Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts

Love


Lyrics By: Tom Loewen
Music By: Derek Elliotson, Leah Duerksen, Chris Kenny
Performed By: Leah Duerksen

Love It’s a many splendored thing Love is king It is patient and kind Leaving no one behind Love is the cure Perfect and pure It always endures Even through pain Love remains and sustains Love acts with urgency In an emergency Love is currency Though you can’t sell it or buy it Love whispers in the quiet And shouts from a mountain Love is the fountain of youth Love is truth So unchanging, it’s prehistoric But always new, love is euphoric Love is the food that nourishes And when it is fed, it flourishes Love is fragile But it can be agile Adapted for every circumstance Because love knows how to dance And when life makes demands Love abandons its plans Makes time for early mornings and last minutes Because love has no limits No conditions Love is our mission Life’s greatest ambition It believes in parity But love is more than charity When loves sees a need It’s the first on the scene Like vaccine Offering healing and help Because love lives beyond itself Love And it’s true, what they say: If you want love You’ve got to give it away

Hope

Lyrics By: Tom Loewen
Music By: Derek Elliotson, Leah Duerksen, Chris Kenny
Performed By: Leah Duerksen

Hope It is more than wishful thinking See: our world is like ship, but it’s sinking The good in us is shrinking Sliding, swirling, skidding Out of control But there is an anchor for the soul Hope sees the world as it should be As it could be Knows nothing is impossible When the power of the gospel Capsizes us Right-sizes us Hope believes that what is right Matters more than what is right now Hope is how We know good will triumph in the end That brighter days are just around the bend And, even when we don’t comprehend Hope is what helps us transcend It seeks to move us Flow through us To improve us Hope gives us eyes to see It is our guarantee Not a pipe dream And hope swims upstream Against the current of despair In our brokenness, it is repair In our darkness, it is glowing Silently knowing That the end will be better That every red letter Spoken will come true When the world is made new There will be no sorrow or strife Because hope looks at life From a different vantage point And hope does not disappoint If we want to reverse this downward slope What we need is hope

Faith


Lyrics By: Tom Loewen
Music By: Derek Elliotson, Leah Duerksen, Chris Kenny
Performed By: Leah Duerksen

Faith It may seem like a lack of common sense Given the lack of evidence But faith gives strength in the present tense Because faith has confidence In the supernatural Some say faith isn’t factual That it’s all superstition That it’s mindless But faith is vision Not blindness And though faith doesn’t need to see it to believe it It’s more than a feeling It’s a belief that there’s someone on the other side of the ceiling Revealing That God is there Listening to every prayer Faith gives us strength in our grief It is belief, put into action It is a holy passion The soul’s reaction To the Spirit’s revelation A divine orientation Faith doesn’t have all the answers Isn’t a cure for cancer Doesn’t believe in chance Doesn’t depend on our circumstance Faith doesn’t mean there’s never any doubt Faith doesn’t have it all worked out But faith can break through our hardness And when you take a leap in the darkness It’s the light that flashes Faith lifts us from the ashes And when a soul repents Faith is our defense No matter what you come against Faith brings victory Faith is a mystery Like the tiniest seeds Becoming the mightiest trees Faith is our root system Digging deep into ancient wisdom Faith is the fuel for the engine A whole new dimension Of inspiration It is an invitation To life with no safety net But faith is the prerequisite Without works, faith is dead But when you live it, it spreads

Believe

Christmas is a season for childlike faith and innocence, when we are invited to believe that anything is possible.

As we grow up, though, the stories so cherished in childhood simply become harder to believe. Most of us grow skeptical about life, including the story of Christmas.
Yet, two thousand years ago, God invited two very different people to believe in Him for the impossible and what happened next changed their lives forever.

What would it take for us to experience the miracle of Christmas in our time and in our lives? What would happen if we could, once again, just Believe?

Resurrection Eggs

What you will need is an empty egg carton, 12 empty plastic eggs, miscellaneous items to fill the eggs (see the list below), a sharpie to write the numbers on the eggs, and the printed verses which you will see below.

Looking around the house, I seemed to find everything that I needed to fill the eggs.

I cut out the scriptures, folded them up, and placed each item from the corresponding day in the numbered egg.  The last day there is nothing in the egg because the tomb was empty!  I placed the scripture of that one underneath the egg in the carton.  Just print out this list below and cut out.  Easy!


Egg #1--Bread.

Matthew 26:26
As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”

*You can use a crouton, small piece of bread or a cracker


Egg #2--Coins.

Matthew 26:14-15
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver.

*I used 3 dimes


Egg #3--Scourge

Mark 15:15
Pilate wanted to please the crowd. So he set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip

*a small piece of rope or string

Egg #4--Purple cloth

Mark 15:17
They dressed him in a purple robe...

Egg #5--Thorns


Matthew 27:29
They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!”

*I got mine from our rose bush, but in the picture it shows one made of pipe cleaner


Egg #6--Cross

John 19: 17-18a
Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).  There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

*I used an old wooden cross from a necklace


Egg #7--Nails

Mark 15:23, 24a
They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it. Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross.


Egg #8--Dice

John 19:23-24
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.”


Egg #9--Sponge

Matthew 27:48
One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink.


Egg #10--Spear/Sword

John 19:33-34
When they got to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn't break his legs. One of the soldiers stabbed him in the side with his spear. Blood and water gushed out.

*I used a cocktail sword


Egg #11--Rock

Matthew 27:59-60
Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left.


Egg #12--Empty

Matthew 28:6
He isn't here! God has raised him to life, just as Jesus said he would. Come, see the place where his body was lying.

Something to think about on Good Friday

Watch the Lamb


The Hammer


Feel the Nails

Stitched Together ♥ with love (continued at home)

"Upcycling" ~ for "stitched together ♥ with love"

"Stitched Together ♥ with love" was one of the interest groups at Cornerstone's Breakaway - a ladies group that met Thursday mornings between 9:15-11:00 am from February 10 and until April 7 (we did not meeting March 17th-March break) at Cornerstone Church. During that time we were able to complete 3 rag blankets using donated denim and flannel to be distributed by AIDS Niagara.



We enjoyed ourselves so much that we thought we'd continue meeting on Thursdays to work on more quilts. Unfortunately, I won't be able to continue meeting on Thursday mornings, but I thought I'd try to continue on at home. So here goes...

The 6-inch square patches for the quilt top are cut from previously worn clothing or previously used bedding. There's some variety in the types/textures of fabric (the flowered pieces came from 2 flannel pillow cases, the plaid was a flannel shirt, the orange was a corduroy shirt, the outside layer of green was corduroy pants, the blue was a denim dress and the inside layer of green was a canvas skirt). **Note to self: take pictures of the clothing/items used BEFORE cutting them into squares.** The back of the quilt is from a "new-to-me" flat sheet that will be cut up. The final size of this quilt will be approximately 75"x65".

This is the quilt top for a rag blanket I will be making. I'm liking the way the top looks.
I can't wait to finish cutting the bottom so I can see what it'll look like when it's all done.

This is a close up of the fabric I will be using for the backing on this quilt.

Stitched Together ♥ with love (Quilt # 3)

Take a break away with us! Breakaway is a ladies group that meets Thursday mornings between 9:15-11:00 am from February 10 and until April 7 (we did not meeting March 17th-March break) at Cornerstone Church. There are many different activities to choose from. This year I chose to participate in a group called "Stitched Together ♥ with love" and we're making rag blankets using donated denim and flannel to be distributed by AIDS Niagara. Here are some of the pics for Quilt # 3. You can also check out Quilt # 1 and Quilt # 2 on my blog.

The top is laid out.
The bottom is laid out.




Sewing is well under way
Getting ready to sew.
Sewing and snipping the last seams under the watchful eye
of our co-ordinator, Diane.

Stitched Together ♥ with love (Quilt # 2)

Take a break away with us! Breakaway is a ladies group that meets Thursday mornings between 9:15-11:00 am from February 10 and until April 7 (we did not meeting March 17th-March break) at Cornerstone Church. There are many different activities to choose from. This year I chose to participate in a group called "Stitched Together ♥ with love" and we're making rag blankets using donated denim and flannel to be distributed by AIDS Niagara. Here are some of the pics for Quilt # 2. You can also check out Quilt # 1 and Quilt # 3 on my blog.


The bottom is laid out.
The top is laid out.

sewing...
pinning...
snipping...

and then it's all done and we're ready to move on to the next project :)

Stitched Together ♥ with love (Quilt # 1)

Take a break away with us! Breakaway is a ladies group that meets Thursday mornings between 9:15-11:00 am from February 10 and until April 7 (we did not meeting March 17th-March break) at Cornerstone Church. There are many different activities to choose from. This year I chose to participate in a group called "Stitched Together ♥ with love" and we're making rag blankets using donated denim and flannel to be distributed by AIDS Niagara. Here are some of the pics for Quilt # 1. You can also check out Quilt # 2 and Quilt # 3 on my blog.

Laying out the top.
Laying out the top.



The top is all laid out.
The bottom is all laid out.


Getting started on the sewing, pinning
and snipping for the first quilt.
We're getting this one ready for a boy
whose life has been touched by AIDS.
Isolde is pinning on the last rows as
Rachel frantically sewing so that
we can display the quilt to the
whole group of ladies.





And lots and lots of sewing!
I think the other end of the
quilt is still coming out of
Rachel's machine while
Isolde is already sewing!!

kidsway projects

This year our KidsWay Program is doing a couple of projects. Right now we are collecting groceries which we will donate to Community Care in St. Catharines. So far we have brought in quite a bit and every little bit helps.

Our next project will be to raise money to buy animals for families sponsored by World Vision. We are trying to raise enough for hens & roosters and/or goats. Lets see how much we can raise.

For anyone else interested in this kind of opportunity, here is a link to World Vision's website. https://catalogue.worldvision.ca/Gifts/Forms/Category.aspx?name=animals

a lesson in sincerity

So, some of you may know that I am a Sunday School teacher at my church. Last Sunday (Feb. 4) our lesson was on sincerity. Our verse was:
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." James 1:22
Well, when we got to the gym, there was a surprise for the students. Someone had arranged for a viewing of several different tropical birds (like parrots) who can mimic sounds and imitate voices. It was very interesting to see the birds and I'm sure it's a lesson that will be remembered by the children. I thought I'd share some of the photos I took.