Quote of the week
Posted on October 30, 2011
Each Sunday as part of our worship, we invite someone in our community to share a picture, poem, or quote that they have found especially meaningful in their lives. We invite them to bring this quote to our Sunday gathering, and show or read it to us, and then tell us why it is meaningful to them. Here are some recent quotes:
April 1 – From Charlene B.
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, although I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” – Thomas Merton
March 18 - From Dan K.
“1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.”
-Psalm 23
March 4 – From Emily N
“Faith is…understanding that my ‘experiences with God’ won’t cause a fraction of an inch of spiritual growth unless they are hammered out in daily relationship.”
- Source: Faith Is by Pamela Reeve
February 19 – From Jack M…“Multitudes of people have come to a full knowledge of God because in a moment of
complete hopelessness they prayed “The Atheists Prayer” or something like it: “O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul.” Whether it is the true cry of the heart, of the inmost spirit of the individual, who has no longer any hope other than God, God hears and responds without fail as if he has a “heart monitor” installed in every person. And when the heart truly reaches out to God as God, no longer looking to itself or others, he responds with the gift of “life from above.”
Source: The Renovation of the Heart, by Dallas Willard
February 5 – From Kim K…
“God does leave us to the consequences of our stupid decisions. But
our pain has a purpose: problems, struggles, heartaches, and hassles
cooperate toward one end–the glory of God. Is there any chance you
have been selected to struggle for God’s glory?”
From It’s Not About ME by Max Lucado.
January 29 – From Erik K…
“We are what we repeatedly do, excellence therefore is not an act but a habit.” ~ Aristotle
January 22 - From Sharon P…
Words and music by Rick Founds
(Verse)
Lord, I lift Your name on high
Lord, I love to sing Your praises
I’m so glad You’re in my life
I’m so glad You came to save us
(Chorus)
You came from heaven to earth
To show the way
From the earth to the cross
My debt to pay
From the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
Lord, I lift Your name on high
January 15 - From Gloria K…
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.“ – Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 8- From Jan B…
“Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect’. Whatever did He mean? ….If this is God’s standard of holiness, then I may as well resign from the start…..Jesus did not proclaim the Sermon on the Mount so that we would furrow our brows in despair to achieve perfection. He gave it to impart to us God’s Ideal toward which we should never stop striving, but also to show that none of us will ever reach that Ideal. The Sermon on the Mount forces us to recognize the great distance between God and us, and any attempt to reduce that distance by somehow moderating its demands misses the point altogether.
The worst tragedy would be to turn the Sermon on the Mount into another form of
legalism; it should rather put to an end to all legalism. Legalism like the Pharisees’ will always fail, not because it is too strict but because it is not strict enough. Thunderously, arguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.”
The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
January 1- From Christine W…
“Though still broken hearted, she believes what her mommy tells her about her heavenly Father. That He is at work in her little life in spite of the suffering. That His ultimate plan involves far more than our happiness in this life.”
Source: Heroic Faith by Voice of the Martyrs
December 18 – From Aaron V…
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will be come unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves).
December 4 – From Jack M…
‘I’m not fooling you with my inauthentic prayers, am I God?’ … ‘I don’t want to talk to you about my partying because I already know I want to do it again! I’m afraid if I follow your will, I’ll never have fun again. So if you want me to stop, you’ve got to help me see a better way. I’m willing for you to help me.’ …
Little did I know then about the power of willingness, but when God met me in that willingness, new attitudes began to replace the old.” Challenge for the week: 60-60 Experiment, meaning for 60 days, every 60 minutes reconnect with God. Let God know you are willing.
- From Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended by John Burke.
November 27 - From Bev W…
“There is no record of Andrew ever preaching a sermon, performing a miracle, or writing a book of Scripture. He is remembered for those whom he brought to Jesus.” Our task is to bring others to Jesus, and he will perform His divine work in their lives.
- Taken from the devotional Experiencing God Day-by-day written by Henry and Richard Blackaby. How are we doing at being an Andrew for others?
November 6 – From Kim K …
“Seriously, my life was not meant to be an example to copy. Being my follower is not
trying to ‘be like Jesus’, it means for your independence to be killed. I came to give you life, real life, my life. We will come and live our life inside of you, so that you begin to see with our eyes, and hear with our ears, and touch with our hands, and think like we do. But we will never force that union on you. If you want to do your thing, have at it. Time is on our side.”
- Jesus speaking in The Shack, by William Paul Young
October 30 – From Becky B …
“Seek me with your whole being. I desire to be found by you, and I orchestrate the events of your life with that purpose in mind. When things go well and you are blessed, you can feel Me smiling on you. When you encounter rough patches along your life-journey, trust that My Light is still shining upon you. My reasons for allowing these adversities may be shrouded in mystery, but My continual Presence with you is an absolute promise. Seek Me in good times; seek Me in hard times. You will find Me watching over you all the time.” – from a devotional book (not sure of source)
October 23 – from Gloria K …
“If you’ve come to help me, you’re wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” – Quote from an Aboriginal woman
October 9 – from Charlene B …
“St. Francis wanted his followers to live in poverty by confidently making known their needs to one another. Francis was not really interested in the poverty of material possessions; rather he was concerned for the type of poverty that would lead to interdependence and the love of brothers and sisters for one another. Thus he advocated that his followers live not without things but without possessing things, for when we possess things we may think that we do not need other people or have a responsibility of love toward them. To live as poor persons, for Francis, is to love one another as family, as a mother loves and cares for her son. The poor person is the brother or sister who lives in dependence on others, following the poor Christ. Poverty is being able to say, ‘I need you,’ that is, ‘I am incomplete without you’.” – Ilia Delio in Franciscan Prayer
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