summertime loading …
good news weekly 5.24.25
summer is here,
whether VBS for kids, ice cream outreach, or new Palatine Prayer Club,
there are so many things for you to get involved in.
check out church center and jump in
Have you ever had to descale a Keurig coffee maker? The process is pretty simple, you pour some concentrated liquid along with some water in the machine and you press brew about 75 times in order for some of the mineral build up to come off. The ultimate goal is for your coffee maker to last longer and for your coffee to be reliably well brewed. My husband is too good for the Keurig coffee, so no sweat if you are too. Or maybe you’re part of the other camp who has seen the “descale” reminder blinking and you just continue to bypass it in order to get to that blessed cup of coffee in the morning!
Descaling is on my mind because I have been doing it. It takes a bit of time and honestly it felt a little annoying because I just wanted to make my cup of coffee and be done with it. But, this morning while all of this was in process I read Isaiah 29:13 which says, “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.” And I was struck by this because sometimes we need to ‘spiritually de-scale!’ Yes, it will take time, no it’s not necessarily convenient but I think from time to time it’s a requirement.
I’m suggesting these 3 questions may be helpful in this little meet up with God:
• What has built up in my life that is ‘lip service’ to God rather than from my heart?
• Where am I distracted from God or not engaging with Him because of unbelief or pain or unwillingness to look in the mirror?
• Is there anything that I am doing that I’m doing out of routine or because I know ‘I should’ but I’m not engaging my heart and mind in it?
At first, I thought about this metaphor and felt it was too strong of a word and that I couldn’t write that to you all. And then I sensed the Lord leading me to. It’s God’s kindness to lead us to repentance and to see these areas in our heart that have built up and yet want something deeper. If I were to look at my coffee machine I wouldn’t have thought it needed any upkeep but that’s because the buildup didn’t show up even though it was there. In the same way, maybe other people can’t see these things going on in the inside of your heart; you look great on the outside, you show up to church, you maybe serve and give but there’s just a distance between you and God.
My encouragement to you would be to sit with these 3 questions and ask God to speak to you, to see what is there that needs addressing. And by pursuing health in your relationship with God from the inside out, I believe you can feel refreshed and encouraged and fueled for the long haul! After all, God wants our whole hearts
Cup of Leadership
(s/o to my friend fred who i believe made this analogy up many years ago)
manhole covers keep the stink + the sewage where it belongs: out of sight + out of mind.
megaphones draw attention to things by adding artificial volume.
in the age of self-expression, some of us have fallen into the trap of thinking megaphones are more holy than manhole covers … they are not.
of course, there is a time and place for pointing out abusive or illegal activities, this metaphor isn’t about that. it’s about the propensity many people have to think that loudly pointing at something broken is inherently helpful.
we are bound by time + $ + emotional capacity. not every problem that ‘stinks’ in our lives can be fixed at the same time. some things need to be left alone until the right time. manholes cover the junk to minimize the stink, while adding access to deal with it at the right time.
right now, kristen + i are working full-time, parenting our 4 kids, trying to be a support to our extended families, and working through a growing pains stage of the church. we both have needed the wisdom to see that there is no more capacity for additional things right now. our garage getting cleaned out and meeting our new neighbor with baked goods… that is NOT avoidance and it is NOT weak, it is being a WISE manhole cover.
the same is true at our church. our streamed online service needs work. we are out of space on sundays. we are still trying to crack the code on adult mid-week bible studies. etc etc etc … choosing not to yell about what is wrong, when we already know there isn’t money or time today to fix it is NOT weak, it is wise.
some stuff can wait .. until we have the time and emotional resources to deal with it.
if you want to succeed in an environment (team or job or committee) where you don’t have power, don’t fall for the cheap immediacy of being noticed because of what you can be loud about.
sometimes .. keeping junk in the sewer and out of sight really helps those around you.
1 Peter 4.8
above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sinsJames 5.19-20
know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God
Last Week’s Sermons
my friend John Hinger preached on Doubting Thomas, many people were encouraged by his message.
A Prayer of Thanks
from artist sharon irving
Creator God, There are no words that fully describe Your goodness. This could read: “God, we thank You for it all,” or “I thank You for it all,” or simply— “Thank You.” Your love is everlasting— steady through every season, faithful through every high and every low. We thank You.
Before we ask for anything, we pause to say—Thank You. For breath in our lungs, we thank You. For mercy that meets us each morning, we thank You. For the tiny joys we often overlook, we thank You. For every step you order, we thank You. For eternal life through Jesus Christ, we thank You.
Your goodness goes before us — making a way we could never make on our own. Aligning moments we didn’t plan, turning ordinary days into divine appointments. You weave every detail together, turning delays into destiny. Mastermind Creator of it all — thank You.
You are good. Thank You. You are faithful. Thank You. You are here. Thank You.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Saturday Morning Book Review
how to pray – by pete greig
as someone who has struggled to grow a life of connection with god in private prayer for many years, i have become weary and wary of prayer content. it often becomes a substitute for you know, actually praying. i have made some wonderful new friends in the last few years who pray with incredible power and authority. when questioned, they have no special technique or training to point to, simply a lot of practice.
that all being said, this book is practical and loaded with helpful tools, but if you read it (and you should), please for the love, put it into practice. we are never ‘just praying.’ a simple paradigm of P-R-A-Y, (pause, rejoice, ask, yield) opens our heart to consistent and meaningful connection to God.
thx pete greig for your work. our church will benefit greatly this summer as we work together to build the Palatine Prayer Club.
this is good news,
luke + kristen