got a call from a church member looking for able bodied persons to help him move 27 may in endicott.  i told him that you all are busy moving yourselves about, but i'm posting this in the off chance that hangers about would be interested.  email me for details.

discussion group starts again in june.

small group starts again in june.

venue meets again in june.

think june.

blessings,

bryne

got art?
get coffee.

venue thurs

may 4  7-9pm

rm 131 UCCC

at small group, we are studying cost of discipleship by dietrich bonhoeffer.  we just finished the chapter on prayer (matt 6:5-8).  the big take away lesson was that faith is the basis of prayer life...  faith in God's ability and willingness to carry out his best intentions for me. when you were little you might casually ask your dad for a glass of milk.  you had a reasonable expectation that it was no big deal and you would probably end up with a glass of milk.  if not, there was probably a pretty good reason like mom needed the last of it for a recipe or it was too close to dinner.  now, remember asking you dad for that extra $50 or to borrow the car.  there is some expectation on your behalf that your dad will say no.  so you plan out exactly how you might ask, when it would be best to approach him.

we need to pray to God with a "glass of milk" kind of attitude.  not trying to manipulate him with all kinds of spiritual language or impressive speech.  God is impressed by the heart that is grounded in trust in Him.   

i challenged the small group to pray through the Lord's prayer this week and comment here on what they discovered.  i throw out that challenge to all of you.  pray through the Lord's prayer this week, thinking about your heart before God.  i'm pretty sure i can guarantee that it will be profitable.

our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth.  give us this day our daily bread.  forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.  lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

amen.

blessings,
bryne

Venue Artcafe

april 6, 7-9pm

union center christian church

venue  artcafe

a venue for college students to showcase their creative work: poetry, photography, visual art, and music.

a venue to meet new people, share new ideas, and enjoy a cafe environment.

bring your creative work. 
share our coffee.
it's that easy.

email me for more info or stop by the church website for directions.  www.unioncenter.org

hope to see you there.

don't know what's with the black line.  hmmm...

as good as my word

we are studying pelagianism at FISH BOWL.   it might even take two weeks as there are a lot of issues swirling around this one.  and augustine deserves two weeks i think.

assignment:  practice saying traducianism.  i'll practice spelling it.

welcome back to all those who have been away.  love to all those townies out there and to macia townie princess.

we are looking forward to cafe on april 6th, 7-9pm at uccc.  if you have any poetry, visual art, bring it along to share.  we are really trying to create a creative environment.

blessings,

bryne

Damaged package

when my son was born, a friend called to say she was mailing a package for him.  i was excited and waited eagerly for it to arrive.  (there's something wholesome about real mail.)  we waited and waited and finally the package slipped out of mind until one day i received a notice from the post office that i had to pick up a package.

i go to the pick-up and the postal clerk hands me a badly battered box with a plush pig hanging out of it.  i said, more to myself out of shock than to him to complain, "what happened to the package?!"

cooly he replied, "were you mailing the package or the pig?"

sometimes we can get distracted by damage to the package, when the package was only ever secondary to what we were trying to accomplish. 

think about christmas.  you spend all that time making all those packages pretty just so the recipient can rip through the paper and ribbons to get at the present inside.  the point isn't the paper, but the gift inside.  in fact, if the paper and ribbons don't get ripped off, the present won't ever be adequately revealed.

it makes me think about the verses written by paul in  2 cor 4 "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,  that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.  We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed..."  when the package is damaged, there is an opportunity to expose what is underneath.  when we are trodden on, struck down, there is a vital opportunity for jesus to be shown.  maybe the damage is even necessary so that the packaging... our life styles, ambitions, possessions... don't become the point, but remain only the means to glorify God.

union center was broken into saturday night.  there was a lot of malicious damage and some property stolen.  please pray for the staff as they try to sort things out in the office. pray for their  involvement with the local authorities.  pray for the person or persons that did the damage.  pray that jesus christ would show through the cracks.