What a great week! Yesterday, we were blessed and well fed by the United Methodist Men as we celebrated all the men in our lives who have been father figures and who have shown us Christ’s love in all things. Not only were we physically fed yesterday, but we also received spiritual food through the word of God in New Life, the traditional services, and our Sunday school classes. I hope we have all taken a bit of that spiritual food home with us and have begun to chew on it.
Since yesterday I have been chewing on Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his Second Letter, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor 5:17). As most of you know, I am pretty young. As a young person, daily I do not normally think about my body wasting away, but as Larry stated yesterday “whether we want to hear it or not, we are all wasting away.” Larry was quick to point out that spiritually we are not wasting away; rather daily our souls are renewed and refreshed by God’s word, while our bodies slowly become weaker. This week, as we go about our busy lives, I think we all could benefit from a little more chewing and maybe even a little gnawing on God’s word, as we continuously refresh our souls and are drawn closer to God. So, take God’s word, chew on it, even gnaw on it, and be blessed this week!
Before closing I want to mention one way in which my spirit has already been refreshed since beginning my internship here at Mt. Hebron. From my first day up to now I have been embraced and welcomed with Radical Hospitality, and I would like to thank you all for your willingness to be open and led by God’s call on my life and yours. I also want to challenge you all by mentioning a few ways in which you can continue to be Radically Hospitable throughout the summer. The first opportunity will be this Sunday when we have our first Spanish-English Bible study and dinner. Please join us Sunday at 6:30 at Mt. Hebron to be fed spiritually and physically first by the word of God and then by a fabulous Hispanic cook. The second opportunity will be on July 8th, when our church hosts “Hope for Africa Children’s Choir", a choir of orphaned children from Uganda. Finally, from July12-18th we will be having VBS. During this week, we will be challenged to show Radical Hospitality to children of the church and our community as they come to Jesus and see that he loves them. I thank you in advance for your prayerful participation and Radical Hospitality. Have a blessed week as we daily allow the Holy Spirit to refresh and warm our hearts, and as we chew and gnaw on God’s word daily.
Bendiciones de su pastora (Blessings from yourpastor) ~ Emily
