SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS DESPERATELY NEEDED
Please contact Mary Konvalinka if you are interested in becoming a Sunday School teacher. She can be reached at 219-308-2701. Please consider volunteering!!
FALL WORSHIP
After Labor Day , Immanuel will have only one worship service at 9:30 each Sunday. At this time of adjustment to different Pastors it would be much easier to go with the single worship service. A couple of the ministers are coming from a different time zone. Also, the number of parishioners each Sunday does not warrant two services.
The council can rethink this decision after Christmas.Thank you for your cooperation.
Pastoral Care
What do you do if you need a pastor? Do as you have in the past. Call the church to notify us of a death or serious illness. Kay will call one of the two pastors on call. If it is afternoon, evening or weekends, Sue Fay or I will call out a pastor. Our phone numbers are on the church answering machine.
The two pastors on call are Pastor Dan at Crown Point and Pastor Joan at Merrillville.We hope you don't need us but we are ready.
Herbertine Peck
Calming the Storm Within
Based on Mark 4:35-41
The Rev. Victoria Ubben
at Immanuel United Church of Christ,
Highland, IN August 8, 2010.
With permission from Rev. Ubben we are copying her sermon and will have copies in the Narthex available to those of you who want the full —3- page version. For the use of our VISITOR publication we are submitting a portion of it for you to read. We feel this was a wonderful and uplifting sermon for our wonderful church, Immanuel. And for many of us it was a breath of fresh air to know some ministers are praying for us. Here is a condensed version of her sermon. It is worth reading and discerning over.
One of the ministers on our ministry team at First Christian Church in Valparaiso has a retreat farm — south of Valparaiso — in Kouts. Yesterday some of us gathered at "Pilgrims' Rest" for a time of intentional prayer. Be certain that yesterday I held this church — Immanuel — and all of you — in prayer. I also prayed that God would give me some helpful and encouraging words to share with you this morning.
So — yesterday we prayed — and we prayed in a certain way. It is very simple. Brother Lawrence tells us that we should talk constantly to God or Jesus. We should be in constant communication with God (or the Spirit). Brother Lawrence maintained that this is really the only spiritual discipline and the only type of prayer that we need.
When we do not talk with or listen to God — sometimes for days or weeks at a time — we hold God at arm's length. In effect, we are giving God the silent treatment. Of course, -we
that God is always with us and within us — that we can never be fully separated from God — BUT when we do not communicate with God, then we are keeping God out of our consciousness. When we do this, our own little ego becomes the center of our consciousness, we become ego-centric, and we become focused only on ourselves. When we do not ask God to guide our thoughts and feelings, our goals and values, our speech and behavior, we consign God to the periphery of our life, or at least to the periphery of our consciousness. Our relationship with God then becomes compartmentalized into one hour a week in a special building. That is not enough. If we are to de-compartmentalize our faith, we need to bring God back into the center of our daily life. The simplest way to do this is to talk with and LISTEN to God about what we are doing and not doing in our lives — all the time. (Try this beginning right now. Try to pray ALL the time for yourselves, for those whom you love, and for your church!)Many people are afraid of change — even when the present situation is intolerable. They are afraid to live alone, to grow old, to die. Some people are actually afraid of LIFE — of the storms of life — the storms from within and without that all of us must face.
People who live in FEAR are facing life without being conscious of the loving presence and guidance of that God who dwells within. How many of these frightened, trembling people communicate with God on a daily basis? Fearful people do not practice this spiritual discipline.
This means, many people who do not embrace the guidance of Jesus are overcome by financial debt, worry, and drug and alcohol addiction. Rather than being afraid and drowning at sea — why not allow Jesus to reach into the waves and save you from despair? Jesus asked those disciples, "Why are you afraid? Do you have no faith? I am here." Even today Jesus asks those who are afraid — lost at sea — WHY ARE YOU AFRAID?
Times in my life I have been afraid. I have been sinking deep in sin. But the Master of the Seas heard my cries. The Spirit of Jesus lifted me up out of the waves. His precious love lifted me — and that same love can lift you from any despair you may feel. If you are sinking and overwhelmed in life — ask yourself WHY. Why are you afraid to reach out and take hold of that hand of Jesus reaching out to you??
When nothing else can save you — or your church — from the storms of life, the love of Jesus will lift you out of those waves, which will drown you! If your soul is in danger — or if your church is in danger — look to Jesus! As you pray for your church, Immanuel United Church of Christ, pray that God's loving arms might rescue your church from theses choppy waters and overwhelming waves.
As you pray for your church — constantly and continuously — as Brother Lawrence has instructed -- ask God to "BREATHE" on your church. Pray and breathe... and trust that God will take care of you.
