Sweet counsel 08.20.09
August 20, 2009
Sweet Counsel is back after a six-week hiatus…
REMIND
Happy New Year! August is the start of the new year for many of us, especially if we have children. It is also the time when we regroup, restart some ministries that lie fallow for the summer and introduce some new vehicles of ministry. If you missed the Fall Family Night ministry preview back on August 12, you can catch up by picking up an orange Fall @ FPC 2009: What is your next step? sheet. This will give you a lot of information on upcoming events between now and Thanksgiving. The back page is a calendar for the next four months.
Reaching Out at Home: Do you have a heart for the mission field close to home? If you are, you are invited to a meeting directed toward developing and strengthening FPC ministry vehicles for local outreach and mercy ministry, English as a Second Language (ESL), church planting in North America, special needs ministry, campus ministries, military chaplaincy, disaster relief, and other ways of reaching out to our nearby neighbors and those in spiritual need across our nation. We will meet over soup and/or sandwiches on Sunday evening, August 23, in the Jackson Room right after Evening Worship.
REVISIT
Rally Day: We fed around 120 or so last Sunday morning. Cooks Culley Newman and Danny Temple, decorators Keith, Teresa, Victoria and Alexandria Paton, and the entire committee (Lynda Temple, Tanya Steen, Celina Wilson, Sandra Fowler and Mary Denny) put an excellent meal together. Grant was in charge of the Rally Day program. Rally Day is not a just a relic of the past. It is a good way to catch a quick glimpse at what the various children’s and adult classes are doing. There are red sheets of paper at the bulletin pick-up points which give a brief description of the various classes. Invite someone to join you in your class, or if you need help finding a class that suits you or someone else, talk to me or to Grant.
Helping Hand for Helping Hands: Thank you for your generous response to the last-minute call for canned goods to replenish the food pantry at Helping Hands. The number of beneficiaries receiving food assistance at HH has increased by 75% over the past 4 months. FPC really rose the occasion with a strong response last Sunday. If you didn’t get in on that particular joy, I’m sure you can call Helping Hands and ask how you can help.
Andy and Bev Warren: At the last Wednesday Night Connection I gave my teaching time to Andy Warren (MTW Ethiopia) for a report. He emailed me last Friday to let me know that he and Bev could be in Kosciusko on the following Wednseday night, and who can refuse such an opportunity? Their visit to the U.S. is not a regular home assignment; rather, it is due to their youngest son Kit enrolling at Mississippi State. They have helped Kit settle on campus, and are getting ready to visit other supporting churches and do some recruiting while they are here. They will return to Ethiopia October 4. Andy showed us a moving video which chronicled some of their work with HIV-infected residents of Addis Ababa and surrounding regions. They are currently working with 485 families affected by the disease. They are always in need of medical personnel for short-term trips. Also, they help 714 children with educational needs. Andy and Bev asked us to pray for them in their new ‘empty-nest’ situation as a family, for the development of the church plant they want to see in Addis Ababa, and for the many people they serve and care for in Jesus’ name.
Prayer for a Thick Skin and a Big Heart
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21
Dear Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, apart from you, the admonitions in this passage mock our sensibilities. Everything within us instinctively wants to get even when we are hurt by others. Whether it’s a “light-hearted” insult or an outright assault; whether it’s our forgotten birthday or a remembered failure; whether we’re excluded from a party or included in someone’s madness… so often, too often, the pain we feel get’s recycled and redistributed to others.
We ask you for thick skin and a big heart, Jesus. We want to love well in the presence of everything from non-intended slights to full bore evil. Where evil has already deeply wounded us or is presently lurking, Jesus, let us remember, even deeper in our hearts, that you will repay, you will avenge. Because you have already overcome evil on the cross and have secured its utter annihilation, we can dare to imagine overcoming evil with good. We are clueless about feeding hungry, thirsty enemies, Jesus. Take our hand and show us the way.
And where we are just too sensitive, Jesus, too easily offended, too ready to keep record of wrongs done to us… may the gospel bring us much greater freedom. May this be a week, Jesus, of overlooking everything that should be overlooked, of dealing wisely as peacemakers with the situations we must confront, and a week of revoking all revenge in light of the Day you return to make all things new. All for your glory we ask these things, Jesus. Amen.
Morning Worship: This Sunday we’ll have the joy of witnessing the Baptism of Nathan Carroll. Camille’s father, Rev. Billy Joseph, Minister of Congregational Care at First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, will assist. I will conclude the series The Handing Down: The Gospel according to the Isaac and Jacob by preaching from the genealogy of Esau in Genesis 36–a passage that illustrates for us some truths about God’s “common grace” toward all people and God’s “saving grace” toward believers. In the morning liturgy we will sing This Is My Father’s World, Blest the Man That Fear Jehovah [Psalm 128], and Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.
Evening Worship: Speaking of concluding a series, Sunday evening will mark the conclusion of my series on Revelation–a sermon on Revelation 22:6-22 entitled Hope Unveiled.
