Rev. Michelle Manuel Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:46-47 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Reflection: I know what I’m about to write is controversial. I know, I know, the very LAST thing we need [...]

Savannah Burch 2 Samuel 6:12-22 So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul [...]

2 Samuel 6:12-22 So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from [...]

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Reflection: Airplanes are a weird place to be. If you think about it, humans were not “meant” to fly. We do not have wings, and our lungs cannot handle such high altitudes on their own. Yet, we have found a way to soar through the skies. It is unnatural, however we do it frequently (less so nowadays) without much thought. Sometimes when I am on an airplane, though, I swear I can feel the 30,000 feet [...]

Suzi Pitts, Director of Communications 1 Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us." Reflection: It was 1992, after just losing my mom to cancer, I was in deep grief. Right after that, our Golden Retriever, Chili, died. Now I know that the death of a dog is not a huge deal, except for you dog people—you get it. But this death on top of death was flattening. I had little kids at the time, and I felt low like [...]

Joseph Patty, Associate Director of Student Ministries Matthew 15:1-9, 18, 22-28 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” 3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been [...]

Rev. Cliff Ritter  Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!” Reflection: The final word from our Book of Hebrew poetry gives us a clear imperative. In all things, and in all ways, at every opportunity, we are to praise the Lord. Indeed, to praise the LORD is to place a spiritual exclamation mark on our worship. It is our opportunity to declare our love for God, an opportunity to shout, or sing, or dance our highest form of exaltation before God. So long as we have breath in our lungs, we are to give God all [...]

By Louise McEvoy, Women's Ministry Coordinator Isaiah 29:13, 15-16 (VOICE) Eternal One: 13 These people think they can draw near to Me by saying the right things,         by honoring Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me.     Their worship of Me consists of man-made traditions learned by rote;         it is a meaningless sham. 15 Oh, it’ll be bad for those of you who conceal your thoughts from the Eternal,     who do your deeds in the dark and say: “Who sees us? Who knows what we are doing?” 16 My goodness, how you’ve turned things around! [...]