Blog: August 2022

Join us for lunch on Sunday, Sept. 11, at 11:45 a.m. in the Family Life Center.  We'll supply hamburgers and hot dogs.  If you're able to help out by bringing a side dish or a dessert, please sign up in the church lobby or notify the office (thanks!). Scheduling reminders: On Sept. 11 there will be NO Sunday School--just our worship service at 10:30 a.m., followed by lunch together. Then on Sept. 18 we'll return to our regular two-service schedule:  Worship at 8:30 &11:00 a.m., with Sunday School for all ages at 10:00 a.m.

I came across a big mural on the side of a building the other day which said, in colorful, graffiti-style letters:  Live for Today! Of course, there’s a measure of wisdom in this slogan.  If you’re always pining for the past or dreaming of tomorrow, you’ll miss the real people in front of you now.  Healthy relationships involve being emotionally present with the folks God has put along your path—so look them in the eye, and be there, today. Still, “live for today” can be a very harmful motto to follow.  My main gripe is with the way this ...

Our Fall Focus on Missions will take place over two Sundays, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6. The theme this year is "God so loved the world"--the beautiful truth from John 3:16.  Our prayer is that the Lord will help us all more and more to share his heart for those who are lost and have not yet experienced the saving compassion of Jesus Christ!  Plan to join us.  And pray that God will move in all of our hearts; pray also that the Lord will raise up among us more mission workers to send into his harvest! Oct. 30, 8:30 & 11:00 a.m.:  Pastor Josh ...

In our Prayer Gathering this past Wednesday, we read passages of Scripture high­lighting God’s spectacular abilities: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,…” (Jude 24).  “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,…” (Ephesians 3:20). Isaiah 40 emphasizes God’s power:  he created all of the stars and named them, and “not one is missing” (40:26).  What’s more, God never ...

The moods of the Psalms range from exuberant praise to sober confession, from peaceful thanksgiving to restless lament.  No matter what you’re facing, no matter what’s going on in your heart and home and family, these passages speak to our need.  So make sure you’re spending time in the Psalms regularly. If I asked you which of the Psalms is your favorite, I wonder what you’d say.  I’m guessing these chapters would be high on the list: Psalm 23—probably number one overall.  And understandably so, reminding us of God’s caring and ...

I recently finished reading Augustine’s Confessions.  The book is in the form of a prayer; Augustine pours out his heart to God as he looks back and tells the story of his life: “You made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you” (p. 21 from the Penguin 1961 edition). “But my sin was this, that I looked for pleasure, beauty, and truth not in him [i.e., God] but in myself and his other crea­tures, and the search led me instead to pain, confusion, and error” (pp. 40-41). On his view of the Scriptures before ...