August 28, 2014
Dear Eastridge Family,
I was rereading the little book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Life
Together” while waiting on my oil to be changed in my van. Bonhoeffer is about as good as you can get
when it comes to understanding and articulating Christian community. He has so many excellent quotes but let me
share just a few with you:
"The physical presence of other Christians is a source of
incomparable joy and strength to the believer." - I wonder how many of us
would agree with this first statement.
“Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize;
it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”
“If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren,
you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful
to you.”
“‘Seek God, not happiness’—this is the fundamental rule of all
meditation. If you seek God alone, you
will gain happiness: that is a promise."
“The first service one owes to others in the fellowship consists
in listening to them. Just as love to
god begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren
is learning to listen to them…Christians, especially ministers, so often think
they must contribute something when they are in the company of others, that
this is the one service they have to render,
They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking.”
We want Eastridge Church to be place where people can discover
genuine Christian fellowship. We want to
be a church which strengthens families and marriages. Another pastor I know likes to prescribe four
things that must be regularly said or done to create healthy relationships in
our families:
1. Express your love often,
2. Listen carefully devoting your full attention,
3. Say "I am sorry" and "I forgive you"
regularly,
4. Express gratitude frequently.
Have you expressed your love for your family members yet this
week? Take a few moments before you head
to bed tonight to drop them a note, a text, a Facebook message or give them a
call saying, "I love you because…" Or maybe you simply need to thank
them, or give them the gift of your full attention.
·
Larry
Matthews Funeral
On Sunday morning Larry Matthews, Cheryl Hunter’s
father died. The funeral service being
held at 10 a.m. Friday, August 29, at Eastridge Church and the church will
provide a dinner for the family following the service. We want to lift up the family in prayer
during this time.
·
No Sunday Evening Service this week
Since this weekend is the Labor Day holiday
several folks will be traveling out of town and getting together with family
and friends we will not have our Sunday evening service and the youth group
will not meet either this Sunday evening.
·
Church
Matching MNU Scholarship Offering
If you were unable to participate in the MNU
Church matching offering it is not too late.
You can still mark you envelope or check MNU and we will see that our
two students Anna and Sarah will get the scholarship. Anna and Sarah plan to continue
pursuing their degree in nursing. We
will miss the twins and their work in children’s church and with the youth
department. We are always looking for
volunteers and maybe there is someone who may want to help fill their spots on
the schedule.
MidAmerica Nazarene University (MNU) offers a Church Matching Scholarship for
each student. For every dollar the local
church gives to that student (up to $500 each) the school will match and apply
towards their tuition.
·
Church
website
If you have not checked out the church website recently we
have added a few new photos www.eastridgenazarene.org
I look forward to seeing you in Worship this Sunday morning.
Pastor Andy
