February 22, 2022
Happy TWOsday, church family and friends!
Get it? 2/22/22, TWOsday. Ha.
I gather that this is a popular day to get married, or celebrate friendships and other relationships of all kinds. It’s a silly quirk of the calendar is all, of course, but I think anything that reminds us to appreciate and thank God for each other is a very good thing.
For those who weren’t able to be there, we were SO blessed to have our Scout Troop 1776 lead us in worship on Sunday. Scouts were our acolytes, greeters, led us in the welcome and announcements, did a fabulous skit for the Young at Heart, and 11 year old Ben Hallquest gave the message. I cannot imagine doing that at 11 years old, but he is a very confident young man whose love for God and faith in Jesus Christ came through loud and clear. What a blessing it was!
It was also a great blessing to have so many of our local churches represented. Our Scouts attend Oasis, Parkside, St Patrick’s, and more. And a couple of boys had never been to church in their life until worshiping with us on Sunday! Our scripture reading from Romans 10 was about there being “no distinction between Jew and Gentile” and Ben’s message was all about how God’s intent is to save ALL people, all nations. That no one is “the chosen people” because everyone is chosen. When we talked together before Sunday, Ben talked about what it felt like to be the only Catholic in his Christian school, and Ben’s mom and grandma and I talked about our own experiences of people misunderstanding or even rejecting Catholics, and how strange that is to us. Having our church filled with people from so many local churches was such a joy, and a really important illustration of that Biblical truth: we seek to divide, but God draws us together, and there is no distinction because “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
I’m thinking, too, of how Paul writes that there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile specifically because “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” There are SO MANY names of the Lord that we can call on. One website I found lists 950! Lord, King, Creator, Christ…Champion, Advocate, Savior, Shepherd, Father…Wonderful Counselor, God-with-Us, Prince of Peace…the Lord Who Heals, The Lord Who Provides, The Lord Our Judge, The Lord Our Hope. It comes to me that there are so many names for God because there are infinite ways we need to call upon the Lord: for comfort, for guidance, for help, for joy, for a gracious King, for a savior. And when we do, no matter what, we are saved.
On this Twosday (or Friday, or whenever you’re reading this), may we rejoice in the presence of the God who does not leave us orphaned, who will never leave us nor forsake us.
Bind us together, Lord.
Worship Any and Everywhere!
ROMANS 5: Overcome Evil with Good.
This week we finish our study of the book of Romans. These last 4 chapters deserve MUCH more time and study than one Sunday, just full of really important, inspiring, thought-provoking stuff. Our Monday afternoon Bible study is going through Romans right now, in fact, and when they resume that study after Easter you might like to join them if this series has inspired you to go deeper. On Sunday, touching on much else, we’ll be challenged and inspired by this central passage from Chapter 12: overcome evil with good.
If you are worshiping with us from home, either via the radio broadcast or video, we are so glad! If we can pray for you, or if there is anything you need, we would love to do that. You can call the church office at 775-423-4714, or you can call Pastor Dawn on her cell phone any time, 775-671-5553.
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