Pastor Tom's Journal

Download 5-8-22.pdf (936.4K) View or download the PowerPoint . What is your name? What happens when your name is called? Mother's Day is a celebration of one truly wonderful human relationship. All human relationships point us to the one vital and life-giving relationship that is necessary for real life, a relationship with God.   Watch the Service Here Four Insights from Today's Readings When your Name is Called, Rise Up!  ( See Acts reading) When Your Name is Called, Rest.  ( See Psalm  reading) When You Realize the Shepherd's Name, Rejoice!  ( See Revelation reading)  When Your Name is Called, Respond,  ( See John reading) Whether  a shepherd or one of the sheep of a seamstress asleep in the sleep of death, it is all about the relationship between God and God's people that is played out and glimpsed in every human relationship. The Scriptures in One Place Acts 9:36-43 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition Now in Joppa there was a d

Everything? "What am I willing to lose in order to gain all?" The parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl of unspeakable worth all lead to the question. Everything must go? What does that include? What is best? What does your heart desire most? Who are you made to be? What are you made to do? What is worth more than everything else in your life? What is in the way of you becoming who you really are? It is one thing to say that I sell it all and divest myself of all my other treasures. That I do in the most generalized possible way. It is a broad stroke, without any threat. But then I start digging into the piles of specificity and it hurts to part with old ideas, false concepts of who I am, preferences, amusements, possessions, attitudes, and patterns of living. These have been my treasures for a long, long time. Whether you are a faith walker or a just an honest lover of truth wherever it is found, there is a principle that can aid you in your journey.

Here is water, melting, freezing, and boiling all at the same time. We have trouble wrapping our brains around that in a world of rules, natural laws, definitions, limitations, and linear logic. Even the observed and observable realities of physics defy our sense of order, sequence, and possibility. Imagine the unimaginable and then let your imagination go from there.

  Source FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT April 3, 2022 Year C, Revised Common Lectionary This is an expression of the church, the fellowship of believers in and seekers of Jesus. We meet online in an online community on Facebook. This feed is available to Pastor Tom's friends and followers, but also the general public. There are no restrictions. Welcome. Help us make this a REAL community of Joy and love.   Online friends are REAL friends!   Please leave your comments, questions, and prayer requests in the comments section We meet online at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fellowshipofjoy Blog: https://pastortomsims.typepad.com/the_fellowship_of_joy/   The Fellowship of Joy is building a team of technical advisors to assist with the delivery and expansion of this message. Respond in comments or PM.   Devotions are posted daily -  http://facebook.com/pastortomsims   Join us for the prayer our Lord taught us to pray   Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed

Remember, I love you.

If CEU credits were required to renew our citizenship credentials, i would recommend this one hour to be on our common curriculum.

In praying for peace, we must always ask ourselves and God, "Have I done and am I doing, saying, and being all I can do, say, and be?"

In 2013, suicide took the lives of 41,149 people in the USA alone. Depression affects about 20 million people in the USA, 350 million worldwide. Mental health disorders are serious issues in our culture and it is important that we have open conversation about their existence and that we show support to those who are battling them. “Please Stay” is an anthem for hope — an attempt to destigmatize mental illness and challenge all of us to support those who are battling depression and thoughts of suicide. You are not alone. We can make a difference. We can be the support system that saves a life. Give voice to hope: Share your #ReasonsToStay on Twitter. #PleaseStay A portion of the proceeds from this work will be donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. [For some people, depression may lead to thoughts of suicide. Try to remember that you don’t have to act on these thoughts, no matter how overwhelming they might be. If you’re considering ending your life, it’s impor

This Day – by Lowell Alexander  This day is fragile - soon it will end And once it has vanished, it will not come again So let us love with a love pure and strong Before this day is gone This day is fleeting when it slips away Not all our money can buy back this day So let us pray that we might be a friend Before this day is gone This day is fleeting When it slips away Not all our money can buy back this day So let us pray that we might be a friend Before this day is spent This day we're given is golden Let us show love This day is ours for one moment Let us sow love This day is frail - it will pass by So before it's too late to recapture the time Let us share love, let us share God Before this day is gone Before this day is gone

Happy New Year, my friends! May 2022 be filled with serendipitous joy, abundant grace, deep insights, courageous steps, continuous comfort, jaw-dropping wonder, unfolding wisdom, leaps of faith, unbridled laughter, unhindered growth, and life-affirming moments with friends and loved ones. This is my hope and prayer for you: Shalom in the midst of a tumultuous world. Love and Peace to you. - Tom

I wish I had a transcript of that monologue. She made a powerful point.

I don't know much, but I do know enough to know that I suspect that I think that this might be right to the best of my knowledge :) Actually, we seem to often be pretty lazy thinkers.

 

This contains my favorite verse from Cohen: "Ring the bell that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

At 5 AM Tuesday, June1

Warm your heart by the fire of this song. Then, take the word of encouragement and admonition And flesh it out today!!! Heal the world!!!!!!

Grace Has Brought Me Safe Thus Far (Psalm 40:2)  He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.   I tread cautiously on the subject of safety, for safety is an ultimate value, not a temporal one. It is often misunderstood as the absence of danger or trouble or even risk. That is not the characteristic of the Christian life. Rather, Christianity promises ultimate safety and the safety of ultimate things. He has brought us, by His grace, through dangers, toils, and snares. These we have experienced fully and yet, safely, unscathed spiritually by external circumstances and with the confidence that His grace will lead us home to eternal safety.   (Ezekiel 34:27)  And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of t

May it be a wonderful Passover - To my Jewish friends (who probably will not see this until tonight)

Two Things: 1. What are you reading? 2. Who are you meeting? These will determine who and what you are becoming and, in turn, where you are going.

 Romans 8:31-39 (NRSV) What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us f

If this seems a little under-serviced, it is because I do most of my blogging at The Dream Factory.

Skating in the Garden in High Heels under my Alb.: RIP Edward M. Kennedy, February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) Wonderful reflection by Pastor Joelle Colville-Hanson. My thoughts: Senator Edward Kennedy, 77, dies - the end of an era