalks. However, the sidewalks are very special, too. They are tiles, with the names of friends and loved ones who have passed away or needed to be honored.

My youngest son, Chris, has his own tile.  Chris died suddenly of blood poisoning at age 41. In John Keats” poem, Endynios, the hero says, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever. It will not pass into nothingness.”

At the bottom of the little valley is a large fish pond fiilled with koi, of many colors. And, of course, there are flowers everywhere, and the butterflies, bees, and birds are going wild at the feast before them.

Seeing this beautiful little valley that used to be a garbage dump, I am so grateful to the wonderful people of Lincoln who volunteer to plant, water, and care for this lovely garden.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank you for the beauty of the earth. Help us to be deserving of it and to use it wisely.

Gerry Draney