Shari's Fair Trade Spiced Nuts (recipe)
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AHEAD OF TIME
Make a tag or small item, perhaps a cross, for each student to place on or inside their backpack as a reminder of God’s presence with them at school and the prayers of their church family too.
IN WORSHIP SERVICE
Students come forward with their backpacks. Parents stand with them, placing their hands on the students’ shoulders.
LITANY
When it’s the night before going to school, and I’m picking out my clothes and making sure I have all my school supplies…
Children: Jesus is with me.
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[Music starts, then fades.]
Voiceover: Welcome to the Shark Tank, where hopeful entrepreneurs try to grow their business by partnering with one of these savvy investors.
First, meet Noah Morisk, a mail carrier by day, Netflix fan by night, who has gotten where he is today by playing it safe. Noah is married and has two teenage sons and a pre-teen daughter.
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Invite the congregation to bring a favorite Bible, possibly a family Bible, to church on Reformation Sunday. Bibles may be placed on the communion table or other special location. Or perhaps have the people hold onto theirs, raising them up during the dedication. Prior to the dedication someone might share a story of their Bible as a witness to the gift of scripture in daily life.
Read MoreWhere do you serve as an interim pastor and what drew you there?
Stuart: I serve First Presbyterian Church in Corinth, New York. They seemed to appear on my radar at just the time when I was considering a new call. My sense of them on our phone interview was that they were a faithful bunch who had a sense of humor — an indispensable element if we are going to be able to enjoy life together and move forward.
How do you approach the preaching task during a season of anxiety?
In some ways, I think we overstate the anxiety. Perhaps a third of the congregation’s anxiety is...
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In this letter (Paul's letter to the Philippians), we see how close they (Paul and Timothy) are. In fact, Paul gives Timothy quite a compliment. He says that Timothy is Christ-focused. His concern is, what does the Lord want rather than what can he get out of the deal. Paul says that that is so rare. He says, “I have no one like him.” Most folks are focused on their own interests rather than Jesus Christ.
And that is my first stop off in this message: Is that you? Are you that kind of rare person? Would someone watching what you do in a day or in a week say, “That man or that woman cares about what the Lord wants.”?
Sometimes we forget that the true goal of all of this is that we are being transformed, that we are becoming that kind of person.
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