new church life:
september/october 2015
Program, Caira Bevan Bongers writes about The Love Languages of the Lord.
Caira, who received her degree in May, says we have to know the Lord to
really love Him. Borrowing from Dr. Gary Chapman’s best-seller, The 5 Love
Languages, she says: “The Lord’s favorite love language is clearly useful service.
Through this we are living according to His commandments, which is true
acknowledgment of Him.” (Page 491)
In Introducing Our Ministers, the Rev. Calvin A. Odhner says he always
knew in the back on his mind that he would be a minister; it just took him
a very roundabout way to get there. Now he looks back on a wide variety of
career experiences as preparation for becoming pastor of the Morning Star
Chapel in Atlanta, Georgia – the great love of his life. (Page 500) In a sermon,
We Are All Blind, Calvin talks about how our “blind eyes” are always being
opened by the Lord to see the power and light of His divinity. (Page 506)
In a sermon on True Freedom, the Rev. Ryan M. Sandstrom says that
freedom is ultimately deliverance from the lifelong struggle against evil and
falsity. But it is a struggle where the Lord is always with us. "Let us keep in
mind," he says, "that only the Lord can tell us how to get to heaven and He lays
the steps for us to take in the Word. Everything happens according to order;
there is a process to everything." (Page 510)
A new way of worship is a Sunroom Spiritual Growth Group, open to
anyone with a computer and a desire to connect with a small group. Kendell
Hyatt says, “Sunroom is for busy people who don’t have time for content
preparation but do have interest in making time for meaningful conversation
with others.” She explains how it works and how to participate. (Page 515)
Church News includes: the outlook for the new school year in both Bryn
Athyn College and the Academy Secondary Schools; a workshop sponsored by
the College on The Unintelligible Afterlife: What Deathbed Conversations Tell Us
About a World Beyond; a report on this year’s British Academy Summer Camp
by the Rev. Howard Thompson and student Brent van der Merwe; expanded
leadership in General Church Education; a new Principal in the Washington
New Church School – the Rev. Brian D. Smith – with a strong focus not just
on teaching, but learning; a preview of the Boynton Beach Retreat 2016; and
the current membership of the General Church Board of Directors and the
Academy Board of Trustees. (Page 519)
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