Lenten Devotional reading

I will try to add serveral poems from my book as a source for your devotional reading during the lented season. I may not make one every day but I'll do my best. If you have a friend who does not have a computer, why not download the poems and share with them for their devotional reading?

Pastor Larry


Giving Up or Adding To?
Larry Linville

What are you giving up for Lent
they ask with great expectation.
Such a negative question
leaves me with a great frustration.

They give up candy and other sweets
and even things they hate to eat.
The more they hate these dreadful foods
the more they are sure not to cheat.

What’s to gain by this silly approach
that helps us to grow during Lent
running around telling everyone
about giving up things we lament?

Wouldn’t it help to grow in our faith
if we added good things to our life
like doing those kind acts to others
which seems to bring end to much strife?

An act of kindness to others around
should help our devotion to grow
with our hearts doing useful things
which allow God great love to flow.

Don’t ask me what I’m giving up
but ask what extra I’m doing
and pray as I tackle my list
of kind acts I am pursuing.

© Copyright 2008 Larry Linville (UN: larrylinville at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Larry Linville has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

First Sunday in Lent

We will have a series during Lent about "Covenants." We will look at the covenants from Noah to Abram to Moses, to Jeremiah and the place Jesus is as the New Covenant. A covenant in the bible is an agreement between God and humans.

On Sunday, we will begin with the sermon: "God's Covenant with Noah." The rainbow to the left was a sign to remind God of the promise not to flood the earth again. You may read about this story from Genesis 9:8-17. Pastor Larry will lead us to see how God's grace was at work and how it can help us during this time of Lent.

We had a wonderful Ash Wednesday service and Pastor Arlin gave us some guidance on what to do during Lent to prepare yourself for the good news of Easter. He encouraged us to: Prayer, Bible Study, devotional reading, fasting, etc. One of the things on the list is worship. You will want to attend worship each Sunday of Lent and allow this series on covenants to help you grow spiritually.

Since it is the first Sunday of the month, we will be celebrating Holy Communion. This service helps us to remember the "new covenant".

Please be in prayer for our services and bring friends with you.

ASH WEDNESDAY

Lent begins with ASH WEDNESDAY. It is a timeout we take from our busy world to make plans for the lenten season. We look at our lives and try to make a decision we will move closer to God during these next 40 days. It was an old Hebrew practice to repent of our wrong doings with sackcloth and ashes. Christians have used this for centries by applying ashes to the forehead or hands as such an act of confession of sin and commitment to change.

We will gather on February 25 at 7 pm. NOTICE THE CHANGE OF TIME. Most things we do at 6:30 but this will be at 7 pm. We will have a very special service. Pastor Arlin will preach and both pastors will lead the service which will include the administration of ashes.

Please plan to join us at this service. This can give us a great start to have a meaningful Lent which will in turn make Easter of day of great celebration.

Thoughts from Pastor Larry

You saw him give the benediction at the inaugeration. He was co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Confererence. He is a United Methodist minister. He is 87 years old. His name is Dr. Joseph E. Lowery and he was at Saint Paul School of Theology on Tuesday.

I sat there in awe to be in the presence of a man of God who put his life on the line back in those early days of the civil rights movement. He shared his experiences with the audience in such a positive way. His sense of humor prevailed. He said that on the day of his benediction in Washington D.C. it was a shame that there were 1 to 2 million people there and nobody took an offering!

I am so thankful I was able to listen to this man for nearly 45 minutes (which seemed like 15). I could have skipped going. I had all kinds of reasons to do something else. By going, I was filled with such great inspiration. This is such a lesson to me: when we have a chance to be with God and our sisters and brother in a worship service -- we need to be there. We never know when there will be a special outpouring of God's spirit.

Worship on February 22, 2009

Well, we are ready to conclude our sermons from Corinthians. On Sunday, Pastor Arlin will reach into 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 for a sermon: "The Light of the Gospel." This has been a good series and the response of the congregation has been great. As you prepare for the concluding sermon, take the time to read the scripture several times. It's only 4 verses.

Following this sermon we will be prepared to enter the season of Lent. We will start that on Wednesday, February 25th with our Ash Wednesday services. This will be a special service as we look at our lives and begin the 40 day journey toward Easter.

We will have a Lenten series on "Covenant." We will look at the meaning of "covenant". We'll look at covenants through the Old Testament and will conclude with the place of Jesus in move the covenant another notch.

Diapers

Our mission collection this month is diapers. This is important to share with young families with children. It looked like there was a pretty good stack of diapers last week and we can increase it the rest of the month.

A reminder that "changes are being made"!

A New Week

We had a great time at worship yesterday. The crowd was good, singing was good, special music was good. Now we're ready to do it again.

Feb. 15th we will concentrate on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Sermon title is: "Disciples in Training." Paul uses sports images to talk about how we must discipline ourselves like athletes if we are to be the kind of followers Jesus can use. We hope to have a video clip from the movie: "Facing The Giants." This clip shows how a football player has to take control of his body. We need the same effort to strengthen our spirit.

Even though the Super Bowl is over and the Pro Bowl is over, we will have one more week of football at Paradise. Look around and see who you can invite to join us.

Soups On!

First Friday Feast is February 6th at 6:30 pm.
This month it is soup. Yum, yum.
This is a meal you don't have to fix -- just show up.
You will have the opportunity to make a small donation which will go to the mission work of the church.
Then, there will be a lot of good fellowship. Sometimes people even bring musical instruments and jam.

This is an excellent time to bring a friend. Once a person is inside a church, it's easier to return.

Weather will be near perfect. Let's take advantage of it. You know the weather will get bad again soon, so come out and enjoy it now.

If you have checked in on this blog and would like to come join us --- we'd love to have you with us.

Pod Casts from Paradise

DID YOU KNOW you could listen to recent sermons from our pastors?
Go to our website: www.cometoparadise.org
on the right hand site you will see the words "pod cast".
How fortunate we are to have this available for us.
It gives you a chance to review a sermon.
Maybe you'll hear something you missed.
You may also refer it to a friend who does not go to church.
They can listen to a sermon without being trapped in a church.
They might say, "Those old boys have something to say!"

Thanks to our media people who have made this possible for us.

Getting Ready for Feb. 8th

Yesterday, Pastor Arlin started us out on our study of Corinthians. On Feb. 8th, Pastor Larry will lead us into 1 Cor. 9:16-23 and talk about how we can be "All Things To All People." This is very important to help us be hospitable with persons who are without a church relationship.

We will have a time of fellowship on Friday night, Feb. 6, at 6:30 with soup. Bring a friend and gather to have good soup and good fellowship. Who knows, there may even be some musical instruments show up!

In our day with all the problems surrounding us, we need the support of the church, the growth we receive by being active in the church and the opportunity to share this with others.

Our Corinthian series will continue through the end of the month:
Feb. 15 - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 - "Disciples in Training". Pastor Larry
Feb. 22 - 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 - "The Light of the Gospel."