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.

In the News ... UPDATED: Lubbock area Lent and Easter services"

• What’s going on in area churches

Staff Report
• Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - From the Avalanche-Journal, news of Lent and Easter services and activities at houses of faith in Lubbock and across the South Plains. Does your church have a service we're missing? Let us know by emailing the A-J newsroom at newmedia@lubbockonline.com ...

 • Read the rest of this LAJ report ...

From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “Help More People Like Us”

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 Photos

Friday Story: “Help More People Like Us”

Irene is a 29-year-old woman in South Africa. She was born with a disability, which could often a source of shame for her when she was younger. Due to lingering superstitions and misconceptions, some members of the community saw disability as a curse, leading them to shun her.

“Life has been hard,” she confessed, “and is still hard, but I keep on going.”

Without mobility, Irene would often be confined to her home ...

• Read the rest of this story ...

In the News ... "What to know about ordination of Bishop-elect Anthony C. Celino in El Paso"

Photo courtesy Catholic Diocese of El Paso

• Ordination mass is TODAY at St. Patrick Cathedral, can be viewed via simulcast

By Maria Cortes Gonzalez, Reporter
• El Paso Times

EL PASO, TEXAS - Bishop-elect Anthony C. Celino will have his episcopal ordination Friday at St. Patrick Cathedral. He will be the first auxiliary bishop for the El Paso Catholic Diocese in its 109-year history. He is the third bishop in the United States of Filipino descent ...

• Read the rest of this EPT report ...

In the News ... “American Legion to host 'Hope for the Homeless' event on April 3"

• Hope Alive Church and the West Texas Food Bank will both be at the event to help provide food to the homeless

Staff Report • KWES-TV

ODESSA TEXAS - American Legion Post 430 in Odesdsa will be hosting 'Hope for the Homeless' on April 3 ...

 • Read/watch the rest of this KWES report ...