Easter
Easter
Text: Matthew 28:8
There are many ways to approach the resurrection. You can approach it philosophically and try to analyze it. You can approach it biblically and try to understand the context out of which it came. You can approach it critically and discuss the rational reasons for believing or not believing in it. You can approach it pragmatically and seek to discover what it all means. Or you can approach it experientially and feel the impact of this event upon your life.
At times we place too much emphasis on feelings in matters of religion, but one of the gravest problems in the church today is not that we feel too much but that we feel too little, not that we are too emotional but that we are not emotional enough, and not that we are captured experientially with the message of the gospel but that we never caught up in experience at all.
Confessions at Lent
Confessions at Lent
Text: Psalm 51:3
“I acknowledge my transgression; and my sin is ever before me.”
We need always to repent. Lest we should forget that church in her wisdom has set aside the season of Lent which began with Ash Wednesday this past Wednesday and continues through to Psalm Sunday. It is a time that reminds us to confess our sins “with a humble, lowly, penitent and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by His infinite goodness and mercy.” Psalm 61 is a commentary upon David’s admission of guilt when Nathan confronted him. “You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife.” Many have regarded this psalm as a model confession. From it we learn that our Lenten confession must be thorough, humble and hopeful.
Prayer
Prayer: Luke 11:1-13
By Erica Farrell
I had been teaching my young son, Matthew, the Lord’s Prayer. For several evenings at bedtime, he would repeat after me the lines from the prayer. Finally, he decided to go solo. I listened with pride as he carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer: “Lead us not into temptation,” he prayed, “but deliver us some E-mail. Amen.” Ah a sign of the times!
There are plenty of amusing stories about children and prayer. Here’s a couple more:
“Love Passionately Given”
“Love Passionately Given”
Written by the Rev. Daniel Cho
Proverbs 3:1-10
1 John 4:7-16
“Love” is a very popular word in our society and people spend much of their lives in search of it. But as we all know, this often goes unfulfilled, is often misunderstood and is more than often misused. The latest search on Amazon.com reveals some interesting results: when you type in the word “money,” it lists over 90,000 book titles, “sex” has nearly 90,000, “heaven” has over 27,000, “God” has over 170,000, and for “love” there
are over 240,000 book titles listed.
If you Google the word “love” you will get over 4.2 billion hits with some websites called, ilovedogs.com, ilovecheese.com and ilovelucy.com. If you’re looking for a partner there is trueromancedatingservice.com, lovetest.com and matchmaker.com. There’s even a website called, thelovecalculator.com, which claims to give you the odds of your relationship lasting!
The common element in these sites is that love is seen as something that arises exclusively out of human desire and belonging, solely within the realm of human gratification.
Where are the nine?
Where are the nine?
Text: Luke 17; 17
Where are the nine? These words of our Lord constitute one of the most poignant, plaintive queries in the Scriptures. Ten lepers had been cleansed, but only one of the ten – a stranger – had returned to give thanks for healing. This striking story points up the lack of gratitude which is a tragic characteristic of the human race. In our own day, perhaps even more than in the New Testament times, one of the vanishing virtues seems to be the grace of thankfulness. Have you ever stopped to consider what a difference an effort to be grateful might make in your life?