Suffering and Hope

May 24, 2013

Opening Hymns:
470 My God I Love Thee http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh470.sht

Scripture Reading:
Romans 5:1-5

 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Message:
“We also glory in our sufferings”… What powerful words, and words that can spark into us a sense of strength and hope when times are hard for us. How often do you take joy in your sufferings? I can honestly say that joy is not the first emotion to come to mind when things are hard. Stress, sadness, and lamentation usually follow when times seem too much to bear… What if we could look at life a little bit different? What if we could feel ourselves growing through each trial in life? Instead of feeling weakened by each challenge we can recognize that each challenge in life is an opportunity for us to grow. We can grow into stronger people with a deeper understanding for those who suffer and a deeper hope for the future. In all things God has created good, even through suffering, good things can be seen.

Time of Prayer
Dear Lord, Help us through each challenge that life brings us. Let each challenge shape us into more caring, understanding, loving, and hopeful Children of God. Amen.


The Lord’s Prayer


Closing Hymn
711 For All The Saints http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh711.sht

May the Lord bless you and keep you: May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you: May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Amen.

Go in peace, serve the Lord
Thanks be to God

Pentecost

May 19, 2013

Opening Hymns:

139 Praise to the Lord Thee Almighty http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh139.sht

Scripture Reading:
Ezekiel 37:1-10

37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

² And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

³ And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.

⁴ Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

⁵ Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

⁶ And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

⁸ And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Message:
God created heaven and earth. He breathed life into all the creatures of this world. The scripture for today describes another one of God’s wonders. The Lord breathes life into those that have fallen and passed away. They have been dead so long that their bones are dry. The scripture describes this miracle and we can read it with astonishment. 

Today is Pentecost, the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming down onto the disciples. Through the Spirit they work many wonders. They speak in tongues so that even foreigners can understand their words. Jesus’ disciples go out into the world teaching the Gospel, healing the sick, and even raising the dead in the name of Jesus. 

Through faith God truly does work wonders, but not all wonders need to be as astonishing as the scripture reading today. The Holy Spirit is acting in each of our lives. You can feel God’s presence with you during prayer and at church. We can feel the love of God during the birth of a child, and His comfort during the death of a loved one. The Holy Spirit is with us here on earth as we go through our daily lives. The Spirit serves as a comfort when we are sad, as a guide when we are lost, and helps us reach a hand to others who need healing. Let us remember the Trinity and the Holy Spirit as we go through this week. Let us feel the comfort that the Spirit offers, and let us each reach out to others and offer the same healing comfort that has been given to us.

Time of Prayer
Dearest Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Spirit to be with us here on earth. Guide us with Your spirit so that we may show Your love to the world. Amen

The Lord’s Prayer

Closing Hymn
57 Oh for a Thousand Tongues to Sing http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh057.sht

May the Lord bless you and keep you: May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you: May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Amen.

Go in peace, serve the Lord
Thanks be to God

Forgiving the Enemy

May 11, 2013

Opening Hymns:
400 Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh400.sht

Scripture Reading:
Acts 16:16-34

¹⁶ Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And this she did for many days.
But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. ¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
²⁰ And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; ²¹ and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” ²² Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. ²³ And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. ²⁴ Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
²⁵ But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. ²⁷ And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. ²⁸ But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
²⁹ Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
³¹ So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴ Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.

Message:
The scripture for today brings a smile to my face. Paul and Silas are forgiving and caring to everyone, and do not judge others harshly. In this scripture they are beaten and locked away in a prison cell because Paul sent out a demon from a child. Then the doors are miraculously opened and they do not go out. Their concern is for the keeper of the prison. He is the one that has the freedom keep them locked away or let them go, and yet they wait in the prison for his sake. Because of their compassion and their forgiveness the keeper of the prison believes in Jesus and he and his family are saved.

More than anything this scripture causes me to look at myself and how open I am to others who may have done me wrong. How forgiving are we in those situations? We can learn a lesson on forgiveness from Paul and Silas. Instead of feeling wronged by others we can feel sad for them that they would behave in a way that would hurt others. We can pray for them, and forgive them for their actions, and we can help them by sharing God’s love with them regardless of what they may have done.

Time of Prayer
Dear Lord, thank You for sharing Your love with us as well as giving us the scriptures to read so that we know how to share Your love with others. Guide us on this day, and help us love others with all our hearts. Amen

The Lord’s Prayer


Closing Hymn
157 Jesus Shall Reign http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh157.sht

May the Lord bless you and keep you: May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you: May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Amen.

Go in peace, serve the Lord
Thanks be to God

Sabbath

May 4, 2013

Opening Hymns:
472 Near to the Heart of God http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh472.sht

Scripture Reading:
John 5:1-18

5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda^[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ^{[4] [b] 5} One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰ and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Message:
 In today’s society we sadly don’t recognize the Sabbath as we ought to. Some stores in the big cities near where I live stay open 24 hours a day every day, only pausing to close on Christmas. Maybe down the line they will be open on that special day as well. The hospital I work at is open 24 hours a day every day of the year. Illness and disasters never seem to sleep, and neither does the hospital. Because of this my work schedule changes and rotates, and my Sabbath can’t be consistent from week to week.

In today’s scripture, Jesus’ words bring comfort to me. He heals on the Sabbath. In the scriptures He always recognizes the importance of the Sabbath, but His actions show that healing and caring for others should not be stopped on that holy day. It is important to remember to take a break each week to focus our hearts and our minds on God, and on resting our bodies for the week ahead. However, never forget that love does not take a break. We are to love others always as God has loved us.  

Time of Prayer
Dear Lord, teach us how to recognize the Sabbath that You have given us. Thank You for the love that You have given to us. Let us go forth into the world and share that same love with others, every day of the week. Amen.


The Lord’s Prayer


Closing Hymn
381 Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead us http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh381.sht

May the Lord bless you and keep you: May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you: May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Amen.

Go in peace, serve the Lord
Thanks be to God