Announcements
Church
Website—Yup.
It's not working. I'm pretty sure I know why, I'm definitely sure
I'm not happy about it, and I think there isn't much we can do about
it. Stay tuned...
Church
Parking Lot—It's
beautiful. (Well, it will be when it's done. Which hopefully will
be soon.
Until then, be aware that not all parts of the parking lot are
easily accessible.)
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.
Plastic Spoons
Paper Napkins
8 oz. Styrofoam bowls
New
Hope News
Sunday
School—This Sunday, the adult class will study
Hebrews.
Church
Office—Will be closed Monday, May 27.
Pray
For:
Mary
McMillan
John
L. Wright
Links
On
Tornado Assistance: From World
Vision
&
from
Presbyterian
Disaster Assistance
(Pictures
that will break your heart)
Keith's
Random Thoughts
24 people died in Oklahoma due to the tornadoes this week. The
pictures are heart-wrenching. What can be said in the face of such
chaos and destruction?
It seems like we've been asking that question a lot lately. Between
the violence of nature and human's violent nature, we're constantly
wrestling with big questions in the face of death and pain.
It's amazing to think that the Bible gives us plenty of opportunities
to examine just how people respond to pain. If I were to make up my
own religion, I think I'd omit all those parts where the people are
in despair and misery. I'd certainly not have the leaders of that
religion be in pain. I can't imagine inventing a God who is familiar
with pain.
In the Bible, some people hurl big questions at God. Others weep and
wail for the lives that are lost. Others demand a response from the
people, while still others fall on their face and worship God. It
seems as though there is no simple Biblical response to suffering,
which makes me feel better about my often complicated response to
suffering and pain.
When Caleb is upset, what he really wants to know is that we care.
He is very careful to throw tantrums where we can see them, to seek
us out when he is crying. He's figured out by now that we're not
always able or willing to fix what ails him, but he does want to know
that we will not turn a blind eye to him.
To be honest, I want the same thing from God. I want to know that
God cares. I believe that God will bind up all my wounds and redeem
this broken yet beautiful creation in the distant future, but what I
really want when I'm hurting is to know that God loves me and wraps
me in his arms, even when he isn't going to fix it for me.
In our response to the pain and suffering of others, we show them
that we care and, I believe, we demonstrate that God cares. Kevin
Durant, who plays basketball in Oklahoma City, gave $1 million to
tornado relief. People were instantly impressed (and rightly so) by
the fact that he cared enough to give such an amount. You may not be
able to give such a sum, but the part you play still matters, because
it communicates to others that you care.
As Christians, we join in God's mission when we reach out to others.
We show God's love. We can't answer a lot of big questions, but we
can remind others (and ourselves) that the God of the universe cares
for each and every one of us, loving us as though there was only one
to love, as Augustine said.
Text
for this Sunday
Romans
6:1-14
So what are we going to say? Should we continue sinning so grace will
multiply? 2 Absolutely not! All of us died to sin. How can we still
live in it? 3 Or don’t you know that all who were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore, we were
buried together with him through baptism into his death, so that just
as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
we too can walk in newness of life. 5 If we were united together in a
death like his, we will also be united together in a resurrection
like his. 6 This is what we know: the person that we used to be was
crucified with him in order to get rid of the corpse that had been
controlled by sin. That way we wouldn’t be slaves to sin anymore, 7
because a person who has died has been freed from sin’s power. 8
But if we died with Christ, we have faith that we will also live with
him. 9 We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and he will
never die again. Death no longer has power over him. 10 He died to
sin once and for all with his death, but he lives for God with his
life. 11 In the same way, you also should consider yourselves dead to
sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.
12 So then, don’t let sin rule your body, so that you do what it
wants. 13 Don’t offer parts of your body to sin, to be used as
weapons to do wrong. Instead, present yourselves to God as people who
have been brought back to life from the dead, and offer all the parts
of your body to God to be used as weapons to do right. 14 Sin will
have no power over you, because you aren’t under Law but under
grace.
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& Devotionals
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