We have had a lot of excitement around the church lately, what with adding a few new church members, electing officers and so forth. But let's not forget that deep down, the whole reason why we are all here in this place is not for pomp and circumstance, not for us to attempt to follow the rules, but for us to find fellowship and friendship in the Body of Christ.
I attempted to say something like that last Sunday, although it wasn't exactly my finest sermon.
Just yesterday I was in Santa Fe and met a man who is of the Quaker faith. Very interesting. He told me that he holds Presbyterians in high regard, because there were so many who signed the Declaration of Independence! I'm proud of that too, although for him, it colored his perception of Presbyterians as being radically political people. He asked me if my parishioners were very liberal in their politics. I replied, "We shake hands across the aisle, we pray for one another, we care about each other." Secular politics have their place in society, but the unity of our church, in my opinion, is far more important! What a light the church can be to the nations, if Christians everywhere could live in that sort of unity.
Presbyterians indeed had a good deal of influence on the birth of this great nation, and that is also reflected on our Book of Order. But we live by another influence, not seen often enough in national politics. Jesus Christ is Lord of the conscience.
Before I go on any further, I would like to remind you that we have some events going on.
Friday/Saturday this week - Betty Ragan and I will be in Ruidoso for the January presbytery meeting
Saturday January 30th 10AM Community Health Talk Sheryl Gambardella presents a talk on "Probiotics: Where to get them Naturally"
Sunday, February 7th - 1st Sunday of the month - Holy Communion Sunday
Prayers Needed!
James Simpson (Kay's biological father) - suffering from pneumonia and other conditions, hospitalized
For the Hart and Varsallona families - it's been a hard year for them
Angie Garcia - hospice care
Mrs. Jimenez - struggling with cancer
Tom Anderson - chemotherapy
Eric and his mom Mary Rivera - both of them are sick
Our city, county and nation
This Week
Today, in spite of the snow, we will have yoga at noon!
M-W-F at 9:00AM will be Exercise, Eat and Pray
Tuesday and Thursday I will be running around, out of the office, part of the time
Wednesday I will be in the office till about 2:30PM,
Friday I leave for Ruidoso around 9/9:30AM
Sunday morning at 9:30AM - Bible Study for Grown Ups, based on the weekly lectionary texts, worship at 11:00
If you would like to see what the Sunday readings will be, you can always go to this page: http://www.presbyterianmission.org/devotion/daily/2016/1/26/
I hope you all have a wonderful day. May God be with you till we meet again!
Love,
Pastor Amy