Grac*e-mail for 11/01/10 got grace?

Grac*e-mail for 11/01/10 got grace?

I have a favor to ask of all my subscribers, please forward this mailing to five folks you believe it will bless… thanks!

John()_:-) Every time you see this angel, remember that God loves you!

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Matt 5:43-44

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…”

NKJV

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Can we really pray for our enemies? If you want a challenge to pray for those who would see us destroyed, check out this site… Roger Dixon sent this my way….

http://www.atfp.org/

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Grac*e-mail now has a page on Facebook… so send your friends an invitation to enjoy!

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Today is All Saints Day (a much better thing to celebrate than yesterday!)…

Got this at http://stphransus.blogspot.com/2006/11/all-saints-meditation.html

Quirky fact: All Saints was John Wesley's favorite Christian holy-day.

A PRAYER FOR ALL SAINTS DAY

Sing praises to God, O you saints, and give thanks to God's holy name! We exalt you, O God, for you have restored us to life! We may cry through the night, but your joy comes with the morning. You hear us, O God, and you are gracious in our distress. You turn our mourning into dancing!Our souls cannot be silent! O God, our Savior, we give thanks to you forever! - THE UM BOOK OF WORSHIP 1965, ALT

And this at

http://johnwesley1703-1791.blogspot.com/2010/11/all-saints-day.html

This blog contains extracts from the journals of John Wesley which are in the public domain. The extracts are from years which correspond with the day and date of the current year (2010). So when JW says it is Monday 1 March 17.., it is Monday 1 March 2010 . Over the years I have found this to be an interesting way to read John Wesley's journals. I hope you do too.

All Saints’ Day Mon 1 Nov 1756: Was a day of triumphant joy, as All Saints’ Day generally is. How superstitious are they who scruple giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of his saints!

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I am posting this as a good place to start in the ongoing debate over “grieving shows a lack of faith”…

Daily Reflection

by Mark D. Roberts
Laity Lodge Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence

Is There a Place for Sadness in Authentic Christianity?

READ Psalm 6:1-10

I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. [Psalm 6:6]

I grew up in a culture, church, and family that didn't have much room for sadness. If ever people in my life were feeling sad, it was my responsibility to "cheer them up." As Christians, we knew we were supposed to "Rejoice in the Lord, always!" God was the one who wiped away every tear. Thus, sadness was inconsistent, not only with our cultural norms, but also with our understanding of authentic Christianity. Real Christians were happy, not sad. They always had smiles on their faces. And they certainly didn't drench their beds with their tears.

Of course, there was a problem with the cultural assumptions of my early years. People did get sad. And sometimes their sadness seemed unavoidable, if not reasonable. Beloved friends and family members might get sick and die. Our nation watched as tens of thousands of our young men died in Vietnam. Wasn't it appropriate to feel sad sometimes?

The notion that true Christians aren't ever sad also stumbles upon teaching and examples of Scripture. Many of the psalms, for example, express deep sadness to the Lord, without sense of shame. In Psalm 6:6, for example, David prays, "I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears." Now that is serious sadness, even if it does reflect a poetic use of hyperbolic language.

If the Psalms are given to us to teach us how to communicate with God, then there is surely a place for sadness in authentic Christianity. Scripture invites us to be honest with God, to share what's really going on inside of us. The Lord will carry our sorrows as we offer them to him, without hiding or pretending.

Moreover, authentic Christian community includes a place for shared sadness. Remember Paul's instruction in Romans 12:15. We are to "be happy with those who are happy" and "weep with those who weep." If someone we care about is grieving, our job is not to "cheer them up," but rather to join them in their sorrow, and in this way to bear their burdens. As we do this, we come to know more deeply the heart of Jesus, who is "a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief" (Isa 53:3). Moreover, when we deal openly with our sadness, as well as the sadness of others, we open our hearts to a deeper and fuller experience of God's joy.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Did your culture, family, and church teach you about sadness? Are you free to share your sorrows with the Lord? And with other believers? What helps you express your true feelings to God in prayer?

PRAYER: Thank you, merciful God, for the example of David in Psalm 6. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you honestly, not holding back our sadness or desperation.

Thank you, dear Lord, for hearing our prayers just as they are, for wanting to have an intimate relationship with us in all of our messiness and confusion.

Thank you, gracious God, for entering into our sorrow through Christ, for knowing the inside of sadness.

Thank you, O God, for meeting us in our pain, for offering peace that passes understanding, for turning our mourning into dancing.

Help us to be authentic in our relationship with you, sharing our true thoughts, feelings, fears, and hurts. Help us to weep with those who weep so that we might also rejoice with those who rejoice. May your church be a place of safety and freedom, where broken hearts are mended.

We pray in the name of Jesus, the man of sorrows. Amen.

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It is not the exam season at colleges yet, but you might want to pass this funny prayer along to the students you know…

O Lord, hear my anxious plea

Calculus is killing me

I know not of 'dx' or 'dy'

And probably won't until the day I die.

Please, Lord, help me in this hour

As I take my case to the highest power.

I care not for fame or loot

Just help me find one square root.

And Lord, please let me see

One passing mark in organic chemistry.

Oh such a thing I constantly dread

I'd just as soon join the Marines instead.

Lord, please give me a sign

That you've been listening all the time.

Please lead me out of this constant coma

And give me a shot at my diploma.

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Got these from “Pun of the Day”. You can subscribe at
http://www.punoftheday.com/

Yesterday I rode my bike twice, I guess that makes me a recycler.

Did you see guys that Bob the ventriloquist hangs out with? They're nothing special, just a bunch of dummies.

How do spacemen add more protein to their diet? They make it meteor.

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Here is one that has made the rounds by e-mail… a real “classic”…
Do you need propping up?? I know I do.
FATHER, PROP US UP
Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed, FATHER, prop us up on our leanin' side.'
After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.
He answered, 'Well sir, you see, it's like this....I got an old barn out back. It's been there a long time, it's withstood a lot of weather, it’s gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years. It's still standing, but one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit. So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall.
Then I got to thinking 'bout that and how much I was like that old barn. I been around a long time, I've withstood a lot of life's storms, I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I've withstood a lot of hard times, And I'm still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Father to prop us up on our leaning side, 'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning, at times.'
Sometime we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't, so we need to pray, 'Father, prop us up on our leaning side,' so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Father.
-- Author Unknown
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Got this video from Reid Broce…

Need a pick-me-up? Watch this –

http://www.stservicemovie.com/

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Got this from the “Pearls” mailing list. To receive, just sent Larry Burrows a request at larryb1939@sbcglobal.net

God knows where we are. Sometimes we forget this. Sometimes we even feel that God has forgotten us. He hasn't. God knows exactly where we are. So when you are afflicted with those forsaken feelings, when you’re on the verge of throwing a pity party thanks to those despairing thoughts, go back to the Word of God. --Charles Swindoll

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Reasons to love your enemies….

God commands us to love. Here are some key Scriptures (Bible verses) on loving your enemies:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another (John 13:34).

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:27-28).

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse (Romans 12:14).

We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it (1 Corinthians 4:12).

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:17-21).

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:9).

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble (1 John 2:9-10).

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Send good stories and clean funnies to: johnlynnbright@gmail.com

NOTE - All material contained in this mailing is shared as received and is believed, by me, to be anonymous... unless credit is given. Please contact me at the address above if you know the author of any material so that I may give credit where credit is due. Thanks!

Grace & peace –
John A. Bright
Pastor, Walmsley Boulevard UMC in Richmond, Virginia
johnlynnbright@gmail.com
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change..."