Monthly Archives: November 2023

The Gift of the PRESENT …

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This upcoming Sunday brings us to a new church year and the beginning of Advent. New friends at Society of St. Andrew have a wonderful message by way of their website moniker: https://endhunger.org/

The congregation of MWPC were recently introduced to Society of St. Andrew by way of the Advent devotional The Gift of the PRESENT (downloadable version HERE, plus email option). CP will be periodically sharing snippets of this guide so please consider following along.

During this time, synchronicities will likely become clear to us, including

  • focus on hungers
  • impact of St. Andrew on the faith
  • book messages consistent in The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

While preparing for another Advent season, may reminders of The Gift of the PRESENT be with us regularly!

Come, Live in the Light… [that message in song is HERE – we dare you to watch/listen to this one and NOT be inspired by the energy of the singers and music 🙂 ]

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, December 3, 2023:

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

  • share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
  • check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
  • volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
  • find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
  • accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

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Nothing to Protect …

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Many of us have just experienced Thanksgiving and the joys of togetherness with family and friends! Yet, we know that this time of year can also bring seasons of want for those around us…

The “Nothing to Protect” message HERE from  Franciscan Press’ Minute Meditations is a good one on the heels of this holiday. Especially noteworthy is the opening line:

“Compassion flourishes when we have nothing to protect and everything to share.”

Coming away from Thanksgiving times strengthened and ready for the upcoming Advent season, the Nothing to Protect imagery is fantastic. May we be equipped, energetic and ready to give this language of love to all, with our mouths, eyes, ears, hearts, hands, feet and all…

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, November 26, 2023:

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

  • share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
  • check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
  • volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
  • find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
  • accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

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“The Hub:” refuse, reuse, recycle …

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This past Sunday, those staying after MWPC worship for The Hub presentation were blessed by the experience.

Their “Triple-R message?”

  • Refuse.
  • Reuse.
  • Recycle.

By limiting our consumption we ultimately require less and possibly influence others, right? And if all world residents could do more of this, there’s less production, less use of natural resources, fewer tons going into landfills, etc.. 

Where can you make such contributions to the Creator’s earth? Perhaps many of us in the Cincinnati area will make use of The Hub. You can check out much more about them HERE

In closing out this post, the song “Will You Come and Follow Me” comes to mind… A nice reminder for us to be examples of such Triple-R efforts!

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

Buried your Sacrifice Flower yet?

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, November 19, 2023:

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

  • share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
  • check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
  • volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
  • find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
  • accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

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Will You Come and Follow Me …

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The song “Will You Come and Follow Me” does a nice job of expressing – in Celtic style – what commitment can truly look like. A version of the song is HERE if you’d like to enjoy a rendition.

Listening – and acting on – the words of The Summons (another naming of this song) allows justice and radical God-centeredness to come through in our lives. The song’s author, John L. Bell (more on him HERE,) said this in an interview in Reformed Worship (March 1993):

“I discovered that seldom did our hymns represent the plight of poor people to God. There was nothing that dealt with unemployment, nothing that dealt with living in a multicultural society and feeling disenfranchised. There was nothing about child abuse…,that reflected concern for the developing world, nothing that helped see ourselves as brothers and sisters to those who are suffering from poverty or persecution.”

Many thanks, John L. Bell (and colleague Graham Maule!) This song and so many others are helping stir the Spirit towards justice, in wonderful ways…

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

Anyone buried their Sacrifice Flower yet?

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, November 19, 2023:

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

  • share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
  • check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
  • volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
  • find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
  • accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

DevotionalPraying handsSingendes Quartett3StudyMobius strip

Veteran’s Day traditional posting …

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On Veteran’s Day, it’s a CP tradition to review pictures of family veterans in uniform…

 

 

 

 

Does one look a little “out of place?”

Brother Andy was stationed in the country of Togo, West Africa in the Peace Corps in the mid/late 1980s. Why make that choice? He and so many other veterans have shared the love of the American people worldwide by “working side by side with local leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation” ~ (taken from the Peace Corps mission statement)

Isaiah 2:4 mentions “beating our swords into plowshares.” In Togo, they did that quite literally by instructing the people to plow with oxen (in addition to teaching them math, English and engaging in many other worthwhile activities!) Whatever the role, it is tough work for the Peace Corps volunteer and the people in-country they work with daily. The result? Even 20+ years later, these Peace Corps volunteers are recognized and welcomed with open arms (I had the pleasure of experiencing these greetings first-hand in 2009 – – many Togolese thought I was my brother! )

We are blessed to have people willing to serve in such ways in the Peace Corps!

Could we say a lot about the blessing of what our military personnel have done for us, including Uncles Fred and Jack (pictured above?) Absolutely; yet it’s likely you’ll get a chance to read a lot more about military folks, so we’ll leave it here for today.

ACTION: Let’s honor and remember our veterans today in one or more ways such as

  • trip to a park or cemetery where a veteran’s memorial exists
  • attending area events honoring veterans – men, women and more (animals in K9 corps and others)
  • watching a show in a war setting
  • watching videos of Peace Corps volunteers sharing experiences HERE

PRAYER: God, we are blessed to have military veterans and currently-serving personnel who hopefully ultimately have made and are making our world a more peaceful place. We are equally blessed to have Peace Corps veterans and volunteers working for a more peaceful world. We remember and honor their efforts and sacrifices for such peaceful long-term priorities. Strengthen and support all of them – and us – in our roles of becoming better peace-makers worldwide! Amen.

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, November 12, 2023:

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

  • share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
  • check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
  • volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
  • find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
  • accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

DevotionalPraying handsSingendes Quartett3StudyMobius strip

“The BOBBs” …

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Further fueled by the Guideposts article HERE, a new small group ministry is forming in the Cincinnati area. Named “The BOBBs**,” the initial group of 4 guys – two black and two white – have begun meeting for lunch about once a month at one of several local, black-owned businesses.

That Guideposts story – “With God’s Guidance, He Helps Others in Large and Tiny Ways”  – is compelling on numerous fronts:

  • consider the Dwayne figures in your own life – those showing up “Dwayne-on-the-spot,” just when help is needed
  • what a wonderful religious community New Olivet Worship Center is, including making “Bust-a-Move Monday” trips to black-owned places a priority (and letting the proprietors know in advance!) 🙂
  • the history of Orange Mound and efforts to revitalize the area

POSSIBLE ACTIONS: Perhaps you will decide to form a similar BOBBs or Bust-a-Move group of your own, or prioritize your spending in this way? If you’re looking for black-owned places to frequent in the Cincinnati area, a website with some options is HERE

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

** Black-Owned Business Boosters

P.S. A sad note; one of the first locations the BOBBs visited announced just a few weeks later that they were closing. All the more inspiration for doing this more often and encouraging others to support local black-owned businesses!!!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, November 12, 2023:

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

  • share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
  • check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
  • volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
  • find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
  • accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

DevotionalPraying handsSingendes Quartett3StudyMobius strip

Sacrifice Flower …

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Thank you Richard Rohr and Center for Action and Contemplation!

There are many reasons for that thanksgiving. One – the focus of today’s CP attention – is their weekly Saturday posting, summarizing the week of blog posts along with a Practice.

Week 44’s Practice brings with it a fabulous message and reasonably easy effort, should we be so inclined. Franciscan Sister José Hobday (1929–2009) was a Seneca elder and she shares:

A very special [way to pray] was the Sacrifice Flower prayer, which [my mother] adapted from the heritage of her people, the Seneca Iroquois. …

She goes on in the article to share the full prayer and then provides this concluding remark:

In this simple, graphic way my mother taught me how uplifting prayer can be. And, in the process, she taught me about life, too—how basic both dying and rising are to living and how important it is that we become Sacrifice Flowers for each other.

To see the full Practice, click HERE and go towards the bottom of the page.

POSSIBLE ACTIONS: Maybe we will find time today or in a day upcoming to try the Sacrifice Flower prayer?

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, November 5, 2023:

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

  • share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
  • check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
  • volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
  • find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
  • accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

DevotionalPraying handsSingendes Quartett3StudyMobius strip