SSB Sunday Gathering

SSB Gathering – May 10, 2015

Kathi

Spiritual Sounding Board – This is your place to gather and share in an open format.

 by Kathi

Gorge sunrise

Romans 6: 1-14

What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

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May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you from the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.

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Feel free to join the discussion.
You can share your church struggles and concerns.
Let’s also use it as a time to encourage one another spiritually.
What have you found spiritually encouraging lately?
Do you have any special Bible verses to share, any YouTube songs that you have found uplifting?

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photo credit: Brian Bonham

17 thoughts on “SSB Gathering – May 10, 2015”

  1. Some food for thought today:

    “…Three years ago, I realized my soul was empty, and I had abundant evidence that religion wasn’t filling it up. I felt old and cornered by my failures, a dangerous feeling for a man in his middle forties. My faith speaks of rebirth, but sinking myself back into more books and spiritual disciplines was not going to meet this emptiness. God needed to be somewhere other than a church. Somehow, my mind returned to baseball; to the memories of the past, and to the lost days I would have spent playing ball if my father hadn’t been depressed and afraid.”

    Click here to read more: http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/56418

    Liked by 1 person

  2. A Litany for Women Who Suffer on Mother’s Day: https://goo.gl/oUPszz

    Thinking of all the precious women that comment here. Happy Mother’s Day! Thank-You to all the spiritual mothers here who have never given birth, you have mothered my soul with your words of wisdom.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Gail – Like you, IM was the first blog that I found where I felt like someone understood what I was thinking and experiencing. I appreciated Michael Spencer’s writings so much. I’m thankful that they’re bringing him back each Sunday for us to reread and remember.

    Thanks for sharing that joelfrederick!

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Mother’s Day has become one of those days that is a bit “conflicting” to me. I have a wonderful and supportive mother. She let me go thousands of miles away to college, knowing that I most likely would never “return home.” We have a great relationship even though we don’t agree on everything. She respects me and I respect her.

    I have children. I had no problem conceiving children. However, on Sunday mornings at church, I never enjoyed being “honored” by standing up during service to be acknowledged as a mother. It’s not my style to enjoy that as I would much prefer to be hiding in the background.

    That being said, I have heard stories from friends who are childless because their bodies just won’t work the way it’s supposed to in order to conceive. They have talked about how difficult it is to attend church on Mother’s Day, hearing the acknowledgments and the pain of feeling “less than” because they will never know the joy of bearing children.

    I have heard stories from people who have had abusive mothers and Mother’s Day is not a day of celebrating someone who is supportive and loving. It is often a day to remember pain and suffering.

    I have friends who have lost mothers dear to them and Mother’s Day is a difficult reminder of that loss.

    So, Mother’s Day has turned into a conflict of thankfulness and joy among weeping with those who weep and mourning with those who mourn. Today, for those of you here, I am thankful along with those who are able to experience joy, yet feel the pain of those who are finding today to be difficult.

    Grace and peace to all of you on this day.

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  7. Happy Mother’s Day to the moms! Prayers for those who have difficulty on this day. It’s not always an easy day.

    Thanks, Kathi, for doing this post!

    I’m just about to head out to the Oregon coast with my college student kiddos. I can’t wait. It’s been a while since we’ve gone to see God’s beautiful creation in the Pacific NW.

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  9. So we went to church today, which was quite good until the sermon which was a perfect example of the difference between a fear based relationship with God and a love based relationship with God.

    Now I’m depressed, which ought to give you a clue as to which place the guy who gave the sermon was coming from. 😦

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  11. In honor of the “Mothers” (biological/emotional/spiritual that we’ve had)
    “Grandma’s Hands” by Bill Withers

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  12. Barnabasintraining,
    I can so relate to walking out of church totally depressed.
    It’s been happening to me for months now. It seems like the closer I grow to the Lord, the more alienated I feel from Christianity.
    I am so weary of hearing about the evils of homosexuality and how our country is going to hell in a handbasket and the wife’s role and the husband’s role, etc., etc. And don’t even get me started on the worship music.
    Sorry, I don’t mean to rant. But there is something wrong when Sunday afternoon is spent trying to purge the Sunday morning message from my brain.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. This was my first Mother’s Day without my mom and I had a few moments but, although moms were acknowledged, it was with a round of applause without anyone being embarrassed with standing up.

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  17. It seems like the closer I grow to the Lord, the more alienated I feel from Christianity.

    You are far from alone, Lise.

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