The HeBrews Blog
The High School Youth Ministry for First Presbyterian Church of Salina, Kansas
Do you play a musical instrument or sing? If so, we would love for you to share your music in worship on a Sunday morning or Wednesday evening. These musical gifts are given to you by God, and sharing them in worship is a great way to make an offering to God and to help our community to worship together. Plus, you don't need to be a virtuoso or some musical genius! Psalm 100 says "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!" It's not about the quality of the music - it's about us being faithful and joyful in our worship. The minute we start to worry about being perfect is the minute we think that worship is dependent upon us, rather than an offering we make in gratitude for God's love and grace. :-) Please let me know if you are interested in helping out somehow on a Sunday morning or at Midweek Manna on Wednesday evenings. Our Director of Music, Dr. Richard Koshgarian, can craft music to meet your instrument and ability level - whether that be in accompanying the choir or praise team, or in performing a solo or group piece with your friends. Plus, I would love to have informal jam sessions at the church sometime. I'll bring my viola and my voice if you're interested! Email, text, or talk to me with any questions or if you're interested! ~Pastor Keith
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This morning at Mokas, we talked about three of the Word Teasers: "Word," "sermon," and "obey." I'll focus on "Word" for our blog discussion today. I hope you'll think about adding a comment below with a question, or something that really stuck out to you, or something you didn't agree with. Let's continue and deepen the conversation! "Word" is a word that has more than one meaning for us. It can mean the Bible - words that faithful people have written down through the ages after being inspired by God. These people wanted to preserve the story of God's people, the ways God has spoken to God's people, and the story of God in-the-flesh - AKA Jesus. That brings us to another way of understanding "Word" - it is another name for Jesus. Take a look at the first words in the gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, glory like that of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1, 1:14). I encourage you to read this beautiful passage of scripture and discover more about Jesus as the "Word." Finally, we also believe that the Word is active during worship through things like sermons, music, and sacraments like baptism and communion. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit who helps us to hear what God wants us to hear in the words of sermons and music, and to see what God wants us to see in the waters of baptism and the bread and wine of communion. What questions do you have about our discussion today? Here are a few suggested things to consider from the back sides of the Word teasers. Add your thoughts in the comment section
My door is always open. My phone is always on. If you ever need to talk or want to talk ... if you ever need to pray or want to pray ... if you ever need help or want help ... let me know. My prayer for you, always, comes from the words of Ephesians 3:14-21. May you always be rooted and grounded in the sure knowledge that God loves you more than you could ever know. The grace of Jesus Christ and the communion of the Holy Spirit gives us strength and guidance that will never leave us. Grace and peace be with you. ~Pastor Keith Today's CardsWelcome to our new blog! Yesterday, several of us met for lunch and tried something new for HeBrews. Each of us drew a "Word Teasers" card from a box. The card had a word, phrase, or topic that is tied to our faith. As we went around the table to share our highs and lows, each person shared their card. Then we decided (as a group) which card to talk more about. We will try this method out for a few weeks and see what everyone thinks. Yesterday we talked about two of the cards in depth: the cross (what it means, why some people wear it as jewelry) and the image of God. I want to dive in a bit deeper on what the image of God is and what it means for us today. I'm going to break this down into a few sections so you can choose where is best for you to dive in: Bible, Theology, and Song. Each section has follow-up questions you can think about if you want. I hope you will add your comments about this and anything else you'd like to talk about on the blog. And if you have a topic to suggest for a future HeBrews discussion, go to the Contact page on this blog (you can send anonymously if you'd like). And share this new blog with your friends! Bible:
Theology:
Song: One of my favorite bands is Switchfoot. Just this morning, I received an email about their newest song: Native Tongue. As soon as I heard it, I thought of our conversation about the image of God. Here are a couple of the lyrics that stand out to me: "Feel your heartbeat bang the drum Open your eyes and fill your lungs The same word from where the stars are flung Love is the language, love is your native tongue" "Back before we learned the words to start a fight Back before they told us that the haters were right He spoke the truth, 'let there be' and there was Love is the language, love is your native tongue" "So sing it out, get loud, get Louder than the darkness and the doubts, eh Louder than the curses and the shouts, yeah Your lips, your lungs, your native tongue" Take a listen and let me know what this song says to you. Here's a link to the full lyrics. What does the song say is our "native tongue?" What other ("non-native") languages do we speak? Where do we learn how to speak our "native tongue?" Read 1 John 4:7-21. What does this say about our "native tongue" - especially how we learn it and why we speak it? How might this relate to our discussion of the image of God? My door is always open. My phone is always on. If you ever need to talk or want to talk ... if you ever need to pray or want to pray ... if you ever need help or want help ... let me know. My prayer for you, always, comes from the words of Ephesians 3:14-21. May you always be rooted and grounded in the sure knowledge that God loves you more than you could ever know. The grace of Jesus Christ and the communion of the Holy Spirit gives us strength and guidance that will never leave us. Grace and peace be with you. ~Pastor Keith |
About HeBrewsHeBrews meets on Thursday mornings during the school year from 6:45 - 7:30 a.m. at the Mokas on Crawford St. All high school youth are welcome! ArchivesCategories |