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A gift for dad
What to give dad for Father’s Day? That is the question, isn’t it? Robyn Spizman suggests that we should not ask
him what he wants, instead say, “Dad, would you rather have clothing, a new watch or a camera?” If that doesn’t get a
response, try this:
“Dad, what’s the worst gift you’ve ever been given?” You are sure to get an earful about what he doesn’t want. If you
don’t get any ideas from what he says, then offer him your heartfelt words of appreciation for all that he means to you
and let him see the big smile on your face.
“Regardless of what you give your father,” says Robyn Spizman, “be sure to give him a great big hug on
Father’s Day and tell him you love him. That’s still the best gift of all.”
—The Costco Connection
***
A time for silence
When your dad is mad and asks you, “Do I look stupid?” don’t answer him.
—Heather, age 16, found on the Internet
***
Rest assured
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones. And when you have finished your
daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.
—Victor Hugo
***
Special dates
• Pentecost Sunday, June 11, 2000
• Flag Day, June 14, 2000
• Trinity Sunday, June 18, 2000
• Father’s Day, June 18, 2000
• Summer begins, June 21, 2000
***
Words of welcome
(Feel free to use these in your worship bulletins.)
This very hour, this very minute, we have the wonderful opportunity to come before the Lord with rejoicing. In a spirit
of love and friendship, we welcome all who have come. Let us lift up our hearts to the Lord.
***
Welcome on this day when we celebrate Pentecost. God’s powerful Holy Spirit is present for all who are willing to
receive the gift. May the same joy and fellowship and closeness be among us today as they were on the day the church
was born in Jerusalem so long ago.
***
Welcome to everyone, especially to all fathers on this Father’s Day. What blessings our families have given to us! What
a blessing our church family is to us! Reach out in fellowship to as many as possible. We are God’s children now!
***
Moses once sang: “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will
praise him” (Exodus 15:2). We have gathered joyfully to sing and praise God as well. All are welcome to join in and we
are delighted to have any visitors worshiping with us. Blessings on each person present!
***
• If you have no joy in your religion, you have a leak in your Christianity.
—Billy Sunday
• It is pleasing to the dear God whenever you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.
—Martin Luther
• Our laughter here on Earth is but a tune-up for the joyful hallelujahs of being in God’s presence.
—Terry Lindvall
• It is never too late, in fiction or in life, to revise.
—Nancy Thayer
• Memory feeds a culture, nourishes hope and makes a human, human.
—Elie Wiesel
• Doubt is often the beginning of wisdom.
—M. Scott Peck
• The person who is never criticized is not breathing.
—Vern McClellan
• In giving advice, I advise you, be short.
—Horace
***
The presence
When Diane Johnson was 13 her mother dropped her off for the confirmation class at their church. Diane arrived
early and, not knowing where to wait for class to begin, she wandered into the sanctuary. She did not have good eyes,
but she saw a stained glass window through which the sun was casting a lovely light into the room. She sat in a pew
bathed by the light and she felt the warm rays surrounding her body. Suddenly, she felt a distinct presence. She had the
feeling most of us get when another person is nearby. She called out, “Is anyone here?” No answer came.
Still, she was absolutely certain that she was not alone. Furthermore, the certainty of the presence of someone else
grew stronger and stronger. Her spirit began to discern that she was experiencing the awesome presence of God.
Diane, who is now officially blind, considers that memorable occasion when she felt the loving presence of the
Holy Spirit to be the time of her conversion experience. Furthermore, she soon came to understand that God was calling
her into the ministry. Today she serves a church in Wooster, Ohio.
Thinking about that unique day in the sanctuary so long ago, Diane says that some may think the experience of
a 13-year-old girl sounds silly. But, she goes on to say, “The experience was real to me. My future and destiny changed
in that moment in time.”
—East Ohio Today
***
God at one’s elbow
Joy Davidman, the wife of renowned English writer, C.S. Lewis, once told him of an experience she had
regarding the presence of God. Lewis later retold the story in A Grief Observed. Joy said that one morning as she went
about her work, she had a sense of God’s presence “at her elbow” so to speak. She seemed compelled to discover what
God was communicating to her. Did it have something to do with an unrepented sin or a duty she was to perform? After
awhile, she stopped what she was doing and waited to understand the message. In time it came. The message was “I
want to give you something” and immediately she entered into joy.
***
A general’s prayer for his son
Calling the prayer printed below “A Father’s Prayer,” General Douglas A. MacArthur petitioned God on
behalf of his one child, a son:
Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and braced enough to face
himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.
Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know thee — and
that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.
Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and
challenge. Here, let him learn to stand up in the storm; here, let him learn compassion for those who fail. Build me a son
whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men;
one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past. And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a
sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he
may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.
Then I, his father, will dare
to whisper: “I have not lived in vain.”
—From Prayers of Famous Contemporaries
***
St. Paul speaks of the fruit of the Spirit
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
(Galatians 5:22 ff.).
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another,
no envy of one another (Galatians 5:25-26).
***
Ain’t nothin’ simpler
Speaking about experiencing the Holy Spirit, the pastor put it simply:
“Brothers and sisters, if you ain’t heard nothin’, if you ain’t seen nothin’, if you ain’t felt nothin’, then you ain’t
got nothin’ of the Holy Spirit to rejoice about” (read Acts 9: 1-9).
—An old preacher’s story
***
A look at Pentecost
Pentecost will be celebrated on Sunday, June 11.
Pentecost is rooted in Old Testament history. It was celebrated by the Jews for 50 days — Pentecost means
“50” — after the celebration of the Passover. The Passover refers to death’s passing over the Jewish homes which were
marked by the blood of the Paschal Lamb (read Exodus 12). Pentecost was a harvest festival held after seven weeks of
harvesting crops.
In the New Testament, we find the first Christians gathered “together in one place” in the city of Jerusalem
(Acts 2) on the day of Pentecost. “Suddenly,” St. Luke, the author of Acts writes, “a sound came from heaven like the
rush of a mighty wind.”
Luke goes on to describe in metaphorical language what happened next. He tells of something like an
appearance of fire upon the believers. Then “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). Strangely, even though there were persons from as many as 15 or
more nations present, everyone seemed to understand the essence of what the Spirit-filled Christians were saying. They
knew that the Christians were telling about “the mighty works of God” including the story of the crucifixion and
resurrection of Jesus.
The bottom line is that on Pentecost some “three thousand souls” became Christians (see Acts 2:41). Instead of
celebrating a harvest of crops, Pentecost for the Christians was a “harvesting” of souls for Christ. That is why Christians
often call Pentecost the birthday of the Church. St. Luke says that after Pentecost “the Lord added to their number day
by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
Thankfully that is still true. Today, 2000 years later, the Church still grows worldwide, day by day, hour by
hour, even minute by minute. Some places, in Africa for example, the Church is spreading like a fire out of control. The
Power that came down at Pentecost is still present and very much at work on Earth.
***
Don’t try to bottle the joy, kiss it on the fly
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses
the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.
—William Blake
***
Ruskin’s memorial
John Ruskin, (1819-1900) was an English author and teacher at Oxford University. There is a memorial to
Ruskin on the shores of Derwentwater in the Lake District. Under a Celtic Cross on the memorial are the following
words:
The Spirit of God is around you in the air you breathe. His glory is in the light you see, and in the fruitfulness
of the earth and the joy of his creation. He has written for you day by day his revelation and he has granted you day by
day your daily bread.
—The Friendship
Book of Francis Gay
***
Heavenly words from an old hymn
Come, Thou Holy Spirit, come;
And from Thy celestial home
Shed a ray of light Divine;
Come, Thou Father of the poor,
Come, Thou source of all our store,
Come, within our bosoms shine.
—The Rev. Edward Caswall (1814-1878)
from Hymns and Poems
***
Frustrated father
When I was a youngster, I was disciplined by being sent to my room without supper. But my son has in his
room a color television, a computer, a CD player and a radio. So where should I send him? I decided to send him to my
room.
—Found on the Internet