ADULT DEVOTIONS: Worship

Last Sunday we celebrated the culmination of our regular church school year. We had the gift of our children leading us in worship as they shared lessons from throughout the church school year.

Next week we move to our summer hours with one worship service at 9:30. Traditionally, this is a quieter time in our worship. This is a time when some people often head out to their tents, condos, cabins and family for vacations. But there is something about church you can’t find anywhere else. Even the beauty and magnificence of creation does not fully compare with time in church. Even visits to other churches just aren’t the same. That is why the Psalmists so often talk about the joy of coming home to church.

Psalms 122:1 (NRSVA) 1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”

Psalm 84:3, 10

3 Happy are those who live in your house,

ever singing your praise.

10 For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than live in the tents of wickedness.

Church is where we meet God. It is where our family and friends in faith gather with us. It is the place where we belong. It is that place of sanctuary and inspiration for our lives. This week, offer some prayer time for your church home. Offer your gratitude and ask God to lead us into deeper faithfulness. And promise God that you won’t let summer’s pace carry you too far or too long from your home.

FAMILY DEVOTIONS: The heavens and stars

Did you ever lie on your back and look up into the night sky. The stars we can see are only a fraction of the stars and galaxies that are there. Our newer telescopes along with the Hubble telescope are peering deeper and farther into the heavens. (check out http://hubblesite.org/) It seems the vast empty space is filled with light. The psalmist knew this well. In their day there weren’t any city lights to wash out the night view. It was just the earth and the dark night sky filled with natural lights. It was with a sense of awe that they wrote Psalm 8. Read it with your children.

Psalms 8:1 - 9:1 (NRSVA) O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen,and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

The Psalm speak of a humble perspective that is experienced by those who knew the night sky well.

Take some time to lie on you back looking up at the night sky and giving thanks to God.

DEVOTION: Hey did you notice?

As I sat and watched the glow of the dwindling fire during the Wednesday evening firewalk in the outdoor labyrinth this quote came to mind, "Church-goers are like coals in a fire. When they cling together, they keep the flame aglow; when they separate, they die out.” Billy Graham (1918– )

At Monday evening’s Bible study we explored some of the letters of Paul to fledgling churches throughout the Middle East. He wrote to the church in Philippi about joy and rejoicing. Paul wrote: Philippians 2:2 - 5 (NRSV) 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

On Sunday in church I invited everyone to NOTICE. Joy comes from looking to the interests of others. It is part of our responsibility when we claim our place in the Body of Christ. Notice who is visiting the church for worship or church school. Notice who is standing awkwardly by themselves in coffee hour downstairs or next door waiting for church school to come to an end. Notice who is missing from church or church school for the past couple Sunday mornings. “Look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” Notice them and get to know their stories. If they are new, help them feel at home. If they look alone, help them feel a part of our community. If they are absent, give a call just to check in, no guilt or shame, just a call to let them know you were concerned.

This week I am sharing this for both the adult devotion and the family devotion, because this is a part of our faith for all ages. Joy comes when we step outside our own circle of friends as well as our own circle of needs and extend God’s love and hospitality and compassion to others. Practice that this coming week.

FAMILY DEVOTIONS: The birds of the air

Take a walk together outside and listen for the sounds you can hear. See if you can find the sound of the baby hatchlings. When mom or dad flies back to the nest with food, the sound of excited chicks is clear and obvious. You may find them in your backyard or along one of Hanover’s many trails. (Check out: http://www.hanover-ma.gov/greenway-map.shtml ) This past Sunday’s Scripture in church reminded us: Matthew 6:26 - 28 (NRSV) 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? This is a good time to talk about worries and letting go of them so we can learn to trust God to take care of us.

REMINDERS

Don’t forget, you can be a stockholder and help out with our mission trip. Make donations out to our church, marked for the Youth Mission Trip and provide us with you address so we can send you Notes from New Orleans.

Don’t forget. There will be information session on the new Habitat for Humanity home to be built in Hanover. They’ll be held at our church on Tuesday June 3^rd and Thursday, June 12 at 7pm.

Don’t forget: The Hanover Diversity Committee will hold its next meeting at our church (Parish Hall) on Tuesday, June 10^th at 7:30 pm. The mission of the Hanover Diversity Committee is to help our town celebrate and cherish the diversity in this town and world so that all people will feel safe and comfortable here being who they are.

ADULT DEVOTION: Remember

This is the week of Memorial Day parades. It is the time of year when the leaves had popped out, spring flowers are blooming, the grass is green, the town center is decorated and everything looks fresh and renewed. I love our Memorial Day parade through the heart of our community. However, our town center lies in stark contrast to Waveland, MS the town we are going to help rebuild on this year’s mission trip. There one fifth of the home stand untouched and abandoned after the eye of Hurricane Katrina made landfall there. Another one third have been rebuilt. For many homes, they were still removing debris last year. And while the population is back at 98% of its pre-Katrina level. Most of the homes have yet to become inhabitable. And on Memorial Day, I am reminded that one third of the people without homes in the area are Veterans of the Middle East (Gulf war, War in Iraq and Afghanistan). This week I encourage you to celebrate in reflection and prayer the home town feel of our community. I also invite you to lift up in prayer the people who have no home or home town and the mission work that our young folks will be doing in a month.

Prayer Requests

• Frank Schuttauf– Lynn White’s uncle and Nancy Dixon's brother-in-law, in final stages of cancer, now with hospice and not long left
• Marie who had a stroke stroke
• Young couple close to family with very difficult decision
• Michelle Keyes
• Charles C
• Jim Murray, back home in Florida in a rehab hospital with a long road ahead