Pastor’s Notes 06/05/2025
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, a day that celebrates the birth of the church when the Holy Spirit breathed life into the believers gathered in Jerusalem.
It also is the end of our sermon series on The Lord’s Prayer as we have studied this model prayer phrase by phrase, digging deeper into the meaning of how Jesus wants us to pray.
These two things come together as we begin our summer of praying together as a church 3 times a day.
You see it is through prayer, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, that our lives and our church will be more and more in line with what Jesus wants for us, and it all begins with prayer. When we humble ourselves and talk with God about our desires, remembering that He is the sovereign One, things change. People meet Jesus through us. We become a church that makes a difference in our community and around the world.
So, once again, I want to invite you to join our church in praying throughout the summer months 3 times a day.
Below are the simple prayers that we can pray together:
- In the morning (when you awake), a Prayer of Relinquishment.
- At mid-day (at 12:00pm), The Lord’s Prayer.
- In the evening (before you go to sleep), a Prayer of Examen.
Morning Prayer
A Prayer of Relinquishment
“Today, Lord, I yield myself to you.
May Your will be my delight today.
May You have your perfect sway in me.
May Your love be the pattern for my living.
I surrender to You my hopes, my dreams,
my ambitions.
Do with them what You will, when You will, as You will.
I place into Your loving care my family,
my friends, my future.
Care for them with the care I can never give.
May You establish Your kingdom through
my words, my hands, my feet, for Jesus’ sake. Amen”
Mid-Day Prayer at 12:12pm
Our Father
“Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors;
lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory. Amen.”
Evening Prayer
A Prayer of Examen
“O God, we thank You for this day and for meeting our needs
and the needs of our neighbors.
We give to You our unmet needs and concerns, for we know that You are a good Father.
We give You our thoughts, feelings, and actions of our day.
We remember Your goodness. May we remember our shortcomings.
We ask for Your forgiveness.
We ask You Lord to take away our worries and concerns,
trusting in Your provisions for our future.
Thank You God for being with us through-out the night, so we might awaken to Your presence and serve You again as the sun arises.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.”
Let’s be a church that makes a difference in our world remembering that it all begins with prayer.
Have a great rest of the week.
Pastor’s Notes 05/29/2025
This Sunday you need to be at church!
You need to be at church along with your family and your friends. Your neighbors need to be there too and the person across the street who you don’t really like should come. In fact, if you have the chance, pick up a stranger on the street and bring them to church.
That’s because it is the first Sunday of the month and it is a Sunday when we celebrate communion. It is a reminder to all of us that God has prepared a banquet table where everyone is invited.
- Communion is a reminder of what Christ did for us on the cross.
- Communion is an invitation to come and dine with the King.
- Communion is a mysterious spiritual meal that feeds us and encourages us to live as brothers and sisters in Christ.
So go invite someone to God’s table. Maybe it is someone that you haven’t seen at church in a while. Call them and invite them and meet them at church. Maybe it is someone who can’t make it to church, call them and ask if they would like communion brought to them by a Deacon, an Elder or a Pastor.
Let’s see what God will do when we invite others to dine at the table of the King.
See you on Sunday!