Tuesday, January 23, 2007
From the Lighthouse Keeper 7.04
Greeting, saints and lighthouse keepers all!
In case there was any doubt about it, there are signs that winter is here: we’ve had some snow!
When Sashi got out of bed on Friday I told her to look out the window, then I watched with delight as her face lit up to see even the thin dusting of snow on the rooftops.
“Snow, Daddy! Who made the snow?”
“God made the snow, Honeybun.”
“I’m so happy! Can we say ‘thank you’ to God for the snow?”
“Sure, Kiddo, we can say ‘thank you’ to God any time.”
Sure enough, a minute later my daughter looked out the window and up at the sky and said “Thank you God for the snow!” She then told me, “I said ‘thank you’ to the sun, because God lives in the sun.”
“God is in the sun, you’re right. But do you know where he likes to live best? In your heart,” I replied.
Said Sashi: “And he lives in the moon, and in the ground!”
God love her. She’s right, of course. God is in the sun and in the moon, in our hearts and in the ground. In the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas Jesus says, “Cleave a piece of wood, I am there; lift up the stone and you will find Me there.” Indeed, he was there in the beginning with God, and nothing that exists came into being without him.
There’s nowhere we can go where God isn’t. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel pretty good. And it makes me want to do good. To praise God with my very being and living.
Thank you, God, for being You
Hoping to see you soon at the lighthouse –
Pastor Kerry
p.s.: Our newsletter crew is pretty thin this week. Would you be able to come in Thursday morning to help assemble it? Please call the office or respond if you’re able.
In case there was any doubt about it, there are signs that winter is here: we’ve had some snow!
When Sashi got out of bed on Friday I told her to look out the window, then I watched with delight as her face lit up to see even the thin dusting of snow on the rooftops.
“Snow, Daddy! Who made the snow?”
“God made the snow, Honeybun.”
“I’m so happy! Can we say ‘thank you’ to God for the snow?”
“Sure, Kiddo, we can say ‘thank you’ to God any time.”
Sure enough, a minute later my daughter looked out the window and up at the sky and said “Thank you God for the snow!” She then told me, “I said ‘thank you’ to the sun, because God lives in the sun.”
“God is in the sun, you’re right. But do you know where he likes to live best? In your heart,” I replied.
Said Sashi: “And he lives in the moon, and in the ground!”
God love her. She’s right, of course. God is in the sun and in the moon, in our hearts and in the ground. In the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas Jesus says, “Cleave a piece of wood, I am there; lift up the stone and you will find Me there.” Indeed, he was there in the beginning with God, and nothing that exists came into being without him.
There’s nowhere we can go where God isn’t. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel pretty good. And it makes me want to do good. To praise God with my very being and living.
Thank you, God, for being You
Hoping to see you soon at the lighthouse –
Pastor Kerry
p.s.: Our newsletter crew is pretty thin this week. Would you be able to come in Thursday morning to help assemble it? Please call the office or respond if you’re able.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
From the Lighthouse Keeper 7.03
Greetings, saints and lighthouse keepers, all!
I was chatting with my daughter’s dance instructor today. Her name is Miss Sheila, and I tell ya, she’s the spitting image of my friend Kathy – they could be sisters. As I was telling Miss Sheila that I knew a woman who looked like her, I recalled that I knew another woman who looked like both of them. Three people from three different areas of the country, who bore each other’s image.
I have been told a few times that I have a twin. Someone I look like, someone who acts like me. Have you ever been told you have a twin? Has someone ever looked at you and told you “You look like a friend of mine…”?
When God looks at us, he sees a few things. One, he sees our sin. That sets us apart from God, even as it sets us apart from each other. But by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who takes our place, when God looks at us, he sees Jesus. Because of Jesus, God is able to offer us eternal life and fellowship with him.
Jesus’ hope and prayer for us is that we’ll be like him. He tells his disciples in John 13:15, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:1 to “Be imitators of Christ.”
My hope in this world is for people to look at me and see the grace and the love of Jesus. My hope for you is that when people look at you they’ll say “You remind me of someone. You remind me of Jesus.”
Would you remember in prayer our new District Superintendent, the Rev. Gary George? He takes the mantle on February 1 from our interim DS Herb Palmer. I have told Rev. Palmer of our prayers and thanksgiving for him and his service.
Would you remember the children of our church, as we seek a Director of Children’s Ministry? Pray that God would move in the heart of the one that we seek.
Thank you for these prayers and many others. I look forward to seeing you soon at the lighthouse –
Pastor Kerry
I was chatting with my daughter’s dance instructor today. Her name is Miss Sheila, and I tell ya, she’s the spitting image of my friend Kathy – they could be sisters. As I was telling Miss Sheila that I knew a woman who looked like her, I recalled that I knew another woman who looked like both of them. Three people from three different areas of the country, who bore each other’s image.
I have been told a few times that I have a twin. Someone I look like, someone who acts like me. Have you ever been told you have a twin? Has someone ever looked at you and told you “You look like a friend of mine…”?
When God looks at us, he sees a few things. One, he sees our sin. That sets us apart from God, even as it sets us apart from each other. But by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who takes our place, when God looks at us, he sees Jesus. Because of Jesus, God is able to offer us eternal life and fellowship with him.
Jesus’ hope and prayer for us is that we’ll be like him. He tells his disciples in John 13:15, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:1 to “Be imitators of Christ.”
My hope in this world is for people to look at me and see the grace and the love of Jesus. My hope for you is that when people look at you they’ll say “You remind me of someone. You remind me of Jesus.”
Would you remember in prayer our new District Superintendent, the Rev. Gary George? He takes the mantle on February 1 from our interim DS Herb Palmer. I have told Rev. Palmer of our prayers and thanksgiving for him and his service.
Would you remember the children of our church, as we seek a Director of Children’s Ministry? Pray that God would move in the heart of the one that we seek.
Thank you for these prayers and many others. I look forward to seeing you soon at the lighthouse –
Pastor Kerry
Thursday, January 11, 2007
From the Lighthouse Keeper 7.02
Greetings, saints and lighthouse keepers, all!
I don’t know about you, but I have been busy lately, and I have felt really blessed lately.
I am very excited about the Bible-Based Money Management Seminar that our church is hosting for the next three Wednesdays. I think about times when I’ve known that events were going to happen and I kind of dragged my feet half-heartedly to the event, and found that God had some incredible blessing for me in spite of me. So if you’re dragging your feet on this one, give it a shot. I firmly believe God will bless you and this fellowship if you come and participate. If I didn’t believe that I’d be a liar, and that’s just not one thing that I am. I hope you’re able to make a way to find out for yourself.
I spent Thursday afternoon at Valley Forge Christian College at their Job Fair, talking to some students about our need for a children’s minister. I had some blessed conversations, friends, and I’d like to ask you to pray for three individuals that I would consider excellent candidates. In the name of prudence I won’t share their names or initials, but God knows which three I lift before you, and I just ask that you’d lift them and pray for their discernment and for the Spirit to guide them. When they come through our doors, I want to you to be able to truthfully say “We’ve been praying for you”.
I am excited about a discipleship training event that the denomination is doing (I’ll be attending a workshop on Friday) and about a Staff-Parish training event that the conference is doing (Saturday).
God has much planned. I see a harvest that God is preparing and I look forward to one day saying “remember in 2007 when…”
What do you see?
Oh friends. It is good to be among you. May you be found to be a faithful servant of God –
Pastor Kerry
I don’t know about you, but I have been busy lately, and I have felt really blessed lately.
I am very excited about the Bible-Based Money Management Seminar that our church is hosting for the next three Wednesdays. I think about times when I’ve known that events were going to happen and I kind of dragged my feet half-heartedly to the event, and found that God had some incredible blessing for me in spite of me. So if you’re dragging your feet on this one, give it a shot. I firmly believe God will bless you and this fellowship if you come and participate. If I didn’t believe that I’d be a liar, and that’s just not one thing that I am. I hope you’re able to make a way to find out for yourself.
I spent Thursday afternoon at Valley Forge Christian College at their Job Fair, talking to some students about our need for a children’s minister. I had some blessed conversations, friends, and I’d like to ask you to pray for three individuals that I would consider excellent candidates. In the name of prudence I won’t share their names or initials, but God knows which three I lift before you, and I just ask that you’d lift them and pray for their discernment and for the Spirit to guide them. When they come through our doors, I want to you to be able to truthfully say “We’ve been praying for you”.
I am excited about a discipleship training event that the denomination is doing (I’ll be attending a workshop on Friday) and about a Staff-Parish training event that the conference is doing (Saturday).
God has much planned. I see a harvest that God is preparing and I look forward to one day saying “remember in 2007 when…”
What do you see?
Oh friends. It is good to be among you. May you be found to be a faithful servant of God –
Pastor Kerry
# posted by Spring City UMC @ 9:00 AM
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
From the Lighthouse Keeper 7.01
New Years’ greetings, saints and lighthouse keepers all!
I thank God every time I think of you, and I remember you in my prayers. I am excited as 2007 kicks off. That excitement comes from God, my friends. Let’s call it for what it is: enthusiasm (which is literally akin to God-injection). I am enthusiastic about Spring City UMC and the year 2007.
Thank you for remembering so many folks in prayer last week. A brief update:
Joanne M. is still in the hospital, adjusting to the meds. I saw her today, and she does expect to go home soon.
Irma M. is doing well at Beverly, and also hopes to be home soon. I saw her today too (and visited Naomi as well, who is getting over a cold).
I have plans to visit Sadie W. this weekend. I know that the chaplain at Reading Rehab (HealthSouth) has visited with her, and she is progressing along. I hope you’re able to remember her with cards and calls.
Willie B. was in church on Sunday, praise God.
I look forward this weekend to celebrating Holy Communion as a congregation again, and to another luncheon, and I pray you’re able to join us.
I don’t know if you heard this in the news recently, but I found it very moving. I’ll include a link if you want to read the story online. Yesterday a New Yorker was waiting for the subway with his two daughters when they witnessed a young man fall onto the tracks. There was a train coming. The man told his daughters “stay here” and then jumped down onto the track. There was no time to get the fallen man out, so he threw him down between the tracks and covered him with his own body, just before the train rushed over them both. Neither man was injured, though the train sped by a mere inch or two above them. (click here for the news story)
I don’t know whether this man is a Christian or not, but he certainly lived the actions of Christ in that moment, risking his own life for the life of another. I pray that the young man who was saved realizes the value of his life, that a stranger would do that.
Your life is valuable, friends. Precious enough that God’s own Son laid his life down so that you could live. You are invaluable to God.
Let others know, friends, that they are too.
Hope to see you soon –
Pastor Kerry
I thank God every time I think of you, and I remember you in my prayers. I am excited as 2007 kicks off. That excitement comes from God, my friends. Let’s call it for what it is: enthusiasm (which is literally akin to God-injection). I am enthusiastic about Spring City UMC and the year 2007.
Thank you for remembering so many folks in prayer last week. A brief update:
Joanne M. is still in the hospital, adjusting to the meds. I saw her today, and she does expect to go home soon.
Irma M. is doing well at Beverly, and also hopes to be home soon. I saw her today too (and visited Naomi as well, who is getting over a cold).
I have plans to visit Sadie W. this weekend. I know that the chaplain at Reading Rehab (HealthSouth) has visited with her, and she is progressing along. I hope you’re able to remember her with cards and calls.
Willie B. was in church on Sunday, praise God.
I look forward this weekend to celebrating Holy Communion as a congregation again, and to another luncheon, and I pray you’re able to join us.
I don’t know if you heard this in the news recently, but I found it very moving. I’ll include a link if you want to read the story online. Yesterday a New Yorker was waiting for the subway with his two daughters when they witnessed a young man fall onto the tracks. There was a train coming. The man told his daughters “stay here” and then jumped down onto the track. There was no time to get the fallen man out, so he threw him down between the tracks and covered him with his own body, just before the train rushed over them both. Neither man was injured, though the train sped by a mere inch or two above them. (click here for the news story)
I don’t know whether this man is a Christian or not, but he certainly lived the actions of Christ in that moment, risking his own life for the life of another. I pray that the young man who was saved realizes the value of his life, that a stranger would do that.
Your life is valuable, friends. Precious enough that God’s own Son laid his life down so that you could live. You are invaluable to God.
Let others know, friends, that they are too.
Hope to see you soon –
Pastor Kerry
Friday, December 29, 2006
From the Lighthouse Keeper 6.29
Well, friends, this is the final FTLHK of the year 2006, and the year is going out with a bang. I’ve been to two funerals and a wedding in the past week, and visited four church members in the hospital. This after months of no funerals and one hospitalized member (Edie).
Please pray for Irma M, who spent a few days at Phoenixville Hospital and is now at Beverly Health Care in Phoenixville. While it was stroke-like symptoms that caused Irma to check in, no one is really sure what happened, other than it was not a stroke. Remember Irma and her sister Naomi.
Please pray for Wiletta B, who spent several days at Phoenixville being treated for her strokes (two mini-strokes). When I saw her on Thursday she intended to come to church this Sunday, and she’s scheduled to come home today. Remember her and the change in lifestyle she faces.
Pray for Sadie W, who broke her hip on Sunday night. It’s the same one she broke before. She spent several days at Phoenixville, and is now at HealthSouth in Reading (formerly Reading Health Care). Sadie just recently moved to the Bard complex (the old knitting mill).
Pray for Joanne M, who took an ambulance to the hospital earlier this week after a heart attack. She received excellent care right away (by the grace of God). They discovered a blocked artery, which they addressed with a stent. She’s been with family and friends, and should be home today.
I ask that you lift Darlene H in prayer, as well as Mary Jane S, both who lost their mothers within the past two weeks. If you would also remember the Fredericks family, who had to put their 9-month old puppy Laci to sleep this week, after infection from one of her four hernia surgeries.
I also share with you that our brother and former District Superintendent Ralph B and his family are in a new season of grief as their 31-year old son was killed in a car accident the day before Christmas.
Friends, I do not mean this to be a “downer” at the end of the year, but an opportunity to give thanks for God who is the wind beneath our wings. Many of us have experienced deep loss at one time or another, and many of us wonder how it is that people get through these things without The Good Lord. We who know God know where our strength comes from. “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:2).
I also know that each of these families mentioned is already touched by your prayers and your support. Thank you for your compassion. We are one body in Christ.
I hope to see you soon at the lighthouse, and I pray that 2007 brings you even closer to Almighty God.
Pastor Kerry
Please pray for Irma M, who spent a few days at Phoenixville Hospital and is now at Beverly Health Care in Phoenixville. While it was stroke-like symptoms that caused Irma to check in, no one is really sure what happened, other than it was not a stroke. Remember Irma and her sister Naomi.
Please pray for Wiletta B, who spent several days at Phoenixville being treated for her strokes (two mini-strokes). When I saw her on Thursday she intended to come to church this Sunday, and she’s scheduled to come home today. Remember her and the change in lifestyle she faces.
Pray for Sadie W, who broke her hip on Sunday night. It’s the same one she broke before. She spent several days at Phoenixville, and is now at HealthSouth in Reading (formerly Reading Health Care). Sadie just recently moved to the Bard complex (the old knitting mill).
Pray for Joanne M, who took an ambulance to the hospital earlier this week after a heart attack. She received excellent care right away (by the grace of God). They discovered a blocked artery, which they addressed with a stent. She’s been with family and friends, and should be home today.
I ask that you lift Darlene H in prayer, as well as Mary Jane S, both who lost their mothers within the past two weeks. If you would also remember the Fredericks family, who had to put their 9-month old puppy Laci to sleep this week, after infection from one of her four hernia surgeries.
I also share with you that our brother and former District Superintendent Ralph B and his family are in a new season of grief as their 31-year old son was killed in a car accident the day before Christmas.
Friends, I do not mean this to be a “downer” at the end of the year, but an opportunity to give thanks for God who is the wind beneath our wings. Many of us have experienced deep loss at one time or another, and many of us wonder how it is that people get through these things without The Good Lord. We who know God know where our strength comes from. “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:2).
I also know that each of these families mentioned is already touched by your prayers and your support. Thank you for your compassion. We are one body in Christ.
I hope to see you soon at the lighthouse, and I pray that 2007 brings you even closer to Almighty God.
Pastor Kerry
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
From the Lighthouse Keeper 6.26
Greetings, saints and lighthouse keepers, all!
If you had one chance to communicate with a bunch of people, what would you say?
Sure, it depends on the context. But just before I sat down to write this I heard a song “You Are Loved” (by Rebecca St. James, Best Female Christian Singer 2006.) Rebecca told the radio audience: “I just wanted to tell everyone that God loves you.”
I listened recently to a sermon by Pastor Mark Driscoll, founding pastor of the Mars Hill church in Seattle (surf around a bit at www.marshillchurch.com if you’re curious: Mark noted that there are more dogs in Seattle than there are Christians in Seattle…). Pastor Mark was a guest speaker at some gathering and he decided that given one chance to communicate with this group, he was going to talk about Jesus, so he walked (ran is more like it) through the Old Testament, highlighting 16 prophecies that pointed directly and explicitly to Jesus.
God loves us enough to create this elaborate plan for our salvation. And it’s a gift.
I hope and pray it’s a gift you open daily. Check it out again: “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Hope to see you at the Lighthouse on Saturday (10 am as we decorate the sanctuary) and in worship on Sunday, as we light the second Advent Candle, the candle of “Precious Purity”.
Pastor Kerry
If you had one chance to communicate with a bunch of people, what would you say?
Sure, it depends on the context. But just before I sat down to write this I heard a song “You Are Loved” (by Rebecca St. James, Best Female Christian Singer 2006.) Rebecca told the radio audience: “I just wanted to tell everyone that God loves you.”
I listened recently to a sermon by Pastor Mark Driscoll, founding pastor of the Mars Hill church in Seattle (surf around a bit at www.marshillchurch.com if you’re curious: Mark noted that there are more dogs in Seattle than there are Christians in Seattle…). Pastor Mark was a guest speaker at some gathering and he decided that given one chance to communicate with this group, he was going to talk about Jesus, so he walked (ran is more like it) through the Old Testament, highlighting 16 prophecies that pointed directly and explicitly to Jesus.
God loves us enough to create this elaborate plan for our salvation. And it’s a gift.
I hope and pray it’s a gift you open daily. Check it out again: “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Hope to see you at the Lighthouse on Saturday (10 am as we decorate the sanctuary) and in worship on Sunday, as we light the second Advent Candle, the candle of “Precious Purity”.
Pastor Kerry
Friday, December 22, 2006
From the Lighthouse Keeper 6.28
Advent Greetings, saints and lighthouse keepers all!
Once again we are at the time when we say to one another “Can you believe it’s almost Christmas?”
Like many of you, my thoughts have been whirling recently as I make preparations these last few days. I remember the Christmas cards I haven’t yet sent. I think about the wedding I’m doing later today and the funeral that is taking place in our sanctuary tomorrow morning. I eagerly anticipate our worship services as we light our fourth Advent candle and then the Christ candle in the evening. I think about the precious age of three-and-three-quarters (my daughter) and her Christmas hope. And I think about the thousands of people affected by western snowstorms, thousands who may remember this Christmas as a Christmas that didn’t happen, as things don’t go as planned.
Things didn’t go as planned for Joseph. Not at the beginning. His fiancée Mary takes off after their engagement to visit her aunt, and returns six months later, pregnant. That wasn’t part of the plan.
To add insult to injury, his future wife tells him she hadn’t been with any man, though it was far easier to view the pregnancy as evidence to the contrary.
Even after Joseph heard from an angel that Mary’s child was indeed holy, there were still months of public shame, daily stares and perhaps silent judgements as Joseph and Mary went about their daily lives, grasping for some sense of normalcy. Knowing the truth inside was one thing, facing people on a daily basis was another.
The baby was born after a 100 mile journey to pay taxes. Not as planned.
After the birth the family didn’t return home but traveled several hundred miles more into a foreign land because the king wanted to kill their child.
Sometimes things don’t go as we imagine.
But God can still be glorified in the mess, and in the way we respond to things that don’t go according to plan. We know that there is nothing on earth or in heaven that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Neither snowstorms nor wars, celebrations nor hospital visits, goals achieved nor promises broken. The babe born in a manger leaves us with this promise: “I will be with you always, even to the end of the earth.”
Alleluia!
May you receive that blessing as the preparations roll along. And may you pass that blessing along.
Hope to see you at the lighthouse this weekend. The true light is coming into the world!
If you would remember Mary Jane S in prayer, as her mother Emma died this Tuesday. Emma was a member of this church before moving to Bloomsburg fifteen years ago. Her funeral is in our sanctuary Saturday morning: visitation 9-10am, funeral at 10am, followed by internment at Valley Forge Memorial Garden in King of Prussia.
Pastor Kerry
Once again we are at the time when we say to one another “Can you believe it’s almost Christmas?”
Like many of you, my thoughts have been whirling recently as I make preparations these last few days. I remember the Christmas cards I haven’t yet sent. I think about the wedding I’m doing later today and the funeral that is taking place in our sanctuary tomorrow morning. I eagerly anticipate our worship services as we light our fourth Advent candle and then the Christ candle in the evening. I think about the precious age of three-and-three-quarters (my daughter) and her Christmas hope. And I think about the thousands of people affected by western snowstorms, thousands who may remember this Christmas as a Christmas that didn’t happen, as things don’t go as planned.
Things didn’t go as planned for Joseph. Not at the beginning. His fiancée Mary takes off after their engagement to visit her aunt, and returns six months later, pregnant. That wasn’t part of the plan.
To add insult to injury, his future wife tells him she hadn’t been with any man, though it was far easier to view the pregnancy as evidence to the contrary.
Even after Joseph heard from an angel that Mary’s child was indeed holy, there were still months of public shame, daily stares and perhaps silent judgements as Joseph and Mary went about their daily lives, grasping for some sense of normalcy. Knowing the truth inside was one thing, facing people on a daily basis was another.
The baby was born after a 100 mile journey to pay taxes. Not as planned.
After the birth the family didn’t return home but traveled several hundred miles more into a foreign land because the king wanted to kill their child.
Sometimes things don’t go as we imagine.
But God can still be glorified in the mess, and in the way we respond to things that don’t go according to plan. We know that there is nothing on earth or in heaven that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Neither snowstorms nor wars, celebrations nor hospital visits, goals achieved nor promises broken. The babe born in a manger leaves us with this promise: “I will be with you always, even to the end of the earth.”
Alleluia!
May you receive that blessing as the preparations roll along. And may you pass that blessing along.
Hope to see you at the lighthouse this weekend. The true light is coming into the world!
If you would remember Mary Jane S in prayer, as her mother Emma died this Tuesday. Emma was a member of this church before moving to Bloomsburg fifteen years ago. Her funeral is in our sanctuary Saturday morning: visitation 9-10am, funeral at 10am, followed by internment at Valley Forge Memorial Garden in King of Prussia.
Pastor Kerry
