LENT 1 A    March 5, 2017                                                      

SCRIPTURES     

• Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7. Adam and Eve eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. True wisdom resides in knowing that which can rightly be taken. 

•  Psalm 32

• Romans 5:12-19. Adam and Christ — "Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all."

• Matthew 4:1-11. Matthew's story of Jesus tempted by the devil in the wilderness.

SCRIPTURE    Matt.4:1-11 

•   stones into bread = material temptation
•   Throw self off cliff = security temptation
•   Have dominion  =  power temptation 

-But Adam and Eve are not our only ancestors. There is someone else who has claimed us

-The Garden of Eden and the Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness: two stories central to our faith because they answer the question, "Who am I?" Through metaphor and poetic image, they remind us where we come from and who we are.

-The source of our temptations is almost always our own legitimate, normal, natural desires. The desire for food, sexual intimacy, approval of others is not from the devil. These are wholesome, normal, legitimate desires. How do they become sinful?

-The devil may not be a cartoon character sitting in a red suit with a pitchfork on your shoulder. Maybe could replace the word "devil" with the word "temptation," a word which, presumably, is grounded for most of us in tangible experience.

- Temptation,  a "flirtatious reality"

-the heart of Jesus’ temptations was to misuse the power that he had

-Lent is a great and graced time to face our temptations and deface them gracefully. Larry Gillick

-In essence, the devil says to him, "Be both in this world and of this world.  de Jong

-Jesus could play God or he could remain human

-Wherever it comes, the tempter/tester does not have the power to make someone do something. Temptation is not coercion.  Tempters can't make someone do something bad, but try to make the temptee want to do something bad. They don't take away the will. Rather, they try to change one's will.

-This duration of forty days ymbolically represents the forty weeks a child remains in its mother's womb in preparation for a new birth

-At the root of all temptation lies the so-called capital sins: pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and laziness

QUOTES

-The temptation is not to become human, but to become a dysfunctional human,

-In his autobiography entitled Confessions, a young Augustine was in the wilderness struggling with life's carnal temptations. St. Augustine wrote, "Give me chastity and continence, but not just now." 

-"Where Humanity Fails, Jesus Prevails!"   Rev. Alex Stevenson

-  "A triumphant cry: It is accomplished!  and it was as though he had said:  Everything has begun."  Nikos Kazantzakis

--From the beginning in the Garden, to Jesus' temptations, and ours; the Liar entices us with things that appear to be good. Stoffregen

-To err is truly human

-"To err is human; to forgive is divine." "The devil made me do it." "I'm only human." “I couldn’t help myself.” These phrases suggest that when temptation comes along we are merely the victims

- I made the mistake of telling my father, "But Dad, I'm only human.!  He wisely answered, "No, the problem is you are not human enough."  Lindy  (Jesus was human enough

-- Compare Jesus struggle with 'survival' in the desert with The CBS program "Survival".  Do the ends justify the means?  Apparently on T.V.,  they do.  Rev. Beth Quick

- I wonder what Jesus would have been tempted by in the 21st century? Power?  Materials? Security?

-Vocation  is not a voice "out there" calling me to become  but it is a voice "in here" calling me to fulfill the original selfhood given me at birth by God.

-The temptations are like a table of contents to all the decisions that he would make, the miracles that he would work, and the teachings he would utter. 

-It is in times of testing or trial we are called upon to prove our true identity and character, who we are and whose we are.

-Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell

LENT

1. If something is worth giving up, it should be for more than just the few weeks between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

2. Lent and Advent are both preparation times before a big event

3. Lent = "Lencten" meaning spring time (Old English)

4. If sackcloth and ashes are at the start of it, something like Easter may be at the end. (Buechner)  

5. Buechner suggests that during lent we ask these questions:

     a. When you look in the mirror what do you see you most like...you most want to deplore

     b. What last message would you give to a handful of people most dear to you. (25 words or less)

     c. Which thing you have done would you most like to undo?

     d. What person, or cause would  you  die for?

     e. If this were the last day of your life, what would you do?

   Answering these help  us to  see who we are and what we are becoming.

6. Fill communion cups with water so we can taste the “almost nothing” that is living.

9.  Ash Wednesday is a kind of baptismal branding.

10. Lenten penance may be more effective if we fail in our resolutions than if we succeed for its purpose is not to confirm us  but to bring home to us our need for salvation.

11. Even our TVs assure us that if we get it right, wear the latest styles and gather the most toys we will have arrived.

ILLUSTRATIONS

 1.  Pretzel -- an ancient bakery item.  Used to be eaten only during lent.  Goes back to 5th century.  Shape is made in the form of two arms crossed in prayer.

HUMOR

- "Some people will change when they see the light. Others change only when they feel the heat.

-A London newspaper sought the help of its subscribers in addressing the problem of evil.  Readers were invited  to send in their responses to the question,  What is wrong with the world today?   The best response of all was also the briefest.  It read,  Dear Sir, I am.  Yours faithfully, G.K. Chesterton

-I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it. Mae West My Little Chickadee

--"Hearing nuns' confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn. 

   Fulton Sheen

-"How come opportunity knocks only once, but temptation beats down the door every day?"

-A brilliant magician was performing on an ocean liner. But every time he did a trick, the Captain's parrot would yell, "It's a trick. He's a phony. That's not magic." Then one evening during a storm, the ship sank while the magician was performing. The parrot and the magician ended up in the same lifeboat. For several days they just glared at each other, neither saying a word to the other. Finally the parrot said, "OK, I give up. What did you do with the ship?"  (The parrot couldn't comprehend what was happening and neither could Peter.)

CHILDREN

- Bring in a remote controlled car and have some fun with it and then tell how we are not like the car....we have choice WE make.  Adam and Eve had choices.  End with the fact that even if we make a wrong choice,  God forgives and helps us start over. 

• Play the game, Simon Says and then replace "Simon Says" with the Bible Says.  Elaborate on this.
• Tell story of why pretzles are used during Lent. (illustration above) 

PRAYER PHRASES

• In our weakness, come to us in your strength. 
• We cannot reach to thee; reach thou to us. minister to us all, not acccording to our ability to ask but according to your  insight into our neeed.
• If we are blind, your light still shines. If we are deaf, you continue to speak.  If we pray, you are there, if we do not pray you are there. In our sifulness and in our righteousness you ar there….You are always there for us.  

 Comment at:  lindyblack@me.com

Transfiguration

Transfiguration   (February 26, 2017)                                                   

 For more help, go to Eyeopeners.life and look at Lindy's Quote Collection as well as Lectionary aids. 

SCRIPTURES     

TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY

• Exodus 24:12-18 God calls Moses up on the mountain, and Moses enters the cloud of God's glory.

• Psalm 99  

• 2 Peter 1:16-21 Peter says, "We had been eyewitnesses of his majesty ... we were with him on the holy mountain ... . So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed."

• Matthew 17:1-9 Matthew's account of the Transfiguration.

SCRIPTURE

-you know that this is the swing Sunday between the seasons of Epiphany and Lent--the day those who follow Jesus look down at our maps and say, "Uh-oh," because it is time to turn away from the twinkling stars of Christmas toward the deep wilderness of Lent.  As gloomy as that may sound, it is very good news.  Most of us are so distracted by our gadgets, so busy with our work, so addicted to our pleasures, and so resistant to our depths that a nice long spell in the wilderness is just what we need.  (quote from Barbara Brown Taylor)

-The Season of Epiphany begins (Jesus' Baptism) and ends (Jesus' Transfiguration) with a heavenly voice making Jesus known to the world. (epiphany = "to make known"). I've often wondered why Bible publishers don't print the words of God in a separate color: perhaps green for God, red for Jesus, black for everyone else. Note also that the "green" Epiphany Season begins and ends with "white" Sundays. The same is true of the "green" Pentecost Season, starting with Holy Trinity and ending with Christ the King. Stoffregen

-Instead of reading: "Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain," try reading this: "Jesus took with him Sue and Bob and Mike and you and me up the high mountain." The Rt. Rev. Robert Johnson

-Jesus was the new Moses

- Peter mentions The Transfiguration in 2nd Peter  1:16-21

-Transfiguration--a bridge between Epiphany and Lent...means change or metamorphosis.  Scholars would later describe this occasion as a theophany -- a visitation form God.

- Mountain top experiences like Moses at Sinai and Elijah at Horeb, Jesus at Mt. Hermon

-The festival of the Transfiguration was instituted by Calixtus III in 1457 to commemorate the defeat of the Turks on August 6 of the previous year. Lutheran usage has moved the feast from August 6 to the Sunday before Ash Wednesday

-Transfiguration is the story of those who continue to function as ordinary people and yet people adopted as God’s children, transformed by the gospel to know both God’s forgiving grace and his terrible righteousness. Dan Nelson

-In India,  the traditional greeting is Namaste. (greeting each other in position of prayer) The God in me greets the God in you. In our tradition the passing of the peace of God is much the same thing: with new eyes opened I recognize the God in you.

-The Celtic peoples talk of "thin places" where the distance between heaven and earth seems thin. What have been the thin moments and thin places for you? What role have they played in shaping your witness in daily life?

-There are just enough mountain peaks to get us through the lonesome valleys.  We cannot stay on the emotional high forever.

- The test of a vision is what we do when we get back down to the bottom of the mountain.

-There are many who would guide us on our journey, many who know the answers. We may be tempted to enshrine their wisdom, build a "booth" for them as it were. Yet, there is only one we must hear; we must "listen to him." Rev. Bryan Findlayson

QUOTES

-Transfigurations are big business today. I don't know anybody who doesn't want one, including me. And many of us work hard and spend a lot of money to get one -- a new face, a new look, a changed appearance. 

-Becoming is superior to being.  Transfiguration for us is, us becoming not just being.    Lindy

- Visions do not last, reality intrudes!

- We need a new perspective...we need to see the big picture.

-Life, especially the life of faith, is an uphill journey.

-The Hebrew word for “shine, glow” resembles the word for “horn.” When Jerome translated the Vulgate, he mistranslated and inserted the Latin for “horns” in verse 34:29. Thus, Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses shows him with horns! Program Files\My Pictures\moses1.jpg

-The dwellings (or booths) suggest residency, permanent placement. Peter wanted to hang on to the moment, to capture Jesus as transfigured. But the mission was in the valley, not on the mountain. 

- From the rarefied atmosphere of prayer we find new perspectives, etc. 

-We go to the valleys for the forty days of Lent in anticipation of those dark days of Holy Week.  The journey through the valley serves as a needed prelude before we climb the hill of Calvary and then once again experience the joy of Easter.  Mickey Anders

ILLUSTRATIONS

1.Years ago there was a book written called  A Touch of  Wonder    We all need a touch of wonder...some transfiguring experience when we see what we never saw before.  Willimon

2.A woman and her little boy were battling the crowds  on the E train.  They were on one of two working escalators with zillions of others.  Moving along, the little boy looked up at his mother and asked: "Are we in line?"  His mother said, "No, there is no line.  This isn't school.  This is life."

3.In the same way, Frances Gum transfigured herself and her image into Judy Garland. Archibald Leach became Cary Grant. Aaron Schwalt became Red Buttons. And would you have paid money to see Marion Morrison in the movies? Maybe, but Marion didn't take that chance, he became John Wayne. Remember that in Holy Scriptures many people got new names to go with a new life and a new image. Abram became Abraham. Sarai became Sarah. Jacob became Israel. Saul became Paul. Simon became Peter, "The Rock." Transfigurations are not the exception. They are the rule. We are all being altered in the appearance of our face, our countenance. We are all changing. To live is to be continually transfigured. So who are we becoming? The Rt. Rev. Robert Johnson

4.No wonder this nation has a serious drug and alcohol problem, and there are so many pill poppers and drug pushers; it's virtually impossible to stay in the high zone all the time, so we have to buoy ourselves against our sorrow and frustration to stay on top of the mountain. No wonder alcoholism and drug dependency are such a threat to our young people--they are being shown a culture which glitters with a false light and promotes the idea of the dullness of the ordinary, where discipline and hard work are no longer virtues but things to be avoided at all cost. De jong

5.The mountains naturally lead a person to worship because they point heavenward.  Almost every church has a steeple for the same purpose.  They draw our eyes from our mundane surroundings toward the wonder of the skies.  They remind us of the things from above. Jesus loved the mountains. Too often we see only what's in front of us, not above us.

6.One verse of poem, To be of use   by Marge Piercy

The work of the world is as common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

But the thing worth doing well done

has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amphoras for wine and oil,

Hopi vases that hold corn are put into museums

But you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry

and a person for work that is real.

7. Psalm 121  

8. In 1970, Barbara Streisand  "On A Clear Day," which has amazing parallels for the mount of Transfiguration. 

On a clear day

Rise and look around you

And you see who you are

On a clear day

How it will astound you

That the glow of your being

Outshines every star

You'll feel part of 

Every mountain, sea, and shore

You can hear from far and near

A world 

HUMOR

-"Let's stay here forever! Can't we go past noon, just this one Sunday?" William H. Willimon]

-Jesus is coming back.  Look busy!

- Then there was the man who was asked how he felt about the beautiful mountains and he said, "Well they're alright but they do sort of obstruct the view".

CHILDREN

1. There are lots of examples of transfigurations in children’s literature.  Cinderella is seen for the person she really is with the help of her fairy godmother.  Simba seeing his reflection in a pond realizes that he really is father’s son and is meant to be the Lion King.  There are others.  Probably the best for preaching today is Fiona’s transfiguration in Shrek.  In a whirl of light and special effects the beautiful princess becomes an large, loving ogre. 

2. Read the Transfiguration story and then ask these questions:

1.  Who went up on the mountain with Jesus?

[The disciples Peter and John and James went up the mountain with Jesus.]

2. Who appeared with Jesus on the mountaintop?

[Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the mountaintop.]

3. What did the disciples offer to do?

[They offered to build three dwelling places, one each for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus.]

4. What did the voice say from the sky?

[The voice said, "This is my son, and I love him; listen to what he says."]

5. When did we hear the voice speak before?

[We heard the voice speak at Jesus' baptism.]

3. The mountains naturally lead a person to worship because they point heavenward.  Almost every church has a steeple for the same purpose.  They draw our eyes from our mundane surroundings toward the wonder of the skies.  They remind us of the things from above. Jesus loved the mountains. Too often we see only what's in front of us, not above us.

 SERMON IDEAS

1. Use the prayer points as a sermon, stressing the importance of having a larger vision. 
2. A.  No one can make you go, after all.  But if you've been looking for some excuse to head to your own mountaintop and pray, this is it.  If you've been looking for some way to trade in your old certainties for new movement in your life, look no further.  This is your chance to enter the cloud of unknowing and listen for whatever it is that God has to say to you.  Tent or no tent, this is your chance to encounter God's contagious glory, so that a little of that shining rubs off on you. 

      B. Today you have heard a story you can take with you when you go.  It tells you that no one has to go up the mountain alone.  It tells you that sometimes things get really scary before they get holy.  Above all, it tells you that there is someone standing in the center of the cloud with you, shining so brightly that you may never be able to wrap your mind around him, but who is worth listening to all the same--because he is God's beloved, and you are his, and whatever comes next, you are up to it.  Amen. From a sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor.

PRAYER PHRASES

Help us to hold on to the larger visions in our lives.  Visions which can transform us and the world in which we live.

In our church help us see beyond the building projects and membership lists.  To the greater missions of our church.  To announcing and witnessing the presence of Your kingdom; and to teaching and serving those who are in need, within our community and beyond.

In our world , let us see beyond the physical to the spiritual.  That we might not be driven by possessions and physical achievement but that we would be driven instead by principle and power of your spirit within.

In our worship, let us see beyond the words so that we are not simply behaving in proper ways but that we are responding by developing and authentic relationship with You, oh God.

Help us to hold on to the larger visions and not be blinded by the small ones.  

Mail comments to:  lindyblack@me.com

Epiphany 7A

EPIPHANY  7A    (February 19, 2017)

SCRIPTURES

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18  God speaks to Moses on how not to hate, steal, defraud, etc.  

Psalm 119:33-40  A plea for God to teach us his ways.

1Cor. 3:10-11, 16-23: God's Spirit dwells in you. (We are God’s temple)

Matt. 5:38-48  Turn the other cheek.  Love your enemies. -Matthew 5:38-48 anchors the nonviolent ethic which God has sent in Jesus and the Spirit to save us from our violence.  Is part of a larger section (vv. 21-47) providing six situations illustrating what Jesus means by fulfilling the law. Jesus shows us how to move beyond rote observance of those laws to the spirit behind them.

More about Matt. 5:38-48:

• You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'" (v. 38). This is known as lex talionis -- the law of retaliation or the law of revenge. While it might seem barbaric, it represented an early attempt to insure justice and to limit revenge.
• But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also" (v. 39b).  To be struck on the right cheek is more serious than to be struck on the left cheek.  To be struck on the right cheek means either that the striker is using his left hand (his toilet cleaning hand) or that he is using a right backhand, a particularly grievous insult 
• But I say to you, Love(agapate) your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  There are three words for love in the Greek -- eros, philos, and agape (Barclay also mentions a fourth word -- storge).  This creates confusion for English-speaking people trying to understand the Bible, because our word "love" is much broader, encompassing the meanings of all the Greek words. Agape is the love with which God loves us.  Agape is the love with which a mother loves her child. 
•  "Be ye perfect",  For while telos, the Greek word Jesus employs, can indeed be translated “perfect,” it typically denotes something not so much morally perfect as it does something that has grown up, matured, and now reached its perfect end. That is, telos is the goal or desired outcome of a thing. A fruit tree’s telos, we might say, is to grow mature and tall so that it can bear fruit. David Lose, Pres. of Lutheran Theological Seminary
  -Maybe not so much commanding and commending.  ibid
  
  

SERMON IN ONE SENTENCE     "O Perfect love"            

     

QUOTES 

• Luther said: These laws are far beyond any standard that we can ever hope to meet.  But these verses aren't about obeying rules.  They are about living according to the standards of the kingdom of God
• I may not be perfect, but I’m enough.  Carl Rogers
• The Bible tells us to love our neighbors,  and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people. G.K. Chesterton
•  Those who deserve love the least, need it the most 
• Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
• repaying evil with good, blame with pardon, death with life. Call it divine reverse psychology. It worked once, and it can work again, whenever God can find someone else willing to give it a try.  B.B. Taylor
• “Love is powerful and powerless.”
• To forgive means to out-live, out-pray, out-love, out-suffer, and out-die everyone in the world as did Jesus.  William Sloane Coffin
• The first and final enemy is always the one within.  Ibid
• Imagine the vanity of thinking that your enemy can do you more damage then your enmity,  Augustine.
• Loved for what I am. No...loved because Iam.
• Love has its origin not in us but in God.

ILLUsTRATIONS

1. What would it be like to invite our people to write down just one thing they believe is holding them back from living their God-given identity. Ask them to write down one thing -- one fear, one memory, one hurt, one resentment -- that keeps them from embracing and becoming the person God wishes them to be. People could put these into the offering plates and bring these challenges along with their gifts up to God's altar. In a sense, we'd be giving God not only some of our treasure but also some of our tragedy, trusting God to receive and redeem both.  (“Be ye perfect.”)  This idea from David Lose

2. Talk about, Gandhi, a Hindu man who took the Sermon on the Mount much more seriously than the average Christian, had seen something in the Christian gospel.  Martin Luther King who picked it up from Gandhi and Jesus came to believe that “It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence.  It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.”  

3.  Talk about Nelson Mandela

HUMOR

• How to preach:   Be sincere; be brief; be seated. (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
• "The cause of divorce is marriage”
• "When it comes to loving, some people stop at nothing.
• He'll give you the sleeve out of his vest
• Love is a word made up of two consonants; two vowels and two fools.

CHILDREN:

1. If children are older, teach the difference between, eros, philia, and agape.
2. Tell story of The Velveteen Rabbit: 

3. Tell story of The Giving Tree (Don't know how to get rid of grey back ground) 
   

PRAYER PHRASES:    

Oh God, we see You in those that love us: 

• We see you in the compassionate ways of those who accept us no matter how inadequate or different we may be.
• We see you in the loving ways of those who love un unconditionally.
• We see you in the sacrificing ways of those who give of themselves their time, their energy sometimes even their lives. 
• We see you in the forgiving ways of those who forgive us for what seems to us like unforgivable acts. 
• We see you in the responsible ways of those on which we can depend.
• We see you in the serving ways of those who wait on us and respond to our every need.

We give thanks for your spirit that enables us to love others like you have loved us.                            

For more information, go to Lindy's Quote Collection:  Eyeopeners.life  Especially quotes on:   Love, God, Relate, Forgive, growth and Principles.  

Mail comments to:  lindyblack@me.com

Epiphany 6A

EPIPHANY  6A    February 12, 2017

[More information at:  Eyeopeners.life]

SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  Christ calls us to deal with the things that would cause us to sin -- such as anger or lust -- so that we can become mature people with mature relationships. 

SCRIPTURES

Deut. 30:15-20  (Choose life!)  Obeying  God’s law was life.

Psalm  119:1-8 obedience to the law draws us near to God

1cor. 3:1-9  (I fed you with milk, not solid food, for ^eyou were not ready for it). Corinthian’s immaturity was such that milk, not meat was called for.

Matt. 5:21-37(You have heard that it was said……, ' You shall not murder’)

• Jesus is the new Moses
• Four antithisis:  anger, adultery, divorce, and oaths.
• The Word embedded in real, everyday life, in outward actions and inward attitudes.
• Example of Anger:  road rage
• We should note the difference between an oath and a vow.  Oaths were promises made to another person (which could include God).  Vows (with the exception of the Nazarite vow) were promises made to God, contingent on God's doing what the petitioner has requested.

QUOTES (Mostly about, relationships)

• Hate is like acid. It can damage the vessel in which it is stored as well as destroy the object on which it is poured. Ann Landers
• You can never tend a bee. You can only tend bees.
• If we walk away from lessons of a relationship, they will reappear in next relationshp.
•   Snowflakes, leaves, humans, plants, raindrops, stars, molecules…all come in communities. The singular cannot exist.  Paula Allen
• If what I say resonates with you, it’s because we are both branches on the same tree.  W.B. Yeats
• The place to begin building a relationship is within self.
• Problems exists because we exist and mostly because we exist in relationship
• Too often we relate role to role and not person to person.
• That which keeps us from our neighbor, keeps us from God.
• Let there be space in our togetherness. Gibran
• Living together alone.
• Never cut what can be tied.
• Place to begin building relationships is in ourselves
• We don't sacrifice to each other but for the relationship. J.Campbell
• Attitude towards self parallels all relationships.
• Relationship is the mirror in which we discover ourselves.
• “ala carte” Christianity.
• Actions speak louder that words.  Jesus looks at our hearts and thoughts.  
• Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever ia lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  (Philippians 4:8)
• Actions speak louder than words;  attitudes speak louder than actions….Lindy
• Anger is quieted by a gentle word just as fire is quenched by water. Jean Pierre Camus, 17th century French bishop

ILLUTRATIONS

-I once heard about a congregation that decided to celebrate its anniversary by having T-shirts made with the slogan, "50 Years of Unity."  Then they began to argue about whether the T-shirts should be 50 percent polyester and 50 percent cotton -- or 100 percent cotton.  The polyester and cotton group argued that blends would last longer.  The 100 percent cotton group thought it was important to have all-natural fabric   Finally the church split, and the two groups held separate 50th anniversary celebrations with two kinds of T-shirts -- all emblazoned with the words "50 Years of Unity."

-Someone once asked Ruth, "Mrs. Graham, have you ever considered divorce?"  Ruth thought for a moment, and replied, "I have never considered divorce -- but I have considered homicide."  In other words, she never thought about divorcing Billy, but every once in awhile, she wanted to kill him.  Is there any woman here who can't identify with that?

HUMOR

-Like porcupines on a cold evening trying to keep warm but unable to get very close.

CHILDREN

• In the days when the early settlers came west in America, a sewing needle was an essential item. The settlers didn't have stores like we do today, so they patched the clothes they had. There is a story told about a group of pioneer women who lived in the Oregon Territory.  Among them they had only one needle. There was no way for them to buy another needle, so they took turns using that single needle.  One woman would sew on buttons and mend her family's clothes and then she passed the needle on to the next woman who had mending to do.Do you know what happens when clothes or stockings are not mended? Yes, the tear or hole gets bigger and bigger until it is difficult to repair.  Delay in sewing on a button may result in the button being lost and that also becomes a bigger problem. Think about the idea of mending as you listen to what Jesus said about how to patch up a disagreement with another person. Don't wait to repair the damage we have caused, the problem may become bigger and bigger, just like a tear in a shirt, a hole in a sock, or a lost button.  Think of your apology as a way to bring you and the person you have harmed together and as a way to mend the hurt.

PRAYER PHRASES

To day we pray about the relationships we have with You, with others and with ourselves, for we know that when one relationship is broken, all the others suffer in some way.  As we talk about ethics we more and more realize that all good relationships begins within ourselves.

 Guide us in our relationships with ourselves   Grant us grace to see ourselves as we really are. Help us to remove those masks that keep others from knowing who and what we are.  Help us to value ourselves  for it is  those attitudes we have towards ourselves that parallel  the attitudes we have towards others. 

     

  Guide us in our relationship with others.    May we become more loving, more forgiving and more compassionate... may we share each other's burdens.  May we be a source of strength and encouragement to those around us. Oh God, we know that the very attitudes that keep us from each other will  keep us from You.

      

  Guide us in our relationship with You.  We confess our need for You...if there is to be meaning in our lives it will come from understanding You. If there is purpose, it will come from looking to You and if there is to be love it will come from knowing you.  So we pray that we can do more than just know about You but that we can come to KNOW  You.   (Lindy)

Mail to  lindyblack@me.com