Friendships

Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you--for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others. (NIV)

Boy is this good advice! I am always telling my two sons to mind their own business and quit monitoring everything the other says and does. Last night in our Friends class (Wed. night class for middle school girls) we were talking about how to mend broken friendships. One of the girls shared that a friend spread a rumor about her. I was encouraging the girls to stick up for one another and spread the truth when they hear a rumor being spread. But with all we were talking about, it really hit us all where it hurts when we discussed:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (NIV)

We all admitted that we have trouble with bringing up things the other person has done wrong in the past when we are angry. We also talked about the fact that we may have a hard time forgiving from time to time. We all agreed, though that if Jesus can die for us while we were still sinners, we can forgive others. Jesus didn't wait until we acted right and stopped sinning. He decided to die for our sins even when we didn't want to be forgiven! So if Jesus can suffer God's rejection, physical and mental torture, and die for us in our place when He was perfect and didn't deserve it - we can surely love others, quit monitoring everything they say and do, keep no record of wrongs and forgive them --- with GOD'S help.

Even More Church Bulletin Bloopers

• The Rev. Merriwether spoke briefly, much to the delight of the audience.
• The pastor will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth Into Joy."
• During the absence of our pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.
• Next Sunday Mrs. Vinson will be soloist for the morning service. The pastor will then speak on "It's a Terrible Experience."
• Due to the Rector's illness, Wednesday's healing services will be discontinued until further notice.
• Stewardship Offertory: "Jesus Paid It All"
• The music for today's service was all composed by George Friedrich Handel in celebration of the 300th anniversary of his birth.
• Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.
• The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the church basement on Friday at 7 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
• The concert held in Fellowship Hall was a great success. Special thanks are due to the minister's daughter, who labored the whole evening at the piano, which as usual fell upon her.
• 22 members were present at the church meeting held at the home of Mrs. Marsha Crutchfield last evening. Mrs. Crutchfield and Mrs. Rankin sang a duet, The Lord Knows Why.
• A song fest was hell at the Methodist church Wednesday.
• Today's Sermon: HOW MUCH CAN A MAN DRINK? with hymns from a full choir.
• Hymn 43: "Great God, what do I see here?"
• Hymn 47: "Hark! an awful voice is sounding"
• On a church bulletin during the minister's illness: GOD IS GOOD Dr. Hargreaves is better.
• Potluck supper: prayer and medication to follow.
• Don't let worry kill you off - let the church help.
• The 1997 Spring Council Retreat will be hell May 10 and 11.
• Pastor is on vacation. Massages can be given to church secretary.

Lessons from Narnia

I just loved reading, "The Chronicles of Narnia" when I was a kid. I think I loved sharing these books with MY kids even more. When the movie came out I was so thrilled to see that they did such a good job with it. I hear tell that they are making the next movie in the series, Prince Caspian, and it is due out next year. We can't wait!

I learn so much from Narnia. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, is a wonderful movie/book. It is about a family of 4 children that find themselves in the land of Narnia. They are the fulfillment of an age-old prophesy in which Aslan, the ruler of Narnia, will defeat the resident evil, the White Witch. The 4 children are to become the Kings and Queens of Narnia, but one of the four goes astray and joins up with the Witch. He betrays his family and all of Narnia. According to the laws of Narnia, all traitors belong to the Witch, and she has the right to kill them. Aslan, blameless and perfect, chooses to allow himself to be sacrificed and killed in Edmond's place. He is resurrected and defeats all evil, restoring Narnia to the wonderful peaceful land it used to be.

The imagery in this movie (and book) are intended (by the Author C.S. Lewis) to represent Biblical figures. Aslan is Jesus, the Witch is the devil. Edmond, the traitor represents you and I. We are born in sin and deserve death, traitors of God. We sin against Him every day. We live for ourselves, turn our backs on God and deserve death. Jesus, blameless and perfect chose to allow himself to be sacrificed and killed in our place. We, like Edmond, do not deserve to live. Jesus and Aslan certainly did not deserve to die. But LOVE prevailed, and oh what love. All throughout the book Edmond was selfish, hateful, spiteful, you name it. He was very hard to like. It was easy to see him being enticed by the "dark side" and, it would seem right to see him get what he deserves. But that is not how Aslan thought, not at all. He didn't recite all the wrongs Edmond had done. He didn't make sure that Edmond knew how unworthy he was, Aslan simply chose to die in Edmond's place.

What is so cool is that the witch was very powerful in this movie/book. She was self-confident and no one else was ever able to defeat her. She was no match for Aslan, though, no matter how powerful she was. He took her out with no effort at all when He decided the time was right. Once He defeated the witch He restored all the creatures that were turned to stone by the witch and healed all the wounded. He put the children on the thrones of Narnia, then left to allow them to rule in justice and peace. He is coming again, are you ready?

Time

How you spend your time matters.

This weekend we had the best time going to see Mickey Rooney and just being together, alone, as a couple. As a family we spent time together on Sunday just enjoying one another. I am tired today from lack of sleep, yet I feel great from being "refueled" from this fun weekend. I feel like Darin and I are on a second honeymoon or something, because how we are choosing to spend our time together really is transforming our relationship. Life happens as we all well know, and sometimes our schedules get so busy we feel we don't even know our own names. When you notice this happening, it is time to step back and re-evaluate how you are spending your time. What return are you getting for your investment? Make sure everything in your life is in balance. We should put God first, our husband (or wife) and children second, then the rest of the things in our lives third. We are only on this earth for a short while and how we spend our time really does matter. How will you spend yours?