Cable Community Church

The youth group are hosting a church event called “5th Sunday Pot Luck and Game Night.”  Families are invited to bring their favorite food and games to share at this fun-filled evening.  The eating begins at 6:30 PM.  Everyone is welcome.

The Youth meet to celebrate “Siete de Mayo” with a Pizza party and Bowling on Friday.  The bowling is in Alpha, but meet at the church for pizza at 5:30 PM  Everyone needs to bring $5 for the bowling.  Jr. Youth Group should bring soda for the party.  Sr. Youth should bring toppings for the pizza.

Just the other day my mother reminded me of the broken lamp incident. She claimed that I used that incident in a sermon illustration one Sunday, and since I was the only one of the four children still talking about that, it made sense to her that I am the one who broke the lamp.

Such is the memory of a mother. She must remember both the happy moments (there were some of those, weren’t there?) and those moments not so pleasant. I am certain that there were plenty of those unpleasant memories. Some I have forgotten, but others, not quite. For mothers, it’s as Elizabeth Stone has said, “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

Mary, Jesus’ mother, knew much of the heartache of motherhood. From the strange circumstances of Jesus’ birth to the confusion of His becoming lost at the Temple at age twelve, to those times during His ministry when she and her family tried to “talk some sense” into Jesus, to that fateful day when she stood beneath His cross and, in Simeon’s words, “a sword pierced her soul” – Mary knew the grief of being a mother.

God also knows a mother’s emotions. He claims to love us even more intently than does a mother. “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb?  Surely they may forget,  Yet I will not forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15 NKJV) He also claims to comfort us as does a mother (Isaiah 66:13) Like a mother, God makes, bears, carries and delivers His own. (Isaiah 46:3-4)

An old Jewish proverb claims that “God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.” If that be true, then certainly God taught mothers about forgiveness. French novelist, Honore’ de Balzac wrote, “The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.” Of God, the Psalmist wrote, “Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;  According to Your mercy remember me,  For Your goodness’ sake, O LORD.” (Psalm 25:6-7, NKJV)

So, how about it, Mom? That “lamp incident” was nearly 40 years ago. Isn’t it time to forgive and forget, no matter who was to blame for the broken lamp? For goodness sake? I hope so.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate the day. Don’t forget your Mother this month. Perhaps there’s something between you and her that could be resolved this May 9th?

Praying for Mother’s and their children this month,

Pastor Clint

Here we are at the beginning of another recognition of Holy Week. This week begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Easter: two joyful bookends that surround some troublesome events. The days between those two Sundays are marred with confusion, conflict and – ultimately – crucifixion.
The confusion begins when Jesus cleanses the temple. Most people seem confused by these actions. Isn’t this “gentle Jesus, meek and mild?” What is He doing upsetting the tables and driving out the moneychangers? Isn’t one of the main tenants of Christianity to say, “Can’t we all just get along?”
I believe that Jesus is acting prophetically in the temple and pronouncing God’s judgment upon that corrupt system. By His words, in saying, “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of robbers,” and through His actions, upturning the tables and driving the merchants out, Jesus is pronouncing and enacting judgment upon that system. This is a system which is nearing an end. This method of sacrifice is soon to find its fulfillment and reach its end in Jesus Christ.
Next there is the conflict of that week. Not only that conflict initiated by Jesus in the cleansing of the temple, but more so that received by Jesus in the barbs and taunts of the Scribes, Pharisees and other leaders. Ultimately resulting in the conflict of the arrest, inquiry and beatings of Jesus. And yet, spiritually speaking, all of those things were outward manifestations of the unseen spiritual battle which was waging for the salvation of Mankind. Evidence of that battle is witnessed in Christ at the Garden of Gathesemine.
Finally, the depth of the darkness of Holy Week is found on Friday. At the crucifixion sin and sacrifice meet. Grace sublimates the curse, and forgiveness freely flows from Golgatha’s hill. Jesus’ words, “It is finished!” echo throughout eternity.
Next comes Easter with the blatant question, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Yes. Why, indeed?

May the Spirit of Easter live in and through you all,

Pastor Clint

Spell out some new friendships or renew some old at the Women’s Fellowship Scrabble Night on March 16, 2010, at 6:30 pm at Cable Church.