April 30th, 2018

Welcome to Our Home

Last night, I had the privilege of hearing a fascinating talk at the Ruritans meeting from a veterinarian who had recently traveled to Mongolia as a part of a program to educate herdsmen there on how to better care for their flocks in such a harsh environment. One of the things that the speaker touched on repeatedly was the hospitality that the families he worked with showed to him. They were warm and invited him into their homes. Although a simple one-room building that could be easily packed up and moved, they were proud of their homes and glad to have guests. When they would eat, they would serve him as their guest first, and they would eat only after he was done. They often offered him their best food as a way to honor him. 

Hearing about how these families - often poor and struggling - welcomed him so graciously made me think about how God welcomes each and every one of us. How far did Jesus go - what did he sacrifice - in order to welcome us into God's kingdom? Through Christ, God has invited us to enter into the kingdom of heaven and gives us the best there is to offer. May God give us the grace to receive this blessing and share that same hospitality to one another!

Blessings on the journey, Jim

Sunday's Sermon Snippet

Character: The Spirit of Thankfulness
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
The character of a disciple is rooted in the love of God knowing that we are God's beloved and the strength of joy that comes from being God's redeemed. Joy is something we should always have - not just when good things are happening to us. As the Apostle Paul wrote the church at Thessalonica, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Starting with joy, this short and simple list of instructions leads us to our next two characteristics of a disciple. First, we look at the last instruction: give thanks. Simple, right? But what does thanks really mean? To thank to show appreciation for what someone has done for you. To give thanks, I think, goes a step further beyond appreciation to give credit for all that one has done and acknowledge the importance that they have had in your life. This is something fairly simple to do. Give thanks in all circumstances. This is still fairly simple and clear, but it does not mean that it is easy. These three additional words make it incredibly difficult, for there are certainly circumstances in which we do not feel like giving thanks. It doesn't help that we have a knack for focusing on the negative in our lives rather than the positive. When things are bad, it is hard for us to see the good or at least to focus on it for long. When things are good, we should have plenty to be thankful for, and yet even then gratitude may escape us. We have a way of taking good things for granted, assuming we deserve or have earned them. So we forget about giving credit to the source of the good in our life. All this points to an important lesson about gratitude: giving thanks is a choice we must make. Gratitude is something we learn and something we must practice for it to become a part of our character, our spirit. To do so, we give thanks not because we see the one good thing in the midst of a lot of bad things or because we have a lot of good in our lives. Disciples give thanks in every circumstance because they trust in God's goodness!

Fishing with Kids

We are looking at the possibility of putting together a fishing trip for the children and youth of our church. If you are willing to help out, please let Pastor Jim know as we begin to make plans.

This Week at Port Church

Wednesday, May 2
9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours
Thursday, May 3
9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours
​Sunday, May 6
9:30 am - Worship: "Character: The Roots of a Disciple"
​11:00 am - Sunday School
Monday, May 7
6:00 - 7:30 pm - Youth Group

Looking Ahead

VBS Training - May 20, 12 noon
Graduate Recognition - June 3
VBS tentatively scheduled for June 25-29