"Call to me and I will
answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
(Jeremiah 33:3)
"Are You Washed in the Blood", Faith for the Family
Hi Family!!!
We have a good news! We are going to reopen our church building
for in-person worship in two weeks, from the Sunday, June 21. We are now
getting more understanding of COVID 19 - how to live with it and how to protect
each other from it. So we will prepare some guidelines for you before you come.
It means our in-person service will be little different from the time before
COVID 19 with wearing masks, keeping social distance and limited singing hymns
and fellowship. Even though our worship gathering at the sanctuary will not be
the same as before COVID 19, we are looking forward to that day! And we will
continue to worship in spirit and truth.
Now we just celebrated full presence of God through Trinity
Sunday and we truly want to live in the fullness of God continually whatever
happens around us because we are the one who held the hope of eternal Kingdom
for the world. So now we will continue to take steps to the higher ground with
that hope!
So here they are!
1. Take a little moment of meditation on Genesis 1:28a, “Be Fruitful”
each day this week.
2. Memorize Matthew 28:19-20 today.
3. Sing with Psalm 8 taking just 5-10 minutes each day this week.
4. Pray for the community leaders this week.
5. Bring God’s light around me from today.
6. Seek God’s wisdom each day this week.
Now we have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us
continue to call upon the name of the Lord as we take next steps together… as
one body!
Be clean and keep your safe distance from every unseen enemy around us!!
pk
- - -
Markesan &
Princeton Emmanuel Prayer List
(The Week of
June 8, 2020)
This Week’s Updates – Laybourn Family for God’s comfort and
strength; Dan for back surgery and healing; Jayneanne healing from Lyme
disease; Frank, Misty’s Father, in hospice care; Reopening Preparation; Our
nation for Christ hearts
“Turn your
eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.” (Helen Lemmel, 1922)
“Turn
Your Eyes upon Jesus” by Sounds Like Reign
Greetings to you all in the name of our
Lord, Jesus Christ,
It has been quite a challenging few
months since we have practiced social distancing. Especially, it is quite hard
when we are not able to do what we used to do or want to do, like worship,
bible study, fellowship, serve and talk freely with our fellow brothers and
sisters or sit with each other in the place where we like to gather because all
those are very important for our life.
We know it is not all as it continues
without promising. Its impact is getting stronger - psychologically,
emotionally and even financially on every aspect of our life, not positively
but negatively. “How long could we live like this?” “Where is the way out?”
“Will that time truly come?” I wondered again and again and again.
However, as I prepared each week’s
worship, the story of Israel people also came to my mind again and again. About
twenty-five hundred years ago, the people of Israel went through challenges,
not just for a few months but around sixty years, exiled far from home in a
foreign land named Babylon, and lived as war slaves, 2nd class citizens, and
were thrown into the fire or hungry lions’ den, depending on the unpredictable
order of Babylonian King, just to keep their faith according to the Old
Testament stories.
Then I realized that these were not the
only years they experienced challenges. It happened during their time in Egypt
under the Pharaoh. Even recently, for the last two thousand years, they had to
live far from their homeland, Israel, as foreigners all around the world until
1945. Their stories are the series of pain and suffering dealing with
uncertainty.
Interestingly, all of those were the
result of human’s sin, by the disobedience against God or running away from God
apart from God’s law - a protection from the dangers of human life and a
helping hand to grow as a people of God, from the beginning, believe it or not.
Amazingly, those stories continue to point to a different direction from our
human reality. In other words, those stories are powerful enough to help us to
turn our current reality into divine reality. Every challenge is our
opportunity to come closer to God and experience His power.
“God is
spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John
4:24, NRSV)
As we take the discipline of cleaning and
distancing from the unseen enemy, we have accepted this challenge as our
opportunity to grow into God’s perfect love so that, through the challenging
time, our faith, our purpose and our focus will be renewed, simplified, and
sharpened as we worship in spirit and truth.
So now, brothers and sisters in Christ,
for the last 10 weeks, as we have worshiped the Lord in spirit and truth
wherever we were, do you feel much stronger than before now? Do you see the
purpose of life in God much clearly now? Do you have a clearer vision of your
life for the Kingdom of God eternal now?
If not, let us share another story from
Job who suffered without reason. This is what he said as he went through the
deep and long dark tunnel of his life.
“...But he
knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.
(Job 23:10)!”
Do you know what? It actually happened as
he went through that challenging time caused by others’ sin. Everything was
renewed and restored. Furthermore, his blessings doubled! But most of all, he
began to have personal relationship with God through that hardship!
"Call to me and I will
answer you and tell you great and
unsearchable things you do not know."
(Jeremiah 33:3)
“The
Church’s One Foundation”
sung by the Plymouth choir and Congregation
of First Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Nebraska
Hi Family!!!
We all went through the night well under the severe thunder
storms! We always learn that God who made heaven and earth is with us even when
we walk through the dark valley! We have much clear sky now but little warmer.
Always after the thunderstorm, there is a new beginning! However, we call repentance
first as God heals us because, without it, God’s healing won’t come. However,
as we pray, we are truly hoping for the new beginnings! Seems like we don’t
have many things to do; however, we can endure with God’s love and grace until
all those are over and also we can pray continually, the most powerful tool for
us to deal with the reality of sin and death. “We shall flow rivers of living water!” So, I would like to invite
you to join me this week as a church together to pray. However, before we pray,
I also would like to invite you to take some steps with me. So here they are!
1. Take a little moment of meditation on John 7:38, “Flow Rivers of
Living Waters” this week.
2. Memorize 1 Corinthians 12:13 today.
3. Sing with Psalm 104 taking just 5-10 minutes each day this week.
4. Pray for the confirmands each day this week as they prepare the
Credo statement.
5. Prayer of the Holy Spirit to anoint me each day this week.
6. Prayer for those who graduated this year.
Now we have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us
continue to call upon the name of the Lord as we take next steps together… as
one body!
Be clean and keep your safe distance from every unseen enemy around us!!
pk
- - -
Markesan &
Princeton Emmanuel Prayer List
(The Week of
June 1, 2020)
This Week’s Updates – Isabell for her recovery from a surgery
and moving to NC; Carrick for healing and recovery from ATV accident; Brent, Open
heart Surgery in June; Judy recovery from concussion, For our nation;
"Call to me and I will
answer you and tell you great and
unsearchable things you do not know."
(Jeremiah 33:3)
“Kyrie Eleison (Lord, Have Mercy)”, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Westminster
Choir
Hi Family!!!
I almost skipped taking the next steps this week… but God
reminds me this morning, “Wake up!” Thanks be to God! Even though this week’s
step for us might be a little slower than other weeks, definitely, we will
never stop our steps to the higher ground. However, we will do it humbly before
God. So, I would like to invite you to join me this week as a church together.
If you took some steps already, wait for me! So here they are! -Maditate on a few words, from John 17:3, “Eternal Life” each day this
week. -Memorize 1 Peter
5:8, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring Lion your adversary the
devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour” today. -Sing with Psalm 68
taking just 5-10 minutes each day this week. -Give thanks to God
for those who shared the gifts of life for others this week. -Pray for the pure
heart in the leadership of our country this week. -Plant the seed of
faith in my vegetable garden this week. -Ask God to help me
to see my true identity in His Kingdom this week.
For online worship service, there is a little change and
addition. We will continually put the recordings of our worship and other
events through YouTube, Facebook and Tweeter; however, we will also use Zoom
for those who do not have internet access. It means we will not use our current
telephone access numbers that we have shared through our newsletter any longer.
But we will use the new telephone number and access code through Zoom. If you’d
like, you can choose to join us through ZOOM on Sunday 9:20 a.m. for
worship.
Also, don’t forget to join our Dive-In Gathering this coming
Sunday @ 9:30 a.m. at the Markesan UMC parking lot. The Recorded Service will
be online as usual, but during our Drive-In Gathering, we will also celebrate
the Holy Communion. Please plan to come a little earlier so that we can start
our short program right at 9:30 a.m.
For this week, lots of things happened around us, shocking us
and saddened us. It means we need to pray more for one another to seek God and
his presence as we are mad at the human sinfulness. Also we noticed, in our
nation, we are divided by the political views on wearing masks in public.
Whether we choose to wear it or not, and whether we keep social distance or not
in public, and whether we like it or not, we do this because we care for one
another.
So before we do choose any, we will remember what Jesus
commanded us to do, giving his life for others.
Now we have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us
continue to call upon the name of the Lord as we take next steps together… disciplining
ourselves, keeping alert!
Be clean and keep your distance from those unseen enemies!!
pk
- - -
Markesan &
Princeton Emmanuel Prayer List
(The Week of
May 25, 2020)
This week’s Updates – Betty K’s Cataract surgery this week;
Isabel B’s moving to NC, her daughter's house in June; Rick and his family for
God’s comfort; Ted and Margaret’s moving this week; Terri, recovering from
pacemaker putting in.
"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)
“Be
Still My Soul” ,Libera
Hi
Family!!!
Our
next steps for this week began with some moisture since we are having a good amount
of rain which will bring much green in our season! However, are we having
Monday syndrome this morning? I know people call it like that; however, I call
it warming up time after some good rest through Sabbath Day since we won’t do
warming up all week long. It is quite a normal for most of us and a sign of
good rest I presume! So, now, are we ready to shift our gear a little bit? Here
they are! I would like to invite you to take those steps with me this week as a
church together.
1. Meditate on John 14:2b, “loved by
my Father”, each day this week.
2.Memorize 1 Peter
3:18 today.
3.Sing with Psalm 31
each day this week taking just 5:10 minutes.
4.Pray for the
confirmands this week who are preparing their Credo.
5.Love my God with
all my strength from today.
6.Keep my conscience
clear from today.
Now we
have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us continue to call upon the
name of the Lord as we let our Holy Spirit continue to sanctify us as we taking
next steps together! We truly give thanks to God since Christ makes the
unrighteous righteous!
Be
clean and keep your distance from those unseen enemies!!
pk
- - -
Markesan & Princeton Emmanuel Prayer List
(The Week of May 18, 2020)
This
week's New Prayer Request: Evy, recovering from pacemaker putting in last
week; Ken Dahlke family for God’s comfort and strength.
"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)
“Jesus
Bleibet Meine Freude” J S Bach, VOVES 8
Hi
Family!!!
It is
quite fresh outside even though little chilly. We may need some extra layers
this morning? Are you ready to take new steps this week after a Good Sabbath Day
Rest? Now, I would like to invite you to take some steps with me this week as a
church together.
1.Take a little moment of meditation
on a couple of words, “marvelous light”, from 1
Peter 2:9b, each day this week.
2.Memorize John 14:1, “Do not let
your hearts be troubled, Believe in God, believe also in me” today!
3.Sing with Psalm 31 each day
this week taking just 5-10 minutes.
4.Pray for the
single mothers whom I know around me for twenty seconds each day this week.
5.Talk to the Holy
Spirit to help me to grow in faith taking one minute each day this week.
6.Keep the grateful
heart all throughout this week!!!
7.Keep God’s call in my heart
from today – “You are a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may
proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light. (Peter 2:9, NRSV)”
Now we
have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us continue to call upon the
name of the Lord as we to take our steps following His way, His truth and His
Life. We truly give thanks to God since Christ laid down his own life for us as
the stepping stone for our salvation.
Be
clean and keep your distance from those unseen enemies!!
“...Don’t be dejected
and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
(Nehemiah 8:10b, NLT)
Greetings to you all
in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
It has been quite a journey confined by COVID 19 for the
last whole month of April. However, it was not too bad at all as we look at it
differently with the Christian eyes because we were able to find more time with
God and our family. And it made us think about what the most important thing in
our life is. We took a whole month to rearrange our life bringing God in the
center of our life again even though we have to adapt to the new normal.
One of those new normal most of us have experienced last
month was using social media and its network. It has been around for a long
time since early 1990’s; however, we did not know our life would depend on
social media this much. It means we are doing our church together differently
using social media, worshiping the Lord in spirit and truth continually even
though we may not like it.
I heard someone say, “If Jesus comes to us in the 21st
century, he must use the social media.” It made me stop and ponder as I
prepared each week’s online gatherings with a question mark, “Really?” Some
part of me doubted, “if Jesus comes to us right now, he does not need anything
because he has the power to show people who he is. Jesus does neither need a
Facebook account, nor Instagram, nor Twitter, nor Zoom meetings to get people’s
attention.” I actually don’t know how Jesus would handle this if he comes to us
right now though because I am not Jesus.
Anyway, one thing that I have learned from April was that
lots of people are living in social media, virtual world as real. “Wow! People
share their life virtually, and people find inspiration there - relief,
freedom, healing, and even their own self there, virtual self! And of course,
people find happiness there when others like what they posted! In other words,
when they get other’s attention more, they become
much happier. If not, sad and depressed.” Sounds like people are controlled by
this.
However, no one is free from this. We are longing for
something, something that we don’t find in our real world - from our
traditional face to face world, because we don’t like its smells, its colors
and its voices and because we are too busy to handle them in real life.
Something was totally missing!
Actually, it reminds me the story of a Hebrew slaves in
Babylon about twenty five hundred years ago. Because of the enemy’s attack -
Babylonians, their land was totally destroyed and they were captured by their
enemies and lived as their slaves in a foreign land. Their homeland where they
freely worshiped in the presence of the Lord was ruined and their temple was
totally destroyed through the war. So they were not able to worship in the
temple in Jerusalem any longer. They were not able to gather in their holy city any more. Something very important was truly
missing!
“Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves”, Nabucco by G. Verdi, Metropolitan Opera
So what did they do in exile? They prayed. Then, what
happened? God heard their prayers. So, many years after, they were able to get
back to their homeland and rebuilt the ruined walls in Jerusalem despite of
many challenges in the holy city.
We know they had missed community gatherings in the holy
city in the presence of God. But now, they gathered. Can we imagine that moment
when all gathered together from long years of exile and
rebuilt their ruined holy city, their home land? My heart is even pounding
stronger and faster now and even my eyes are getting wet as I revisit that
story in the Bible.
So what did they do first after they rebuilt their home land, the city walls? According to the Nehemiah
chapter 8, they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. And the Levites (maybe, pastors in 21st century) read from the books of the Law of God
and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people
understand each passage, which had been missing in their life for many years.
Quite an emotion filled moment, isn’t it?
Now can anyone guess what was happening there as they heard
the word of God in the holy city with their walls rebuilt? They all wept as
they listened to the words of the Law of God. It was the happiest day; however,
they all wept. Why? Maybe their memories of hardship and struggles, and of all
those whom they lost in exile hit everyone’s hearts? Nehemiah reminded them
where they are now, “Don’t
mourn or weep on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the Lord
your God (Nehemiah
8:9b)”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we looking forward to
that day of fully rebuilding something missing due to COVID 19? The day will
come. And until then, we will continually worship the Lord in spirit and truth - our real normal!
