At this Sunday's service, in celebration of the start of 2012, Pam and Ray Riddell will lead us in a time of corporate prayer for our church. It will be a time in which we can pray for St. Paul's: for what God has in store for us, for his vision, and his guidance.
And remember: our worship service time has changed! We'll be meeting at 4 PM now.
We'd love for you all to participate, and join us as we pray for a new year at our church.
Just a reminder: we won't be having our Sunday service on December 25th. But we will be starting off the New Year right on the first. Join us at our new service time at four o'clock!
Merry Christmas, Everyone.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory..." John 1:14.
Join us, and invite your friends and family!
Vince’s challenge yesterday made me rethink some things.
I’ve already come to realize that there are a lot of things I need to change perspective on. But I don’t need to let God turn my life upside down; God has turned my world upside down several times since my husband and I moved to southern Massachusetts and started our lives at St. Paul’s.
Over these past few years, I’ve often felt discouraged. I’ve often felt like God takes every little plan, every dream, every aspiration, every little possibility that I’ve wanted to pursue, and tears it to shreds. Sometimes it seems like God’s challenging me to try and do something, just so it can get torn up again. It isn’t hard for me to think that God will take my plans and my dreams and turn them upside down.
But, obviously, this doesn’t mean that I’ve arrived at a good place as far as that goes. My expectations of God and his ability to turn things upside down have an underlying problem: I think God’s out to get me. And I think God finds me insignificant in the broad scheme of things.
In some ways, this can be traced back to a lack of faith.
First, I have a lack of faith in God. I say I believe his Son loved everyone in the world so much that he died for us. I say that Jesus cares, that he listens, and that he answers prayer. But sometimes that becomes lip service, where I say these things, but when it comes down to it, I doubt, and I accuse.
Second, I have a lack of faith in God’s vision for me. It’s like God finds some problem in my aspirations every single time, and he keeps cutting me down to size, just to remind me that it’s useless to have goals or dreams.
Both of these problems have an element of truth and basic humanity in them: it isn’t wrong to express or feel doubt, and it isn’t wrong to acknowledge our futility and weakness apart from God. But there is a problem when our doubts dictate our relationship with God, and when our self-defeat paralyzes us, spiritually and existentially.
It’s true that outside of God, my goals are useless. But I need to trust that this is because God’s goals for me are bigger and they are better.
For instance: I used to think Jeff and I moved to the area so I could go to graduate school. Now, several years after the fact, I can see that we moved here because of St. Paul’s. St. Paul’s is a church family that has loved, supported, and helped us grow as people, and it put us in a position to serve others and spread Jesus’ love and message. And that is important. While graduate school is fine and everything, and while things like master’s degrees and PhD’s are impressive to the world, they pale in comparison to the things that matter to God.
In the same way that Mary’s expectations for her own life paled in comparison to becoming the mother of Jesus, my plans for my future are nothing compared to what God has planned for me. And I need to trust Him on that. I need to believe in His grace. I need to put my faith in Him.
Sunday night after church I watched most of the Giants-Cowboys game with some friends. It was a big game.
If the Giants won, they would be in good position to win their division and make the playoffs. They would still have to win most if not all of their remaining games to make the playoffs. But they would be in the driver’s seat with a win Sunday.
If the Giants lost, their season would in essence be over. The Cowboys would be up two games in the division with only three to play. Also, a defeat would mean the Giants had just lost five straight games. Not good.
So it was a big game. And it was close. It was close until the Cowboys scored 14 unanswered points to take a 12 point lead late in the fourth quarter. Then I called it quits and went home.
There was still a remote possibility the Giants could win. According to NFL advanced stats, the Giants had a 2% chance of winning. I did not know the exact chances, but I knew they were slim, so I gave up and went home.
But the Giants did win. They scored 14 unanswered points in the last three minutes of the game and even blocked a potential game-tying field goal as time expired.
I found this all rather amusing: Sunday, I preached the message "Blessed are the Faithful." Mary is blessed by Elizabeth. But the blessing comes at the end of Mary’s long journey of faith.
And just a few hours after I preached this message, I witnessed a perfect example of this. I gave up on my Giants and went home. But remarkably, they did not give up on themselves. They did not quit believing they could win until the game was actually over. And they remarkably came out with a win.
Blessed are the faithful. Blessed are those who keep believing. The Giants did this, and they a won a game that didn’t really matter. When we do this, we win a crown that will last forever.
Blessed are the faithful. Blessed are those who keep believing till the end for the blessing that comes at the end.
The last two Sundays we surveyed our congregation about changing service times. The Weekend Service Team felt it would be a good idea to switch from 5pm to 4pm. But we wanted to know what you thought. So we did the survey.
Here are the results. The vast majority (84%) are OK with the change.
Most of you don’t care what time we meet (51%). Thanks for being flexible!
The next largest group likes the change (33% a lot better & somewhat better). Thanks for being patient!
The last group doesn’t like the change ( 16% somewhat worse + a lot worse responses). Thanks for being understanding—we don’t always get what we want in community!
But the vast majority either doesn’t care or likes the change. So we’re making the change--a new time in the new year.
Starting January 1st we’ll be going to a 4pm Sunday Service.
Christian musician Bebo Norman is going to give a Christmas Concert at Tolland Highschool this Friday, December 16th at 7 pm. Tickets are $15, and can be purchased at the door; it's General Admission, so consider arriving early. There is more info available at http://www.thelighthouseevents.com/
St. Paul's will be serving dinner at the MACC (Manchester Area Conference of Churches) soup kitchen on December 20th from 7-9 pm.
The soup kitchen is located in the bottom floor of the homeless shelter and provides three meals a day. For dinner, the servers arrive by 7 pm to set up, cook and server a pre-defined menu determined by the cook. Three to five people are needed for the task and the work is typically finished by 9 pm.
If you are interested in helping out, please contact Tom Andrix.
This week has been especially difficult for me. I've been planning an out-of-state move on a very short time line. When I talk to people about my plans, their first response is usually surprise, and the conversations usually end in a concerned yet hearty "Good Luck!". To put it bluntly, my chances for success in accomplishing what I've set out for are pretty slim.
Now, I could write about how all things are possible through God (which they are), or how I should be content though every circumstance (which I should), or some other life lesson which these circumstances are teaching me. However, one word has been dominating my thoughts lately: purpose.
How does purpose play into this? Well, when our purpose is our own happiness, it's easy to feel like a failure when things don't work out, or we're uncomfortable, or uncertain about the future. When we live for ourselves, we set ourselves up to fail.
However, our purpose is much greater and much more achievable than pleasing ourselves. Our purpose, is pleasing God.
In fact, we were created for that exact purpose, so there is nothing in this world we can be better at. Our abilities and talents are inspired by God, not wraught by chance. I was architected by the master crafter, who continues to optimize me in every way possible, so that I can bring Him pleasure, and in turn, achieve my purpose and experience true happiness.
So when life's circumstances cause me anxiety, fear, or discomfort, I know I haven't failed. In fact, I'm being given the opportunity to get better at my true purpose.
