Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Prayer. A simple word. Yet, O such a powerful word. The dictionary definition of the word prayer is “a humble request to God.” For us, it doesn't have to be a request to be considered a prayer, although I think that might be the most common usage. I have started out more than one prayer with, “God, it seems like I'm always asking you for something.” Each week when I get to the office I ask for God's help in writing my sermon. I ask for help in discerning what He is telling us in our Holy Scriptures. I ask f...
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, There is an old saying that goes, “The only thing that never changes is that things always change.” Well, we are now in a season of change; quite significant changes at that. The most prominent change that will affect every one of us is the weather. In the month of November, we go from the tolerable temperatures of fall to the very cold temperatures of winter. The farmers finish up their harvest and the flower and vegetable gardens are done producing. The hours of daylight get less and less each day. For...
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Those of you who are roughly the same age as I, will remember the days of Trading Stamps. Grocery stores, gas stations and other retail outlets gave away these stamps with each purchase. The more merchandise you purchased, the more stamps you received in return. The two major stamps that I recall are Gold Bond Stamps and Green Stamps. The stamps had an adhesive backing and as you received the stamps, you licked them and put them in books that you received at no cost from the retailer. There were a couple of...
Peace and Grace to you from our Heavenly Father. We continue our discussion of the Beatitudes that we began a couple of weeks ago. The Beatitudes can be found in Chapter 5 of the Gospel of Matthew. As we mentioned then, they are part of what has become known as Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. They are not a “to-do list” that we need to try to accomplish, but rather they provide a picture of what a Christian life looks like. We also discussed that first week that the order in which Jesus presented them was for a specific reason. They are in a spe...
Peace and Grace to you from our Heavenly Father. We continue our discussion of the Beatitudes that we began last week. The Beatitudes can be found in Chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of Matthew. They are part of what has become known as Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. They are not a “to-do list” that we need to try to accomplish, but rather, they provide a picture of what a Christian life looks like. We covered the first two last week and we will cover the next three this week. Also, we discussed last week that the Beatitudes were not spoken haphazardly....
Peace and Grace to you from our Heavenly Father. Early in Jesus' ministry he gave one of the most profound sermons of all time. It has come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount. It is found in Chapters 5-7 of the gospel according to Matthew. Of course, all of Jesus' speeches and sermons deserve our close attention but the Sermon on the Mount usually gets the most attention. It is here that we find the Beatitudes and the Golden Rule. I've talked to some people who were surprised to find out that the Golden Rule is actually bible-based. They...
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Wow, here we are, in the month of August already. The kids' summer ball seasons are over. The stores have had back-to-school advertisements for some time now. The college and high school football camps are open for fall practice leading up to the opening of their seasons. But, closer to home, it is the harvest season. Before we know it, the combines will be in the fields and the new crops of barley and wheat will make their way to market or in bins on the farm. Let's not forget the various farmers markets...
This week we wrap up our review of the Gospels with a brief overview of the Gospel accorded to John. John is a Gospel somewhat apart from the other three. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the “Synoptic Gospels.” Despite their individual emphasis, they tell of many of the same events and stories about Jesus' life and ministry. Much of John's Gospel is unique to John, not found in the other three. While the other three spend a lot of time on Jesus' ministry in Galilee, John spends very little time there. His concentration is on Jes...
Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ. This week we continue our survey of the first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels. Having covered Matthew and Mark, we move onto Luke. Luke is the longest and most comprehensive of the Gospels. It is possible Luke was a Jew but most likely he was a Gentile. This would make him the only Gentile author in our New Testament. He was a physician. He traveled with the apostle Paul for much of his journeys and Paul referred to Luke as “the beloved physician." Luke has also been regarded as a noted h...
Usually my writings for these Sermonette articles are on the informal side. I try to take everyday-type experiences and tie them into our faith and responsibilities as Christian people. I'm changing things up a bit for this series and will be discussing the Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If it plays out the way I'm thinking it may seem more like a Bible study series than what you are used to reading from me. If you decide that you don't like this path, just let me know and I'll go back to my previous type of articles. I should note here...
June is a month of change. Colleges and high schools have had their graduations. The college graduates are no longer students. They are either already in or are seeking a place in the work force. High school graduates are approaching adulthood wondering what the future holds in store for them. Will they be seeking full-time jobs or perhaps a summertime job until fall? Will they be going on to college or military service? Maybe just staying at home or working on the home farm until they make up their minds is their plan. For other students and...
Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ. We continue with our Advent story this week. Let’s take a closer look at the Advent wreath. As I mentioned last week, our wreath has five candles; four on the outside and one in the middle. The outer candles are either purple or blue and many churches have three of those and a fourth one that is pink. There is a center candle that is white and is called the Jesus candle. The four outer ones are Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. The Hope candle is not the word hope we use in everyday conversation. I hope I g...
With two exceptions, my weekly sermons are based on scripture. The exceptions are Advent and Lent. The ways in which we celebrate these two holiday seasons are based on tradition. Advent is the beginning of our church calendar year. We use this season to prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Lent is the time leading up to Holy Week, when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday. You will not find mention of these two seasons in scripture. However, both of these events hold an important part in our church...
I hear from time to time that surely, with all the strife currently happening, the world must soon be coming to an end. There have been, from time to time, people who have predicted the actual day the world was ending. Judgment Day! Christ's second coming! Yep, they knew the actual day it was going to happen. Well, those days have come and gone and we are still here. Our earth has not ceased to exist. Early on when the coronavirus was spreading like wildfire, I had an acquaintance tell me that this pandemic was predicted in the book of Revelati...
I remarked the other day that when I was young, I would hear “old” people talk about how fast time went the older they got. I thought that was pretty silly. Time was time, it didn't change speed. Now, being that I am included in that “old fogy” group, I do indeed understand that time goes by more quickly the older I get. Now here we are nearing the end of summer. How did that happen so quickly? Seems like just last week seed was going in the ground and now it is time for harvest. Teams involved in fall sports are practicing and the summer...
On a long car trip comes the question from a child in the back seat, “Are we there yet?” Many of us around here these days look at the calendar, think about spring and ask, “Are we there yet?” We have received so much snow this year. It started early and it is still here. The calendar says it is spring but our streets and yards and fields sure don't look like it. Even the 10-day weather forecast says it isn't Spring yet. I am hoping that forecast is wrong. I want a change in our weather patterns. This is a season of change; a season of transit...
Peace and Grace to you, brothers and sisters in Christ. For those people who work a Monday to Friday job, Wednesday is often called “hump day.” The meaning being that once we get past Wednesday, we’re over the hump and the weekend is almost here. In many of our professional sports, approximately halfway through their seasons they have an all-star break of a few days and play an all-star game before getting back to their regular season schedule. In college basketball, the regular season is over, conference tourneys have been played, and “Marc...
Peace. We use that word quite often. My first encounter with that word came about as I was growing up. This was in the 1960s. We were indeed in turbulent times. The conflict in Vietnam was going strong with no signs of letting up and the number of casualties were growing. It was during this time, and I have no idea exactly when or where it came about, but giving the “peace sign” to others came to be the thing to do. We did this by making what looked like the letter V with our index and middle fingers. As I recall, and admittedly my memory isn...
Greetings dear friends in Christ. I think that for many, if not most, August is not a month where we look both backward and forward. January 1, New Year's Day would seem more appropriate for that kind of thing. With the beginning of a new year, we think of resolutions to make and eventually break. After all, nobody actually keeps a New Year's resolution. Maybe, as individuals we might use a birthday or anniversary as a time of reflection. But August? The end of August? Why would we choose now for that type of thinking? I'm thinking it is a grea...
Do not fear. Fear Not. Do not be afraid. All these commands are found in the bible. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, a young Jewish virgin girl, and announced that she was to become the mother of our Savior. He tells her to not be afraid. It is certainly understandable that when all of a sudden, an archangel from God appears and starts talking to us, who wouldn’t be afraid? Joseph is visited by an angel in a dream and is told that he is not to be afraid to continue his betrothal to Mary even though she is with child. She had not been u...
Follow is an appropriate word for today. For most of the summer it has been an appropriate word for those who have to drive on Highway 281 between Sheyenne and New Rockford. I would imagine that like me, it is getting very tiresome for all of us sitting in our vehicles waiting for that pilot car with the sign on the back that says “Follow Me.” I recall times when I had friends or family visiting when I was living in Minneapolis or Denver and we would be going out to eat or to a ball game or whatever. There were too many of us to go in one car...
August is here. Where did the summer go? It seems like we just celebrated the fourth with picnics and parades and related festivities. Family and school reunions have come and gone with only memories remaining. August is one of the several transition months we have here in North Dakota. Of course, many of the northern tier states and several others in the upper Great Plains experience the changes of the four very different seasons. We start out August with hot and sometimes humid weather. We will end the month thinking about the first frost...
Is spring finally here? It sure looks like it. I walked to work today and didn't have to worry about slipping on the ice. It was a beautiful morning. We had so much ice this year and let's throw in wind as well. Nothing like a strong wind blowing snow over the ice to polish it up nice and shiny and slippery. I had a meeting with a family at the funeral home early this afternoon. Sometime between my walk to the office in the morning and my afternoon drive to New Rockford to the funeral home, it got quite windy, cold and even a drop a two of...
Why? So often this is a question asked by children of their parents. They see something they are not familiar with so it stands to reason that they would ask why. Even everyday occurrences, things that are so common to us we don't even notice them, can be a wonderment to little ones. Sometimes they don't know why there are rules or why they are forbidden to do some things. “Come inside, it's starting to rain,” says mom. Do we have to? Why? “Because you will get wet.” So? We get wet when we take a bath. Why can't we get wet in the rain? “Your c...
If you were to think of a single word, one which would sum up the Lent season, what would it be? Sadness? Worry? Death? Suffering? Jesus? Cross? There are any number of words that come to mind. And most likely, they would all be correct to some extent. Certainly all the ones I just listed would qualify. But the one I've come up with, the one word that to me signifies this season on our church calendar is Forgiveness. It is indeed a difficult concept to truly understand. In other religions of the world, they don't have a God that will forgive a...
