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Upson Downs 8.10.22

Greetings! As our men revive their yearly baseball draft tradition, I give thanks for traditions. They help make us, shape us, and define us. Even some men who are not baseball fans (how is that possible?) learn to love it, check with each other about various players, strategize, and, of course, compete. It brings camaraderie and draws upon long-standing friendships as well as more recent relationships and connects and binds disparate individuals into a cohesive unit.

Many other events have come and gone, most recently our Celebration of the Children. This year the kids entered Storybook Land. The Pancake Man (a very close cousin of the Gingerbread Man) led the kids on a merry chase through the land of books.

They met some strange folk over by Pooh Corner, helped Eeyore find his tail, had a birthday party for Pooh, and whacked a honeycomb covered with bees. They whisked away to help Spider-Man catch the villain who stole some money and was trying to fly away in his airplane. They webbed the wanna-be robber and vanquished evil. But they weren’t done yet! The Pancake Man led them to a dinosaur dig where they found dinosaur bones that magically transformed into real dinosaurs. It was so authentic that one of the characters in the dinosaur book had actually tamed a dinosaur and was riding it around! They were swept into the little house on the prairie where they sat by a crackling fire, rounded up some pigs, and found some of the escaped animals rolling around in the mud! At the Double R Ranch they helped a couple of cowpokes break an unruly horse and do some competitive barrel racing. Then they jumped into Adventure Bay where they helped the Paw Patrol gang foil Mayor Humdinger’s nefarious plan to ruin their special clubhouse! Fisherman Sam then had some whopping sea stories for the kids who had to overcome many obstacles in the ocean in order to go fishing with the magic shark. The adults were in need of a rest, so we all headed over to Olaf’s Cafe and library for some “health food.” Laughter and joy are truly healthy food for our souls and we partook gratefully. I give thanks for this beautiful 40 year tradition and the great idea to make books and stories come to life and invite us all in.

We are especially sad today because our dear Abif was once again denied both a tourist and a student visa. Many prayers had gone up and will continue for a positive resolution to our problem.

We look forward to many things ahead: members’ retreat, Rich’s memorials, Nature and Purpose of the Church weekend seminar, Celebration of Life Together, trip to Tijuana to partner with Ramon and serve there, and our grand and glorious holidays. I give thanks for our rich and full lives.

We have a number of interested folks hanging around, and we hope to see them as disciples before too long. We’d appreciate your prayers for these and indeed for our lives and future here at Church of the Servant-King. Please especially pray for Abif’s situation and all of our various Bible studies that they would produce much fruit. Like our Lord’s Prayer in John 17, that we would be one.

Grateful for your care, prayers, and many forms of support. Grace and peace to you all.
For Church of the Servant-King,

Regan

Categories
Celebrations

Celebrations

This seems like the ideal time to start writing a bit about our church celebrations throughout the year. Taking a page from our Roman Catholic brethren, we attempted to create something of a liturgical calendar. Many years ago we saw the need for Christians to create traditions more aligned with faith and practice. Consequently, we developed Celebration of the Faithful, Celebration of Life Together, Turn and Become Like Children, Celebration of the Children, and Celebration of Grace and Thanksgiving.

I will address this last item first as we are in the midst of it right now. Giving thanks is a necessary component of the Christian faith. Scripture abounds with references to thanks and thanksgiving. Many of King David’s Psalms are songs of thanksgiving, for example: “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will tell of all thy wonderful deeds.” (Ps 9:1) To choose but one of the many New Testament examples, Romans 7:25 says, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Accordingly, we set aside this week to focus on gratitude in speech, prayer, and action. We began with a Gathered Worship emphasizing words of thanks. Sunday morning found us gathered with one of our sister congregations where we were treated to some wonderful singing, sax playing, and reflections upon God’s “Amazing Grace.” How sweet the sound indeed.

Wednesday night we will be together preparing for our feast. Working together is another form of worship, one which we hope He will find acceptable.Thursday about 50 of us will gather for our glorious repast at the church building where we will turn our attention on our honored guests: shut-ins, nursing home residents, the lonely and the hungry. We share stories, food for the soul, and, of course, lots of food for our bodies!

Friday will find us re-enjoying our banquet, gathering to give thanks, and then joining in on our traditional dance of the leftovers. This year we will be decked out in 80’s regalia as we dance the night away. Then some of us will head over to the bowling alley for midnight bowling. Whew! We hope that this whirlwind helps to put us in the thankful frame of mind that God wants to see in His children.

G.K. Chesterton reminds us: …” that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” More on other celebrations later, but for now and always may we be abounding in thanksgiving!