When Science Meets Faith
by Michael M. Chau
Science and Faith, contrary to what many people think, are not mutually exclusive. Many great scientists, such as Newton, Leibniz, Galileo Galilei, and Pascal, were devout Christians. Other more modern scientists, such as Einstein, Heisenberg, and Dirac, have also had strong religious leanings. So from where does the notion of a dichotomy between Science and Faith come?
Several examples can be given:
(1)The suppression of Science by Religious Authority apart from True Faith
For a long time the Earth was considered the static center of the universe, and all stars, including the Sun, revolved around the Earth. Later scientific discovery proved that the Sun is stationary and the Earth rotates around the Sun. Some church authorities, substituting the Bible with their own bias, suppressed this discovery in history, leading to the mistaken belief that Faith conflicts with Science. Nowadays, advanced astronomy has shown that neither the Earth, nor the Sun, nor the galactic center of the universe, for that matter, is stationary.
(2) The Erroneous Idea that “Science is Invincible”
Newton’s Principle of Mechanics, a landmark achievement in the history of Science, offered a unified explanation to the movements of celestial objects in the universe. His work led to the mistaken notion that gravity between bodies is the only effect, and mechanical movement is the only form of movement in nature. This extreme example led to the idea that there was no need for God. Later in the nineteenth century when the microscopic world of matter presented the complexity of the real world, Newtonian Mechanics came to an end. In the twentieth century Science has moved forward at an unprecedented rate, solving problems but at the same time presenting more difficult ones. The twenty-first century Nobel Laureate in Physics, David Gross, made a good analogy. He said, “A physicists is like a mountaineer, as he moves up the mountain, the mountain appears to be further away.” People gradually realized human wisdom when compared with God is far less than a bucket of water in the sea.
(3) The Bible, ahead of the Misunderstandings caused by Science
According to Genesis, God created everything in the universe in a short six-day period. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity confirmed this as inevitable. According to relativity, the time coordinate system experienced by an observer at rest is not the same as the time experienced by an observer in motion. While the observer in motion experienced a short period of time, to the stationary observer it appears long. Such difference increases as the motion speed increases. God can move at a very high speed, and with great energy for power. So to God it appeared to be six days of time, but to the world it appears as hundreds of millions of years. How wonderful and amazing the Bible is—not changing an iota in millennia! The modern philosopher Karl Jaspers, commenting about the scientific community, said: “In Science, half understanding led people to give up Faith; complete knowledge led people back to Faith.”
Science and Faith have moved gradually from disharmony to harmony. Scientific conclusions are temporary, relative, and can always be improved. They are Variables. Faith based on the revelation of God is Constant. The Bible says in Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This implies, as the modern Big Bang Theory asserts, that the universe has a beginning. Science can witness Faith, but it cannot understand Faith. Science itself does not create an obstacle to Faith.
Christian Faith Supports Scientific Development
Christian Faith and Science are not only in harmony, but Faith also supports the development of Science. Faith provides an objective material world for man to study. The first chapter of Genesis describes God creating everything in the universe in six days. He created light on the first day. Modern physics has confirmed that light is the most basic matter. Gradually God created inorganic matter on earth, then plants and animals. Finally, on the sixth day, God made His most beloved Man in His own image, and assigned him the management authority over all the other creatures. Man, being above all creatures, is entitled to know all creatures, to ask questions about Nature, and acquire scientific knowledge. Only God is the sole creator of Science, and superior to Science. Without a real objective belief, there can be no development of modern Science.
The Christian Faith points out the laws of Nature and Life, which await man’s discovery. Science is God’s creation, and the foundation of Faith is the revelation of God. This omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God created Nature with His supreme wisdom so that everything is rational, and according to principles. Through diligent exploration and endeavor, man seeks to unlock God’s infinite wisdom, and glorify Him through Science.
Christian Faith encourages the practice of Science. The starting point of Science is practice, and with practice come experiments. To practice is to pay with industrious work, including both manual and mental labor. To Christian Faith work is very important. The beginning of Genesis describes God laboring to create the universe in six days, and on the seventh day He rested. The world’s six-day workweek labor system today is derived from this. Jesus Christ was born and raised in a working family. The Apostle Paul labored during his preaching journeys through tentmaking to support self and other poor brothers and sisters. The couple in charge of the Corinthian church, Aquila and his wife Priscilla, not only did missionary work, they wove tents as well. This emphasis of work culture has been wide spread in the western societies. Societies that pay attention to labor, respect labor, and glorify labor, cultivate an atmosphere for the development of Science.
Consider the example of the Greek culture, one built on leisure provided by slave labor. The Greek culture had high achievements in literature, art, and philosophy, while natural Science paled in comparison. Likewise in China, the dominant tradition—the Confucian culture—also despised labor. In feudal societies, the socalled intellectuals mainly studied old literature, composed poetry, wrote, painted, and engaged in other mental recreations. The mental workers governed the manual workers who supplied them with their needs. Such a degree of contempt for laborers in a society is unlikely to produce modern Science.
After Christianity spread throughout Europe, the Germanic societies believed that before the law of God everyone is equal. They believed that God created Nature, and He delights in people who are diligent in workmanship. Beliefs such as these promoted the birth and development of Science and civilization. The Bible says, “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the LORD.” The belief that “Scientific accomplishments can only come about by the denial of religion” is proven false by both the Bible and history.
Proper Applications of Science
Nature is a creation of God, and Faith originates from revelation given by God. Science is the knowledge given Man to manage Nature. Science is, ultimately, the link between the Creator and all His creations. It is obvious that Faith is above Science in that hierarchy.
Freedom and Reasoning are two characteristics of life. Among all animals, Man has the highest intelligence, and Science is a product of reasoning. Like Freedom, Reasoning can be applied correctly or incorrectly. God’s intent is that Man use his intelligence to add to his well-being. Science, however, has sometimes been abused by Man, causing harm, bringing disasters, and adding to his miseries.
From the sixteenth to nineteenth century, Science progressed rapidly while Faith was marginalized. Extreme ideas, such as “Science is Power” and “Science is Superior” were rampant, and Man became a slave to Materialism. Man was enjoying material riches but his mind was losing spiritual discernment which ultimately threatened his own survival. The consequence of departing arrogantly from God and blindly abusing scientific knowledge brings about destruction. Faith, on the other hand, refreshes and lifts the human spirit from emptiness to hopelessness.
Man as Unfaithful Managers
Genesis Chapter 1 states that God created the universe, and communicated directly with the first couple, Adam and Eve. “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Even in the abundance of the Paradise, Man still had the responsibility to labor, tend, and take care of the garden. Such laboring is part of living, and God said it is good.
God gave Man scientific knowledge to manage the garden well. He educated Adam through inspiration and he gave Adam the freedom to apply his knowledge to name every living creature according to their special features. Adam understood and managed well, until he and Eve were tricked by Satan, and through their own greediness disobeyed God and ate the fruit God had forbidden them to eat. The spiritual communication they had with God was broken, and they no longer deserved to live in the garden.
Man’s greed and disobedience led to the downfall of the working class and the destruction of the Earth. God must have sighed when he said: “the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it” (Genesis 3:17b, NLT). Due to the first Adam’s lack of contentment with God’s provision, Mankind became slaves to materialism. To meet man’s insatiable greed, happy laboring has become “torturous.” This has led to the commercialization of society, producing a secular culture that competes for money and status while overworking people.
God’s intent from the beginning was that Man possess scientific knowledge. Even today He desires that Man use scientific knowledge to reduce the degree of his labor, to overcome diseases, and improve the quality and enjoyment of life. People need to put Faith and Science in the proper perspective, drive Science with reasoning, and let Science play a beneficial role for the well-being of Mankind. Applying the various disciplines of Science with reason, looking to God for answers, brings honor and glory to God.
(This article originally appeared in Chinese Today, Vol. 50, June 2011 titled “What does Science have to do with Faith?” It is adapted and translated by Michael Chau with permission.)


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Jeffrey W. Somers, Supervisor
Judith Marie “Judy” Beeler, 79, of Altoona died unexpectedly Thursday morning November 15, 2018 at her residence.
She was born June 18, 1939 in Altoona a daughter of the late Joseph L. and Gertrude A. (Ivory) McNelis. She married Donald J. Beeler on February 27, 1960 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Altoona.
Surviving are her husband; nine children, son Michael J. Beeler (Patricia Robinson) of Spokane, WA; son Patrick J. Beeler and his wife, Christina of Altoona; daughter Kathleen A. Sheedy and her husband Scott of Altoona; son Timothy S. Beeler of Altoona; daughter Kelly A. Beeler of Phoenix, AZ; son Joseph A. Beeler and his wife Melissa of Bellwood; son Daniel P. Beeler of Sinking Valley; daughter Susan M. Jarrett and her husband Shawn of Altoona; son Christopher D. Beeler and his wife Elisa of Altoona; twenty-seven grandchildren; twenty-one great grandchildren; a sister Sally J. McNelis Bowerman of Maryland and a sister Kay McNelis of Altoona.
Mrs. Beeler was a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Altoona.
She was a 1957 graduate of Altoona Catholic High School.
Judy enjoyed crocheting, camping and playing Pinochle. She especially enjoyed being a granny to the kids.
She was a member and past president of the Christian Mothers; a member of the Christian Family Movement; a member of the Marriage Encounter group; a member of the Cursillo Movement through the church; a member of the Arise Program; a member of the choir; active with Our Lady of Lourdes fish fry at Lent and with funeral dinners at the church.
Judy was the recipient of the 2015 Gold Cross Award for her dedicated activities at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
Friends will be received from 4-8 p.m. Monday November 19, 2018 at Myers-Somers Funeral Home, Inc., 501 Sixth Avenue, Altoona where a vigil service for the deceased will be held.
A funeral mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday November 20, 2018 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Altoona with Rev. James Dugan officiating.
Committal rites will be held at Calvary Cemetery with entombment to follow.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations please be made to the Christian Mothers Elevator Fund at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 2716 Broad Ave., Altoona, PA 16601.


Since the exciting election of Pope Francis, lots of people have been quoting the guidance attributed to St. Francis: Preach always, when necessary use words. By saying this, St. Francis would not have been deeming words unimportant. To the contrary, according to Catholic wisdom, we sometimes fast from things to show how important they are, to show that they should be valued and respected, not wasted or taken for granted.
That point is the perfect segue into my explaining the name of this blog, “Word.” It’s one of my favorite words–a word not to be taken lightly because it represents something properly valued by people, and by the Church in particular. Words have been rich in meaning to me from my grammar school days, instruments of learning and fun, vessels of potential power and influence, the common currency for building relationships and exercising one’s reason and faith.
Thanks to my father, himself a wordsmith, and to my Catholic school teachers, who took words seriously, I wound up building a career (I hope it was also receiving a vocation), as a writer, trying to demonstrate good stewardship in the world of words. All of this made me want to give this blog the simple title, “Word.”
It’s my privilege to have written a book that is scheduled to be published by the University of Notre Dame, with the title, Words of Life. This phrase draws upon the “Word of Life” mural that has become better known as “Touchdown Jesus.” This is the mural on the front of the Hesburgh Library, whose upcoming 50th anniversary is the motivation of the book. John the Evangelist liked the word “word” and used it to describe Jesus Christ—the utterance of God the Father from all eternity, the truth and wisdom of God, allowing Jesus to say, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
This helps to make Christ the perfect teacher, and indeed the mural also symbolizes Notre Dame’s embrace of Christ the Teacher. It’s an embrace reflected in the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), where I’m privileged to be on the communications staff.
“Word” has not lost its power of authority and validation. The Urban Dictionary tells us that the word can be used to say, “I’m telling the truth,” or “That’s the way it is,” or simply “Amen.” It can also mean confirmation or affirmation more generally, as in “Good idea,” or “That’s okay.” This “word” helps to build relationships of trust, and we need words like that. Such words refer to both the mind and heart—to faith and reason, you might say—and so they’re multi-dimensional just as people are. While precision is important in a communicator’s choices of words to convey a message, I’ve always thought that the Catholic Church encourages a dynamic and vibrant vocabulary—not just a legalistic, technical jargon like some institutions—because it likes evocative words.
There are times to unleash the power of words. The Church has made the decision that the Mass, in its new Roman Missal translation, is one place where an abundance of words and their elaborate nature generate a sense of overflowing love and praise and thanksgiving. I anticipate that Pope Francis will help to lead the way in showing people the other side of Church wisdom–seeing the need to leave some room for sparse language, indeed for silence, so that actions can speak louder and listening can take place. As with so many Catholic insights, in this case taken from an insight of the Hebrew Scriptures, to everything there is a season. Sometimes words should gush with excitement, and sometimes they are more authentic and powerful in small quantities. They are one of the key tools of the New Evangelization, and their effectiveness in telling truth and giving life will depend partly on our wise choices about their use.


Good day beautiful people
I hope that this post meets you well? Today’s write up is going to be very brief but I want to remind and encourage you that once you become a child of God, you will ALWAYS be a child of God. Just to clarify I believe that a child of God is someone who has accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour (believes that Jesus is God in flesh appearing. Christ is the Son of God and the only way to heaven is through God the Son). You may be asking why I believe this and I will share a few passages which I believe confirm that once a person is saved they cannot lose their salvation (once saved always saved).
[Side-note: Not all people who profess to be Christians are actually believers. The passage below confirms this. Matthew 7:21 ~ “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter ].
Some points to remember
1. Jesus died once and for all: The blood He shed on Calvary was not in vain. Advocating that one can ‘lose’ their salvation is a way of indirectly saying that the blood of Christ is not enough. The blood of Christ covers all sin (past, present and future) for those who accept His salvation plan and acknowledge their need for Him.
1 Peter 3:18 ~ Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
2. Every good and perfect gift comes from above: God gives without measure. He loves us so deeply that He did not withhold His one and only Son from us (Romans 8:32). If we who are sinful know how to give good gifts to our children how much more God who is without sin and is perfect in ALL of His ways. God is not like man, as most humans tend to only give gifts to those they believe are deserving. Neither will He ask us to return a gift because we mess up. The Bible reminds us that once we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9).
Matthew 7:11 ~ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him.
James 1:17 ~ Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].
3. God is a covenant keeping God: If God says He will do something He will do it! He has the final say and He will never go back on His word. So if God’s word say’s that all who believe Jesus is Lord will have eternal life, then that is so. You’re not saved one minute and then lost the next!
Romans 10:9 ~ If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Hebrews 6:18 ~ “So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.”
Romans 11:27 ~ “And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.”
^^^ (Romans 11:27) God’s covenant to every believer is that He WILL take away their sins. His covenant can never be broken or revoked.
A verse to remember…
Romans 11:29 ~ “For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.”
^^^This is a beautiful reminder that God’s gifts can never be withdrawn! One can never lose their salvation.
I hope you all have a glorious and productive week. Always hang onto the truth that you’re greatly loved by God. Continue to stay safe.
Christian Lady After God’s Own Heart 💜


Notre-Dame du Vorbourg
16 April 2022
The oldest Maria sanctuary (12th century) in the canton of Jura is located in the valley of Delsberg (Delémont), situated on a rock at the foot of the river Birs, which flows into the Rhine near Basel.
The chapel was originally part of Telsberg Castle. The earthquake of 1356 destroyed the castle. The chapel was largely spared.
After the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), the chapel was extended to the rock on which the tower of St. Anne stands. At the same time, the statue of Notre Dame du Vorbourg was erected.
On 7 April 1658, Mary became the chapel’s patron saint. The votive images from 1671 are among the most remarkable in Switzerland.
During the Second World War, the pastor of Delsberg vowed to establish a permanent priesthood in the chapel if the Nazis did not occupy Switzerland. Until 2018, this service was carried out by the Benedictines. The current observer is a priest of the diocese.
(Source and further information: www.delemont.ch)


Greetings to you all. I pray that you are well.
As we conclude our look at the book of Hebrews today, my effort will be to help encourage all of us by understanding the answer to a question most of us ask, though we do so in many different ways, at different times in our lives. The question is this: What’s the point of it all? What’s the point of my having a relationship with God? Why is heaven important? What’s the purpose of all this stuff that preachers keep telling us that we need to do?
Now, this is a bit of a challenge for me in the amount of time that I have with you. But if we stick to God’s word, and if I don’t get in the way or trip over my sentences, together, we might just figure it out. Let’s begin with Hebrews 11:1,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Now there are many wonderfully inspiring verses in the Bible. We all have our favorites. But here, in this first verse, whether it was spoken first by Paul, his friend Barnabas or Apollos, or someone else; we find a most common-sensical phrase for the Christian believer. I love this verse.
Because, without this scripture as guidance, we have, as children of God, the most difficult time trying to describe our faith.
A few weeks back we talked about how hard it is for the average human to be able to keep their focus on God.
Today our text is talking about something invisible. How do we stay focused on something invisible?
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Well, that then begs the question: What do we hope for?
What’s your answer? Jesus, an eternity in heaven, to see God? Or maybe you’re short-term, like hoping to win the lottery, get a new sofa, or just have a weekend off.
Then there is the second part of this verse, certain of what we do not see.
What are we certain of that we do not see? My first response to this question is the Holy Spirit. I am sure of God’s Spirit being present in my life. I know that many of you feel this way also. Yet I don’t see the Holy Spirit.
In fact, in my low points, I take solace in the knowledge that God’s Spirit is with me, many times encouraging me, ministering to me, the same way that heavenly angels ministered comfort to our Lord Jesus.
In addition to God’s Holy Spirit, can it not also be testified that there is an entire spiritual realm that exists, yet is unseen by us? I don’t see it, but I do feel it. Hebrews 11:2 then tells us,
“This faith is what the ancients were commended for.”
The ancients were commended for being sure of what they hoped for and certain of what they do not see.
The ancients described here are all of those who would be considered heroes of the faith and chapter 11 of Hebrews reminds us of their testimonies. Abel, who had the better sacrifice, Enoch, who did not experience death, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab the prostitute, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets.
They had this faith that we’re talking about. They passed it on, and many of them died while passing the faith on. Hebrews 11:3 then mentions something very important about this faith.
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
We know that before our creation, the earth was formless and empty. Genesis 1:1-2,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
It is hard to picture nothing. Try it, the nothing that I picture always looks like something. Usually, the sky is what I picture. But verse 11:3 says what was seen was not made out of what was visible. We know that Jesus was the creative agent of God, what did he use?
So this faith, in a God who is unseen, a God who formed the universe, so that what we see now, was not made by anything visible. On top of that, all of our biblical heroes are commended for having this faith and being certain of what we do not see. There is a great amount of not seeing here.
What is it that we do not see, yet we are made aware of it, just? It is God’s Spirit, with us from the beginning, tickling us, prodding us, encouraging us, forgiving us, and picking us up when we screw up. The Holy Spirit will also teach us, if we let him.
Visualize this if you can, all those heroes in the Bible along with all of the great teachers, theologians, and friends and family who have encouraged us over the years, are now gone, unseen, but still rooting for us, encouraging us, willing us on through our lives, carrying on the faith they exemplified to us. Visualize this, as we read Hebrews 12:1-3,
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus (focus), the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Yes, there is a spiritual realm that we do not see. Yes, there is a Holy Spirit that we do not see. Yes, we were created for and believe in a God we have never seen.
But, we are saved by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who we have seen, who died our death on the cross to set us free from our slavery to sin.
But each of us has our part to play. Hebrews 12:5-6, which includes a teaching from Proverbs 3:11-12,
“And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons (and daughters), ‘Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son (or daughter).’”
I know that many of you are struggling now. With health, as caregivers to loved ones, and family members who are struggling, and in a world that does not understand us, and is set against us. It’s difficult to see what’s true, what’s right, and what’s wrong.
This is the point of it all. This is the time for us to act. Pass it on.
Pass on this faith, being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Pass on the living Christ.
So often, at our lowest points, we think that we are alone. But we’re not. That’s just Satan, trying his best to make us think that we’re alone. But we are never alone. We have Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and that great cloud of witnesses to lean on.
There are many around us, who do not believe in Christ and who also feel this confused and lonely feeling. Pass on that which you have been taught. All that you have learned about Jesus throughout your life has prepared you for now.
Pass it on. Now is the time. Pass it on.
All of us will experience tests and corrections from the Lord. We will have bad things that happen to us. But these are the times that make us stronger when we survive them. And always remember, this is when Satan attacks. When he senses our personal weaknesses. But these attacks mean nothing compared to who we serve and what we believe. Remember, when we are at our weakest, Jesus reveals his strength.
Pass it on.
Do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God.
and Harmony UMC


|Bible in Basic English (BBE)
||New International Version (NIV)
4 Whose desire is that all men may have salvation and come to the knowledge of what is true.
4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
|The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain. (The Bible in Basic English Version Online)
||Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online)


Location: Manila, Manila, Philippines
Sweet and loving
Looking for a partner in life who loves God.
A typical Filipina woman , family oriented.
I love cooking and my siblings say i can cook well.
I want a man who will love me and help me to be the best wife for him and to help me grow in my Christian walk .


According to the admonition quoted at the beginning of this chapter, we can react wrongly to God’s discipline in one of two ways. We may either “regard lightly the discipline of the Lord” or we may “faint when [we] are reproved by Him” (Heb. 12:5). If we “regard lightly” God’s discipline, that means that we don’t recognize it, or we ignore its warning. To faint from God’s discipline is to give up trying to please Him because we think His discipline is too severe. Either reaction is wrong. We should recognize that God loves us, and that He disciplines us for our good. When we recognize His loving hand of discipline, we should repent and receive His forgiveness.
Once we’ve repented, we should expect relief from God’s discipline. We should not, however, necessarily expect relief from the inevitable consequences of our sin, although we may well ask the Lord for mercy and help. God responds to a humble and contrite spirit (see Isaiah 66:2). The Bible promises, “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5).
After His judgment fell upon the Israelites, God promised:
For a brief moment I forsook you, but with a great compassion I will gather you. In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you (Is. 54:7-8).
God is good and merciful!
For further study concerning God’s discipline, see 2 Chron. 6:24-31, 36-39; 7:13-14; Ps. 73:14; 94:12-13; 106:40-46; 118:18; 119:67, 71; Jer. 2:29-30; 5:23-25; 14:12; 30:11; Hag. 1:2-13; 2:17; Acts 5:1-11; Rev. 3:19.


By Proverbsway. Love is..1. LISTEN without interrupting. (Proverbs 18) 2. SPEAK without accusing. (James 1:19) 3. GIVE without sparing. (Proverbs 21:26) 4. PRAY without ceasing. (Colossians 1:9) 5. ANSWER without arguing. (Proverbs 17:1) 6. SHARE without pretending. (Ephesians 4:15) 7. ENJOY without complaint. (Philippians 2:14) 8. TRUST without wavering. (Corinthians 13:7) 9. FORGIVE without punishment. (Colossians 3:13) 10. PROMISE without forgetting. (Proverbs 13:12) by AubergineDreams
Positive living with anxiety. The demands you put on yourself can create more pressure than you know how to handle. Spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra helps you break the cycle of anxiety by changing the way you respond to stress.
Or who people have always told you you were. Often in my life I've sat back, closed my eyes, and pictured myself on a good day as a child. I've tried to listen in on what me as a child wanted to do with her life. What she was passionate about. I seriously believe one [read full article www.CalleenWilder.com]


The Elders in Jerusalem in the Book of Acts
1 Corinthians 12:28-30 – What Is an Apostle?
What offices did God give to his church? This article explains the list of gifted men and spiritual gifts from 1 Corinthians 12:28-30. Among these gifts are apostles, prophets, and teachers.
Leadership in the Church
What should church leadership look like? This article first discusses New Testament terms for church leaders, such as apostles, elders, and deacons, and then explains that elders are called to rule God's church, and should be men, not women.
Are There Still Apostles Today?
This article explores the question of whether apostles still exist in the church today. It considers the qualifications necessary for apostleship, the uniqueness of Paul's apostleship, the apostolic authority and the closing of the canon, the foundational role of the apostles, and the testimony of those following the apostles. The inevitable conclusion is that there are no longer apostles today.
The Plan of God and Preaching in Acts
This article argues that the plan of God played a big role in the writings of Luke and thus in the book of Acts. The author argues that the "plan of God" forms the theological basis for what Luke understood as preaching. It was God who acted through the preaching of the apostles. The preaching of the disciples is a result of God working out his plan for the nations. The plan of God also determines the content of the preaching.
Israel, the People of God, and the Nations
Schnabel reflects in this article on the universal context for the narrative of Israel in Scripture and the universal perspective of the identity of Israel.
Theologians You Should Know – Only Let Me Reach Jesus Christ: The Apostolic Fathers
Chapter 1 introduces the apostolic fathers. Their writings are the most important for understanding the first generations after the apostles. Chapter 1 introduces a number of authors who wrote from around the end of the first century to the middle of the second.
Tongues-Speech: A Patristic Analysis
Was there speaking in tongues in the period immediately following the apostles? Hunter examines writings from the early church fathers for the possible references to the phenomena of glossolalia. Specific attention is given to reactions against Montanism.
God Has Spoken – Christianity and Judaism
Christianity and Judaism are different religions. Why is that? After all, Jesus and the apostles were all Jews. What was the nature of the Judaism that prevailed in the 1st century AD? What was the view of God? How was Jesus Christ related to the Jewish God? How should biblical monotheism be interpreted in the light of Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God send from heaven?
Only a Voice
The one thing which distinguishes false prophets from true prophets, and true apostles from false apostles, is the message preached. All true prophets throughout the Bible and now preach the same message, which has originated in God.
One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church
What does it mean that the church is an apostolic church? This article looks at the central place of the apostles in the church, the apostles as witnesses and authority in the church.
2 Peter 3:15-16 – Rivalry or Chivalry?
Repairing the Apostolic Foundation
1 John 1:3 - An Apostolic Church
John 20:2 – "So That We Might Believe …"
Were Apostles Unique and Unrepeatable Messengers of Christ?
The twelve apostles were chosen by Christ for a unique, unrepeatable role in the history of redemption. Missionaries and church planters today are authorized by the risen Christ to carry out their task, but they have a different level of authority from that which the apostles had.


Our last bible study of the year is scheduled for Dec. 27th. I hope some of you will be recovered from the holiday enough to find the time to join us. J (for anyone new that’s Tuesday Dec. 27th at 7:00 pm downstairs in our church.)
I think this time we will depart a little bit from our routine of tearing apart the passages to be used for the following Sunday’s sermon and instead ask everyone to bring their favorite passage that relates to our topic.
What topic you ask? Well as we are close to starting a brand new year I’ve been struck by how much fear is in the hearts of family, friends, and folks in general. People express fear of ISIS, other countries, the incoming administration, their personal situations, the conditions of loved ones, and just so many other things. I cringe every time I hear someone start off with how afraid or overly concerned they are about this, that or the other thing. This is not the way God intended for us to live folks!
Let’s start the new year with our minds and hearts filled with the words He has given us to encourage and comfort us! If you truly believe there is no reason not to look forward to, and be excited about, everything 2017 will bring.
So I invite each of you to bring your favorite Bible passage that helps us deal with the concerns we all have from time to time – keep things in perspective – and keep from being afraid of the future.
We will talk a little (very little) about the things that frighten us and then read some of the words God has given us to deal with such human nonsense – the passages I hope you will bring to our attention.
Whenever I am troubled I often recall the song we so often sang on our school bus years ago – “He’s got the whole world…”. That’s the point!
Don’t let me down because if nobody brings anything to the table this may be our shortest study to date! J
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:34


It’s the day before Christmas. As family and friends gather to celebrate the newborn king, there is an anticipation for what is about to happen. A joyful mood fills our hearts and our houses as we enjoy time together. Are we aware that joy comes from our Lord Jesus? When the wise men encountered Jesus as a newborn baby, they were filled with overwhelming joy. The joy of the Lord wells up in our hearts when we are near him.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
These wise men followed a star that led them right to the newborn king. When they saw him, they filled with joy, fell down and worshipped him, and then gave him expensive gifts. These dignified men from a distant land humbled themselves before a baby in Bethlehem.
Have you noticed that when people encounter Jesus, they are filled with joy? These men were so full of joy for finding Jesus that they rejoiced exceedingly. You can’t come away from an encounter with Jesus without being filled with joy. Whether it be from having our sins forgiven or from a powerful move of the Holy Spirit, the result is always joy we feel in our heart. That’s because joy is a fruit result from being close to him. All Christians should have the joy of the Lord in their hearts. If it’s missing it probably means we are moving away from Jesus.
Respond with Worship
Our response to this joy that Jesus puts in our life should always be worship. The wise men bowed down before Jesus and gave him all the glory. Imagine that scene, distinguished men in their expensive robes and attire on their faces before a baby praising him. If the Joy of the Lord is in our hearts then worship should naturally flow out of mouths. That is what “rejoiced exceedingly” means.
Give Your Best
Finally, the wise men gave him lavish gifts. Gold, Frankincense, and myrrh were some of the most valuable commodities of the day. It was definitely more wealth than Joseph or Mary had ever seen. Why did they give Jesus these costly gifts? Because they gave of the best, they had. Our response to the Joy of the Lord being inside of us should always be to give Jesus our greatest gifts. Is the Joy of the Lord in your heart? Do you see that joy manifested in your worship and giving? If its missing then draw closer to Jesus, and he will draw closer to you.


CLS, along with CUCA, sponsors Pastors and Deacons Sabbatical Week from Monday to Thursday, June 27-30, 2011. The topic of the week is "How do you present and defend your faith today in a skeptical environment? A course on Christian Apologetics." Our major presenter is Dr. Jonathan Strand, Professor of Philosophy at Concordia University College of Alberta, Edmonton.
The topic of apologetics is one that has become of great importance as our society has become more skeptical. How do we “give a reason for the hope that is within us” (1 Peter 3:15) in the face of skepticism and indeed increasing hostility toward the Christian faith and Christians themselves?
The speaker, Rev. Jonathan Strand, Ph.D, has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He received the M.Div. from the seminary of the Association of Free Lutheran Churches, and a Theological Diploma via colloquy from Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Edmonton.
Click here for a schedule for the week, which includes the opportunity for participants to share the results of any research they themselves may be engaged in. We encourage you to take time for rest and reflection and join your fellow workers in the church as we examine this important issue, and others as well, during the week of 27-30 June.


Heart Guide for Lesson 23:
Spiritual Warfare 101
Start keeping at least a mental journal that begins with your moments of complete surrender.
1) Notice first of all how good it feels to release every care and concern to Him and to allow yourself (with His help) to enter into such willingness that He could ask anything of you and you would be glad for a chance to walk with Him and to serve Him in it. Know that to live in a flow of moments like this is your true, new life - your inheritance. Your Father is working through everything to restore you to this when you lose it - it is that important to Him! But your enemy will seek to rob you of it. Be vigilant!
2) Notice next whatever takes you away from this place of inward surrender. It is never the outward thing. It is always a letting go of trust or love. Watch to see from this what the main temptations are that the enemy is using against you.
3) Then take the Six Steps to Freedom from Main Healing Lesson 7 (Recognize and Replace!) into those stronghold areas and do some holy demolition!


Our next monthly meeting will be held on Friday, May 14th from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. We will be discussing “Hamartia, Evil, and Deity in Archaic and Classical Greek Thought” by Will Desmond from the Spring 2020 (Volume 47.1) issue of Communio entitled “Lead Us Not into Temptation, but Deliver Us from Evil”.
The following is taken from the Introduction to the issue:
Will Desmond examines the distinctiveness of Christian forgiveness relative to Greek literature, philosophy, and religion in “Hamartia, Evil, and Deity in Archaic and Classical Greek Thought.” It is revealing that sacrifice, though a prime requirement of Greek piety, was not directed toward the expiation of sin nor toward the reception of mercy from the gods. In the tragic worldview, “the divine is jealous, and often cunningly malign, if it does indeed lure individuals to their doom. . . . To such deities, one cannot even pray: ‘Lead us not into temptation.’” Not even the classical philosophers present moral failing as in need of or affected by divine mercy. According to Desmond, confession of a God who can forgive us and who calls us to forgiveness paradoxically demands a graver account of sin’s transgression than was acknowledged by the pagan world before Christ.
Given the current shutdown, we will be holding an online meeting over zoom.
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.


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The Holy Spirit Will Set You Ablaze
The Holy Spirit is the wonderful third Person of the Trinity about whom we know so little. He loves so tenderly, cares so personally, and ministers to us so faithfully. How amazing that perhaps the most common symbol of this beautiful Person found in the Bible is flaming fire.
Let us note more fully the fiery ministry of the Spirit:
He sets you aflame with His fiery baptism. "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire," said John the Baptist of Jesus (Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16). This refers to "the fiery character of the Spiritís operations upon the soul Ė searching, consuming, refining, sublimating Ė as nearly all good interpreters understand the words" (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary, 888). The inner fire of the Spirit sets the Spirit-filled person ablaze with His divine presence.
He empowers you with His fiery divine energy. The fire of God speaks also of His divine energy constantly ready to empower His own who are totally surrendered to Him. Christ desires that all the fiery ministry of the Spirit be active in your life. "I have come to bring fire on the earth" (Luke 12:49). He kindled the holy flame of God in the hearts of His followers as He began His earthly ministry. But He knew they needed more of the Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit visibly descended in holy flame upon the men and women gathered in the Upper Room. Empowered by the Spirit, they began to spread Godís holy fire that very day. For decades the Spiritís fire kept burning and spreading. Persecution could not quench their fire, it only served to fan the flames. Pentecost lit a flame that by Godís grace will never go out.
He sets you aglow with His fiery radiance and zeal. Romans 12:11 urges, "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor." You have spiritual zeal when you are spiritually ablaze. Weymouth translates this, "Have your spirits aglow"; Goodspeed, "on fire with the Spirit"; and the Revised Standard Version states it, "Be aglow with the Spirit."
The Holy Spirit revives your spirit, fills you with abundance of life, love and zeal, and sets you aglow so that you manifest the vibrant, radiant life of God. He will revive your devotion, accelerate your obedience, and fan into flame your zeal. As a Spirit-filled believer you should be marked by the intense devotion, eager earnestness, and the loyal bond-service which characterizes the heavenly angels. Apollos (Acts 18:25) was thus ablaze. The literal translation can be that he was "burning in spirit," or "glowing with the Spirit."
When the Spirit burns within you in freedom and fullness, your inner life becomes radiant, your zeal intense, and your service dynamic. You, in the words of Ephesians 5:16, are "making the most of every opportunity."
The need for this spiritual glow and zeal is emphasized by the condition of the church in Laodicea which had grown lukewarm (Rev. 3:15-16). The spiritual temperature of a Spirit-filled leader should remain high. The Spirit desires so to fill you with burning, glowing agape love that your life is constantly radiant with His presence. Whether the translation of Romans 12:11 is to be aglow with the Holy Spirit or to be aglow in your own spirit, the Enabler is ever the Spirit Himself. His active fullness must permeate your personality and service.
He provides you gifts which you are to stir into flame. Spiritual gifts are endowments for service given through the activity of the Holy Spirit. God provides whatever divine enablements we need for the service to which He appoints us. The Holy Spirit Himself is Godís great gift to us (Acts 2:38) but He bestows grace-gifts (charismata) providing divine endowment and enablement for serving God and the body of Christ.
"Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you," Paul urged Timothy (2 Tim. 1:6). Notice the gift was "in" him. The Holy Spirit primarily works from within, not upon in some external sense. He does not manipulate us, He enables by His indwelling presence and power.
God never appoints or guides you to do a service without being available to endow and empower you with all you need to do His will. But there is a cooperating role for you to play. You must kindle anew, or fan into full flame the divine endowment. Godís gifts are given to be cherished and used. To fail to use them as God desires is to fail God and people. We develop them by use. As we use Godís endowment, the Spirit enables us, guides us, and makes us fruitful.
The constant tendency of fire is to go out. The Spirit does not waste divine energy. If we do not obey and use the grace God provides, He ceases to bestow. The Greek tense of the verb emphasizes the continuous rekindling of the flame. The spiritual biography of many a Christian leader is "once ablaze." Was there a time when you were more ablaze for God than you are today?
Praise God, a flickering flame that is almost gone can be fanned into brilliant fire again. That fanning must be a continuous process. Five times in Leviticus 6 God instructed that the fire on the altar of burnt offering was never to go out. He had initially given that fire from heaven (Lev. 9:24; 2 Chr. 7:1). God supplies the fire, but we must keep it burning. We constantly need the Spiritís fire, symbolizing the divine presence within us, and we constantly need the touch of Godís grace provided through the atonement upon us. Our consecration to God should never lapse and His presence and power in and upon us should never diminish.
God has created our spirits flammable. We are spiritually combustible. Our nature is created to be set ablaze by the Spirit. We are spiritually most blessed, most victorious, most usable when we are ablaze. We are most Godlike when we glow with holy flame Ė the flame of the indwelling Spirit.
The fire of God gives an unforgettable attraction to the personality of Godís messenger and to the content of his message. It imparts a sacred authority that cannot be counterfeited by human efforts. It so seals with the mark of God that others are unable to ignore it. It gives a holy authenticity and assures of integrity. It impresses with the obvious involvement and partnership of God.
Whatever the cost, we must keep the flame of the Spirit burning on the altar of our hearts. The Greek word in "fan into flame" in Second Timothy 1:6 refers to the use of a bellows to cause a smoldering fire to flame up. This takes effort. Timothy was to do all in his power to intensify the manifestation of the flame of the Spirit. Our cooperation with the Spirit is essential to consistency of flowing ardor, spiritual radiance, and flaming zeal.
General Booth urged his people, "The tendency of fire is to go out; watch the fire on the altar of your heart." Our constant danger is to cool off spiritually, to lose our fervor, and to slow down in zeal. Personal revival comes through renewed commitment and reaffirmed consecration. Everyone needs such personal revival again and again.
We have the great gift of God, the Holy Spirit, but we need to hunger more for the manifestation of His presence, and open our hearts constantly in faithís expectancy for His working, His empowerings and constant enablings in our life. God gives us capacity and the Spirit wants to imbue our whole being with His reality, making us His channels of expression that His holy fire may be constantly visible in us. We must choose whether we will neglect the Spirit, quench the Spirit, or fan into flame the Spiritís presence.
Quoted from Ablaze for God by Wesley L. Duewel. Copyright © 1989. Used by permission of the Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana. Dr. Duewelís books may be purchased by calling (317) 881-6751 Ext. 361.


Pope Eugene III was the 167th pope and the third to pick the name Eugene. He is also known as the Blessed Pope and for his connection to the Second Crusade. This article looks at the life of Pope Eugene III.
Known as Bernardo, the future pope was born in Pisa somewhere around 1080. Records do not show his mother but list his father as Godius. Though some believe he belonged to a noble family, others claim that he came from a family who did not have money, which would explain his humble nature. Records show that he worked in a Pisa church as a canon in 1106 and that he later became subdeacon in the same church. Pope Innocent II ordained him as a priest in the 1130s, which led to Bernardo joining the Cistercian Order.
Pope Lucius II died on February 15, 1145, when he was hit in the head by a heavy rock. That same day, cardinals elected Bernardo as the next pope. He chose the name Pope Eugene III and began his reign outside of Rome. Problems between the Roman Senate and the clergy made the city unstable. Fearing that he might die in the same way as the last pope, Eugene II agreed to travel to Farfa where he was consecrated.
To help the public, Pope Eugene III asked leaders in Tivoli and other cities to side with the Church. He spent several months traveling through Italy before finally making his way to France. It was there that he announced the beginning of the Second Crusade. It was only after it began that he returned to Italy, though he never resided in Rome.
Pope Eugene III lived in a fortress outside of Rome and asked the King of Sicily to help him gain control of the city. Though the Holy Roman Emperor and other leaders agreed to help, he passed away before they could arrive. Anastasius IV inherited a papacy marred by Roman revolt and took on the role just one day later. He helped oversee the internment of Pope Eugene III in the Vatican.
Quick Facts About Pope Eugene III
- He was born circa 1080 in Pisa, which was both parts of the Republic of Pisa and the Holy Roman Empire. Some records list his birthplace as Montemagno.
- The pope’s birth name was Bernardo. Most records claim that he belonged to the Paganelli di Montemagno family.
- The pope died on July 8, 1153.
- His death was attributed to natural causes. He was in Tivoli when he passed away.
- The papacy of Pope Eugene III began on February 15, 1145.
- His papacy ended when Eugene III passed away in 1153.
- Anasatius IV succeeded him as pope four days later.
Interesting Facts About Pope Eugene III
- After his death, the Church had Eugene III interned in a tomb in the Vatican. It wasn’t long after his burial that followers claimed to experience miracles there.
- Though he is not saint, Eugene III was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1872. This the first step in the canonization process and allows the Church to make him a saint if he meets all standards later.
- Eugene III was pope for eight years and 143 days. He is one of the only popes to never live in Rome. Due to fighting and opposite in the city, he did not even take the position there.
- He is also known as Blessed Pope Eugene III due to the miracles he performed after dying and for the blessings he gave while alive.
- The consecration of Pope Eugene III appears in a medieval painting of the same name.


Narrated By: David Cochran Heath
Duration: 12 hours and 58 minutes
What to expect
In the 2014 New York Times bestseller Jesus on Trial, David Limbaugh made a case for the Gospels as hard evidence of the existence of God, drawing on his own spiritual journey from skeptic to believer. Now Limbaugh looks deeper into the scriptures and discovers that Jesus Christ’s very being reveals itself in a close reading of the sacred texts.
The Emmaus Code is a powerful, intimate journey toward an understanding of Christ as man, savior, and son of God.
Christianity, History of religion, Christianity, Christianity, Theology, Christian life and practice, Religious instruction, Christian life and practice, Personal religious testimony and popular inspirational works
Listen to a sample
“David Limbaugh uniquely opens up the most beloved Book of all time, magnifying its greatest theme…David has written The Emmaus Code not only as an accomplished author, commentator, and attorney, but with vitality that conveys his love for the Lord and his inspired word.”
“If you’ve ever wondered what ties the Old Testament and the New Testament together, then this is the book for you. It’s the best Christian layman’s guide to the Old Testament I’ve ever read. Fascinating—and highly recommended!”


The Rev. Dr. Bob Segress served as a licensed psychological clinician for twenty-five years. Upon retiring, he served for fifteen years as a prison minister. Retiring again, he began writing full-time after a period of boredom. He has written: The Biblical Approach To Psychology while serving as a college educator, The Shelton Series, and, in 2012, Ten Years Inside Shelton Prison. Currently, he writes for several publications such as Halo Magazine.


On Oct. 31, 2011, the Very Rev. William S. Stafford, dean of The School of Theology, announced his decision to retire from his position, effective June 30, 2012.
“Bill Stafford has served as dean with great distinction,” stated Dr. John McCardell, 16th and current vice-chancellor of the University of the South. “I admire him immensely. He has strengthened the faculty of The School of Theology and been an articulate voice for the importance of residential theological education. His intelligence, his humility, and his understanding of the whole Church, broadly defined, in all its richness and diversity, have set an exemplary standard of leadership. I join his friends, his colleagues and, perhaps, most important, his legion of former students, in thanking him for his conspicuous service to the Church and for the many ways in which his remarkable career will shape that Church for many years to come.”


Sunday Service October 11, 2020 This week Pastor Vern Giesbrecht, our Associate Pastor, will be bringing God’s word. He will be preaching from John 4:27-35. He asks, “What does God care about?” He will help us understand the words of Jesus when he said, ” My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” John 4:34
Please note that this message was live streamed at our 10:45am service. It is the message only.


April 17 back at the mission house……
Lita made us pancakes this morning before heading out……as always delicious. We piled into the van…us 3, the Corneas, Samuel, Stanley and Doreen and their kiddos and Misozi. Ovi as the driver and Ed (Dad) as the copilot was like old times. I did not look out the windshield often as the crazy Romanian was driving…….instead Lita and I talked about cooking and recipes. The dirt roads back toward Nasedegu have deteriorated tremendously. The valleys and trenches make travel quite challenging.
As we arrived in Nasedegu, the woman’s home by the mango tree is gone now….it is a cornfield, a dieing cornfield. It brought back memories of praying under the tree with Leah, of high emotions as the church foundation was started, the memory of Ed (Dad) making the first pic into the corner of the dirt where the foundation would be poured and the sight of our HP men praying together in the field under some hard circumstances.
And then the church that God built in this village- women started singing, clapping and coming towards us. Little ones in tow- I couldn’t help but start hugging each woman as I saw them. Some familiar, a lot unfamiliar.
We have been gone too long……I was searching for one small face……I did not see her, but I spotted her little sister that was placed in Gabby’s arms when she was just a few days old. She is 4 now, and has her sassy side just like her sister. She told me to tell gabby “hi”. Her mom asked, “where is gabby?” That about undid me, knowing the child that I was honored to mother has left an impact on a family halfway around the world can just bring crocodile tears to ya! Praising the Lord that our daughter, His daughter, was called and redeemed by Jesus Christ for His glory!
We went in for the church service- men sang, women sang, children sang. Each group more beautiful than the next. Then the whole church sang together. I had told Karey about the one song “we are going to the house of the Lord” and what would happen. When the music began and women were reaching out for other women…..someone came to Karey and I reached out to Doreen and we went dancing to the house of the lord! Oh to have that freedom, joy and rejoicing…..it was soul soothing! We couldn’t understand what they were singing but Misozi would explain to Karey and I so we understood. They first read Psalm 27 and then Ed (Dad) preached from 1Cor 15. Stanley translated. It was a peace that surpasses understanding, a joy that can only be filled by Him and a humbling of how small we are and how Big our God is to watch my husband be obedient to the call. To see and hear his heart for these people. I am thankful the Lord chose me to be his helper.
Afterward, Jonah, the Pastor stood up to speak. I was so surprised by his words. I was so humbled by his words. In the past when I have come, I have treasured up moments in my heart. Moments I didn’t think would matter to anyone else, perhaps forgotten. Moments that transformed me….often times broke me, but I knew it was to become more like who He wanted me to be. Jonah started recalling different moments I thought only I had treasured……he spoke of women talking and praying under trees, he talked of women going down to dry riverbeds to get dirt, he talked of Pastors wives being taught the Word and many more moments of God bringing women together that I had treasured……I didn’t know anyone else had.
I looked at Ed (Dad) with tears in my eyes…….. a humbling reminder…..there is purpose in everything. There is kingdom purpose, it is important……it is consuming, it is worth all the hard!!!
Jonah spoke of Ed (Dad) and his labor in the village, his preaching, his teaching, he working the field alongside them, helping start the church foundation and other moments that have impacted the village and pointed them all to Christ. Ed’s (Dads) head down, I could see his emotions…. is worth all the hard!
Afterwards, we went outside and there I saw HER….Nelicia. Praise God she is alive. And oh how she has grown!!! Beautiful and singing and laughing. She is taller and thinner now. She has light in her eyes…..this child will never know how I have prayed for her…..for her to make it through starvation seasons, to know the love of Christ as her Savior! I am not sure of her faith, but I know that her Mom and Dad (the Pastor and his wife) are pouring into her.
We went out to a late lunch afterwards (church was from 9-12) at Songbird and it was yummy! Back at the mission house we sat in the courtyard sharing about life (us 5 adults) while children played, roosters crowed, and baboons eyed our bananas. TIA!!!
We shared about triumphs, joys and the hard and challenging. We talked about their life as a mission family, how we can pray and how we can aid them. The ministry in Romania and the challenges. This life the Lord has called them too is not always easy, not always pretty but always filled with Gods presence, His grace and His mercy. We talked about the life of an American Pastor- the joys, the challenges and the hard. May God be glorified in all we do for His kingdom, not ours.
Wrapping up today-still no luggage. We are washing our clothes every night and look like misfits wearing odds and ends we found or, like right now I am wrapped somewhat with a sheet as the clothes dry. Always an adventure, always learning and always (or trying really hard) to remember our Father is in complete control- even when it comes to clothes!
Yours and Ed’s letters took me back. I’ll never I’ll never forget the 1st trip with brother Kieth. I had never seen so much need in my life. Now I praise God for what he has accomplish through Hope Fore the Future. Through Ovi, Lita, Jesica, Amie and Ethan they are an amazing family the hands and feet of the Lord. I thank God for them. May God bless your time there my heart is with you guys. I can here the voices singing. Thank you all for for your service.
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In the midst of this order of things, the Latter Day Saints discover vast quantities of Gold at the base of the mountains of Israel in the valley of the sacramento in upper Calafornia. And not ownly the people of the United States but of other nations ketch the sound of Gold Gold & tens of thousands are rushing forward evry way in their power to get to the gold country as A Horse would rush to Battle. But the Amount of Gold, silver, Coper &c discoverd in that Country indicates that the word of the Lord spoken by Isaiah will be fulfilled, when He says that "for Brass He will bring Gold "for Iron I will bring silver, for wood brass for stones Iron, &c. Truly this is an age big with Events.
Companies Are forming in all most all parts of the United States And ships in all our ports pre-pareing to take the people to the Bay of San Francisco which is ownly 20 miles from Capt Sutters Fort whare the Mormon gold digings commenced. And It seems As though all the world thought of at the present time was to obtain gold. Though the Cholera has commenced spreading in New York once more yet the gold panic is so much greater then the fear of the Cholery that it is hardy noticed.
Among the letters which I obtained yesterday was one from O Hyde who informed me that Olever Cowdery had come back to the Church had made satisfaction And was voted to come in by the door of Baptism. He was the first man baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in this last dispensation, under the Hands of Joseph Smith the Prophet but after being out of the Church Eleven years He had now returned again. And may the Lord bless him & Keep him steadfast unto the end.
The following is A Fac similae of the Alphabet used in conveying intelligence by the magnetic telegraph:
A.- B-... C... D-.. E. F.-. G--. H .... I.. J-.-.K-.- L- M-- N-. O[..] P----- Q..-. R.-. S... T- U..- V...- W.-- X.-.. Y.. Z--- - &- -- 1.--. 2..-.. 3...-. 4....- 5--- 6...... 7--.. 8-..... 9-.-- 0- [sic]. [One line of dots and dashes not decipherable.] <Remember the [law?] [-] of [-].>
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]


Viewing the King James Version. Click to switch to 1611 King James Version of Psalms 61:7.
He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.
- King James Bible "Authorized Version", Cambridge Edition
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Other Translations of Psalms 61:7
He shall abide before God for euer: O prepare mercy and trueth which may preserue him.- King James Version (1611)
- View 1611 Bible Scan
He will abide before God forever; Appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve him.- New American Standard Version (1995)
He shall abide before God for ever: Oh prepare lovingkindness and truth, that they may preserve him.- American Standard Version (1901)
May the seat of his authority be before God for ever; may mercy and righteousness keep him safe.- Basic English Bible
He shall abide before God for ever: bestow loving-kindness and truth, that they may preserve him.- Darby Bible
For he is my God and my saviour: he is my helper, I shall not be moved. - Douay Rheims Bible
He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. - Webster's Bible
He shall be enthroned in God's presence forever. Appoint your loving kindness and truth, that they may preserve him.- World English Bible
He dwelleth to the age before God, Kindness and truth appoint -- they keep him.- Youngs Literal Bible
(61:8) May he be enthroned before God for ever! Appoint mercy and truth, that they may preserve him.- Jewish Publication Society Bible
View Wesley's Notes for Psalms 61:7
61:7 Abide - In the throne. Before God - Living and ruling as in God's presence, serving God and worshipping him in his tabernacle. Truth - Thy truth in giving me those mercies which thou hast promised, and thy mercy in giving me such further blessings as I needs.
What Do You Think of Psalms 61:7?
Share your own thoughts or commentary here...


We have a flexible position available at Family Fellowship Church of God in St Charles, MO for a ministry intern.
This position comes with many opportunities to explore new areas of ministry. The primary focus of this position is to learn, grow, and develop ministerial skills in a safe environment with guidance from the church leadership team. Do you need some opportunities to teach or preach, let us help develop that gift in you. Do you want to learn the ins and outs of church media, let us introduce you to video editing, podcasting, and more.
This is a volunteer position to help you find and develop the calling and purpose that God has for your life. We ask for a commitment in this intern role for at least 6 months. Over this time, you will be given opportunities to learn the various ways of doing ministry in the modern world. At the end of your internship period you will be given the opportunity to stay and continue growing with us. This could be in a paid or volunteer capacity within the department or area of your ministerial giftedness.
Let us know if you would like more information about this ministry intern position. Email us at [email protected].
Thank you and God bless you.


The last two chapters cover instruction on the difficult times ahead, as people become ‘lovers of self’, persecution comes, and people will not accept ‘sound doctrine’ (Ch.4:3).
Paul finishes by warning Timothy against Alexander the coppersmith, who opposed him severely, and asks Timothy to try to visit him before winter sets in.
Timothy Books 1-2
In Book 1, Paul begins by warning Timothy regarding false teachers; instructs the young pastor on the running of a church, and how to deal with issues such as appointing Deacons or Elders from within the congregation.
In Chapter 4 Paul warns Timothy to watch out for Apostasy in the later times; and also instructs him on discipline, and how he should treat the widows within the church in chapter 5. He concludes the letter with more instruction on leadership, and warning him that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, so to be rich in good works thereby building up a ‘treasure of good foundation.’
This letter to Timothy forms an excellent instruction manual on setting up a new church, as it covers church leadership, discipline and administration; and all in only 6 chapters! Even for those not involved in leadership issues though, there is excellent instruction here on avoiding false teachers and how to contend for the faith in everyday life.
2 Timothy was written near the end of Paul’s life, as he lay imprisoned for a second time in Rome. He begins this letter by encouraging his ‘beloved son’ Timothy to keep strong in the Faith, and not to succumb to a ‘spirit of timidity’.
Chapter 2 relates the sufferings that Paul himself has endured for the Gospel’s sake, as he encourages Timothy not to be ashamed (v15), but to accurately preach the Word, avoiding needless quarrel and false teachers.


What was the #1 blog post for all time?
Breaking Generational Curses
Due to the fact that so much of interest was shown , I am going to revisit this post.
You are saved, baptized and full of the Holy Ghost, yet there are some areas that you are still struggling to get victory.When we got saved the spirit man was born again,but the strongholds that were allowed previously into our lives were never dealt with. After going to God and confessing and repenting of your sins, there are still some habits that seems not to go.You keep doing the same thing over and over.It becomes repetitious and this can signal that there is a stronghold in your life.
Many of the things going on in our lives such as fears, jealousy, mental illness, hatred, low self-esteem, gluttony, rejection, anger ,sexual perversions, spiritual heaviness fear are frequently related to what are called generational curses.. Curses which can be passed down from generation to generation, often times without you even being aware of their presence and yet have the ability to affect you.
Maybe you always seem to fail at your job and you can never keep one for more than a few months at a time. Did your father perhaps have the same problem and some uncle or some relative show the same tendency? You see these curses can skip a generation. If that is the case, you may have just identified a family generational curse. You can now stand against it specifically all the time and push it back so that it will not affect you.
Certain curses seem to affect certain aspects of our lives. Many times there is a curse of sickness and disease that runs in a family, There is hypertension or diabetes, or cancer or fibroids just to name a few. When you look at your family lineage, your grandparents, parents and now you or your sibling or even your child suffers with the same problem. It will continue down to your children and grandchildren and so on until you break it off.
Or perhaps there is a curse that is related to finances.You need to take a look at your own life and ask yourself what areas you are not blessed in. If you are not being blessed particularly in the area of finances and health or if you seem to have continual breakages or things going wrong with equipment, have a good look and see if you can see a pattern developing there.
Or you can recall words of anger and bitterness , negative words spoken over your life by some one in authority. You may already identify strongholds even as you are reading this. You can renounce those curses, reverse them and give them back to Satan in the name of Jesus.You have the authority to stand against the enemy and be set free. This book not only identifies the family generational curses and strongholds, it also tells you how to deal with them so that you can walk in liberty and freedom.
In Hosea 4:6 it says God's people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.When you don't have knowledge about something, sometimes its devastating. My siblings all went through this because they did not have the knowledge about generational curses and strongholds back then.
Conditions indicating curses (based on personal experience in ministering to people) 1. Mental and emotional breakdown
2. Repeated or chronic sicknesses (esp. without clear medical diagnosis)
3. Repeated miscarriages or related female problem.
4. Breakdown of marriage—family alienation
5. Continuing financial insufficiency (esp. where income appears sufficient)
6. “Accident prone”
There are many problems that you may be experiencing in your life.When you begin to realize some problems are handed down through the generations you can break the cycle by utilizing God's grace. If you seem unable to get past the hurts in your life maybe its time to do something about it.
I believe that every Christian should read these books.
These are powerful books,shows how people are living there lives, going through all kinds of situations and cycles and not having a clue of what is going on. All they know is that they don't seem to be able to live a life of freedom.
If you have read any one of these books or is aware of what I am speaking about, please leave a comment below
The Word of God is living and active. If you confess the Word of God over your heart and life, it will not return void. We encourage you to meditate on these confessions.
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. (Isaiah 51:16)
The Lord has put His words in my mouth therefore I shall be his mouthpiece, and because He covers me I shall not be afraid to speak.
- A Christian who loves to write about christian living, natural health and self improvement. I pray daily that the love and grace of God will be poured out through my life to others. I remind myself daily that whether or not I have "witnessed" I am still a witness in everything I do.


Making the mixed economy work
Friday 6th May 2011The Archbishop addressed the Fresh Expressions national day conference in Oxford, where he said that the heart of the Church's mission involves walking alongside people to help them 'see' things they've never seen before - and the task was the same for both inherited church and its counterparts in fresh expressions.
The full transcript of the Archbishop's address is below:
I want to begin by one of those back to basics exercises, asking the question, ‘Where does the church start?’ We talk sometimes about the first Pentecost as the birthday of the church and then we think, ‘Yes but they were already gathered when the Holy Spirit arrived so maybe the Resurrection is the beginning of the church’ and then we think, ‘Well of course the people Jesus met after the Resurrection were the people he’d already met quite a bit in his ministry so maybe that’s the beginning of the church’ and then you think, ‘Jesus assembles people around himself because of all the heritage that he has in his very being of the history of Israel,’ and before you know where you are you’re back to Creation - and that’s not a bad place to start of course because if we are talking about the church, two things are perhaps worth keeping in mind among many others.
One is the sort of thing you find in the letter to the Ephesians in the New Testament. The church is about what God wanted from before the beginning of the world. The church is not some kind of decorative religious luxury that was thought up by people who wanted something to do on Sunday mornings. The church, the assembly of God’s friends, of God’s invited, starts with God’s purpose before the world began. So that’s one thing.
And the second thing is that if that’s right, then it’s always going to be a little bit difficult to identify exactly where the church as we know it, begins. And that’s fine. I think it’s fine as a matter of history and biblical theology and I think it’s not too bad either as a matter of how we approach mission.
One of the things that the whole fresh expressions story has, I think, helped many of us to see more clearly is that we need to push away the notion of church as simply something to which people sign up in one go and in one way. And we are discovering, sometimes discovering the hard way, just how complex, how varied, people’s journeys are towards the heart of church because those are journeys towards the heart of God’s purpose - if my starting point here is right. And journeying towards the heart of God’s purpose is really quite a long business; in fact it’s one you never come to the end of. Literally never.
But I think that helps us a little bit in looking at how the church does, as a matter of fact, take something of the shape we usually think about in the New Testament. And if we read the Gospels I’d want to say with some emphasis that the Church begins where Jesus is with others and exactly how it shapes up to be something more like what we usually mean is quite a story but it begins with that encounter.
And as we read the Gospels what we see of course is an extraordinary spectrum of different kinds of encounter. There’s the encounter that leads people to jump in feet first, literally in the case of St Peter. There’s the encounter that makes people sit up, suddenly review their lives and, in great confusion, start out on a path about which they have no idea with a lot of stumbling, Matthew the tax collector perhaps. There’s the sort of encounter with people who are very frightened of change but desperately eager that it should happen for them and in them and who slip up to the edge of things, hoping to get a little bit of the flavour of change and like the woman in the crowd with the flow of blood just reach out, touch for a moment the garment of the Jesus who’s passing by only to find of course that Jesus, with his infallible instinct for embarrassing people, rounds on her and says, ‘You want something?’
And then there are those people who are interested and who don’t know quite how much that interest might mean and are very nervous indeed of the implications they just about guess at and who come to Jesus by night and never come out fully and yet hear things that stick. Nicodemus. Well now, if you were to ask which of those people in the Gospels belongs to the church I think you would have a very usefully confusing discussion as a result. I’m not at all sure. We tend to think it must all be necessarily the feet first model but does Nicodemus become a ‘disciple’? Does he become a learner in the school of God’s new law? Well, yes and no, and he’s taking his time over it. And of course he only emerges in full technicolour, so to speak, as a follower of Jesus when Jesus is being buried which does make one think a little bit – and that corresponds I think to a certain kind of religious identity which is quite happy to be identified with the Jesus who is part of the past, with the heritage Christ as you might say. But that’s another story. Let’s for the moment give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he is still a listener, a hearer of some kind.
So all of these people are, in some ways, on a spectrum of belonging with Jesus, a spectrum of different kinds of encounter. What holds them together is, of course, boringly simply - Jesus - but more specifically it’s Jesus as, how shall we put it, Jesus as suggesting, opening up, change and newness. And I’m very glad that we’ve got this language of landscape around in our discussion today because I think that’s very close to what’s happening – the landscape gets to look different when Jesus is around. People see things in a new way, themselves and one another and God and God’s world. And I think there’s something really rather central, really rather basic about that image of seeing thing afresh.
It’s an image that really comes into its own, doesn’t it, in St John’s account of the Resurrection. Peter and the beloved disciple running to the empty tomb and, looking in, noticing and then ‘seeing’ – the words are very clearly differentiated in the Greek – you notice, you take in, and then suddenly the picture reorganises itself. You know those puzzle pictures you look at sometimes and you’re asked, ‘can you find a face in this?’ or ‘can you find a figure of some kind?’ and you look and you scrutinise all the details of it; you observe, and then you see. That’s something of what seems to be going on as the disciples come to the empty tomb. The whole landscape reorganises itself and they see.
And so keeping up this backwards and forwards movement between the New Testament and where we are today, part of what we’re about in mission is trying to be the sort of peoples or sort of communities around whom and with whom or through whom people see things differently. And that’s not just abstract seeing, that’s not theory because when you see God and yourself differently, things really do happen, you become a different person when you see differently and - just thinking back to what we were hearing about from Bart earlier on - I think that what’s being described there, as in so many community enterprises like this, is giving people the opportunity to see what they’ve never seen - about themselves, about the possibilities of their community, about the possibilities that God open up - in a world where so many possibilities are getting closed down all the time and, for me, part of the heart of the gospel is always a matter of saying, ‘the world is much bigger than you think and there is much more to you than you ever suspected’.
So when we talk about fresh expressions I’d like to think that we’re talking about countless local enterprises of vision; enterprises of vision where people are being encouraged and nourished and enabled to see what they hadn’t seen before so that the picture shifts. You see the picture in the picture. You see beyond the details. You see a greater world. And it’s this for me that lies behind the importance in so much of our discussion - we’ve already heard it this morning - the importance of understanding pace or speed, the timescale on which people move.
Looking once again at the gospels it seems pretty clear that Jesus expects some people to change pretty quickly and yet he sits in those long, patient meandering conversations – with the Samaritan woman at the well, and Nicodemus - as if to say, ‘Alright so you haven’t got it yet. Let’s keep at it and don’t be rushed’ and I think that is how Jesus relates now to people. And we can’t ever quite see ourselves which category people fall into and that’s where the patience that we heard about earlier really does come in I think, the patience to say, ‘Well I’ll do my best to introduce you to Jesus and the vision he gives. What happens to you then goodness knows, but we’ll be there as it happens. We’re not going away.’
So the pace, the style, the tempo if you like of learning discipleship is something whose variety we have to respect and that’s one of the things that is very, very difficult to explain to funding authorities of various kinds and to institutions who like to have fairly defined and tidy timescales on which to work. It’s really difficult but I think it’s one of the central challenges and tasks that all of us have in communicating with the wider Church, trying to get across something of this sense of patience and plurality so that the encounter with Jesus can happen in the way it’s meant to happen.
Sometimes we force the pace and people feel invaded, manipulated and they run. Sometimes, and it’s just as big a problem, we fail to ask the right question at the right moment when people are ready to be challenged - and learning all of that, learning those disciplines and those rhythms, is a lifetime’s job. And I’m often myself challenged, not to say judged, by realising the points at which there’s a question to ask and I haven’t been able to ask it or the point at which I’ve stepped in too quickly. How it works is so amazingly various and I do want to share one experience quite recently from a parish visit in the diocese of Canterbury where somebody came up and said after the service he wanted to tell me how he’d come to faith the year before. He said it was because his son, his schoolboy son, had a project on St Thomas Becket which required them to visit Canterbury cathedral and this man went along with his little boy to Canterbury cathedral which he’d never been in before. And he’d had nothing at all to do with church, he said, ‘I went into that building and five minutes later my life was unrecognisably different.’ Well, that makes all of us step back. We can’t leave the big buildings to do all of the work I know that but it is appropriately humbling isn’t it from time to time to realise that when all the effort and the imagination has been done, there is still the moment of sheer unexpected meeting which happens in a great space, inside or outside, where God just nods, nudges and everything changes – and the landscape changes.
There are two other points I want to make about that before I go on to say a little more about what Graham touched on in the introduction. Two points, one about leadership, something we’re all very preoccupied with I think in this connection and once again we heard very helpful things about it earlier this morning. In a model like the one I’ve been sketching, leadership is very much about helping people to see – perhaps even more about helping people see than organising people to march in a straight line and the gifts needed for both those kinds of leadership are not always in the same person – in fact rather rarely. But particularly in this connection I think that leadership in vision is crucial and, of course, helping people see does presuppose that you’re alongside them to start with. You can’t stand in front of someone and say, ‘what do you see?’ without getting in the way. But if you’re beside them saying,’ Can you see that? Look at that.’
I love the beginning of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress where Christian is about to start off on his journey and meets the man at the wicket gate who says, ‘Can you see that light?’ And Christian says, ‘I think I do.’ And he sets him on his way.
And that ‘can you see?’ ‘I think I do’ is often the beginning of a long conversation and a long journey of the kind I think everyone here has some experience of. So that’s just one point about leadership as helping vision and therefore being alongside, nudging, encouraging, discussing, suggesting, listening and learning; learning to see yourself because sometimes when you see – as it were through the eyes of someone else – you see something new as well. So you don’t stop learning in that process.
Second broad point, touching just a little bit on that very, very key question of how the sacramental life of the church comes to exist within lay led communities and basically lay communities. Just a reminder for what it’s worth and I draw no conclusions in this point that in the early Church both baptism and Holy Communion were spoken about in terms of illumination. To be baptised in the language of the early church was to be illuminated, it was to have your eyes opened. And some of the oldest prayers for use after Holy Communion in the Syrian churches and the Greek churches have some line like, ‘we have seen the true light’ or ‘our eyes have been opened to God’s glory’. And that just makes me think and as I say without drawing any tight conclusions that the Sacraments of the church – baptism and Holy Communion are very much about celebrating those flashpoint moments when we see more than we ever expected, where we get a glimpse of the full landscape.
What do we see in Holy Communion? Well we see people eating a bit of bread and drinking a sip of wine. What else do we see? Bishop John Jewel of Salisbury in the 16th century, in one of his sermons – a great favourite of mine – says, ‘In Holy Communion you see the rocks split and the dead rising’. That’s seeing. Because he takes that passage from St Matthew’s gospel about what happens in the crucifixion and says, ‘Well if we’re here celebrating the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord, what we see is the effect of that and what’s that? It’s the rock splitting, it’s the veil of the temple torn apart, it’s the dead rising from their tombs, seeing more than you ever expected you could see.’ And that at least gives us a way into thinking a bit further about how we approach these Sacramental moments and Sacramental rhythms in the Church’s life and how we neither stick with absolute rigidities about them nor sell them short because Baptism and the Eucharist are big things and I don’t want any mission strategy to pretend they’re other than big things. And yet we know we’re in uncharted territory very often here and so I’ve no glib solutions – just a thought about how you lead people to the point where that bigger vision than is ever expected can be allowed to dawn on people’s eyes.
And so now to some of those issues that I think Graham was hinting at in his introductory remarks and a few thoughts before I finish on what kind of church practically, concretely this might look like if this vision that I think we try to share becomes flesh.
I have absolutely no doubt that the Church, the Church of England, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, and probably – if the truth be told – the Roman Catholic Church in due order as well, will be looking far less homogeneous in a couple of decades; different kinds of congregations, with different rhythms of life. I believe very strongly that whether we’re talking about inherited models of church or fresh expressions, the real heart for the next generation is pretty well bound to be in those small groups of people working at their relationships, at their understanding, together, quietly, in the long term. The cell, in other words. Whether inherited or not so inherited we’re looking at that development of mutual formation, mutual shaping of life and possibilities that will take place within the sort of group where people really trust one another.
And I’d want to say too, reflecting something we were saying in our table discussion earlier, that building personal, face to face, relationships is one of the things that will make the relationship between inherited patterns of church and new models viable. Without building trust in friendship across those frontiers not a lot will really stick. And I think if we’re talking about cultivating the cell and the small group we also need to cultivate, very deliberately, trustful friendships with those who are not in the same style or the same pace; informal mentoring relationships, exchanges of experience.
And all of that I’m assuming is a pattern of life that goes on pretty regularly. And at the other end of the spectrum I think a great deal in our church culture and our wider culture has become. in recent years, a lot more sensitive to festival and celebration. A lot more willing to invest a great deal in the big event and I think we may be looking in the next generation to a church life which swings between those two extremes – the occasional big event where the Nicodemuses and the woman with the issue of blood and so forth are able to see something, to touch the hem, but which don’t instantly press them to commitments they are not ready to make and yet, given the chance, to face the reality of commitment. That at one end and at the other, the smaller scale.
Now most of our church communities are somewhere in between as we all know and that’s OK but I suspect we just need a bit of clarity about what those two ends of the spectrum look like and a sense that the rhythm as between those two is one that is going to make quite a bit of sense to quite a lot of people. At one end the kind of group where people know and trust one other sufficiently to engage in mutual learning, mutual challenge as well. At the other end the context where people happily and cheerfully don’t know each other from Adam and Eve and that’s alright too because something bigger than anybody is holding them.
And I think especially for the under25s,and perhaps the under20s, the big event is still very meaningful, very powerful and significant for them as a way of being in the vicinity of something that is happening without fully understanding it or knowing what you need to do to lay hold of it. And we need therefore to go on thinking quite hard, not only about the small. intentional. intimate, mutual group but how we stage and celebrate effectively, transformingly, those big events.
I think that’s why, bizarre as it may sound to say it, the life of cathedrals is not at all irrelevant to what happens in fresh expressions and coming fresh, as it were, from two very different experiences of church last week – one in Westminster Abbey, an event which some of you may have heard about, and the other which fewer of you will have heard about and that’s the Easter Monday youth pilgrimage for the diocese of Canterbury.
There were two events, two uses of a big, historic building - both of them in their way remarkably creative, both of them clearly speaking past an awful lot of prejudices and assumptions and rigid ways - so how we use that bit of our inheritance I think is a really interesting question and it’s good to know that there are people in our big churches, I’m talking about the Church of England primarily but not exclusively, the people around in those settings who know how to be imaginative there and we need more of them. And more of that thinking.
Well I won’t tempt fate by trying to sketch out in any more depth or detail what I think the church will be like in 20 or 50 years time. That is a sure recipe for disaster but that’s often what I think about, dream about and pray about as a future for our churches in this country. That balance of regular, demanding – let’s face it, demanding - small group life are part of it. Moving out from that in the immediate local community, the capacity to be alongside people, nudging them towards new vision and then the big event, the big statement which says, ‘This is the kind of thing that we’re talking about, this is the possibility we’re trying to make real in the world.’ And that I think is how I see the mixed economy working. I said earlier that the small group, the cell, may be part of the life of an inherited pattern, it may be part of a much more experimental or exploratory pattern. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is the sense of mutual commitment and mutual seriousness and it’s that mutual commitment and seriousness that enables creative engagement with the immediate community in the ways we’ve been thinking about.
So mixed economy – yes it’s one of those phrases I occasionally regret having coined. It keeps coming back ad nauseam but what I was trying to say when I first used that phrase some 12 or 13 years ago I think in South Wales, what I was trying to say with it was, not that we’re looking for a church which is a kind of Balkan map of little independent, autonomous, self-serving groups doing what they fancy, finding the style that suits them, which is always a danger there but much more a context in which there really is a flow of communication, good news and challenge between different styles of church life that may respond to different personalities and different stages on the journey and if you ask what holds it together – to go back to my opening points – the answer is Jesus and the answer is what Jesus helps you see. The landscape transformed.