Community I belong to a community. Webster has a variety of examples, one being “A group of people living together as a smaller social unit within a larger one, having interests in common.” In old French it can mean ‘public spirit’ or sharing a sense of place. The Praise and Worship Center has been the first place where I have been part of a whole, one of many searching to strengthen our faith, care about each other and improve

I was lucky enough to go on the recent pilgrimage to Assisi.  We held Sunday service on the hotel roof, which provided a picturesque view of the medieval city of Assisi barely two kilometers in the distance. As we sang, prayed, and even during our pastor’s insightful homily, I was drawn to gaze at the medieval city in the distance.  I was transfixed.  I was so moved during the service that I openly wept several times.  Very unlike me.

In God’s Own Time Are you patient when praying to our Lord about a request? Normally, I am not and want an answer as soon as possible! But Psalm 37:7 tells us:  Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.  REST!!!?? My friend from church, Judy Verbosky and I were in northern Kenya this fall and the village we were visiting, Gem, has suffered through a three-year drought. Their crops and livestock are dying, and they have no

When Do We See God? When do we see God, when is God available and we don’t see him.  This is my second or third reflection I have written for the newsletter, and perhaps I am seeing God working in my life a little more as time goes by. I think the first year I wrote was about fishing in remote Alaska.  Seeing God there was easy:  snowcapped mountains, picturesque river, big bears, eagles, and the pronounced cycle of

I am married to my wife Sylvia, and we have been married for 32 years.  We have a blended family of seven children, twenty grandchildren and four great grandchildren.  I am a retired firefighter and worked with the Mesa Fire Department for 31 years and had a successful career.  I have attended church at the Praise and Worship Center since we have been in our current building. I have two important ministries as a deacon.  One, I am one

Recently at the Praise and Worship Center (PWC) there was a continuing spiritual education program offered, called the School of Prayer. I was privileged and honored to attend all five sessions. It was especially meaningful because my focus word for the year 2021 was “prayer”. In a prior reflection (May 2022) I shared that in 2020 I began having a focus word and that the first one was “transformation”; but back to prayer. When I was led to choose

  C.S. Lewis told the story about his brother overhearing a woman on a bus.  As they drove by a church, which had a nativity in front of it, the woman on the bus said, “Oh My!  They bring religion into everything.  Look-they are even dragging it into Christmas.” This story is almost funny.  It’s a great reminder to us, as Christians, that we let Chrsitmas slip away from us.  Christmas now seems to belong to the stores, the

As I have been pondering for a few weeks about writing this, I set down this morning, and as I prayed dear Holy Spirit please help, and of course I have many things flashing in my head now. I know Christ is calling me to spread His gospel here and now.  I have been blessed to be the Deacon of Woman's Ministry.  Seeing the transformation of the ladies in our class is truly amazing, and I know in the past

“Give to your faithful Lord, a prayerful spirit of gratitude, that we may thank You for all of your gifts”, from intercessory prayers found in the liturgy of the hours in early November. As I pondered this prayer, I became more aware of the liturgical season of Advent we will be entering.  It seems we all put on a spirit of gratitude through Thanksgiving. Keeping it going beyond the season is sometimes difficult. The word gratitude and its derivatives appear

Morning A vermillion paradise arose. The advent of newborn colors, slowly ascending. It dabbed my world with the specter of the dawn. And flittered, first among the tall branches and slowly raised my hopes... Banishing away the dark shadows with rays of morning light, Burnishing a polished brightness that illuminated my soul’s “dark night.” A new actor arrived on stage to draw in the audience with a secret scene, That quiet hush, as I tried to hear, such a

River of Living Waters Recently while reading from one of my favorite daily devotionals, the passage “The River of Living Waters, touched me and I wanted to read more, understand this meaning and share this message in my reflection. In the Bible verse, John 7:38 (NIV) it states, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  By this he means the “Spirit” whom those who believed in him were later

The Season of Grief The season of grief is long and hard to carry…there is no timeline, no map, no check list on how to navigate through…and just when you think you have found your breath again, something else catches you off guard and you are back to being raw, weak, and completely unsure of your steps. In January, it will be three years since I witnessed Father Dale guide my sweet husband into heaven.  I felt like he

Healing a Broken Heart At the time I am writing this, the group that went on a pilgrimage to Italy have been home for a few days, and I have spent a lot of time reflecting on what I experienced and what I learned about myself. I had a God moment that I would like to share with you, but first a little background as to why this moment was so powerful. When Father Dale baptized me in August

Friendship and Faith I spent many years digging deep into the theoretical aspects of Christian belief. Fortunately, my steadily increasing age finally rescued me from this pursuit. My enthusiasm for somewhat detached intellectual considerations decreased in direct proportion to the number of candles I had on my birthday cake. Instead, I found my faith in the midst of real life and real people. Births and deaths, triumphs and tragedies, and the relentless passing of time taught me more than

What Faith Can Do At one of our God and Coffee events at church we were having discussion about what was going on in our world. There were a lot of negativity and people were losing hope in humanity for all the chaos that was happening. When I shared an unfamiliar perspective, Father Dale commented I have a Pollyanna look at life. People laughed and I had no clue what the statement meant.  So, I went and looked it

Purpose in Life Everyone has a purpose in life, a ministry. We may be searching for it or in the middle of it. I recognize when I’m in the middle of my purpose, I feel I’m where I’m meant to be, by the sense of clarity, connection, and passion for what I am doing. I often tell others my greatest purpose in life is to be a mother to my boys, they are my greatest achievement. Ministry for me

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.  Hebrews 12:1 I grew up going to church every Sunday but as a child and young teen, I never truly understood the love of God, or even what having a relationship with Him looked like. I was a high-level athlete focused

An Old Belt My brother called from Seattle, Washington the other day, laughing so hard I could not imagine what was so funny! It seems he was working on a project around the house and needed to put on his work belt that had not been used for several years. You guessed it, the belt missed closing by four inches, which he thought was pretty funny and a little embarrassing. At that moment I decided I should check to see

Most of us are not very good when it come to prayer. Even those of us in the “God Biz” still struggle with knowing what prayer is and struggle with praying. As a child, prayer was easy enough to do at night by kneeling on the side of the bed. As a teen, I did not have a clue about prayer except to say a prayer before a big test in school. In the seminary, prayer was very routine:

The Field of Dreams One of my favorite movies of all time is “The Field of Dreams.” It is a story of a man named Ray who hears a voice as he is walking through his cornfield that says, “If you build it, he will come.” Ray decides to listen to the voice and builds a baseball field in the middle of Iowa and the adventure begins. In the movie he begins a journey that leads him to reconcile

I can do it myself! That has been my governing philosophy for nearly my entire adult life.   Only in the last couple of years have I begun to realize how untrue that statement is.  In fact, my pride resulted in my obdurate refusal to see God’s love for me coming through others.  But pride leads us the wrong direction (Proverbs 26:12 NAB). I am an intensely private person; slow to open up and often perceived as aloof.  In my

In a world full of hate Be a light. When you do somebody wrong Make it right. Don’t hide in the dark you were born to shine. In a world full of hate Be a light. These lyrics are so simple.  Are you a light?  How do people see you? Positive, happy, and joyful? I think PWC is a perfect example of all of us being a light. The energy, love and acceptance  we all feel when we walk

This is the third reflection I have written and for some reason the most difficult. In the past when I was asked to write a reflection it seemed I always had a theme or idea that I wanted to write about. This time nothing, and the more effort I put into it the more distant the words and ideas became. I imagine those who know me probably feel this is normal operating procedure for me. At first, I was

It is an honor to share thoughts with the PWC community, which is such an integral part of my life. Over the years I have watched the spirit move and change lives in the community, including mine. I remember the day I felt drawn to the fledgling community that was born out of brokenness within the body from our previous community. I called FD for a lunch meeting, and he graciously accepted. As we ate, I shared with him

The Power of Prayer After "failing" at retiring, I decided to look for a part-time job that would help keep my mind sharp. Yet, one that would also help others. I found that perfect job over three years ago at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport. Three days a week, I work behind the information desks and get to calm passengers down and point them in the right direction. Most people are nice. A few can be bullying and abrasive! Many