Missions to the west

I have been s l o w l y reading through this book over the course of the summer. Hopefully I can finish it in the next half hour or so, so I can watch the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Ok, Ok. Even if I don't finish the book, I'm watching the Olympics.

Anyway, I thought this was thought-provoking:

"The non-Western church is now seeing the spiritual needs of the West, and non-Western nations are now sending missionaries to the United States. [There are] several African, Asian, and Latin American missionaries to the United States. These [are] individuals who [have] been commissioned by  non-Western churches to bring the gospel to non-Christians in the United States. Unfortunately, because of financial constraints, most non-Western missionaries will serve churches among their own immigrant communities or among the urban poor. Culturally, the gulf between a non-Western missionary and white Americans is significant. These non-Western missionaries, therefore,  have little or no effect upon the most spiritually needy population in the United States: the middle and upper-middle class, suburban white American."




Page 192

Holding Cross - a bookmark

For graduation, my school sent me a Holding Cross. I am in cleaning mode and would like to throw away all of the packaging and information about it...but would like to keep the content. Hence the shameless posting of it on here. A bookmark of sorts.

Here's a picture, to keep you interested:

I just recently became an Instragram type of person. Fancy.

Even as I'm typing this out, I'm seeing that a lot of the information can be found online. Score. That saves me a lot of typing. Here is the Holding Cross website.

Isaiah 61:1 was our class verse:
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound..."

Also included were some things to get you started in prayer....I will just put the headlines, and then someday when I am looking for them, I will google them...or click on the link (clearly this post has no plan whatsoever!). The last prayer I couldn't find anywhere, so I just typed it.

Micah 6:8

Prayer for the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit

A Collect or Short Prayer for the Renewal of Life

A Collect or Short Prayer for Purity

Psalm 19:14

Luke 11:2-4

A Prayer of Renewal using the Five R's

Jesus, I Repent of my sins that I have done (be specific) and those left undone (be specific). I am sorry and ask for your forgiveness.

Jesus, I Renounce the things in my life that block your love from coming into my life and accepting you totally and completely as Lord of my life. I renounce (be specific) Lord, I willingly give up any power they have over my life.

Jesus, I Receive you as my Lord and Savior. Please come into my life; be my Lord and be my Savior. I give you my life, my work, my family, my recreation. I give you all of me.

Jesus, Release you Holy Spirit in me to guide me in all truth, all wisdom, all understanding and in all my ways. I give you, Holy Spirit, all power to set me free to live my life for Christ. Empower me and fill me.

Father, I now Rejoice giving you the glory for what you have done, what you are doing, and what you will do in me. I thank you for your favor and faithfulness to love me even when I am unloveable. Thank you, Lord, for saving me. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen

Looking ahead

As you may or may not remember, I am terrible when it comes to blogging in Summer. Perhaps you also remember that I spend a lot of Summer dreaming about Fall, Winter, and Spring. Anyway, today is no different, and here I sit getting excited for the Christmas Markets that are close by, coming in November.

This year Pittsburgh is going to have a holiday market in Market Square. I am super excited. First annual. From November 24-December 23. Every day! Come visit us, people. We'll go to the Pittsburgh Christmas Market. Here are some pictures of Market Square in the summer. Just picture it being winter and you'll get the idea. Also, there will be Christmas decor and vendors selling Christmassy things. And ice skating.

Secondly, the Toronto Christmas Market. We failed to go last year, due to scheduling conflict, but this year we will try, try again!  We have a smaller window (every day from November 30-December 16), and a little bit further to drive, but it just looks so lovely. Ahhhh. If you come visit us then, bring your passport! Here are some pictures of Toronto's Distillery District in Spring. Like before, just imagine it being Winter, and you'll get the idea. Or just watch the video, and prepare to get your heart warmed.

(Ok, this is not the Distillery District, it's Nathan Phillips Square, where ice skating takes place. But the following pictures are where the Christmas Market is)

And here is the video. I think I've posted it a few other times on this blog...but in case you missed it (it should work in your reader just fine...but if you are watching it straight from the blog it is better to watch it on youtube, to get the whole picture).