June Spire - First Baptist Church of Scituate

The Scituate Spire
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 660 Country Way, Scituate, MA 02066
The Rev. Barbara Kathleen Welch, Pastor. Church Office 545-0058
E-mail: [email protected]. Web Site: www.firstbaptistscituate.com
Vol. 54 No. 6 -- June, 2012
Is Suffering a Choice? Spiritual Suffering or Spiritual Bliss!
Saint John of the Cross writes of the Dark Night of the Soul or Acedia. It
represents a spiritual darkness, a lack of God’s presence, even a heaviness of heart
spiritually. We all have been there at one time or another.
Acedia may be a gift. One seeks desperately to find God or to experience
God’s presence. Nothing but spiritual growth and blessing ensue when the darkness
breaks and the Light of Christ shines again in the heart of the believer.
There are two other types of spiritual suffering: The first is caused by spiritual
disobedience. This suffering may be likened to a spiritual heartache, something is wrong
and we will need God’s help. The heartache will not disappear until we go to God in
prayer and through the reading of His Word. The Holy Spirit is convicting our spirits and
we should be grateful. The Spirit will faithfully guide and bring about healing, but the
remedy is only through total obedience to God’s leadership, the confession of our
disobedience, and then the Light of Christ shines again. There is peace, spiritual peace.
Jesus must be Lord of all or He is not Lord at all!
The second type of spiritual suffering that most of us will experience is the
suffering that comes from following Jesus Christ and his ways in a broken and fallen
world. There are those in the world who do not love nor appreciate Christians.
This second kind of spiritual suffering may be rightly named, “Spiritual Bliss.” If
the light of Christ is shining brightly in our lives in actions, words, deeds and behaviors,
others who know not Christ will be uncomfortable. This is spiritual bliss. Jesus, our
perfect model, suffered for doing right; we will suffer for doing right also.
The New Testament text from Romans 8:28 is a verse of sheer promise and
delight. We, as followers of Jesus Christ, will be misunderstood, mistreated, and
hopefully not in the church, but by un-believers. God will bring about good of anything
and everything that touches our lives in a negative or hurtful manner.
The bliss of spiritual suffering is underscored in Jesus words, “Take up thy
cross and follow me,” It will be costly, but by heaven’s economic plan, not humankind’s
economic plan. There is no call to self-reliance.
Living a life in spiritual bliss means that we will be living on a much higher level
in every area of our lives. Ethically and morally, Christ has re-written the meaning and
purpose of how we live.
Following Christ will create suffering, for the evil one will seek to deter us in any
possible manner. The evil one will tell us falsehoods of, “I am right, I must have my way,
and, I am so worried, I am so angry, I am not going to do this or that because I am in
control.” These blatant lies will destroy our spiritual footing if we allow the evil one to lead
us in a divergent pathway.
Christ has won the battle. Be spiritually blessed and experience spiritual bliss
in “Taking up your cross and following the One who cannot and will not fail.”
Faithfully, Pastor Barb
June Days to Remember
Prayer Needs
Happy Birthday:
Linda Baker (4)
June (Robbins) Lippard (4)
Edward Cass (9)
Marilyn Ojala (15)
David Antos (30)
Our church and its ministry and mission, for local ABC ministry to the
people of La Romana in the Dominican Republic.
God's presence in our services, our Sunday School, our church boards
and committees and officers.
For our local, state, and national government leaders, healing for our
country, for revival and peace in our nation and world.
Happy Anniversary:
Joe & Ellen Reynolds -- 39 years (2)
Mark & Marcia Wilson -- 17 years (11)
Richard & June (Robbins) Lippard -- 24 years (18)
Glenn & Carol (Crawford) Jenkins -- 28 years (23)
Concerns:
Our troops
Laurie Edwards
Blondy Williams
Bobbie Arico
Jeff Bailey
Ema Veiga
Wendell Sides
Robbie Fidler
Albert Baggs family,
bereaved
From Christianity Today
Think fast
One day, my husband announced to the family that he was going to fast
and pray. Ginny, our 5-year-old, had recently learned that fasting meant
not eating. "No!" she shouted. "You can't fast! You'll die!" Her dad
carefully explained that many men and women fasted in Bible times.
Ginny paused a moment. Then, with a flash of insight and a note of
warning, she proved her point. "And they all died," she said.
—Kathy Cash, Dallas, TX. Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart."
“Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.
Plautus, circa 254-184 BC
Contacts
The Reverend Barbara Kathleen Welch Pastor(781-378-2067) cell:781-385-1209
Dan Sides, Christian Education (781-545-4950)
Chuck Rivers, Chairman Deacons (545-4982)
Florence Baggs, Church Secretary (545-0058)
Pastor Welch’s hours are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ann Marie Field
Kenney Olson’s brother
Ken’s daughter Sarah
Angela Wadsworth
James Bailey
Calucka
Antonieta Barros
David Mendes
Cindy Lou Strachan
Voniderstein family,
bereaved
The Langford family,
bereaved
Bob Baggs
The Prouty family,
bereaved
Alyssa McCravy
Kathryn Holland
Pat Bongarzone
Luther Veiga
Celebrations:
Welcome home, Nancy and Anthony Antoniello from your wonderful trip
to the Grand Canyon. Hope you have lots of pictures! We celebrate the
marriage of Susan Flannery and James Carmark! Thank you Ellen
Everett, for helping out, and congratulations on your son’s engagement.
Congratulations to Chuck Rivers’ niece who has graduated from
Northeastern University with a degree in criminal law and who aspires to
being a detective! Pat Bongarzone’s granddaughter MacKenzie won a
dance competition! One talented little girl! Congratulations, Danielle
McCravy, as you are now 18 years old, graduate from high school, and
are off to Stonehill College in the Fall! (Can this be our “Little D”?)
Anne Marie Fields’ daughter is now a member of the National Honor
Society! Antonieta has found an affordable apartment which allows pets
– which means she can have her wonderful little doggie Brooklyn with
her. In San Francisco!
Happy birthday, Hope! And Happy Birthday to Wes McCravy and Alyssa
McCravy who is now 21!
In Reverend Lynn Anderson’s book, Finding the Heart to Go On, he writes about
an elderly lady who has been through extremely tough circumstances. How did
she hang in there? She said,“Each morning, I just decided to get up and go on.”
Winston Churchill, once speaking to a large crowd of students, gave the following
speech: “Never give up . . . never give up . . . never give up.”
He said no more. The applause was thunderous and the students gave him a
Standing ovation.
SPYER-NEWS . . . . . with Snoopy Sue
There was a spirit of fellowship and fun at The May Bazaar/Yard
Sale. The doors were opened early because of the press of the
crowd! There was something for everyone and few folks left
empty handed. The workers enjoyed the event as much as the
+visitors. Laurie Edwards, who had been recently hospitalized,
was there with mother Caroline, keeping the White Elephant table
in good shape. Laurie and Caroline never miss helping out at
fairs and yard sales. They’re the best! The Baggs family was
represented at the White Elephant also – Flo and daughters
Bobbie and Catherine. And of course Polly Fallon – a regular.
All found treasures they couldn’t part with.
There were many items which interested the children also -treasures for all ages – including a toy fire engine with flashing
lights and sirens which left in the hands of a very happy
youngster, and a little bluebird in a cage who was named
Blueberry by the little girl who brought him home.
Emily Robinson and Hope Crowell manned the jewelry sales for
Missions. Francina Campbell and Pat Bongarzone were in
charge of the delectable goodies at the Bake Table.
Marilyn Ojala and Ellen Reynolds were at the table featuring the
many handmade items crafted by the First Baptist Artisans at the
Robbins’ barn. Sylvia Jenkins and Cynde Robbins, assisted by
Ruthie Sides, held sway over the many tomato plants which were
started by Cynde. (Thank you, Cynde, for all your hard work.)
There were also perennials donated by many friends and
members. Donna Walsh manned the very attractively laid out
book tables in the foyer. Lots of good reading there! It was said
the “Café”, where Christelle and Rob Fidler and Wes McCravy
(who was cooking up some great looking ‘burgers) satisfied lots of
hungry folks’ appetites with a varied menu. Chuck Rivers, Wayne
Robbins, Anne McDonley and Coleen Burke handled garage
sales where there were many bargains to be had. Ruth McCravy
and Danny Sides assisted in the clean up afterward.
Some of the visitors we had were: Phoebe Mulligan, the “Grande
Dame” of Scituate; Jack Russell Benny, who loves church events,
accompanied by Bob Baggs; and all the folks we see every year.
So good to see them again. Grace and peace.
Thoughts to Consider:
1. Prayer is not a “spare wheel” that
you pull out when in trouble, but it is a “steering
wheel” that directs the right path throughout.
2. Why is a car’s WINDSHIELD so large and the rear
view mirror so small? Because our PAST is not as
important as our FUTURE. So, look ahead and move
on.
3. Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes a few seconds to
burn, but it takes years to write.
4. All things in life are temporary. If going well, enjoy it,
they will not last forever. If going wrong, don’t worry,
they can’t last long either.
5. Old friends are Gold! New friends are diamonds! If
you get a diamond, don’t forget the gold! Because to
hold a diamond, you always need a base of gold!
6. Often when we lose hope and think this is the end,
GOD smiles from above and says, “Relax, it’s just a
bend, not the end!
7. When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in
HIS abilities; when GOD doesn’t solve your problems
HE has faith in your abilities.
8. A blind person asked St. Anthony: “Can there be
anything worse than losing eyesight?” He replied:
“Yes, losing your vision.”
9. When you pray for others, God listens to you and
blesses them, and sometimes, when you are safe and
happy, remember that someone has prayed for you.
10. WORRYING does not take away tomorrow’s
TROUBLES, it takes away today’s PEACE.
From an email
This is another chapter from the book For Those Who Hurt, a
collection of essays written by C-Z Antos, wife of David for 57
years. After her death in 2003, David compiled and published the
essays in book form.
Our Fathers
Where is God?
While working on his book, Disappointed With God, Phillip Yancey
interviewed a young man who was suffering the results of a severe
automobile accident and whose wife had cancer. Yancey asked the
young man to describe his disappointment with God.
The grief stricken man answered, “…I don’t feel any
disappointment with God…I learned not to confuse God with life…I feel
free to curse the unfairness of life and to vent my grief and anger. But I
believe God feels the same way about that accident…grieved and angry.
I don’t blame Him…God’s existence, even His love for me, does not
depend upon my good health.”
And consider tjhis story: In 1871, Horatio Spafford saw his wife
and four daughters off to Europe on the ocean Liner Ville du Havre.
Halfway there the ship was rammed by another vessel and sank. All four
daughters drowned. Mrs. Spafford survived the disaster. Immediately,
Spafford booked passage on another liner to join his grief stricken wife.
During his voyage Spafford felt God’s comfort and wrote the following:
“When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea-billows roll,
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say:
It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Is there any amongst us who has not been touched by these poignant
lyrics?
And who hasn’t heard of Joni Eareckson Tada, that beautiful
young woman who became a quadriplegic after a diving accident. She
blesses so many with her inspiring books, art work, and testimony.
Asked how she could have faith in God and still smile as she sat in her
wheelchair, Joni responded by saying that it was God who put the smile
on her face as she sat in her wheelchair.
Perhaps Russell Cronkhite, in a Decision magazine article some
time ago, summed it up best: “Jesus never promised that if we would
accept Him as our Savior, all the trials of this life would disappear. He
did promise though that He will always be near to go through the
difficulty with us, to give us comfort and strength.”
Whether or not we feel disappointment with God, how do those
who hurt keep going day in and day out? Perhaps 1 Chronicles 16:11
offers the ultimate answer no matter what our situation:
“Seek the Lord, yes, seek His strength.”
On StoryCorps, a project of National Public Radio, I heard 73-year-old
Walter Dean Myers tell a story that he says has forever changed the way
he remembers his father.
Myers, an author with almost 100 books to his name, recalls that
at 14 he already had a love for writing. Since his parents didn’t have
much money, he says he started working early, and before long had
saved up enough to buy a typewriter. According to Myers, however, his
mother had a drinking problem and spent what he had set aside.
When Myers’ father, a hardworking janitor, learned what had
happened, he took some of his own hard-earned cash and bought a
Royal typewriter for his son.
Since Myers went on to become a successful author, his father’s
kindness might sound like the kind of moment that every child would
treasure. Myers recalls, however, that in the years that followed, his
relationship with his dad was not so encouraging. Even though his dad
bought him that typewriter, he was deeply hurt by the fact that, over the
years, his dad never said anything about his writing.
Myers saId that even when he began including in his books
some of the stories he had heard his dad tell, his father would never
comment on them.
At that point, the interviewer asked Myers whether he ever asked
his father why he never said anything about his writing.
Myers said, no, he had never done that. He added that even
when he brought his dying father a book that he had just written, his dad
just picked up the book, looked at it, and laid it down without saying a
word.
This, however, was not the end of the story. After his father’s
passing, as Myers was going through family papers, he noticed
something that surprised him. He saw X’s wherever his dad’s signature
should have been.
With words filled with emotion, Myers went on to say, “The man
couldn’t read. I mean, that was why he never said anything about my
writing. It just tore me up . . . I could have read him a story at the
hospital.”
At this point, Myers’ story might merge with our own. Few things
in life are more important than the ability to be at peace with thoughts
and memories of our moms and dads. Yet because of our own unmet
longings for approval, feelings of hurt and resentment can linger without
the kind of understanding that ended up meaning so much to Myers.
It might help us to know that our parents are probably more like
Myers’ father – and like us (needy, broken, and with unmet longings) –
than we ever dreamed or imagined. Continued
Our Fathers
continued
We have reason to believe that such generational struggles are
common to many of our families. Think, for example, about the parents
of the Bible. Almost all of them come to us with issues. Imagine the
regret that Adam and Eve must have endured, especially after their first
son killed his younger brother. Then there’s Abraham and Sarah. If we
only remember their best moments, we miss the way they hurt others by
their lack of faith. (GENESIS 20:1-9; 21:9-14) Even though they were
destined to become patriarch and matriarch of a chosen people, the
stories of their descendants were repeatedly marred by what we now call
“the sins of the fathers.” The Bible doesn’t cover up Isaac’s personal
weakness, Jacob’s deceitfulness, David’s adultery, the ironic foolishness
of Solomon, or the kingdom-dividing arrogance of Rehoboam.
Such realism does not require us to dishonor our parents. What
it can do, however, is to help us avoid a tendency to either idealize or
dehumanize them. In reality, our moms and dads are probably neither
as good or as bad as we think they are. In so many ways, they are just
like us. They too have spent their lives looking for significance, security,
and satisfaction. They too have longed for a kind of love, acceptance,
and approval that they didn’t find completely in their own parents.
There’s a good reason for this universal experience. Even
though we were made, in part, of the seed and stock of our moms and
dads, we weren’t made for them. Neither were we made to find our life
in, by, or through our parents.
Some of us may need to lower our expectations of our parents
so that we can see past them to the Father who made us for Himself
(JOHN 14:8-9).
Father in heaven, it has taken some of us a long time to come to terms
with parents whose own struggles we have never really seen or
understood. Please help us to see them not in place of You but rather in
light of the eternal life, provision, and protection that You alone can give
to us. From the security of Your presence, help us then to honor the
mother and father who needed You as much as we do now.
By Mart DeHaan,
“BEEN THINKING ABOUT”, RADIO BIBLE CLASS MINISTRIES