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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Pastor's Penpoint - "Thoughts on Communion" - October 2012

It's easy sometimes, I think, to fall into a rut in our Christian lives. Even the most glorious of actions can become ho-hum and stale. That includes our prayer life, our worship experience and even those infrequent special events - like communion. Communion, or the Lord's Supper, only comes around in our church every three months or so. And it's interesting that we go solemnly through the motions as we consider what lay ahead for our Savior, Jesus Christ ... but my question is this - are our solemn actions respect and introspection or is it boredom? At the table of the Lord we find renewal, hope in not what Christ had to endure, but celebration and joy at what He overcame.

The first Sunday of this month is World Communion Sunday. All over this globe Christian churches are gathering at the Lord's Table to acknowledge our need for a Savior and wanting to sit at His feet. This event for the Christian community, communion, should serve to draw us nearer to Christ and to our sisters and brothers who like us, fall in the shadow of the cross.

Aiden Wilson Tozer was an American Christian pastor, preacher, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor. He is my favorite theologian and I quote him often in sermons. No surprise he has one of my favorite thoughts on communion. Tozer says:

     "What a sweet comfort to us that our Lord Jesus Christ was once known in the
     breaking of the bread. In earlier Christian times, believers called the Communion
     'the medicine of immortality,' and God gave them the desire to pray: Be known to us
     in breaking bread, But do not then depart; Savior, abide with us and spread Thy
     table in our heart. Some churches have a teaching that you will find God only at
     their table - and that you leave God there when you leave. I am so glad that God 
     has given us light. We may take the Presence of the table with us. We may take the
     Bread of life with us as we go. Then sup with us in love divine, Thy body and Thy 
     blood; That living bread and heavenly wine Be our immortal food! In approaching the
     table of our Lord, we dare not forget the cost to our elder Brother, the Man who 
     was from heaven. He is our Savior; He is our Passover!"

 Just as many wish that the joy, love and comfort we feel at Christmas would last forever - my wish is that the oneness and unity we feel on World Communion Sunday will last until the coming of our Lord.

God's grace & strength to each of you!
~Pastor Todd

Monday, October 1, 2012

Congratulations, Bonca!

Congratulations to Bonca and the Wilson Marching Band for their success in the band competition this week!

Annual Hayride

This was the largest group ever, 87 people, to go on the annual Mt. Olivet hayride. This year we rode again to Showalter's Corn Maze in Sangerville to have lunch and hang out for awhile. The return ride took us through the fall country landscape by Emanuel Church, down Bear Trap Farm Road, through Stokesville, then back to Mt. Olivet. We praise God for safety and a beautiful day.