From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “19 Books about Disability to Read with Your Family (UPDATED 02.06.23)”

Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.

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FWM Photo

Friday Story: “19 Books about Disability to Read with Your Family (UPDATED 02.06.23)”

Take a break from the screen!

Between online meetings, classes, and Zoom calls, looking at a screen can be exhausting.

Instead, check out this list of family-friendly books about disability for all ages. These books provide a unique insight into the lives of people with disabilities and are perfect to read as a family ...

• Read the rest of this story ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO MARY WILLIS SHELBURNE: On the very comforting fact that Jesus was afraid.

2 April 1955

In great haste. I hope your next letter will bring me news that the operation has gone swimmingly. Fear is horrid, but there’s no reason to be ashamed of it. Our Lord was afraid (dreadfully so) in Gethsemane. I always cling to that as a very comforting fact. All blessings.

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Yours, Jack

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Letter to Mrs Lockley: from Magdalen College, September 1949

I don’t think your objection to ‘setting yourself up as a judge’ is cowardly. It may spring form the fact that you are the injured party and have a v. proper conviction that the plaintiff cannot also be on the Bench. I also quite realize that he didn’t feel the sin as a Christian wd: but he must, as a man, feel the dishonor of breaking a promise. After all constancy in love thunders at him from every love-song in the world, quite apart from our mystical conception of marriage…

As you say, the thing is to rely only on God. The time will come when you will regard all this misery as a small price to pay for having been brought to the dependence. Meanwhile (don’t I know) the trouble is that relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done…

The reason why I am saddled with many people’s trouble is, I think, that I have no natural curiosity about private lives and am therefore a good subject. To anyone who (in that sense) enjoyed it, it wd be a dangerous poison.

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On Heaven

But God will look to every soul like its first love because He is its first love. Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it—made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.

• From Mere Christianity
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket of coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

• From The Four Loves
• Compiled in Preparing for Easter

From @chinaaid : "Residential area around Chinese Cathedral demolished"

The ChinaAid 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.

Residential area around Chinese Cathedral demolished

ChinaAid Photo

Distributed by ChinaAid, March 2023 ...

SHANXI PROVINCE, CHINA – The police of Datong, Shanxi province, demolished the residences used by priests and nuns of the local Catholic diocese. The historic Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was temporarily spared ...

• More on this story from ChinaAid ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO MARY WILLIS SHELBURNE: On keeping to a regular pattern of religious life during the storms of life.

9 November 1955

I agree: the only thing one can usually change in one’s situation is oneself. And yet one can’t change that either—only ask Our Lord to do so, keeping on meanwhile with one’s sacraments, prayers, and ordinary rule of life. One mustn’t fuss too much about one’s state. Do you read St. Francis de Sales? He has good things to say on this subject. All good wishes.

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Yours, Jack

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On Happiness

What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could “be like gods”—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

• From Mere Christianity
• Compiled in Words to Live By

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

Today in the Mission Yearbook: April 9, 2023

EASTER/ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING - Kintsugi, the 15th-century Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the broken areas with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold or other precious metal, reminds us that when repaired, formerly broken places reveal new lines of character and beauty.

But what of God’s world? The world God entrusted to our care? So many parts are broken, damaged by cruelty to each other, misuse of Creation or refusal to take God’s commands seriously ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

... the day before The Day ...

Big day, tomorrow ... and not just for all Christians, but for all peoples ... that's what I believe.

"We are the Easter people," Pastor Jim Miles of First Prez-Fort Stockton would remind us, and not just in the days leading up to Easter, but throughout the year. And that is what we affirm tomorrow, the day for which we have been preparing over the past six weeks, the day for which we live - or at least try to live - at all times.

A promise was made on a joyful, star-lit night, in a stable in Bethlehem ... but that promise was kept on a bloody, storm-darkened day, on a hill outside of Jerusalem ... and later in a place of tombs in the early morning.

A photo I took on a highway north of Mason, Texas.

Big day tomorrow, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ ... big day ... THE day, really. But I find myself wondering what it was like the day before The Day ... what was it like during those long hours that passed between Christ's crucifixion and his resurrection? I can't help but think it's easier for us, two-thousand years later, with the benefit of hindsight, with the Word in our hands, our minds, our hearts. But back then ... right then, right there? What was it like for the followers of Jesus on THAT very first day before The Day?

I've always felt a little sorry for Peter, one of the first (and perhaps the greatest) of Jesus' disciples. How many times have I listened to some discussion in Sunday school that included talking some smack about Peter and his shortcomings ... it's especially pronounced now, as we are reminded for the umpteenth time of his denial of Jesus outside the house where Christ was being held. What must it have been like - that day before The Day - for Peter?

Of course, that was Peter before The Day, and before Pentecost. The man that emerges from all that is someone and something else entirely. There is still a growing, learning, developing spirit and awareness in him ... but there is no longer any doubt, or any denial.

But before that? I can only imagine ... because I know, now, and I believe ...

He is risen ...

Christ is risen, indeed ...

Alleluia! Amen!

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

What I like about experiences is that it is such an honest thing. You may take any number of wrong turnings; but keep your eyes open and you will not be allowed to go very far before the warning signs appear. You may have deceived yourself, but experience is not trying to deceive you. The universe rings true wherever you fairly test it.

• From Surprised by Joy

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

Provided Photo

Today in the Mission Yearbook: April 8, 2023

INTERNATIONAL ROMA DAY - It humbles me the extent to which our Roma friends and colleagues practice hospitality, always laying a table for us with whatever they have. They are among the poorest of the poor, marginalized by a society that feels threatened by an alien culture living in their midst. I don’t use the word alien as a negative, just a reality ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

From Catholic Charities USA ... "Lent Daily Reflection" for April 8

Holy Saturday

Readings of the Day

“Dear brothers and sisters, on this most sacred night, in which our Lord Jesus passed over from death to life, the Church calls upon her sons and daughters, scattered throughout the world, to come together to watch and pray. If we keep the memorial of the Lord’s paschal solemnity in this way, listening to his word and celebrating his mysteries, then we shall have the sure hope of sharing his triumph over death and living with him in God.”

So begins the solemn blessing of the Easter Vigil. If you have never experienced this liturgy, consider doing so this year!

Of this magnificent liturgy’s many symbols and rituals, the baptismal liturgy is especially significant for social ministers. The baptismal font and waters are blessed; new Christians are baptized and confirmed; baptismal vows are renewed; and the entire assembly is blessed with the baptismal water.

The Vigil’s baptismal liturgy closes with this prayer: “And may almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us new birth by water and the Holy Spirit and bestowed on us forgiveness of our sins, keep us by his grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord, for eternal life.”

And how many times are we bearers of new water to suffering victims? In 2016, a poisoned water crisis in Flint, Michigan came to a head. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency in Genesee County, of which Flint is the major population center. Shortly thereafter, President Barack Obama declared a federal state of emergency. Between 6,000 and 12,000 children were exposed to drinking water with high levels of lead. As a parish minister that year, I transferred newly blessed baptismal water from one worship site of our parish (which hosted the Vigil that year) to our two other worship sites. And I prayed for our Michigan neighbors who did not have safe, life-giving water.

Many of us assist or have assisted disaster response efforts, often providing life-giving water. This Easter - as we experience the Vigil’s blessing of baptismal water and many sprinkling rites during the season- may we be ever mindful of our neighbors who lack this life-saving element for cooking, washing, and drinking, while supporting our colleagues on the ground who provide this life-giving element.

Steve Herro is a Norbertine brother of St. Norbert Abbey, De Pere, Wisc. A past staff member of CCUSA, he presently serves the Church as a trained spiritual director, archivist, blogger, small group facilitator, and volunteer for local charitable agencies.

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The mission of Catholic Charities is to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same. Catholic Charities is a network of charities with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The organization serves millions of people a year, regardless of their religious, social, or economic backgrounds.

From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “Join Us and Move For Mobility”

Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.

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FWM Photo

Friday Story: “Join Us and Move For Mobility”

This May, get moving for a great cause—anytime, anywhere!

Millions of people with disabilities around the world are still waiting for wheelchairs. By doing the Move for Mobility this year, you will be helping us send thousands of wheelchairs to those in need.

In the Move for Mobility, you can run, walk, hike, roll, swim, jump, bike, or do any other activity of your choice, for any distance you choose, while raising funds to provide new wheelchairs to people with disabilities in developing countries.

The Move for Mobility is fully customizable. You can complete your distance all at once or throughout the month of May.

Invite your friends, family, coworkers, church, sports teams, training partners, or other groups to form a team and Move for Mobility together!

All fitness levels are welcome!

To learn more about the Move for Mobility, please visit MoveforMobility.org. 

Sign-Up Now!

Watch the promo video here ...

When you register, you'll receive a Move for Mobility athletic T-shirt and wristband, access to a fundraising toolkit, an invitation to a private Facebook training group, and a medal for completing your goal and submitting a finish-line photo with your race time.

To learn more about the Move for Mobility, please visit MoveforMobility.org.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

To shrink back from all that can be called Nature into negative spirituality is as if we ran away from horses instead of learning to ride. There is in our present pilgrim condition plenty of room (more room than most of us like) for abstinence and renunciation and mortifying our natural desires. But behind all asceticism the thought should be, ‘Who will trust us with the true wealth if we cannot be trusted even with the wealth that perishes?’ Who will trust me with a spiritual body if I cannot control even an earthly body? These small and perishable bodies we now have were given to us as ponies are given to schoolboys. We must learn to manage: not that we may some day be free of horses altogether but that some day we may ride bare-back, confident and rejoicing, those greater mounts, those winged, shining and world- shaking horses which perhaps even now expect us with impatience, pawing and snorting in the King’s stables. Not that the gallop would be of any value unless it were a gallop with the King; but how else— since He has retained His own charger—should we accompany Him?

• From Miracles
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

Today in the Mission Yearbook: April 7, 2023

GOOD FRIDAY - Maundy Thursday was the start of what is known as the Easter Triduum — triduum, which is Latin for “three days.” Three days, which include Good Friday and Holy Saturday, in which before we get to the joy of the resurrection, we are reminded how quick we are to betray, to cry “crucify him” and to sink into the depths of despair when we are left in the limbo of loss ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

In the interval I had some good talk with Prince, mainly about the distinction of essence and existence, with a digression on Croce’s aesthetics. We look at things from rather similar standpoints. I should like to see more of this man. He opened the discussion in a style that amused me – it was so characteristically Oxfordish and donnish. Perhaps he will outgrow it. He took up (I think only for dialectical purposes) the line that the distinction between willing, judging etc., was only ‘sophistication’: that when one said one was hungry one simply contemplated attractive food without ‘enjoying’ in Alexander’s sense, the act of wanting it. This led to some good discussion.

• From All the Road Before Me

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

The Rev. Dr. Marcia Mount Shoop

Today in the Mission Yearbook: April 6, 2023

2023 'CELEBRATE THE GIFTS OF WOMEN' SERVICE - The 2023 Celebrate the Gifts of Women worship service took place on Wednesday, March 1, and was streamed on the main PC(USA) Facebook page. A joint effort by Presbyterian Women and Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries, the service can be viewed here ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO MARY MARGARET McCASLIN: On how, after weathering a bereavement, one feels abandoned by God; on how God works on our behalf even when we feel He is inactive; and on the necessity of continuing to use the ordinary means of the spiritual life during times of extraordinary need.

2 August 1954

Thank you for your letter of the July 25th. I will certainly put you in my prayers. I can well believe that you were divinely supported at the time of your terrible calamity. People often are. It is afterwards, when the new and bleaker life is beginning to be a routine, that one often feels one has been left rather unaided. I am sure one is not really so. God’s presence is not the same as the feeling of God’s presence and He may be doing most for us when we think He is doing least.

Loneliness, I am pretty sure, is one of the ways by which we can grow spiritually. Until we are lonely we may easily think we have got further than we really have in Christian love; our (natural and innocent, but merely natural, not heavenly) pleasure in being loved—in being, as you say, an object of interest to someone—can be mistaken for progress in love itself, the outgoing active love which is concerned with giving, not receiving. It is this latter which is the beginning of sanctity.

But of course you know all this: alas, so much easier to know in theory than to submit to day by day in practice! Be very regular in your prayers and communions: and don’t value special ‘guidances’ any more than what comes through ordinary Christian teaching, conscience, and prudence.

I am shocked to hear that your friends think of following me. I wanted them to follow Christ. But they’ll get over this confusion soon, I trust.

Please accept my deepest sympathy.

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Yours, Jack

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

Photo courtesy of Beechmont Presbyterian Church

Today in the Mission Yearbook: April 5, 2023

PRESBYTERIAN ASSOCIATION OF MUSICIANS ONLINE FORUM - Lionel Derenoncourt and the Rev. Marissa Galván Valle of Beechmont Presbyterian Church (Iglesia Presbiteriana) in Louisville recently used a monthly online town hall forum offered by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians to discuss a feature near and dear to the hearts of Beechmont and its neighbors: the Peace Garden the church constructed during the pandemic and dedicated last year ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

“Bring out that creature,” said Aslan. One of the Elephants lifted Uncle Andrew in its trunk and laid him at the Lion’s feet. He was too frightened to move.

“Please, Aslan,” said Polly, “could you say something to—to unfrighten him? And then could you say something to prevent him from ever coming back here again?”

“Do you think he wants to?” said Aslan.

“Well, Aslan,” said Polly, “he might send someone else. He’s so excited about the bar off the lamp-post growing into a lamp-post tree and he thinks—”

“He thinks great folly, child,” said Aslan. “This world is bursting with life for these few days because the song with which I called it into life still hangs in the air and rumbles in the ground. It will not be so for long. But I cannot tell that to this old sinner, and I cannot comfort him either; he has made himself unable to hear my voice. If I spoke to him, he would hear only growlings and roarings. Oh, Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good! But I will give him the only gift he is still able to receive.”

He bowed his great head rather sadly, and breathed into the Magician’s terrified face. “Sleep,” he said. “Sleep and be separated for some few hours from all the torments you have devised for yourself.” Uncle Andrew immediately rolled over with closed eyes and began breathing peacefully.

• From The Magician's Nephew
• Compiled in A Year with Aslan

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

The Rev. Dr. Carolyn Helsel

Today in the Mission Yearbook: April 4, 2023

AUSTIN SEMINARY'S CAROLYN HELSEL PREACHING ABOUT RACISM - The Rev. Dr. Carolyn Helsel recently helped preachers in and around the Synod of the Covenant to think through preaching about racism in an era of critical race theory bans ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

From @chinaaid : "Exiled church supported by Texas Churches"

The ChinaAid 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.

Exiled church supported by Texas Churches

ChinaAid Photo

Distributed by ChinaAid, March 2023 ...

MIDLAND, TEXAS – More than 60 members of the exiled Mayflower Church received tremendous support from churches in Texas. The members of the Christian house church from Shenzhen have been adopted by the East Texas churches, but 10 more families still need resettlement sponsors. 

Deana Brown, founder and CEO of Freedom Seekers International (FSI), partnered with Bob Fu and ChinaAid to resettle these Christians who fear repatriation back to China ...

• More on this story from ChinaAid ...

In the News ... "'Julian Bridges, 91, was passionate yet compassionate with all"

ARN File Photo

• His dedication to community and mission work left a legacy

By Greg Jaklewicz, Reporter
• Abilene Reporter-News

ABILENE, TEXAS - Julian Bridges' youngest daughter believes her father's name described him perfectly.

"I always thought God predestined my dad to have the last name Bridges because that's what he did all of his life," Marelyn Bridges Shedd said. "He built bridges between people and tried to meet people in the middle to where they would understand each other better.

"He saw value in every single person. He believed every single person was here because God had a purpose for them." Julian Bridges taught for more than 30 years at Hardin-Simmons University.

Bridges, a Hardin-Simmons University sociology professor and head of the social work department, served one term on the Abilene City Council, elected in 1982. He was mayor pro tempore in 1984.

He and then-Billye Proctor-Shaw were elected as Citizens for Better Government candidates the same year. She was the second woman elected to the council.

Bridges, who would've been 92 on Monday, died March 20 ...

• Read the rest of this ARN report ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On Hell

[The fictional George MacDonald is speaking.] “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice, there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek, find. To those who knock, it is opened.”. . .

“Hell is a state of mind—ye never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind is, in the end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly.”. . .

“Hell is smaller than one pebble of your earthly world: but it is smaller than one atom of this world, the Real World. Look at yon butterfly. If it swallowed all Hell, Hell would not be big enough to do it any harm or to have any taste…

“A damned soul is nearly nothing: it is shrunk, shut up in itself. Good beats upon the damned incessantly as sound waves beat on the ears of the deaf, but they cannot receive it. Their fists are clenched, their teeth are clenched, their eyes fast shut. First they will not, in the end they cannot, open their hands for gifts, or their mouths for food, or their eyes to see.”

“Then no one can ever reach them?”

“Only the Greatest of all can make Himself small enough to enter Hell. For the higher a thing is, the lower it can descend—a man can sympathise with a horse but a horse cannot sympathise with a rat. Only One has descended into Hell.”

• From The Great Divorce
• Compiled in Words to Live By

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

Today in the Mission Yearbook: April 3, 2023

67TH COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN - Thousands of people from around the globe, including a contingent from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), headed to New York City for the recent 67th Commission on the Status of Women, a gender equality gathering that was celebrated by the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), both Co-Moderators of the 225th General Assembly, and the president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Screwtape reveals the Enemy's intentions:

Now it may surprise you to learn that in His [the Enemy’s] efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, He relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks; some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else. The reason is this. To us a human is primarily food; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense. But the obedience which the Enemy demands of men is quite a different thing. One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth. He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself—creatures whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His. We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over. Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other beings into himself: the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct.

• From The Screwtape Letters
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

Today in the Mission Yearbook: April 2, 2023

1001 NEW WORSHIPING COMMUNITIES - A new video distributed exclusively on social media recently asked, “What’s the secret to creating successful partnerships with immigrant worshiping communities?” The 45-second video concluded, “It’s all in the sauce. The secret sauce. … And yes, there will be barbecue” ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

From Catholic Charities USA ... "Lent Daily Reflection" for April 2

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

Readings of the Day

How do you survive the “Passions” of life? Jesus went from the high of riding into Jerusalem to the sound of cheers and praise on a donkey to the low of hanging on a cross in excruciating pain, feeling completely abandoned. Where was God in all of this? Where is God in the natural disasters, the violence and the political injustice?

Jesus turned to his roots and cried out the psalms of his taught faith. But before he was taught his faith, he had an experience of God and unconditional love.

I was blessed to have the experience of God through the unconditional love of my family who also taught me my faith.

But there is such a large population of people who are not born into love but into hopelessness and, many times, violence. It is hard to imagine the emptiness or void. Many children grow up thinking the odds are slim they will live past 17. This provides a “do what you can, while you can” outlook on life.

When I hear the stories, one after another, of our incarcerated brothers and sisters, it is like hearing the passion narrative replayed in modern times. Sixty percent (60%)* of the incarcerated did not stay grounded in reality due to drugs, and many made any choice possible to try and eliminate their pain, at the expense of others. Family, society and systems had abandoned so many of them, and “love” only came with a price.

There is a powerful line in our Apostles Creed: He descended into hell. We believe Jesus took on our sins and redeemed them. We envision Jesus becoming one with those who lived a life of hell, a life of hopelessness: those not knowing any other option existed beyond “I’m going to be dead by 17.”

When someone reaches out and provides an experience of unconditional love to another, it provides a context to comprehend the unconditional love of God. Many come to realize that Jesus has been accompanying them through their hell, died for them, and has redeemed them. Their transformation is unbelievable to witness; a true resurrection. Why did they have to live a lifetime of hell, while I had a lifetime of unconditional love? That's a question for God in the next life. But their transformations have touched my life now in deep, deep places and transformed me. It is a gift not taken for granted.

Sharing the gift of unconditional love and allowing the exchange to transform us both is what Jesus lived, suffered, and died to teach us. The call to love one another and accompany each other through our passions is the Gospel message, as Jesus demonstrated in the Passion narrative today. We are all called to be one.

Karen Clifton is Executive Coordinator of Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition.

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The mission of Catholic Charities is to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same. Catholic Charities is a network of charities with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The organization serves millions of people a year, regardless of their religious, social, or economic backgrounds.

In the News ... "Odessa Church News"

• Today and in the days ahead, in Odessa-area houses of worship

Staff Report
• Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - Coming events include worship services, classes, Bible studies, community outreach, fundraisers, mission opportunities and more. The Odessa American welcomes church special events. Submission deadline is 5 p.m. Wednesdays for consideration for the following Saturday’s edition. Email oalife@oaoa.com.

The Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, 1412 W. Illinois Ave., Midland, has scheduled an Episcopal 101 class from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sundays through April 2.

Breakfast will be served.

This class is open to all, including non-members.

Visit tinyurl.com/kdp5yt9m.

Catholic Charities Odessa has scheduled a banquet and comedy show featuring Lucas Bohn at 6 p.m. May 12 at the Odessa Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, Devonian Ballroom, 305 E. Fifth St.

Visit tinyurl.com/yjvmhwxn or call 432-332-1387.

Mid-Cities Church, 8700 Highway 191, Midland, has scheduled a Parkinson’s Disease support group meeting at 5:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month.

Visit midcities.org.

Odessa First Assembly, 1101 N. Lee Ave., has scheduled English as a Second Language lessons from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursdays through May 18.

The classes are free.

Visit tinyurl.com/mrytumk2.

Odessa First Assembly, 1101 N. Lee Ave., has scheduled a Better Together marriage ministry from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Wednesdays.

Crescent Park Baptist Church, 3002 E. University Blvd., is offering a Spanish Language Bible Study by the Rev. Mike McGuire at 9:30 a.m. every Sunday.
For more information, call 432-366-4476.

Belmont Baptist Church, 806 N. Belmont Ave., has scheduled a food pantry from 9 a.m. to noon on the fourth Saturday of each month.

Visit tinyurl.com/3nfssxpc.

Belmont Baptist Church, 806 N. Belmont Ave., offers family meals during its Family Supper time from 5:15 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. each Wednesday when Awana is in session.
Admission is free.
For more information, call 432-332-0248, email belmont@belmontbaptist.org or visit tinyurl.com/23vkhr47.

Catholic Charities Community Services Odessa, 2500 Andrews Highway, need of volunteers for pantry distribution.
Distribution times are scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays.
For more information on dates and times, call 332-1387.
Visit facebook.com/ccodessatx or ccodessa.com.

Second Baptist Church, 711 E. 17th St., has scheduled classes in English as a second language at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays.
Classes are free and childcare is available.
Call 432-366-2153 or visit tinyurl.com/4ektcjk6.

The West Texas Street Rod Association has scheduled Cars at Crossroads from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. every fourth Saturday of each month at Crossroads Church, 6901 E. Highway 191.
There will be coffee and donuts inside the church.
Visit tinyurl.com/cdjd6pvt.

Door of Hope Mission are in need of financial support to help provide hot meals, a safe place to sleep and shower to those who struggle with addictions through Bible study and counseling.
There a few ways to give:
• PayPal Giving Fund: 100% goes to the mission, visit www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2432315. PayPal does not keep a processing fee when you use this service.
• Door of Hope Mission website, www.doorofhopemission.com/donate.html, or mail a check to Door of Hope Mission, PO Box 1789, Odessa, TX 79760.
• On Amazon or eBay, add Door of Hope Mission as preferred charity, and a portion of purchases will go to the mission.
• On Amazon Smile (www.smile.amazon.com): Login to your account then select Door of Hope Mission Odessa TX so the mission receives donations from eligible purchases when you shop.
• On eBay (charity.ebay.com/charity/charity-name/2432315): Add the Door Of Hope Mission to favorites.
All donations are tax deductible.
For more information, call 337-8294 or visit doorofhopemission.com.

Sherwood Church of Christ, 4900 North Dixie Blvd., offers free clothing on the first Saturday of every month.
With so many families in the community are losing their jobs due to COVID and the downturn in oil, the Sherwood Clothes Closet is an opportunity for people to find needed clothing items for the entire family.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Masks are required to comply with city orders and to protect each other from spreading the virus.

Victory Christian Fellowship Church, 325 N. County Road West, offers individuals assistance who are hurting from addictions to become drug and alcohol free, physically well and most important spiritually alive.
All services are provided for free.
Several homes are located throughout Texas, New Mexico and Chicago.
For more information, call the Rev. Albert Flores at 432-978-9959 or 432-335-8925.
For home locations, call for Odessa, 325-300-0832; El Paso, 915-838-8887; Fort Worth, 817-626-1819; Houston, 713-880-4732; Mathis, 361-547-3755; McAllen, 956-702-2781; San Angelo, 325-658-1061; Albuquerque, N.M., 505-550-5661; Artesia, N.M., 575-745-4294; and Chicago, 773-696-9094.

• Read the rest of this OA report ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

DIVINE JUSTICE

God in His mercy made

The fixed pains of Hell.

That misery might be stayed,

God in His mercy made

Eternal bounds and bade

Its waves no further swell.

God in His mercy made

The fixed pains of Hell.

• From Poems

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

Today in the Mission Yearbook: March 31, 2023

NATIVE AMERICAN BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP The Synod of Lakes and Prairies has had a Native American Book Discussion Group for several years. It has been very successful under the leadership of Marilyn Stone, from Milwaukee Presbytery. Presbyterian Women in this synod has developed a strong relationship with the Presbyterian Women in the Dakota Presbytery — the non-geographic Native American presbytery. Through this group, women strive to understand how to best walk alongside our Native siblings ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

From Catholic Charities USA ... "Lent Daily Reflection" for April 1

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Readings of the Day

Today we read in Ezekiel about the hope of God’s plan to return all His scattered children, provide protection, multiply them, dwell with them forever, and make with them a covenant of peace. In stark contrast, the plot to kill Jesus is revealed in John’s Gospel in the meeting of the chief priests and the Pharisees. The image of God’s arms embracing His children and gathering them to Himself is overwhelming to imagine, yet it is horrifically and beautifully laid bare in Christ’s passion and death at the hands of those who feared His presence and the effects it could have on their lives.

Fear of the unknown can make us do strange things, even in the best of circumstances. Fear of reaching out to that person who hurt us, or fear of someone who looks or speaks differently than us can cause us to act out of pride and not love. As Catholic Charities, we have the unique privilege of embracing others in hope and charity rather than fear to provide a space to bring together those who are marginalized. We participate with God in gathering His children to Him through our life-giving programs and provide an example to others in the community to follow.

Today, let us reflect on the privilege of being able to advocate, love, and empower those we serve. And may we embrace the weight of Holy Week with the knowledge of God’s assurance that no matter the distance, He loved us to His death and, as the Good Shepherd, will always seek to find us even in our fearful moments.

Cindy Self is the Director of Volunteers for Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans. Since becoming Catholic through RCIA 30 years ago, she has been active in many aspects of parish life. She founded the Garden of Holy Innocents, a memorial garden for pregnancy and infant loss at Divine Mercy parish after experiencing her own losses. For 25 years and counting, she is the wedding coordinator at the parish as well.

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The mission of Catholic Charities is to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same. Catholic Charities is a network of charities with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The organization serves millions of people a year, regardless of their religious, social, or economic backgrounds.