Why attend Church

 

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Why Do We Attend Church?

Saturday Evening Worship

When I was a little girl, my mother told me, "The best friends you'll ever have are found at church."  Sure, I have high school, college, teaching friends that I love going out to lunch with, but now that I am retired, most are not here on a daily basis when I feel low or need encouragement.

"Church friends" are a special kind of friend.  If you think "church friends" are those you say hello to when passing the peace at worship, you are missing out on so much.  They are the people you share your joys and sorrows with in prayers. They are the people who send you cards when it's your birthday or a casserole when you are recovering from illness.  They are the people you work beside at the ABC Sale or plan the next luncheon with.  They are the people you study the Bible with.  They are the people you share your special skills with:  decorating, gardening, finance, teaching, music.  They are part of your community of believers.

Go-getters Going Out to Lunch

I have two friends whose husbands are handicapped.  Oddly, they both attended the same nearby church.  They both confess they have stopped going to church because it's just too hard.  My response to them has been they are missing out on so much.  When your life becomes difficult is EXACTLY the time your church becomes an important element in your life.  To stay at home can be so isolating.  Just coming to Wednesday evening dinners can open up a person's world.  If anyone understands messy lives, the church people do.  We have all been there and can help with prayers, Stephen's Ministry counseling, a meal or two.

I have read many statistics on how our country while remaining "spiritual" has stopped going to church.        This makes me sad for those people.  On Facebook the other day, a friend posted a link to a blog which also discusses the importance of going to church.  Click here.

Children's Ministry delivering boxes for needy children

Encourage neighbors, friends and acquaintances to attend church.  We will soon be starting a new programming year with a new interim pastor.  What a great time for someone to start attending.  We have Sunday School classes, Midweek, Go-getters, the PW Brunch and New Member classes beginning.  Click here for more on what St. Mark Presbyterian has to offer.

Small Group going out to dinner

Book Club

Jaclyn Morgan

Schussing and Waltzing

On sunny snowy days, 

I do still dream of skiing down a snow-covered hill

Breathing in the cold air and 

basking in the warmth of the sun.

I can’t ski anymore and even worry about walking in the snow,

but I’m not too old to sit outside on a sunny day.

With snow all around me

and my breath

unfurling in the frigid air.

My memories keep me warm

on this chilly January day.

The drive to ski slopes

over-dressed for the chill 

of waiting in a lift line

was all worth it.

With my first breath of air at the top of a mountain. . . 

and the “Schuss” down a hill.. .

flying

soaring throught the snow.

Then I zig-zag across the slope

not to go slowly

but for the run 

to last longer.

I also dream of dancing with my love in a ballroom

Dipping and gliding to an orchestra playing a walz

A final spin into his arms, eyes locked. . . .

Sitting at a cloth covered table with candles

drinking wine 

while holding hands. . 

Not talking, just absorbing the magic.

Don’t tell me I get no benefit from memories.

Memories allow me to relive magical moments

of my life. 

And, they remind me

there are more memories to be made,

if I reach out and take a chance.

And, it’s all right for me to just sit in the sun

or 

in a chair for a dance. . . 

remembering

Too Old to Dream?

 Will I ever be too old to dream?

too old to wonder what could be,

what tomorrow will bring.

My body may ache 

I may move more slowly

but my heart is still growing 

although sometimes it misses a beat.

Despite cataracts, my eyes see clearly

To see those who need a touch, a whisper,

a laugh

I’m not too old dance

mostly in a chair not taking a chance. . . 

But moving my body to the music

takes me back when these feet 

could dance all night long.

I’m not too old to sing

perhaps at a lower tone

but I’m still singing.

I’m still dreaming

growing

seeing

dancing

My body may have a few pounds but it can still

Move to the music

My balance sometimes falters but 

I’d rather dance with a walker

or in a chair

than to never dance at all.

I’d rather sing a little off key, reaching for notes

than to just listen to music

I’d rather dream and hope, rather than

be in  a  television trance:

seeing the worlld in black and white 

I’d rather touch and be touched, 

laughing with friends

than to be cozy and comfy in my easy chair.  . .

alone.

Lost or Found

 

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Lost or Found

Luke 15:31-32 New International Version (NIV)

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

In 1988, Dave and I took our daughters on a trip to Scotland.  While there, we visited St. Giles Cathedral where I bought crosses for my daughters, my mother and me.  I thought it would be very symbolic that the five of us had identical crosses from St. Giles Cathedral because Scotland is our ancestral home.  And St. Giles is like the mother church for Presbyterians.

I treasured that necklace but worried that I might lose it some day, so I took it to a jeweler to have him solder the sliding loop which attached the cross to the chain.  While walking across the parking lot with the necklace in the little brown envelope, the cross slipped out.  I didn't notice it was missing from the envelope for several days.  When I went back to the jeweler and the parking lot, it wasn't there.

I have mourned the loss of that symbolic tie that bound me, my mother and my daughters to our ancestral home until I taught a class last fall on crosses.  We were to bring in a cross that meant a lot to us.  Again I thought back to my missing cross.  In the class, Debbie related a similar story of a cross that had been her mother's that she had lost.  I started thinking about the missing crosses and the hymn Amazing Grace kept going through my head.  "I once was lost but now am found"  The flip side of losing something so precious, is someone else may have found it.  And, it may have come to them at a low point in their lives.  Hopefully the warm feelings and love that were attached to that cross were passed on to them.  Now, I am at peace and don't think of it as being lost, but rather found.

Jaclyn Morgan

Random Acts

 

Friday, March 11, 2016

Random Acts or Just Kindness

I have often been on the receiving end of Random Acts of Kindness.  The first was at a Cracker Barrel in Mississippi.  Two gentlemen paid for our dinner.  It was certainly a warm gesture after being on the road all day.  But, I seem to have a hard time  knowing how "to pay it forward".  Do I do the same thing?  Does it need to be dollar for dollar? Or, does letting someone in front of me at the grocery store count?

I have been ill lately and have again been on the receiving end many times----a neighbor cleared snow off our driveway, another brought over brownies and a rose, many church friends have called or written notes offering to run errands, bring a meal or take me to the doctor.  Now I am so deep in random acts of kindness debt, I may never dig myself out of the hole.

Fortunately I found a web site which has 96 ideas.  But, I think many of these suggestions are just being kind, acting in a Christian way which I strive to do daily. http://www.bradaronson.com/acts-of-kindness/.  Seeing some of the suggestions, I realized that I do some of them on a regular basis like "letting a car merge" or "stopping for a pedestrian in a crosswalk" or "letting someone with one item ahead of me at the grocery store."  That got me thinking, "Which is more important, random acts of kindness or being kind on a regular but small scale basis?"

Recently there has been a back lash to being "politically correct".  Some think being politically correct is a sign of weakness of caving in.  But, isn't it really just being kind and courteous? There seems to be more incivility than usual with this being an election year. But we don't have to agree to be kind, do we? So, I'm suggesting that rather than making plans to carry out random acts of kindness, we live in a Christian, courteous, kind way every minute of every day even with those whose opinions are different from our own.

Luke 6: 35 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

Jaclyn Morgan