MARCH
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Quotable Quotes
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March is the homeowner’s month; it’s time to put away the snow shovel,
but not yet time to get out the lawn mower.
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—Approved Crossword Puzzles, Reader's Digest, March 1986
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MARGINS
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THE MARGINS
By Pastor McEllhenney
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I could make a case for the most important gadget on my typewriter being the thingamabob that sets the margins. For I need ample white space to the left and right when I am trying to pin down ideas. That white space is where I pen in corrected
spellings, jot down substitute phrasings, and scribble my afterthoughts. And leaving a place for afterthoughts is one way of keeping open a place where God can break in.
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When our lives are like a sheet of paper that has typing from the left edge to the right edge, it is difficult for God to write a comment that will transform all that we have written. Difficult, but not impossible; for when we refuse to leave wide margins, God substitutes a wider sheet of paper.
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Which is what God did when certain people in Jerusalem tried to leave no room for any human or divine interference in their handling of Jesus. They sought to control the story of Jesus; to write it in such a way that no one else could correct it or transform it with an afterthought.
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Those who led the opposition to Jesus took down his words. They found witnesses and coached them in what to say. They set up judicial hearings and made sure the judges knew on which side their bread was buttered. They stirred up the mob to cry, "Crucify him!" They nailed him to a cross. And when they had pierced his side with a spear to drain him of all life, they put him
in a tomb, sealed it with a rock, and posted a guard.
I can see them going home, rubbing their hands in self-congratulation, and saying, "Now we have written the story of Jesus without leaving any margins where afterthoughts could be penciled in."
Their boasting was in vain, however. For on the morning of the third day God took all that they had written and transferred it to a wider sheet of paper. And there, in the margins, the Creator wrote, "Not dead, but alive-alive forever more!"
When we refuse to leave margins in the life story we are writing; when we think that our loss, our depression, our pain, our confusion, is the whole story; when we suppose that our page of life has been filled from side to side, then God takes our story and transfers it to a wider sheet of paper. And in the margin God writes, "Nothing can separate you from my love in the Risen Christ."
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Pastor's Page in The Circuit Rider (church newsletter), April 1988
The United Methodist Church of West Chester
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MARRIAGE
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Quotable Quotes
The great thing about marriage is that it enables one to be alone
without feeling loneliness.
—Gerald Brenan, Thoughts in a Dry Season (Cambridge University Press), Reader's Digest, March 1986
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MEMBERSHIP - ALMA MATER CHURCH
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(TUESDAY MORNING column)
HAIL TO ALMA MATER
By David Steele
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She found the funeral helpful and approved the recent refurbishing of the sanctuary. Her husband had been a member of the committee that planned this building, you know.
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I didn’t know. I’ve never seen these two in worship in the 12 years I’ve been ’round here. They are no longer on our church active membership roll. Aha! Some more members of our church’s alumni/ae association.
I run into our alums all the time. Our community is filled with them. They are former deacons or church school teachers or they sang in the choir or served on the session. They didn’t just attend the church; they were active leaders. Many of them have lived within walking distance for the past 25 years. You’d think they might show up at Christmas or Easter. They don’t. It is as if they graduated sometime in the late ’60s. They come back now for alumni/ae events — weddings and funerals.
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CONVENTIONAL WISDOM pinpoints their departure to the trying time known as l’affaire Angela Davis. The locale of that event was the courthouse three miles from our building. There is no question it profoundly affected this community. In the years immediately following, this congregation lost half its members. They left in protest against our denomination’s strong activist position in matters of race, social change and the Vietnam War, we say.
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I suppose they did. But when I talk to them today, they don’t speak about being angry or disappointed or upset. It is more like they simply graduated. Their children grew up; the postwar enthusiasm for the church waned; they started doing other things on Sunday. They garden or camp or sail or shop or golf or paint or go to the ball game on Sunday.
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They have kicked the church habit and they do not appear to be troubled with guilt.
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It would be nice to be able to pinpoint some glaring personal or moral or spiritual weakness in these people who have stopped attending church, but one cannot honestly do so. Their children have not turned out any better or worse than those of church-attending folk; they are not more greedy or troubled or less moral. By and large, our alums are friendly, caring people. Without a scorecard, it is difficult to tell them from active church members.
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SOMETIMES I get ticked off. Here we are, trying to make a vital Christian presence in this community, to pass on the faith to the next generation, to participate with Christ in the Kingdom. And these folks are pulling crabgrass or are hiking along the bay. I want to pick them up and shake them and say, “Hey, we need your expertise and your ideas and your energy and your bucks. Get over here where you belong!”
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I fantasize about creating an alumni/ae magazine sent quarterly to these folk telling them what is happening back on campus. I think, “If only they knew what was going on, they would see that here is where they belong.” But while I believe they belong here, they do not think that way. They have graduated. They have fond memories of their experiences teaching Sunday school or flipping pancakes or camping with the youth group. They are pleased others are having these experiences. But they are graduates and have moved on to other things.
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I’ve held two alum funerals this week. The clan gathers then. I suppose if I live long enough, I’ll have a chance to get acquainted with them all. One gets a good feeling for a person when one prepares that person’s memorial service. By the time it is over, I feel I know him or her well. But I would prefer to know and worship with that person and serve with him or her while he or she is still alive.
Does your church have an alumni/ae association? Are you having any success in wooing them back? I wonder.
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David Steele is pastor, Christ in Terra Linda church, San Rafael, Calif.,
in Presbyterian Outlook, 5/14/1990
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MISQUOTES - BIBLE
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OUT OF THE MOUTHS
These answers were provided by children during confirmation classes:
* Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark.
*The Fifth Commandment is humor thy father and mother.
* Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day... and a ball of fire by night.
* When Mary heard she was to be the mother of Jesus, she went off and sang the Magna Carta.
* Holy acrimony is another name for marriage.
* Christians have only one wife. That is called monotony.
*The patron saint of travelers is St. Francis of Seasick.
* The natives of Macedonia did not believe, so Paul got stoned.
* The First Commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.
* It is sometimes difficult to hear in church because the agnostics are so terrible.
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—From the newsletter of Greystone Presbyterian Church, Oklahoma City, Okla.
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MISSING GOD
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Why Do People Miss God? (Part 1)
LISTENING TO THE WORD - JOB 23:3
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God is everywhere; His footprints appear all around us; His handiwork fairly trumpets His presence and power. In fact, His
influence is woven through the fabric of human experience to the point where, if it were removed, society would disintegrate.
How, then, can people miss God? One reason is that people do not take time for God. The poet is right: “Room for pleasure, room for business, But for Christ the crucified, Not a place that He can enter In the heart for which He died.”
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A second reason is that many consider the essence of religion in a negative sense. That is, they consider religion to be not being dishonest, not being immoral, etc. There is a proper narrowness in being a Christian, as there is in mathematics, pharmacy and aeronautics. But fundamentally our Christian faith is positive. Christ within gives us power to do something and be something. “Thou shalt not...” is vital, but alone it never leads to God.
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A third reason is that we make our quest for God an extension of our own selfishness. Instead of being the chief end of our lives, we seek to make God a means to use for our own interests. This fair-weather religion is deadly. If the dominant drive of it is to minister to our own selfishness, we shall be always at the mercy of circumstances, and God will never be real to us.
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Is God real to you? I pray that He is. If He isn’t, see if it is because of one of the reasons we considered today.
- W. E. N.
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RESPONDING TO THE WORD
1. What are three ways by which people may miss God?
2. How can you determine if you are missing God? Do so, now.
3. Thank Him for this reminder to stay close to Him.
(provided to me by Ruth Osborne, January 1991)
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MONEY - PLEDGING
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Who Asks for Money?
GUEST EDITORIAL By Steve Rogers
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Sometimes you hear people say, “The church is always asking for money.” That statement is profoundly untrue.
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It is the world which is always asking for money, not the church. When did you last go to the grocery store and the checker
failed to ask you for money? Your mortgage company asks for money with unfailing regularity. If you are like most people, each month brings a new collection of bills.
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Are any of them from the church? Who withholds a percentage of every dollar you earn? Your Uncle does that. Your Father does not.
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There is no free lunch — except at the church. You can attend worship every week — there is no admission charge. If you are sick, your pastor will visit you in the hospital. Where else can you get free counseling when you need it? Where will your children be married? Several hundred people receive a newsletter each month. None receives a subscription notice “ask-
ing for money,” as with other periodicals.
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What do you do when your loved one dies? What will it cost? The funeral home will certainly charge for its services. Your church will not. The church building will always be there when you need it — clean, heated, and with kitchen and nursery provided. You may make full use of it and never pay one dime. No one will even know whether you contribute or not.
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You have to pay taxes to provide your children “free” public education, but your church operates a Sunday School which will give quality Christian education with absolutely no cost or obligation. The church requires no membership fee, no annual dues. It never sends its members a bill. Is there any other organization in the world that functions that way? I don ’ t know of one. You see, the truth is the church “asks for money” LESS than anything else you can think of.
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Money given to the church is money invested in the eternal kingdom. God is not poor. He has many servants who are glad to
have a part in providing ministry in Jesus’ name through the church. They joyfully give more than their share so that others
who cannot or choose not to contribute may receive that ministry at no cost.
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Consider this paradox. Compared to the government and the bill collectors, the church almost NEVER asks for money. Yet of all the things your money could be used for, very few are more important than what the church provides.
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The church is here to share the love of Jesus Christ himself. Our money goes to serve him. We will continue to provide ministry in Jesus’ name to everyone, whether they can afford to contribute or not. Isn’t that something you would like to be a part of?
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STEVE ROGERS is pastor of First Methodist Church, Panhandle, Texas. An Outlook reader sent us this article
from his church bulletin, Printed in the Presbyterian Outlook, September 5-12, 1988
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MONEY PRIORITIES
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"Where is your treasure? Where are your thoughts? What occupies your free mental moments? What are you always thinking about having? How does your mind most commonly finish this sentence, 'Wouldn't it be nice if we had ____________?'"
Pastor John Bash, "Family Finances" sermon Sunderland, MD. 1991
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MORALITY (of the day)
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There are a number of descriptions in classic Indian scriptures of the conditions characteristic of the Kali yuga. A particularly fulsome picture of the general decline is provided in the Matsya Purana: There is no one, any more, in whom enlightening goodness (sattva) prevails; no real wise man, no saint, no one uttering truth and standing by his sacred word. The seemingly holy Brahmin is no better than a fool. Old people, destitute of the true wisdom of old age, try to behave like the young, and the young lack the candor of youth. The social classes have lost their distinguishing, dignifying virtues; teachers, princes, tradespeople and servants sprawl alike in a general vulgarity.
The will to rise to supreme heights has failed; the bonds of sympathy and love have dissolved; narrow egotism rules. Indistinguishable ninnies conglomerate to form a sticky, unpalatable dough. When this calamity has befallen the once harmoniously ordered City of Man, the substance of the world-organism has deteriorated beyond salvage, and the universe is ripe for dissolution.
by Nancy Ross in Three Ways of Asian Wisdom
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MOTHER’S DAY
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Did you know that Mother’s Day originated in 1872 when pioneer feminist Julia Ward Howe called for a festival of peace, a time for mothers to come together and speak out against war?
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