First Christian Church

03/31/2024

Inviting you to First Christian Church Disciples of Christ this morning for our Easter service. 10:30AM. Easter blessings to all.

01/16/2024

Room at the Inn-We need help with set up (5-6 pm) and clean up (7-8 am) each day we are open.

01/13/2024

01/13/2024

Copied from a personal post:
Who are my male friends that don’t give a RATS PATOOTIE about this ball game tonight?

We are lacking one male volunteer for Room at the Inn Randolph County MO from 6 to 12:30 PM.

Never fear, you don’t need any training! You’ll be there with myself(Paula)and another lovely lady. We know the ropes so you don’t have to!

01/13/2024

First Christian Church Disciples of Christ will not hold any Sunday School or Church services this Sunday, January 14th, 2024 due to poor road conditions and serious low temperatures. The Warming Center is open for those without shelter during this weather.

03/27/2023

Community Good Friday Service will be held at Central Christian Church on April 7th at 6:00p.m.

03/27/2023

FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT

Scripture Luke 8:1-15

This parable of the seeds and the soil is not only a lesson in hearing, holding onto and taking in the Word of God, but a lesson for life. This is a parable that can be applied to many areas of your life where advice is given and perhaps change may or may not be desired. Healing and helpful messages cross our paths everyday through books, people, sermons, and all kinds of situations. At the time, we may or may not be ready to accept what we hear. It may fall on inattentive ears — on rocky ground or we may accept what we hear and change forever.

We may only read one chapter in a book but go back months or even years later to read the rest of the book when we are ready to receive the message and carry it with us, let it change us and embody the message. The words land on good soil at different times.

People living with a substance use disorder come to mind when I think of soil not being ready. They may hear the truth for freedom over and over and that seed of freedom from addiction gets trampled, falls on the rocky soil, gets choked out by thorns and maybe the seed of freedom falls on the uninhabitable soil. Each hearing or desire for freedom may loosen the soil just a bit. The seed may fall in one of those spots, and then, by grace, the person’s soil is ready to accept their freedom. The seed sprouts, and the lifegiving message becomes the roots for future growth.

No soil has to remain unchanged. It can shift from rocky soil to soil that supports life. Unfortunately, it can also be soil that you think is healthy but doesn’t end up holding onto the seed. As Wilcox points out, “Probably the disciples think that they are in the final category but, in fact, when the time of testing comes, they scatter! ...In the end, it is the women who embody the good soil, holding the word of God in their hearts and bearing fruit ‘with patient endurance.’”

CHALLENGE: Be honest with yourself, how prepared is your soil for a truth, a word, that God will send you that may change your life? Can you take action to be more receptive to hearing God’s truth? What can you do to remove the rocks, thorns, and make clear the path for the seed to fall and to be received?

PRAYER: God of all Seeds of Change, may we have strength and insight to do the work to have good soil to accept your words of change. May we hear and receive your words of change no matter how they are delivered. Amen.

03/27/2023

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

John 11:17-35



Can you imagine believing that Jesus can heal your brother, sending word to Jesus that your brother is sick. Jesus doesn’t come immediately. You feel anxious waiting and confused about the hold up. You keep waiting, nursing your brother but Jesus doesn’t get to your family in time. Your brother dies. Your anxiety and confusion turns to anger. You don’t understand why Jesus didn’t get there on time. Then your anger becomes devastation and heartbreak.



Stoic Martha, weeping Mary, they both were feeling the same way — betrayed. Why didn’t you get here in time to heal our brother?



They never thought that Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life was an option. Healing was their only hope, they thought. But their only hope became their minimal hope. Jesus gave them a hope they never knew existed — life after death for Lazarus. A family restored.



There is hope. Mourn and cry and get angry and do all the things you know to do and wait with hope for the restoration that Jesus brings. The restoration that comes in a way that you will not expect.



CHALLENGE: As you prepare for Easter and reflect during Lent, decide to bring new hope to a situation in your life that you have deemed hopeless. Who or what is your dead Lazarus? (A damaging addiction, mending a broken relationship, feeling whole again after a divorce, healing after a traumatic medical incident, getting free from debt).



PRAYER: God of Restoring Hope, help us to see our lives in a new light of your presence and know that our answers are not always the only solutions to our Lazarus problems. May we wait patiently or impatiently, but may we wait knowing You have a solution that will be revealed, but it may take a stone being rolled away to be able to see it. May we believe that there could be a hope we don’t even know exists. Amen.

03/27/2023

THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT

John 4:7-15

There is so much going on in this scripture and so many issues that pastors and teachers focus on when they preach and teach from this passage. I appreciate the subtle issues that Wilcox reminds us of — Jesus was the foreigner in this situation and they both bring not only their own history and personhoods, but Jesus and the Woman at the well bring all their ancestral histories with them to the well — to the conversation — to the interaction. Their first impressions are based on what they already know about their ancestral history. Good and bad and indifferent.



We do this every day. We make assumptions about the people we meet based on what we think we may know about their history.



Even more importantly, we come to each interaction with our own histories, our sadness and rejection from our “five husbands.” And we make our own assumptions about how the other person will accept or reject us and react to them accordingly.



Can we come to the wells in our lives and throw those assumptions about ourselves and others into the well and start fresh? Or are the assumptions an important place to start the conversation and prove our ability to extend grace to each other? We can look beyond the assumptions while still honoring the history and experiences that have made us.



Jesus knew the ancestral history and personal history of the Woman at the well and didn’t ignore it. He knew that she was worth the “Living Water” and offered it to her. He knew who she was and the difficult life she had — none of which would squelch the Divine inside of her.



Jesus came to this earth for us — Divinity in us by His actions.



CHALLENGE: This week be aware of what history you bring to interactions with people and what assumptions may cloud your ability to see the Divine in others. Take a few seconds to remind yourself of the presence of the Divine in each person you meet. AND remind yourself daily of the Divine in YOU.



PRAYER: Divine Among Us, May we be aware of our own history that we bring to interactions each day and remember that others bring their histories too. May we put our assumptions aside and see the Divine in each other. Allow this to be a reminder that Jesus is with us in our histories and in our present offers us healing, soothing Living Water from the well. Amen.

03/27/2023

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

Mark 12:38-44



In today's scripture, Jesus watches a widow give all she has at the temple. What good would it have done for the widow to give more than she had? That’s an absurd question — if she only had two coins, she could only give two coins.



The same is true for us emotionally, physically, mentally, and financially — if we give more than we have then we put ourselves in the negative and are no good to anyone. So why do we always expect ourselves to give more than we can or give as much as the next person?



There are seasons in our lives when we can give more and others when we can give less. This is true financially as demonstrated by the widow, but this is also true in other areas of our lives. Sometimes we can give of ourselves to help at church, in the community, be an advocate and a caregiver for loved ones. Sometimes we only have enough mental, physical, and emotional energy and strength to teach our Sunday school class and raise our children.



The widow’s coins were all she had to give and she gave it all. When we give what we are able with thoughtfulness, care, and dedication, it is always enough for God.



How do you gauge what you can give financially, emotionally, mentally, physically? Did you have a system to check in with yourself before you give beyond depletion?



For Ash Wednesday, you were challenged to let go of something that you use to numb yourself — to escape. With that numbing practice removed, is there more time and energy in your life to give to others or to yourself? Is there more time to spend in reflection and preparation for Lent?



When you have an opportunity to give and you have control over what you give, reflect on the widow — she had no choice but to only give what she had. Only give what you have.



CHALLENGE: In order to prepare, be aware, and not give more than you have, take time this week to do a quick inventory of your life. Are there areas where you give too much and need to cut back? Is there an area where you feel you can give more but haven’t been because you’ve been using that time to numb out? Decide to take one small step to give what you can in an area — by giving more or less — and stay in balance. Use these changes as a way to prepare for Lent.



PRAYER: Giving God may You help us recognize when we only have ‘two coins’ to give and not force ourselves to find a way to give more. May we remember that what we have to give is enough. May our ways of finding balance be a way of preparing during this time of Lent. Amen.

03/27/2023

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

Matthew 4:1-11

It’s hard to fast from power. Fasting from food or drink is much easier, even though our lives depend on those things.

Our world is mesmerized by power. We find leaders of nations large and small, rich and poor, grabbing and keeping as much power as they can. We see people gravitate to the powerful for what they can do for them or in the hopes that they will gain some of that power for their own use.

Power can derail the mission and vision of a people, a nation, a faithful group of believers, a family.

The example of Jesus in this scripture is a reminder that staying focused on the mission and vision is important especially when provoked to use power for one’s own needs. The temptation to deploy power in a situation is hard to resist. Power helps us get what we need. It keeps us safe, or at least we think it does. It’s something we spend years achieving.

In the wilderness, thirsty, tired and hungry, we are more likely to use our power in ways that benefit ourselves rather than in support of loving God and our neighbors. Our “power over” nature dominates our “power with” efforts when we feel threatened or challenged.

The temptation to demonstrate just how powerful we are often comes out of a sense of entitlement. Rather than show the power of God when tempted, Jesus declined and stayed focused on the life and work ahead of him, to continue to love, heal and teach.

CHALLENGE: Pay attention this week to where you are using your power. Ask yourself what vision that power supports.



PRAYER: Divine love and power, help me to lean into the vision Jesus offers to us. May I see your way more clearly even as my own power dims my view. Amen.