The Church Mouse

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10) During the integrity versus despair stage, people reflect back on the life they have lived and come away with either a sense of fulfillment from a life well lived or a sense of regret and despair over a life misspent.  (Erickson’s Stages of Development – the Aging Adult). For the past month or so I’ve done a whole lot of funerals.  Its very sacred work and I’m always so honored to walk with families at this time … Read more

Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Ezekiel 12: 3,4 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  (Psalm 23:5) Sometimes you have to be the first to walk across the … Read more

For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies, For the Love which from our birth, Over and around us lies. Christ our Lord to you we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.  (Folliet Sandford Pierpont, 1864)   Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. … Read more

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.   But Jesus bent … Read more

Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General, released an 85-page advisory declaring loneliness a new public health epidemic in the United States. “Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation has been an underappreciated public health crisis that has harmed individual and societal health. May 6, 2023 (Forbes Magazine) Then the Lord God said “It’s not good that the human is alone.  I will make a helper that is perfect” (Genesis 2: 18) The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shard meals and to their prayers. (Acts 2: 42) All the believers were united and shared everything … Read more

Love lifts us up where we belong.  (Buffy Sainte-Marie, Will Jennings, Jack Nitzsche.  From “Up Where we Belong, Recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes). 15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the … Read more

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, … Read more

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, … Read more

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28-30) work·a·hol·ism noun INFORMAL a compulsionto work excessively hard and long hours.  (Oxford Languages Dictionary)     This week at Chat n Chew, some one commented to me that they weren’t sure what days each week I had ‘off’ because I work on Sundays. They had sent … Read more

After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”  (Genesis 22: 1,2).  O.k.  All of you who skipped over the Bible verses at the beginning of this blog, please go back and read it now.  Yes, I know you do that.  At least I do.  I’m always “I’ll get the gist in the text; I … Read more