Announcements
Grandparent
Program-- Linda
Brandon is reaching out to all those who would like to be involved in
the grandparent program. Please speak with her if you are
interested!
Ladies
Luncheon-- The
Ladies' Luncheon will be August 13 at the Mt. Vernon Restaurant.
Please contact Marilyn Suber if you're interested in attending.
Community
Kitchen Spot
There are a lot of hungry and
homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding
them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following
items to church this Sunday & put them in the grocery cart.
ZIPLOCK SANDWICH BAGS
BROWN PAPER LUNCH BAGS
# 10 CANS VEGETABLES
COFFEE CREAMER
CEREAL
CANNED TUNA
NAPKINS
METAL FORKS / SPOONS
New
Hope News
Sunday
School—This Sunday, the adult class will continue to study
Revelation. We'll pick up in chapter 12, hopefully making it through
chapter 16.
Building
& Grounds—There
will be a building & grounds meeting on July 31 @ 6pm. Speak
with Larrie Mansfield if you'd like to attend.
Outreach
Committee—There
will be an outreach committee meeting on August 6 @ 6:00.
Session—Meets
Wednesday, August 7 at 6:30.
Pray
For:
Norma
Capone
Kids
& teachers preparing to go back to school
Father,
In Jesus Name, we humbly ask that You would pour out Your Holy Spirit
upon Your Church in our community. Without You and Your power we are
hopeless to bring any true change to this broken world. Be merciful
to us remembering our frailty. (From Chattanooga
House of Prayer)
Links
Keith's
Random Thoughts
We all come to life from
different places. Our personal histories and views on subjects are
affected by where we've been and what we've done and what has
happened to us in the process.
The President was in Chattanooga
yesterday, and many people spent hours lining up in hopes of hearing
him speak. Others spent hours waiting with protest signs to voice
their opinions as the limo flashed by. Many were simply proud that
the President was coming to town. Rachel and I? Having sat in
presidential traffic before, we wondered when he was coming and going
in the hopes that our own traffic schedules would not be affected.
I think we all relate to God
differently, too. Some of us were raised in big churches, some in
small churches, some in no church at all. Many listened to hellfire
& brimstone sermons every Sunday for years, while others heard
about the character traits of a compassionate and patient God. Still
others simply questioned a seemingly-absent God. Some had life
tragedies that led them to question the reality and/or goodness of
God. Others were surrounded by a community that revealed the
presence and care of God in the midst of suffering. Still others
suffered and struggled to see the light in the midst of the darkness.
All of this affects how we view
God.
It's easy for the church, and
for this pastor, to forget that we all come to God from different
places with different baggage. Not everyone has the same questions
and struggles I do, and I can't relate to the big questions that many
people ask.
So how do we craft ministry and
reveal the love of God to others in response to this diversity of
experience?
It has to be personal, right?
Ministry and church membership and our relationships within the
church have to have a personal touch, right? If I don't know the
members of the church, can I preach well to them? If I don't know
the questions being asked and the experiences from which they are
coming, how can I hope to answer them? If we don't know a thing
about the person with whom we are walking this narrow and often
uncertain path of discipleship, how do we approach our struggle
together, if we don't know one another?
As many parts of the church
become less and less personal, I can't help but wrestle with this
question. If we don't know each other, how can we serve well? I
don't believe for an instant it's unfaithful or sinful to not know
the person next to you in worship, and I don't think there's
necessarily anything wrong with some of the models of church
today—but I can't help but wonder if they are best. How do we make
sure that we truly know one another and are able to serve one
another, that our strengths and weaknesses combine and augment each
other to make us all stronger?
I come at this from a certain
perspective. I have grown up in the small church and serve in a
small church. I am sure I would feel differently if my past were
otherwise, but it isn't, and so I wrestle with big questions. May
God use us all, with all of our varied qualities, to paint a diverse
picture of the wondrously diverse Kingdom of God, and may we unite
around the throne of Christ in our worship.
Text
for this Sunday
9
You should pray like this:
Our
Father in heaven,
help
us to honor
your
name.
10
Come and set up
your
kingdom,
so
that everyone on earth
will
obey you,
as
you are obeyed
in
heaven.
11
Give us our food for today.
12
Forgive us for doing wrong,
as
we forgive others.
13
Keep us from being tempted
and protect
us from evil.
New
Hope on iTunes
Keith's
Blog
& Devotionals
for your Kindle
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