Good morning church family,
b93a78bc-76cc-2797-e5d9-3cf1e308a2f2@yahoo.com>”>GIVING THANKS:
* Praise & thanks be to God for the beauty of this season! Here are some local pictures of the Autumn…
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f6d6f584-5ea1-7392-ee50-f5fd307ef248@yahoo.com>”>PRAYER REQUESTS:
* Michelle Wilson’s brother Al passed away on Thursday. Our prayers go out to Michelle and the family during this difficult time.
* Karen Ohrenberger’s Father John Russell Hodges passed away on Wednesday. Prayers for the whole family as they travel to Indiana and be of comfort to his wife Barbara. They were married 72 years which is just incredible. John’s obituary is below.
* Mildred Perkins is still recovering from her recent hospitalization. Cards are the best at this time. Thankfully Mildred is still mobile, alert and just needs some time to regain her strength. She hopes to be home next week. Reminder to send cards for her 97th birthday which is coming up on November 2nd!
COMING UP:
The Manchester church of Christ’s YOUTH RALLY will be held from November 15th to November 17th at their building 595 Tolland Turnpike, Manchester, CT. Contact Randall Colson for details: randall@manchestercofc.org Teens (6-12th grade) is $20.00, Chaperones – $20.00 per person. There are flyers on the table in the auditorium for anyone who has interest in going.
c0e71992-518d-8e0b-8a1f-e04902284494@yahoo.com>”>The Young Adults will be doing a devotional and go apple picking at Blue Jay Orchards Sunday, October 27 tomorrow after the harvest fellowship meal! Please see Zach or Tori for more details.
They will be having a gathering at Ron & Lisa’s home on Saturday November 23rd. Mark the date and stay tuned for details.
Here are some photos from the pumpkin carving gathering last week Zach Zullo’s house . They had a nice turn out and the group is growing, praise GOD! Zach’s sister and boyfriend attended as did John Tarbet’s girlfriend, Elena . They also had a great time at Six Flags last week!
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da8e02f0-4361-a7b8-869d-d0e6beec73d8@yahoo.com>”>Wednesday night zoom class on Death and the afterlife will continue this week. Join us on-line at 7:00 p.m. and be sure to invite others!
90a46aff-85cb-60ac-3e78-9f3d10d80e5e@yahoo.com>”>TUESDAY, October 29th at 9:30 a.m. will be the next zoom mid-week ladies bible study lead by Lisa and Mary Lou Saracino. Next lesson is chapter 7 in the book. Please see Lisa or Mary Lou if you would like to join the study and need a book.
c3987d68-3093-d0dd-40f5-cbfdf006ec0f@yahoo.com>”>FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT – LIVING BEYOND YOURSELF – Galatians 5:22-23 Ladies bible study
Saturday November 9th 10:00-12:00 This coming year several of our ladies have volunteered to lead us in a rich study of the fruit of the Spirit. This next study will be “Greatest of these is LOVE”.
If you are unable to make these studies and wish to participate in the benevolence – “Adopt a senior”, including our shut-ins, please see Paula or Lisa.
TRUNK OR TREAT
413aa62d-ef81-b30f-3729-d781bab4a373@yahoo.com>”>TRUNK OR TREAT is TONIGHT! Families who will be decorating their trunks can line up in the back parking lot at 5:00 p.m. Anyone able to provide small snacks, chips, or deserts that would be great!
76a6b183-9184-3bfe-8c1a-994e756dded8@yahoo.com>”>TOMORROW IS OUR POT LUCK & PIE CONTEST immediately following worship.
Our Young Adults will be under a LOT of pressure since they will be judging the top winners for the pie baking contest. We offer you our grace and mercy and much thanks for taking on this difficult challenge! Let the games begin!
The kitchen is short on take out food containers. If anyone can remember to bring in a few food containers, that would be great since it helps when we divvy up the food at the end.
Thanks in advance to everyone for your help in set up, and clean up!
f57878e6-afbe-59c1-e802-735c467fc0ed@yahoo.com>”>There is something beautiful and fascinating about pottery! Each piece is unique and beautiful in its own way! Each piece has had a different process in its design and each piece has a function!
The process of creating something out of clay is symbolic to scripture and how God molds and shapes US!
CLAY as defined by Brittanica: “soil particles – the diameters of which are less than 0.005 millimetre; also a rock that is composed essentially of clay particles. Rock in this sense includes soils, ceramic clays, clay shales, mudstones, glacial clays (including great volumes of detrital and transported clays), and deep-sea clays (red clay, blue clay, and blue mud). These are all characterized by the presence of one or more clay minerals, together with varying amounts of organic and detrital materials, among which quartz is predominant. Clay materials are plastic when wet, and coherent when dry. Most clays are the result of weathering. “
Clay is a soft, loose, earthy material containing particles that forms as a result of the weathering and erosion of rocks containing the mineral group feldspar (known as the ‘mother of clay’) over vast spans of time. The base material of Clay is a natural substance and created by God!
ac33678b-cdca-6ba4-641a-9a089494b659@yahoo.com>”>The above photograph shows the multi-colored clay cliffs located in Gay Head Cliffs in Martha’s Vineyard, MA.
Clay is used to make pottery.
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery (plural potteries).
Pottery is mentioned in the scriptures in several places. Here are two scriptures relating to Our Heavenly Father (The Potter) who is continually molding us, shaping and re-shaping us!
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Isaiah 64:8In this verse in Isaiah, the Israelites are reminded of their identity as clay in the hands of God, the potter. This scripture reminds us to be humble and trust in God’s ability to restore us no matter what our circumstances. What a beautiful scripture that portrays our intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father who created each of us, and who is molding and shaping us for HIS GLORY.
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Jeremiah 18:1-8In Jeremiah we read about the Potter’s house. The Lord compares the Israelites to clay in the hands of a potter. The potter can reshape the clay into whatever form he sees fit. This chapter is a warning to the Israelites to stop doing evil and start doing good.
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Clay has infinite possibilities as it is molded and shaped over and over again!
The potter starts with a lump of clay in its purest – raw – form. In preparing the Clay, it gets pushed downward, and by putting pressure on it, stretching it, needing it and rolling it, it removes the impurities.
NOTE: Clay left in its original state means that its impurities remain; impurity prevents the clay from reaching its fullest potential.
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d3d91cf8-a725-8847-3a35-ee56c7874d7b@yahoo.com>”>The clay once it is ready, is centered on the potting wheel using centrifugal force. The clay wants to flee from the potter, but the potter keeps working at it, and pulling it back to the center of the wheel. This is an intimate time between the potter and the clay! We all need centering. The Christian’s center and cornerstone is JESUS CHRIST!
Ephesians 2:19-22 ” Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the LORD, in whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the place of God in the Spirit.”
d8cb1f08-e508-1ef8-8345-4c9937b3df42@yahoo.com>”>Next in the process, there is lifting of the clay, and drawing it upward. After the piece has been lifted, the piece is removed and placed into the fire. A kiln is set at an extremely high temperature. The fire purifies. Fire gives strength to things.
f02948e1-511c-bc3b-617c-b31d2880cf87@yahoo.com>”>The clay piece is finished and is a work of art!
c3ac7723-8603-576c-d063-a439fba7feb5@yahoo.com>”>Our life is symbolic to that of the Potter molding and shaping the clay into a beautiful MASTERPIECE!
b27cd020-c6b1-2fb6-7e9f-2e709d2029be@yahoo.com>”>When we go through the fires of life, GOD is WITH US!
God purifies us by stripping away many things we hold dear… the dross, and build up of the scars of life.
God gets our attention when we hurt. We are PRESSED AGAINST HIM and seek Him for guidance and open HIS WORD. HIS HANDS are shaping us for His glory.
The PURIFICATION PROCESS requires HEATING, which is symbolic for pain. Fire purifies and gives strength to things.
Isaiah 43:2
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.“
There is a metamorphosis that happens with the purification process. The object is changed into a BETTER STATE.
2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
John 17:17
“Sanctify them by the truth.
Your Word is Truth.
As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
For then I sanctify myself,
that they too might be sanctified.“
Our Savior endured the fire…for us. Brutal beatings, torture, being nailed to a wooden cruel cross when he could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world. He hung in there to the end. JESUS took the fall, for us and provided us the purification and redemption for all of our sins.
IN CHRIST, we are sanctified & redeemed!
1 Corinthians 1:30
“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus,
who became to us wisdom from God,
righteousness and sanctification and redemption.“
Hebrews 10:14
“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Because of His sacrifice we are purified!
1 John 3:3
“And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”
Because of His pain & suffering, we are heirs to the throne of God.
Romans 8: 16-17
“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Now if we are children,
then we are heirs,
heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,
if indeed we share in his sufferings
in order that we may also share in his glory.“
Hebrews 10:19
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain,
that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies
washed with pure water.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful,
and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Let us not give up meeting together,
as some are in the habit of doing,
but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching.“
Remember how incredibly special you are. Our flaws (our cracked pots) are part of the process where our Heavenly Father (the Potter) is shaping each of us into a beautiful masterpiece for His glory.
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1df31267-4d8f-eae3-4ef2-1bc29e09db77@yahoo.com>”>Thankfully God doesn’t focus on our cracks & brokenness! HE LOVES EACH OF US in spite of our cracks and flaws. The POTTER knows every detail of US, for HE FORMED US. Psalm 139
Our chips, flaws, and fractured lives, offer brilliant opportunities to let God’s LIGHT shine through us.
As we read in 2 Corinthians 4:7 …. we have this treasure in jars of clay!
c767cf59-70a0-0cf7-f502-7de02bf9f9bd@yahoo.com>”>We can choose to focus on our brokenness or we can focus on this treasure …the SURPASSING POWER of GOD IN US!
Jesus’ whole life was focused on being “poured out”. By focusing on JESUS and serving others, we are then able to pour out ourselves in order to fill other’s cups!
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”.
In 2 Kings chapter 4 we read about the poor widow. She explained to Elisha that she had nothing but a small bottle of olive oil and could not pay her bills. Elisha gave her a task and she listened and obeyed. She “poured out” her little pot of oil into a room full of vessels that she had collected. She was able to fill them all from her meager amount of oil, sold them and was able to pay all of her bills with some money left-over.
When we pour out ourselves and give to others, God tells us that our pots will always remain full!
Proverbs 11:25 “He who waters will himself be watered.”
Mark 9:25 “Everything is possible for him who believes.“
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ee631318-c281-9e06-8396-55e224304e17@yahoo.com>”>KEEP SINGING:
HAVE THINE OWN WAY LORD
- Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still. - Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow. - Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine. - Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
God in all of His glory has created each of us magnificently! He sees us as perfect in CHRIST.
Psalm 139:16
“Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.”
Our brokenness is exactly what God uses to bring someone else to see and experience the love and mercy of Jesus Christ.
7ae73151-9db3-6c9f-22a7-089257f92c11@yahoo.com>”>Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.“
cd9e6d9b-480f-8931-a8d5-1561bd301ba3@yahoo.com>”>Philippians 1:6
“And I am sure of this,
that he who began a good work in you
will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
4cc454a3-eb98-c8e0-ac58-32478abde235@yahoo.com>”>Remember how special YOU ARE!
Let us pass on the GOOD NEWS to all the world!
To God be the glory, GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!
In Him,
Bruce and Paula