Ocala First Connection

Choose your god --or choose God by Carl Bergeson I have always been a Christian.  By that I mean I was born into a Christian family.  My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. were all Christians.  I cannot remember not attending church and Sunday School.  My friends came from Church.  I was active in our youth program, attended Bible camp every summer, memorized Bible verses, and eventually attended a Christian college where I met and married my wife, Stella.  I can’t remember a “time” where I made a decision to become a Christian—I just always was. After graduating from college, marrying and starting my career, this identity began to shift.  As I began getting raises and promotions, my job became my priority.  Eventually I found myself travelling more than 100 nights per year.  Church involvement became less important.  I stopped singing in the choir, stopped teaching and serving on committees and I settled on attendi...

Marybeth wrote this poem back in 2014, but it's perfect for our Lenten theme of 'empty.'  I read it and thought, "this is so true! I do this--I stand on the curb with my hands full of garbage and miss out on the moment right in front of me! How often am I full of distraction instead of praise?" May the Lord empty us of our preoccupation with self and awaken us to see the blessings we too often miss. "Priorities" by Marybeth Muterelli On a hurried mission, garbage bags in my hands. Thinking  only of getting them out to the curbside cans. I walk right by blooming azaleas and camellias without even a  glance. I’m oblivious to a cardinal pair, and their aerial dance. I don’t stop to see the flowers, their velvet petals of white, pink and red, And the chirping communication of the cardinals irritates me instead. I ignore the neighbor’s sweet and lazy cat as he stretches out in the warm sun, I barely glance at an energetic pooch, dragg...

I  was reading an article a  wh ile back about why families  need to continue celebratin g family traditions. One of the main reasons poin ted out was that traditions can  connect the old with the young and help families remember who they are.  It got me thinking about my family and our traditions. One of my families ’  traditions involves an old cracker jar that my great grandmother had. The tradition is that the cracker jar is to be handed down to the first girl born in the next g eneration. If the eldest daughter has all boys (which my eldest daughter did) then it goes to the first born daughter of the next sister. Anyhow, whether this tradition continues depends on if the future girls  in our family  choose to continue this or the jar gets broken!!  Celebrating the season of Lent has been a tradition in my family ever since I was a child. I remember coming to the altar on Ash Wednesday to have the sign of the cross placed on my...

Making Space for God:  40 Bags in 40 Days by Dee McCollum Growing up, I associated giving things up for Lent as something my friends who went to the Catholic Church did each year. I learned about Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday , Maundy Thursday , Good Friday and the season of Lent as a time of preparation for Easter, but the idea of giving up something for Lent was a foreign concept. I only grew more confused when as a teen my friends stopped eating pizza or drinking soda or eating chocolate during Lent. What was the relationship between these foods and Lent? Over the years, I’ve come to recognize there is more to this season of Lent. As a time of self-reflection, each of us has a very personal way in which we can focus on God. So maybe giving up some well-loved food can have meaning if prayer or some other God centered activity occurs in place of that food; but I don’t see this as a way for me. Last year I decided to seriously look for a way to participate in Lent, and...

Read:  Matthew 4:1-11 Gracious and Holy One, creator of all things and of emptiness, I come to you full of much that clutters and distracts, stifles and burdens me, and makes me a burden to others. Empty me now of g n awing dissatisfactions, of anxious imaginings, of fretful preoccupations, of nagging prejudices, of old scores to settle, and of the arrogance of being right. Empty me of the disguises and lies in which I hide myself from other people and from my responsibility for my neighbors and for the world. Hollow out in me a space in which I will find myself, find peace and a whole heart, a forgiving spirit and holiness, the springs of laughter, and the will to reach boldly for abundant life for myself and the whole human family. by Ted Loder ,  From   Guerillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle

"This is not a season of  taking up self-denial, it’s a season of relinquishment.  We let go of all the pretenses and destructive independence from God.  We let go of defending ourselves.  We let go of our indulgent self-loathing...  And God delights in the truth.  Therefore there’s no shame in the truth of who we are; the broken and blessed beloved of God.  There’s no shame in the truth that our lives on earth will all end and that we  are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.  It’s not depressing.  What’s depressing is the desperation of trying to pretend otherwise. What is so wonderful about Ash Wednesday and Lent is that through being marked with the cross and reminded of our own mortality we are free. We are free to hear the song of our own salvation which tells of Christ who offers life and forgiveness. This song sings of a God who creates clean hearts and renews our spirits." ~Nadia Bolt-Weber  (se...