Today is my sabbath. I started the morning by drinking mint tea from my garden in the outdoor prayer chapel during Prime.
I have a pretty long to do list that I have compiled over the last week. I will probably get some of it done today, but it is Sabbath so a relaxed rhythm is in order.
Join me in my walk around the Vicarage gardens.
The day lilies are in full bloom now.
So is the giant hosta.
I love the delicate flowers of the lady’s mantle.
The fleabane is also in full bloom. These tiny white flowers on 3 foot stocks attract lots of pollinators to the garden. So many people pull these out of their gardens considering them weeds, but I love how they fill out space around the yard and bring in the bees.
The whole yard is filled with the scent of honeysuckle. It is really strong this year. I can smell it no matter where I am on the property.
This year the forest garden is attracting a large number of birds.
I have to pick up more suet for the feeders today. We have five or six hungry woodpeckers that are hanging around.
I have also set up an extra hummingbird feeder. I have a larger than average population of hummingbirds and they are constantly warring over the one feeder I usually put up. The second feeder seems to have solved the problem.
My Sabbath day is going to be filled with prayer and gardening and cleaning.
You can read all the responses to this challenge by clicking the link above. My answers to this week’s questions are below.
What is/has been your favourite job/occupation? I am really enjoying the work I am doing now. I have been ministering in churches since 1991 in all kinds of different capacities. I have been a youth pastor, organist, choir director, worship leader, children’s minister/ director, fellowship and visitation director and assistant to the pastor. Up until three years ago I had avoided the work of being a lead pastor because there were aspects of the job I was afraid of. Then the call came three years ago to step into this role. I am not good at all of it, but I am enjoying every bit of it even those parts where I am on a big learning curve.
Is there a job you would never consider doing? There are lots of jobs I would never consider doing: Astronaut, Marine biologist, Mountain rescue, Fireman, Policeman, Physics teacher, Airplane pilot, Circus acrobat, lion tamer and the list goes on. I admire those who can and do all of these jobs. I know they are beyond me.
Did your family own a business and expect you to join the ranks when you got older? My family did own a business. I did join the ranks, but I was never forced to it. I settled into it. Then my father passed away and then I realized I was not suited to the business and moved back into the field I was created for.
Did/do you have a career requiring qualifications or did you learn on the job and work your way up? This job of ministry has both educational requirements and on the job training that is necessary. Bible college is absolutely necessary, but I have never met a Bible college graduate that was “ready” to minister to a congregation on the day they got their diploma or certification. There are so many non-tangibles to this work that cannot be taught only caught. I would recommend to anyone considering this work to enter this ministry as an assistant first before trying to take or build their own church.
GRATITUDE: I was so blessed by this incredible weekend of ministry.It was a great weekend of adventure.
FOUNDER’S DAY WINCHENDON MARELAY FOR LIFE GARDNER MACELEBRATION OF LIFE FOR ANNE MARIEWORSHIP SERVICE- ACTIVATION CONFERENCE AT CORNERSTONE AG CHURCH WINCHENDONLUNCH WITH A MISSIONARY FRIEND AT LITTLE ANTHONY’SVISITATION WITH A CONGREGATIONAL FRIEND AT HEYWOOD HOSPITAL
This year our church has been given direction, from the Lord, through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. Our leadership has boiled this direction down into a congregational sentence. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
I am breaking down these seven prepare statements into twenty one brief devotionals. This post is devotional number 19.
DAY 19- Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open.
I have used this Scripture before, but it bears repeating, “
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not [b]puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, [c]thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. 1 Cor. 13:4-8
HOW ARE YOU DOING WITH LOVING THE PEOPLE IN YOUR DLT GROUP? HOW ARE YOU DOING LOVING PEOPLE IN YOUR TOWN WHO ARE NOT PART OF THE CHURCH?
I was describing the job of a minister to a friend the other day. It is not like most jobs. It’s the ultimate split shift rotation. I start in the early morning and then take a break for breakfast and to walk the dogs. Then I usually have some morning work to do. Then I take a break for lunch (usually I go home and walk the dogs during that time). Then I have an afternoon commitment of some kind and always more prayer. Then I take another break sometimes I get to work around the house and the garden and then it’s more prayer and sometimes an evening commitment.
Today for instance. I started with prayer around 4 A.M. and prayed for a few hours. Then Amanda and I had a funeral to attend for a dear lady we know through disabilities ministry .
Anne-Marie was a wonderful woman of faith and Amanda and I were blessed to be able to attend her funeral. We stayed for the reception and got to catch up with many church friends from the area.
Then it was back home to meet up with Joe and Kristine and Sevy. They had an open house to attend in a neighboring town this morning. The house was not something they were very interested in but they keep looking and waiting for the right thing to come along.
Kristine, Sevy and I then headed out to one of the two big events going on today. It’s Founder’s Day in Winchendon.
And Relay For Life in Gardner. We had church staff and leaders at both. The Prayer Shawl Ministry gave out 64 shawls at the Relay!
Meanwhile we had several of our members working as volunteers at the Founder’s Day event.
I was just an attendee at the Founder’s Day, but I had some great opportunities to chat with people from town including one of my classmates, and one of the police sergeants whom I have known since childhood.
Then I went home to do a bit of gardening and to put together my devotional video for the church and to get myself ready for church tomorrow morning
I opened up the bushes next to the drive a bit.
I have one more prayer session for bed. It’s been a wonderful day!
This year our church has been given direction from God that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
I am breaking these seven prepare statements into 21 weekly devotionals. This is week 16.
Prepare your hope and faith( think hope, speak hope, act in hope).
Hope is not a wish. It is a confident assurance in a certain future. It is big picture thinking. Our hope is not in this present age. Our hope is not in this present kingdom. Our hope is not in this present culture. Our hope is in the sure and certain future Jesus has promised us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.JOHN 3:16,17
the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.[a]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. 2 PETER 3: 10-18
To think hope means to contemplate the coming of this future kingdom. It means to put away thoughts that get us stuck in this present time of trouble and turmoil.
Notes From the Vicarage 