Thorns

"Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated." (2 Cor. 12:7)  I chuckled quietly in the back of the church this morning hearing this verse.  We all have our "thorns" to deal with as we move forward, to keep us from our heads getting too big or from letting our egos get away from us.  And to remind us that it's not we who accomplish these things, but we with God's help who accomplish things.

So, in that sense, this past week saw the very slow beginnings of Noonday Prayer each day - a very short (@ 10 min) service to remind us that the thorns God grants us are gentle reminders that we're here for His service.  The middle of the day is a good time for such a reminder - it can get us through the afternoon without wanting to strangle someone. 

This next week, we'll switch things up a little and use the New Zealand Midday Prayer - same length of time, but the wording is slightly different.  The New Zealand Prayer Book is truly a masterpiece of poetry and prose, even just to read through.

We've got a couple of events coming up that I'll put here, just to have you mark them on your calendar - more will be announced later:

Saturday, July 29, 6:45 p.m. - Compline Service followed by a showing of I Can Only Imagine.
Saturday, August 11, 1-5 p.m. - Crockpot Cooking Workshop

Next Sunday will be another Deacon's Distribution (Mass), at 9:00 a.m.   Everyone's welcome, and we hope to see you there!