Message for May

As we continue in our Easter Season and move into Spring, it is a great time to look at how we grow in our faith. We are Easter people, and we need to take the Easter season into our daily lives. What does that mean to you and how does that change the way that we act? We have a long history of people who put their faith into action and stepped up when things needed to be done. Now it is our turn, what legacy are we going to hand on to the next generation? How are we going to show them that our faith makes a difference in our lives? This is the time to really find ways to grow in our Faith journey.

I believe that there are three important ways to grow in our Faith :
1. To Attend Worship
2. To spend time daily in prayer
3. To study God’s word

Let me explain each of these and tell you why I believe that they are essential to growing in our Faith life. Attending Worship is important because it puts us in communion with other believers and helps us to connect with others. When we do not attend worship on a regular basis then we grow weak, and we tend to fall away from the practice of our faith. We let little things slip and then we tend to forget about our faith, and it does affect our daily lives. We now have alternative ways to attend worship. If we are homebound, we can attend on line. If we can get to church, it is always better to go in person. Worshippingtogether as the body of Christ is what we were created for.

Taking time out of our busy lives to pray daily. Prayer involves both speaking to God and allowing God to speak to us. The group practice of prayer is one form of communion with God, where we gather as his body of Christ on earth and we support one another and care for one another. By praying together, we encounter God in the tangible love and care of the community who journeys with us. “Prayer is none other than an expanding of our hearts in the presence of God” – John Calvin

Studying God’s word is just as important. The more that we understand God’s word and how it applies to our lives the better we can learn from it and grow into it. Sunday sermons can not fulfill this aspect as the time of sermon can not give us the depth and challenge that a bible study or taking time to study ourselves can give us. Bible study also allows the scriptures to come alive for us and as we better understand the message that they contain we also see how they feed our lives.

The Apostle Paul understood this when he wrote. “Rejoice always, pray without ceas-ing , give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.: - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

As we continue our Easter Season may all of us find a new way to grow in our Spiritual life and May we all grow in our love of our Mothers the first and best teachers of God’s Love. THANKS MOM
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Sincerely,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch