My dear ones in Christ,
Greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord Jesus!
M ost of the struggles of this life comes from the feeling of inconvenience. We live through the struggles of life, we grow through the struggles of life and hopefully we learn from those struggles that they are no more than an inconvenience. Once we go through them we become empowered.
If we are honest, most of the situations that we become most anxious about, are also the ones that we have little or no control over; much like these very difficult economic times that we are all facing individually, and as families, as a nation and as a Church. But they too are only an inconvenience. We are called to be good stewards of all that God gives us and to bring to Him our lives, our tithes and our offerings.
In fact in Malachi God says: Test me now on this bring me your titles and offerings and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
Stewardship obviously in-cludes financial support but it also encompasses shar-ing your time and your tal-ents in support of the Church and in bringing oth-ers to a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior .
I believe most people even non-followers of the Christ will give out of their excess or abundance.
We say we are followers of Christ but do we really trust him? Have we turned over our whole life to him or are we holding back? He loves us so very much and is constantly calling us to his love.
We should hold on to the truth of his love in these words we learned in our youth and hold all truth: Jesus loves me this I know / for the Bible tells me so / Little ones to him belong / they are weak but he is strong / Yes, Jesus loves me / Yes, Jesus
loves me / Yes, Jesus loves me / The Bible tells me so.
Yes, even in these economic times, it may seem difficult, but the Lord says he loves me, to test Him to trust Him and to have faith in his provi-sion. As a good steward how much should we give to God’s kingdom?
St. Paul gives us the answer in his second letter to the believers gathered in Cor-inth.
"He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." "Each one must do just as he has proposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compul-sion for God loves a cheerful giver."
We observe July 7th as Stewardship Sunday. I en-courage you all to think how faithful are we in term of our Christian stewardship? On July 14th ; Theological Edu-cation, on July 21st ; Pas-toral Ministry and on 28th ; Developing Human Re-sources. All these themes are very important themes to reflect upon. Let’s have a wonderful month ahead.
Shalom!!
Yours in Him Shine Achen
From the desk of the Presbyter
St. Mark’s C.S.I Church
306, Prospect Ave, Park Ridge, Chicago
http:/www.chicagocsichurch.org
JULY 2013
VOL. 10/ ISSUE 07
Parish Messenger
We are called to be good stewards of all that God gives us and to bring to Him our lives, our tithes and our offerings.
President/Vicar
Rev. Shine John Mathew
952, E Old Willow Rd, Apt.102 Prospect Heights
Cell: 847-212-5787
Vice-President
Ben Kurien
Secretary
Tony Philip
Treasurer
Babu K George
Motto 2013
" But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory" Heb. 3:6
Date & Time | Day | Theme | Lessons | Readers | Elements& Kiss of Peace |
July 7 10.30am |
7th Sunday after Pentecost Matins in Malayalam |
Stewardship : Christian Giving Stewardship Sunday | Ex. 36: 2-7 Psalm. 116:12-19 2Cor. 9: 6-15 Luke. 21:1-4 |
Shaji Kurien Sunday School Sachu Shaji |
Tony & Susheela Prabha& Swarna |
July 14 10.30am |
8th Sunday after Pentecost H.C in Malayalam |
Theological Edu-cation Sunday | Jer. 18: 1-10 Psalm.119:89-104 1Cor.1:18-29 Mat. 13: 10-17 |
Sathiadas Christhudas Sunday School Anna Devid |
Babu & Omana Babu& Molley |
July 21 10.30am |
9th Sunday after Pentecost H.C in English |
Pastoral Ministry | Ex. 3:1-12 Psalm. 80:1-7 2Tim. 4: 1-5 John. 21:15-19 |
Youth Fellowship | Youth Fellowship |
July 28 10.30am |
10th Sunday af-ter Pentecost H.C in Malayalam |
Developing Human Resources | 2Sam. 8: 15-18 Psalm. 125 1Cor. 3: 10-15 Mat. 11: 28-30 |
Thomas Koshy Sunday School Sosamma Jacob |
Joji& Sheela Shaji&Sachu |