Beside Still Waters

By faith we sit beside still waters in this time of great turbulence.

What is Faith?

Hebrews 11:1 Faith is being sure of what we hope for.  It is being certain of what we do not see.

In the presence of God we all sit beside still waters, we know ourselves through the unconditional love of God – know ourselves to have all we need and perfect through love.

Does this mean we will be free of hardship, pain, humiliation, disappointment, grief?  No, it means that when we find ourselves struggling if we take the time to be present with God we will find a calm still place of assurance.

If through faith we remain mindful of God’s constant presence, calm our breathing, silence our minds and open our hearts we will find God’s love and in this love we find ourselves to be beside still waters.

Thank you Paul Klassen for today’s message.

Grandma Snyder

©twosnydergirls 2018

Lectionary readings: Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2: 11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56.

5 Minutes Of My Day - Creation is chosen by God

God has chosen all of creation as his own.  Not because humanity is perfect rather because we are his children and God believes in what we can yet become.  

Our way to becoming more than we are is set out in Colossian 3:12-14 “… cloth yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

After service this morning I went out into our garden to pick rhubarb and in gardens not yet weeded burst forth the most amazing yellow flowers.  They were beautiful and also defined by horticultural societies as invasive weeds.  As I stood admiring the colour, how delicate the flowers were this morning words of hope and love came back to me.

We try to design our lives, homes, gardens, communities, what is good and what is bad and we do this from our very small and imperfect view of the world.  

Where God loves it all and over looks the imperfections in favour of what creation - what we can yet become.

I will leave our yellow weeds as a reminder that I am not the creator and I am in the process of becoming all that I can be.

2017 Watching the pollinators move about our flower beds
their sweet buzz everywhere.

2016 Listen to music our house wren was making as she guarded her nest

2015 sitting on the lawn pulling weeds when I notice
this robin following in my wake pulling up the insects revealed.

2014 At a pot luck dinner enjoying fresh strawberries

Grandma Snyder

©twosnydergirls 2018

Give thanks to the Lord

Remember back to the most influential teacher that you had in grade school.  

What was it that inspired you?

A group of trainees being interviewed after an intensive training program described the first hand testimonies of the trainers as inspiring.  They were motivated to learn by hearing real life stories of those providing the service they were learning – it was people testifying to the value of the material, of the knowledge being taught.

Teachers who know first hand the truth/value of the knowledge they are imparting to students inspire learning, and create excitement to learn more.

The lectionary readings this week all speak to the power of the witness in inspiring  the world to embrace God’s purpose and power.

In the old testament there was great risk to those who testified to hearing God’s voice, who passed on God’s words to the world.  They did so knowing that they would be rejected, persecuted, and could even be put to death. 

The risk during the new testament was no less the witness spread their experience of Christ in the full knowledge that death was a real possibility.

And yet hearing the voice of God was compelling, as was finding yourself healed or called by Jesus.  And thus word of God spread like wild fire through the voices of those who experienced God’s voice and Christ’s love first hand.

Where are our witnesses today?

Where are the first hand testimonies of God’s unconditional love, of personal experiences of inclusion, equality, hope, and participation in a faith community?

There are Pastors, Sunday school teachers, Priests, and missionaries who teach from the Bible and the doctrine of their particular denomination, they also teach from their own experiences.  Yet our church communities are getting smaller and smaller.  Clearly there is not enough to excite people into know more about the experiences we are having, in wanting to enter our churches.

Are we witnesses?

The dangers to us no longer include death, and it does come with the fear of rejection, humiliation, and public acknowledgement that you are a Christian, which may or may not be a good thing depending on how punitive, exclusive, and dogmatic your community knows Christian’s to be.

Daniel of the old testament was promised that as a witness to God’s voice he did not have to be afraid because as a witness he was beloved of God and was safe within that knowledge.

We are the life blood of God’s witness today.  We must testify to our personal experiences of God’s unconditional love and we do this through service to others.  

We are God’s witnesses, beloved of God and we should not be afraid to spread unconditional love into the world.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2018 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 

Mark 1:21-28

Trust God

Is there room in your life to hear God’s call?  

How often during the day do you create quiet spaces in which to listen for his voice? 

The question is, do we believe and trust that God has a message for us and wants too communicate directly with us?

From the moment we get up, too long after we have gone to bed, we are linked to the noise in our lives: radio, iTunes, TV, social media, family, friends and loudest of all our internal voices all clamor for our attention and drown out the still calm voice of the Creator.

Silencing all of the outside noise and  calming our internal voice is hard work and requires that we believe God wants to speak to us – has a very personal message of acceptance, purpose, and unconditional love for each of us.

Spiritual services dedicated to silence are profound as no service full of words and music can be.  The silence creates anticipation, acceptance, a sense of belonging, and intimacy.  

With it comes the knowledge of belonging to God and to each other.

Create space to listen to the words our Creator longs to speak to each of us, trust God.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2018 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:5-12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20.

You know all about me

Paul works very hard in both his preaching and writing to get people of his day to look and see Jesus a new.  

Jesus like many people today was being defined by where he lived, ‘“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46 and Paul asked people to look beyond their prejudice to see Jesus, to be openly curious and learn about Jesus.  To get to know Jesus through shared experiences, to build an understanding of ourselves and the world around us with Jesus.  

Paul asks us to stop making assumptions about Jesus, to come, see and make Jesus and his message apart of our knowledge our community.

Paul’s message resonates just as strongly today as it did then.  People today are defined by where they were born, there are counties whose population are not welcome to cross our boarders, ‘can anything good come out of (fill in the blank). 

We stop being curious about individual people from these places, we stop listening to their stories, we withhold our compassion, becoming prejudicial and we spread oppression in our wake.

Paul calls us to come and see Jesus, to be joyfully curious fully engaged in getting to know both Jesus and his message for the world.  

Jesus then asks us to look beyond the worlds prejudices to see individual people, to know all humanity as beloved by God, that they hold value in the creation of peace today.  

Jesus call us to know him and his message of love, then to go out and spread our knowledge not through fear and violence, through unconditional love and joyful curiosity.

Before people will be curious about our experience of Jesus we must first ‘look and see’ them, hear their stories and with them create new ways of understanding ourselves and our world.

To hear the voice of God in each story, and know God to be speaking to us through them.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2018 twosnydergirls

This blog was inspired by Juanita Laverty's sermon today.

Lectionary readings To enhance your experience, we have included links to each reading 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20); Psalm 139: 1-6, 13- 18; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51

Joy

Songs of reversals these are the words Isaiah cries and Mary sings.  Both proclaim joy in a world turned upside down not just for them, no for all humanity for all time.

A world where personal joy and gain is found in safeguarding the joy of those around you.

A world where everyone lives:

Free of human anger, war and self interest

Surrounded by people who love and care for them

Sheltered from the weather around tables of laughter, love with enough food for all

Full of meaningful pursuits, activities of value, interest and creativity.

Grandma Snyder

Inspired by Juanita Laverty’s December 17^th sermon.

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; 

John 1:6-8, 19-28.

November 17th remembered

5 minutes of my day

Posts created on this date over the past four years by 

Grandpa and Grandma 
Snyder

November 17, 2014

Cry out in lamination

November 17, 2013
Four Generation Dresden Plate by guest blogger Harriett Pollard

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Be Transformed

When trouble is all around you what do you do?

Most people look around for help or a pathway out of danger.

Others begin by crying out ‘Oh God’ or ‘Oh God why me’.

For those who cry out in faith God is there to save.

“…trouble is all around me, but you keep me alive … with your powerful right hand you save me.” Psalm 138:3

God’s response to us is twofold. 

The first is too strengthen our faith in the face of trouble, calm our spirits, allowing us to find joy in the face of adversity.

The second is to be present with us, through human help, support and comfort. 

We are God’s hands, feet and voices to other human being when we allow God’s unconditional love to shine through us.  This means that we must be ready to be what God needs us to be and to accept help from the most unexpected people.

Years ago travelling in white out conditions a Grandmother and her granddaughter were caught in the back seat of a car that itself was trapped in a multi vehicle accident.  It was a dangerous and difficult time, when out the left passenger window an adult who had been walking beside the cars was picked up on the hood of a car travelling through the whiteout in the opposite direction and thrown into the air.

Must later that day when all were safe at home, the Grandmother was asked how she managed to stay calm, she replied “At the point I thought all was lost I felt my 6-year-old granddaughter reach out and take my hand and  she began to pray out loud for God’s protection” I was overwhelmed with the nearness of God and that I rested in the palm of his hand.

“…when I called out to you, you answered me” Psalm 138:3

Be transformed in your times of trouble by calling out in expectation for God's help and then accepting the people God sends to help you.

And

Allow yourself to be transformed into exactly what another human being needs in their time of trouble, allowing God's unconditional love shine through you.

We belong to God and through God's acceptance of us we belong to each other.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings for this week Isaiah 51:1-6; Psalm 138; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20.

A house of prayer for all peoples

Motivated by a serious health issue I steadfastly observed the rules of a highly restricted diet and six weeks later as a result, the health crisis had resolved itself.  In the months that followed slowly I stopped following the rules I did not like knowing that if I needed to I could just become observant again.

I mention this piece of personal history because as I pondered the scriptures for this week it kept coming to mind.

How many Christians place greater importance on observing the rules and regulation of their religion rather then in God’s gift of unconditional love for us.

I observed the rules as long as it suited me and I failed to have faith in the healthy lifestyle that the restrictive diet offered because I knew that should I get sick again well all I had to do was get back on board - not so with our spiritual health.

How many Christians believe that all they have to do is start following the rules again and salvation is theirs.

God is very clear on this point that following rules and observing the regulations of any religion is not what will save you in the end.

Salvation is a gift offered to those with the faith to accept it as the free will offering that it is.  

Faith that accepts that there is nothing any human being can do on their own to deserve it – it is what it is unconditional love offered freely to all humanity equally.

Faith is not about what we do or don’t do it is about what we think, feel, and then offer out into our world.

Matthew 15 speaks about how following the rules does not make or break your faith it is what happen in that very private place, your mind, your heart your soul.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Psalm 67; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28; Luke 13:10:17

Give Them Something To Eat.

Today Christine Mussar-Rehkopf asked us to consider the mother who loving packed a lunch of loaves and fish for her son, and how Christ received her gift of love through her son and fed the multitude that followed him.

All of our acts of love grow ever larger through God’s unconditional love for all humanity. 

When we smile at a stranger, cook a casserole for a family in need, hug a child that is crying we are putting into the world love just as that mother did so many years ago.

And like her we will never know the miracles that God has worked from our offerings.

Grandma Snyder

©2013 – 2017 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21.  

Do not fear

We live in a time of fear!

Fear of terrorism, fear of crime, fear of unemployment, fear of illness, fear of loneliness, fear of aging, fear of exploitation, fear for our children, fear… The list continues and includes every unique fear of each human being alive today.

In the world of the wealthy fear is almost always connected to earthy possessions.  We fear our things will be stolen, our privileged way of life taken away.  

Fear we will become ill and not be able to earn more.  Fear as we age of death when our things are finally beyond our reach.  

Fear that if we share it will be at the expense of our children’s wealth.

  We fear being wrong so we believe our way of life is right. 

In the rest of the world people fear that the wealthy will consume all the world has without sharing, fear that the culture of the wealthy will consume the world and destroy theirs.

Fear that if they do not agree with the wealthy they will be destroyed.  Fear that they cannot participate in the things of the wealthy.

Fear that their children will starve, die in war, slavery, or sweat shops without ever participating in the world of wealth.

The wealthy are held in a spirit of bondage that is not of God, not of Christ, not Christian!  

We are held prisoners by our things they bind our desires, attitudes, actions and disadvantage the rest of the world. 

The wealthy live in a constant state of bondage, bondage that Christ cautions us about  in Matthew 19:24 “it is hard for a rich human to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich human to enter the kingdom of God”  because we desire things rather then God’s unconditional love.  

Faith in God's unconditional love given to all through Christ demands that Christians share unconditionally and extend God's love to all.

God gives equally to all humanity and in this God offers us a spirit of adoption, inclusion in heaven for eternity.

In this all humanity can live free in the knowledge we will all live for eternity as equals with equal opportunity in Heaven.

We can live without fear.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Lectionary: Isaiah 44:6-8; Psalm 86:11-17; Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.

A Sower Went Out to Sow

Faith that God’s unconditional love abundantly given as evidenced through the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is all we need to live life through joy “… going out with Joy”.

Joyfully looking in each conscious moment for the seeds God has planted in us to spread peace, justice and hope in our world, “… led forth with peace.”

Our faith is the soil in which God has abundantly and freely scattered his seed of unconditional love, joy and peace and in any one day our faithfulness will be good soil, hard barren soil and soil chocked with weeds where no seeds of joy can grow.

The lectionary reading offer that when we live through the desires of our human bodies we present God with faith that is barren, choked with things other than God.  When we live in the spirit we are good soil where God’s seeds grow and spread and the type of soil we present God in the moment is totally within our control.

The parables of the sower and the seeds are not about other people, none Christians it is about us and how we live each day.  It is about both the big decisions we make and the small ones as well.  What TV shows we decide to watch, the music we listen too, the clothing we purchase, the books we read, the internet sites we look at the people we pass by on the street without speaking or smiling at, how we spend our money and so on.

You are God’s representative today in the space that you occupy right now, how open is your faith, the ground God has to work with, to the seeds he needs to plant to bring peace, joy, comfort, unconditional love into this world?

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Isaiah 55:10-13; Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

I will give you rest.

Life is hard, with trials, burdens, and unexpected tragedies all happening within the context of a world that is constantly changing, making our lives difficult.

We make plans for ourselves, our families and work hard to achieve our goals only to see life get in the way.

The burdens of living this life can be very heavy and we tire of constantly struggling against all of the obstacles that get in our way.

Our lives, 

Ourselves, 

Our families, 

Our way

We are by nature self-centred, self absorbed creatures and the path that God desires for us to live life through unconditional love for others, where we look outward in service rather then inward for self gain.

When you ask someone to describe when they felt real happiness they for the most part talk about being with people they love, engaged in activities where the purpose is to bring comfort or joy to loved ones.

They are describing moments lived through unconditional love for others.

This is what God desires for us to live through unconditional love, to live lives that have at their foundation hope, joy, and the expectation of belonging to communities of love.

This is the rest that God offers humanity and here is the burden that we are offered.  To live in a world where our neighbours are as interested in our welfare as they are in their own. 

To live within communities of hope, connection and love.

Our Lord seeks to rescue us from the loneliness and despair of our human isolation, our self centeredness, our struggle to be better than our neighbour, our personal war against time and free us to live each moment within communities of love and support.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings - Zachariah 9:9-12; Psalm 145:8-14; Romans 7:15-25a; Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30.

Always aware of God's Unconditional

In those moments of rapture, when we know ourselves to be held in God’s unconditional love joy is all we know and in the numerous moments of mundane life that depression, disappointment, worry, greed, envy, and self-doubt over take our joy and push from our awareness God’s unconditional love while still we are held within his arms.

Gratitude journals have become popular within journaling communities.  Some formats provide a page for each month to be filled with moments of gratitude, others provide a space in a weekly format to record the things we are grateful for and still others provide a space in a daily log.

And the power of depression, disappointment, worry, greed, envy and self-doubt to separate us from the joy of knowing ourselves held within God’s unconditional love.

If we lived always aware of the wings upon which we stand all of the books in the world would not be able to hold all of the moments of gratitude of one human being in one day.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings Exodus 19:2-8a; Psalm 100; Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35–10:8, (9-23).

I will pour out my Spirit

In those days I will give my Spirit to my servants, both men and women
Acts 2:18.

The Holy Spirit is not the exclusive right of holy men, no God pour out his spirit on all the peoples of the earth who through faith believe and

There are different ways to serve the same Lord, and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do.1 Corinthians 12:5-6

The Holy Spirit brings to life each human beings their unique gift in the serve of God’s unconditional love for all creation. 

The Spirit have given each of us a special way of serving others.1 Corinthians 12:7

In this way we come to know that all human life is precious, necessary and it is not our sameness that God desires, it is our uniqueness that the Holy Spirit brings to life.

Thus it is that “the Lord will save everyone who asks for his help”Acts 2:21

It is our uniqueness that brings glory to God, we each have but ask and the Holy Spirit will fill us and joy is ours.  

We are all called, all are necessary in God’s sight.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

 Lectionary Readings Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b;1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23.