Church

Prayers with no words….

Windows at St. Mary’s Church, Google Images

Forever O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven……Psalm 119:89

This morning I let my prayer be silence. I meditated on everything I have prayed for before. God has them, I know it. Safe in His golden bowl, He keeps them. This morning it seemed right to just give Him a silent offering. I made a blank canvas, as blank as I could anyway, thoughts always seem to crowd in, and carved out an empty place for God to fill.

Today I rest in who He is, I meditate of His power, glory, omnipotence, love….

Sometimes you just need to see what comes back in the silence, so I made my soul as still as an empty church. Sometimes you just need to make yourself a living Psalm, fill yourself up with your need for God, your need for answers, your need to know He is listening. So today I sat in the hush of His peace, silence of no words. The mourning dove cooing on the eaves of the neighbor’s roof prayed eloquently for me today.

In meditating on His strength, I become acutely aware of my weakness and utter inability to do anything apart from Him. That is a good place to start the day.

After all, as the Psalmist says…..Forever O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven……Psalm 119:89Whatever happens and however out of control you feel, God remains in control. This is a comforting thought.

Thankful today for the peace that only He can give……#411 doves gentle call, #412 prayers in silence, #413 soft music that soothes, #414 the wisdom of His word spoken through wise friends, #415 cats soft purr, #416 real hugs, #417 laughter that heals the soul, #418 much needed rain in the desert, #419 family that taught me His love, #420, the Holy Spirit who puts our soul at rest…..
holy experience

A Father’s love…..

“So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

This is such a perfect picture of God’s love for us. “While he was still a long way off….” I think of two fathers waiting. God, and the father in this parable. God has been waiting for us to come back since the beginning, and this father, ever since his son flew out the door with high hopes and full pockets. I think of a father’s broken heart. I think of him going about his daily work, with always one eye cast toward that road….I think he held out hope that someday the vision that he carried in his heart, of a lone figure walking toward home would come true.

And then it did, and that was all that mattered. It didn’t matter how long he’d been gone, or how many foolish things he had done, or even how much he’d sinned. His father didn’t make him feel worse for coming home, heap guilt on him. The son did that all by himself and the father knew it. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” Luke 15:21
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the other son too. The faithful one. But I wonder, was he really all that faithful? Maybe there was some hidden resentment there all along. Resentment that gave birth to full bloom anger when he saw how overjoyed the father was at his brother’s returning.

My Dad and I were talking about this just the other night when I was home…..he said something I had never thought of concerning the son that stayed. He said, “You know, that is just the attitude we have for people who come back to the church sometimes,“But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.” Luke 15:29 It’s true. While God welcomes the prodigal with open arms, we sometimes are not as welcoming as we could be; we hold back just a little bit because, after all, we want to see if it is really genuine!

Thank you God, for loving us with an open arms kind of love. A God who waits…..and help me to never forget all the times you have welcomed me back without reservation.

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Do not gloat over me my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.” Micah 7:7,8

It is well…..

Bing Images, New River UK

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

These are the verses I learned, but there are two more that are worth looking up….

Horatio Spafford

“It Is Well with My Soul” is a very influential hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss.

This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone.” Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

This old hymn popped into my mind on the way to work today and I just couldn’t help singing it….what is it about those Hymns that can make you feel all wiggly inside when you hear them?

Do you have a favorite?

Simplifying


I was thinking today how complicated everything seems, even the church. Every day I see terms associated with the modern church that leave me confused, and I am one of the ones in the church! I can’t imagine how those outside the church feel. No wonder they are confused and disillusioned. I just heard a new term today, the Organic Church. I have no idea what it means, then there are these terms associated with the church today:
Emergent Church
Post-Modern Church
Mega-Church
Conservative and Post-conservative
Liberal and Post Liberal
Reformed
Charismatic and Neocharismatic
Calvinism
Arminianism
Those are just a sprinkling of terms I found and those are general terms that don’t even include the different denominations themselves. No wonder people are confused about Christianity. Sometimes I think it would be a whole lot easier if all churches had one name….”The Way” with a simple fish on the front.
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:31
The important thing to remember is that behind all the differences of denomination and styles of worship, we are all one church.

Lord, I pray that we can be one unified church so that You might be glorified on this earth. May we continue to be a light in a dark world that needs You. I pray that we can use love as a filter through all of our differences. Thank you for Your Holy Spirit who makes this possible. Amen.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Celebrating the church today and all the important ways we are the same…..believing that He is risen, and that we will rise too, that we have forgiveness through His work on the cross, that we must trust Him daily, confess our sins, know that we are unworthy but He is worthy, lifting our hands, bowing our heads, praising His name in the sanctuary, that we remember what He did through communion, enter into new life through baptism, death swallowed up in victory
holy experience

Grace in action

James 1:27
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

On a February evening in 1998, the secretary of Living Springs Assembly of God Church in Glendale, Arizona got a call from a needy family; a request for food. When volunteer Trudy Calabrese found out there were 4 children in the home, she decided that the need was crucial enough that she go alone, so she got in her truck and went to the home of John and Kara Sansing. This is what happened next in the words of John Sansing:

“I grabbed on to the church lady who brought
me food to help my family. When I grabbed the lady, I
crossed the line. It was like no turning back.” Next,
Sansing tied her up, raped her, robbed her and
murdered her. Kara Sansing helped restrain Calabrese
as his children listened in a nearby room. He then
dumped Trudy Calabrese’s body behind his house.

John and Kara had been smoking crack cocaine at the time and robbing Trudy was a way to get more, but then it all went terribly out of control. During the attack, when John left for awhile Trudy pled for her life, to be let go. Kara refused.

I remember when this happened. John and Kara have been in prison now for years, John on death row. But this is the part of the story I didn’t know until recently. A family in the church stepped up and formally adopted all 4 of those precious children, the boy now in college.

The wife of my co-worker was best friends with Trudy and usually went with her on home deliveries. She didn’t go that night and it still haunts her even now. He shared all these facts with me one day when something came on the news about the case when we were at work.

Trudy served in the military, but she died on a very different battlefield. She will be remembered, is still remembered. No doubt it would have made her very happy to know that the family who adopted those children kept them all together. They wanted to give them every chance for a somewhat normal life. I honor that family today. I pray that the scars that these children had to bear from what they witnessed and heard, have been healed over with the love and grace of God and this family. I honor Trudy today, I pray for the ones in her family left behind, that they may have continual comfort knowing she is safe in the arms of God.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7,8

Church Las Vegas style


He (God) works on us in all sorts of ways. But above all, He works on us through each other. Men are mirrors, or “carriers” of Christ to other men. Usually it is those who know Him that bring Him to others. That is why the Church, the whole body of Christians showing Him to one another, is so important. It is so easy to think that the Church has a lot of different objects – education, building, missions, holding services… The Church exists for no other purpose but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other reason. C.S. Lewis

When you think of Las Vegas many images come to mind, Elvis, The Chapel of Love, Wayne Newton, Elvis, Siegfried and Roy, The Strip, Elvis…anyway, usually you don’t think of church. Recently we went to visit friends and family there, that being the halfway point between Boise, Idaho and Mesa, Arizona. We had a great time walking, well actually it was more like trotting, up and down the Las Vegas strip. With two kids and two (younger than I) parents of said kids, trying to fit in as much fun as possible in 3 days, I would recommend it as a great workout. Thankfully they had 4 tickets to the wax museum which we happily skipped so we could rest our aching feet for an hour!

I happened to be browsing through the tourist leaflets in the RV resort lobby when I noticed that they offered a church service on Sunday mornings at 11. In the Hollywood ballroom no less! We were met on Sunday morning by a gentle soft-spoken Pastor named Ed Hernandez. We sang familiar praise songs led by he and his lovely wife, both originally from the Philippines. As we went around the room and introduced ourselves I was struck once again by the fact that perfect strangers could feel like family. I guess because we really are! I pray that they will be greatly blessed by their good works. I am thankful they are there and I told them so. I am now putting the Desert Oasis Church on my prayer list, and when I think of Las Vegas I will think of Pastor Ed and his family, doing God’s work in the middle of Neon Desert Oasis.


Elam Ministries is reporting that the health of Iranian Christians Maryam Rustampoor (27) and Marzieh Amirizadeh (30) is deteriorating after having been imprisoned for six months. Here is their latest update:

Maryam and Marzieh have now been in prison in Tehran because of their faith for over six months and their health is deteriorating. This is the most urgent matter for prayer – that the Lord heals them directly and miraculously for the glory of His name and their encouragement.

Both women are suffering from sore throats, irregular painful stomach aches and often intense head aches. Both have lost much weight during their ordeal, because of their sickness and lack of nutrition. Marzieh’s tooth infection is only being treated by painkillers and if the infection spreads it could become critical.

Due to overcrowding in the prison and the limited facilities, they have not received adequate treatment. There are also many other sick inmates and so there is a constant risk of picking up other viruses.

Regarding their case, the judge has said that they are ‘not cooperating’ meaning Maryam and Marzieh would not deny Christ but were faithful witnesses. The implication of his remark is that they continue to stay in prison. This is the normal punishment for female apostates: they are kept imprisoned until they recant. Please pray for this judge that he is either removed from the case or that he orders their release.

Please pray for these dear sisters and show your solidarity with them by posting a prayer for them on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.

Confessions of a church mutt


I confess I have a speckled lineage when it comes to my church experience. Personally, I don’t believe God cares what denomination, if any, we attach ourselves to as long as it remains true to Biblical teaching. I think we can gather richness from each one, I know I have. However we dress it up or perform the ceremony what remains is God and His word. He alone knows the heart of a church.

I have been Baptist, Episcopalian for a short time, Assembly of God, Methodist through my Grandfather, and Non-denominational. From each one I carry memories with me that have enriched my faith. In each one I have experienced God’s grace. I have seen prayers answered, God’s love flowing through people. I have seen the Holy Spirit change lives and do things not humanly possible.

I remember….magical paper sacks that we received after every Christmas pageant. I remember quaking on stage, trying to remember my one line from the Bethlehem scene. I think one time I actually cried and ran off stage….but after, we received a paper sack that held the same things every year; peanuts in the shell, buried within a hershey bar, and a roll of five flavor lifesavers, and an orange. I was always scared they would run out before they got to me. A walk down the aisle to start my journey with Christ…..Seeing my Pastor in rubber waders at my Baptism, warm water swirling around my white baptism clothes, giving the confession of faith; never to be the same again. Strong biblical teaching from a pastor who loved digging into meanings of Greek and Hebrew. So many joyful hours of choir practice, where my Aunt and I sang on the Alto end.

I remember ice-cream socials on summer evenings in the Methodist church yard, all cakes made from scratch, with a man dipping ice-cream at the end of the line. The beautiful marbled sanctuary…they knew how to make a church look like a church in those days.

I remember beautiful liturgy at St. John’s Episcopal, learning when to sit and stand, knees creaking. The flip of the kneeler in the silence. People there who helped each other out after hours. I remember a spirit of love in the social hall after service when I saw Fr. Ray dancing with a child one day. The tradition of the flowering of the cross at Easter, the Sacrifice giving way to the fragance of beauty and conquered death once and for all.

I remember prayer times, tears, laughter, and meeting wonderful people who loved God. Meeting God at the altar, prayers answered, hands lifted high, tears of communion. Learning about the gifts of the Spirit….(still have my notes) All of these precious times, a bit of Heaven on earth. A foretaste of glory to come….

Church; it’s not perfect because it is made up of people. But it’s God’s church and still a place where you can find grace, forgiveness, and love.

“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” Psalm 27:4

Church Reflections….

During the past year or two I have grieving the loss of my church home. The church I went to is still there, still full, but with two less people in it. I guess you could say it changed direction and I decided I didn’t want to be swept away in its current. It’s all good….they all seem to be happy with the changes, but I just didn’t want to go in the direction they were going. Suffice it to say that each time I have gone back after the “change” I felt like I had just been given a slick presentation and pushed out the door with a side-ways handshake. It always left me a little dazed.

So the other day I was getting ready to go to the church close by my home. I have been going there among other places off and on since Christmas. Honestly, I wasn’t very excited about going. I catch myself “comparing.” Once you have had that ideal “relationship” you can only go down from there.

Once again, God pulled me up short as He has many times before. It happened while I was in the bathroom getting ready; He seems to speak to me more in the bathroom; either that or I just listen better there. He said to my heart, “Just be obedient and go, did I promise that you would be excited every time?” Immediately the joy of the truth flooded in. Okay, I get it Lord!

I had to remember once again that it’s not all about the music, teaching, friends, and all the rest of what I think I need in a church. (Just when did it become all that anyway??) It’s about serving God and serving others! Logically I know this, but I obviously needed to relearn the lesson. Inwardly, I was missing that church “experience.” The warmth, the fellowship, the presence of the Lord, and He was saying, I’m still right here! “Just be obedient and go.”

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” Matt. 6:33

What a wonderful privilege we have to be able to worship God in spirit and truth and have the freedom to do so. How dare I be so flippant and choosy about where I go as long as I get solid Biblical teaching! I am thinking about the persecuted church all over the world right now; some of them giving their very lives for the church.

A wise Pastor friend said in one of his messages not long ago, “We are the church, and we need to be the church to somebody else. We spend so much time trying to get people into the church when maybe we should be going to them. ” (Thank you Will)