Tim Woodcock writes: In these strange times, under the shadow of Covid-19, our economy is temporarily stripped down to the basics. The shopping malls are empty but the parks are full. Our workplaces, schools, and community organizations are migrating into our homes. Everything feels off-kilter. Churches worldwide are asking themselves how can they operate in the absence of regular services and the use of a physical building. This blog is an attempt to make an online space in which the Second Pres. community can stay connected and can offer each other spiritual sustenance and encouragement. I'd like to invite people to share their spiritual insights related to the pandemic experience: spiritual revelations, great and small; new appreciations and evolving understandings; reflections on what you've been reading and watching recently; hopes for the future. If you have an idea of something you'd like to write about, please drop me a line at timwoodcock [AT] speedpost.net . ...
Mike Willock writes: At Second Church earlier this month the preaching text came from 1 Samuel 3, the call of Samuel. It’s a good story: The boy Samuel is serving in the house of the Lord under the old priest Eli at a time when the word of the Lord is rare in the land of Israel. When the lamp of God had not yet gone out, the Lord calls Samuel by name. Samuel runs to Eli, who says, “I did not call you. Go lie down.” When the call comes a third time, Eli realizes God is calling Samuel and tells Samuel to respond, “Speak, Lord . Your servant is listening.” “Speak, Lord . Your servant is listening”. Just six words, but they 1) confirm the relationship between God and Samuel, 2) affirm with conviction that God is still speaking, and 3) that Samuel is ready and willing and waiting to receive and do the word of God. As reformed Presbyterians we know that God still speaks to those who have ears to hear by the power of Holy Spirit, and that God calls us to live out God’s word in love among...
Tim Woodcock writes… This is a very striking photo that encountered recently. I received it embedded in an email from an organization called Embrace the Middle East. While its meaning might seem plain, there was no caption, so I put it aside for a few days, assuming that it was a tragic candid photo of a church nativity scene, somewhere in the Palestine/Israel area, in which the church had been badly damaged. But there is more to the story than that... Several days later, it occurred to me that with the wonders of technology, I could do a “reverse image search” online to find out what exactly the photo was portraying. Many companies offer this feature; Google’s search worked best for me. It’s an image from Bethlehem that began to be circulated about 10 days ago. It does not show a recently bombed church at all but is an artistically created creche in the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. To reflect the warzone around them, the church create the seasonal decoratio...
So lovely.
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