Month: July 2017

Women at Worship

 

By Loretta Fulton

In her signature high-energy style, Felicia Hopkins captivated an all-woman congregation July 26 in the second of three special mid-week services Hopkins is hosting this summer at the church she pastors, St. Paul United Methodist.

The final installment will begin at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30 at the church. The services, which include a sermon by Hopkins, special musical presentations and congregational singing, are for all women of the community, regardless of denominational affiliation. Refreshments will be served after the service. (more…)

Service Center Celebrates 50 Years
Helping a client
Praying with clients
Christian Service Center new location Photos courtesy Christian Service Center

“Transforming Communities Through Empowerment & Love” will be the theme of a dinner Sept. 12 celebrating the 50th anniversary of Christian Service Center.

StarParker

Featured speaker Star Parker

Star Parker, founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), will be guest speaker. The event will begin at 6 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Abilene Convention Center.

Table sponsorships are available. Individual tickets are $50. Call 673-7531 or email Karen Dansby at kdansby@cscabilene.org for ticket availability. (more…)

Look Around You

chipmunk at Peyto Lake - cropped

Editor’s Note: Cliff Stewart, pastor of First Central Presbyterian Church, graciously allowed me to share this photo and his comments. Cliff originally sent this to subscribers of his Cliff’s Notes email. He shot the photo while on vacation in Canada. 

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Cliff Stewart

From Cliff Stewart:

On our vacation in Canada I took a whole a lot of photos of massive beautiful mountains and lakes.

But I think my favorite photo is of this little chipmunk on a rock.

Reminds me of this wonderful prayer of Mother Teresa:

Lord, give me an open heart to find you everywhere, to glimpse the heavens enfolded in the bud, and experience eternity in the smallest act of love. Amen.

‘Sam: The Unexpected Prophet,’ Southern Hills’ VBS extravaganza
VBSElvis

A dashing, Elvis-like King Saul celebrates in a song and dance mash-up after being anointed Israel’s first king. The scene is from “Sam: The Unexpected Prophet,” a musical Vacation Bible School at Southern Hills Church of Christ. Photo courtesy Southern Hills Church of Christ

By Ryan Maloney
Children & Family Minister
Southern Hills Church of Christ

Political rancor, uncertain times, a leadership crisis, corruption… These themes are woven through the story of the biblical Samuel as well as trusting in the Lord, embracing His anointing and blessing others. 

We celebrate and discover how God works in unexpected ways through the life and times of 1 Samuel 1-16. A mix of song, dance…and flashing lights help all ages connect to stories that are often glossed over in homilies and flannel graph. 

All ages are invited to our free family Vacation Bible School Sunday-Tuesday, July 23-25. There is something for toddlers, teens and grandparents alike. 

 “Sam: The Unexpected Prophet”

July 23-25 

Southern Hills Church of Christ

3364 Buffalo Gap Road, Abilene

 6:30 – Family Experiences 

(self-guide tour through the building to experience food, crafts, petting zoo and games that reinforce the central story)

 7:30 – Sam: The Musical 

(one-third of the musical performed each night) 

Children must be accompanied by an adult, and all ages register at the door for safety. We also have a staffed nursery available for children under 2 years old. Children will receive a free DVD of the musical and a visit from our church a few weeks after VBS. 

 

Studying for the Life of the World

 

YaleDivinityWelcome

By Nathan Jowers

 

NathanJowers

Nathan Jowers

My name is Nathan Jowers. I’m a student of theology, studying Bible at Abilene Christian University. During the school year, I attend services at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Abilene. At the start of the summer I was near miraculously offered an internship that would have me flipping back and forth between work at a church and theological research at Yale Divinity School. I’ve been here six weeks.

When I walk through the low arches of Yale Divinity School, I am reminded of Luther and the theologians of old plodding through the halls of their respective monasteries with no more sense of the future than I have now. Arguments which must seem arcane to us were to them the objects of as much brooding as I give my own quibbles. As for those thoughts which still seem to shake the world, well, they existed side by side with wondering what’s for lunch.

I don’t mean to compare myself to Luther or any other great theologian—I am just a 19-year-old intern who’s read more Dr. Seuss than Karl Barth—I only mean to comment on the odd combination of abstract ideas, which seem to come to us either from an unnameable past or an eternal whenever, and the intense sense of time and location in which those ideas were formed. I have experienced here hard issues of violence, suffering, and the reconciliation of the world worked out over friendly lunches. Then the love between colleagues was as thick in the air as their swarm of struggling words. (more…)