2012.04.16 Monday Morning Message

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma.

Holy Week, the most significant week of the Christian calendar, is a drama that portrays life in three acts.

Jesus endured the stress of his arrest and trial, and then was hoisted to a cross to hang in excruciating  pain.  To be sure he was dead, soldiers, with a spear, pierced his side.  Then he was laid in a borrowed tomb, sealed by a large boulder.

The world of his disciples, and those earliest followers of Jesus, collapsed.  When the women went to the tomb on Easter morning to annoint his dead body they found the tomb was empty.  They discovered that Jesus was alive, their Lord and Master was free.

When the disciples got this report, they dismissed it as an idle tale.  But after the report of the women was confirmed, they came alive again!  Jesus was risen from the dead.  Jesus was free!  With that good news, the spirit of the disciples was restored.

How often are you really down?  When everything seems to go wrong, when you are disappointed, when you are in the pits,  Jesus comes with a helpful word or a kind act and you are inspired again.

Let Easter be your year round experience.  Through us, Jesus wants to work to help people, to free people, to cheer the lonely and to heal the afflicted, and to guide the lost.

God needs each of us and we can be joined in a partnership with God, through the living Christ.  Let's not run away from the important part we have in God's plan.

With blessings and fond regards,

Richard

******************

Bingo at Burroughs Manor Sat. April 21 - 2:00 - 3:00

Helpers are needed

The Reverend Craig Gibson will be in the pulpit this Sunday April 22

(we refer to him as the one who brings his kids)

Please plan to attend.

Attendance April 1 -- 31

April 8 (Easter) -- 79

April 15 -- 32

　

2012.03.19 Monday Morning Message

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma.

Today, I want to share with you an old Chinese story about a woman whose only son died.  In her grief, she went to a holy man and said:

"What prayers do you have for me?  I am filled with resentment.  I cannot accept this bereavement."

Instead of sending her away with pious words, or trying to reason with her, he gave her something to do.  He said:

"Fetch me a mustard seed from a house that has never known sorrow.  We will use it to drive the sorrow out of your life."

The woman set off at once in search of that magical mustard seed. She came first to a mansion, knocked at the door and said:

"I am looking for a home that has never known sorrow.  Is this such a place?  It is very important to me."

They told her, 

"You've certainly come to the wrong place..."

and they began to describe all the tragic things that had befallen them.

The woman said to herself, 

"Who is better to help these unfortunate people than I?"

She stayed to comfort them, then she went on her search for a home that had never known sorrow.  But wherever she turned, she found one tale after another of sadness and misfortune.

Ultimately, she became so involved in ministering to other people's grief that she forgot about the quest for the magical mustard seed, never realizing that it had in fact eased the sorrow of her life.

What do you make of this ancient story?

For me, Rabbi Marc Gafni in his book Soul Prints (which I highly recommend) is on target when he wrote:

"When we pursue happiness, it always runs away from us.  Instead, we must pursue goals other than happiness, and as a natural by product of that pursuit we will be happy."

Joy, Serenity are available when we actively seek something else - they are not the primary goals.

With blessings and in friendship.
Richard  

Jeff Francis will be in the pulpit on Sunday March 25.

2012.01.09 Monday Morning Message

Message from the archives of Richard Evans:

Top of the morning and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma.

My sole message today may be summed up in four words: "DON'T DESPISE SMALL THINGS!" To be faithful in little things is a great qualification for great things!

Perhaps the greatest fault of our age is that we are in too big a hurry to pay attention to small things which might improve our life.

What are some of those small things?

1. convey congratulations to friends (especially young people) when some success or happiness comes to them.
2. extend a word of appreciation for the work of someone you know.
3. extend sympathy. Comfort comes when one knows that others are sharing their sorrow.
   

Perhaps being diligent in doing small things prompted Emerson's fable, "The Mountain and the Squirrel."

"The mountain and the squirrel had a quarrel. And the former called the latter 'Little Prig'; Bun replied, 'You are doubtless very big; but all sorts of things and weather must be taken in together, to make up a year and a sphere. And I think it no disgrace to occupy my place. If I'm not so large as you, you are not so small as I, and not half so spry. I'll not deny you make a very pretty squirrel track; talents differ; all is well and wisely put; if I cannot carry forests on my back, neither can you crack a nut.'"

"Talents differ!" Thank goodness we're not all alike!

Peace,
Richard

2011.11.07 Monday Morning

Top of the morning and all good wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma.  

Pilgrim Church is one of the oldest Presbyterian churches in the area, celebrating its 129th birthday on the Sunday nearest All Saints Day, which this year falls on Tuesday, November 1.  Thankful for its past, Pilgrim Church continues a faithful mission and outreach ministry.  Congratulations 'Pilgrims'.

Having received a wonderful heritage, my prayer for Pilgrim Church in the present and future is "to think outside the box", and set before you A VISION  of what God wants you to be.

The importance of having a vision comes from my dear Mother.  In her declining years, she went blind.  At first she was frustrated, angry, and reluctant to admit her limitations.  Strong and capable all of her life, her blindness forced her to seek help from family and friends.

She was a remarkable lady.  She did not engage in self-pity, but soon took charge of her life and began to turn her handicap into a blessing.  She had been an executive secretary at the J. I. Case Co., in Racine, Wisconsin.  Still able to type, she wrote countless letters of support and encouragement to people, encouraging them to develop new ways to be useful.  All of us have handicaps; some are just more visible than other.

Stevie Wonder once said, "Just because a person lacks the use of eyes doesn't mean a lack of vision."

"Be Thou my vision,

  O Lord of my heart...

        Though my best thought

By day or by night,

 Walking or sleeping,

     Thy presence my light"

With blessings and in friendship,

Richard

2011.9.26 Monday Morning!

Top of the morning from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma.

Today, I want to share a story about God's embracing grace and my young college friend, Bill.

Bill and two good friends from his dorm pooled their resources so they could tour Europe "on the cheap." They traveled light, slept in youth hostels, and enjoyed the unique characteristics of every country and village they passed through.

The amazing part of Bill's story didn't happen during a visit to the cathedral; it happened in a pub in Ireland. The thee young travelers were enjoying a meal in a quaint Irish pub when they heard a loud groan. At a nearby table a man struggled to heave himself out of his chair. They saw immediately he had only one leg. He reached for his crutch, but lost his balance and began to fall. Instantly his companion at the table jumped up and caught him.

The man with one leg muttered, "Thanks! I'm as crippled as a blind man."

His friend steadied him while replying, "Well now...come to think of it, who of us here isn't crippled?" A hush fell over the pub as the friend continued, "to lend each other a hand when we're falling is maybe the one kind of work that really matters in the end."


With love, peace and affectionate regards,

Richard

2011.9.12 Monday Morning!

Top of the morning from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma.

After Jesus, perhaps the best known New Testament character is Peter.  We think of him as a gregarious, outgoing man of action.  He was out in front of the other disciples who accepted him as a leader. Yet, like all of us, Peter had his weaknesses.

The low point in his life came the night of Jesus' arrest when he denied knowing his Master.  We might have done the same thing in similar circumstances.  The instinct to survive is strong.   There is no telling how a person will react in a critical situation.

Peter was only one among many Bible heroes to default.  Moses became a fugitive on the run after he murdered an Egyptian and then fled the country.  David was an adulterer and also an accessory to murder.  The Apostle Paul, before his conversion, presided over a lynch mob.

We live in an imperfect world and no one is an angel.  We live battered lives and we are often sorry for things we do and say, and, like Peter, Moses, David and Paul, we are given a second chance - all by the grace of God.

With blessings and in friendship,
Richard