The Twelve Days of Christmas begins on Christmas Day, the birth of Jesus Christ and goes to the Epiphany, the acknowledgment by the magi that Jesus Christ is the Savior, Son of God.
Our classic twelve days song is theorized to have a fundamental relationship to the religious based twelve days of Christmas in the following manner:
Partridge in a Pear Tree – Jesus Christ;
Two Turtle Doves – The Old and New Testaments;
Three French Hens – The three virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity;
Four Calling Birds – Four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John;
Five Golden Rings – First five books of the Old Testament;
Six Geese-a-Laying – Six days of creation before God’s rest on the seventh day;
Seven Swans-a-Swimming – Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit;
Eight Maids-a-Milking – Eight Beatitudes;
Nine Ladies Dancing – Nine fruits of the Holy Spirit;
Ten Lords-a-Leaping – Ten Commandments;
Eleven Pipers Piping – Eleven faithful disciples;
Twelve Drummers Drumming – Twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.
Spirit of Peace Celebrates Thanksgiving Day Environment Preparation Volunteers
There is so much to do in order to organize and present a successful event!
Spirit of Peace is blessed to have helpful volunteers generous with time, energy and other resources. We do our best to show our appreciation for our fantastic generous volunteers.
Some of the environment volunteers are pictured here.
We Love Our Volunteers
Spirit of Peace celebrates and thanks every one of you!
Peace and Joy! Pastors Michael and Cathy Hanus
PrayerMay the Lord extend His infinite love and assistance to all people affected by Hurricane Michael and its aftermath.
LCMC 2018 GatheringDiscussion
Presentation
Meditation Practices
Inhale Courage
Exhale Fear
Sugar added to our diets
Americans seem susceptible to anything with sugar added. Steve Darland, see Feature article about Balsamic Vinegar
Vitamin Deficiency
Spinach Greens Blend Salad
Meal
Salad
Greens, Spinach, Mizuna, Chard, Kale
Goat cheese
Hearts of Palm
Artichoke Hearts
Garden Red Cherry Tomato
Hemp Hearts, raw, shelled, hemp seeds
CRaisins, infused with Cherry juice
Salad Dressing, Balsamic Vinegar,
NB: check your Balsam! see https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradjaphe/2018/08/20/everything-you-never-knew-you-needed-to-know-about-balsamic-vinegar/#40b0812e49b3
Meat
Fresh Tuna
Vegetable
Spaghetti Squash
Spaghetti Squash
Beverage
Blueberry Passion Smoothie
1 cup Homemade Greek yogurt
1 cup Fresh Garden Blueberries
1 Garden Delicious Apple
1 Organic Orange Citrus, fruit, rind, no peel
add Ice to suit
Double blended
Dessert
Red Table Grapes
Closing PrayerKindness
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law,” Galatians 5: 22-23.
Pray that you and your community will be filled with and known for kindness and compassion.
Father, I desire to display the fruit of kindness, yet sometimes I don’t know how to do so. Through Your Holy Spirit, please grow this fruit in me until it overflows into the lives around me. Prompt me with practical ideas to reach out and offer Your loving-kindness to those around me every day. When I am the one in need, help me to humbly open the door and allow the kindness of others into my life. Begin a movement of kindness in my community that catches and spreads. May we show kindness, not for recognition or a good feeling, but quietly, out of love and appreciation for the kindness You have shown us. Show us this week who needs a smile, a gesture, or a helping hand. Give us courage to act and not to expect anything in return. Amen.
Loving God, bless all those gathered here today as we come together in friendship and fellowship.
Thank you for the blessings of our individual and collective God-given gifts.
Place in our hearts the desire to make a difference to our families, to our community, to our country, and to the many cultures and peoples worldwide.
Give us balance in times of distraction and uncertainty.
Help us move towards our goals with determination and always with an abundant sense of humor.
Thank you for food in a world where many know only hunger; For our faith in a world where many know fear; For friends in a world where many know only loneliness.
Please bless this food we are about to share, those who prepared it, those who serve it, and those who have worked to make today the special occasion that it is.
A woman struggles to keep her faith and family intact after her husband is diagnosed with stage three brain cancer.
This Day Forward (2018)
Come visit with Pastor Michael as he leads us on an “mmm” movie meet-up, meal and mingling adventure in the missional community. This meet-up will take us to a special showing of a movie release prior to its west coast premier scheduled for this upcoming November. We will have a live opportunity to meet members of the cast and family story the movie was written about.
Pastor Michael invites youth and adults to accompany him to movie theaters in the community for movie viewing, light meals, fellowship and lively discussion.
Dinner and a Movie at the Theater
“MMM”s: movie meet-ups, meals and mingling are a great way to enjoy the passing of time, energize our spirits and enjoy life.
If you have an interest in this activity in the missional community, please contact us at: Spirit.Peace@outlook.com
We may fear that being in touch with our feelings will trigger an overwhelming chain reaction of pain and panic. Page 279.
No Fear
Basic Text, p.30. A common complaint about the Fourth Step is that it makes us painfully conscious of our defects of character. We may be tempted to falter in our program of recovery. Through surrender and acceptance, we can find the resources we need to keep working the steps.
It is not the awareness of our defects that causes the most agony, it is the defects themselves. When we were using, all we felt was the drugs; we could ignore the suffering our defects were causing us. Now that the drugs are gone, we feel that pain. Refusing to acknowledge the source of our anguish does not make it go away; denial protects the pain and makes it stronger. The Twelve Steps help us deal with the misery caused by our defects by dealing directly with the defects themselves.
If we hurt from the pain of our defects, we can remind ourselves of the nightmare of addiction, a nightmare from which we now awaken. We can recall the hope for release the Second Step gave us. We can again turn our will and our lives over, through the Third Step, to the care of the God of our understanding. Our Higher Power cares for us by giving us the help we need to work the rest of the Twelve Steps. We do not have to fear our feelings. Just for today, we can continue in our recovery.
Just for Today: I will not be afraid of my feelings. With the help of my Higher Power, I will continue in my recovery. – (c) 2018. NA World Services.
Step Two. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Step Three. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Step Four. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Fear
Blue October
All my life
Been running from a pain in me
A feeling I don’t understand
Holding me down
So rain on me
Underwater
All I am, getting harder
A heavy weight
I carry around
Today
I don’t have to fall apart
I don’t have to be afraid
I don’t have to let the damage
Consume me,
My shadow see through me.
