West Texas Missioner: March 2016

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Invitation to Prayer from Faces of Children ... TODAY

Dear intercessors,

Since my last email, the world was rocked once again by terror attacks. Stories about Belgium and the victims of the bombings have dominated headlines the last week, and I'm sure all of our hearts and thoughts and prayers are with the people of Belgium.

But let them also be with the people of Lahore, Pakistan; with the people of the Ivory Coast; with the people of Istanbul and the people of Ankara, Turkey. Each of these places has been rocked by terrorist attacks in the last few weeks. Let's join together and pray for the children of Belgium and Pakistan and Ivory Coast and Turkey -- and really all the children of the world who were affected by these evil attacks.

For children who live in a city recently rocked by attacks, simple thing like going to school or playing at a park may no longer feel safe. Please pray for all children's fears to be calmed and for their teachers, parents, and other supportive adults to have wisdom and insight into how to best help them process the terror attacks that struck their city.

Please pray for migrants and refugees like this little boy in the Idomeni refugee camp on the border of Greece and Macedonia. Many refugees understand that attacks like the one in Brussels make their case for entry into Europe a harder one to make. Please pray that wise decisions can be made to resolve the migrant crisis that will protect innocent people regardless of their nationality and religion.

Children who were out for breakfast in a café (Istanbul), playing on the beach (Ivory Coast), getting ready to board a plane (Brussels), and simply going about daily life suddenly found themselves in the midst of a war zone. Please pray for those who were injured and for those who saw people maimed, dying, and hurt. Pray for those who lost family members. In the months to come, please pray that the children who lived through these terrifying experiences will find deep healing.

In Easter Sunday attacks in Pakistan, a Taliban faction claimed responsibility and said they were intentionally targeting Christians celebrating Easter in the park. Witnesses in the Ivory Coast attacks claim that attackers intentionally singled out Christians, including small children. Growing up vulnerable and in fear because of one's ethnicity, religion, or nationality is not God's heart for any child. Please pray for all children to know God's peace and protection.

Blessings,

Carrie

Carrie J. McKean
Faces of Children Director
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas
(432) 684-7821 x153

If you have prayer requests about children, those who care for them, those who have authority over them, or those who harm them (the really hard prayers to say sometimes), please send them to info@facesofchildren.net

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Invitation to Prayer from Faces of Children ... TOMORROW

Monday, March 28, 2016

From ChinaAid: "Yunnan house churches participate in rule of law training"

The China Aid Association is a non-profit Christian organization - based in Midland, Texas - with a mission to uncover and reveal the truth about religious persecution in China, focusing especially on the unofficial church. They do this, they explain in their website, by exposing the abuses, encouraging the abused and equipping the saints to advance the kingdom of God throughout China.

China Aid Photo

Yunnan house churches participate in rule of law training
Distributed by ChinaAid, February, 2016 ...

YUNNAN, CHINA – Approximately 200 Christians from two churches in China’s southwestern Yunnan province participated in a rule of law training in order to understand how to defend themselves against wrongful persecution in late January and early February ...

• more on this story from China Aid

Invitation to Prayer from Faces of Children ... WEDNESDAY

Sunday, March 27, 2016

From @austinseminary ... Poems, Prayers & Meditations for Holy Week: Easter

Written by professors, graduates, and others in the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary community, these reflections, prayers, and spiritual practices will take you along the journey with Jesus through the cross toward resurrection.

Easter
Sunday, March 27, 2016

“Too Many Alleluias”

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• Romans 8:38-39

Often during Easter Sunday worship, I invite the children of the church to count the number of “Alleluias.” Easter worship resounds with Alleluias, so the task can be daunting. From my seat on the chancel, I can see children furiously counting on their fingers, resorting to their parents’ fingers, and finally adding tick-marks on their bulletins to keep up with the number of Alleluias coming their way in prayer and song. After worship one year, a young boy came to me with wide eyes and said, “Pastor Sarah, I’ll never be able to do it— God gives us too many Alleluias to count.”

I think of this child’s wisdom as I prepare for Easter’s song of unending Alleluias. These Alleluias, these songs of praise, come out of the stories of Lent, of Christ’s life, death, and finally his resurrection. These Alleluias aren’t empty; they are sung and spoken as those who know the despair of Holy Week, the sting of betrayal, the cruelty of denial, the finality of seeing a loved one die. We know this despair, in the life of Jesus, and in our own lives. Easter morning begins in quiet darkness with an empty tomb and scared disciples, but it ends with shouts of “I have seen the Lord!” and “Go and tell the others that he is risen just as he said.” These are hard-won Alleluias. Our songs of praise come out of lived faith, of fear and doubt that’s transformed by Christ calling our name and sending us out to tell others of his love. Perhaps that’s why we sing these Alleluias with such fanfare at Easter. God gives us mercy, hope, forgiveness, and new life in the face of darkness and despair, and our only response, unending Alleluias. Alleluia becomes our word, our prayer, our song. What else could it be? As we sing all the Alleluias God gives us, The unspoken words may be these …

I walk now in sorrow but I know
you walk beside me, Alleluia!

Even in our darkest night, God
promises that darkness will never
overcome the light, Alleluia!

God’s love is fiercer than death,
Alleluia!

Our lives are made new in the new life of Christ,
Alleluia!

God’s claim on us as children of God is eternal,

Alleluia! There is nothing, neither death nor life, that could ever separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ,
Alleluia!

God gives us “too many Alleluias to count” on Easter Sunday as we meet the risen Lord, and then God sends us out to share these Alleluias with a world that needs to know of God’s promised hope, nearness, and mercy so great it too could never be counted.

Christ is risen, Alleluia!

– The Reverend Sarah Demarest Allen (MDiv’07)
Associate Pastor for Children, Youth, and Families
First Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas

Our mission depends upon your generosity.

You can make a gift online:

https://giving.austinseminary.edu/Lent

For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

From @austinseminary ... Poems, Prayers & Meditations for Holy Week: Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday
Saturday, March 26, 2016

“Dancing in Black”

“On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”
• Luke 23:56b

The courtyard is a mass of children, older ones in soccer uniforms, younger ones toddling about, all with one thing on their minds: Easter eggs. They carry their baskets with the care of a waiter balancing a tray heavy with food, careful not to let the nourishing fare of chocolate kisses, peanut butter cups, and various assortments of colorful candies fall to the ground, where they might be scooped up by a fellow hunter. Their joy radiates out from the courtyard in squeals as they find yet another, and another, colorful egg. To see them from afar, it looks like an intricate dance.

In the center of the courtyard is a white metal Celtic cross, rising from the ground, the clear focal point around which the entire facility was built, the place where the eye is automatically drawn.

It is draped in black.

When I first arrived to serve this congregation, I was horrified at what I referred to as the Annual Holy Saturday Sacrilege. I tried to use my new pastor honeymoon period to get the egg hunt moved. I remember taking a wise and influential, as well as liturgically sensitive, ruling elder out to the courtyard to witness the spectacle. “Do you see that cross, and all those children, hunting eggs on Holy Saturday? I feel there’s incongruence here, a mixed message.”

She turned to me and said, “I agree. I think Holy Saturday is one big mixed message. Let the children hunt. It seems fitting.” And she turned and walked back inside, leaving a confused pastor in her wake.

What do we do with this strange day, after the torments of Good Friday, the failures of courage, the startling wail of Jesus about the abandonment of God? What do we do when we sense in the closed tomb encasing the body of the Anointed One not a thin place, but a chasm so large it hints at nothingness?

This may be the most honest day of Holy Week. It dares to say that the darkness of the chaotic Good Friday lingered into the quiet desperation and grief of Saturday in such a way that the church called it “Holy.” And therefore we can dare to say in the midst of the darknesses that consume our lives and the life of our world that even there, in that place, in whatever tombs encase us, even there, hidden from our sight, a presence abides, and makes even Saturday holy.

The children seem to sense it, this holiness hidden like an egg in the tall grass, a splash of color hinting at joy to come. And so they dance around the cross draped in black, acknowledging the Holy, anticipating … what exactly?

It is too soon for us to say. After all, it is Holy Saturday. There’s incongruence, some mixed messages, a fair amount of confusion, dancing in black. In other words, the place most of us live a good bit of the time. That place—dare we say it? —is holy.

Lord of holy places, teach us to dance—even if draped in mourning—in anticipation of the day when the whole creation will join in the celebration. Amen.

– The Reverend Christopher Joiner
Pastor, First Presbyterian Church
Franklin, Tennessee

Our mission depends upon your generosity.

You can make a gift online:

https://giving.austinseminary.edu/Lent

Friday, March 25, 2016

From @austinseminary ... Poems, Prayers & Meditations for Holy Week: Good Friday

Good Friday
Friday, March 25, 2016

“What Moves Us”

“And when all the crowds who had gathered there for the spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts.”
• Luke 22:66-23:56

Every Lent begins the same way: as young and old come forward in worship, I smear the cross in ashes on their foreheads, saying: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” With the young in their innocence I think, who am I to be warning you of death? With the old I wonder, will you be one I must bury this year?

Every Lent ends the same way: with the agonizing death of Jesus and then the silent tomb. We watch the slow inevitable tragedy, feel the visceral contempt, see the terrible suffering, and hear the tenderness of Jesus, even from the cross. We stand with his acquaintances, at a distance, not knowing what to say or do. We are silent.

What do we feel as we see him crucified? Is it anger, for all the unjust deaths, for the senseless tragedy of this world? Is it helplessness, like we feel when we watch the suffering of those we love? Is it guilt for what we could have done, but didn’t? Is it simply sadness that death is always, always a part of life? That it will end in ashes?

Or is it, simply, love?

Each Good Friday I read a poem by St. John of the Cross, “No me mueve, mi Dios.” I first read it in Madeleine L’Engle’s book Two-Part Invention where she reflects on this poem as her husband Hugh is dying. She is wrestling with deep questions of life and death. A friend translated the poem for her this way:

I am not moved, my God, to love you
By the heaven you have promised me.
Neither does hell, so feared, move me
To keep me from offending you.

You move me, Lord, I am moved seeing you
Scoffed at and nailed on a cross.
I am moved seeing your body so wounded.
Your injuries and your death move me.

It is your love that moves me, and in such a way
That even though there were no heaven,
I would love you,
And even though there were no hell,
I would fear you.

You do not have to give me anything
So that I love you,
For even if I didn’t hope for what I hope,
As I love you now, so would I love you.

Holy Jesus: you have promised that in life, and in death, and in life beyond death, we belong to you. As we meditate on your suffering, we are moved by your love; as we watch your dying, we are filled with love for you, our Savior. Deeply, gratefully, we receive your great sacrifice of love. Amen.

– The Reverend Karen Chakoian
First Presbyterian Church
Granville, Ohio

Our mission depends upon your generosity.

You can make a gift online:

https://giving.austinseminary.edu/Lent

Thursday, March 24, 2016

From @austinseminary ... Poems, Prayers & Meditations for Holy Week: Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday
Thursday, March 24, 2016

“The Truth of Our Dirty Feet”

“Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”
• John 13:1-11

As we reflect on the sacred scenes of the Last Supper, our memories most easily hover on the actions of familiar application for our modern context. We imagine the bread, its sweet and crusty texture in the hands of disciples. We visualize the cup, embraced as life-giving blood poured out for the forgiveness of our sins. We imagine the hungering embrace of these rituals by the disciples in much the same way that we hunger for their presence in our lives today. However, sometimes when we rush to the table we overlook the basin; we’re in danger of missing deeply meaningful reflections from that same upper room.

Before the disciples had drunk the cup that washed their souls, they had entered the room as unwashed, greasy, filthy travelers. It was common for a washing to take place, usually done by a lowly servant. However, it wasn’t a servant but a Savior that took the towel and knelt before the dirty disciples to begin washing their feet. When the disciples realized that the One they honored and adored was crouched in humiliated posture to rinse the grime from their feet, they recoiled in embarrassment. Peter declared, “You shall never wash my feet!” The same disciples who were only moments earlier vying for title of Greatest were now receiving the treatment of masters and dignitaries. Why recoil now?

It’s the practice in my community to observe the ancient rite of foot washing before we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. As a pastor, I often hear people occasionally express reasons for why they don't want anybody to touch or see their feet on that particular day. There can be a real fear and even shame in letting others become familiar with intimate parts of our self. Our idealized exteriors can be betrayed by the truth of our dirty feet.

The disciples realized in that moment that a relationship with God involves being known for who we actually are. But they would also learn the joy that comes after we grant access to our truest selves and then experience the cleansing redemption Jesus gives in return. There’s no greater freedom than to be fully known and fully loved.

Dearest Jesus, today we pray for the courage to be fully known, we pray for the courage to enter unreserved fellowship with you. We pray today that we would embrace the intimacy you desire. We ask forgiveness for the times we kept you at arm’s length, for all the times we reserved the right to keep our secrets. We accept the cleansing you offer. We therefore pray that you’d wash not only our feet but our hands, our head, and our hearts. Amen.

– The Reverend Albert Handal
Pastor for Young Adults
Keene Seventh-day Adventist Church
Burleson, Texas

Our mission depends upon your generosity.

You can make a gift online:

https://giving.austinseminary.edu/Lent

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Invitation to Prayer from Faces of Children ... TODAY

Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Our mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, we seek to provide an opportunity for people of God to join together, learn about children and their needs throughout the world, and celebrate Christ's love (especially as it relates to children).

Invitation to Prayer, Today

Hi Friends,

I look forward to our prayer time together this Wednesday at 11:30, at First Presbyterian Churchof Midland, Texas, followed by lunch.

Also, Faces of Children is now on Facebook ! I invite you to like our page so that you can see regular stories, prayer needs, and updates from partner ministries

Dear intercessors,

It's Holy Week.

This past week in Sunday School, we spent some time wrestling with the question "Why did Jesus have to suffer so much on the cross?" Many well-researched and carefully documented theological perspectives were offered, but as I considered the question myself during class, one answer in particular captured my heart.

Every week when I sit down to write this letter, I struggle with how dark the world is. We humans can be a nasty and brutish bunch, capable of inflicting such terror and pain on each other. And in a way I can't understand, we often focus that darkness on the youngest and most vulnerable among us ... children often suffer the most.

As an American whose life has been unscathed by the sort of persecution, torture, abuse, and evil this world seems to be drowning in, it's easy to wonder what good came from Jesus actually suffering. But when I imagine a Syrian mother, her hands clutching the water-stained photo of her only child who drowned in escape at sea or picture a hollow-eyed young prostitute on the streets of LA waiting for the next customer, I can imagine Jesus reaching out to them, his hands bearing the scars of his own torture and pain. And I can picture him saying, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

The words don't sound hollow when the hands reaching out to you bear scars of their own.

In the end, I won't attempt to offer a strong theological case for why Jesus had to suffer so much. But I do find comfort in his suffering as I face my own trials, because I know his call to radically trust in the Father's love for me isn't coming from a comfortable place of never having the truth of that statement tested. And I believe Christ-followers around the world, who can identify with his agony in one way or another, may also find comfort in following a Savior who wasn't personally unaffected by the darkness of this world.

Instead, we follow a Savior who walked straight through the middle of the darkness, breaking down the gates of hell and rising victorious on the other side, proclaiming his Father's kingdom is here and now.

So this week, as we sit a while with the Passion of the Christ and hear the cries of Hosanna change to angry shouts to crucify him, let's remember the Savior we follow is still Emmanuel, God with us. And he's walking with us through whatever dark seasons we may find ourselves in; shining holy and bright, turning the dead and forsaken places into gardens of life.

I pray you sense his presence this week and find comfort in the truth that we follow a savior who knows suffering and who weeps with us when we weep.

USA

On March 17, US Secretary of State John Kerry officially determined that IS militants are committing genocide against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria. Praise God that governmental powers are naming this tragedy for what it is. Let us pray that as the full implications of this political declaration become understood in the weeks to come, it leads to growing peace and protection for the children and people who have experienced such brutality at the hands of IS fighters over the last few years. Please also pray that the perpetrators of that violence would cease fighting and be brought to justice; pray for transformed hearts and renewed minds and for them to radically encounter Jesus.

IRAQ

Preemptive Love Coalition offers this first-hand account of a chemical weapon attack in Iraq. Kurdish authorities report this as the eighth chemical attack against its forces, and other groups confirm that ISIS is using chemical weapons more frequently, including mustard gas, chlorine gas, and yellow phosphorus. These weapons are affecting both military and civilian populations, and the impacts is often felt for generations -- causing birth defects and long-term environmental hazards in addition to greatly increasing casualties. As we pray for the violence to cease, please pray for children and civilians, especially, to be protected from these sorts of attacks. Also please pray for those who are serving on the front lines -- for them to have the protection needed to not sustain any life-long injuries from these bombings.

VATICAN CITY

In his Palm Sunday homily, Pope Francis appealed to the nations of the world not to turn their backs on refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers. "After mentioning the part of the gospel recounting how Jesus was denied justice and abandoned to his fate, Francis added in unscripted remarks: "I am thinking of so many other people, so many marginalized people, so many asylum seekers, so many refugees. There are so many who don't want to take responsibility for their destiny." Let's join the Pope in his prayer that those in positions of power and authority in this world would choose to use their power and authority to protect the world's most lost and vulnerable and scared.

Blessings,

Carrie

Carrie J. McKean
Faces of Children Director
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas
(432) 684-7821 x153

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Invitation to Prayer from Faces of Children ... TOMORROW

Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Our mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, we seek to provide an opportunity for people of God to join together, learn about children and their needs throughout the world, and celebrate Christ's love (especially as it relates to children).

Invitation to Prayer, Tomorrow

Hi Friends,

I look forward to our prayer time together this Wednesday at 11:30, at First Presbyterian Churchof Midland, Texas, followed by lunch.

Also, Faces of Children is now on Facebook ! I invite you to like our page so that you can see regular stories, prayer needs, and updates from partner ministries

Dear intercessors,

It's Holy Week.

This past week in Sunday School, we spent some time wrestling with the question "Why did Jesus have to suffer so much on the cross?" Many well-researched and carefully documented theological perspectives were offered, but as I considered the question myself during class, one answer in particular captured my heart.

Every week when I sit down to write this letter, I struggle with how dark the world is. We humans can be a nasty and brutish bunch, capable of inflicting such terror and pain on each other. And in a way I can't understand, we often focus that darkness on the youngest and most vulnerable among us ... children often suffer the most.

As an American whose life has been unscathed by the sort of persecution, torture, abuse, and evil this world seems to be drowning in, it's easy to wonder what good came from Jesus actually suffering. But when I imagine a Syrian mother, her hands clutching the water-stained photo of her only child who drowned in escape at sea or picture a hollow-eyed young prostitute on the streets of LA waiting for the next customer, I can imagine Jesus reaching out to them, his hands bearing the scars of his own torture and pain. And I can picture him saying, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

The words don't sound hollow when the hands reaching out to you bear scars of their own.

In the end, I won't attempt to offer a strong theological case for why Jesus had to suffer so much. But I do find comfort in his suffering as I face my own trials, because I know his call to radically trust in the Father's love for me isn't coming from a comfortable place of never having the truth of that statement tested. And I believe Christ-followers around the world, who can identify with his agony in one way or another, may also find comfort in following a Savior who wasn't personally unaffected by the darkness of this world.

Instead, we follow a Savior who walked straight through the middle of the darkness, breaking down the gates of hell and rising victorious on the other side, proclaiming his Father's kingdom is here and now.

So this week, as we sit a while with the Passion of the Christ and hear the cries of Hosanna change to angry shouts to crucify him, let's remember the Savior we follow is still Emmanuel, God with us. And he's walking with us through whatever dark seasons we may find ourselves in; shining holy and bright, turning the dead and forsaken places into gardens of life.

I pray you sense his presence this week and find comfort in the truth that we follow a savior who knows suffering and who weeps with us when we weep.

USA

IRAQ

VATICAN CITY

From @austinseminary ... Poems, Prayers & Meditations for Holy Week: Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday
Sunday, March 20, 2016

“Jesus Is Our King!”

“If these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
• Luke 19:40

It was Sunday, the start of the week. Jewish families had been traveling from around the world. They arrived in Jerusalem to stay with relatives or fill the inns. Faithfully they gathered, preparing to celebrate the Passover festival in obedience to God’s commands. Singing psalms, they approached the Temple. Praying devotedly, they offered a sacrifice pleasing to God: a pure, spotless lamb. Family and friends of all ages shared the joyful Passover feast. During this ritual meal, they talked together about the meaning of each element. Passover is the Jewish people’s annual commemoration of God’s decisive victory over worldly power, when the Lord rescued them from the Egyptian Pharaoh who oppressed them in slavery long ago. Now longing filled their hearts for freedom from their pagan occupiers, the Roman Empire. They wondered, “When will God send our King to bring lasting freedom?”

Jesus knew the time had come to reveal himself as king in the line of David whose kingdom is paradoxically not (yet) of this world. His ministry of teaching, healing, and working miracles culminated there and then. Refreshed from keeping the Sabbath, Jesus was sustained by God. He told his disciples in Bethphage that all was ready. They found and got permission to use a young donkey, symbolic of peace. Located at the crest of the Mount of Olives, pilgrims could look to the Temple mount across the Kidron Valley.

How often people had marveled at this mysterious Jesus! Could he be the Messiah? Rejoicing, Jesus’ disciples threw their outer garments on the donkey. They joyfully shouted, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” (See Psalm 118:25-26.) Eagerly joining in, people pulled off their cloaks to line the way like a carpet. Others pulled off palm branches to wave and throw around like confetti in a victory parade. Visible above the crowds, Jesus processed to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah. Yes, here is our King! We love him! Praise God! Shouts of delight rang out as people welcomed Jesus. Gaining momentum, the parade passed by the Garden of Gethsemane and went into Jerusalem.

When Jesus’ procession reached the Temple, some Pharisees told Jesus to silence the celebration. But Jesus held steady. You can’t stop God’s praises. Even from seemingly lifeless rocks, God can bring forth powerful witnesses to cry out the Lord’s majesty!

Holy God, thank you for Jesus our King. Open our eyes to recognize your sovereignty in the world and in our lives. Give us patience and courage to serve you with faith and joy until Christ returns and your reign is established forever. Amen.

– The Reverend Rosanna Anderson
Associate Director of Stewardship Ministries,
Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church,
Nashville, Tennessee

Our mission depends upon your generosity.

You can make a gift online:

https://giving.austinseminary.edu/Lent

Monday, March 21, 2016

From ChinaAid: "Updated: Pastor, wife sentenced to 10-plus years in prison"

China Aid Photo

Updated: Pastor, wife sentenced to 10-plus years in prison
Distributed by ChinaAid, February, 2016 ...

JINHUA, ZHEJIANG, CHINA – Officials in China’s coastal Zhejiang province handed 12 Christians prison sentences on Feb. 25 after a pastor and his family publicly opposed the ongoing cross demolition campaign ...

• more on this story from China Aid

Invitation to Prayer from Faces of Children ... WEDNESDAY

Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Our mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, we seek to provide an opportunity for people of God to join together, learn about children and their needs throughout the world, and celebrate Christ's love (especially as it relates to children).

Invitation to Prayer, Wednesday

Hi Friends,

I look forward to our prayer time together this Wednesday at 11:30, at First Presbyterian Churchof Midland, Texas, followed by lunch.

Also, Faces of Children is now on Facebook ! I invite you to like our page so that you can see regular stories, prayer needs, and updates from partner ministries

Dear intercessors,

It's Holy Week.

This past week in Sunday School, we spent some time wrestling with the question "Why did Jesus have to suffer so much on the cross?" Many well-researched and carefully documented theological perspectives were offered, but as I considered the question myself during class, one answer in particular captured my heart.

Every week when I sit down to write this letter, I struggle with how dark the world is. We humans can be a nasty and brutish bunch, capable of inflicting such terror and pain on each other. And in a way I can't understand, we often focus that darkness on the youngest and most vulnerable among us ... children often suffer the most.

As an American whose life has been unscathed by the sort of persecution, torture, abuse, and evil this world seems to be drowning in, it's easy to wonder what good came from Jesus actually suffering. But when I imagine a Syrian mother, her hands clutching the water-stained photo of her only child who drowned in escape at sea or picture a hollow-eyed young prostitute on the streets of LA waiting for the next customer, I can imagine Jesus reaching out to them, his hands bearing the scars of his own torture and pain. And I can picture him saying, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

The words don't sound hollow when the hands reaching out to you bear scars of their own.

In the end, I won't attempt to offer a strong theological case for why Jesus had to suffer so much. But I do find comfort in his suffering as I face my own trials, because I know his call to radically trust in the Father's love for me isn't coming from a comfortable place of never having the truth of that statement tested. And I believe Christ-followers around the world, who can identify with his agony in one way or another, may also find comfort in following a Savior who wasn't personally unaffected by the darkness of this world.

Instead, we follow a Savior who walked straight through the middle of the darkness, breaking down the gates of hell and rising victorious on the other side, proclaiming his Father's kingdom is here and now.

So this week, as we sit a while with the Passion of the Christ and hear the cries of Hosanna change to angry shouts to crucify him, let's remember the Savior we follow is still Emmanuel, God with us. And he's walking with us through whatever dark seasons we may find ourselves in; shining holy and bright, turning the dead and forsaken places into gardens of life.

I pray you sense his presence this week and find comfort in the truth that we follow a savior who knows suffering and who weeps with us when we weep.

USA

IRAQ

VATICAN CITY

In the News ... "Ministers see India’s need up close"

Courtesy Photo

• "It’s one of the most unreached Christian nations in the world."

By Bob Campbell, Reporter
Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - Being a Christian in the U.S. is relatively easy, but in India there is nothing easy about it, says a First Baptist Church minister who has returned from a mission trip there.

The Rev. James McCrary, pastor of connections at the 709 N. Lee Ave. church, said he and the Rev. Byron McWilliams, lead pastor, saw startling evidence of that during a Jan. 11-21 visit with four representatives of the First Baptist Church in Euless ...

• read the rest of this OA report ...

Sunday, March 20, 2016

From @austinseminary ... Poems, Prayers & Meditations for Holy Week: Palm Sunday

Our mission depends upon your generosity.

You can make a gift online:

https://giving.austinseminary.edu/Lent