West Texas Missioner

Saturday, October 7, 2023

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

WORMWOOD

Thou only art alternative to God, oh, dark

And burning island among spirits, tenth hierarch,

Wormwood, immortal Satan, Ahriman, alone

Second to Him to whom no second else were known,

Being essential fire, sprung of His fire, but bound

Within the lightless furnace of thy Self, bricked round

To rage in the reverberated heat from seven

Containing walls: hence power thou hast to rival heaven.

Therefore, except the temperance of the eternal love

Only thy absolute lust is worth the thinking of.

All else is weak disguising of the wishful heart,

All that seemed earth is Hell, or Heaven. God is: thou art:

The rest, illusion. How should man live save as glass

To let the white light without flame, the Father, pass

Unstained: or else—opaque, molten to thy desire,

Venus infernal starving in the strength of fire!

Lord, open not too often my weak eyes to this.

• 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.

Map courtesy of Nations Online Project

Today in the Mission Yearbook: October 7, 2023

ELLEN SMITH, REGIONAL LIAISON FOR CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE, GIVES UPDATE ON UKRAINIAN REFUGEE WORK - Ellen Smith, World Mission’s regional liaison for Central and Eastern Europe, led a packed and thought-provoking mini-course during Synod School on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s mission in Ukraine.

“Ukraine is a complicated country. It is divided linguistically, by faith and by culture, certainly,” Smith told a lecture hall full of Synod School attendees. More than 500 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, PC(USA) partners in neighboring countries — Moldova, Hungary, Lithuania and Poland among them — have set up refugee centers to care for the many people fleeing the fighting, including children and people with special needs...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Friday, October 6, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 6, 2023

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR
Watson Kapachika
MMM Field Officer, Malawi

"Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.” - Joshua 1:9

Marion Medical Mission has been providing clean water to Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania for the past 37 years. Last year (2022), MMM took a step further by penetrating into Mozambique as an expansion area for the Nkhoma Synod Protected Water Programme. The reception of the programme from community leaders and gate keepers in the expansion area was warm and very encouraging, so much so that 20 new wells were constructed within a few days.

However, the local government through a “localidad,” who is the local political leader, had a different opinion and was reluctant to approve activities in his ward. He believed that behind the provision of clean water and the evangelism that came with this good gesture, was a pent-up motive. At some point, he instructed the installation team to cease the installation works until he consulted the central government for approval. In Exodus 33:14, The Lord said to us: “I will go with you and give you victory.” This was manifested when the localidad called a couple of days later and gave a green light to resume the installation.

Indeed we have overcome challenge after challenge and with the help of our God in Heaven through Jesus Christ who said that “I shall be with you until the end of the world,” we shall never stop. Fifty new wells are slated to be built and installed this year as a permanent solution to water crises in communities in Mozambique. The wells shall also save lives by curbing water-borne diseases which have been plaguing these communities. A village of 17 households perished from cholera disease during the past rainy season leaving behind only three survivors.

There is a new hope for the communities of Mozambique. We thank the Lord for assisting the needy and helpless communities at their darkest hour.

Application Question: Who can stop the work of the Lord?

Prayer: Our father in Heaven, we are aware that You have solutions to all our problems. We believe that these needy communities are in the palm of Your hand, please open Your doors for their blessings so much that nobody can bar them from getting their share. In the Mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

Visit Our Website ...

From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “Richsrdson's Story”

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.

FWM Photos

Friday Story: “Richanderson’s Story"

I’ll never forget meeting Richanderson, a brave and sweet seven-year-old boy

It was during an expedition to deliver wheelchairs to indigenous people living with disabilities in some of Brazil’s most remote villages. A woman meets a seven-year-old indigenous boy in Brazil, who is sitting in front of his home with his dog.

Richanderson’s life has been full of challenges. Born prematurely, he was diagnosed with a condition that would prevent him from ever walking. His mother now spends almost all her time caring for him, along with her two-year-old daughter and elderly mother ...

• Read the rest of this story ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Screwtape advises Wormwood on using time to wear down a soul:

The Enemy has guarded him from you through the first great wave of temptations. But, if only he can be kept alive, you have time itself for your ally. The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather. You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and the inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it—all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition. If, on the other hand, the middle years prove prosperous, our position is even stronger. Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it’, while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of being really at home in earth, which is just what we want. You will notice that the young are generally less unwilling to die than the middle- aged and the old.

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

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Photo courtesy of the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins

Today in the Mission Yearbook: October 6, 2023

THE INTERSECTION OF FAITH AND GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION WEBINAR - Near the end of a recent Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) webinar, Tracie Campbell made an impassioned plea for people of faith to “do something” to curtail gun violence in this country ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Thursday, October 5, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 5, 2023

SPREAD THE WORD
Chuck Overstreet
Volunteer, Virginia

Jesus looked at them and said to them “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” - Matthew 19:26

Tnscribed on the top of every Marion Medical Mission concrete well head is “GLORY TO GOD.” I love to tell people about MMM. I am often asked if the American volunteers dig the wells. They do not, but after I explain some construction details, the next question is usually “What do the Americans do?” I tell them about the extreme poverty in the rural areas of Eastern Africa and that these subsistence farmers do not have vehicles, they walk. I then talk about the American volunteers who drive four-wheel drive trucks during the well season and I take the opportunity to explain that each well costs only $450 US dollars.

Another important responsibility of the Americans is to spread the word to others upon returning to America. I especially enjoy seeing the expression on their faces when they hear the number of wells completed, more than 3,200 in 2020 and over 3,400 in 2021,-with no American volunteers.

I do not share this with them to brag, but to talk about what the Lord has done through MMM. Let us not forget what the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and it is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

The Africans are achieving the IMPOSSIBLE, but only with God’s help.

Application Question: There are so many ways to spread the word of both MMM and the gospel. How are you spreading the word?

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, help us to spread the word. Help us to find ways to share with others the good news. Dear Lord we ask that You watch over the MMM staff and the American volunteers doing Your work. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO RHONA BODLE, who had written Lewis of her upcoming confirmation: On not expecting remarkable sensations connected to holy activities.

9 November 1949

Congratulations. You are daily in my prayers.

Caveat [let her beware!]—don’t count on any remarkable sensations, either at this or your first (or fifty first) Communion. God gives these or not as He pleases. Their presence does not prove that things are especially well, nor their absence that things are wrong. The intention, the obedience, is what matters.

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

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Photo by Mike Ferguson

Today in the Mission Yearbook: October 5, 2023

REV. JIMMIE HAWKINS LIKENS SYNOD SCHOOL TO A MARVEL COMICS NATION - Before the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins took to the stage at Schaller Memorial Chapel to deliver the final convocation for Synod School this year, the Rev. Dr. Matt Sauer of Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Cooperative Ministry, as he’d done all week, donned a red zip-up cardigan just like another Presbyterian, Fred Rogers, used to. It was Sauer’s duty to remind those attending the 69th annual gathering that not all the world is like the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

WAW Wednesday ... "Finishing out the Summer"

"The Word at Work is a ministry that mobilizes churches and individuals to answer God's call to minister to those in need," writes Rev. Tim Tam, Spiritual Director of the Amarillo, Texas-based ministry. "Through our relationships, God reveals needs and opportunities for service. As we come along side the poor, new friendships develop and doors for ministry open. As we serve, God provides the resources to supply for the needs he reveals."

WAW Wednesday: "Finishing out the Summer"

This Summer has been Amazing!

So many teams have come to Belize this Summer!

Teams from Texas, Oklahoma, California, Mississippi, & Pennsylvania have had trips this summer. Here is a recap:

The Valley of Peace: Home built, Senior Living Center construction continues

Corozal: Work done at Jacob's Farm

Burial Grounds: A stage was built for a church and Bathroom was built at Ebeneezer, and an apartment started for a family as well.

Belize City: Funds Raised to begin a new Hospice Facility

8-Mile: Work done at First Stone Church for a Preschool start-up

Teams reconnecting with partners after COVID
New potential partner meetings
Teams experienced some local church services around the country
And so many lives were impacted.

God is working in so many of our partners' lives and answered prayers with teams coming and we are seeing new connections with partners all over Belize. We are amazed at how He has allowed us to see Him at Work and be involved in all He is doing in this amazing country.

WAW Photo

As TWAW continues our ministry in Belize and the U.S. here are some things we would love for you to join us in praying over:

1: On-going Fundraising events - TWAW is working to secure our organization for the future. If you or anyone you know would like to host a Fundraising event please contact us to visit with you about the possibility of putting one of these events together.

2: Containers - We have a continuous need for shipping containers and funds to secure shipping. Please let us know if you would like more information.

3: U.S. Tour - TWAW is beginning an ongoing U.S. tour schedule where we will be traveling to see our U.S. partners for the purpose of reconnecting, pre/post-trip meetings, and fundraising events. If you or your church would like more information please contact us.

4: Commitment - We are committed to our vision of connecting U.S. partners with our Belizean partners. We are thankful to all of you for your continued prayers and selfless giving as we work together to reach the people of Belize with the gospel and through thriving relationships.

PLEASE CALL/TEXT/EMAIL

Derek Osburn
Executive Director
(575) 693-6136
derek@twaw.org

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

From Catholic Relief Services ... Take action today for Email Congress Day!

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States.The CRS Briefing is a monthly service to our supporters. We aspire to keep you informed of our progress and up-to-date on issues that affect the people we serve in more than 100 countries around the world.

CRS Photo

Today — on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology — people across the country are emailing Congress to advocate for solutions to the climate crisis, which is harming our planet and global family. We need your voice to make the biggest impact possible!

According to the first Global Stocktake synthesis report released last month by the United Nations, if we don’t take stronger climate action in the next five years, global temperatures could exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius tipping point—meaning more frequent and destructive weather events leading to increased global poverty, conflict and hunger.

Urge your Congress members to act now and prioritize funding for international development and humanitarian aid, especially within the Green Climate Fund and Development Assistance.

Did you know?

The Green Climate Fund is the world's largest climate fund and enables developing nations to prepare for, adapt to and mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.

Development Assistance programs support crucial activities that help communities overcome the challenges of a changing climate, including by improving sustainable landscapes and biodiversity.

Email Congress Now

Your voice today combined with the unified voices of thousands of others can make a difference. Together, let’s follow in the footsteps of Saint Francis and take meaningful action to care for our one planet, one family.

Prayerfully,

Catholic Relief Services, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

In the News ... "Jacob’s Ladder was staircase to Heaven"

Painting by William Blake

• Revs. Pugh, Stadler say angels watch over the redeemed

By Bob Campbell, Reporter
• Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - The story of Jacob’s Ladder is told in Genesis 28:10-19 to show that God is interested in every person and that he knows what mental state they are in and what they’re doing whether good or bad.

That’s according to the Revs. Terry Pugh and Erik Stadler, who say God found Jacob in the middle of a wilderness and in a dream showed him angels ascending and descending a ladder or staircase between Heaven and Earth to bolster Jacob’s faith ...

• read the rest of this OA report ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

When Digory took a minute to get his breath, and then went softly into his Mother’s room. And there she lay, as he had seen her lie so many other times, propped up on the pillows, with a thin, pale face that would make you cry to look at it. Digory took the Apple of Life out of his pocket.

And just as the Witch Jadis had looked different when you saw her in our world instead of in her own, so the fruit of that mountain garden looked different too. There were of course all sorts of colored things in the bedroom; the colored counterpane on the bed, the wallpaper. . . . But the moment Digory took the Apple out of his pocket, all those things seemed to have scarcely any color at all. Every one of them, even the sun- light, looked faded and dingy. . . . Nothing else was worth looking at: you couldn’t look at anything else. And the smell of the Apple of Youth was as if there was a window in the room that opened on Heaven.

“Oh, darling, how lovely,” said Digory’s Mother. “You will eat it, won’t you? Please,” said Digory. “I don’t know what the Doctor would say,” she answered. “But really—I almost feel as if I could.” He peeled it and cut it up and gave it to her piece by piece. And no sooner had she finished it than she smiled and her head sank back on the pillow and she was asleep: a real, natural, gentle sleep, without any of those nasty drugs, which was, as Digory knew, the thing in the whole world that she wanted most. . . . He bent down and kissed her very softly and stole out of the room with a beating heart, taking the core of the apple with him. For the rest of that day, whenever he looked at the things about him, and saw how ordinary and unmagical they were, he hardly dared to hope; but when he remembered the face of Aslan he did hope.

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

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Photo by Vigay Sutrave via Unsplash

Today in the Mission Yearbook: October 4, 2023

SYNOD SCHOOL CLOSING WORSHIP - Concluding her weeklong journey through biblical accounts starting with the letter “c” — Creation, crisis, covenant and Christ came before — the Rev. DeEtte Decker, the preacher during Synod School and the communications director for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, concluded worship on the with more alliteration: the church as co-creator ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 3, 2023

BUILD UP
Lisa Breese
Volunteer, Georgia

"Let us do all we can to live in peace. And let us work hard to build up one another." Romans 14:19

As any journey starts, humans reflect on where this journey may lead them, what the journey may provide, or worry about the journey itself. Today’s society is hard on our emotional, mental, and spiritual essences. Instead of offering a helping hand, we often turn away from people, too busy in our life journeys. One simple word of praise, encouragement, gratitude or even a simple smile may be what a person needs to hear to help build up their souls. Instead of tearing down what people do or say, looking to find a way to help build one another up may be rewarding. Peace will come when we as a collective start helping and encouraging one another.

Through my interactions with people, I focus on positivity people may have to offer. I often speak with people in my job only to see how not only other people, but they themselves beat themselves down. They are not good enough, not smart enough, not able to learn. Why is listening to the negativity so easy; however, positivity is a struggle. Even though I work with computers and people, I have learned to become more of a silent counselor to people. Listening, offering the encouragement or a kind story where needed.

Peace. Living in peace. Loving, kindness, giving. When people ask me what I would like more than anything, my first thought is Peace. I do not say it out loud because peace is a big concept. Peace in ourselves, peace in others, peace in the world. Everyone is different, everyone has different ideologies; however, if we can look through differences and offer the peace with have within ourselves to others, perhaps one day we will live in peace.

As I start my journey to Malawi, my focus will be my own internal peace and helping to build others up to let them know there are people who care, people who want the same thing as they do.

Application Question: Today, how can I live in peace? How can I build up others?

Prayer: Please God help guide me to show peace and compassion to all of Your creatures. Amen

From Catholic Relief Services ... Save the Date: Take Action on St. Francis’ Feast Day

Save the Date: Take Action on St. Francis’ Feast Day

CRS Photo

The theme for Pope Francis’ message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees reminds us that the decision to leave one’s home should be a free choice. But this isn’t the case for millions of our sisters and brothers affected by climate change.

On Wednesday, October 4 — the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi — we will lift our voices together by emailing Congress to address the climate crisis and its impact on our global family.

It’s predicted that climate change could displace more than a billion people by 2050—less than 30 years away. In our own country, we’ve seen communities destroyed and thousands of people displaced by wildfires, record flooding and hurricanes. Around the world, families with even fewer resources struggle to survive in the face of more frequent and severe weather events.

We need as many people as possible to lift their voices to ensure Congress prioritizes this global issue that affects all of us. Will you share about this day of action on social media and invite friends and family to participate?

Copy this message and post on social media:

Extreme weather devastates homes and undermines farming efforts, forcing millions of people around the world to leave their homes in search of food, work and safety. Together, we can make a difference. Join me on Oct. 4 for Catholic Relief Services’ Email Congress Day to lift our voices as one, urging Congress to address climate change’s impact on our global family. Sign up to join this important day of advocacy action: https://bit.ly/45nJX40 #OnePlanetOneFamily Share Thank you for your commitment to creating transformational change together!

Prayerfully,

Catholic Relief Services, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

In the News ... "Faith Church Midland to hold 'Day of Faith' conference"

FCM Poster

• “To help grow their faith, reignite their faith or, for some of those out there, to learn what faith is”

By Ben Shaffer
• Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS - Faith Church Midland will host a Day of Faith Conference on Oct. 7 at the Petroleum Club.

This is the first year the event is being held ...

• Read the rest of this MRT report ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On Easter

Tomorrow we shall celebrate the glorious Resurrection of Christ. I shall be remembering you in the Holy communion. Away with tears and fears and troubles! United in wedlock with the eternal Godhead Itself, our nature ascends into the Heaven of Heavens, so it would be impious to call ourselves “miserable.” On the contrary, man is a creature whom angels—were they capable of envy—would envy. Let us lift up our hearts!

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Words to Live By

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Contributed Photo

Today in the Mission Yearbook: October 3, 2023

PRIMERA IGLESIA PRESBITERIANA EN LAJAS IN PUERTO RICO RECEIVES TECHNOLOGY GRANT FROM THE PRESBYTERIAN FOUNDATION - When Pastor Erika Irizarry Rodriguez received a technology grant from the Presbyterian Foundation, she breathed both a sigh of relief and exclaimed a shout of joy ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Monday, October 2, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 2, 2023

GIVE ME WATER TO DRINK
Eden Ngiluke
MMM Field Officer, Tanzania

"Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:37-40

We are working together as MMM family, I think it will be beautiful if we begin working on that Bible verse that expresses very well what Jesus wants us to do for the least. Actually that verse surprises me very much because it is very fitting for each one of us.

One of the most demanding things for me is travelling to villages of my working area Iringa District and whenever I found village members are using unsafe water I feel solemn obligation in my heart to ensure that together with MMM those people will have access to safe and clean water.

Let’s thank God for the opportunity He has given us today to stay strong together as MMM family; with this family we are reminded that Jesus came to bring the good news to the poor. He had told us what that good news is when He said, “My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” He came to give peace of heart which comes from loving and doing good to others, so we are chosen to help the needy.

It is not enough for us to say “I love God” but also to love my neighbor.

Application Question: Are you ready to do good to others today?

Prayer: Dear God, thank You for the Gift of Life. Thank You for Your Faithfulness. Indeed, You are Great. You alone are God. Lord, we humbly ask that You may continue to guide and bless us. Walk with us, for without You, we can do nothing. May Your face shine upon us. Give us strength, wisdom and knowledge to stay positive, committed to our goals and excel above our expectations. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:

‘It was too perfect to last,’ so I am tempted to say of our marriage. But it can be meant in two ways. It may be grimly pessimistic — as if God no sooner saw two of His creatures happy than He stopped it (‘None of that here!’). As if He were like the Hostess at the sherry-party who separates two guests the moment they show signs of having got into a real conversation. But it could also mean ‘This had reached its proper perfection. This had become what it had in it to be. Therefore of course it would not be prolonged.’ As if God said, ‘Good; you have mastered that exercise. I am very pleased with it. And now you are ready to go on to the next.’ When you have learned to do quadratics and enjoy doing them you will not be set them much longer. The teacher moves you on.

For we did learn and achieve something. There is, hidden or flaunted, a sword between the sexes till an entire marriage reconciles them. It is arrogance in us to call frankness, fairness, and chivalry ‘masculine’ when we see them in a woman; it is arrogance in them to describe a man’s sensitiveness or tact or tenderness as ‘feminine.’ But also what poor, warped fragments of humanity most mere men and mere women must be to make the implications of that arrogance plausible. Marriage heals this. Jointly the two become fully human. ‘In the image of God created He them.’ Thus, by a paradox, this carnival of sexuality leads us out beyond our sexes.

• From A Grief Observed
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Photo by Giorgio Trovato via Unsplash

Today in the Mission Yearbook: October 2, 2023

CHRISTIANITY AND CAPITALISM DON'T GET US TO THE SAME PLACE - “Y’all responded a little better than I thought you would yesterday,” the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins told Synod School attendees, referring to a talk he delivered on whether some symbols belong in church. “So today I thought I’d talk about Christianity and capitalism.” ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Sunday, October 1, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

Ann Weems, Searching for Shalom

Application Question: What transitions are you experiencing today? How can you support others who are in transition?

Prayer: racious God, bless each of these volunteers, those arriving and those departing. For those on Team One, we pray for safe travels back home, and for help in transitioning back into normal daily life. Continue to speak to their hearts about the love and joy that they’ve experienced while in Africa, and give them the words to tell others of what they have seen and heard. For those on Team Two, we pray for the beginning of their adventure; grant them calm reassurance as they prepare to bring the gift of clean water to African villages. Help us all to remember that the cup is always filled in Your name. Amen.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO DON GIOVANNI CALABRIA, who had sent Lewis the Litany of Humility composed by Cardinal Merry del Val: On the danger of being too aware of global worries and of forgetting to help Christ in the people close at hand; on the dignity to which God raises human beings when they receive Holy Communion; and on Lewis’s besetting temptations against humility.

27 March 1948

I was glad to receive your letter—so full (as is your wont) of Charity.

Everywhere things are troubling and uneasy—wars and rumours of war: perhaps not the final hour but certainly times most evil.

Nevertheless, the Apostle again and again bids us ‘Rejoice’[Philippians 4:4].

Nature herself bids us do so, the very face of the earth being now renewed, after its own manner, at the start of Spring.

I believe that the men of this age (and among them you Father, and myself) think too much about the state of nations and the situation of the world. Does not the author of The Imitation warn us against involving ourselves too much with such things?

We are not kings, we are not senators. Let us beware lest, while we torture ourselves in vain about the state of Europe, we neglect either Verona or Oxford.

In the poor man who knocks at my door, in my ailing mother, in the young man who seeks my advice, the Lord Himself is present: therefore let us wash His feet.

I have always believed that Voltaire, infidel though he was, thought aright in that admonition of his to cultivate your own garden: likewise William Dunbar (the Scottish poet who flourished in the 15th century) when he said

Man, please thy Maker and be merry;

This whole world rate we at a penny!

Tomorrow we shall celebrate the glorious Resurrection of Christ. I shall be remembering you in the Holy Communion. Away with tears and fears and troubles! United in wedlock with the eternal Godhead Itself, our nature ascends into the Heaven of Heavens. So it would be impious to call ourselves ‘miserable’. On the contrary, Man is a creature whom the Angels—were they capable of envy—would envy. Let us lift up our hearts! ‘At some future time perhaps even these things it will be a joy to recall.’ [Virgil, Aeneid, I, 203]

For the Litany composed by Cardinal Merry many thanks. You did not know, did you, that all the temptations against which he pours forth these prayers I have long been exceeding conscious of ? [From the longing to be thought well of, deliver me, Jesus, . . . from the fear of being rejected, deliver me, Jesus, . . . ] Touché, you pink me!

Let us pray for each other always. Farewell.

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

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

PCUSA Image

Today in the Mission Yearbook: October 1, 2023

WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY/PEACE & GLOBAL WITNESS OFFERING - “God, you are with me.” What a powerful statement of faith that is!

The psalmist says that even though we walk through “the darkest valley,” we fear no evil, or, as the King James Version of the Bible reminds us, “the valley of the shadow of death.”

The shadow represents the uncertainty in our lives ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.