SERMON. When Hope Despairs. When Despair Hopes. July 2, Rev. George Anastos
|
|
- Darcy Hubbard
- 5 years ago
- Views:
Transcription
1 SERMON When Hope Despairs When Despair Hopes July 2, 2017 Rev. George Anastos
2 SERMON PART I When Hope Despairs The Reverend George Anastos Here is a prayer: Where is my faith? even deep down, right in, there is nothing but emptiness & darkness. My God how painful is this unknown pain. It pains without ceasing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart - & make me suffer untold agony. So many unanswered questions live within me I am afraid to uncover them because of the blasphemy If there be God, - please forgive me. These words, this prayer, was written by Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu. Of Indian and Albanian heritage Gonxha was born and raised in Macedonia. She was 18-years-old when she became a nun and began teaching. A nun s life is not always the easiest, but she was being who she was called to be a nun, doing what she knew she was supposed to do teach. This was the life she lived for nearly 20 years, and then..... Gonxha experienced what she understood as a call within a call a call to a new ministry within the already existing call of being a nun. This call within a call was a series of mystical experiences in which she heard Jesus ask her to found a new order that would serve the poorest of the poor. In the startling freedom that only obedience to God can give, she obeyed. This Bride of Christ, full of his, and her own love, left for Calcutta and began caring for the poorest of the poor, for those left dying in gutters on the side of the road, for those whom humanity deemed worthless. Mother Teresa, because that is who we are talking about, became world famous for her work, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in When we watched her on TV she seemed so determined, so tireless. We might have wondered about compassion fatigue but she appeared to be above that, above what the rest of us mortals experience. Shortly after she died, however, in an act of remarkable faith and honesty, the Catholic Church allowed the publication of some of the letters she wrote to her spiritual director, and they told a different story. Almost from the moment that she founded the Missionaries of Charity, she ceased hearing Jesus' voice, ceased experiencing his presence and being nourished in his love. What she felt was abandonment, neglect. She wrote: Lord, my God, you have thrown [me] away as unwanted unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer, no, no one. Alone. Where is my faith? even deep down right in there is nothing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd in my heart. I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of the darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart? Gonxha even compared her problems to hell and admitted that she had begun to doubt the existence of God. Speaking of the persona she presented to the world she wrote, "The smile is a mask or a cloak that covers everything. I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God, a tender personal love. If you were there you would have said, 'What hypocrisy'." Page 1 of 3
3 SCRIPTURE READING Psalm 13 A Prayer for Deliverance How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, I have prevailed ; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, who has dealt bountifully with me. SERMON PART II When Despair Hopes The Reverend George Anastos It is Anne Lamott who penned, The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. At the end of Part I of this sermon I noted that the publication of Mother Teresa s letters was a remarkable act of faith and honesty. It showed a spiritual maturity that most people have not come to expect from organized religion. Yet the Catholic Church published this to give hope to give hope to the millions upon millions of people, of every religion or no religion, who struggle with internal pain and doubt. Yes, I understand that this makes no sense, at least at first blush. How can someone s spiritual agony give hope to someone else going through hell? If someone like Mother Teresa can t rest in God s love, what hope do the rest of us mortals have? Enter Psalm 13. Say what you will about the bible but it does not hide from the true realities of the spiritual life, does not hide from the journey that must be undertaken by any person of deep faith. It does not hide from the dark night of the soul. Faith is not about believing the right creed or belonging to the right church. Faith is about responding to the movement and invitation of the Holy Spirit, and to follow her in the ways of justice and peace. Faith is therefore about determination and guts and stick-toitiveness. Faith is about holding on to the highest humanity can attain even when experiencing the lowest humanity can inflict. Mother Teresa saw the low indignity that humanity can inflict through its indifferent neglect of the poor, the dying, and the outcast. Day after day she drew from a spiritual reservoir to give even a drop of love to the unloved left in a gutter to die alone. But even full reservoirs can go dry drop by drop. In the resultant spiritual desert there is no hiding from reality s glaring sun. Psalm 13 teaches us about prayer as it speaks to this spiritual reality. When we are young in prayer we sometimes think it is supposed to be all about praise and thanksgiving, much like the last two verse of today s psalm, verses that seem bizarrely out of place with the first few verses. As we mature in prayer, however, we come to understand that the fullness of our human experience even the abandonment and Page 2 of 3
4 anger and neglect must also be owned and held before God. It is precisely the person of deep and mature faith who admits to feeling these things, screams them to God and continues to pray a hope that despairs and a despair that hopes. Psalm 13 is such a prayer. Like just about every psalm it goes back and forth between expressing a petition of urgency and then expressing a paean of trust, between raging at the world s injustice and trusting in God s inevitable love... because the rage and the trust are two sides of the same coin: the psalmist knows that we would not care about humanity s callous injustice if we did not recognize God s compassionate love. This is why the Church will present a psalm like this for our consideration and thought on a sunny Sunday morning in the middle of the summer: not because every one of us needs it this day, but because every one of us will need it someday, a day when our hope will despair and our despair will hope. At the beginning of this section of the sermon I quoted Anne Lamott. Here is a fuller version of what she wrote: I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. 1 Until that time when the light returns, part of the mission of the Christian Church is to hold the promise of that light. Here at First Plymouth, at this individual church, we hold the light. When we receive word of the death or illness or other distress of one of our members, the Pastoral Care staff offers prayer shawls to these people, shawls that are knit by fellow members, saying prayers as they stitch. Then they gather these knitted-in-love-and-prayer shawls and have a consecration service that those who receive them might be wrapped in God s love, and in the love and care of this community. We give these to those we know about. But we can t give them to those struggling that we don t know about. So as you leave the sanctuary today shawls will available by the doors for those who need them this day. They are there for you. Take one if you need. And if we run out, we will have more soon. And if you don t want to take one in front of others, see me, or Lois, or Terry, or Nanette. We keep confidences and hold you in our love. Psalm 13 is for all of us someday. And the church, resting in and founded on God, will be here for you everyday. Amen. 1 Lamott, Anne; Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith Page 3 of 3
5 SERMON When Hope Despairs When Despair Hopes July 2, 2017 Rev. George Anastos
6 SERMON PART I When Hope Despairs The Reverend George Anastos Here is a prayer: Where is my faith? even deep down, right in, there is nothing but emptiness & darkness. My God how painful is this unknown pain. It pains without ceasing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart - & make me suffer untold agony. So many unanswered questions live within me I am afraid to uncover them because of the blasphemy If there be God, - please forgive me. These words, this prayer, was written by Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu. Of Indian and Albanian heritage Gonxha was born and raised in Macedonia. She was 18-years-old when she became a nun and began teaching. A nun s life is not always the easiest, but she was being who she was called to be a nun, doing what she knew she was supposed to do teach. This was the life she lived for nearly 20 years, and then..... Gonxha experienced what she understood as a call within a call a call to a new ministry within the already existing call of being a nun. This call within a call was a series of mystical experiences in which she heard Jesus ask her to found a new order that would serve the poorest of the poor. In the startling freedom that only obedience to God can give, she obeyed. This Bride of Christ, full of his, and her own love, left for Calcutta and began caring for the poorest of the poor, for those left dying in gutters on the side of the road, for those whom humanity deemed worthless. Mother Teresa, because that is who we are talking about, became world famous for her work, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in When we watched her on TV she seemed so determined, so tireless. We might have wondered about compassion fatigue but she appeared to be above that, above what the rest of us mortals experience. Shortly after she died, however, in an act of remarkable faith and honesty, the Catholic Church allowed the publication of some of the letters she wrote to her spiritual director, and they told a different story. Almost from the moment that she founded the Missionaries of Charity, she ceased hearing Jesus' voice, ceased experiencing his presence and being nourished in his love. What she felt was abandonment, neglect. She wrote: Lord, my God, you have thrown [me] away as unwanted unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer, no, no one. Alone. Where is my faith? even deep down right in there is nothing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd in my heart. I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of the darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart? Gonxha even compared her problems to hell and admitted that she had begun to doubt the existence of God. Speaking of the persona she presented to the world she wrote, "The smile is a mask or a cloak that covers everything. I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God, a tender personal love. If you were there you would have said, 'What hypocrisy'." Page 1 of 3
7 SCRIPTURE READING Psalm 13 A Prayer for Deliverance How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, I have prevailed ; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, who has dealt bountifully with me. SERMON PART II When Despair Hopes The Reverend George Anastos It is Anne Lamott who penned, The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. At the end of Part I of this sermon I noted that the publication of Mother Teresa s letters was a remarkable act of faith and honesty. It showed a spiritual maturity that most people have not come to expect from organized religion. Yet the Catholic Church published this to give hope to give hope to the millions upon millions of people, of every religion or no religion, who struggle with internal pain and doubt. Yes, I understand that this makes no sense, at least at first blush. How can someone s spiritual agony give hope to someone else going through hell? If someone like Mother Teresa can t rest in God s love, what hope do the rest of us mortals have? Enter Psalm 13. Say what you will about the bible but it does not hide from the true realities of the spiritual life, does not hide from the journey that must be undertaken by any person of deep faith. It does not hide from the dark night of the soul. Faith is not about believing the right creed or belonging to the right church. Faith is about responding to the movement and invitation of the Holy Spirit, and to follow her in the ways of justice and peace. Faith is therefore about determination and guts and stick-toitiveness. Faith is about holding on to the highest humanity can attain even when experiencing the lowest humanity can inflict. Mother Teresa saw the low indignity that humanity can inflict through its indifferent neglect of the poor, the dying, and the outcast. Day after day she drew from a spiritual reservoir to give even a drop of love to the unloved left in a gutter to die alone. But even full reservoirs can go dry drop by drop. In the resultant spiritual desert there is no hiding from reality s glaring sun. Psalm 13 teaches us about prayer as it speaks to this spiritual reality. When we are young in prayer we sometimes think it is supposed to be all about praise and thanksgiving, much like the last two verse of today s psalm, verses that seem bizarrely out of place with the first few verses. As we mature in prayer, however, we come to understand that the fullness of our human experience even the abandonment and Page 2 of 3
8 anger and neglect must also be owned and held before God. It is precisely the person of deep and mature faith who admits to feeling these things, screams them to God and continues to pray a hope that despairs and a despair that hopes. Psalm 13 is such a prayer. Like just about every psalm it goes back and forth between expressing a petition of urgency and then expressing a paean of trust, between raging at the world s injustice and trusting in God s inevitable love... because the rage and the trust are two sides of the same coin: the psalmist knows that we would not care about humanity s callous injustice if we did not recognize God s compassionate love. This is why the Church will present a psalm like this for our consideration and thought on a sunny Sunday morning in the middle of the summer: not because every one of us needs it this day, but because every one of us will need it someday, a day when our hope will despair and our despair will hope. At the beginning of this section of the sermon I quoted Anne Lamott. Here is a fuller version of what she wrote: I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. 1 Until that time when the light returns, part of the mission of the Christian Church is to hold the promise of that light. Here at First Plymouth, at this individual church, we hold the light. When we receive word of the death or illness or other distress of one of our members, the Pastoral Care staff offers prayer shawls to these people, shawls that are knit by fellow members, saying prayers as they stitch. Then they gather these knitted-in-love-and-prayer shawls and have a consecration service that those who receive them might be wrapped in God s love, and in the love and care of this community. We give these to those we know about. But we can t give them to those struggling that we don t know about. So as you leave the sanctuary today shawls will available by the doors for those who need them this day. They are there for you. Take one if you need. And if we run out, we will have more soon. And if you don t want to take one in front of others, see me, or Lois, or Terry, or Nanette. We keep confidences and hold you in our love. Psalm 13 is for all of us someday. And the church, resting in and founded on God, will be here for you everyday. Amen. 1 Lamott, Anne; Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith Page 3 of 3
9 SERMON When Hope Despairs When Despair Hopes July 2, 2017 Rev. George Anastos
10 SERMON PART I When Hope Despairs The Reverend George Anastos Here is a prayer: Where is my faith? even deep down, right in, there is nothing but emptiness & darkness. My God how painful is this unknown pain. It pains without ceasing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart - & make me suffer untold agony. So many unanswered questions live within me I am afraid to uncover them because of the blasphemy If there be God, - please forgive me. These words, this prayer, was written by Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu. Of Indian and Albanian heritage Gonxha was born and raised in Macedonia. She was 18-years-old when she became a nun and began teaching. A nun s life is not always the easiest, but she was being who she was called to be a nun, doing what she knew she was supposed to do teach. This was the life she lived for nearly 20 years, and then..... Gonxha experienced what she understood as a call within a call a call to a new ministry within the already existing call of being a nun. This call within a call was a series of mystical experiences in which she heard Jesus ask her to found a new order that would serve the poorest of the poor. In the startling freedom that only obedience to God can give, she obeyed. This Bride of Christ, full of his, and her own love, left for Calcutta and began caring for the poorest of the poor, for those left dying in gutters on the side of the road, for those whom humanity deemed worthless. Mother Teresa, because that is who we are talking about, became world famous for her work, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in When we watched her on TV she seemed so determined, so tireless. We might have wondered about compassion fatigue but she appeared to be above that, above what the rest of us mortals experience. Shortly after she died, however, in an act of remarkable faith and honesty, the Catholic Church allowed the publication of some of the letters she wrote to her spiritual director, and they told a different story. Almost from the moment that she founded the Missionaries of Charity, she ceased hearing Jesus' voice, ceased experiencing his presence and being nourished in his love. What she felt was abandonment, neglect. She wrote: Lord, my God, you have thrown [me] away as unwanted unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer, no, no one. Alone. Where is my faith? even deep down right in there is nothing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd in my heart. I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of the darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart? Gonxha even compared her problems to hell and admitted that she had begun to doubt the existence of God. Speaking of the persona she presented to the world she wrote, "The smile is a mask or a cloak that covers everything. I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God, a tender personal love. If you were there you would have said, 'What hypocrisy'." Page 1 of 3
11 SCRIPTURE READING Psalm 13 A Prayer for Deliverance How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, I have prevailed ; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, who has dealt bountifully with me. SERMON PART II When Despair Hopes The Reverend George Anastos It is Anne Lamott who penned, The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. At the end of Part I of this sermon I noted that the publication of Mother Teresa s letters was a remarkable act of faith and honesty. It showed a spiritual maturity that most people have not come to expect from organized religion. Yet the Catholic Church published this to give hope to give hope to the millions upon millions of people, of every religion or no religion, who struggle with internal pain and doubt. Yes, I understand that this makes no sense, at least at first blush. How can someone s spiritual agony give hope to someone else going through hell? If someone like Mother Teresa can t rest in God s love, what hope do the rest of us mortals have? Enter Psalm 13. Say what you will about the bible but it does not hide from the true realities of the spiritual life, does not hide from the journey that must be undertaken by any person of deep faith. It does not hide from the dark night of the soul. Faith is not about believing the right creed or belonging to the right church. Faith is about responding to the movement and invitation of the Holy Spirit, and to follow her in the ways of justice and peace. Faith is therefore about determination and guts and stick-toitiveness. Faith is about holding on to the highest humanity can attain even when experiencing the lowest humanity can inflict. Mother Teresa saw the low indignity that humanity can inflict through its indifferent neglect of the poor, the dying, and the outcast. Day after day she drew from a spiritual reservoir to give even a drop of love to the unloved left in a gutter to die alone. But even full reservoirs can go dry drop by drop. In the resultant spiritual desert there is no hiding from reality s glaring sun. Psalm 13 teaches us about prayer as it speaks to this spiritual reality. When we are young in prayer we sometimes think it is supposed to be all about praise and thanksgiving, much like the last two verse of today s psalm, verses that seem bizarrely out of place with the first few verses. As we mature in prayer, however, we come to understand that the fullness of our human experience even the abandonment and Page 2 of 3
12 anger and neglect must also be owned and held before God. It is precisely the person of deep and mature faith who admits to feeling these things, screams them to God and continues to pray a hope that despairs and a despair that hopes. Psalm 13 is such a prayer. Like just about every psalm it goes back and forth between expressing a petition of urgency and then expressing a paean of trust, between raging at the world s injustice and trusting in God s inevitable love... because the rage and the trust are two sides of the same coin: the psalmist knows that we would not care about humanity s callous injustice if we did not recognize God s compassionate love. This is why the Church will present a psalm like this for our consideration and thought on a sunny Sunday morning in the middle of the summer: not because every one of us needs it this day, but because every one of us will need it someday, a day when our hope will despair and our despair will hope. At the beginning of this section of the sermon I quoted Anne Lamott. Here is a fuller version of what she wrote: I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. 1 Until that time when the light returns, part of the mission of the Christian Church is to hold the promise of that light. Here at First Plymouth, at this individual church, we hold the light. When we receive word of the death or illness or other distress of one of our members, the Pastoral Care staff offers prayer shawls to these people, shawls that are knit by fellow members, saying prayers as they stitch. Then they gather these knitted-in-love-and-prayer shawls and have a consecration service that those who receive them might be wrapped in God s love, and in the love and care of this community. We give these to those we know about. But we can t give them to those struggling that we don t know about. So as you leave the sanctuary today shawls will available by the doors for those who need them this day. They are there for you. Take one if you need. And if we run out, we will have more soon. And if you don t want to take one in front of others, see me, or Lois, or Terry, or Nanette. We keep confidences and hold you in our love. Psalm 13 is for all of us someday. And the church, resting in and founded on God, will be here for you everyday. Amen. 1 Lamott, Anne; Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith Page 3 of 3
13 SERMON When Hope Despairs When Despair Hopes July 2, 2017 Rev. George Anastos
14 SERMON PART I When Hope Despairs The Reverend George Anastos Here is a prayer: Where is my faith? even deep down, right in, there is nothing but emptiness & darkness. My God how painful is this unknown pain. It pains without ceasing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart - & make me suffer untold agony. So many unanswered questions live within me I am afraid to uncover them because of the blasphemy If there be God, - please forgive me. These words, this prayer, was written by Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu. Of Indian and Albanian heritage Gonxha was born and raised in Macedonia. She was 18-years-old when she became a nun and began teaching. A nun s life is not always the easiest, but she was being who she was called to be a nun, doing what she knew she was supposed to do teach. This was the life she lived for nearly 20 years, and then..... Gonxha experienced what she understood as a call within a call a call to a new ministry within the already existing call of being a nun. This call within a call was a series of mystical experiences in which she heard Jesus ask her to found a new order that would serve the poorest of the poor. In the startling freedom that only obedience to God can give, she obeyed. This Bride of Christ, full of his, and her own love, left for Calcutta and began caring for the poorest of the poor, for those left dying in gutters on the side of the road, for those whom humanity deemed worthless. Mother Teresa, because that is who we are talking about, became world famous for her work, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in When we watched her on TV she seemed so determined, so tireless. We might have wondered about compassion fatigue but she appeared to be above that, above what the rest of us mortals experience. Shortly after she died, however, in an act of remarkable faith and honesty, the Catholic Church allowed the publication of some of the letters she wrote to her spiritual director, and they told a different story. Almost from the moment that she founded the Missionaries of Charity, she ceased hearing Jesus' voice, ceased experiencing his presence and being nourished in his love. What she felt was abandonment, neglect. She wrote: Lord, my God, you have thrown [me] away as unwanted unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer, no, no one. Alone. Where is my faith? even deep down right in there is nothing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd in my heart. I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of the darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart? Gonxha even compared her problems to hell and admitted that she had begun to doubt the existence of God. Speaking of the persona she presented to the world she wrote, "The smile is a mask or a cloak that covers everything. I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God, a tender personal love. If you were there you would have said, 'What hypocrisy'." Page 1 of 3
15 SCRIPTURE READING Psalm 13 A Prayer for Deliverance How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, I have prevailed ; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, who has dealt bountifully with me. SERMON PART II When Despair Hopes The Reverend George Anastos It is Anne Lamott who penned, The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. At the end of Part I of this sermon I noted that the publication of Mother Teresa s letters was a remarkable act of faith and honesty. It showed a spiritual maturity that most people have not come to expect from organized religion. Yet the Catholic Church published this to give hope to give hope to the millions upon millions of people, of every religion or no religion, who struggle with internal pain and doubt. Yes, I understand that this makes no sense, at least at first blush. How can someone s spiritual agony give hope to someone else going through hell? If someone like Mother Teresa can t rest in God s love, what hope do the rest of us mortals have? Enter Psalm 13. Say what you will about the bible but it does not hide from the true realities of the spiritual life, does not hide from the journey that must be undertaken by any person of deep faith. It does not hide from the dark night of the soul. Faith is not about believing the right creed or belonging to the right church. Faith is about responding to the movement and invitation of the Holy Spirit, and to follow her in the ways of justice and peace. Faith is therefore about determination and guts and stick-toitiveness. Faith is about holding on to the highest humanity can attain even when experiencing the lowest humanity can inflict. Mother Teresa saw the low indignity that humanity can inflict through its indifferent neglect of the poor, the dying, and the outcast. Day after day she drew from a spiritual reservoir to give even a drop of love to the unloved left in a gutter to die alone. But even full reservoirs can go dry drop by drop. In the resultant spiritual desert there is no hiding from reality s glaring sun. Psalm 13 teaches us about prayer as it speaks to this spiritual reality. When we are young in prayer we sometimes think it is supposed to be all about praise and thanksgiving, much like the last two verse of today s psalm, verses that seem bizarrely out of place with the first few verses. As we mature in prayer, however, we come to understand that the fullness of our human experience even the abandonment and Page 2 of 3
16 anger and neglect must also be owned and held before God. It is precisely the person of deep and mature faith who admits to feeling these things, screams them to God and continues to pray a hope that despairs and a despair that hopes. Psalm 13 is such a prayer. Like just about every psalm it goes back and forth between expressing a petition of urgency and then expressing a paean of trust, between raging at the world s injustice and trusting in God s inevitable love... because the rage and the trust are two sides of the same coin: the psalmist knows that we would not care about humanity s callous injustice if we did not recognize God s compassionate love. This is why the Church will present a psalm like this for our consideration and thought on a sunny Sunday morning in the middle of the summer: not because every one of us needs it this day, but because every one of us will need it someday, a day when our hope will despair and our despair will hope. At the beginning of this section of the sermon I quoted Anne Lamott. Here is a fuller version of what she wrote: I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. 1 Until that time when the light returns, part of the mission of the Christian Church is to hold the promise of that light. Here at First Plymouth, at this individual church, we hold the light. When we receive word of the death or illness or other distress of one of our members, the Pastoral Care staff offers prayer shawls to these people, shawls that are knit by fellow members, saying prayers as they stitch. Then they gather these knitted-in-love-and-prayer shawls and have a consecration service that those who receive them might be wrapped in God s love, and in the love and care of this community. We give these to those we know about. But we can t give them to those struggling that we don t know about. So as you leave the sanctuary today shawls will available by the doors for those who need them this day. They are there for you. Take one if you need. And if we run out, we will have more soon. And if you don t want to take one in front of others, see me, or Lois, or Terry, or Nanette. We keep confidences and hold you in our love. Psalm 13 is for all of us someday. And the church, resting in and founded on God, will be here for you everyday. Amen. 1 Lamott, Anne; Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith Page 3 of 3
17 SERMON When Hope Despairs When Despair Hopes July 2, 2017 Rev. George Anastos
18 SERMON PART I When Hope Despairs The Reverend George Anastos Here is a prayer: Where is my faith? even deep down, right in, there is nothing but emptiness & darkness. My God how painful is this unknown pain. It pains without ceasing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart - & make me suffer untold agony. So many unanswered questions live within me I am afraid to uncover them because of the blasphemy If there be God, - please forgive me. These words, this prayer, was written by Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu. Of Indian and Albanian heritage Gonxha was born and raised in Macedonia. She was 18-years-old when she became a nun and began teaching. A nun s life is not always the easiest, but she was being who she was called to be a nun, doing what she knew she was supposed to do teach. This was the life she lived for nearly 20 years, and then..... Gonxha experienced what she understood as a call within a call a call to a new ministry within the already existing call of being a nun. This call within a call was a series of mystical experiences in which she heard Jesus ask her to found a new order that would serve the poorest of the poor. In the startling freedom that only obedience to God can give, she obeyed. This Bride of Christ, full of his, and her own love, left for Calcutta and began caring for the poorest of the poor, for those left dying in gutters on the side of the road, for those whom humanity deemed worthless. Mother Teresa, because that is who we are talking about, became world famous for her work, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in When we watched her on TV she seemed so determined, so tireless. We might have wondered about compassion fatigue but she appeared to be above that, above what the rest of us mortals experience. Shortly after she died, however, in an act of remarkable faith and honesty, the Catholic Church allowed the publication of some of the letters she wrote to her spiritual director, and they told a different story. Almost from the moment that she founded the Missionaries of Charity, she ceased hearing Jesus' voice, ceased experiencing his presence and being nourished in his love. What she felt was abandonment, neglect. She wrote: Lord, my God, you have thrown [me] away as unwanted unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer, no, no one. Alone. Where is my faith? even deep down right in there is nothing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd in my heart. I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of the darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart? Gonxha even compared her problems to hell and admitted that she had begun to doubt the existence of God. Speaking of the persona she presented to the world she wrote, "The smile is a mask or a cloak that covers everything. I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God, a tender personal love. If you were there you would have said, 'What hypocrisy'." Page 1 of 3
19 SCRIPTURE READING Psalm 13 A Prayer for Deliverance How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, I have prevailed ; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, who has dealt bountifully with me. SERMON PART II When Despair Hopes The Reverend George Anastos It is Anne Lamott who penned, The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. At the end of Part I of this sermon I noted that the publication of Mother Teresa s letters was a remarkable act of faith and honesty. It showed a spiritual maturity that most people have not come to expect from organized religion. Yet the Catholic Church published this to give hope to give hope to the millions upon millions of people, of every religion or no religion, who struggle with internal pain and doubt. Yes, I understand that this makes no sense, at least at first blush. How can someone s spiritual agony give hope to someone else going through hell? If someone like Mother Teresa can t rest in God s love, what hope do the rest of us mortals have? Enter Psalm 13. Say what you will about the bible but it does not hide from the true realities of the spiritual life, does not hide from the journey that must be undertaken by any person of deep faith. It does not hide from the dark night of the soul. Faith is not about believing the right creed or belonging to the right church. Faith is about responding to the movement and invitation of the Holy Spirit, and to follow her in the ways of justice and peace. Faith is therefore about determination and guts and stick-toitiveness. Faith is about holding on to the highest humanity can attain even when experiencing the lowest humanity can inflict. Mother Teresa saw the low indignity that humanity can inflict through its indifferent neglect of the poor, the dying, and the outcast. Day after day she drew from a spiritual reservoir to give even a drop of love to the unloved left in a gutter to die alone. But even full reservoirs can go dry drop by drop. In the resultant spiritual desert there is no hiding from reality s glaring sun. Psalm 13 teaches us about prayer as it speaks to this spiritual reality. When we are young in prayer we sometimes think it is supposed to be all about praise and thanksgiving, much like the last two verse of today s psalm, verses that seem bizarrely out of place with the first few verses. As we mature in prayer, however, we come to understand that the fullness of our human experience even the abandonment and Page 2 of 3
20 anger and neglect must also be owned and held before God. It is precisely the person of deep and mature faith who admits to feeling these things, screams them to God and continues to pray a hope that despairs and a despair that hopes. Psalm 13 is such a prayer. Like just about every psalm it goes back and forth between expressing a petition of urgency and then expressing a paean of trust, between raging at the world s injustice and trusting in God s inevitable love... because the rage and the trust are two sides of the same coin: the psalmist knows that we would not care about humanity s callous injustice if we did not recognize God s compassionate love. This is why the Church will present a psalm like this for our consideration and thought on a sunny Sunday morning in the middle of the summer: not because every one of us needs it this day, but because every one of us will need it someday, a day when our hope will despair and our despair will hope. At the beginning of this section of the sermon I quoted Anne Lamott. Here is a fuller version of what she wrote: I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. 1 Until that time when the light returns, part of the mission of the Christian Church is to hold the promise of that light. Here at First Plymouth, at this individual church, we hold the light. When we receive word of the death or illness or other distress of one of our members, the Pastoral Care staff offers prayer shawls to these people, shawls that are knit by fellow members, saying prayers as they stitch. Then they gather these knitted-in-love-and-prayer shawls and have a consecration service that those who receive them might be wrapped in God s love, and in the love and care of this community. We give these to those we know about. But we can t give them to those struggling that we don t know about. So as you leave the sanctuary today shawls will available by the doors for those who need them this day. They are there for you. Take one if you need. And if we run out, we will have more soon. And if you don t want to take one in front of others, see me, or Lois, or Terry, or Nanette. We keep confidences and hold you in our love. Psalm 13 is for all of us someday. And the church, resting in and founded on God, will be here for you everyday. Amen. 1 Lamott, Anne; Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith Page 3 of 3
21 SERMON When Hope Despairs When Despair Hopes July 2, 2017 Rev. George Anastos
22 SERMON PART I When Hope Despairs The Reverend George Anastos Here is a prayer: Where is my faith? even deep down, right in, there is nothing but emptiness & darkness. My God how painful is this unknown pain. It pains without ceasing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart - & make me suffer untold agony. So many unanswered questions live within me I am afraid to uncover them because of the blasphemy If there be God, - please forgive me. These words, this prayer, was written by Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu. Of Indian and Albanian heritage Gonxha was born and raised in Macedonia. She was 18-years-old when she became a nun and began teaching. A nun s life is not always the easiest, but she was being who she was called to be a nun, doing what she knew she was supposed to do teach. This was the life she lived for nearly 20 years, and then..... Gonxha experienced what she understood as a call within a call a call to a new ministry within the already existing call of being a nun. This call within a call was a series of mystical experiences in which she heard Jesus ask her to found a new order that would serve the poorest of the poor. In the startling freedom that only obedience to God can give, she obeyed. This Bride of Christ, full of his, and her own love, left for Calcutta and began caring for the poorest of the poor, for those left dying in gutters on the side of the road, for those whom humanity deemed worthless. Mother Teresa, because that is who we are talking about, became world famous for her work, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in When we watched her on TV she seemed so determined, so tireless. We might have wondered about compassion fatigue but she appeared to be above that, above what the rest of us mortals experience. Shortly after she died, however, in an act of remarkable faith and honesty, the Catholic Church allowed the publication of some of the letters she wrote to her spiritual director, and they told a different story. Almost from the moment that she founded the Missionaries of Charity, she ceased hearing Jesus' voice, ceased experiencing his presence and being nourished in his love. What she felt was abandonment, neglect. She wrote: Lord, my God, you have thrown [me] away as unwanted unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer, no, no one. Alone. Where is my faith? even deep down right in there is nothing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd in my heart. I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of the darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart? Gonxha even compared her problems to hell and admitted that she had begun to doubt the existence of God. Speaking of the persona she presented to the world she wrote, "The smile is a mask or a cloak that covers everything. I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God, a tender personal love. If you were there you would have said, 'What hypocrisy'." Page 1 of 3
23 SCRIPTURE READING Psalm 13 A Prayer for Deliverance How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, I have prevailed ; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, who has dealt bountifully with me. SERMON PART II When Despair Hopes The Reverend George Anastos It is Anne Lamott who penned, The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. At the end of Part I of this sermon I noted that the publication of Mother Teresa s letters was a remarkable act of faith and honesty. It showed a spiritual maturity that most people have not come to expect from organized religion. Yet the Catholic Church published this to give hope to give hope to the millions upon millions of people, of every religion or no religion, who struggle with internal pain and doubt. Yes, I understand that this makes no sense, at least at first blush. How can someone s spiritual agony give hope to someone else going through hell? If someone like Mother Teresa can t rest in God s love, what hope do the rest of us mortals have? Enter Psalm 13. Say what you will about the bible but it does not hide from the true realities of the spiritual life, does not hide from the journey that must be undertaken by any person of deep faith. It does not hide from the dark night of the soul. Faith is not about believing the right creed or belonging to the right church. Faith is about responding to the movement and invitation of the Holy Spirit, and to follow her in the ways of justice and peace. Faith is therefore about determination and guts and stick-toitiveness. Faith is about holding on to the highest humanity can attain even when experiencing the lowest humanity can inflict. Mother Teresa saw the low indignity that humanity can inflict through its indifferent neglect of the poor, the dying, and the outcast. Day after day she drew from a spiritual reservoir to give even a drop of love to the unloved left in a gutter to die alone. But even full reservoirs can go dry drop by drop. In the resultant spiritual desert there is no hiding from reality s glaring sun. Psalm 13 teaches us about prayer as it speaks to this spiritual reality. When we are young in prayer we sometimes think it is supposed to be all about praise and thanksgiving, much like the last two verse of today s psalm, verses that seem bizarrely out of place with the first few verses. As we mature in prayer, however, we come to understand that the fullness of our human experience even the abandonment and Page 2 of 3
24 anger and neglect must also be owned and held before God. It is precisely the person of deep and mature faith who admits to feeling these things, screams them to God and continues to pray a hope that despairs and a despair that hopes. Psalm 13 is such a prayer. Like just about every psalm it goes back and forth between expressing a petition of urgency and then expressing a paean of trust, between raging at the world s injustice and trusting in God s inevitable love... because the rage and the trust are two sides of the same coin: the psalmist knows that we would not care about humanity s callous injustice if we did not recognize God s compassionate love. This is why the Church will present a psalm like this for our consideration and thought on a sunny Sunday morning in the middle of the summer: not because every one of us needs it this day, but because every one of us will need it someday, a day when our hope will despair and our despair will hope. At the beginning of this section of the sermon I quoted Anne Lamott. Here is a fuller version of what she wrote: I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. 1 Until that time when the light returns, part of the mission of the Christian Church is to hold the promise of that light. Here at First Plymouth, at this individual church, we hold the light. When we receive word of the death or illness or other distress of one of our members, the Pastoral Care staff offers prayer shawls to these people, shawls that are knit by fellow members, saying prayers as they stitch. Then they gather these knitted-in-love-and-prayer shawls and have a consecration service that those who receive them might be wrapped in God s love, and in the love and care of this community. We give these to those we know about. But we can t give them to those struggling that we don t know about. So as you leave the sanctuary today shawls will available by the doors for those who need them this day. They are there for you. Take one if you need. And if we run out, we will have more soon. And if you don t want to take one in front of others, see me, or Lois, or Terry, or Nanette. We keep confidences and hold you in our love. Psalm 13 is for all of us someday. And the church, resting in and founded on God, will be here for you everyday. Amen. 1 Lamott, Anne; Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith Page 3 of 3
Come Be My Light: Mother Teresa's Dark Night of the Soul
New Zealand Catholic Education Convention Come Be My Light: Mother Teresa's Dark Night of the Soul Daniel J. Stollenwerk 09/08/2012 13:55 Venue: Amora 4 Seminar Code:T29 Mother Teresa (1910-1997) Agnes
More informationFinding a way to speak with God: prayer and psalms
Finding a way to speak with God: prayer and psalms The Psalms are given to us to this end, that we may learn to pray them in the name of Jesus Christ." Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Psalms: The Prayer Book of
More informationHow long, O Lord? Will you forget me
1 How long, O Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted
More informationPriestly Celibacy: Sign of the Charity of Christ by Mother Teresa of Calcutta January 1, 1993
Priestly Celibacy: Sign of the Charity of Christ by Mother Teresa of Calcutta January 1, 1993 We read in the Scriptures how Jesus came to proclaim the Good News that God loves us. He wants us today to
More informationMother Teresa The Smile Of Calcutta Life Of A Saint
We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with mother teresa the smile
More informationSaint Patrick Parish. Family Faith Formation
Saint Patrick Parish Family Faith Formation Upcoming Events September Tic Tac Toe & Scripture Reading Log Saint of the Month September Family Prayer Faith in action is Love - And Love in Action is Service
More informationa message of hope THEME
a message of hope My Dear Young Friends, What joy, what great hope, what grace, did the World Youth Day bring to us this last month! By now each of us has started to reflect on the experience and to see
More informationPSALM 13 Reading Guide. March 31- April 6
PSALM 13 Reading Guide March 31- April 6 PSALM 13 2 PSALM 13 1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have
More informationThe God We Worship. Psalm 97
The God We Worship Psalm 97 Series: Psalms / Thoughts on Worship Sermon by Ken Puls Delivered at Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida June 11, 2014 Worship has become a prominent issue in our day.
More informationMother Teresa:The Hands and Heart of God
Mother Teresa:The Hands and Heart of God Introduction This week the Catholic Church in Scotland celebrates Vocations Awareness Week. 'Vocation' means calling, specifically a calling from God. During this
More informationMOTHER TERESA: INSPIRATION FOR SOCIAL WORK. By: Dorothea Marie Epple. Presented at: NACSW Convention 2012 October, 2012 St.
MOTHER TERESA: INSPIRATION FOR SOCIAL WORK By: Dorothea Marie Epple Presented at: NACSW Convention 2012 October, 2012 St. Louis, MO MOTHER TERESA: INSPIRATION FOR SOCIAL WORK Presented at 2012 NACSW Conference:
More informationPreserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. Psalm 16:1 A MIKTAM OF DAVID
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. Psalm 16:1 A MIKTAM OF DAVID Psalms 16, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 THE MIKTAMS OF DAVID. WHEN THE PHILISTINES SEIZED HIM IN GATH WHEN HE FLED FROM SAUL, IN THE CAVE
More informationJULY L 2010 K N I G H T S O F C O LU M BU S CO C L O UMB U IA
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS JULY 2010 COLUMBIA THE LIGHT AMID DARKNESS Understanding the heroic faith and love of Mother Teresa in view of her dark night of the soul by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC MOTHER TERESA
More informationClean Hands and Hearts Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 20-23
Clean Hands and Hearts Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 20-23 The focus of our learning and enlightenment this morning is the Gospel for today from Mark, chapter seven. Please hear again verses 14 and 15. Again Jesus
More informationPhilippians 1 in ASL
Philippians 1 in ASL 1 Philippians Chapter One. This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God's holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including
More informationGOD WITH US Part 5: Soul Songs Job Psalms. Message 5 Songs of Lament Psalm 13. Introduction
Introduction GOD WITH US Part 5: Soul Songs Job Psalms Message 5 Songs of Lament Psalm 13 It surprises many to learn that the largest category of Psalms are the Laments (also called Songs of Protest) in
More informationChristians. Also, Jesus never gave his disciples a particular name. The word
1 Discipleship is Costly St. Paul s United Methodist Church Warrington, PA Yr. B 17 th Sunday after Pentecost/in Kingdomtide 1 (James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38) September 16, 2018 Irving Cotto, OSL Introduction
More informationSeptember 10, 2017 Come to the Table Text: Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20 Title: The Table of Love
Wesley United Methodist Church Rev. Beverly E Stenmark September 10, 2017 Come to the Table Text: Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20 Title: The Table of Love Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born in Macedonia on
More informationPraying through Lent with
Prayer, Love and Service Praying through Lent with Mother Teresa Introduction Lent is the Church s annual season for our renewal as followers of Jesus by examining how we are now relating to God and how
More informationCOMMON OF SAINTS AND BLESSED OF OUR ORDER
COMMON OF SAINTS AND BLESSED OF OUR ORDER For celebrating the office of the saints and blessed of our Order, parts which, on the basis of the rank of the office, are taken from the common, can be taken
More informationSteadfast Leadership S E S S I O N 5. Fulfilling Authentic Male Leadership. The Story of King Solomon
S E S S I O N 5 Steadfast Leadership Fulfilling Authentic Male Leadership Political Leadership! Foundation for Future! Sacrifice! The willingness to pay the price.! Moral Leadership! Personal Responsibility!
More information11/18/2012 Thanksgiving Sunday A Puritan Thanksgiving Rev Seth D Jones EXPOSITION OF MATTHEW 6:25-34
11/18/2012 Thanksgiving Sunday A Puritan Thanksgiving Rev Seth D Jones 1 EXPOSITION OF MATTHEW 6:25-34 25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or
More informationBuilding a Community of Hope
A Ministry of Presence Building a Community of Hope Presentation available: www.itinerantpreacher.org 1 Questions about Faith 2 Questions about Faith Reflection questions: I believe everything that Jesus
More informationMY JOURNEY DAY #4 HOW LONG
MY JOURNEY DAY #4 HOW LONG Psalms 13:1,2,5: How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? forever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart
More informationIs This It? Isn t There Something More? Why We Get Disillusioned With God (Part 3)
Is This It? Isn t There Something More? Why We Get Disillusioned With God (Part 3) Intro: Ever been disillusioned with God? I think every believer at some point in their spiritual journey will experience
More informationThe Healing Benefits of Meditating on God s Word
The Healing Benefits of Meditating on God s Word These verses were chosen because they re especially encouraging to someone who s going through a trial. One of our members had a persistent medical trial
More informationI want to ask three specific questions about just one of many strands of thought in Teresa
Pistis, Fides, and Propositional Belief Daniel Howard-Snyder I want to ask three specific questions about just one of many strands of thought in Teresa Morgan s magnificent, thought-provoking, and timely
More informationRule of Life and Constitution of the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate
Rule of Life and Constitution of the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate This Rule of Life and Constitution was adopted on October 13, 1984 by the General Council of the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate after study
More informationLOVE THE BIG PICTURE
Dear People Whom God Loves, LOVE THE BIG PICTURE What I write is the big picture as I see it. It is not provable by science. Reason is wonderful but reason isn t the only kind of knowing. There is another
More informationADVENT! ABSOLUTELY A TEEN S JOURNEY TO CHRISTMAS. For Teens Kettering Blvd Dayton, OH pflaum.com HTP-3188
ABSOLUTELY A TEEN S JOURNEY TO CHRISTMAS ADVENT! 2018 Pf la um Pu bl is hi ng G ro up For Teens HTP-3188 AA teens cover 2018.indd All Pages 30 Kettering Blvd Dayton, OH 4439 800-43-4383 pflaum.com 7/17/18
More informationGrowing In Your Ability To Hear God s Voice Notes from Pastor Jim Laffoon s Leadership Development Training Workshop on March 8, 2014
Growing In Your Ability To Hear God s Voice Notes from Pastor Jim Laffoon s Leadership Development Training Workshop on March 8, 2014 For the purpose of this message, I have chosen to use an analogy of
More informationProblem of Loneliness
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.lockman.org) Problem of Loneliness
More informationMonday of the Third Week of Easter. Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter. Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter. Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
THE THIRD SUNDAY OF THE EASTER SEASON Sun. The Third Sunday in the Easter Season April 15 BELIEVING IN THE BODY OF CHRIST A reflection on a sermon by St. Augustine Mon. Monday of the Third Week of Easter
More informationDE COLORES DE COLORES. De Colores, De Colores the birds have. dress in all during the springtime.
DE COLORES De Colores, De Colores the fields love to dress in all during the springtime. De Colores, De Colores the birds have their clothing that comes every season. De Colores, De Colores the rainbow
More informationHolding On In The Dark
Holding On In The Dark Genesis 40 John Marquette Pat Anderson And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. 21
More informationScripture Work Sheets
Scripture Work Sheets Philippians Chapter 1 Scripture Work Sheets Chapter 1 1 Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and
More informationThe Savior at the Synagogue Luke 13:10-17
The Savior at the Synagogue Luke 13:10-17 Another Sabbath, another synagogue, another sermon. As the a renown, visiting rabbi, our Redeemer was often invited to teach the Scripture lesson in Sabbath services.
More information(Jonah 2:1) Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish,
Jonah 2:1-10 New Revised Standard Version May 14, 2017 The International Bible Lesson (Uniform Sunday School Lessons Series) for Sunday, May 14, 2017, is from Jonah 2:1-10. Questions for Discussion and
More informationbut as a preventative. to enable us prevent the temptation from entering into our lives kind of a Apple a day keeps the doctor away
Introduction Good morning. The past 6 weeks we have embarked on a journey together looking at the some of the storms in our lives and how God is calling us to stand strong in their midst. We have looked
More informationHow Long, O Lord? Lesson Plan. Sermon Text: Psalm 13 Study Texts: 1 Cor. 13:4-13
Leader Guide Sunday, July 8th, 2018 How Long, O Lord? Sermon Text: Psalm 13 Study Texts: 1 Cor. 13:4-13 Sermon Recap : In Psalm 13, we are confronted with the reality of suffering among the people of God.
More informationDEVOTIONAL GUIDE: PSALMS MAY 8 TH, 2016
Psalm 61: Prayer of the King It is assumed that, at the time David penned this song, that he was King of Israel. After all the years of waiting, all the years fleeing from King Saul, all the nights spent
More informationSermon by Rev. Sage S. Rohrer November 13, 2005 The Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco
Prosper the Work of Our Hands Sermon by Rev. Sage S. Rohrer November 13, 2005 The Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco Matthew 25:12-30 Psalm 90 It s been getting colder. As a girl from Maine, cold for
More informationKingdom Healing: Spirit-led Prayer
Kingdom Healing: Spirit-led Prayer FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT A MATTER OF TALK BUT OF POWER. - 1 Corinthians 4:20 A3 Kingdom Healing: Spirit-led Prayer Student s Manual Published by The Vineyard Church
More informationThe Psalms at a Glance
The Psalms at a Glance Book 1 Ps 1 Walking with the Messiah (Kingdom Wisdom) Ps 2 Waiting in the Messiah (Kingdom Eschatology) Intro Pss 3 41 Almost all Davidic [Doxology: 41:13] Body Book 2 Pss 42 72
More informationPsalm 112. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord
Psalm 112 Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord Psalm 112: This psalm is another acrostic and is written in the same 10-verse format as the preceding one. The contrast between the righteous man and
More informationDECLARATIVE PRAISE. I praise God for what He has done.
PSALMS Praise and Lament LAMENT I don t see God, so I cry out and trust. Introduction Address Cry for Help Report of the Past Complaint They I/We You Confession of Trust (Descriptive Praise) (Declarative
More informationThe Book of Common Prayer
Prayers and Thanksgivings from The Book of Common Prayer According to the use of The Episcopal Church 12 Prayers for Family and Personal Life Prayers for use by a Sick Person 45. For Families Almighty
More informationStop Fearing, Keep On Believing
Stop Fearing, Keep On Believing We have been following Jesus from one hopeless situation to another. We have witnessed the Lord Jesus demonstrate His power over a stormy sea; a demonpossessed man and a
More informationAssignment Description
PERSONALITY MASKS Assignment Description How the world sees us, and how we see ourselves is often very different. We sometimes put on a mask for the world to see. The purpose of this assignment is for
More informationThe children s children s children
Touching the soul The children s children s children Jim Smith Jim Smith: October 2015 This material may be downloaded for personal, group or church use. It is not to be changed and it is not to be sold.
More information~ Week of 12/27/2015 ~ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself. and God our Father, who loved us and. by his grace gave us eternal encouragement
~ Week of 12/27/2015 ~ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every
More informationMeditations on the Way of the Cross, through the life of Suzanne Aubert
Meditations on the Way of the Cross, through the life of Suzanne Aubert I 1. Jesus is condemned to death Suzanne Aubert knew all about those who were not accepted by their community the disabled, the unwanted,
More informationLife in the Spirit. Session 6: Growth. Deacon Mike Walsh
Life in the Spirit Session 6: Growth Deacon Mike Walsh www.itinerantpreacher.org deacon.mike@stpatrick.on.ca Growth in the Spirit I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in
More informationMessiah Episcopal Church AN ADVENT SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE, HOPE, AND HEALING December 18, :00 PM
Messiah Episcopal Church AN ADVENT SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE, HOPE, AND HEALING December 18, 2018 7:00 PM PRELUDE Quiet music for quieting your spirit OPENING HYMN GATHERING Ps. 62 For God Alone (J. Kidder)
More informationMary lived with her parents in a place called Nazareth. She planned to marry a man named Joseph.
Faith Filled People August Mary, the Mother of Jesus Mary lived with her parents in a place called Nazareth. She planned to marry a man named Joseph. God had a special job for Mary. God chose Mary to be
More informationThe glory of God is the human person fully alive.
The glory of God is the human person fully alive. Today we are invited to a life with God that opens us to all that is alive. It makes us celebrate life; it enables us to see the beauty of all that is
More informationScripture Work Sheets
Scripture Work Sheets Philippians Chapter 1 Scripture Work Sheets Chapter 1 1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and
More informationRejoicing in Restoration
Rejoicing in Restoration Sunday school lesson for the week of May 27, 2018 By Dr. Hal Brady Spring Quarter: Acknowledging God Unit 3: Give Praise to God Lesson Scripture: Psalm 34:1-10; Hebrews 2:17, 18
More informationWorship Service: COMPASSION Helpful elements: large (8.5x11) photo of Mother Teresa
Worship Service: COMPASSION Helpful elements: large (8.5x11) photo of Mother Teresa Welcome: Welcome! It s so good to be together to celebrate faith and community today. My name is and I ll be leading
More informationMay 31th Sunday 2015 Text: Hebrews 12:4-13 Topic: God disciplines His Sons Lesson: Prayer:
May 31th Sunday 2015 Text: Hebrews 12:4-13 Topic: God disciplines His Sons The passage portrayed to us situation where the Hebrews have suffered persecution for Christ sake but have not yet shed their
More informationPsalm 69: Plea from one who has been rejected
Psalm 69: Plea from one who has been rejected Psalm 69 (68) (Mode 3. 3 12 / 4 271) The life of the psalmist is under threat because of the stand he is taking in obedience to God s will. He pleads for God
More informationPsalms Enough Already Psalm 6
Psalms Enough Already Psalm 6 O ne of the more difficult times of my life was when I first was seriously considering leaving my career of many years to enter the ministry full time. The decision was difficult
More informationScripture Verses Which Offer Comfort and Hope During Times of Suffering
Scripture Verses Which Offer Comfort and Hope During Times of Suffering I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden
More informationAndrei Rublev Thessalonians 1:7-10
Andrei Rublev 06. 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10 7so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not
More informationStorms of Life. Facilitator s Guide. Sherry Carter. Sherry Carter
Storms of Life Facilitator s Guide Sherry Carter Sherry Carter www.sherrycarter.com Welcome! Thank you for the commitment you ve made to facilitate Storms of Life. I pray you will be blessed as you lead
More informationThe Joy of Christianity Studies from Philippians. Introduction
The Joy of Christianity Studies from Philippians Introduction God Is the Source of Great Joy o Nehemiah 8:10 Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. o Psalm 16:11 In your presence is the
More informationA DOXOLOGY AFTER DELIVERANCE PSALM 18
1 TEXT SERMONS - SERIES: PSALM SERMONS A DOXOLOGY AFTER DELIVERANCE PSALM 18 The inscription at the top of Psalm 18 in your Bible was not added by the publishers or editors of the volume. It is part of
More information10 Studies in Ecclesiastes
A free resource from Friends International 1 10 Studies in Ecclesiastes 1 Who Am I? Why Am I Here? - Psalm 139 2 Everything Is Meaningless - True Or False? - Ecclesiastes 1: 1-11 3 Where Can We Find Fulfilment?
More informationThe effect of the Spirit s action is the same over the gifts and over us there is transformation, change
Notre Dame Videos June, 2009 Video 4 Eucharistic Prayer as Transformative and Missioning [Slide 4-1] Hello. I m Dayton, Ohio Precious Blood Sister Joyce Ann Zimmerman. We meet for this fourth and final
More informationEmmaus Evangelical Lutheran Church 929 East Milton Street, South Bend (574) emmaus24.org
Emmaus Evangelical Lutheran Church 929 East Milton Street, South Bend (574) 287 4151 emmaus24.org Rev. Dr. Richard Stuckwisch, Pastor Rev. David A. Seyboldt, Assistant Pastor Z DAILY CATECHESIS ON THE
More informationClick here to open service web page for:2008/12/31/
Click here to open service web page for:2008/12/31/ I may never see tomorrow, There s no written guarantee. And things that happened yesterday, Belong to history. I cannot predict the future, I cannot
More information~ Week of 12/28/14 ~ In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness;
~ Week of 12/28/14 ~ In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me. 3 Be my rock of refuge, to which
More informationThe Story of Jonah 1. Jonah NIV
The Story of Jonah 1 Jonah NIV 1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. 3 But Jonah ran
More informationDASV: Digital American Standard Version. DASV: Philippians 1
1 Philippians 1 DASV: Digital American Standard Version DASV: Philippians 1 1 From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the overseers
More informationGrief is part of being human, but we can embrace grief as God embraces us.
GOD S EMBRACE IN OUR GRIEF PSALM 116 MAIN POINT Grief is part of being human, but we can embrace grief as God embraces us. INTRODUCTION Have you ever had the experience of walking with someone who was
More informationFeatures. Shine Br igh for Jesus! 500+ Line-Art Illustrations to Color (including over 75 all-new designs)
CREATED FOR AGES 8 & UP! Features 500+ Line-Art Illustrations to Color (including over 75 all-new designs) 300+ Devotional Readings Written Just for Girls by Author Carolyn Larsen Wide Margins for Creative
More informationWorship, Witness, Learn, Serve and Support BLUE CHRISTMAS Tuesday, December 18, :30 pm Worship
ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 425 N Main Street, Russell, Kansas 67665 785-483-5358 Pastor: Roger Dennis Ministers: All Members of St. John Our Mission: Worship, Witness,
More informationPSALM 13 JOURNEY THROUGH THE PSALMS
Perhaps some of you heard the news about Elie Wiesel who recently passed away. He was the one who wrote the famed book, Nights, among many others. Wiesel, at the age of 15, would be taken into Auschwitz
More informationYet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. Genesis 40:23 (ESV)
Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. Genesis 40:23 (ESV) Imprisoned And Forgotten Genesis 40 God can make dysfunction function. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin
More informationA Practical Study of PHILIPPIANS
Bible Teaching Resources by Don Anderson Ministries PO Box 6611 Tyler, TX 75711-6611 903.939.1201 Phone 903.939.1204 Fax 1.877.326.7729 Toll Free www.bibleteachingresources.org www.oneplace.com/ministries/persevering_and_pressing_on
More informationA twenty-two day. journey to loving God s. Word more
A twenty-two day journey to loving God s Word more The longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, talks about the love for God s Word. Journey with us for twenty-two days and let us fall in love with God
More informationThe Church Opened Up I thought we were finished with this series of messages on the church but as often happens, I felt the Lord speaking another
The Church Opened Up I thought we were finished with this series of messages on the church but as often happens, I felt the Lord speaking another word to my heart. We ve talked about the church grown up,
More information40 Days of Prayer. Introduction
40 Days of Prayer Introduction Prayer is God s idea. Proof that God wants to hear from us in prayer is found in Matthew Chapter 6 as Jesus is teaching about prayer. Jesus said, When you pray Jesus did
More informationPrayers to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj Based on The Book of Psalms
Prayers to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj Based on The Book of Psalms The Master is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Our
More informationBelow you will find an evaluation1 of where you are at spiritually and a specific prayer plan for how you can begin to grow.
Prayer Maps Here are some basic prayer plans for people at all phases of their walk with Christ. Please do not feel obligated to follow all of these exactly as they are written. Feel free to simplify,
More informationGod Pursues Disobedient People The Book of JONAH
God Pursues Disobedient People The Book of JONAH 1. God pursues a disobedient prophet Jonah 1:1-5 (HCSB) 1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and
More informationSIGNS OF SURRENDER A WEEK LONG DEVOTIONAL JOURNEY. Written by Bob Buchan
SIGNS OF SURRENDER A WEEK LONG DEVOTIONAL JOURNEY Written by Bob Buchan We invite you to take a journey with us in deepening your worship. There is a devotional and reflection each day this week as well
More informationYour spiritual help line
Your spiritual help line Meet The Master your guide to God Seven Steps In The Right Direction for new Christians How To Find A Good Church where you can grow, serve, belong... Your spiritual help line:
More informationInformative Intelligent Inspirational. of Calcutta. "The fruit of service is peace" The Canonisfthon of Mother Teresa.
Informative Intelligent Inspirational The Canonisfthon of Mother Teresa of Calcutta September 4th 20 1 "The fruit of service is peace" On September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be canonised
More informationAfter the Broken Heart: Finding the Love of Christ Eda Maddalena
After the Broken Heart: Finding the Love of Christ Eda Maddalena New Author Publishing Brockville, Ontario Canada After the Broken Heart: Finding the Love of Christ Copyright 2015 Eda Maddalena All rights
More information52+2 Intercessions for Weekly Use to Encourage Vocation Awareness in the Diocese of Brownsville
52+2 Intercessions for Weekly Use to Encourage Vocation Awareness in the Diocese of Brownsville 1. For all young people of our parish who are making life choices at this time, we pray to the 2. For all
More informationAbiding in Jesus. Scope & Sequence
Abiding in Jesus Abiding in Jesus Scope & Sequence A Study for Youth on Trusting Jesus and Encouraging Others By Sally Michael Abiding in Jesus challenges youth to live in daily dependence on Jesus. Leader
More informationBETHEL GOSPEL CHAPEL THE PRISON EPISTLES PHILIPPIANS
BETHEL GOSPEL CHAPEL THE PRISON EPISTLES PHILIPPIANS INTRODUCTION This is the last of the home Bible study guides on the prison epistles. After a rewarding five week study on the subject of Worship, we
More informationScripture Work Sheets
Scripture Work Sheets Philippians Chapter 1 Scripture Work Sheets Chapter 1 1 From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the holy ones in Philippi who are united with Christ Jesus, with their
More informationPsalm 95. Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD ; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. Matthew 7:28-29 Psalm 95 1 Come,
More information1:13 So that my chains in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; 1:14 For many of the brothers in the Lord, growing
Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the elders and deacons: 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father,
More informationHow to Cope When You Are at the End of Your Rope
How to Cope When You Are at the End of Your Rope Dear Friend, How many times have you cried out for help when you felt all the pressures have pushed you over the cliff of life? There you are hanging at
More informationThe hope of everlasting joy Text: Psalm 16
1of5 The hope of everlasting joy Text: Psalm 16 Introduction Psalm 16 is a Psalm of David. It is called A Miktam of David A Miktam was probably a musical or liturgical term So it was probably a song or
More informationDown But Not Out. Dr. David Renwick. Psalm 23; Psalm 42; Matthew 6: June 17, 2012 The National Presbyterian Church
June 17, 2012 The National Presbyterian Church Down But Not Out Psalm 23; Psalm 42; Matthew 6:25-34 Dr. David Renwick In our sermons over the summer we are looking together at God s word that comes to
More informationJOHN 19.28: I AM THIRSTY [Chelmsford 29 March 2009]
JOHN 19.28: I AM THIRSTY [Chelmsford 29 March 2009] In the calendar of the church today is Passion Sunday. Passion Sunday is the day when traditionally we remember the suffering of Jesus. The schmaltz
More information