“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Live within my love. When you obey me you are living in my love, just as I obey my Father and live in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your cup of joy will overflow! John 15:9-11 The Living Bible

As I had been praying and thinking about what to share, my thoughts kept circling around the word joy. These times we are living in lately seem to have sapped out of us the feeling of joyfulness. As the scripture says, if we live in God’s love, which is loving and caring for others as we love and care for ourselves, our cup of joy will overflow. As I strive to live as Jesus shows us, I also wondered what recently has caused me to have a sense of joy?

So I begin my “joy” list with the rain that we received last week and hopefully more will be coming. I love watching and listening to the rain, the thunder and lightning that can catch you off guard, and the misty light sprinkles where a rainbow can peek through. I feel joy to breathe in deeply the clean crisp and refreshing air.

Watching our sweet dog curl up in her blanket and act like there isn’t a care in the world that she needs to worry about and sleeps the storms away, gives me a sense of joy.

Watching flowers bloom in the midst of a yard that is slightly messy from too many weeds, and yet the flowers continue on in doing what they were created to do and show forth their beauty.

Being able to see and almost reach out and touch our incredible mountain range when they are covered with snow, turn a 180 and see Catalina so closely because some days we forget it’s there.

Being able to wave at my neighbors and chat from a distance making sure all is well with them, brings me joy.

The best joy of all is getting a FaceTime call from our grandkids even though I watch them every week. Ending the call time with our grandson, who will be 4 in March, asking us “Why did the turkey cross the road?… Why? (we asked)… To stretch his legs of course!!”    

I hope this brought a smile and a sense of joy to you this day and I hope and pray you can find joy in your everyday living in the smallest of ways. Know that God’s love is always with you in the big and in the small moments of your day. Be filled to overflowing with the joy of the Lord!

‘May the Lord bless and protect you; may the Lord’s face radiate with joy because of you; may the Lord be gracious to you, show you his favor, and give you his peace.’ Numbers 6:24-26 The Living Bible

Blessings,

Brenda

Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
   in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord,
   studied by all who delight in them.
Full of honor and majesty is his work,
   and his righteousness endures forever.
He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds;
   the Lord is gracious and merciful.
He provides food for those who fear him;
   he is ever mindful of his covenant.
He has shown his people the power of his works,
   in giving them the heritage of the nations.
— Psalm 111:1-6

Last night, while I was working on the computer, I heard the TV switch off in the other room. I popped my head into the family room and asked “Are you heading off to sleep?”

Kathy looked up from grading papers and said, “No, I just wanted to listen to the rain.” And so, for bit, we opened windows and just listened.

There is something both soothing and energizing about the sound of rain. It may be because it is not all that common around here, so it is different and therefore interesting. I think there is something more, though. For me, the rain is a reminder of the presence of God in our existence. The rain which falls waters the earth; it cleanses and provides for life. Indeed, rain is a sign of God’s providence and blessing.

We can’t control the rain. Meteorologists can share with us predictions, and can give us percentage chances of rain based on past history and observations. With this we can prepare. And this is always the case with God’s blessings: we can’t make them happen, but we can prepare ourselves to best receive the work of God in our lives.

We stand in awe of your power, O God. Calm our busy-ness as we quiet the noise of our lives. Help us to know that you are God, and that you offer us blessings like the rain which falls from the heavens. Allow us to hear your call upon our lives, and then lead us in your ways. Thus, O God, may we, too, be your blessing for your world. We pray this through your Son. Amen.  

George

We will continue with this stream of thought in worship on Sunday. Here are the questions for the message:

1. What does it mean to you to “fear” God?
2. What is your response to authority?
3. What word are you called to speak this day?

For the past few weeks, I have been blessed to be able to help develop and design our newest offering of Saturday worship experiences for the 5^th Saturday of the month, which will be our Taizé service.

For me, a Taizé service is a time and place for me to be still and listen to God’s voice. A time to worship and be uplifted and to be taken to a “thin” place by the meditative music, chants, and prayers.  I love the candlelit space, the readings, prayers, and periods of silent reflection.  It calms my soul and refreshes my spirit.  It is a place to put the craziness of life outside my consciousness for a while and just be in God’s presence and be in worship. I need that now more than ever in my life, and I am going to guess that some of you do as well. 

Brenda Spencer and I have been at work choosing the prayers and music for this service.  That means we get to listen to lots of music and read lots of prayers! That has been such a blessing, sometimes I just need to have a reason to read prayers and listen to music, because I, like many of you, don’t take the time to be still.   Brenda & I get to imagine what we would like the service to be like, to create this sacred space. That in and of itself is a blessing.  While this service will be online, we can still go to that sacred space in our hearts and minds.

Our theme for our first Taizé service is New Beginnings with a focus on how God is with us during times of crisis.  We have all felt God’s presence with us during difficult times, sometimes we just need to be reminded. There will be questions to ponder during the quiet times of silence if you need to use them.  It is our hope that this will be a “thin” space, where you can sense God’s presence and hear God’s voice speaking to you.  A place where you will feel wrapped up in God’s loving embrace and refreshed to go out into this crazy world and live more fully into your own calling to be a follower of Christ.

If you have never been to a Taizé service I invite you to try it if you think that it sounds interesting. It has been such a blessing to plan this service. It is our hope that you will be blessed by this worship experience.

Suzanne

Gracious & Loving God, Create in me a clean heart and renew my spirit so that I might live more fully into being a disciple of yours.  Amen.

Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks.  Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

One of my favorite prayers is the Serenity Prayer.  Sometimes this prayer is part of my daily routine and other times it gets tucked away in my brain for a while. Right now, it is one I am saying frequently. If you aren’t familiar with the prayer it asks God to help us to accept those things that are out of our control, but it also asks God to give us the courage to take control over the things we can change. Sometimes it is tricky to know the difference between the two so when you pray this prayer you also ask God to help you know the difference.

I just love this prayer and it has been helpful because there are lots of things at this point in time that are really, really hard to accept that I have no control over. I’d like to, but I can’t…

…control what our elected officials of all levels of government say or do.

…control businesses that are not following the guidelines.

…control people from verbally attacking others.

…control how our vaccines are being distributed.

Serenity is the state of being calm and finding peace and there sure doesn’t feel like there is much of that in our lives these days, but God has given us the courage to take control of the things that we have the power to change. To find serenity I can…

…turn off the TV and turn on my favorite music and dance around the house.

…wear my mask, keep my 6ft distance and wash my hands.

…take a walk around the block and listen and notice all of God’s creation around me.

…write a note or make a phone call to take the focus off myself.

…donate to a cause that I believe in. 

…find a new recipe to try for dinner.

…set my device down, breathe deeply and say a prayer of gratitude.

Remember that God is always close by and in control so let’s let God do God’s work and take care of the things that are out of our control because then we can use our energy towards changing the things we can.  

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change. Courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.  Amen

Marty