"Enter to Worship-Depart to Serve"
Tonight, we gather in the sanctuary starting at 7:00 PM to pray.
After prayer time, you are welcome to join the Outreach Committee as we meet together.
Laurel Hill UMC is located at 1919 New Market Road (Route 5) in Varina, VA between I-895 and I-295.
Wednesday, July 19 at 7 PM, we will be gathering together in the sanctuary for a deep time of prayer. Come and let’s worship the Lord and seek His face together!
1919 New Market Rd, Henrico, VA 23231
You are invited to come join us every week for worship and Sunday School at 1919 New Market Rd in Varina, VA. Our early service starts at 8:45 AM. Sunday School begins at 9:45 AM and our traditional service starts at 11:00 AM.
May 25th – We will be having a Pre-Registration Dinner for Vacation Bible School at Four Mile Creek. The dinner will begin at 5:30 AM. Print out and fill out the registration form and bring it with you as we get ready for a fun filled Bible School “Camp Out” weekend, June 23 – 25. We are looking for volunteers to help prepare food on May 25 and o help out with our preschool class. There is also still an opening for the game station. Please contact Angela Ragland if you are interested in helping with VBS at ourragland@gmail.com. or 432-4179.If anyone needs a copy of our Lay Leadership list, they can pick one up in the office. Thanks.
Today’s “Through-the-Bible Reading Plan” had me in Genesis 1 and 2 and in Luke 1. The Scripture that stood out in that reading was Genesis 1: 4 and Luke 1: 3. The Observation I made was of God’s work of separation. God takes great care and gives repetitive examples of making a distinction between what is good and what is bad, but also between what is good and what is not as good.
Jesus does this when he tells Martha “but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10: 42) Mary had chosen to listen to what Jesus said. Martha was busy doing other good things.
God continually asks us to prioritize what we’re doing. This is the purpose of keeping repentance and faith together. Repentance makes the distinction between the choices we have and aligns us with what is better. Faith gives us the power to follow up and follow through.
The Application for me to do this is spelled out in Luke 1: 3 where Luke confesses. “With this in mind …. I decided to write.” This is my first day revelation. I expect yours to be different and framed by what God is asking of you. For me, right before I started reading the Bible, I was challenged by a quote from the writer, Jodi Picoult. “You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”
We are not allowed to leave our days blank, to make no distinction between the light and the dark. We are not allowed to simply watch the days go by and call it God’s will, make it our excuse for not doing what we know to do. God makes these distinctions and it is incorporated into all of creation. God commands us to incorporate it into what we do.
My Prayer: Lord, let no day this year lie blank between us. For my part, I will strive to listen and write down what I hear you say. For your part, speak! Speak your Word clothed in fire, formed in grace, wrapped up in swaddling bands, and laid within my soul. In the most holy name – Jesus. Amen.
Are you thankful? How do you show it? I am asking something more than are you in a good mood? The Hebrew word for thankful refers to the hand and what we stretch out to the Lord. Being thankful is us acting as a tenon in a mortise and tenon woodworking joint. The mortise and tenon woodworking joint has been used around the world for thousands of years—for good reason. It’s considered one of the strongest woodworking joints for attaching two pieces of wood at 90 degrees.
The mortise and tenon joint functions by inserting one end of a piece of wood into a hole in another piece of wood. It’s that simple. The smaller end of the wood is the “tenon,” and the wood with the hole in it is referred to as the “mortise.” Thus, being thankful is emphasizing God’s strength and not our own. Being thankful is “casting all our care upon the Lord because He cares for us.” (I Peter 5: 7)
I understand that sometimes we don’t feel like being thankful. We definitely feel like the ‘smaller’ piece in things and we are prone to get spiritually depressed and depreciate what the Lord can do in us. We’re the problem and we know it. Yet, it is this particular situation that God recognizes and knows about us and His work in us. God explained it to the Apostle Paul this way, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” Do you see it, yet? Being thankful means we acknowledge we are on the receiving end of grace or better yet, grace will receive us even when we feel small and out of joint.
(I apologize for going so long without posting to my blog. Me, being thankful going forward is stretching forth my hand to type something useful and helpful for the growth of our faith in Jesus and something that reminds us of the big picture of God’s grace under which we live. Happy Thanksgiving! Norman)