A New Logo?
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 Yes, we have launched a new logo. We have a new mark that will help us tie together all of our ministries as we communicate with our neighbors and our congregation.
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From Our Pastor
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 A repeated question in my house lately has been, "when's it going to be spring?" The groundhog raised our hopes, and even though we're a family that enjoys playing in the snow we're now ready for spring. So we keep asking, "when's it going to be spring?" That longing for spring-for renewal, for new life-is within each of us. We know that things are not as they should be, and we long for renewal. This longing is at the heart of the questions we ask about God's justice and evil in the world. It's the question we ask nationally when we face tragedy. It's the question we ask when we experience personal disappointment or failure or pain. It's also one of the first questions to be asked when neighbors gather for Faith Explored. This Wednesday evening ministry uses the Gospel of Mark to answer the big questions of life, and the meal and discussion groups provide an opportunity for honest questions to be raised. Please pray now for those attending, invite someone to come with you, and consider volunteering to help with this ministry including set up and clean up. Our longing for renewal should push us toward God in his Word and in the church. It should make us dependent upon him and confident in his power to work in us. Is God's Word changing you? Are you connected to others in relationships where you can apply the Gospel? Join a Community Group. Read and pray. Spring is coming. God will complete his work in us. He will restore all things. 
Rev. Kevin Kowslowsky, Senior Pastor |
by Barbara Shaffer, PhD. (member of Faith Church)
Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451 (the temperature at which paper burns), tells a tale of government suppression in which all books were gradually burned. All the knowledge, beauty and wisdom of the ages was destroyed, leaving a generation with only what they could remember. (By the way, most citizens didn't care because they were absorbed with television, including interactive reality-type shows.)
In an effort to combat this mind-dulling existence, some people took it upon themselves to memorize entire books in order to preserve them. These people were so identified with what they had made part of themselves through memory that they spoke of each other in terms of the book each had memorized. So a citizen might say, "See that man over there? He's The Iliad. And that woman is Macbeth." The time and effort they invested to internalize sentences and paragraphs gave each of them an identity that was different from their original identity!
Turning from fiction to the reality of marriage, a thoughtful question to ask is, "What Scripture might be identified with my marriage relationship?" Perhaps "An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered man commits many sins" (Prov. 29:21)? Or perhaps "Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife" (Prov. 21:9)? Hopefully not!
Since the words that come out of us originate in our hearts (Luke 6:45), what if our hearts were saturated with the Word of God and reinforced with obedience to those Words of God? What if husbands and wives were to learn "by heart" Colossians 3: 12 - 15? What if each husband and wife were so identified with that passage as a heart-level blueprint for how they would be in their marriage, that their spouse would easily refer to them as "my Colossians 3 spouse"?
What does Colossians 3:12-15 say? This: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."
This is God's Word.
God's Word, internalized through memory and practice
leads to changed people, which ultimatey leads to changed marriages. To paraphrase the commercial, What's in your memory?
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From Faith Preschool & Kindergarten
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"Tough Love"
by Crystal Harvey, Assistant Director
Whoever said love was easy? There are all kinds of ups and downs in relationships. When our children do exactly what we want them to do, we are thrilled. When our friends and family members are kind to us, love and kindness are easy to return. But that's not reality most of the time. When our children disobey us or others are mean and hurtful to us, then love and kindness are harder to show. Believing in God doesn't necessarily make this any easier.
The Bible shows us that God's love is unconditional, but that doesn't mean it was easy. As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before he was nailed to the cross, He pleaded with the Father, "all things are possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not my will by yours be done." (Mk 14:36). Jesus was praying so intently that he was sweating blood, yet Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice of His life because he loved us. God the Father gave the world His only son, because He loves us.
As parents, we genuinely love our children, whether or not they listen to us. I often ask, "Do I love them enough to stop them from doing wrong?" It may be hard at first, because of the temper tantrums and the arguments we may get from them, but our goal must always be to train our children to do what's right. Allowing them to continue to do wrong teaches them that it is okay-that it's not really wrong.
Love is tough, but God loved ALL his children enough to do the toughest thing of all: to sacrifice his only Son so that He could adopt the rest of us. God will help us to love our children the way He loves us: unconditionally...with tough love.
learn more about our preschool here...
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Jesus: The Ultimate Cure for Zombies
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by Josh Smith, Director of Youth & Children's Ministries
The title of this article probably got your attention. After all, it is not every day that you see the words Jesus and zombie in the same sentence. The zombie genre has always fascinated people (myself included). Every so often a new movie is released that takes up the zombie theme. Some have the dead coming back to life, while others have an outbreak of some mysterious virus resulting in zombie like behavior. The zombie craze has also made its way to the small screen (The Walking Dead) and to a plethora of video games (Resident Evil, The House of the Dead, Plants Vs. Zombies, Dead Rising, etc.). Some people even hold parties with a zombie theme. In a lot of the zombie movies there are various attitudes toward the creepy creatures. Some sympathize with them and hope for a cure. Others, who have seen the capabilities of the bloodthirsty menaces, want only to exterminate them. There are, of course, others who are completely oblivious to the danger and realize the threat only after it is too late. The vast majority of zombie movies tend to have a gruesome, dark and hopeless tone to them. No one is safe from the danger. At this point you're probably wondering: where does Jesus fit into all of this? Find out - read on...
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Sunday March 3 - Sunday March 10, 2013
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Faith Presbyterian Church Wilmington, DE
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- Richard Ramsay, Third Millennium Ministries
- Andrew & Megan, East Asia
- Josh & Kristi Smith, Formerly Middle East
- Mid-Atlantic Orphan Care Coalition
- Barry Tolton, Young Life of Delaware
- Carol Dougherty, A Door of Hope
- Joe Kadtke, Prison Outreach of Delaware
- Verne Marshall, Chile
- Nancy Diebert, Austria
- Anees Zaka, Church Without Walls
- Jud Lamos, Europe
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Stay Connected
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Looking for an easy daily devotion?
TODAY is an easy, daily devotion. You can get this short monthly devotion book at our Information Center, our check it out daily on our website here.
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Easter Services
Join us for Easter services this March.
Maundy Thursday Service
Community Easter Egg Hunt
Easter Sunday 8:30 / 10:45
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Connected By Faith is published by Julie MacDonald and Phyllis Guinivan.
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