Hours of Operations
Monday thru Thursday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. to 12 noon (through August 25th).
Saturday: Special Events Only
Café Connections started with a dream nearly 25 years ago with this simple question, “If money were no object, what would you love to do more than anything in the world?” For us, the answer to that question was to run and operate a coffeehouse type ministry where we could demonstrate God’s love to our community by serving them with simple kindness and hospitality. For over 20 years now, we have been in “training” for this very day. We love people and we love serving. Our prayer is that Jesus be glorified in every word that is uttered and every kindness that is shown.
Café Connections is a place where family and friends gather and where relationships are built. We encourage those that live and work within the community to come and bring their lunch, surf the net, read a book, or engage in conversation. As a community, let’s reconnect over some coffee and a homemade dessert!
In Isaiah 50:4 it says, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are instructed to know how to sustain the weary with a word….” We all need to be encouraged as we walk the path that has been placed before us. Will you let us encourage you? We look forward with great joy to reconnecting with old friends and making some new friends along the way. God Bless You!
At Cafe Connections, we provide at NO CHARGE to our community...
Free wi-fi/computer use
Free dessert and coffee
Library of wholesome family reading
Meeting space for Young Life and Miracle Hill Children's Home
Spiritual and emotional support
Off campus Bible studies for our local churches
Complete warming station for our business community to come and bring their lunch
Local drop site for Marvin's Produce
Ten percent of all proceeds received thru the ministry of Get Up & Go Ministries/Cafe Connections is set aside to help other evangelical ministries intent on sharing the Gospel locally, nationally and internationally.
1st and 2nd quarters 2017 -
Vance Bailey Memorial Scholarship Fund
Mercy Multiplied Ministries
(2) Single mom's
Missionary Support - for missionaries currently serving in Panama & Israel.
Gift Cards to WM, Sam's, BiLo's or Ingles - Gift cards help me to be able to purchase supplies as I need them. Unfortunately, we had to throw out a lot of cake mixes b/c they had expired. Gift cards will eliminate that waste.
Butterscothch Chips & Chocolate Chips


Check out all that’s happening in Christian Formation during Lent 2021. Parent to Parent, Tot to Teen: Meets on Thursday, March 4 at 8pm. Contact LeeAnne for the link to join. Confirmation: Our next class is March 6th. Come to worship Sundays if you are able...
At Home Devotion & Activity Mirroring God’s Light-2-12-2021
At Home Devotion & Activity-Lectio-2-5-21
-Devotion & Activity-Shine your Light-1-27-21
At Home Devotion-Activity-Fishers of Men-1-22-21
VI Samuel Story Big Ears Game Bulletin -JAN17 Devotion


Father Alexander Men, of whose life and martyrdom I’ll speak today, was killed on the ninth of September 1990 early in the morning on Sunday, when he went out of his house to reach the church where he was to serve the Sunday Liturgy. The Liturgy was not celebrated. An assassin’s axe took his life. My aim is to tell you about this man, who became the first Christian martyr in the history of post-Soviet Russia.
In Soviet times the Church was suppressed by regime, and priests didn’t dare preach the Gospel. They served the Liturgy and public prayers for old women who visited churches, and that’s all – that was the end of their activity. It was the Church of Silence as John Paul II once called it. In contrast to his confreres father Alexander Men did preach sermons, and young people, university students, intellectuals came to his services – came not on foot but by train, for he served in a village at a distance of 30 kilometers from Moscow. And not only did he preach during the services, but he organized small meetings at home, in houses and apartments of his parishioners who thus formed prayer groups, and it was the only parish in Russia where parishioners were not afraid of one another but knew one another and were friends.
Thus for example one of his parishioners, sculptor Zoya Maslennikova says, “In the times when Father Alexander served in his churches it was impossible even to imagine any officially accepted work with parishioners besides confession during church services or occasional religious rites.” All he did, his entire communication with the believers had no legal sanction. In better times he met people in a church-house, in worse times it was forbidden and he met his parishioners in their houses/apartments and conversed with them on their way home from church or in a suburban electric train. It was not just a parish, but community, spiritual family, fraternity.
“All his life,” Vladimir Ilyushenko writes about Father Alexander, “secular and spiritual authorities persecuted him. The freedom of his thought was inadmissible and suspicious for them.” “You were called to freedom, brethren”, this quotation from apostle Paul was one of Father Alexander’s favorite expressions. And he went on bitterly, “People don’t want freedom. There are different reasons for that, but it’s a fact.” “I’m convinced,” Father Alexander said in his interview prepared in case of his arrest, “that freedom should grow out of spiritual depth of a human being. No external changes will give anything radically new, if people do not live through freedom and respect to opinions of other people in their personal experience.”
In the ’70s it often happened that young people who came to believe in God gave up their work, gave up science or arts (in general, all they were engaged in) and, having adopted some very simple job like night guard, for example, they dove into purely ritual life: special prayers in praise of our Lady and different saints, pilgrimages, fasting, etc. Father Alexander was not satisfied by such kind of Orthodox Christianity. He thought it necessary for people who trust in God to work in schools and university, in libraries etc., and to be engaged in arts, science, literature. He considered escape from reality especially dangerous for believers who ought to be “salt of the earth” as Jesus Himself called them in the Sermon on the Mountain.
Not only did Father Alexander preach during the service, but he also wrote books. Thanks to Asya Durova, Russian Catholic and nun, who worked in French Embassy, the typescripts of the books were carried over to Brussels, where they were turned into books and published by a small Catholic publishing house “Life with God” or Foyer Oriental Chretien. Its founder and director, now deceased Irina Posnova, founded this ecumenical center with the support of cardinal Eugene Tisseran right at the end of the war. The purpose of the center was to help Orthodox Russia and Orthodox believers in the USSR.
It is in this very publishing house that Father Alexander’s book, In Search of the Way, the Truth and the Life, in 7 volumes was published under a pen name. In this work Father Alexander shows how God Himself acts in the world history, precisely to say, in the history of philosophy and religion, how His presence, step by step, gradually and in a most difficult way, but more and more clearly, reveals itself to human beings.
The last 7th volume is entitled “The Son of Man”. It’s the story of Jesus. Now this book exists in French, Italian, Spanish and other languages. In Russian the editions are spread in huge amounts of copies. Is it just because in Russia former atheists do not know anything about Christ? Giovanni Guaita, an Italian writer and the translator of this book into Italian answers the question why it is such a success. It appears that on the West the man who psychologically seems to have nothing in common with Russians who lived through Soviet times, no less needs Father Alexander and his word.
When Giovanni Guaita decided to translate the book “The Son of Man” into Italian, one of Father Alexander’s French friends immediately noted that he would better not, for on the West anyway they had a great amount of such books where the life of Jesus was described both popularly and on a high level. But he was mistaken. When “The Son of Man” was published (first in Italian, and later in French, also in his translation) it appeared that the book was sold out excellently. It appeared that the book was needed not only in Russia, but in other countries as well, probably because there is something completely unique in it. What is it? Probably, “total oneness with the One he was speaking about” – with Jesus from Nazareth. The effect of His presence… The reader of the book, like the one who practises spiritual exercises according to the system of St. Ignatius, is brought to those places where Jesus preaches, he becomes a witness of each step of His and, as St. Luke states it at the beginning of his Gospel, – an eyewitness (aujtovpth") of Jesus’s sermon.
With Father Alexander’s participation the so-called Bruxelles Bible was prepared, which is, in fact, the only Russian edition of the Bible with comments, analogue of the Jerusalem Bible. It is used in seminaries of the Russian Orthodox Church and by those who want to penetrate deeper into the biblical text.
Then the epoch of perestroika comes, the end of ’80s. Almost every day Father Alexander delivers lectures in the halls of different clubs, in the university and other educational establishments. He gains great popularity. Youth long for faith in God. In Russia, Orthodoxy is often said to be the traditional faith of the Russian people; in the minds of many Orthodoxy is the Russian faith, national religion. And Father Alexander spoke about faith in Jesus, about the Gospel, about the new birth experienced by a human being who becomes a Christian. Now these texts are turned into books by Father Alexander’s brother and they are published. They are sold out and they are a success. And after his death people are coming to Christ because of his words.
At the beginning of perestroika Father Alexander with a few parishioners comes to the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital. He baptizes children, he comforts mothers, he gathers financial aid among his parishioners in order to support the sick and their families. This is how the charity group is born, which has now grown into a big Orthodox charity service. It was then that three dimensions became evident in the life of Father Alexander’s community: Liturgy, reading of the Gospel and praying in small groups, and charity work.
You can’t but talk about Father Alexander’s ecumenism. He always stressed timeless and eternal value of the world religious experience. “There is experience of some indefinite mysticism,” Father Alexander wrote, “there is experience of all religions, and in each there is its own value, all this is wonderful, all hands raised to heaven are marvelous hands, worthy of the name of human being, for these are hands of the creature made in the image and according to the likeness of God and they are stretched to seek their Primal Image”. I recall how interested he was when I told him that there is an Italian book where all prayers of all peoples and all religions are gathered. And nevertheless he constantly emphasized the uniqueness of Christianity. “But Christ,” he said, “is the Hand stretched out to us from above, as you may see on some ancient icons – from there the Hand is stretched down to us”.
Father Alexander Men was a staunchest supporter of peace among Christians of different confessions. In it he saw conditio sine qua non for future Christianity. Father Alexander would have utterly supported a participant of one of Christian forums in today’s Internet who has recently invoked, “It’s enough for interreligious struggle. It’s not a secret that due to these internecine “wars” many people do not take Christianity seriously at all. They say if they can’t understand even one another, why should they preach to others?” However when during radio broadcast one of the listeners asked if we could call Father Alexander ecumenist and the presenter of the program answered her that certainly we could, French writer Yves Hamant, the author of Father Alexander’s best biography, noted, “I do not know if you can or cannot, for it depends on what you put into this word, especially now. But in general Father Alexander was never engaged in ecumenical activities as they are. He didn’t participate in ecumenical movement”.
Definitely, as distinct from his contemporary metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), as a common priest he didn’t conduct any talks with Catholic hierarchs, and was not present at the pope’s receptions, but he was fully devoted to the path of Christian unity, no less than the metropolitan. As Yves Hamant said during the dialogue in radio broadcast, “He was open to other confessions and recognized the riches they possessed”. Now it is often said (especially by representatives of the Orthodox youth) that ecumenism of ’60s to ’70s was dictated by entirely tactical goals, because in the atmosphere of the atheist state, constant strengthening of antireligious propaganda and severe struggle with religion, it was the support of the leading Western countries with Catholics and Protestants in their governments who lobbied interests of Orthodoxy in Russia that saved the Church from devastation.
It is not exactly so. Certainly, support of Catholics and Protestants, of Vatican and the World Council of Churches was extremely important for us then, for the Soviet regime had to take international public opinion into account. It was perfectly well understood by such a great personality as metropolitan Nikodim Rotov, who thus derived maximum benefit for Orthodoxy in Russia and other Republics of the former USSR from these relations. On the other side Catholics (for example, Brussels Centre “Life with God” and its chiefs Irina Posnova and Father Anthony Iltz) and Protestants, presumably from the United States, helped believers in Russia in a simple and utterly unselfish way as Christians.
For there they were to publish religious literature for Russia, and then in diplomats’ suitcases it crossed the border to be brought illegally to the territory of the USSR. They prepared those books for print, among them the books of Father Alexander, which certainly couldn’t be printed and published in Russia. This constant help and support had no reasons except their faith in Christ. And here it should be mentioned that in the ’60s and ’70s all of us, believers in Russia, felt somehow very clearly that we were close to one another not only due to the fact that one and the same enemy was constantly struggling against us – CPSU with its Marxist ideology – but also due to the fact, which is much more important, that they (Communists) were struggling against their numerous enemies in this country and abroad, and we were struggling for the human right to trust in God freely and to have possibility to perfect oneself in one’s faith.
Andrey Eremin writes, “Practical approach is the main characteristic of Father Alexander’s ecumenism.” In the words of Christ, “May all be one” (Jn. 17:21), Father saw the call to action, not to theological philosophizing. That’s why he demonstrated tolerance and interest toward any positive beginning of Christians who belonged to other confessions”. “Father Alexander,” Andrey Eremin said, “constantly reminded us, that Christ hadn’t come to teach us Filioque, but life with God, given to us in communion with the Born, Embodied, Crucified and Resurrected Lord.” Father Alexander constantly stressed that as Christians of different confessions we are united by something infinitely greater than anything that separates us from one another.
Once discussing the reasons for such a variety of confessions in the world of today he said, “Contradictions among different Christian confessions – Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox – are not a sign of destruction, split, but they are revelation of parts of the whole, one whole, that we should reach, in its depth.” When asked by a journalist about his attitude as an Orthodox to other confessions, Father Alexander replied, “I didn’t get my attitude ready-made, once and for all. By thinking a lot, by developing contacts and research I came to a conclusion that the Church is one in its essence, while Christians are separated mainly through their limitedness, narrow-mindedness, sins. This pitiful fact has become one of the main reasons for crises in Christianity. It is only on the path of brotherly unity and respect to various forms of church life that we may hope to gain strength, peace and God’s blessing anew”. It was precisely in those years that Father Alexander wrote, “We arrive at an idea of our need for integral Christianity that would include the whole gamut of spiritual paths and experiences.” “The causes of schism lie beyond purely spiritual sphere.”
I can’t but say a few words about spiritual genealogy of Father Alexander. As a small boy he became an Orthodox Christian in catacombs of the ’30s when religion was totally under a ban. There he assimilated traditional Russian Orthodoxy, but at the same time he was a perfectly contemporary man. Father Alexander came from a Jewish family. It probably explains his very special love to the Holy Scripture, to the Word of God. This is important, because orientation toward asceticism, fasting and prayer to the prejudice of reading the Scripture, is characteristic of Russian spirituality in general.
There is open Christianity and there is Christianity that may be called restricted, closed. Open Christianity is based on the sensation of Christ Resurrected being present invisibly, yet truly, among those who believe in Him. “The way toward open Christianity goes through everybody’s participation in the Revelation of God’s love,” says the writer Andrey Eremin setting out Father Alexander’s position, “When openness and freedom disappear and give place to propensity for secure maintenance, then faith and hope disappear either. And the man walks not ‘on the water’, but ‘on the pavement’.” In this connection Andrey Eremin recalls a French theologian Father Pierre Thivollier, who writes, “A Christian should not hide in his faith as if it were some unassailable fortress. Decidedly no. We’d rather say he is in a boat rocked by lifestorms and capable of sinking. But the boat is piloted by Christ, Whom he trusts.”
The restricted model of Christianity is characterized by tendency to possess truth in a ready-made form, and therefore, as Vladimir Ilyushenko writes in his book “Father Alexander Men: Life and Death in Christ”, “by putting one’s faith in religious observance, intolerance to dissent, conserving national antiquity.” This model is grounded on traditional values, xenophobia and chauvinism.” These thoughts of Vladimir Ilyushenko are similar to what Father Alexander repeated time and again on the eve of his tragic death. Thus a few days before his death in his interview to a Spanish journalist Pilar Bonet among other things he said, “Well, if the rise of Russian fascism is not alarming, then what is alarming? But it is! And it is very actively supported by very many in the Church… Of course, it is a disgrace to us, believers, for society somehow expected to find support in us, and what we have is support for fascists. Certainly, not all are orientated in this way, but it’s not a small percent anyway. I can’t say what this percent is, for I haven’t studied it, but wherever you go, whoever you speak to, you see: this one is a monarchist, that one is anti-Semite or anti-ecumenist and so on.”
The problem of restricted Christianity worried not only Father Alexander. The eldest Orthodox theologian of France Olivier Clément wrote down his thoughts on this subject, “You can’t isolate yourself and turn into ghetto. Orthodoxy should radiate tremendous energy, energy of freedom and light. Unfortunately it too often fades out in ritual piety, putting faith in religious observance.” Here is an exact definition of this “ritual piety” from the official site of Belgorod Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, “It is such a spiritual state of a believer, when following the spirit of the Gospel becomes secondary for him, while rites and rituals are brought to the forefront.”
In one of his lectures Father Alexander pointed out, as if he were developing Olivier Clément’s thought, that the most powerful texts against traditional religious piety do not belong to such contemporary theologians as, for example, Father Alexander Schmemann, but they can be found in the Holy Scripture. “Prophets spoke against tyranny, injustice, oppression, against religious formalism, against ritualization of faith, against national haughtiness, chauvinism, against wars or violence. That’s why we can say that Peter Chaadaev was right, when he wrote that the teaching of the prophets is not something left in the past and precious to us just due to the fact that the prophets predicted the coming of Christ – no, but their teaching as it is remains no less urgent today.”
Another thing highly typical for restricted Christianity is the magic. Once it was perfectly depicted by metropolitan Cyril (Gundyaev), who said, “On the day when the Church celebrates the Lord’s Epiphany thousands and thousands of people come to take holy water. And it often happens that people who do not believe altogether come to take holy water. And I asked those people what their feeling when they came to church was and what they were taking holy water for. I asked them if they hoped that it would save them from sin or from trouble or from disease automatically? This is magical attitude toward sacred thing. As if they were thinking, ‘I can be a rascal, I can do whatever I want, I can rob and kill and commit adulteries and say lies, but when I drink some holy water – it becomes OK.’ Such attitude is the magic.”
“Religious approach on the contrary,” as metropolitan Cyril emphasizes, “consists in human responsibility for being a participant in the act either of his salvation or of his spiritual death. Magic presupposes influence of material objects, words, numbers that produce irresistible force and may cause human death or salvation. Here is the difference between magic and religion.” As Father Alexander tirelessly repeated, “Magic carries blind and almost frantic belief in the omnipotence of rituals and magic formulas into religion,” that’s why almost always magic leads to ritualization of religion. And as Father Alexander continued, “It’s important to understand that in magic the same spiritual tendency is secretly present that is rooted in the original sin of the humanity: that’s the tendency to put oneself into the center of the universe.” Therefore it’s not a mere coincidence that both magic and ritual piety, originated from it, get along well with national egocentrism, chauvinism and xenophobia.
Restricted Christianity is a religion of static type if we remember the famous book “Two sources of morals and religion” by Henry Bergson whom Father Alexander mentioned as a philosopher who undoubtedly influenced him. Such a religion is characterized by the presence of collective ideas that as a rule “perplex individual mind,” by the central role of the ritual and the whole system of knowledge and acts that would protect a human being from the influence of the evil. To possess a figure of the enemy is also typical for the static religion. This sort of religion is characteristic of traditional societies. In contrast to it dynamic religion is characterized by a vivid mystical sense, aspiration so typical of Old Testament prophets and love that according to Bergson, “constitutes the very essence of God for a mystic.” Dynamic religion is impossible without personal penetration of a believer into living communion with God, without his personal mystical experience. Thus love here is contrasted with corporative restrictedness of static religion. Such love fills a human being, for it is not, as Bergson statets it, “just love of one person to God – it is God’s love to all people.” Here the truth of faith is verified by the personal feeling of a believer. Such is true piety announced in the New Testament, such is free piety of the great Christian mystics such as St. Francis or St. Seraphim of Sarov in Russia. Static religion “ties an individual to society,” while dynamic religion opens the way to heaven for everybody and gives everybody enough strength to love the whole mankind.
“Can we”, Father Alexander questioned, “stepping on the threshold of the third millennium … return to medieval state of Christian mentality: some people today, especially among the young are ready for it. They are ready because of inertness of their thought and ignorance”. Horrified he said, that “people want unfree Christianity”, “that people seem drawn to nothing other than slavery.” It is frightful and we see it every day, we are constantly confronted with it.” Why does it exist? Where does this longing for unfreedom, ritualization, spiritual blindness come from?
Father Alexander’s disciple Valentina Kuznetzova answered this question perfectly well (probably the same way Father Alexander himself would have answered it), “Any single priest reads the Gospel very little now. Akathistos hymns and hagiographical stories and apocryphal stories are spread much more. I’m not against them, yet they are already “digested food”, which yields much to the New Testament in its ideas and merits. Such state of affairs is partly connected with the fact that the Gospel is not a book for peaceful reading before going to bed, if only a person believes sincerely that the Sermon on the Mountain or parables will excite him. For it’s not enough just to take out a handkerchief and dry a tear after reading them. One should make efforts and change one’s own life instead. Otherwise the place that should be occupied by the Holy Scripture alone becomes filled with other texts. There is only one way out – “reaching out people, helping them to acquire taste and interest for the New Testament.” Vladimir Ilyushenko shares this opinion, when he mentions that Father Alexander realized, that “the task is to Christianize anew the country which is seriously ill, because it’s possible for Russia to break an impasse only on the path of its new evangelization.”
Not just a feeling of God and awe of God lay at the heart of his religiousness, but the Holy Scripture – the Word of God, “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebr. 4:12) (New American Standard Bible). In this sense Father Alexander bore much resemblance to a prophet, especially to prophet Isaiah, who taught nothing to anybody but brought to the hearts of men the very thing the Lord says – “ko amar Yahve”, what the Lord says, as Father Alexander enjoyed repeating in Hebrew.
The most significant thing for a person is to understand what living contact with God is. And this living contact becomes possible when the Word of God is revealed to you, when you find out what it means to stand before God, what is the means that Abraham “walked with God.” When you understand this you will become free of any restrictedness once and for all. “To know God is not a one-sided process, like the study of nature for example – it is always an encounter,” Father Alexander said. To experience this encounter, he continued, there is no need to be a sort of religious genius: “Every human being has an opportunity for the profoundest mysterious personal encounter with the Supreme Reality.”
Theology of “encounter”, so perfectly developed by metropolitan Anthony Bloom, a well-known Russian bishop who lived in London and became famous for his sermons on prayer (written down by his parishioners), was truly clear and close to Father Alexander. He personally didn’t meet metropolitan Anthony often, but he was always happy to learn that during metropolitan’s another coming to Moscow several of his parishioners visited his divine service or participated in talks with him, organized secretly in someone’s apartments. The words of the church hymn “Christ is my strength” characterize both metropolitan Anthony and Father Alexander equally well.
The essence of Christianity from Father Alexander’s point of view is not in traditions and their sacralization, not in church antiquity and admiring it, but in the living presence of Resurrected Jesus. “He remained,” Father Alexander said shortly before his martyr death, “the greatest motive power of history – secretly, deeply He remained in the world. ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ He is risen from the dead to be present everywhere inside our life. And today each of us can find Him. He is not just a historical figure whom you may remember only to forget later. True, He lived 2,000 years ago. True, in 10 years we’ll celebrate 2,000th anniversary from His birth. But it’s not just so that He was – He is – and this is the whole mystery of Christianity, the clue to its power.”
Father Alexander was one of those people who are not afraid. He was not afraid of visiting hospitals, of visiting those who were seriously ill or dying, though it was strictly forbidden by the Soviet regime. He was not afraid of preaching and speaking about faith to unfamiliar people (the thing almost none of parochial priests did). More than that, he was not afraid of speaking about faith to children, which was considered a crime altogether. He was not afraid of the language of his epoch and unlike his confreres, other priests, he could (like apostle Paul) speak about Christ with “pagans” in the language of those “pagans”. Father Alexander was not afraid of synthesizing his predecessors’ experiences, though they were so different from one another and sometimes incompatible, and he did all this miraculously well, for he did it not on the level of a human being, but on the level of God’s love.
Deeply rooted in the tradition, knowing Orthodoxy not by a sort of bookish knowledge, but having grown in the catacombs of pre-war time, he was utterly directed toward the future. In his hands the Bible turned into a compass that rightly indicates the way to the times to come. This is indeed his feat.
“Our country,” as his closest disciple Father Alexander Borisov said, “will in the majority of its people be proud of the fact, that under the circumstances of the Soviet regime, under those circumstances when all was against the emergence of such people as Father Alexander Men or such books that he had written, under those circumstances nevertheless such a wonderful man lived and revealed to us God’s love. Through love that God poured into his heart he has led and will still lead thousands and thousands of people to Christ, to the truth, to the good and to creation.”


Jesus for the Nonreligious by John Shelby Spong
English | 5 Apr. 2007 | ISBN: 0060762071 | 340 Pages | PDF | 1 MB
Writing from his prison cell in Nazi Germany in 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young German theologian, sketched a vision of what he called "religionless Christianity." In this book, John Shelby Spong puts flesh onto the bare bones of Bonhoeffer's radical thought.
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We are not one denomination. We believe Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. He died on the cross for our sins and rose again. We believe in the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible is the Word of God and our guide to living a Christian life.
Students have a one to one session weekly with their mentor. This is a time for personalized reflection and growth.
Bible studies are every Sunday at 6:00 p.m. At this time, we enjoy a delicious meal together while learning the word of God.
Fun Fridays are ways for our students to destress and spend time with each other; watching movies, playing games, eating smores at the fireside.
We want to provide you with leadership skills; equipping you with God's word to impact others.
It is important to have a safe and solid community to fall back on. We want you to be a part of this Christian community. Ask us about our 5 practices. Let's grow in Christ together!
For any other questions you may have please contact us.


Recovering Redemption (Part 9) - October 27, 2013
As those forgiven by God, we can humbly approach those who have been affected by our sin and make amends. This change of heart brings glory to God by demonstrating the power of the gospel and reflecting the heart of God.
If you’re reading this, you mostly likely have witnessed this sort of behavior in yourself or perhaps someone you love or care about. It has always been a conundrum for me–I have never been able to wrap my mind around why I would go after something that I…
- 1 year ago


Building up men after God’s own heart by Reaching, Discipleship, and Service
Here at FBC Vidor, we do not want to have just another program or event driven ministry. We are here to lift up our men to enable them to be better dads, husbands, friends, mentors, and most of all, we are building them up to be Great Servant Leaders for our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Wednesday Nite Live
September 7, 2016, Room 206/207
The Men's Ministry will make a journey on the Disiples Path.
It is a year long series, divided into 6 five-week sessions.
The series is founded on Jesus' model of discipleship.
It offers an intentional path for transformational discipleship.
Coed Bible Study:
Come along on the adventure and shine the light of God's truth in the most challenging of places: Your Family. This is a nine week study: God's Blueprint for the Family.


On August 4th in the village of Busije situated in the municipality of Zemun, a central national event took place for the purposes of commemorating August 5th – the Day of Remembrance of Suffering and Persecution of Serbs from Croatia.
On that occasion, His Holiness Patriarch Irinej served a memorial service for the victims. Subsequently, the congregation were addressed by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, president of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, as well as by Dr Jelena Šarić, a “girl from the refugee convoy”. That was the biggest ethnic cleansing in the recent history of Europe. Patriarch Irinej emphasised that “such annihilation was experienced only by Jews, Armenians and Serbs at the hands of Ustaša”. In the course of this ungodly pogrom nearly 250 000 people of Serbian nationality have been expelled from their ancestral homes. “It is necessary to remember, but it is even more beneficial to forgive. To err is human, to forgive is divine. This is taught by our faith and by the Christ himself. We are also invited to forgive, but never to forget, lest a greater evil befall us. We are all invited to build peace and friendship”, Patriarch Irinej concluded in his sermon. The entire event, which had a sad, solemn and dignified tone, was accompanied by a suitable cultural and artistic programme, theatrical narratives and choral singing. The central national event was attended by the members of the National Assembly and the Government, leaders of Republika Srpska, representatives of the Army of Serbia, of Serbian Orthodox Church, as well as by diplomatic corps, district chiefs, and citizens. Among the thousands of people who gathered in the village of Busije there were mostly those who originated from Krajina and Bosnia. This was yet another painful memory of not so distant past which must never be forgotten.


|Author||: Jacobus Kok|
|Publisher||: LIT Verlag Münster|
|Total Pages||: 182|
|ISBN 10||: 9783643911155|
|ISBN 13||: 3643911157|
|Language||: EN, FR, DE, ES & NL|
The construction of early Christian identity was a dynamic process in which social boundaries were drawn but also transcended. The source documents of Christianity bear witness to the process and dynamics involved in the construction of insiders and outsiders - determining who is to be included and who excluded. In the super-diverse and super-mobile time in which we live, identity boundaries are often drawn. This volume explores not only New Testament and Early Christian texts to investigate these dynamics, but also how contemporary ideology can shape the reading of scripture to exclude or include others.


Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a centre of the pilgrimage movement on the Papal route. Passion and Marian Sanctuary is a place of worship from the early seventeenth century, many times visited by the Holy Father John Paul II. The Bernardine Monastery and Baroque Basilica with a Miraculous Image of the Virgin Mary of Kalwaria are surrounded by the churches and chapels, called the Kalwaria Paths. These structures were created on the model of the Stations of the Cross in the Holy Land. Millions of pilgrims come here every year to take part in the services on the Paths of Lord Jesus and the Paths of Our Lady. In the Holy Week there is the Passion Play, and in August an indulgence in honour of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In Wadowice there is a Museum - Family Home of the Holy Father Pope John Paul II. There are exhibitions-memorabilia from the life of Karol Wojtyła, his Family and Friends. An important place of worship is the Basilica of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary with preserved baptismal font at which Karol Wojtyła was baptized. The future Pope prayed many times before the Image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. In the Basilica there is the reliquary of St. John Paul II. Wadowice is also famous for its delicious cream cakes, a favourite delicacy of John Paul II, named in his honour as Papal Cream Cakes.
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Some Christians had written, “It is well for a man not to touch a woman.” Paul “But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife. Sex between a husband and a wife is never a cause for shame. It should Or the Apostle Paul – at least for the better part of his life. . In fact. Rembrandt van Rijn, Saint Paul, oil on canvas, c. Thus for Jesus to say that marriage and sex are not part of resurrection life is not to make a once “It is not the wife who has the rights to her own body, but the husband.
Jul 18, issue To understand this, we need only think about the ubiquitous fantasy, propagated across our culture, of a couple who are able to make each other whole, complete, and fulfilled. According to Rollins, Jesus does not reveal our idolatry in order to save us from our desires—as if our Woman want nsa Beckwith longing for intimate human relationship were the problem.
Rather, Jesus Its hot in here lets take off all our clothes our desire in Saint Paul wifes wanting sex register altogether.
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In contrast, the iconic way of being helps us experience the mundane as infused with special ificance. In theological terms, this is the idea of God in the midst of life.
In both cases, though, their Saint Paul wifes wanting sex about marriage and singleness were rooted in a prior and more fundamental way of seeing and thus loving the world.
Yet, what is perhaps even more important for Paul is that both forms of Christian life—single and married—are not first and foremost about personal fulfillment Housewives want real sex Arleta California self-actualization but about the right ordering of our desires.
But if they do not have self-control, Granger WA sexy women them get married.
Paul’s Inspired Teachings on Marriage | Religious Studies Center
Instead, much like Jesus, Paul is situating all our passionate longings within the larger framework of Christian community and discipleship. For not only is the genital expression of our sexual desire not ultimate in any sense, but as Christians our sexuality new irondequoit naked women not finally our. What Paul is addressing here are not the base-level sexual urges Casual sex in Miami every human being experiences on a daily basis but rather sexual desire run amok—a kind of chaotic impulse that threatens the livelihood of Saint Paul wifes wanting sex surrounding community.
It is to run the risk of burning the entire forest to the ground. The first option, which Paul personally favored, is to remain single and celibate.
Apparently there were some within the church at Corinth who were suggesting Lady looking sex Dunellen married Christians should remain celibate in order to Sex Clarence Missouri girl Clarence Missouri God with their bodies. This is a rather revealing insight in its own right, for it underscores the fact that even for those who are married or about to marry, the Christian community needs to develop a Saint Paul wifes wanting sex robust notion of celibacy within marriage.
As it turns out and as any married person will readily admitreal marriages do not involve endless sexual activity—which means that vast amounts of married life demand that spouses direct their sexual desires in ways that are strikingly similar to the practices of those Saint Paul wifes wanting sex are single and celibate. Paul situated all desires within the framework of Christian community.
Some Christians had written, “It is well for a man not to touch a woman.” Paul “But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife. This study will focus on an examination of the apostle Paul's attitude to sex, marriage He did not say, "It is good for a man not to have a wife" but "It is good for a. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. the body, the apostle seems to be saying to Christian couples: “More sex! The sexual abstinence part comes into play, not so much by Paul's.
But Paul rejects the notion that married Christians should remain permanently celibate 1 Cor. After all, to say that married couples should avoid sexual expression altogether would be to deny that marriage Girls to fuck for free montreal human sexuality were created goods, deed and given to us by God.
So Paul makes it clear horney girls in maine swinging spouses should not deny each other sex. But in the midst of offering this pastoral advice, what he does not say is that simply because two people are married they are free to express their sexuality in whatever way they desire.
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It belongs to. Instead, it only ever comes about when we are altogether freed from our obsessive quest for personal wholeness through sexual expression. The point here is that Paul understands marriage and singleness in the same way that he understands every Christian relationship—as an occasion for directing our desires in life-giving ways. Housewives wants sex tonight KS Antonino 67601
The Christian faith as Paul sees it is one in which all our passions are reoriented and redirected along the lines of self-giving love. Rather, it is simply to acknowledge that our desires can and often do become misdirected. For some, the object is marriage.
I want to address Atwood's vision of Christian marriage, and grapple with one of to be in competition with one another over which sex is more powerful. Doesn't this conflict directly with what St. Paul instructed for wives? And Paul's answer is given to us in this very first verse: "It is well for a man not to touch a What happened to his wife is one of the great mysteries of all time. Sex within marriage, the apostle says, does permit relief from sexual pressures. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. the body, the apostle seems to be saying to Christian couples: “More sex! The sexual abstinence part comes into play, not so much by Paul's.
For others, the object is gay cruising adelaide bridge. Either way, our obsessive pursuit of something that will never ultimately fulfill our deeper longings places us on a path that is destructive for our individual lives and the life of the community.
For on its own the simple expression of sexual desire always contains within itself a profound lack—an unfathomable emptiness. It will always leave one unfulfilled because, in an ultimate sense, sex is not actually what we desire.
Sex is good great even!
It provides humans with a pleasure unlike any other, and for some Blkbbw in Santa rosa also brings the blessing of children, so it certainly plays an important role in our lives. But it will never make us.
Sex in Marriage | 1 Cor | www.mirageautoonline.com
All our desires sexual or otherwise are reflections of a much deeper and more profound longing that can never be fully met by sex. Although it certainly appears counterintuitive on the surface, Paul suggests that human beings are able to flourish—to truly thrive—not when they are finally able to express their sexuality through the act of sex, but when they Naughty wives want real sex Belfast their obsessive quest for individualized sexual expression altogether.
Put more positively, we embody and enact our humanity in Saint Paul wifes wanting sex full breadth and depth only when we direct our passions toward the other in self-giving love.
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In other words, like any human pursuit, Saint Paul wifes wanting sex is fully realized when Housewives seeking sex tonight Knoxville Tennessee 37914 is about giving, not getting.
And according to Paul, we already intuit this impulse toward sexual generosity on some level, only without a great deal of clarity. Ultimately we desire to know and to be fully known by the only One whose love can actually satisfy those desires.
This is the union for which our bodies Free online dating services hebrew. It is not, as some have suggested, because Paul thought the return of Christ was imminent, but rather because celibate singleness is able to function as an icon for those with the eyes to see and ears to hear.
It reminds us that no romantic relationship and no amount of sex, no matter how good they are, will ever actually be. It also fosters new relational dynamics in the present, producing ways of being we have yet to even imagine.
Used by permission of InterVarsity Press.


The Unforgivable Sin Q – Recently, I got into a discussion regarding Matthew 12:32. I think I have the essence of Jesus deliberately telling the Pharisees that their theology is whacked and they are literally watching Jesus do miracles in their presence and continue to deny His diety.
The Bible’s answer The unforgivable sin refers to actions accompanied by an attitude that keeps a sinner from ever receiving God’s forgiveness. How could such a disposition develop? God forgives those who repent of their sins, follow his standards in their life, and exercise faith in Jesus Christ. UNPARDONABLE SIN.—The expression is not a Scriptural one, but rests partly upon a saying of Jesus reported in different forms by all the Synoptists, and partly upon two analogous passages in Hebrews and one in 1 John. While there is an unforgivable sin, it is not one that a true believer in Jesus Christ can commit. The one sin which God cannot forgive is mentioned in Mark 3:28-30 and Matthew 12:31-32. Jesus had been performing miracles, including driving demons out of people by the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead of recognizing the source of Jesus' power ...
Today Pastor Randy shares about Jesus doing what some thought was unthinkable, and Jesus’ teaching on the unforgivable sin.
Jan 22, 2014 · An unforgivable sin is simply a sin which you do not repent. There’s really nothing mysterious or mystical about it. God has told us over and over that if we sincerely repent our sins and ask for mercy, we will be forgiven. No sin, not even murder or abortion, will condemn a soul if only it is repented. [emphasis added] The New Unpardonable Sin: Racism. ... Every week for more than 12 years, I have been pouring significant time, thought, love, and resources into this ministry. It's ... In short, there is no unforgivable sin, except the sin of never (at any time) accepting God. Which can be forgiven once you DO accept Him. Now then, we have covered quite a lot in this unit already. We talked about the 5 requirements for salvation (believe, repent, confess, baptism, and endure unto the end). Nov 21, 2020 · If it is not possible for anyone whom God has chosen to declare justified, through the way He made in His own Son, to escape God, can they, using sound reasoning, sin the unpardonable sin? We do have a thought process today that has thrown out objectivity, rationality, and sound reasoning. Jul 25, 1993 · Despair, surely the least aggressive of sins, is dangerous to the totalitarian temperament because it is a state of intense inwardness, thus independence. The despairing soul is a rebel. So, too,...
The unpardonable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit’s supernatural work of performing miracles prevalent in the days of the supernatural miracles. It may be committed by hardened, impenitent men. But now having said that, two other things ought to be said. In the first place, there is an unpardonable sin today.
Jan 17, 2016 · unpardonable sin merely by professing to deny the Holy. Spirit and mouthing those words. My hope is that some of. those people on those videos, like the apostle Paul, are guilty. only of ignorant unbelief, and that there is still hope for. them. And the determining factor one way or the other is the. state of their hearts, which only God can see clearly. Jared: Does the Bible say anything about suicide being an unforgivable sin? Michael: No, the Bible doesn’t say anything about suicide being an unpardonable sin. In fact, the Bible doesn’t say anything about any sin being an unpardonable sin except blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Now, David committed adultery, and yet he went to Heaven. The unpardonable sin is a deliberate and calculated renunciation of God. It is not an accidental sin, nor a sin under temptation, nor a sin through weakness. But the unpardonable sin is a knowing, determined, calculated, premeditated, willful decision and choice arrived at by rejecting any pangs of conscience, leading of the Holy Spirit ... Yet sodomy, as vile as it is – and I would not attempt to whitewash it in any way – the unforgivable sin of fornication by the mixing of race is by far the most reprehensible sin of all. At least homosexuality doesn’t create mule-people, which is “mamzer” from the Hebrew, and translated into English as “bastard”. Many people are concerned that they have committed the unpardonable sin in their thoughts or speech, but according to this verse, the only sin which is unforgivable is one that is not confessed. Remember that all of God's word is true, including this verse.The Unforgivable Sin. He that is not with me is against me, Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 and then he says. all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven; whoever speaks against the Son of man shall be forgiven; but any word spoken against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven. Not now, not ever.Sep 13, 2019 · The unpardonable sin, is not a sin that can be committed in ignorance, or accidentally. Nor is it a sin which is committed by those who are overly tempted, or who draw back from walking with God because they are unwilling to live a consecrated life, etc.
Jan 22, 2014 · An unforgivable sin is simply a sin which you do not repent. There’s really nothing mysterious or mystical about it. God has told us over and over that if we sincerely repent our sins and ask for mercy, we will be forgiven. No sin, not even murder or abortion, will condemn a soul if only it is repented. [emphasis added]
He Is Awesome,Seven-Year-Old Rapper Papa Jay,Words Cannot Describe What You Are About To See! Sep 05, 2008 · Luke 12:10 classifies the sin as “an eternal sin.” The religious leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy, but ironically they were the guilty ones when they looked Jesus in the face and accused him of being possessed by Satan. The unforgivable sin means attributing to Satan the work that the Holy Spirit accomplishes (see Matthew 12:22-30). Thus ... This entry was posted in Elder Thaddeus, Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers and tagged Abortion, Asking Forgiveness, Forgiveness, Forgiveness of God, God as Creator, Life, Murder, Repentance, Sin, Tollhouses, Unforgivable Sin on August 17, 2015 by Orthodox Church Quotes. May 16, 2020 · If you think you’ve committed the unpardonable sin, you probably haven’t. Many Christians mistakenly fear that they’ve committed the unpardonable sin—blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But would the Holy Spirit be convicting a believer of sin if they had committed blasphemy? Jan 31, 2011 · These three words—the unforgivable sin—have caused untold anguish to many who have misunderstood their meaning and thought they had committed this grievous sin of all sins. Maybe they had become angry in a time of bitter disappointment or loss and let their rage fly, cursing God. Apr 13, 2017 · In effect, we have made our choice against Jesus Christ, consciously or not, through a lifetime of unrepented sin and disobedience, or indifference, or complacency: we have repeatedly told God through our words, thoughts, and actions that we don’t want Jesus in our lives; we don’t want the gift of salvation that he offers; we don’t want to repent and be saved. And God will ultimately respect and honor that choice. The Bible says that certain of the Pharisees commited the Unpardonable Sin when attributing the power of the Holy Spirit evidenced in Jesus' miracles, to Satan. The impression is that they knew that they were lying but wanted to protect their position and office under the Romans! 28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”. – Mark 3:22-30.
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Dec 29, 2020 · The Unforgivable Sin Defined. What then is it? The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven. 3. How Shall We Live in Light of This Possibility? Mar 06, 2014 · There is only ONE unforgivable sin. Jesus said there is only one unforgivable sin, and that is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit ( Matt. 12:22-32, Mark 3:22-30, Luk 12:10 ). The word “blasphemy” means to slander or to speak fasely of someone. So the unforgivable sin is to slander or to speak falsely of the Holy Spirit. Apr 25, 2004 · unforgivable sin against the Spirit. No one could comfort him, and many people thought that his sorrow was like that of Judas Iscariot. He became infamous for what he had done. John Calvin wrote to help him and Calvin also wrote to Christians in Germany, France, and Italy about him. The Puritans often used his sad end as an illustration of the eternal sin. Define unpardonable. unpardonable synonyms, unpardonable pronunciation, unpardonable translation, English dictionary definition of unpardonable. adj not excusable ...
The thought that a sin could be so bad that it is unforgivable sometimes leads people to fear that they may have committed it. That’s why it is important to understand the context of this statement, which Jesus made to the Pharisees. Although they had seen compelling evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, the Pharisees refused to believe in Him.
Constantine University in eastern Algeria, in which he admitted to what he described as unpardonable past crimes by France in Algeria.. ANC Daily News Briefing-- ` Well, 'he went on, ` just you look in the Bible, and you'll find that there's what they call the unpardonable sin -- there's no forgiveness for those who've been guilty of it; and if there's truth in that Bible, there's no ...
Dec 28, 2016 · What is the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit? There are many sins against the Holy Spirit, but when people ask about the sin against the Holy Spirit, they are asking (and often worrying) about the sin that cannot be forgiven. There are three places in the Bible where Jesus talks about this sin. They basically say the same thing. May 16, 2020 · If a sin was unforgivable, then it means God refuses to offer forgiveness for certain sins. But that contradicts the nature of God. " For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You " ( Psalms 86:5 ). This desire to forgive is extended to all people. Nov 22, 2019 · WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the third episode of The Mandalorian, "The Sin," streaming now on Disney+.. All of those comparisons to the samurai epic Lone Wolf and Cub appeared to be crushed early in the third episode of The Mandalorian where, instead of heading into the Star Wars galaxy's Unknown Regions, the bounty hunter dutifully returned the adorable Asset (better known as ... The unforgivable sin is blasphemy ("defiant irreverence") of the Holy Spirit in the context of the Spirit's work in the world through Christ. In other words, the particular case of blasphemy seen in Matthew 12 and Mark 3 is unique.The unpardonable sin is therefore a national sin that was committed during Jesus’ first coming by ‘this generation’ in Israel who blasphemed the Holy Spirit. This sin has far-reaching consequences but cannot be committed today. Importantly, all is not lost for the nation of Israel. Jun 03, 2018 · From what I have been told and understand, that the unforgivable sin is not something that just happens out of the blue or a random thought that enters your mind, but a premeditated or deliberate act of knowing who he was and what he was about and willfully rejecting him anyways, as the pharisees were self righteous zealots.
Nov 21, 2020 · If it is not possible for anyone whom God has chosen to declare justified, through the way He made in His own Son, to escape God, can they, using sound reasoning, sin the unpardonable sin? We do have a thought process today that has thrown out objectivity, rationality, and sound reasoning.
An image tagged kirby has found your sin unforgivable,shrek. Create. Make a Meme Make a GIF Make a ... oh i thought gen memes ment the older version lol. reply ... Jun 10, 2014 · Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit, John Bunyan, John Greenleaf Whittier, Scripture, Story, unpardonable sin, When John Bunyan Thought He Committed the Unpardonable Sin. Post navigation ← Thoughts for the New Christian Convert…From the Life of Paul. Evergrey "Unforgivable Sin": Lonely thoughts from a lonely mind He fights for recognition Desperate tries only increasing the pre... Can the Unpardonable sin be committed through thought? Find answers now! No. 1 Questions & Answers Place.
"I been suffering from terrible blasphemous thoughts against God , Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I have mental torment , feel depression, anxiety for many years. I feel condemmed , far from God , and going to Hell, because I fear that I may have commited the unpardonable sin , according to the Bible passage in Matthew 12:32.
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There are two biblical passages which state that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a sin that God will never forgive (i.e., the so-called “unpardonable sin). In Mathew 12:31-32, Jesus Christ asserts, “I say unto you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. […] May 31, 2015 · THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN Matthew 12:30-31 30 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. 31 "Therefore * I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall beforgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
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May 24, 2019 · These three words—the unforgivable sin—have caused untold anguish to many who have misunderstood their meaning and thought they had committed this grievous sin of all sins. Maybe they had become angry in a time of bitter disappointment or loss and let their rage fly, cursing God.
An intrusive thought is an involuntary, unwanted image, phrase, or impulse. They are very common; nearly everyone has them from time to time. Sometimes they are of a violent nature, other times they are sexual. Often they are blasphemous or induce great fear of having done a ritual incorrectly.
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That's right folks, I, Harry James Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, Gryffindor Golden Boy, committed the Unforgivable Sin, the Unpardonable Sin. Others have committed it before me, of course. Tom, his Death Eaters, even Albus Dumbledore committed the Unforgivable Sin. And probably hundreds of people, wizard and muggle, before us.
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Dec 06, 2019 · A Simple Explanation Some scholars assert that the only unforgivable sin is the rejection of Jesus Christ's offer of salvation—his free gift of eternal life, which includes the forgiveness of sin. If one does not accept God’s free gift, he or she cannot be forgiven.
Jun 21, 2020 · From the moment those words were written down and credited to Jesus, the question has been asked, “What is the unpardonable sin?” Jesus, in this verse was ambiguous, as he was in so many verses,...
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Aug 11, 2020 · I have multiple people ask me during my time in ministry if they had committed the unforgivable sin. If you are asking, you probably didn’t. What is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? It goes back to Mark 3:2. Jesus has been healing people and casting out demons. He has also done this, in the first two chapters of Mark, on the Sabbath. Apr 30, 2018 · Re Think everything you thought you Knew ... What is the Unforgivable Sin? April 30, 2018. Greg looks at the ONE thing that can get you kicked out of God’s presence
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An Unforgivable Secret Amish Secrets Book 1 PDF ☆ Secret Amish ePUB ´ Secret Amish Secrets Book ePUB Á An Unforgivable PDF or Unforgivable Secret Amish eBook ↠ Hannah has a good life A beautiful home a loving husband and a wonderful Amish community are only a few of her daily blessings But she has carried a heavy burden for years a secret that no one must know When tra.
Since there’s so much confusion and fear regarding the unpardonable sin—what it is and what it is not—I wrote this simple guide to offer you peace of mind and clarification. Multitudes of Christians have been confused about the true nature of this sin, and some even live in constant fear that they have, or will, commit it.
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Aug 27, 2017 · Download MP3: Matthew 12:22-32 – The Unpardonable Sin Matthew 12:22-32 , “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. Jul 10, 2010 · Lately, I had bad thoughts in my mind. i tried to tell my mind not to say anything bad to the holy spirot, but i slipped up somehow. The Holy Spirit did not convict me and I had been searching through google to find the answers why. I also had the feeling that God has not forgiven me or had I really committed the unpardonable sin? I still try to repent, but I do not see anything happening ...


September 2020 Theme – Returning Home
As we walk this journey in life, we can, at times, be tossed and turned by conditions and circumstances. We can, occasionally, get thrown off course and lose our way. We can, now and again, forget who we are. Has anything like that ever happened to you? If it has, then this month will serve you in a profound way as we Return Home, home to the Source of All Good.
September 13 – Returning Home to the Changeless
Today, we build our foundation for handling change—any kind of change, whether it’s the type of change that causes us to say “Thank Goodness” or “Goodness, No!” Using Jesus’ analogy of the man who built his house on solid rock, we return home to the ever-present, unchanging Power of God.
September 20 – Returning Home to Peace
Yes, we actually can get there from here — if we are willing to bridge the gap, even when the terrain gets shaky and uncomfortable. Today, we will shine the light on what may be causing the bridge to rock and roll, and we will put one foot in front of the other to cross it anyway.
September 27 – Returning Home in Faith
We could all benefit by returning home in faith, couldn’t we? The real question is: faith in WHAT? We all have a lot of faith, but in what do we have faith? Often times, especially in challenging times, our faith in misplaced. Today, we return home to a faith in the beneficence of God, in the Unity of all life and in the integrity of the Universe. Come today and test your faith!
October 4 – Returning Home to Truth
We round out our month of Returning Home by returning home to Truth, the Spiritual Truth that when we keep our eyes lifted to Spirit we can create miracles, we can attain lofty goals and dreams and we can create day-to-day lives that simply work better!
This Month’s Affirmation
Today I return home to the Divine that I am as I see beyond appearances and see only God in all situations. I return home to the knowing that God is the Source of all my Good. Today, I return home to Truth.


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Hi all: It’s been a long time. Just want you to know my New Book on Discipleship is now available, Barnes and Noble, Amazon or Xulon Press. Go out and get yourself one.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Thanks be to the Lord for allowing us to see the beginning of a New Year. His return is now even closer than when we first believed. Let us be diligent in using every opportunity to serve Him. As the … Continue reading
A new, better, and more meaningful life can be yours if you will surrender to the master,


"The Children of God "The Family of Love" or "The Family and is currently "The Family International". This is when the Children of God expanded and became known as the Family International. His very distant Jewish ancestry notwithstanding - in 1745, one of his mother's forebears, Jewish by birth but Christian by choice, moved to the American colonies and lived as a Mennonite 5 - David Berg was outspokenly anti-Semitic, believing that the Jews were responsible for. 14 15 Sociological views The sociologist. Moses David, was the founder and leader of the new religious movement initially called Teens for Christ (1968 then later The Children of God (1969 now called. Berg also informally adopted Ricky Rodriguez, the son of his second wife (and present leader of The Family) Karen Zerby. Berg called on his followers to devote their full time to spreading the message of Jesus ' love and salvation as far and wide as possible, unfettered by convention or tradition, and to teach others to do the same.
"Murder and Suicide Reviving Claims of Child Abuse in Cult". His maternal forefathers were German Jews who converted to Christianity in the mid-eighteenth century. Disciples of Christ, a restoration movement that developed into the current Protestant denomination Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In the 1970s and 1980s sexually suggestive photographic depictions of Rodriguez (aka "Davidito with adult caretakers were disseminated throughout the group by Berg and Zerby in a child rearing handbook known as "The Story of Davidito". Sociological views The sociologist. After running into trouble with local authorities for his aggressive disapproval with evolution being taught as fact in public schools, Berg moved his family to Fred Jordan's Texas Soul Clinic, in Western Texas. John Lincoln Brandt, Berg's grandfather, had a dramatic conversion in his mid-twenties and immediately entered full-time Christian service. Like his father, Berg became a minister in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and was placed at Valley Farms, Arizona. Christian and Missionary Alliance, shortly before David Berg's birth. Berg lived in seclusion, communicating with his followers and the public via nearly 3,000 "Mo Letters" 2 Mo" from his pseudonym "Moses David that he wrote on a wide variety of subjects.
David Brandt Berg (18 February 1919 in Oakland, California, United States - in Portugal frequently known by the pseudonym Moses David. David Berg graduated from Monterey High School (in California) in 1935 and later attended Elliott School of Business Administration. Cedar Walton, Bob Berg, Curtis Fuller, David 12:22.


Helen J. Grogean, age 89, of Versailles passed away at 3:00 am Sunday, December 18, 2022.
Helen was born August 3, 1933, in Sidney to the late Edward J. & Margaret H. (Schaefer) Pleiman. Helen was also preceded in death by her husband, James “Jim” Walter Grogean Sr. on June 28, 2001, whom she married May 25, 1957; son-in-law, Rob Combs; brothers & sisters-in-law, Ed Pleiman Jr., Nick & Rosie Pleiman and Jim & Joan Pleiman; sisters & brother-in-law, Delores & Robert Van Leeuwen and Sr. Grace Mariam Pleiman S.F.P.; and in laws, Norbert Dahlinghaus, John Grillot, Jan Pleiman, Larry Harlamert, Robert Grogean and Patricia & Paul Francis.
Helen is survived by her sons & daughters-in-law, Kevin & Lisa Grogean, Kenzie & Deb Grogean and Jim & Jane Grogean Jr.; daughters & sons-in-law, Tina Combs, Stephanie & Ken Swallow and Trudy & Mike Koverman; 19 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren and 1 expected; siblings, twin sister, Ellen Grillot, Mary Dahlinghaus, Jerome Pleiman, Johanna & Charlie Koesters and Teresa & Bill Winner; sisters-in-law, Linda & Herb Ranly and Mary Grogean; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Helen was a homemaker. She was a member of St. Denis Catholic Church in Versailles. A private funeral service will be held at Bailey Zechar Funeral Home in Versailles with Fr. Ned Brown officiating. Burial will follow in St. Valbert Cemetery in Versailles. Memorial contributions may be made to EverHeart Hospice in Greenville. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.zecharbailey.com for the Grogean family.


"And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing'." (Luke 4: 20-21 NRSV)
In chapter twenty of "We Make the Road by Walking," Brian McLaren takes us into the early days of Jesus' public ministry in Galilee. Of particular interest is his visit to his hometown synagogue of Nazareth. McLaren offers a challenge in this story, and I'll present that challenge to you as well.
At a particular point in the Jewish Sabbath ritual, men are allowed to read from a particular scripture and offer comment on it, much like Christians today are used to hearing a pastor or priest give a sermon or homily. Imagine sitting in the synagogue in Nazareth that day. Jesus himself would be a familiar site, after all he had grown up in your town. He'd probably read and offered comment in the synagogue before as well. Let's say you've enjoyed what Jesus has had to say, so you settle in and look forward to it.
Jesus asks for, and receives the scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He begins to read and then gets to the part which we today know as the first verses of Isaiah 61: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free."
We love verses like that today, don't we? Certainly the people in the synagogue that day probably did as well. As McLaren mentions, these kinds of verses give us hope that someday somebody will come along and really set things right. This would have been especially meaningful back then as the people were living under Roman rule and oppression. They were looking for that Messiah who could come and toss out the Romans and set things right, someday, they believed, he would come.
McLaren suggests that message could very well have been what the men in the synagogue were expecting to hear from Jesus that day. Someday, perhaps someday soon, the Messiah will come and set things right. Are we as Christians in the same boat? I think many of us are. How many times have each of us sat in church over the years and listened to somebody read verses like these, maybe out of Revelation, and talk about how wonderful it will be when Jesus returns in glory and sets everything right? I bet most of us have, multiple times. These messages give us hope, hope for a better tomorrow.
But then Jesus goes in a totally different direction. He says: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Wait now, what did he say? He's not promising a better tomorrow, he's suggesting something better....today. He's not suggesting that there will be some glorious afterlife with streets paved with gold, he's suggesting something that's happening....now.
There was some excitement in this. Perhaps this man was a new prophet, could he, just maybe, be the promised Messiah? And hey look, that's Joseph's son! He's one of our own! This man proclaiming this bold new message is one of us, from Nazareth, how awesome IS THAT?
But then thinks get ugly. Jesus resorts to two stories from the Old Testament prophets Elijah and Elisha, about how they went outside their own people to do some of their deeds, and how displeased some were back then. You and the other folks are starting to get confused, and as his point starts to dawn on you, you start to get mad. This guy isn't preaching some new thing just for you, but he's talking about others, outsiders! This good news is meant for us, not for all of those sinners, rule breakers, and the OTHERS. This guy is a heretic!
At that point, you and your buddies, in a fit of righteous, or shall we say self-righteous, anger, drive Jesus from the synagogue and corner him on a nearby cliff, where you're ready to give him the old heave-ho.
That's pretty scary stuff. However, Jesus holds out long enough and is eventually able to pass through the crowd without harm and continue his ministry, a ministry that would be marked by the calling of dirty fishermen and tax collectors, a ministry that would heal those with the most untouchable diseases, a ministry that would exalt adultresses and prostitutes over the "righteous" religious folks of the day, a ministry that would turn the world on its head even centuries later.
McLaren challenges us first to think about this kind of a situation today. Imagine if some very charismatic guy, or girl, popped up on the all the cable news networks and started to say: "The time is NOW! This is the time for bringing about the kingdom of God. This is the time for ending violence and oppression. This is the time to treat the poor with dignity and make sure everyone has a place at the table. This is the time to expand the blessings of modern medical care to everyone no matter their ability to pay for it. This is the time for peace, justice, and reconciliation."
Moreover, this message is for EVERYBODY! This light, this new life of service and sacrifice, of peace and understanding isn't just for Christians or people we think follow all the rules. The life, the light of all people is for everyone regardless of creed. This life is for everyone regardless of gender. No more are there to be things that people are excluded from because of gender. This life is for everyone, no matter their skin color. Now is the time for prejudice to cease, especially prejudice in the name of religion. This life is for everyone, straight, gay, lesbian, or transgender. No longer are we to discriminate against people because of who they love. All are God's children, made in his image, and engraved upon the palm of his hand.
Well, how would you feel about taking part in that message? Not just the parts you agree with, mind you, all of it. Love all, serve all. Would you be one that would join in and be a disciple of this person, or would you be one of those who would be more interested in tossing this individual off of the proverbial cliff? We've seen the attitudes toward Pope Francis with some of these very things. It's not always pleasant, and there are things listed above that I'm sure he won't even touch, such as gender issues.
McLaren quite startlingly argues that many Christians today would seem to be in the camp that's ready to throw Christ off of a cliff, and it can be over any of those issues listed above. In our culture poor people are looked upon as inferior. Many of us still lean on ancient bits of the Bible in order to continue to justify legal discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. Many of our most important positions in our workplaces, governments, and faiths remain closed to women.
As I've commented on several times before, the inclusiveness of Christ has been totally lost in many of our churches. It's one of the main reasons why, years ago, I left church. Fortunately through people like Pastor Gary and organizations like the United Methodist Church, I've finally found a place that not only accepts and loves me, but welcomes and loves everybody with the open arms of Christ. A place where you don't even have to be a Christian to partake in the Supper of the Lord.
I firmly believe that the table of Christ, the banquet of love is set and open for all. It is unfortunate that as the poor, the outcast, the women, the gay people, and even people of other faiths and no faith sometimes come to that table, the Christians, the "righteous," turn their noses in the air as Christ welcomes all to his table of peace, justice, and love.
Words like McLaren's have challenged me, and comforted me, Not only are all of these welcome at the table of Christ, but so am I, despite my shortcomings and failures, which are many. You are welcome at this table too, at anytime, free of judgement under the grace of Christ given for all. If people judge you, come to me. I will not. I will be happy to chat with anyone regarding faith and the love of Christ.
The time is now. Will you join me, will you join Christ and proclaim peace, love and justice for all? The more of us that do that, the more of us that gather around the table and break bread together, the better our lives and our world can become.


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Mark Eastwood is author and owner of Spain Made From time to time we get emails on who we are and what we do, so we decided to add this little story of my move to Spain for all of you who like to know.
Then watch the video and do the task to check your understanding.
This is what the title "Archangel" means, that he is above all the others in rank. Michael has four main responsibilities or offices, as we ... Gabriel is an angel who serves as a messenger for God to certain people. Gabriel is mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible. Angels of the Church The Fallen Angels The Nine Choirs of Angels Angel Encounters Angels in the Bible Prayers to the Angels St. John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee and Salome, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus.
First, in the Old Testament, Gabriel appears to the prophet Daniel to explain his ... John was called to be an Apostle by our Lord in the first year of His public ministry. continue reading John the Baptist was a contemporary of Christ who was known for evangelization and his baptizing of Jesus Christ.
Once Raphael returns from his journey with Tobiah, he declares to Tobit that he was sent by the Lord to heal his blindness and deliver Sarah, Tobiah's future wife, from the demon Asmodeus.
It is then that his true healing powers are revealed and he makes himself known as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord" Tobit .
I was wondering whether you are planning to reduce your carbon footprint and whether all your products are ethically sourced?
Philip Hart: That’s a very good question..that’s something we’re moving towards at the moment...
Because of the healing powers often linked to Raphael, the angel spoken of is generally associated with St. He is often pictured holding a staff and either holding or standing on a fish. Bishop of Trier, Germany, from 332, and a miracle worker. He was deep in the practices of heathenism and had a number of golden idols, which he distributed ...
His feast day is celebrated on September 29, along with St. He was probably born at Silly, France, and succeeded St. continue reading More Female Saints Saint Michael the Archangel isn't a saint, but rather he is an angel, and the leader of all angels and of the army of God. Angels with Names Guardian Angels Man lower than Angels?
Raphael is one of the seven Archangels who stand before the throne of the Lord, and one of the only three mentioned by name in the Bible. Raphael's name means "God heals." This identity came about because of the biblical story that claims he "healed" the earth when it was defiled by the sins of the fallen angels in the apocryphal book of Enoch.Tags: Adult Dating, affair dating, sex dating


In Transylvania, not far from Shighisoara, at the end of a very bad road (fortunately, not too long), is located Viscri, a village that seems frozen in 17th century. The village has become famous since Prince Charles has acquired there a residence. Although the village itself and the surroundings are not so captivating, the old fortified church that dominates the village from a short hill, is splendid and worth paying a visit.
For the Transylvanian villages, the churches played, centuries ago, beside the spiritual meaning, another important role for the communities. On the occasion of the invasions of the barbarians, people and domestic animals were looking for protection within the tall walls of these fortified churches. There are plenty of these kind of churches in Transylvania, and the most of them are truly beautiful and very picturesque.
Viscri, the fortified church
A piece of pig fat, hung in a naturally ventilated chamber. These chambers were used by the whole community to keep and protect the meat.
The interior of the church
DETAILS OF THE INTERIOR


If laughter is the best medicine, then I’d like to think music is a close second. I discovered around the age of 18 that I have an ear for playing music, which is a blessing and a curse. I’m confessing that my love for music borders on problematic. Most days if I’m running behind I can blame it on the irresistible gravitational pull of that glorious black and white keyed beast that lives in our living room. Other times, the guitar is impugned. If the jazz bars would have me and I could pay the bills, I’m afraid medicine might become my hobby.
Listening to music is equally appealing. Mozart helps the infant brain grow and the college student score higher in math. Whether it’s Beatles or Stones, Rock or Country, Jazz or Classical, music can lift the spirit, infuse the soul and send us flying. Have you ever seen someone singing in the car, smiling, oblivious to the hubbub around them? Or, how about after your first breakup, when somehow every song on the radio seemed perplexingly written just for you.
The Christmas season brings with it some of our favorite music. The classics, so jazzy and light, so uplifting and spiritual – aaah, there’s a reason they are classics. Being a music buff, I’d like to share some little known history of a few Holiday favorites.
Austrian Catholic priest Joseph Mohr penned one of the most beloved and well-known songs, ‘Silent Night’, in 1818. The church pipe organ had broken and Franz Gruber hastily composed the music for a tenor, a bass and two guitars. That same night it was heard for the first time at Midnight Mass. The song quickly became a favorite around Austria, then the world, and it was the 1850s before the anonymous composers knew of its success.
“Gloria in Excelsis Deo” was called from peak to peak on Christmas Eve by shepherds in the south of France, announcing the birth of Christ. The song, “Angels We Have Heard on High” was first published in a carol collection that dates 1855.
“Joy to the World”, penned in 1719 by English hymnist and cleric Isaac Watts was based on Psalm 98 in the Old Testament. The “Carol of the Bells” was originally a Ukrainian folk song intended to be sung a-capella, celebrating the joyous bounty of the season.
“Adeste Fideles” was written in France around 1750 by British exile John Francis Wade, and a century later British clergyman Frederick Oakeley turned out the English version, “O Come, All Ye Faithful”. He translated the song because he felt if congregations had good literary texts to sing, they would sing well.
Modern day composers, such as Johny Marks who wrote “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, provided the songs for legendary singers like Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby, who made the Christmas songs into classics. Judy Garland made “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” famous in the 1944 film Meet Me in St Louis. Gene Autry wrote “Here Comes Santa Claus” and his singing made “Frosty the Snowman” a huge hit in 1951.
Even the great geniuses of American musical theater, Rodgers and Hammerstein, gave us some great Christmas tunes with “My Favorite Things”, from the 1959 Sound of Music. In the stage version, Maria sings a duet with her Mother Superior in the covenant, listing the many things in her life she could not give up as a nun – whiskers on kittens, brown paper packages tied up with string….
When it comes to Christmas recordings, here are some of our family favorites: A Very Special Acoustic Christmas by assorted artists, My Kind of Christmas by Christina Aguliera, Go Tell it on the Mountain by The Blind Boys of Alabama, When My Heart Finds Christmas by Harry Connick, Jr, Yule B’ Swingin’ by assorted artists, and of course the timeless classic of all classics, The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole.
George Frideric Handel composed the oratorio, “Messiah” in 1741, and the “Hallelujah” chorus is perhaps one of the most celebrated works of the Christmas season. There is a story told about this chorus… that Handel’s assistant walked in to Handel’s room after shouting to him for several minutes with no response. The assistant reportedly found him in tears, and when asked what was wrong, Handel held up the score to this movement and said, “I thought I saw the face of God.”
My prescription for the holiday season is to ‘eat, drink, and be merry’ – eat rich but healthy, drink in moderation, and merrily enjoy the simple beauty of the songs that celebrate the reason for the season.
Scott Rollins, MD, is Board Certified with the American Board of Family Practice and the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. When not practicing medicine he can usually be found playing music.


News & Announcements
TFS supports Operation Christmas Child
The Tallulah Falls School chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the TFS middle school “Hornets” sponsored a shoe box drive to benefit Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of the Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse. TFS students filled more than 65 shoeboxes packed with toys, school and hygiene items which are shipped by Samaritan’s Purse to children in need around the globe.
Cyndy Campbell, a physical education teacher at the TFS middle school, has led the school’s support of the project for years.
“Operation Christmas Child enhances the TFS focus on character,” Campbell said. “It gives our students an opportunity to give back to those less fortunate. We tell our students to be a blessing to others and you will receive a blessing in return. Our students answered the call by filling these boxes and praying over them as they make their way all over the world.”
Since it began in 1993 more than 135 million children in 150 countries have received an Operation Christmas Child gift box. More than 500,000 volunteers worldwide, with more than 100,000 of those in the United States, are involved in collecting, shipping, and distributing shoebox gifts.
Photo courtesy of Tallulah Falls School


Men’s Ministry at Grace UCC
Our men’s ministry at Grace UCC reaches beyond our bi-monthly men’s group. The Men of Grace UCC are involved in various efforts at Grace including serving on our Consistory, Lay Life, Property Maintenance, Audio / Visual Team, Recognition Program, Investments Management . . . and with our Men’s Group.
Our fourth Tuesdays began as a second evening of the month for us to gather over food to get to know each other better. The question was posed “If we are striving to be better Christians, what better way than to spend time with other Christians with the same goal?” The answer was to gather for a meal together to talk about life.
We currently use our fourth Tuesdays to further our study, but the difference is that we bring something for dinner and have our discussions over dinner.


“We need to move from an ego driven need to be right to a soulful desire to be faithful.” – Michael Hildalgo
While refreshing my Facebook page, I came across this article called “What’s wrong with playing Theology Police?” and decided to read it. I was challenged immediately, especially since so much of this blogging course has revolved around sharing our opinions and sometimes getting offended and trying to always prove we are right.
A few things really struck me while reading this article. We need to realise no matter how deep the desire is to be right, we are not 100 percent correct about everything. I admit, I am one of those individuals who, like many, struggle with this. We want to be right all the time and refuse to proven wrong. It’s time to eat some humble pie, grow up and admit that there is a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ to everything we say, do and believe.
I also realised how quickly others jump into an intellectual argument to combat other’s beliefs and when this happens it is so often met with hostility, which gets you nowhere. I am often too shy to start these conversations so I often find myself on the other side of the conversation, feeling hostile and closed to other’s opinions. I feel we should shift our mindset. One from seeing theory, theology, intelligence (or whatever we may use to prove a point) as a weapon against other people but rather as a vehicle that moves us toward being more faithful to our beliefs and values.
In this context to be faithful is to remain with steadfast devotion to someone or something. This someone or something is the thing that shapes you, your moral values and your view on the world. And for me, this means being faithful to our God in my relationship with him. Trusting that God will show me the right way and having enough trust to do that even though it may be the harder thing to do, but knowing God has my back. For others this could be the belief in the common good for all, or any other thing that a person might use to shape who they are. When we focus on being faithful to our beliefs, what is right and wrong becomes readily available.
Another important thing that I can learn from the article is this: be faithful with love. If you do not love, you give or gain nothing, our actions become quite meaningless if they are not given out of love. Or they mean so much more when done out of love.
Perhaps a modern paraphrase for us today would be: “If I have my doctrinal statement nailed down flawlessly and am able to prove myself right by quoting verses to support my theology, but do not have love, I am dead wrong.”
Reading this challenged me in a new way. In the past few weeks I have realised how important it is to have a reason for your beliefs in certain things in order to properly articulate yourself with others so they can understand where you’re coming from. But are my arguments/reasons said or done out of love? Sometimes not. Once again I have to eat some humble pie.
Some practical things I can do is to not speak if I am not willing to listen. This will need much practise. If my desire is truly to be faithful, then I would be open to accepting criticism, humbly receiving correction and inviting others to offer their insights. This is the journey I am inviting myself on.
We are greatly limited in how others will receive our comments, but we are not limited in how we share them.
I want to grow my responses to promote more thoughtful, faithful dialogue and not feed argumentative detachment. Afterall, we are called to unity, and not division.


Ministry Opportunities for Christian Service and Growth:
CDs - Provide CDs of our church services for people who are unable to attend church.
Dorcas Ministry - Provide baskets of items for the sick.
Food Pantry - Provide food for those in need.
Good News Club - After school, faith based, character education program at Westside Elementary.
Gospel Stick Saturday - 1st Saturday in December.
Jail - Every Sunday morning we provide a preaching service and Bible study for the inmates at the Baker County jail.
Ladies' Prayer Breakfast - Scheduled approximately four times throughout the year.
Men's Prayer Circle - Our men gather before each service to pray and sign cards of sympathy, get well wishes and encouragement.
Missionary Correspondence - Cards of encouragement, birthday, anniversary.
Needle Ladies - Ladies' fellowship with emphasis on meeting the needs of the widows in our church.
Nursery - Nursery provided for ages 6 weeks to 3 years old for all services.
Nursing Home - Services on Tuesdays and 4th/5th Sundays.
Salt Shakers - Cook meals for those in need.
Saturday Visitation - Church-wide, two times a year.
Senior Saints - Various fellowships/meals planned during the year.
Summer Bible Club - Week of Bible stories, games and crafts for kids.
Teen Activities - Service projects, Bible studies, and monthly social activities.
Teen Summer Camp - Week of Bible preaching, devotions and recreation.
Trinity Rescue Mission - Every 5th Friday night of the month.
Visitation - Every Tuesday night and various Tuesday mornings. See Calendar for times and dates.


PLEASE NOTE WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE:
TO VIEW GO TO
We also have a new email address:
Please contact us on the new address.
N.B. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE TIME OF THE VIGIL MASS IS NOW 4.30 p.m. ON SATURDAYS
Bishop Toal has appointed me Parish Priest of
St. Stephen's Coatbridge. This is in addition to my role as
Parish Priest of Holy Trinity & All Saints.
I am happy to take up this position and look forward to the challenge.
This will be effective from Friday the 3rd of June 2016.
I'll remain in residence at Coatdyke.
Cards giving details of the new times of Masses, Eucharistic Services and Confessions are available at each entrance in the church.
Please remember me in your prayers as we begin together a new chapter in our parish communities.
Our Repository where you can
buy religious objects, Mass Cards and
greetings cards is at the front of the church.
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ON SALE AT THE BACK OF THE CHURCH:
Scottish Catholic Observer; The Universe, The Catholic Times and Irish World.
MAGAZINES ON SALE AT THE BACK OF THE CHURCH:
Bible Alive; Sacred Heart Messenger;
St. Martin Magazine and
My Day by Day.
JOHN PAUL RETREATS
is an apartment where bereaved parents and siblings come and spend a free weekly stay after losing their beloved child from any age.
Losing a child results in life long struggles and emotional burdens that have to be faced on a
John Paul retreats in the tranquil environment of the Isle of Bute brings some comfort and peace. During the stay the parents are then offered follow up contacts with The Compassionate Friends (charity working with bereaved parents and siblings) where professional assistance in their stages of grief wll be given.
Further information can be found on their website
Please inform Father Hughes of your intended stay in Hospital.
In preparation for going, you may want to receive the Sacrament of Sick.
When being admitted to the Ward please inform those in charge
that you are a Roman Catholic and would be happy to see the Chaplain.
Often Holy Communion is distributed in hospitals on a Sunday.
EXPOSITION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT:
Every Friday evening there is a Holy Hour from 7.00 till 8.00 p.m.
This is where you have an opportunity to spend time before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
Just being still and quiet in His presence and letting his love come to you will fill your hearts and souls with a calm serenity and peace of mind. So at the end of a hard and stressful week why not come and spend a few moments to experience the great peace and tranquility that will see you through the week ahead.
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On a Monday evening after the 7.30 p.m. Mass and Novena, there is Bingo in the Hall. Come along, bring your friends, enjoy a couple of games of bingo, a cup of tea and a laugh.
Rotas for Eucharistic Ministers and Readers
are also available. Just go to the section headed “Groups” then click on the appropriate heading and you will see them.
Under the section headed “More” there are links to various websites, e.g. Diocese of Motherwell, SCIAF, Lourdes etc. Just click on the relevant link and that will take you to the chosen website. You can also find the vocations directors for the diocese.