2012.05.21 Monday Morning Message

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

Founded in 1871, Vinita is the intersection of several railways. It is the second oldest town in Oklahoma, and is the oldest incorporated town along historic Route 66. If you are visiting on a Sunday morning, please worship with us at 10:00 a.m. If you can't be with us in person, say a little prayer for our worshipping congregation.

Do you ever feel lonely? I was stunned to read a report of an AARP survey which states that 35% of adults over the age of 45 are chronically lonely, up from 20% a decade earlier.

Sixty million Americans are unhappy with their lives because of loneliness!

I am sure that there are many reasons for people feeling lonely. Could the modern social media be one? Facebook and Twitter, exchanging 'clicks', avoids human face to face conversation. Some studies report that one in four Americans have 'zero close friends'.

Why do you think there is so much loneliness in our society? Let me know.

Are you conscious of the presence of God in your daily life?

With all good wishes,
Richard

Announcements:

• Our minister for Pentecost Sunday, May 27 will be Craig Kilgour. He is the minister from New Zealand.
• The next Sunday, June 3 we will have a family meal and welcome Ken Bailey and his wife Jeannie. Ken is the brother of Bow Bailey and they live in Kentucky.
• Red Morris will be barbecuing pulled pork and the congregation is asked to bring salads and desserts. The rest of the meal is provided.

2012.04.23 Monday Morning Message

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

A young cynic was depressed by the evil and suffering in the world.  He complained, "Why did God make a world like this?  I could make a better world than this."

His wise teacher answered, "That's exactly the reason God put you into the world...to make a better world.  Now, go and do your part."

The Christian gospel is about changed lives, renewed faith.  Though dependent upon God, God gave us the gift of free will, and God depends on us to choose wisely.  God cannot make a peaceful nation and world unless we root out hatred from our hearts.  God cannot build healthy families unless we work with God to bring sharing love and mutual respect to our relationships.  God needs each one of us.

Now, go and do your part!

With blessings and in friendship,

Richard

Our minister this Sunday, April 29 will be the Reverend Jo Wright from St. John's Episcopal, Vinita.

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

　

2012.02.27 Monday Morning Message

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

The New York Giants took home the "Lombardi Trophy" after winning the Super Bowl.  It is a coveted trophy named after Vince Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers years ago.  Coach Lombardi is a sort of a legend in my home state of Wisconsin.

Lombardi loved the game of football.  Even before he made a name for himself in football, he was offered lucrative jobs in firms not connected with the game, but he chose to stay with football.

He had a way of working with players!  He sought the best from his players, calling for personal
discipline, stressing the need of practice, practice, practice.

He was a great coach, but above all he was a man of God.  A Roman Catholic, he attended church daily.  He had his priorities right!  God was number one; obedience to God meant everything to him.  He preached to his players, God, family and the Green Bay Packers in that order.

When we think of the game of football, we can find many similarities to life.  Some teams are
content to rest on past performances, satisfied with the status quo.  Some teams allow set backs to break their spirit soon arguing with team mates and criticizing the play of others.  Some players expect more reward, more praise.

Football carries with it parallels to life.  Life is such that we shall always make "wrong plays".   When Lombardi reviewed "wrong plays" with his team, he worked hard to correct them, and to 
encourage his players to move ahead, facing new challenges without the baggage of past mistakes.

God does not stop loving us every time we do something wrong.  Neither should we stop loving ourselves and each other for being less than perfect.

Best Wishes, Cheers,
Richard

2011.10.10 Monday Morning!

Greetings and all good wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma.

Do you remember the film " Bridge On the River Kwai?" The film was based on a book by Ernest Gordon, a Scot and an officer in the British Army during World War II. He was captured early in the war and spent the remainder of the war in a prison camp in Southeast Asia. After the war, he immigrated to the United States and became a chaplain at Princeton University.

In his book, Gordon wrote that he had no religious faith at all when he was captured, but he came away from that prison camp convinced he had been touched by God and he was called to spend the rest of his life serving others. He wrote: "In the muck and misery of that dreadful prison camp, I learned to care for others and that God cared for me. I discovered I was important to others. God found me in the most unexpected place."

Life is filled with strange interruptions - unexpected moments that change our lives forever. At the time such interruptions are often unwelcome and resented. At other times, they are signs of hope. In retrospect, they often seem as if they were destined.

When you may have unexpected interruptions, evaluate them for they may change the whole landscape of your life.

With blessings and best wishes,
Richard

www.pilgrimpresbyterian.blogspot.com/

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

2011.7.4 Monday Morning!

Greetings to you and your loved ones on this 4th of July.  Let your celebration be joyful and safe.  And, thanks for visiting our "off site - on line" ... center ... of our Church Family, Pilgrim Presbyterian, in Vinita, Oklahoma.

My heart aches at every war casualty reported in your daily press.  I know the grief families are experiencing, and my prayer for each sorrowing person and family is not to lose hope and give up.  No power on earth can take from you the love you have experienced.  Difficult as it is, ask yourself what life is still expecting from you.  With an aim, with goals, you'll find reasons to carry on.

I have found that in the most difficult moments of my life a look to the future gives me courage and hope.  New challenges, new opportunities give me reasons to live in spite of my sorrows and sufferings.

There is purpose to our existence.  If you nuture your inner life you'll find the light of Christ will shine into your deepest darkness.

With love and in friendship,

Richard

2011.4.25 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, Vinita, Oklahoma.  I hope you had a blessed Easter at worship and with family and friends.
 
I've a story today about a 13 year old Timothy.  He saved his pennies, nickels and dimes to buy a big red kite which he had spotted in a neighborhood store.
 
The happiest boy in the world, Timothy went to a playing field where he let out a little string at a time until you couldn't see the kite anymore.
 
A jogger saw Timothy running, holding string, and asked "What are you doing?
Timothy replied,  "Flying my kite."  The jogger thought the kid was pulling his leg and laughed,  saying, "I don't see any kite.  How do you know there's a kite up there?"
 
And Timothy answered,  "I can feel the tug!"
 
That simple story has a profound meaning.  Isn't it the message of Easter faith?  We can't see the Risen Christ, we can't prove the Resurrection of our Lord.  But, as a Christian, don't you feel the irresistible tug of Christ on your life?
 
I feel the tug of Christ at work through you and other friends and family members who have given me comfort and encouragement since the death of Helen, my beloved wife of more than 60 years.
 
Thank you for your support.  Don't ever lose the Tug of Christ on your life.
 
With blessings and in friendship,
Richard
 
P. S.  We had 104 in attendance at church yesterday.  What a blessing!
 
  www.pilgrimpresbyterian.blogspot.com/
 

2010.12.13 Monday Morning!

Best wishes for a MERRY CHRISTMAS from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma.

 

Christmas is a time for lights.  Beautiful lights are shining in every city and village.  Lights are an important part of Christmas, symbols of the Christmas story:

    The true light that enlightens every person has come

     into the world in the birth of Jesus.  In him was life,

     and the life was light for all people.  His light shines

     in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

                                            (Will you read John 1:1-18, please?)

 

The mood of despair, however, is familiar in our dark patches.  Immense problems face our nation and the world;  war, an economic recession, unemployment, hunger, home foreclosures, terrorism.

 

And, there are personal difficulties:  problems within families and among friends, jobs that no longer give satisfaction, loss of health, unexpected death of a loved one.

 

I understand how people may feel abandoned by God.  Sometimes I ask myself "Is there really a God who cares?"

 

Then the light of Christmas comes with the assurance that in smooth and rough places "God is with us".  None of us is alone.  Confident of that helps disperse times of darkness.  I haven't  answers to the many questions that bother me, but of this I am sure; God is with me and helps me carry on with courage and strength.

 

My thoughts and prayers are with friends for whom 2010 has been a shattering year.

 

Richard.

2010.10.18 Monday Morning!

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

After 128 years of mission and outreach, "Pilgrims from Vinita" continue to share Christ's good news with people 'round the corner and 'round the world.

Do you read your Bible every day? If you do, and I hope you do, you'll know that it is not always a peaceful book filled with serenity, green pastures and love. It also reflects human pain, injustice, conflict and disappointment.

One reason for such human misery is envy. No one is completely free from envy. A good antidote to envy is to ask how happy is the person who possesses the object of your envy.

Draw up a list of your blessings, blessings which you often overlook, and then imagine one of them being threatened. I suspect you'll then realize how rich you truly are!

Focus on what is yours, and then live...live to the hilt.


With blessings and all good wishes,
Richard

2010.09.27 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma. Today, my Monday Morning message begins with a question: Are your beliefs reflected in your behavior?

About 90% of Americans say they believe in God, according to a recent survey. In the same survey, the majority said that their religious beliefs had little or no impact on their daily conduct.

For too many, religion, while it remains respectable, has become almost totally irrelevant.

We are split personalities! We swear allegiance to one set of principles and live by another. When an abyss widens between values we praise and values which operate in our life, we are on a slippery slope.

Peace, and may the wind always be at your back!


Richard

2010.04.19 Monday Morning!

Top of the morning from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma. Come visit us if you are in the area. Our Sunday service begins at 10 a.m.

From the four pen-sketches in the Bible (Genesis 2 - 11:9) we learn that human beings rebel against the sovereignty of God and want to do things "our own way".  It reminds me of the song, "I'll do it my way!"

False pride, in contrast to legitimate pride, is our downfall!

Am I right or wrong in my diagnosis of our human situation?  That is something for you to make up your own mind.  Clearly, however, the Bible teaches that we'll not have purpose or meaning in life unless we accept the authority of God.

It is not always easy to accept that when we make moral and ethical decisions.  Perhaps you'll find those decisions easier to make if you ask yourself, "Could I tell my parents, or my son or daughter, about my choice?"  If you know that your decision will likely need a cover-up if discovered, you probably need to review your decision.

Cheers,

Richard


PS: Have you been listing your favorite Bible verses as a part of our "to know" the Bible program?  Topping my list are: Micah 6:6-8 and Luke 10:27-28.  For me, they are the high water marks of all religions.   R.

2009.10.19 Monday Morning!

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

A good friend, the Rev. W. LeRoy Beckes, is pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Bradford, Pennsylvania. The monthly newsletter from that Church is always interesting and informative. Among his many gifts, Lee Beckes is a poet and a man of prayer. His "Labor Day Prayer" is excellent for all seasons, and I share it with you today.

Labor Day...a prayer

Lord Jesus, one day you shook the sawdust from your hair and left to take up other work. Did the blind man feel the callouses when you touched his eyelids? Did Simon Peter, slipping beneath the waves, feel the strength of your arms as you pulled him to safety? You knew splinters and sweat, you have felt the weight of heavy beam. Be with those whose labor and worth is measured in pieces and pounds; who must wrestle with fire and storm; who cross lonely miles while other sleep; who clean and carry what we leave behind; whose work goes unnoticed unless undone; who tend to those so often forgotten. May we find ourselves at your side, working for a world where wages are fair and all labor is respected. Then, when our work is done, may we hear you say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your Master's joy."


Genuine friendships are to be cherished!


Best wishes and in friendship,
Richard

2009.03.30 Monday Morning!

Top of the morning and all good wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church - still located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma! For more than 126 years this congregation has served Christ throughout this area with an "Easter faith" - an all year 'round faith.

Behind this service and good effort lies the power of prayer!

Many people stop praying because they don't have time in their busy lives. Others give up on prayer convinced it does not work. Like anyting else of value, prayer requires intentional practice.

As you practice prayer daily, remember that God will never do anything you can do for yourself. Prayer is not simply unloading our tasks on God. Prayer is the means by which God enables us to do them for ourselves.

Prayer may not change circumstances, but it does change us so we may confront circumstances with new strength and a new ability to cope with them.

Prayer is a powerful means to change our lives. Set aside a time each day to practice it!

Go for it!


Richard

2008.05.05 Monday Morning!

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

My MONDAY MORNING message begins with a question:

Are your beliefs reflected in your behavior?

About 90% of the American people say they believe in God, according to a recent survey. In the same survey, the majority said that their religious beliefs had no impact on their daily conduct!

For too many, religion - while it remains respectable - has become almost totally irrelevant.

We are split personalities! We swear allegiance to one set of principles and live by another. When an abyss widens between values we praise the values which operate in our life, we're in a slippery slope.

Top of the morning, each day - and may the wind always be at your back.


Richard