Ordinary Stories for Ordinary Time - Sarah Hughes

Church Family -

What a wonderful weekend we had Roughing it with Redeemer these past two nights. Thank you to everyone who planned and participated in this church retreat. It was a joy to be together. For those of you who were unable to join us, we missed you and prayed for you this morning.

At church today, we considered Psalm 134 and how in light of the way that we have been blessed by God, we are able to live lives blessing Him in reply. These lives of response are our 'Ordinary Stories' and below is a link to the next one. We pray that you will enjoy it, be encouraged by it and challenged to consider how you too can Participate with Christ in the Redemption of All Things.

In the love of Christ,

ford

Sitting with Jesus - Weekly Prayer for the week of August 24th

Church –

Below is our prayer for our church this week. It is a prayer asking the Lord to allow our unity to show forth His power. What a fitting prayer in light of our sermon yesterday from Psalm 133. How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity. I pray that this prayer will be helpful as you Sit with Jesus this week.

The Sunday closest to August 24

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Also, I wanted to include the Prayer for Unity from our Prayer Book that we prayed yesterday at church together.

For the Unity of the Church

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sitting with Jesus - Weekly Prayer for the week of August 17th

Redeemer –

As Barney reminded us last night from Psalm 131, it is good for us to calm and quiet ourselves before the Lord. This is why we encourage the church each day to take time to Sit with Jesus. It is in these moments of stillness and quiet in the presence of God that we learn to listen to His voice, discover our true selves and find our ability to trust and hope in Him.

Below is the prayer for the church this week. I pray that it might help you find a few moments of quiet and stillness with your Lord today.

The Sunday closest to August 17

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of this redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Ordinary Stories for Ordinary Time - Jared Korver

Church –

Below is a link to another 'Ordinary Story' of Redeemer. This week we have the privilege of hearing from Jared Korver, who serves the Lord in his ordinary life by helping people better understand their use of finances and how they can use their finances to serve the Lord. By the way - on top of all of this, he also serves the Lord by being a faithful husband to his wife, Amy, and a loving (new) father to his son, Miles.

Enjoy this story of how our church is participating with Christ in the Redemption of All Things.

https://drive.google.com/a/redeemerraleigh.org/file/d/0Bz7twXcixZyfUUhIczUyTS11UlU/edit

From Rwanda: Team Gratitude

It’s the last night of the trip. The Team scattered to pack up for the 30-hour trip ahead of us. We’re absolutely exhausted and inexpressibly glad for all we’ve seen God do this week.
Will just led us with his signature straight-forward, compelling honesty in a devotion about returning to the States with courage to tell about God’s works and to keep seeking him and serving him.

Then, to cap things off, we created the list below, attempting to list as many things we as we could that we were grateful for. We could have gone a lot longer, but here’s the top of the list.
Enjoy! See you on American soil! Yesu ashimwe! (Jesus be praised!)

•     this team
•     hospitality of the Rwandans
•     intentional team discussions
•     team devotions
•     answered prayers for Clementine to obtain a job
•     prayer request book at the cell group
•     Pastor Alfred, his family, and their testimony
•     Jennifer & Claire who served us meals
•     honesty and openness of prayer requests
•     prayer ministry with Gikomero
•     Pastor Prosper
•     leadership of Curt and Eric and Teresa
•     seeing and meeting our compassion children
•     P-A-U-L
•     the children and families thirst for knowledge of God
•     simplicity of life
•     Eugenie
•     Kigali Genocide Memorial
•     living for the sake of others
•     mosquito nets
•     Claudine
•     open windows
•     health
•     Rev Gasana
•     tiny bananas
•     charades
•     Pastor Joseph
•     12 days of good weather
•     breakfast soup
•     nutella
•     running
•     sunsets and sunrises
•     renewal of the Wilson’s wedding vows
•     raptor attack
•     Bishop Kalimba’s testimonies
•     Healthy Mums
•     hot water
•     Celestine
•     our amazing finance keeper Taylor
•     prompted to pray and anoint people
•     Prince of Peace
•     catching up with old friends // being treated like an old friend
•     being prayed for
•     dancing with church choirs
•     fiber gummies
•     baby powder
•     bananagrams
•     instant coffee
•     cabbage spaghetti sauce
•     seeing God at work

From Rwanda: Bishop Jared

“I could be a great Christian if I lived in Rwanda.”

These were my words the other night at dinner.  

Today our group was privileged to spend the day with Bishop Jared Kalimba.    He is captivating.    Truly, captivating.  First of all, the manner in which he speaks English with a beautiful Kinyarwanda accent is mesmorizing.  He was present during the genocide and is one of the few elders that remain in the community.   A whole generation is an entrepreneur.  But what was most impressive is how every word spoken goes back to serving Jesus.  

Sitting with Jesus - Prayer for the week of July 27th

Church –

I pray that Psalm 127 will bring each of you a new perspective on both your family and your work this week. Remember to consider how your daily work is a participation in the work that the Lord is doing here on earth. If you have questions about how this is true for your particular situation, I would enjoy an opportunity to sit down and discuss it with you. Please let me know if that would be of interest.

Below is a prayer for this week. I pray that it will encourage you as you Sit with Jesus.

The Sunday closest to July 27

O god, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Ford

Ordinary Stories for Ordinary Time - Tracy Vazquez

Church -

Last week we introduced Ordinary Stories for Ordinary Time. Over the next several months we hope to send out a new story every couple of weeks so that we are encouraging one another with the ways in which the people of Redeemer are Participating with Christ in the Redemption of All Things.

Follow this link to the Ordinary Story of Tracy Vazquez. It's an encouraging story of how Tracy is using her passion for fashion to encourage girls towards the godly value of modesty. This is a message that they may not hear anywhere else. Thank you, Tracy, for living out your faith this way and for encouraging us with your story!

From Rwanda: Time with Compassion Children

This morning we met our Compassion children that we sponsor.  As the children were all playing together, I noticed a verse on the back of their t-shirts.  The verse was in Kinyarwanda but I was able to decipher that it was from Luke 2:52.  At the first available opportunity, I looked up the verse.

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
”

— Luke 2:52

This verse perfectly captures my prayer for my sponsored child, Justine, as well as the others with whom we spent the morning with.  I invite those of you with children you’ve sponsored through Compassion International to pray the same for your sponsored child.    

From Rwanda: The Power of God

Blessed are those who consider the poor!    --Psalm 41: 1

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow  put into small copper coins.  And he said, “Truly, I tell you this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

I had a special privilege of witnessing the power of God’s Word in Psalm 41: 1 and Luke 21: 1-4 on Saturday and Sunday at COTA Church of Gikomero.  Our brothers and sisters, living in severe poverty, are giving out of their poverty to rebuild their new church which fell down.  

Saturday we saw the new strong foundation.  Pastor Alfred shared he is giving the funds received for his greatly needed motorbike to the construction of Gikomero’s new church.  Sunday a collection was received for the rebuilding of the new church.  A member brought forward a bag of vegetables, this was all they had to offer.  These were sold and funds used for the church.  One of our Interpreters was so moved by the love for Christ church, he promised to donate five 50 lb. bags of cement.  The congregation was thrilled with this precious gift!  

God desires us to love others as He loves us with a love we do not deserve!  Pastor Alfred and our brothers and sisters of Gikomero are loving others well!  They are sacrificing all they have for the sake of the gospel through the reconstruction of their new church and sharing the gospel within their community.  I am challenged to be more attentive and eager in seeking God’s will as He speaks to my heart in regard to making sacrifices to further His kingdom.

God gave me a beautiful gift on Tuesday as we toured the Shyogwe Diocese projects.  As we entered the Mother’s Union Vocational Sewing Class, I heard a young girl call my name as she jumped out of her seat and ran into my arms.  I looked into her face, and saw Belise, our Compassion child!  We sat together holding hands during the team’s visit.  My heart was overflowing with love for Belise and praise to God for this wonderful, wonderful surprise!  What a blessing it was to tell her I would visit with her on Thursday at the Compassion Project!  Claudine, director of the Mother’s Union, told me Belise is a very good student and will graduate in October.  I am very proud of Belise and grateful to the Mother’s Union for educating the young girls with the skill of sewing.  The Diocese’s desire is to have the opportunity to give each girl a sewing machine at the time of their Graduation, so they are able to work at home and help provide an income.  Currently the funds for these sewing machines aren’t available.  I pray the funds will become available.  As our brothers and sisters say, “God will provide.”

- Teresa Kincaid