Smashing your computer is a favorite fantasy some days!  In the last few weeks I am quite sure that Jane Gurley, on the PBC Communications Team, has wanted to do that at least once to hers.  You see, her computer became very ill and infected and ate up all of her email addresses in her contact book.    The September issue of the PBC newsletter has been mailed and emailed as of today from a list that Jane so thoughtfully sent to me a few months ago.  If you did not receive your newsletter in your inbox today, please check your spam or junk mail to make sure it isn't hiding there since I sent it.  If not, please send me an email at: pbcsecretary@bellsouth.net to let me know and I will make sure to send yours out to you ASAP and add you back to the list.  We are sorry for any inconvenience!

  

  "What Did Jesus Eat?"  This is a series of talks lead by John Snodgrass at Providence Baptist Church for the next two Wednesday nights.  Each session is independent of the others, so if you haven't been to the last two, please come and see what the next one is all about.  The Course is OPEN TO ALL.  A suggested donation of seven dollars per session will cover operating costs.  Special rates are available for families or for taking the entire course.  If you cannot donate, come anyway.  Please make a reservation so there will be enough food.  Email: tjsnodgrass5@gmail.com or call 828-450-7768.

  At a recent session, the Hendersonville Times-News was there to see what all the fuss was about.  The result was a very good article  detailing the foods enjoyed along with the parables and miracles presented by John Snodgrass. 

"When your belly is empty, it's louder than your brain and your heart, "Snodgrass said.

Next Session Wednesday, August 25th at 6PM and the Final Session on Wednesday, September 1st.

  

Julie celebrated her first anniversary this past Sunday as pastor of Providence Baptist Church.  Go to the "PBC Activities" page of the Providence web site to see more pictures taken after worship.

  

Did you know that you can now access over 1000 photos of Providence Baptist Church covering all nine years of the church's existence.

Go to the PBC Activities link of the church web site.

Just thought you might like to know!

  

This Sunday we have a surprise visit from a Canadian musician.  Her name is Linnea Good.  She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada.  She will be helping us in worship this Sunday with her gift of music.  She loves to make music for intergenerational groups, especially involving children! 

So...PLEASE bring any children you can find on Sunday.  They don't even have to be related.  I think the children will get a kick out of Linnea's music style, as she is able to engage children in a unique way.

To learn more about her you can visit her website at www.LinneaGood.com. 

Looking forward to Sunday's worship.  It will be a great day for sure~

  

  

The book of Hebrews opens up depicting a God who speaks in a new way.  "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son..." 

According to Fred Craddock, the single most recurring characteristic of God in this book is that "God speaks."   He speaks through the Old Testament, through the prophets, through the Son (Christ), through the Holy Spirit.  Craddock says "God's voice is a living voice." 

I thought this was appropriate considering throughout our Lenten study we've been focusing on prayer and listening.  This entry concludes the lenten blog, and we return to where we started.  It's not always easy to listen to God's voice.  Even though it's a living voice, we are usually surrounded by louder voices that cause us to go the way of selfishness or pride.

This is why we have gone down to the desert, touched the sand, breathed slowly, inhaled the name of Jesus, and lifted our hands to God to receive our prayers.  I think under all of our deepest yearnings this Lent, our heartfelt repentance, our attempts at being disciplined, what we truly desired was to hear God. 

As we enter Holy Week, let us carve out space to listen to the living voice.   For God speaks.

  

I would be remiss, if I let Colossians pass by without sharing a few words of wisdom that were passed on to Michael and me during our wedding ceremony.  Most of these thoughts are taken from Burt Burleson's homily at our wedding. 

If you haven't read it lately, reread Colossians 3:12-17.  It begins, "As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience."

Paul is telling us that what we wear matters (i.e. what we choose to wear at a wedding says something.  We are entering something special, holy matrimony, so we rent tuxes and spend time choosing the right dress.)  Paul says put on the best stuff.

We have decisions to make about what we wear. .. We go into the wardrobe every day and we choose what we are going to wear that day.  There are lots of outfits to choose from:  comfortable ones, tight ones, dressy, casual...  But we usually reach for what is well-worn, what is comfortable.  This is our default.  Sometimes this is our selfishness and pride.

But Paul says, "Wake up!  Wake up!  This is what holy people wear...compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."  If we make our spiritual practice to "put on humility," over time we will become humble.  It will work its way down to the heart until imitation becomes reality.  The ultimate message here is that if we practice putting on the right clothes, what we put on on the outside will change us on the inside. 

Burt concluded by saying this, "In church, we're all playing dressup. Children trying to look like Jesus, to be like Jesus, children of God. And we do this until there's no mistaking the family resemblance."

Providence, let us put on these virtues, sewing on garments of compassion, kindness, humility...as Burt says, "until it is worn well and well worn.  And then others will get dressed up too."

We truly are what we wear.

  

Interesting.  We are likened to clay jars—the common, the ordinary.  Clay itself brings to mind the story of our beginning.    Paul’s imagery is intentionally loaded I think.  We are the fragile vessels.  He goes on to say  that death is at work in us, our outer nature that is wasting away, and an earthly tent that will be destroyed.    The message is clear ~ being made of clay holds us vulnerable.

But God doesn't leave us that way, unprotected.  Though we are just jars of clay, we have this treasure inside of us, we carry the life of Jesus.  So that while death is at work in us, life is as well.  Though our outer nature is wasting away, Paul says our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  This is the treasure. 

Last February I was in Thailand with a group from Wilshire Baptist Church.  Our mission was to build a house out of clay. Now, my first thought was, you can’t build a house out of dirt, especially when the rainy season comes. At first we didn’t think it was possible.  We were mixing the dirt from the ground and water and making clay bricks.   When these clay bricks dried, they didn’t just fall apart (well, not most of them).  Because what we had added to them were rice husks, the material left after threshing rice.  This straw was the cementing force, the matrix that held the clay together.  And then, as each brick was laid, the structure grew stronger and stronger.    Funny enough, this clay-like structure that I didn't think would last the test of time is still standing. 

The power of Christ is the matrix, the sustaining force of our clay-like being.  This Lent, I am ever aware of my clay-like substance, but this passage speaks again to me (and hopefully to you), encouraging us that we're not going to crumble even with some cracks.  In fact, those broken places in us, just as in a piece of pottery, let in light.  As Leonard Cohen says, “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” 

What sustains you in this season?

  

I want to share a story and reflection with you by Kathleen O. Chesto~

"A story is told of a safari in the Serengeti.  A researcher was rushing to the mating grounds of the African elephant.  He had started late and pushed his porters relentlessly to arrive by mating season.  On the fourth day, the porters sat down and refused to move.  The translator explained they would go no farther until they had given their spirits time to catch up with them.

We live in a world where "fast" has a whole different meaning from its Lenten definition.  We are a nation in a hurry.  We drive 5 miles over the speed limit no matter what the speed limit is.  Our rushing has created a whole new disease.  Last year alone, road rage claimed over 1500 victims.

This Lent, for at least one day, try fasting from "fast-ing," the rushing that drains so much more than it accomplishes.  Try driving the speed limit and using the extra minutes on the drive to work to get in touch with God.  Instead of beeping the horn, say a prayer for the people who cut you off on the road.  Instead of getting annoyed with the slow cashier and changing lanes, try greeting that person with a gentle smile.  Fast from fast food.  Eat a good meal with family or friends, and take time to enjoy each taste and each person.  You won't lose weight, but your burdens may feel lighter.  You might even find your spirit will catch up with you!"

Consider these words from Romans ..."by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.."

Perhaps this weekend and throughout the rest of the Lenten season, you can think about part of your transformation and offering as slowing down.  Let the Holy Spirit catch up with you, so you even have the holy energy to do the things Chesto suggests and that the writer of Romans exhorts, "Let love by genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast [another kind of fasting] to what is good...rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer."   Suffering and prayer have a way of teaching us to slow down. 

Want to try another discipline that will teach you to slow down?  Try poetry.  It forces you to slow down because you have to take in each word, as each one is integral to the overall meaning of the poem. 

Let us continue to slow down, continue to read what Romans has to teach us, and heck, dust off those poetry books.