3.17.11

Hey Church! We need your help! We are looking for someone who is a structural engineer and can take our drawing of our new road-side sign and do a wind test rating on it. We need to have this done in order for Happy Valley to approve a new sign for Sunnyside Road. If you are a S.E. or know one, please email derik@eastridgechurch.org with your mad-wind-testing skills!

Check out Youversion.com, an interactive bible study site from a sister covenant church. Choose from several reading plans and keep track of them, read

commentaries and notes on your daily scripture reading, invite friends to journey with you!

Please continue to keep your thoughts and prayers in Japan as they work to rebuild what's been lost. Pray for the people who are left behind, that they would find comfort and hope! You can read more about what the Covenant Denomination is doing to aid people in Japan by clicking here.

I'll leave you with this less known saying from the Breastplate of Saint Patrick.

Christ be with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ in me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Christ on my right

Christ on my left
Christ where I lie
Christ where I sit
Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me
Salvation is of the Lord.

lent post 1

open

"The Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.

I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, human respect, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life."

+ Henri J.M. Nouwen (from Show Me the Way: Readings for Each Day of Lent)

(Via Crucis-Pablo Sanaguano Sanchez)

scripture

+ Old Testament: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

+ Psalm: Psalm 32

+ New Testament: Romans 5:12-19

+ Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11

reflection

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.

Help me to pray

and to concentrate my thoughts on you;

I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,

but with you there is light;

I am lonely, but you do not leave me;

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;

I am restless, but with you there is peace.

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;

I do not understand your ways,

but you know the way for me...

Restore me to liberty,

and enable me to live now

that I may answer before you and before men.

Lord, whatever this day may bring,

Your name be praised.

Amen.

+ Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

"All God's plans have the mark of the cross on them, and all His plans have death to self in them."

+ E.M. Bounds (1835-1913)

"The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God."

+ Psalm 51:17

"Remember what I say: if you would cleave to earthly pleasures, these are the things which will murder souls. There is no surer way to get a seared conscience and a hard impenitent heart, than to give way to the desires of the flesh and mind. It seems nothing at first, but it tells in the long run.

Consider what Peter says: "abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11). They destroy the soul's peace, break down its strength, lead it into hard captivity, make it a slave."

+ John Charles Ryle (1816-1900)

close

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,

wherever He may send you.

May He guide you through the wilderness,

protect you through the storm.

May He bring you home rejoicing

at the wonders He has shown you.

+ In the name of the Father,

and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

*community prayer, worship, and Bible study tonight at 6:50pm (wednesday, 3/16)