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Dear Parents With Young Children in Church
http://www.iamtotallythatmom.blogspot.com/2013/05/dear-parents-with-young-children-in.html You are doing something really, really important. I know it’s not easy. I see you with your arms overflowing, and I know you came to church already tired. Parenting is tiring. Really tiring. I watch you bounce and sway trying to keep the baby quiet, juggling the infant carseat and the diaper bag as you find a seat. I see you wince as your child cries. I see you anxiously pull things out of your bag of tricks to try to quiet them…
Don’t Do the Things!
Take a second to read this little comic. Step 1: Laugh. It’s a pretty funny piece of comedy. Step 2: Ask yourself – is the primary takeaway from the Bible the instruction to “not do the things”? Clearly, much of the story of the Bible is centered around commandments. Over and over again in the Pentateuch, God’s people are told to obey God and keep God’s commandments. In the Great Commission, Jesus tells the disciples to teach everyone to obey everything he commanded. There are many rules to follow. But – are the most important rules the ones that tell…
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When Marriage is No Longer Exciting
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationships/when-marriage-no-longer-exciting In our always changing, easy to update, quick to replace society, where does the long-lasting investment of marriage fall? How might a worldview that exalts the sweeping, passionate adventure shape our expectations of a covenant promise that remains, even in the dullest years? When we already struggle to make peace with a life that is more ordinary that we had dreamed it might be, how do we respond to marriage…
Famous and Important
There was a young boy whose teacher asked him what he was going to be when he grew up. He said, “I’m going to be famous and important!” And his teacher told him that it’s difficult to be famous and important, and he would have to work hard to do it. And the boy took her seriously: he worked hard at school, always getting his assignments done on time, always earning good grades. Because of his hard work, he was recognized by the mayor of his small town for an outstanding civics project. The mayor asked him why he worked…
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Faithfulness > Attendance
http://www.pcusa.org/blogs/comings-and-goings/2014/9/10/faithfulness-attendance/ Like all churches, First Pres Homewood still has a ways to go. But these community dinners are little pictures of the Kingdom of Heaven. Very few of the guests at the community dinners have come to church on Sunday morning. These events have not boosted the attendance. On the other hand, they have boosted the faithfulness of the congregation as an outpost of the mission of Jesus Christ…
Death and Life
Here’s a sermon from a few years ago, which has become relevant for worship at church this coming Sunday. This sermon was given to the Presbyterian Mission Agency at a board meeting. Alex Becker Preached at PMA Board Meeting 9/12/2012 “Death and Life” Given the short time I’ve spent as a Presbyterian pastor, I feel that I am quickly becoming an expert on death. I performed my first funeral before I officially began working at Henryville Community Presbyterian and Mount Lebanon Presbyterian and I did my second funeral soon after. The two churches I serve have less than 50 members…
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