Devotions

Stay in love with God.

Each Friday you get a taste of what we are doing in in Children's ministry in your daily devotion. We are re-imagining what Children's Sunday School looks like when we are not able to physically gather together.  

In June we are sharing video lessons teaching about John Wesley. In these virtual lessons, we will look at our Methodist heritage, and how it has shaped who we are as a church. The text below is taken from a weekly email to parents.

Dear Parents,

I hope you and your children have enjoyed getting to know John Wesley this month. For our final Sunday, we are going to look at his third rule: stay in love with God.  

Activity: God Hunt

Stay in Love with God Video

Synopsis:

Over the month of June, we have looked at who John Wesley was and thought about the three simple rules he taught us. This week, we look at the third rule: stay in love with God. 

In our lives, we have friends that we love. We look forward to playing with them, learning from them, and spending time with them. We also have our families, people with whom we share a deeper level of love. Whoever is in your family, there is a deep, profound love that runs strong. 

Deeper than both of those is our love for God. We fill our hearts with God’s love, our love for him and His love for us. There is always room for more love when we start with God and keep him at the front of our heart!

Parents, you may enjoy a quick activity with your child. Draw a heart, and write God in the middle, as I did in the video. Remind your child to keep God in the center of their heart, and then ask what else they love. I bet they will have some great answers!

When we really love someone, there are lots of ways to show it. We show our love for God through worship, music, service, prayer… the list goes on and on! God wants us to spend time with him, and when we love God we want to spend our time with him. One of the ways we can do that is to spend time reading our Bibles. 

Much love and prayers for each of you,

Ms. Katie

If you would like to start receiving this weekly email please email Erika Bates.

Erika Bates | 

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

One of my favorite ministry books is “In the Name of Jesus” by Henry Nouwen. The book recounts the author’s experience as a volunteer leader in the L’Arche Community for medically fragile and profoundly handicapped individuals. The book is arranged around the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, and Nouwen compares these to the temptations common in the church today, especially for leaders and teachers. His antidote for these temptations is to ground oneself in the spiritual disciplines of prayer, confession, forgiveness, and theological reflection. Our connection to Jesus will be the foundation for our Christian lives, both in word and deed. 

Yes, often it is easy to lose our focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ and begin to think and act as if ministry was in our own power. As Nouwen suggests, we need to keep our hearts and our lives centered on Jesus, and from that relationship, all of our ministry is not only possible but also truly Christlike. Nouwen says it so eloquently: “…when we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain… willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witness without being manipulative.” Now that is how we can do ministry…in the name of Jesus! 

This conversation about Nouwen reminds me of a popular Christian song, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Perhaps you remember the words: 

O soul are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There's light for a look at the Savior And life more abundant and free 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace 

Through death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there Over us sin no more hath dominion For more than conquerors we are 

His word shall not fail you, He promised Believe Him and all will be well Then go to a world that is dying His perfect salvation to tell 

And turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace 

I encourage you and me to keep our eyes, our hearts, and our focus on Jesus, and we can live the gospel in and through our lives to those around us. 

Watch