Friday, February 9, 2024

As another work week comes to an end, we are getting ready to praise and worship God together on Sunday! Here is a text I came across this week from Psalm 103...

                    "Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your
                      personal age and situation] with good so that your youth,
                      renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]!"
                                                (Psalm 103:5  AMP)

No matter what age you are, we all feel as if life is passing us by too fast. We may feel we're "old" at thirty or forty, fifty or sixty. Or we don't feel "old" at all but wonder how those wrinkles got so deep. We look at our lives, frustrated that we haven't been able to do more. What happened to all those dreams that got put on hold?
   
Young people are full of expectation. Their futures are wide open, and the whole world seems to be theirs for the taking. They start new schools, jobs, or projects with excitement and anticipation. Why should parents and grandparents be any less expectant? As parents our priorities naturally change from pursuing our own personal passions to helping our children discover and pursue theirs. But God has not withdrawn God's special dream for you. Renew your youth by reviving your dream. Stir up those latent desires tucked away in your heart. All things are possible with God!  
   
When you feel like you missed your chance, or you are feeling discontent and disinterested in your life, you can join me in praying, Renew my youth. Sometimes we just don't feel useful anymore or we have lost our sense of fun and adventure and that's when we need to ask God to Renew my youth.   

+++ On Sunday we celebrate Transfiguration Day, the day when Jesus' appearance was changed on the mountain while he was in the company of Peter, James, and John. And maybe we will all hear the voice of God imploring us to follow Jesus in our lives. We gather at 8:30am and 10:00am and we will, of course, live-stream worship at 10:00am on the church's Facebook page. Immediately following the service's completion, we "upload" the recording to our YouTube channel... but unfortunately, we are often at the mercy of YouTube in terms of when it becomes available on their platform. My message is "Life on a Mountain" and I am thinking about exactly what it takes to live on a mountain. First and foremost, I guess is climbing skills! Come and think this through with me!  

+++ Following the 10:00am worship we'll enjoy our 2nd Sunday Luncheon for February. This is a wonderful time of food and fellowship as we enjoy spending time with our sisters and brothers in Christ.

+++ Our SPRC will meet on Tuesday night at 6:00pm in the Fireside Room. 

+++ Lent begins with our Ash Wednesday worship service at 7:00pm on Wednesday night, February 14th. The choir will be leading us in worship, and we begin our Lenten theme, "Guided to the Cross". Each worship service will have us looking at the ways in which we are guided to the Cross of Christ on Easter morning. We have devotional reading materials for adults and kids to take home and use during these 40 days and our Lenten Bible Study begins on Wednesday afternoon at 1:00pm in the Fireside Room. We have the books on hand, (there is no charge for this Bible Study booklet) and I can get you one on Sunday to read for our first session. Please sign up in the Narthex.

+++ Our Lenten Mission emphasis will be to support the feeding ministry program at University UMC in Syracuse. Each week this church feeds several hundred people in downtown Syracuse and with funding cuts to several of their government resource programs, the church can use all the help we can provide. Look for Lenten coin boxes on Sunday! 
   
+++ Our deadline for newsletter articles for the March/April edition of the church newsletter is coming up on February 20th! Please make sure all articles are received in the church office by that date. Thanks!   

Make this day a great day and always remember to pray with me... Renew my youth, Lord.   
​Pastor Jack