Preparing Ourselves - Kayla's Korner

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

As Christians we are called to be kind to one another. That even includes those we don’t like very much. When I was 15 my best friend and I got into a big fight, and it took me forever to forgive her. If it wasn’t for that fight that we had, I wouldn’t have learned how truly important forgiveness is. God shows each of us kindness, even though we hurt Him time after time sinning. But He still forgives us and shows kindness towards us. When others hurt me or do something I may not consider “right”, I choose to show them kindness and forgiveness because I strive to be a good Christian and do what God calls of me. I also don’t want to live a life full of hate and holding a grudge against others. This month pray for God to give you a forgiving heart, so that others may see Christ through you! If you don’t forgive or show kindness, how are you going to share God’s Word with others?

Shine - Reece's Peaces

“This Little Light of Mine” is a song that we all know. Almost every Christian child is taught it as they grow up. I remember singing it as a child with the children’s chorus at my home church the Sunday before Easter. The song is simple to learn and the message is even simpler to understand. We have a little light of the Lord in us and we need to let it shine.

During the month of February, we're going to discuss the little light that we are given, a light inside of us that Luke describes as, “a light of revelation to the gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:32). It is that light of revelation which each of us holds in our heart. It shines in us like a candle in a dark room, illuminating our space and allowing us to move freely without the worry of stumbling. The light of the Lord shines for all to see.

This month’s sermon series is “Shine.” We will examine the light of the Lord inside of us, investigating what the Bible says about the call to light up the world and seeing how we are all called to hold our candle to illuminate the way for others. We will also discuss how the light inside us shines brightness into the emptiness, allowing God to fill our very souls with God’s grace. We will further examine how love shines through that light into our lives and into the lives of others.

Finally, our sermon series will end on Transfiguration Sunday, a day that we celebrate the moment in which Jesus was revealed to his disciples as the Son of God. Transfiguration Sunday is not nearly as well-known as many other important days in the church calendar, but it is a significant day. This day celebrates the moment in which Jesus was transfigured from his humanly form into a new form of radiant shining glory appearing on a mountaintop alongside Moses and Elijah to speak to his apostles Peter, James, and John.

He was then called the Son of God by a voice in the clouds. Reminiscent of the same voice calling out at his baptism. In that moment he became the light of God for all to see shine!

Transfiguration Sunday will be the capstone in our call to shine, to live out that line of a song that we learned so long ago: “This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine!”.

Peace,

Ben

What are Hymns and Why do we need them? - Marc's Music Notables

A hymn is not just an “old song” we used to sing. Yes, many of the great hymns have been sung literally for centuries, but we do not sing hymns because they are old; we sing them because they are so true that they have survived all the fads of language, rhythm feels, and musical trends. If new hymns live, it will be for the same reason. In fact, there are many new hymns being written and whole hymn movements of new writers rising up, not only in the U.S. but in the U.K. and Scandinavia. Then what is a hymn, and why do we need them?

First of all, a hymn is meant to be sung corporately. When we gather with other Believers, we sing together praise to God or remind each other just who this God is that we serve. In general, we could think of hymns as those songs of praise and worship we send up to God identifying for all to hear His attributes and thanking Him for His amazing intervention in our world and in our lives. We sing of the incarnation: God who was before anything existed, the Cause and Source of all things, God of grandeur, power and infinite glory chose to become one of us and to walk with us – Immanuel! Hymns are Godcentered and call our attention upward. They are lofty in message and lift us above the earth. They remind us of our original glory that preceded any “original sin” and remind us of God’s intention to see that glory restored in us. The exchange in hymns, then, is vertical – connecting us to God and seeking to hear His voice speaking to our hearts in return.

Hymns are firmly rooted in God’s Word and, since they are intended to be sung corporately by the fellowship of believers, pull us above our petty differences by reminding us of God’s dream for us – that we would be one.

No wonder, then, that when times are confusing or the world is in upheaval, we find ourselves needing songs that nail to the wall the deep cardinal truths of our faith and the always available and ever dependable qualities of God. When we cannot sing them as a congregation, we sing them to ourselves to help us remember that the Body of Christ is always at the table and the great cloud of witnesses are always present to encourage, love and support. When we sing hymns alone, we refocus on the ways this great God has delivered us before; this focus turns our anxieties to praise and our questions to certainties. Therefore, let us continue to proudly sing our hymns, together or alone, not only to praise God but as a daily reminder of his goodness and mercy

I Wish you More - Cheryl's Memories

There is a children’s book that I love, I Wish You More! , by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. It chokes me up every time I read it. It contains the sentiment of my wish of more for you, my Hurstbourne adopted family. First, I’d like to share how I ended up here. I’ll shorten it to the highlights. I was looking for a part time position that would accommodate travel with Scott. I also was NOT looking for church work. My experience with that was someone telling me that they tithed so that made them my boss. It was an uncomfortable situation I never wanted to be in again.

I left for the interview with a statement to Scott, “I’ll go but I’m don’t want to be working for a church again.” He told me to take “I” out of it and ask God to make a clear statement of what was the right place… So, I went.

Those first minutes of chatting with Mike Gatton didn’t feel like an interview, it felt like a place I should be. I actually told him as I left, “I was going to say, “no’, no matter what you offered or said. I was going to say, “no”.” God really moved quickly in my heart that day and I am so grateful.

I have come to love each one of you for your own special gifts. I miss terribly my semiweekly call from Harper Lohr to just chat and share his memories. I completely miss Karl and his wonderful gift of instruction and detail when I worked with him on the newsletter and the above and beyond, he went to decorate when I was the guest speaker for the breakfast.

I miss Tuesdays. I was when Joy and Hulda stopped in to chat before they create letters and cards to remind the HCC family of their connection to ministry. I miss the Gamers! I would work on mailing or my bring lunch and sit and visit with them as they played that crazy card game that they play.

All these people and things have been gradually taken away by this past 2 years of weirdness, but it was in planning. For which God does a great job. I’ve experienced the realities of Jerimiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

The “future” brought the sale of our house in 2021 and and prosperity as well as a plan of transition for 2023. God seems to have a faster time line than we set. I described 2021 as the year God opened a door, then a window creating a wind tunnel that sucked us out and forward. He has taken obstacles out of the way and given us clear and decisive answers when options were put before us. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, has fallen in place for us to go forward. As a result, we will be moving in March 2022, instead of March 2023, to Florida.

Those “missing out” preparations of 2021 will help me when I begin missing the happy notes left for me to find on random days from Dan. Or those unplanned pop ins from Bonnie to see how I am, ask about my family or bringing me a special cup of tea on a cold day. I’ll miss the ladies and their monthly meeting that let me snag quick hugs and news. Art and his magnificent brain for numbers and keeping us on track will be a void left in my week. There are so many other people and too many things to list. I wish there was MORE space that I could share them all because…

You see that first day you adopted me and had I not listened, I would have missed out on so much generosity, love and acceptance. You, my sweet HCC family, have treated me so well and I feel like our next steps that prosper us are abandoning you. Please know this. I love you and I recognize that I have been greatly blessed to be here and be accepted into the HCC family!

So, in a few of the words from that children's book, I Wish You More!

“I wish you more… More ups than downs. More hugs than ughs. More give than take. More we than me. More pause than fast-forward. I wish you more because you all are more than I could ever have wished for and more!”

This one is mine.

It is for you and my last one…

I wish you more...

sMILESnBlessings,

Cheryl

Love - Kayla's Korner

What word comes to mind when you think of the month February? For most, it’s the word “love”. Love is such a strong word because it has such a strong meaning to us. Growing up, I had many people in my life who showed me love. My mother, my stepfather, my wonderful grandparents, my aunt, and my husband. Love can be shown in different ways, I learned in my teenage years, that my parents weren’t getting onto me because they don’t like me, but, because they love me and care about me.

The word love appears many times in the Bible. In the English Standard Version, it appears 684 times! I think that’s quite a bit. John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus commanded us to love each other. Sometimes it can be hard to show love toward someone who isn’t nice to us, but Jesus wants us to still love this person. It took me awhile to learn to love those who didn’t like me, and those who discouraged me from my calling in ministry. As I learned more of how Christ loved, I begin to understand how to love others as He did. It took time and a lot of prayer, but I eventually learned.

I pray that this month you also learn Jesus’ commandment given to us in John 15:12.

Blessings, Kayla