God of Tender Mercies,
As the season of Lent approaches the half-way mark, we reflect on the journey thus far. We have attempted to set aside those occurrences in our lives that separate us from You. We have been aware of our sin and need for forgiveness. We remember again Jesus movement toward Jerusalem and the cross. For some of us this has been a profound spiritual experience, for others a perfunctory exercise. We pray Your grace will abound for us all, O Lord. May we connect with You and commune with You. In the midst of our unworthiness, You are there. We give You thanks and we pray for courage and strength to continue our journey with Jesus. It is in His name we pray. AMEN.
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Kim Price had surgery yesterday in Edmond. Please lift him up in your prayers.
Ryan O’Banion was taken to the emergency room at St. Mary’s on Friday and admitted. He will probably be dismissed today. Please pray for his continued recovery.
Charlie Heller was taken to St. Mary’s hospital. Your will remember he was dismissed from the Oklahoma Heart Hospital on Monday following by-pass surgery. He is in room 487. Please pray for Charlie and his wife, Judi.
We buried Maude Purnell yesterday. It was a nice service and was well attended for a person who had outlived husband, children and many friends. Rest in peace, Maude.
Tonight is CONNECT ALL, a game night in the Fellowship Hall for all the church, all ages. It starts at 6:30 p.m. Bring some chips and a bottle of pop.
Please pray for our services of worship this morning. May they provide the environment where God is experienced.
The scripture for today is Joshua 20:1-19:
Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person without intent or by mistake may flee there; they shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. The slayer shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and explain the case to the elders of that city; then the fugitive shall be taken into the city, and given a place, and shall remain with them. And if the avenger of blood is in pursuit, they shall not give up the slayer, because the neighbor was killed by mistake, there having been no enmity between them before. The slayer shall remain in that city until there is a trial before the congregation, until the death of the one who is high priest at the time: then the slayer may return home, to the town in which the deed was done.’”
So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities designated for all the Israelites, and for the aliens residing among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so as not to die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until there was a trial before the congregation.
The Psalm for this week is Psalm 18:1-19:
I love you, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, so I shall be saved from my enemies.
The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of perdition assailed me;
the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry.
Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
He bowed the heavens, and came down; thick darkness was under his feet.
He rode on a cherub, and flew; he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering around him, his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
Out of the brightness before him there broke through his clouds hailstones and coals of fire.
The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice.
And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
He reached down from on high, he took me; he drew me out of mighty waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
They confronted me in the day of my calamity; but the LORD was my support.
He brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
Grace and peace,
John McLemore
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