Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, calls us to be authentic. We should be honest in the way we pray, honest in our fasting and honest in our giving. All these actions should be motivated by our awe of God. Living a good life is not good enough if we are treasuring things of this world more than God.

When we desire to get brownie points with key leaders of the community, when we value our time more than others, when we focus on the feast and forget the fast, when we hold on to our material worth, we miss the point of Jesus’ words.

The entirety of the Sermon on the Mount is meant to help us understand the command to “love God with heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.”

Prayers, Linda

Jesus in the Sermon the Mount gives his disciples a mission, to be salt and light. Salt and light both impact the things around them. As disciples we are to also impact the world around us. We are called to promote the gospel with our deeds, with our money, and with our church and with our words. The way we do this is to know the relationship of the behaviours listed in the sermon to the God who summons them.

So, from the sermon we can learn that the relationship of prayer to the God to whom we pray is first of all required. Disciples are required to pray but not pray in a way that draws undue attention to them. Public prayer is acceptable even required; however, the prayers themselves must come from the heart of the person who prays. To simplify prayer, it is telling God the things on your heart and allowing space for God to answer. Then the next important step is to act on prompts and feelings. Get help in the discerning.

Prayer, when it is from the heart and when God is allowed to speak to your heart, brings you closer to God. When we are close to God our prayers will bring glory to God when people see that it is a relationship with God that comes from the moves to prayer. If you are not comfortable with prayer, begin by praying a psalm or the Lord’s Prayer daily and then take a moment to think of things in your heart.

Prayers, Linda

Stewardship is understood in the gospel as the management of a household or estate. I believe that all of you fall into the category of stewards as you all have your own household to manage. Together, we manage the “household” we call congregation. Most of the precepts are the same. To manage a household you must be disciplined, to manage a congregation takes no less commitment.

Managing a congregation however, is a spiritual exercise and it is most effective when the spiritual discipline of a congregation is attended to first. This is the point that Jesus makes in his Sermon on the Mount in the book of Matthew. We will be focusing on Matthew chapter six, Pray, Fast, Give, however, you will want to read the entire Sermon (Matt 5-7) to deepen your understanding of the context.

Prayers, Linda

Our Thursday service was based on the seven words spoken from the cross. I found this reflection from the seven words n the cross on www.churchpastor.com it seemed appropriate to share for those who were not at the service.

1. Forgive others (Luke 23:34)
2. Heaven is real. (Luke 23:43)
3. Care for your parents. (John 19: 26-27)
4. Express your heart to God. (Matthew 27: 46)
5. Be thirsty for the Living Water. (John 19:28)
6. Don’t give up. Finish it! (John 19:30)
7. Place your life in God’s hands. (Luke 23:46)

Prayers, Linda

HE IS RISEN!

We have navigated the emotional ups and downs of Holy Week – the celebrations of Palm Sunday, the despair of Good Friday and today the joy of the resurrection. Today, we remember and attempt to understand what Jesus did for us. We have come face to face with all the good and the ugly in order to understand what Jesus truly did for us.

Yes, salvation came at a cost that I would probably have been unwilling to accept if I had been asked. I wasn’t asked. Grace was given and the price was paid. Today we join Mary in her grief at the tomb with our own personal thoughts and we hear the call of the resurrected Jesus. “There is more! I am going to my Father and your Father, my God and your God”(emphasis mine). The relationship that Jesus had with his Father and God is now our relationship; any distinction or gap between God and us has been removed.

HE IS RISEN! And all respond HE IS RISEN, INDEED!

Prayers, Linda

Some people have known being on a road ‘hell-bent for destruction.’ Their lives are reeling out of control and the only option seems to crash and burn. Others know the feeling of wandering on a road that seems to be going nowhere. They feel unfulfilled, and maybe alone not quite sure how to make things change. And yet others, are quite comfortable where they are on no road at all. “Let’s just leave things exactly as they are,” they think, while in truth the journey goes on without them. I also know people who are in such fear or darkness that the very idea of traveling down any road causes great anxiety.

Jesus knew those roads. Here he is traveling to Jerusalem. Fear? Yup, I am sure he knew that. Certain destruction? Well, that appears to be what he was heading for. Alone? You bet. He knows what we go through.

Yet, there is more to the Palm Sunday Story. Jesus was also to be triumphant. King. Messiah. Knowing the end of the story, victory over death, helps us to be able to cry out from whatever road we are on with hope. Hosanna! Hosanna! Save, we pray! Save, we pray! (Hosanna in Hebrew means ‘save, we pray’.)

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, people cried out to be saved. Shall we join them?

Prayers, Linda

New Life begins at Easter