With All Your Heart

 January 19, 2021

 

Hello, church family!

 

Now, I know it is not good for trees to be budding in January. I know that I should not enjoy it, and definitely should not trust it. I mean, it’s supposed to snow this weekend. But still...the warm weather and blue skies have been very nice. Cheerful. Makes me think about planting things! New things I want to try, and probably will fail at haha. As much as I love it, gardening does not come naturally to me the way it does for some, and it takes me a couple of seasons of failure before I get to know a particular plant well enough to see it thrive. Who am I kidding, more than a couple season.

 

Probably there are several sermons in all of that. 

 

This week, as you may know, is the national week of prayer. God knows, there is plenty to pray about! Plenty to give thanks for, and plenty concerning things to invite God’s power and grace into. And really, prayer is a whole lot like planting seeds: we kind of cast our needs and yearnings and thanks and praise into the spiritual field, nurture them daily, and God supplies all that is needed to make them grow.

 

I was reading something from Stephen Charleston the other day. He is a retired Episcopal bishop and Native American spiritual leader, and I find his reflections very meaningful more often than not. Here is what he wrote this past Sunday:

 

“I would like to ask you to join me in doing something. I want to try to project peace into our nation over the coming week. I know some people might say we are trying to bend a spiritual spoon with our minds, but I believe we can impact the social climate of our community if we focus on peace rather than anger. And even if we don’t succeed in calming the world around us, at least we will have tried. Visualize this: I want to cast peace before us this week as if peace were seeds, millions of seeds, being thrown forward by millions of people, thrown into the field of days to come, falling to the earth, rooting peace into our lives. In this way, this spiritual way, anger and violence will be overcome by the focused intention of our hearts. Peace will be strengthened, for it needs strengthening if it is to withstand the worst that evil can devise. Together, we can cast our shared hope forward, like seeds that will one day grow to nourish us all. From today until next Saturday I will be focusing all of the spiritual energy I have on a single vision: peace for every heart that will embrace it. Peace like seeds, falling to earth as new life to give hope to the battered world.”

 

He doesn’t mention Jesus there, but he often does. And we know that it is God in Jesus Christ who gives power and breath and life to our prayers. With Jesus, the Prince of Peace, let’s cast seeds of peace into our homes, and into our world.

 

May peace flow like a river,

Pastor Dawn

Worship at Epworth and at Home

Sacred Vessels: Health, Wholeness, and Purpose

In the hands of the master potter. It’s such a comforting image. To be molded and made, inside and out, continually...by someone who knows what they are doing, and loves what they are doing. 

 

You are, each one of us is, deeply loved by God. In worship this month, we are talking about how to live as though we truly know that. By making healthy choices for our body, heart, mind, and soul, we love God, ourselves, and each other better. We find more peace of mind, hope, and joy in our life. And in the hands of the Master Potter, we find ourselves filled with the grace of God and fall in love with life again.

 

Jesus came that we might have life, and have it abundantly. And then, to pour out that abundant life to all the world. Last week, we talked about making healthy choices for our body, overcoming the obstacles in us to making those healthy choices, and leaning on the strength provided by our faith in Jesus Christ to overcome those obstacles. We talked about how our physical health is deeply intertwined with our mental, emotional, and spiritual health, and how adopting healthier habits can free us from the things that steal abundant life from us. This week, we will talk together about turning our loves and desires over to God, so that we can truly love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength. You might like to read some of Jesus’ healing stories, like Luke 12:17-19, and the abundance of life in the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:16-24, and a Psalm or two like Psalm 73:21-26 as you prepare your heart for worship.

 

Worship will meet in person, at 9:00am in our sanctuary for those who prefer, and on Facebook and KVLV at 9:30am. Tell your friends! It appears that some are not reading these newsletters, and tell us they had no idea we were meeting in person. We can give GREAT thanks to God that, due to our care in sanitizing and masking and whatnot, we have had NO spreading of the virus in our church, even though a couple of members have gotten the virus elsewhere. Keep it up, beloved! It is a great way to follow God’s commandment to love one another. Hope to see you in worship, in person or otherwise!