Worship During Cold and Flu Season
September 27, 2009
As the media is addressing issues related to the H1N1 virus, we want to assure you that Our Savior’s is concerned about maintaining a healthy environment in which we worship and learn. Here are some things we are doing at
OSLC to maintain a healthy environment:
- · All communion ware is thoroughly washed with a bleach and soap solution before each setting of communion.
- · As pastors bless children at the communion table, they use the opposite hand to distribute bread.
- · All communion servers wash hands with soap or anti-bacterial disinfectant before serving communion.
- · Wastebaskets have been moved near the doors of the restroom, so you may use a paper towel to pull on the door handle and then exit the rest room.
- · All tables and countertops in the Sunday school, social hall, and other meeting rooms are washed with a disinfectant.
Here are some things you can do to help maintain a healthy environment at Our Savior’s.
- · If you are feeling ill, please stay home.
- · If you have recently had a cold or the flu please feel free to refrain from shaking hands while sharing the peace.
- · Wash your hands often.
- · If you see that the soap and/or towel dispensers are low, please inform a member of the staff.
- · If you notice something which needs to be cleaned, please inform the staff.
Together lets all work together to keep us healthy during cold and flu season!
LifeKeys:Discover Who You Are!
September 27, 2009
LifeKeys is a spiritually-based eight-week comprehensive program for discovering your:
- · Life Gifts
- · Spiritual Gifts
- · Personality Type
- · Values
- · Passions
Why LifeKeys? Here is what the authors say: “Have you discovered the keys to a fulfilling life? Do the various roles you play or the work you do fit with who you are? Does the life you lead give you a sense of purpose and meaning? For a staggering number of people—even those who appear to have their act together—the answer to these questions is no.” The authors of this study wanted to help members of their congregation answer these questions.
The LifeKeys study is based on these beliefs:
- · That each human being is created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27)
- · That you were created with a unique, specially chosen blend of gifts. (Psalm 139:13-16)
- · God has in mind specific good works for you to accomplish. (Ephesians 2:10)
Join us in LifeKeys and allow yourself to uncover your gifts, personality, values, and passions—the person that God meant you to be. Place before yourself the wonderful truth that somewhere deep inside of you is a person designed by God. There can be no path more fulfilling than the one that uses your unique gifts as God intended.
LifeKeys will be offered at these times:
Sunday mornings from 9:45-10:45 in the Upper Room. It begins October 4, and ends November 22.
Monday mornings from 9:00-10:30 in the Upper Room. This begins October 5 and ends November 30.
Lunch with the Lord beginning October 7. This group meets at noon at the Holiday Inn.
Two Four-hour sessions in November. Please sign up if you are interested in these and let us know if a Saturday or Sunday session works best.
Cost – The cost for this study is $15/individual or $20/couple. The cost covers the book and workbook.
Please sign up at the information desk in the social hall. If you miss a session, feel free to “catch up” by joining another class for a week.
Pastor's Ponderings
September 7, 2009
September 27, 2009
Church and the Will of God
Why do you come to worship? What are you seeking? If you don’t come to worship why not? When you come to worship what are you
“getting”? By not coming to worship what are you missing? Do you come out of obligation or that church is just what you do? Are you searching for answers or stability? Do you want to connect with God and others? What does the church offer? These are questions I have been pondering, or chewing on. These are questions I think are worth each of us to ponder on.
Thomas Kelly, The Eternal Promise writes: “Our task is not to work for God, but to yearn for God to work through us and to join our sensitivity to His working, already going on inside the lives of others. For wherever we go, there God has preceded us. To whomever we speak, God has first been speaking to him. And our task is to urge people to listen to their inner Teacher. Within all people the heavenly Educator is at work, tenderly, patiently, speaking. And the church’s task is first of all to call people to a listening life, a life of internal listening to the inner promptings that are already going on. We don’t begin religion; God begins it, knocking within, in faint promptings, in inward appeals in the silence of our hearts.”
That is a summary of what God is up to in worship. Come and join the conversation with God and one another.
Pastor Joyce
September 1, 2009
PASTOR’S PONDERING:
Were we to use the muscles of our legs as little as we do the muscles of our faith, most of us would be unable to stand. Then what can we do to strengthen them? First, we cannot trust God until we know something about Him. The way to begin is by reading His word and thinking about it. The Bible acquaints us with the nature and character of God: His power; His unselfish, unchangeable love; His infinite wisdom. We read instance after instance in which God has exercised His power and wisdom in helping and delivering His people. Second, faith is strengthened only as we ourselves exercise it. We have to apply it to our problems: poverty, bodily ills, bereavement, job troubles, tangled human relationships. Third, faith has to be in the present tense – now. A vague prospect that what we want will transpire in the future is not faith, but hope. Fourth, absolute honesty is necessary. We cannot have faith and a guilty conscience at the same time. Every time faith will fade away. Fifth, the strengthening of faith comes through staying with it in the hour of trial. We should not shrink from tests of our faith. Only when we are depending on God alone are we in a position to see God’s help and deliverance, and thus have our faith strengthened for the next time.
- - Catherine Marshall, Something More
I came across this devotional and thought of our church and how do we live together and serve together in light of our Churchwide Assembly. Above all may we as individuals, and as a congregation, continue to read Scripture and be part of the Book of Faith Initiative in our weekly reading. May we be rooted in the word and may we continue to believe God’s Spirit is at work among us and through us. The church is a body and not a business. The church is an organism and not an organization. The church is alive and growing. Let us grow together and celebrate what we have in common and what holds us together.
Eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: you have called us to be the church. Help us to surrender our hearts and minds to you; to humbly seek your voice; to boldly do your will; to compassionately share your love; and to faithfully be your servants. Guide us in our days and our deeds.
Amen.
Pastor Joyce
August 1, 2009
If someone asked you, “What is God’s will?” Or “How do you know the will of God?” How would you answer? Is God’s will something that is hidden or something we need to “find”? The staff is reading, “Discerning God’s Will Together,” by Danny Morris & Charles Olson. There are many worthwhile projects, activities, programs that we could engage in as individuals and as a church. All of them could be God’s will so how do we know what to focus on? Perhaps the key to God’s will is the first word, “discern”. Discern means to separate, to find the authentic and valuable, and to see to the heart of the matter with spiritual eyes.” SO, how do we discern God’s will?
1.Reading the Bible- Romans 12:1-2, Luke 9:21-27, I John 4:7-21
2. Praying for God’s wisdom and direction.
3. Acknowledge that you already are doing God’s will.
God’s will simply stated is to love God and love your neighbor. How we do that as individuals and as congregation is what we need to discern.
Prayer of discernment: Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. — Attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi
June 18, 2009
Sabbath Time & Prayer
“Sabbath is a way of being in time where we remember who we are, remember what we know, and taste the gifts of spirit and eternity. ‘Remember the Sabbath,’ means remember that everything you have received from God is a blessing. Remember to delight in your life, in the fruits of your labor.” Wayne Muller, Sabbath Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives.”
We are reminded to remember who God is and all that God has given. We are called to remember as if we would forget God. Sad to say, but in our busy, demanding, uncertain, and fear-filled lives we do forget at times who we are and who God is. We all need time of pausing, reflecting, and being renewed. Sabbath is much more than just pausing for worship. It is a way of life. You are invited to enter into Sabbath rest on Wednesday evenings beginning July 8th at 7:00 p.m. Meet in the Upper Room for a time of prayer, conversation, and renewal. The focus of this time will be prayer for the church, one another, and God’s world as well as discussion about practical ways to make space and time for Sabbath and renewal in our personal lives. Sabbath is about experiencing God’s presence and seeing what is good. My Sabbath blessing for each of you is:
May you be happy.
May you be at peace.
Shalom- Pastor Joyce
