Sermon preparation was replaced this week with all sorts of other things (valuable things, I promise). That means we've got a bit of work to do before tomorrow, but I'm confident things will come together just fine. I wish I could go up to Wilmore and spill my bucket of sermon pieces on Dr. Kalas' desk and let him fit them together for me. He would, no doubt, have to sand some corners down and add pieces, but the results would be great.
Tomorrow is the last in our series on the formation of the Apostle Paul. We'll focus on his difficulties with John Mark.
Milligan College is back in the swing of things and hopefully we will have our share of students in the worship service tomorrow. I know it can be hard to learn names and faces and places, but if you're around tomorrow please do your best to welcome them into our family. Also, don't forget that all of the students are not from Milligan and Emmanuel. We have students from ETSU and from Northeast State as well.
Tomorrow is a big day. We have the Ministry Fair (note to self: next year make sure we have elephant ears and funnel cakes for the Ministry Fair) in the morning and the carry-in supper tomorrow night.
Prayers of the Church for Grandview
August 26, 2007
God you have created such an amazing world, powerful to our senses, nurturing to our bodies and souls, and beautiful to call home. The mountains we see around us are handsome and tall. And, yet, we sometimes hear the chuckles of people who come to us from places with bigger mountains, because to them these are only hills. How often do you chuckle at our amazement at smaller things? We are amazed that we have food, housing, friendship, family, and health. But these are only hills when compared to the fullness of the grace that you have given us; grace that dwarfs the Himalayas the way the vast and expanding universe dwarfs this tiny earth, dangling in a remote corner of creation.
Unified under the life, death, and resurrection of your Son Jesus, we present ourselves to you. It feels too small an offering to give you our praise, limited as it is by human alphabet. It feels too small an offering to give you our songs, is there one you haven’t heard yet? It feels too small an offering to give you ourselves, because everything we can hope to possess or be comes from you. Only the knowledge that you have so wonderfully made us and loved us makes these offerings bearable for us. We give you all we have and are.
In your great love and grace, then, please forgive us of our sins. We drink from the fountain of your grace only to turn in our anger upon someone else. Forgive us of that. Why do we clutch your grace as if it is only for us?
Lord we lay our prayers before your altar. The list in our bulletin continues to represent people who are important to us. As usual we ask for strength for the weak, healing for those who are dying, protection for people who are standing between us and our enemies, joy for those who are folding under the burdens of life, and a peaceful death for the dying. Add to that list, Lord, the people we don’t usually pray for because they just don’t want to share their problems. Add to the list people who are trying to do the right thing by loving difficult people. Give us wisdom, strength, and patience when we’re trying to figure out what in the world to do with people who claim to love you but seem intent on falling short of those claims, with people we love who struggle with addictions or with personal pain so strong that it distorts their lives. We’re at a loss most of the time.
We’ll do what we can to be silent now. Help us to bring our needs to you with trust that you know how to instruct us:
silence
We pray together, with one voice, the prayer that you have taught us:
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