Notes from the Sermon

This is the last Sunday if this series. 

Matthew 6:8-9 - The Lord's Prayer

Familiarity breeds contempt - or rather here it produces numbness. 

But it's an important prayer. 

Prayer reveals what we yearn for - what we hold as hallowed. 

Unless what we strive for is what we are created for, we strive in vain and will end in darkness and failure. 

First petition - sets God apart as Holy and asks that we align ourselves with God's will as God's children. 

We give nothing to God that isn't already God's. Comforting thought - it confirms nothing can separate us from the Love of God (Romans 8:38-39) because we are already God's. 

We live in a culture of choice and giving up the right to choose goes against everything our culture teaches. It's far more in line with Islam - the very name of the religion means submission. 

The crux of giving up the right to choose is knowing the Goodness of the One to Whom we surrender our will. 

"There are ultimately no loose ends in God's will." We can trust God to have the big things and the little things. 

Prayer is not about bending God's will to ours; but surrendering our will to God's. 

This is the essence of the first part of the Lord's Prayer - it's the essence of participative grace. 

Heaven

Today's reading from C.S. Lewis and the above image highlighting a Billy Graham quote (which was on my Facebook homepage this morning) mesh together well. In The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III, Jack has this to say about Heaven:

The symbols under which Heaven is presented to us are (a) a dinner party, (b) a wedding, (c) a city, and (d) a concert. It would be grotesque to suppose that the guests or citizens or members of the choir didn’t know one another. And how can love of one another be commanded in this life if it is to be cut short at death?

Think of yourself just as a seed patiently waiting in the earth: waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener’s good time, up into the real world, the real waking. I suppose that our whole present life, looked back on from there, will seem only a drowsy half- waking. We are here in the land of dreams. But cock-crow is coming.

It's hard for me to imagine Heaven - it's hard for most of us I suspect - after all, I remember the wonderfully interesting and intricate illustrations in Dante's Divine Comedy were only interesting and intricate during his tours of Hell and Purgatory, Heaven was regrettably devoid of both. The movie Star Trek: Generations view of Heaven (called the Nexus) was of a place devoid of adventure because everything was perfect and there was no risk. I think that this is a wall that many of us hit. I can't imagine a place without risk, without tears, without pain, without death - well, I can imagine it but I don't understand how it would work. I've heard more than one person, faced with their conception of immortality and Heaven, state that it would be boring and hellish when viewed as something that lasted forever. I think the problem is a lack of imagination - not a lack of fun or adventure on the part of Heaven.

Notes from a Friend

This morning, during my meditation and prayer, I struggled over the idea of letting God have control and what exactly that means. I rather stumbled over that prayer and finally lapsed into silence (which might have been the point all along). Then, I woke up to this Facebook post by my best friend:

In the continuing cycle of Deronda re-discovering Obvious Truths, lol--whenever I "stress out" about all the stuff that "needs to be done," I'm working in my own puny strength, and am doomed to fail, simply because my personal capacity/ability is so limited. Infinitely better is to leave all results in God's hands, and in the meantime, just do my best! I know that's the way to go, because that's how God got me through college. If it worked then, it'll work now. (I used to say to God, "Lord, I'm doing my best--you'll have to make up the difference!")

Amen!

In another post, recapping "Our Daily Bread" - she shared this quote: 

 Our tendency to wander is matched by God’s willingness to pursue.

 That truth is one this wandering fool takes great comfort in - the idea not that God is always there if you return, but that God has actually left the church and is in pursuit of you, whatever dark marshes and high mountains you may wander through.

Playing God

This past weekend I was listening to podcasts on C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and one phrase stuck with me - "God is more than you want Him to be." I think life, the universe, and everything is also more - much more - than we want it to be.

We want a cosmos we can understand, fit into a box, and above all, control. That's where I think the problem lies - the issue that popped up when Eve ate the apple - as it says in Genesis 3:4-6:

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

To be like God - that burning desire, according to Christian tradition, was the sin of Lucifer, who became Satan and talked Eve into embracing the same desire in the Garden of Eden.

Yet, Hebrew and Christian tradition also states that we are made in the image of God. So what gives? When are we co-creators with God and when are we playing God? Christians have struggled over that ethical question for centuries - coming up with different answers.

I think that maybe the heart of the issue lies in control - as in who is in control. If we seek to be in control, then we fall into the trap of playing God rather than playing with God. If we allow God to be in control, rejoicing in the diversity and moreness of life, the universe, and everything, then we fulfill what it means to be made in the image of God.

Notes from the Sermon

The focus today is how to pray for others. The scripture is Ephesians 1:15-23:

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,  and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. 

Prayer is simply talking to God and praying should be simply part of who we are. 

Prayer is more than simply transmitting information. Prayer equals a closer relationship with God. Prayer is the primary place where our intimacy with God is built. 

Prayer flows out of worship. Song becomes prayer. Our life becomes a prayer. 

The word "know":

1. To be aware of something. 

2. To experience something. 

3. To have the most intimate, thorough understanding possible. 

Our purpose as beings is to know God in the most intimate way possible. Pray for physical needs but pray also that we might know God. Be constant in this prayer. 

May we know and see and hear God more clearly. This reminds me of the song Day by Day in Godspell. 

Our inheritance is God. When we know God on Earth we get a taste of the glory that's coming. Perhaps those who believe are like children who choose to help prepare a family feast. They get a taste of the feast to come - they know what's on the menu - but those who don't enter the kitchen still have a place at the table. 

The best way to learn to pray is through the scriptures. 

When we prayer for others our hearts are changed. 

Bad Eggs

This morning I did a mediation on letting go of anxiety and one of the things it spoke about was the need to let go of things in your past that provoked anxiety in the present. It occurred to me that this could be a very scary thing to do because things that happened in our past - good and bad - make us who we are now and it seemed like letting go of my unique identity.

I think this is a mistake. The person we were meant to be is not a person bruised and battered by sin and cruelty and failures. Perhaps each of those things - even if we gained strength or blessing from them (or in spite of them) - takes away a bit from the true self we were meant to be.

With that thought in mind, I read today's reading by C.S. Lewis, which ended with this exchange from Voyage of the Dawn Treader:

   “But that would be putting the clock back,” gasped the governor. “Have you no idea of progress, of development?”
   “I have seen them both in an egg,” said Caspian. “We call it ‘Going Bad’ in Narnia. This trade must stop.”

I think that we have to be willing to open our hands and our hearts and let go of past hurts, or we'll go bad.

Decisions

I will continue this blog after Lent for my Sunday notes; however, I am going to delete or not publish non-productive notes (like this one).

Humility

This week my daily readings from C.S. Lewis have had the theme of humility. Today I read:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

That  last line is the key I think. Humility is not low self-esteem or self-contempt - it is self-forgetfulness. After all, there is so much going on out there that is far more interesting and fun than mulling over myself and my problems.

Little Gifts

Today was a better day - although it had the same feel as a stormy day where the sun breaks through in odd moments. Walking Kodi, I saw a bright white seagull sitting on top of a spotless white pickup. I don't know why he made me smile, but he did - seagulls don't get a lot of respect, but this one was shining in the sun and the white gulls seem to take care to be spotless (even when they are stealing your lunch). Of course, he flew away before I could get a photo.

My next tiny gift was an elderly couple walking home from the neighborhood grocery store. The old man kept his hand on his lady's elbow, helping her when they came to a curb. She had a big straw hat on and both were dressed very nicely for a walk to the grocery store.

I get so caught up in my own inner turmoil sometimes that I miss the world around me and all the little gifts that God gives, like tiny jokes shared with a shy smile.

Notes from the Sermon

"In the first 2 chapters of this book, Habakkuk questions why God was allowing the wicked to prosper and the poor to be oppressed. Can you relate?"

Can I ever! One of the difficulties of a career is that so often work is like walking through a swamp in white clothes while trying not to get dirty. 

Kintsugi is a Japanese art form where broken pots are mended by filling in cracks with an amalgam mixed with powdered gold. This is what God does for us. 

Listening to the news puts the weight of the world on our shoulders. It brings us to the same questions Habakkuk asked. 

Theodicy - a justification of how God works with humanity. 

Habakkuk is unique - the whole book is a prayer. Other prophets bring God's word to the people. Habakkuk brings the people's questions to God. 

Three Keys to Prayer:

Be Human - It is okay to be ourselves in prayer. Perhaps the parable Jesus told about the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector touches on this - the Pharisee was playing a role, the tax collector was being honest - being human. 

Crying out because it's not fair is part of the human condition; but, we don't want to stay there. 

How do we respond when God's answers to our prayers don't meet our expectations? We have to allow God to be God. 

Be Humble - Prayer should be humble. Listen to God. Let God be God. Ask for help with understanding. Prayer like this changes our hearts. 

It's okay to not be okay with certain situations - but we don't want to stay there. Humble prayer changes us. Sometimes it's not the outside world that is changed, but, our perspective. 

Prayer is not just about changing reality - it's changing how we see reality. 

Be Honoring - May our prayers become songs and our songs become prayer. 

Sometimes we are overwhelmed by our situations - we should not be awed by the enormity of our situation - we should be awed by the enormity of our God. 

Give our minds as well as our hearts to God. 

If we stay in a place of not understanding God, then we will probably continue to not understand. 

When we meditate on God stories, we'll see God stories. A nudge to write "God stories" perhaps?

The last word:

Friendliness

A line from today's reading from C.S. Lewis caught my eye:

You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly, and didn’t give a fig for anyone who wasn’t. Shasta thought he had never seen anything so lovely in his life.

Here I sit, worrying over some frank emails I sent my supervisor (which as yet have received no response) over new "teaching" responsibilities (who knows, he's likely getting flack from too many instructors to respond to them all in a timely fashion) and my mood seems a thousand miles away from the one I began with upon reading those lines.

Those lines sum up a great freedom - these Narnians Shasta saw were not people who didn't care what other people thought because they because they didn't care about other people. They were friendly and open to friendship - they cared about others. But, they cared in a good way - a way without ego and fear and pride - in a friendly way. Sometimes it's very hard for me to see all the things that trap me as surely as the silken threads of a spider web - fear, pride, desire, etc. Friendliness need not come out of a need to be friended - people pleaser that I am, that's hard to grasp. Friendliness can come out of freedom - being friendly with others because they are loved as I am loved.

 

A Piece of the Puzzle

I love doing puzzles on the computer - I especially love colorful puzzles of beautiful images. 

I took this photo of my daughter as we enjoyed the first sunset of Daylight Savings Time. She looks so small in the midst of all that grandeur and yet she and I - small as we are - are an important piece of the cosmic puzzle and without us, the whole would be diminished. 

I'm Hot and I'm Cold

That line from a Katy Perry song certainly fits the hot flashes plaguing me now. It also fits my spiritual life. The problem, I think, is that I mistake feeling with faith. Does everyone have moments when Harvey (the six-foot tall invisible rabbit) inserts his huge, furry rabbit foot into their prayer life? He brings with him the sudden certainty that all this is really rather silly. The fact that this has been a major problem for me for most of my life leaves me wondering if I should just give up. Of course, I've tried to give up, time and time again, to no avail, is also aggravating. I don't know what to do or how to resolve this issue. I just know I don't want to spend the rest of my life stuck here. 

The Monday Bus

How many times have I said that I felt like I'd been run over by a bus (or a truck, or anything large and fast and brutal)? It used to be a common saying, although I don't hear it much any more, or say it, I still think it from time to time. Today, I woke up all too early (I despise time changes), but I woke up to a C.S. Lewis reading of the day about how Aslan joyously played with Susan and Lucy after coming back to life. I thought about the joy and laughter of creation, of life, of love and thought, "Oh yeah, I have my topic for today's blog." Then I was hit by the Monday bus. Monday mornings are - by their nature - full of grades, emails, things that much be done five minutes ago, and a daughter who texts and nags and calls and wants and interrupts - until I was in tears at my desk, feeling as if my heart or brain were simply going to explode. So much for Joy - or even mild contentment. I wanted to throw up. That extra hour I opted to spend in bed (getting up at 7 versus 6) came back to haunt me - Daylight Savings Time means I get up at the "same" time and run an hour late throughout the day.

I did get my work done, and got a reprieve on today's errands (Dana is staying after to dance her midterm and I have time on my hands). So, I sat down and wondered what I was so excited about writing about as I was dozing in prayer. Oh, yes, Joy.

I wonder what would happen if I truly acted on what I know - that this minutia really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of thing - that this clutter is simply dulling the shine on the Joy I should be feeling. I wonder if I'll ever have the courage to find out? Perhaps the elderly in psychological studies generally appear far happier than the middle aged because they finally got fed up and found the courage to act on that knowledge and found out what happens. Perhaps Joy happens.

Notes from the Sermon

Today starts a new series on prayer. Looking over the discussion questions, I'm amazed by how they gel with my blog posts this week. 

On listening - "How much time do you spend talking to, rather than listening to God?"

This quote, attributed to Jim Cymbala, meshed with the topic I prayed about, but didn't write about, yesterday - "The devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we begin to lift up our hearts to God."  The question asked - "Do you think the devil is frightened of you and your constant communication with God, or does he know you mostly operate on your own efforts?"

The sermon series on prayer is titled Transmissions.

Oswald Chambers wrote that many of us stop praying because "we only have an emotional interest in prayer." This stings, because I tend to equate faith with emotion. No emotion equals no faith. 

1 Kings 18:21 - Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” This question is for me and how I've dithered to and fro. I think the answer came in a dream I remember because someone called my Google number (which I no longer use and don't give out) and left an empty message. The alert woke me up. In the dream I had asked God a question about three teens I was reading about. One was me, one was a smart aleck atheist and one was a bigoted and self righteous Christian. God said, "No matter how twisted the path you take, you are on the road to me. For two of these sheep belong to me and they will come to me at the end." The odd thing was that the atheist and I were the lost sheep. I was asking about the Christian boy when the alert woke me up. The dream wasn't to give me the answers about others, but rather to reassure me. 

God's best days are not in the past. Don't dwell on the past - God is the God of Here and Now. 

God uses us to answer prayer and sometimes we are the answer to our own prayer. 

God loves all people and wants all people to come. Is this the answer to the question I didn't get to ask? 

Who have we been praying for all these years? Prayer does make a difference. But we can't rely on our own power. Here and now, start with God and rely on God's power. 

Opposition

In God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis wrote:

It is extraordinary how inconvenient to your family it becomes for you to get up early to go to Church. It doesn’t matter so much if you get up early for anything else, but if you get up early to go to Church it’s very selfish of you and you upset the house.

I'm facing this now. To back up a bit, my daughter and I frequently argue over my doing ANYTHING that does not involve taking her where she wants to go and doing what she wants to do, so her opposition to my going to church is - in one way - simply more of the same. She also deeply resents time I spend walking and working and sleeping and reading and well, you get the message. Yet, call me stupid (I do frequently), I was surprised by her outburst today that it was unfair that she would have to ask Nan to take her to the ranch when I was perfectly capable of driving her - not later, after church, but earlier, when she wanted to go.

If it were not for my Lenten promise, I'd probably fold now, resentful and muttering under my breath like Yosemite Sam about how I NEVER get to do what I want - all the time knowing that it's my own fault for not standing my ground. But I DID make a Lenten promise. I told her I was able and happy to take her to the ranch when it was convenient for me and that she could certainly get the house clean and do everything else she wanted to do on Sunday. In fact, cleaning house while I was at church would work very well for all all concerned because I knew better than to ask her to go to church. She expressed satisfaction that I knew better because church was a big waste of time. As is, by the way, writing blogs ;)

It occurs to me that while I wrote about resentment being a bad thing earlier this week, perhaps it might also, like guilt, alert me to when I am not living my life as I should. Maybe even negative emotions have a positive use.

Yosemite Sam

Chelsea was a personality. She was a crotchety cat who could cuss like Yosemite Sam. Underneath all her grumpiness and bluster, she was, well, a pussy cat. But she never gave without grumbling about it. We loved her, despite her grumpiness, and perhaps a bit because of it.

God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7) and yet I have to ask myself how often I give cheerfully. I must confess that I am far more like Chelsea when I give to my daughter - crotchety, grumpy, and prone to snap. Seldom do I give freely and cheerfully. There is an undercurrent of resentment that I feel far too often when I give. I think part of the reason is that I do not give freely and cheerfully to myself. This ties back to yesterday's blog post about being "unselfish" versus loving or being cheerfully generous. When I focus on my unselfishness - putting family first - I make myself a martyr and martyrs, I think, are prone to resent their martyrdom if they are not giving of themselves cheerfully.

What does all this mean? Yosemite Sam is not a good role model ;)

Accent on the Positive

One of the ideas put forward in a lot of New Age/self-improvement thinking is the idea that we should focus on the positive - rather than saying, for example, "I am not fearful" we should say, "I am courageous." Your subconscious, so the thinking goes, doesn't pay attention to the word "not" and pays all too much attention to the word "fearful." This idea came up in today's daily reading of C.S. Lewis (courtesy of Bible Gateway), where he writes:

If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love.

This quote is from The Weight of Glory and I think it adds an additional level to the idea of positive thinking. The additional level points out where our focus lies. If I focus on myself - on my action, lack of action, virtue, sin, suffering, happiness, etc. - I will miss the point. If I give with the intention that I should be thought well of because of my generosity, then I am giving in a mean-spirited fashion. This week we are discussing altruism in my social psychology classes and I think this idea of focusing on being generous rather than being unselfish, or loving others rather than denying ourselves, will add to those conversations as well.

Tame Lions

In The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Mr. Beaver described Aslan in this way:

Is Aslan a tame lion? Of course he's not tame. But he's good.

That scene and that line has stuck with me since childhood - the fear the children had when hearing about Aslan for the first time - lions are fearsome beasts and Lions even more so.

I wonder how much of my energy as an adult is spent wishing for a tame deity and a tame religion - hoping for a small puppy dog when Jesus is - at the heart of it a Wolf - a purring kitten instead of a Lion. I think I waste a great amount of time and a great deal of fear worrying over the wildness of God. Primarily because I've neglected the last sentence - But he's good.

It is sometimes hard not to juxtaposition wildness with goodness - I all too often think of good as comfortable, cozy and easily within my control and that is not what real goodness is at all. Any goodness I can control is like weak tea instead of strong drink.

But he's good. Therein lies the reason for trust - not that God is a comfortable piece in a comfortable life - but rather because He is not and because that is good. A scary good, but good nonetheless :)

Notes on the Sermon

This is the last of the "Love Does" series. Next week they start a series on prayer. 

There's a new preacher today - Pastor Doug. The new music minister (interim) is very good. I'm glad that she's a wonderful singer - music is one of the main things I love about religious services. 

The first thing Jesus did when He asks us to follow Him is to provide a job description (i.e. vocation). We need to remember that. We have been invited to follow Jesus and share in HIS vocation. What He calls us to do has everything to do with relationship and vocation. He begins and ends his Earthly ministry by providing his followers with a job description. 

How are you partnering with Jesus to change the world?  

Gave the example of a family who gave up their successful life here to go to Liberia. 

Like the line from the Howard Jones songs that inspired me to be a lay missionary:

And do you feel scared, I do, but I won't stop and falter. If you throw it all away, it will only get better. 

God asks us to let go of our current treasures that our hands may be open to receive something better. Otherwise, we are like the poor monkey caught in a monkey trap, stuck because they refuse to let go of the false treasure they cling to. 

God's ideas for us are huge. We limit ourselves when we clench our fists tight to hold on to our "treasures" that are - as Jesus and the Buddha pointed out - turning to dust in our hands. 

What is God calling me to do? What is my first, best destiny? I know what it's not - it's not clinging to what I have with a desperate fear that I will lose it. 

Not surprisingly, the sermon did relate to this morning's meditation ;)

Faith in What?

During this morning's meditation (which I like because I get to soak in a hot tub and receive a massage - great relaxation visualization and I have a migraine, but I digress), the question was asked what I needed to be self-confident (the real focus of the meditation). Job security always pops up - I'm very fearful that I will lose the security I now have and the current blessings that go with it. This has also been part of my dilemma when it comes to trusting God. What do I want to trust God for? That current blessings will continue - I will have work, a roof over my head, a family that loves me, etc. etc. and we are certainly not promised that these things will continue. In fact, as the Buddha said in the Four Noble Truths that we suffer and the reason we suffer is that we thirst for things of this world - things that cannot satisfy. This is stunning like like Christ's comment about being the Living Water (John 4:13-14):

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

 That's when I thought of this quote by C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity:

“Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with ever fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. ... Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you wisill find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

In asking to trust for these things and fearing losing them, I am totally missing the point. The one thing I can trust is that eventually, all this shall pass. This morning's reading from the day from C.S. Lewis followed up with:

Don’t imagine I doubt for a moment that what God sends us must be sent in love and will all be for the best if we have grace to use it so. My mind doesn’t waver on this point; my feelings sometimes do. 

I have to wonder what today's sermon will have to say ;)

Notes on the Sermon - 2/23/2014

We receive love from God and we pass it on. We should routinely ask, "What does it mean to follow Jesus?" Seems to me a step away from WWJD - makes me less likely to just throw up my hands in despair and failure.

Been feeling supremely unlovable faced with the god-ness of God.

They have a new pastor and this is the music director's last week. Lots of changes.

Matthew 5:13-16 - I'm shy in person and routinely hide under the bowl. It's worse and worse - it took a lot to smile at the usher (her smile was well worth it). Disciples had still not grasped that they were going to change the world. Wow, imagine that - they truly changed the world.

During plague outbreaks Romans would dump those afflicted in designated areas to die. Christians would take these people into their homes to die.

In the early Roman world, less than 3% of families has more than one girl. Christians rescued these abandoned babies.

Records indicate that captured and martyred Christians faced their deaths with joy and peace.

Sermon refrain - Who are these people?!

We ARE salt and light - that's who God created me to be.

Salt and light cause change. We are all salt and light and this salt and light is for everyone.

Sermon series titled, "Love Does."

Find those people who aren't being loved and LOVE them. Bring the Church out into the World.

Early Christians did something with their love and they changed the world.

Homework - What's my story? What is God calling me to do?

Another man will be preaching next week.

For me, I realize I cannot be a good model for Dana - I cannot bring her to Jesus - as I am now. If I am to lead her, then I need to let God lead me. If I am to give her Jesus's love, then I need to receive it.

Signed up today with Bible Gateway to receive a daily reading from C. S. Lewis. Today's reading was from a letter to a woman who decided to return to church. So, here I am :)

Lenten Journey

The Lent before last I decided to blog as my Lenten promise. Today, I begin a new blog a bit shy of Lent. I'm taking a page from Jack Lewis' book and titling myself a "Daughter of Eve." Like Eve, I am a person who has struggles with faith and trust and I am perhaps a bit too smart for my own good. I hope you enjoy my blog :)