WE Minute: Self Serve Vlog

Mother's Day Prayer

Dear God,

It’s Mother Day! 

A day to celebrate those who have given us life.

A day to celebrate those who continue to give us life.

For the life You give and the love You share with us – we are grateful. 

For mothers who work night and day to raise children – we give You thanks.

Help us, the church, to uphold all families and people in our life together. 

For expectant mothers who carry new life – we wait and hope with you. 

For new mothers who have experienced new life – we rejoice with you. 

For mothers who have blessed relationships with their children – we celebrate with you. 

To mothers of little ones who clean up spills and fight fatigue – we are grateful for you. 

To mothers of teens who face the challenges of motherhood – we are better because of you. 

To mothers of adults and grandmothers – we are blessed by your continued care. 

For mothers who have experienced miscarriage or have lost a child – we grieve with you. 

For mothers who are sending a child to college – we pray for you during this complex time. 

For mothers who are overwhelmed – we pray for rest, peace, power, wisdom, and grace. 

For women struggling with infertility or wanting to be a mom – we pray with you. 

For people who have lost mothers – we mourn with you and pray for you. 

For people who are distant from their mother – we offer our hand and our love. 

It’s Mother’s Day! 

Being a mother is challenging and we are beyond grateful for moms. 

And we are blessed to know that mothers, at their best, give us a glimpse of Your love. 

Amen.

Happy Mother's Day

Moms. There is nothing quite like a mother. I have visited hundreds of new mothers in the hospital. It’s one of my favorite parts of the job. She holds the baby in her arms and is as proud as proud gets. A smile is on her face that is indescribable. She’ll learn over the next few decades that a mom just never stops being a mom. Dirty diapers, scrapped knees, spelling tests, failures, broken hearts, graduation, sending them off to college, a wedding, grandchildren, distance, disease, and dysfunction. A mom never stops being a mom.

The Bible tells us to honor our mother (Exodus 20:12). For some of us this task is simple and natural. For others it is difficult and contrived. Some mothers are nearly perfect. Others have made so many mistakes that only God can clean up the mess. Either way, God says, “Honor your mother.” 

My mom is imperfectly perfect. She was a single mom. An accountant with demanding hours. I ran track and cross country in high school and college. She drove thousands of miles to see me run around a 400 meter track countless times. She was my biggest fan – celebrating the victories and encouraging me on the days I wished I was on the golf team instead of being a distance runner.

She is not perfect, but as far as moms go, I am blessed. She enjoys and loves her many grandchildren. But she still loves me like I am the only one there is to love. 

The role of being a parent is holy and sacred. Even if the parents are neither holy nor sacred, the role of parent is still sacred. Being a parent is ordained by God, the creator and sustainer of life. Being a parent has responsibilities and rights. The responsibilities are many. 

Entire books have been written on parenting: but praying, playing, listening, and modeling a Christian life are a good start. These responsibilities are for the parent of a six year old child and the parent of a sixty year old child. The rights are many as well: smelling the hair of a sleeping baby who has recently been bathed, laughing with the child exploring life, watching the child hit baseballs or dancing dances or singing songs, witnessing the child become who God wants the child to be, and having that child care for you when you are no longer able to care for yourself just like you once cared for the child when he or she was not able to take care of himself or herself. 

Today is Mother’s Day. God’s command to honor your mother applies today as it does every day. Honoring them doesn’t mean putting them on a pedestal or worshipping them. It means seeing them for who they are and who they are not. It means loving God and our neighbor as faithfully and selflessly as mothers at their best have tried to love us. It means listening to them, praying for them, playing with them, and taking care of them to the end of their days on earth. 

Happy Mother’s Day! 

Craig

WE Minute - Mother's Day Edition

Our God > Our Fears

Sunday's message. The bigger our God the smaller our fears.

Happy Birthday Søren Kierkegaard

Today is Søren Kierkegaard's birthday. Or at least it would have lived to be 201 years old. Here are some of his better quotes. Learn more about him.

A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.

Be that self which one truly is.

Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself.

Don't forget to love yourself.

During the first period of a man's life the greatest danger is not to take the risk.

Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.

Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.

Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good.

God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

I write this on May 1st. I look out my office window. The skies are grey. It looks cold out probably because it is. The soccer team I coach has only played two games—the rain has taken care of the rest of them. But it’s May 1st and summer will be here soon. Benjamin told me this morning he has 18 days of school left. We’ve had a great stat to 2014 and two-thirds of the year remains.

Worship at The Water's Edge

So Far in 2014

For the first four months of the year, WE have averaged 575 adults and 135 children (fifth grade and under) per weekend. Both these are an increase of 10% from our final 2013 numbers. We have 59 new members so far in 2014 – 47 of those have been by profession of faith. 

In the first third of the year, you have given $229,260, which is an increase of over 18% for the same period last year. Our monthly EFT contributions are now $17,200 per month, which is a 40% increase from last year! It is important to note, as the size of our ministry increases, our generosity will need to increase proportionately. I’m grateful for your generosity. It is a blessing to our church and our community.

Self-Serve

I’m old enough to remember full-service gas stations. Some of you don’t have a clue what I am talking about. Others of you smile and remember days gone by. Summer can be a time for vacations, baseball games, and weekend excursions. I also pray summer is a time of growth for you. We are all responsible for our own spiritual growth. In June, we are going to spend five weeks learning how to set time aside for life’s most important things, how to read the Bible, how to pray, and how to grow in community. In addition to our Sunday worship experiences, we will have print and video resources available and unique summer small group opportunities.

WE Garden

Our WE Garden is fenced in, irrigated, and ready to be planted. We have 33 total plots and they are sold-out. It’s going to be cool to see new friendships being formed and healthy vegetables being produced.

WE at Night

I encourage you to try out WE at Night. If you have a busy Sunday morning, are returning from out of town, or just want to get some stuff done on Sunday morning – come worship at Palisades Elementary on Sunday evening at 6:00. It’s the same message as Sunday mornings in a more intimate and interactive setting.

Building Team

We will be having a Church Conference after the 10:30 worship experience on Sunday, June 1st. The sole purpose of this meeting will be to approve our Building Team as we take the next steps in transitioning from temporary facilities at Palisades and Millard West to our permanent home at 198th and Harrison. You will hear more about this in coming weeks, but save the date and be in prayer! Exciting times are ahead.

Use us Lord,

Craig