May 8, 2014
Vol. 21, No. 9
THE JOY OF BEING FOUND OUT
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 2014 Seniors
2
Thank you note
2
Camp URC
2
Construction
3
Menu
3
IMPORTANT DATES: Mother’s Day Sunday, May 11 The Gathering—Dinner 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, May 14 & 21 The Gathering—Study 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, May 14 & 21 Coffee with Friends at Bon Swirl on Jackson St. 3:00 p.m. Thursday, May 15 Faith Circle Meeting 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 20 UMW Board Meeting 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 20 Finance Committee Mtg. 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 20 Laundry Love 4:00 p.m. Thursday, May 22 Buddy Camp Mtg. 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 22 Children’s Pool Party 5:00 p.m. Friday, May 23 Youth Lock In 7:00 p.m. Friday, May 23
In Coming Closer to Christ, Anthony Bloom writes of a thief he met while visiting the prisons of London in the 1960’s. The young man, he writes, said a most remarkable thing during one of their visits: “You
don’t know what a relief it is to be found out.” It turns out the young man had come to the realization that being a professional burglar was not what he wanted with his life. He never set out to become a thief, but it happened as the natural result of the choices he made in life.
can now become whatever I choose. I can either remain a thief... or else I can choose to change and start anew.” Bloom writes that most of us never experience the true joy of liberation and freedom because “we try so hard to never be found out. We try not to be found out as sinners with regard to each other, and we try not to be found out by God as well, by putting conventional ways of putting things right as far as He is concerned. The result is that we never jump out of the rut into true freedom...” In Jesus, God offers us true freedom. But it is a freedom that only comes when we step out of the shadows we hide ourselves in and into the light of Christ. The Bible says, "If anyone is in
One day he came to himself and desired to make a change. But his desire was not enough. “Every attempt he made to change his behavior, and to allow the other sides of his personality to take over, was nipped in the bud—on one hand, by the reactions of his own clan, his own gang, his normal surroundings, and on the other, by the people he wished to join, but who became more the more alien to him as he began to try to become more like them.”
Christ, there is a new creation. everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! " (2 Cor. 5:17).
At last, he was caught. Initially, there were feelings of shame and distress. But then came a great sense of liberation and freedom: “Now I have no need to hide who I am, or rather, who I was. There is no need to be hypocritical, to what I am not. I
Rev. Donnie
If you are ready to experience the freedom of being made new, why not step into the light?
Grace & Peace,
GOING ELECTRONIC
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