Ocala First Connection

The first three chapters of 1 Samuel are simply remarkable in their beauty and their message. The emotional and spiritual pain of Hannah over being childless, while being taunted by her rival, Peninnah, is heartbreaking.  We hear her pray through her tears – O Lord, just take a good, hard look at my pain and remember me! Please don’t forget me, your servant. Please give me a son. I’ll give him completely and unreservedly to you. I’ll set him apart for a life of holy discipline and service. (1:11 -paraphrased) We see Eli bless her and give her a sense of peace. (1:17) And we see God answer her prayers as she gives birth to Samuel – a name that means “I asked God for him.” (1:20) Several years later, Hannah is faithful to her promise to God as she presents Samuel at the Lord’s sanctuary at Shiloh. (1:24-28).   There she leaves Samuel under Eli’s care and then she offers one of the most beautiful prayers in scripture (2:1-11) – a prayer that echoes Psalm 113 and introduces theme...

Our series for Lent is Holy Character. Over the next six weeks we will be reading through Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. And each week we will lift up a virtue or characteristic that God wants to form in us as followers of Jesus Christ. This Holy Character should be deeply embedded both in our lives and in the life of our church. Season Series Date Reading Key Word Lent 1 Holy Character 03-06 Ruth 1:6-22 Loyalty Lent 2 Holy Character 03-13 1 Samuel 3:1-21 Attentiveness Lent 3 Holy Character 03-20 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Character Lent 4 Holy Character 03-27 1 Kings 3:1-15 Wisdom Lent 5 Holy Character 04-03 2 Kings 19:1-18 Hope Lent 6 Holy Character 04-10 ...

Yesterday (March 2), we observed Ash Wednesday and began the Season of Lent. If you want to know more about Lent, you can read a basic introduction online: (CLICK HERE)   If you would prefer to watch a video introduction to Lent: Chuck Knows Church Intro to Lent (United Methodist) Ridiculously Charming Catholic Priest’s Intro to Lent   Things are moving quickly with my weekly sermons. Last Sunday I preached on Joshua. You can watch that message online: CLICK HERE For Ash Wednesday I preached on Judges. I’ve included that message below And this coming Sunday (March 6), I will preach on the Book of Ruth. Stay tuned!   Way back at the beginning of The Bible Year , we learned three important truths from the opening chapters of Genesis. These truths frame everything we will read in the Bible.   God has made us in the divine image and we part of a good and beautiful creation. (Genesis 1:26-27) We struggle with a downward spiral of sin, rebellion, and disobedience. (Genesi...

John 4:10-14 Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water . . . Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.” Last week Rwth shared with us about the baptismal life. There was so much good stuff in that sermon, you should back and watch it on YouTube.  But what stayed with me this week was that we should not think about baptism as some past event in our lives – one we may not even remember.  Baptism is living water. We were baptized but it is an ongoing experience. We are called to live the baptismal life.  She said:  In little and big ways, our old self and its brokenness can be cleansed and healed.  Each day we can...

From Rwth's sermon on Sunday (video at the bottom) . . . The most precious gift in the desert is water.  Water keeps you alive.  Without it, there’s suffering and then death.  The same is true for the deserts of our lives.  We need water.  Water removes our suffering, rescues us from certain death, and revives us.  For Christians, this life-giving water is Baptism.  The life-giving waters of our Baptism need to be a daily reality, especially in our desert times.  It’s the only way we’ll make it through our journey of faith.  But how can this happen since Baptism is a once-in-a-lifetime sacrament? Our appreciation for Baptism tends to be far too small.  We often consider Baptism as an isolated event that happens in our past.  But it’s much more than that: Baptism is an identity that we live.  The new birth that is our Baptism is better described as our Baptismal life—and it’s a life that God continues to birth in us...

"The Sycamore" by Wendell Berry In the place that is my own place, whose earth I am shaped in and must bear, there is an old tree growing, a great sycamore that is a wondrous healer of itself. Fences have been tied to it, nails driven into it, Hacks and whittles cut in it, the lightning has burned it. There is no year it has flourished in that has not harmed it. There is a hollow in it that is its death, though its living brims whitely at the lip of the darkness and flows outward. Over all its scars has come the seamless white of the bark. It bears the gnarls of its history healed over. It has risen to a strange perfection in the warp and bending of its long growth. It has gathered all accidents into its purpose. It has become the intention and radiance of its dark face. It is a fact, sublime, mystical and unassailable. In all the country there is no other like it. I recognize in it a principle, an indwelling the same as itself, and greater, that I would be ruled by. I...

Read Matthew 4:1-11 I found this short reflection in a Lenten devotion I am using this year: That Jesus was tempted meant that he truly desired what the devil offered him. Of course he was hungry. His body desired what it needed. In what ways might the devil use my legitimate, real desires to lead me astray? Open my eyes, Lord, so that I can recognize temptation when it comes.                   (from Sacred Space for Lent 2017 by The Irish Jesuits) A couple thoughts from my devotional time: First, I believe it is so important to affirm and embrace that we all have legitimate, real desires: Hunger and thirst, intimacy and community,  acceptance and security. We are created in the image of God and God has blessed all of creation as good.  Second, I am struck by how easily we allow these desires to be misused, distorted, and broken within us, within our relationships, and in the ways we choose to live in the world.  Wh...

Why am I drawn to desert and mountain fierceness? What impels me to its unmitigated honesty, its dreadful capacity to strip bare, its long, compelling silence? It’s the frail hope that in finding myself brought to the edge…I may hear a word whispered in its loneliness. The word is ‘love,’ spoken pointedly and undeniably to me. It may have been uttered many times in the past but I’m fully able to hear it only in that silence.  -  Belden Lane in  TheSolace of Fierce Landscapes Over these next six weeks, I invite and encourage you to find your way into the desert of Lent. Spend some time fasting. Spend some time in solitude and silence. Spend some time in confession and self-reflection.  What do you need to clear away through these spiritual practices so that you might hear again God speak words of love, grace, and new life?

During Lent there are three primary ways that we redirect our lives toward God.  Jesus describes them in Matthew’s Gospel: Almsgiving (what we would call charitable giving), prayer, and fasting. Yesterday we looked at prayer and charitable giving. What about fasting?   I don’t know about you, but honestly, it’s not a practice I’ve done throughout my faith journey.  I’ve made plenty of excuses for not doing it and I’ve reasoned my way toward thinking that it’s an optional thing. Except now there’s one word in Matthew 6 that stops me in my tracks.  Jesus says, “ When you fast. . . .”  He doesn’t say, “If you fast. . . .”  Now I’ve read this passage in Matthew’s Gospel countless times.  And every time, I’ve allowed myself to glide over this word “when” without letting it judge me.  This year, however, was different.  Jesus’ words, “When you fast. . . .” reached me like a ringing alarm clock.  I realized it was time for me to ...

The season of Lent is when we focus on repentance. Repentance means turning back to God and placing our lives under God’s power and direction.  It means conforming our minds and hearts to those of Jesus.  Repentance is about knowing and acting on truth—the truth about ourselves (that we sin and always are in need of grace) and the truth about God (that God always loves us and is eager to forgive us when we come back to him).   During Lent there are three primary ways that we redirect our lives toward God.  Jesus describes them in Matthew’s Gospel: Almsgiving (what we would call charitable giving), prayer , and fasting   (we will focus on fasting in tomorrow's post from Matthew 6:6-21). During Lent, we begin a practice of daily prayer if we don’t have one already.  Or we deepen our existing prayer life.  We also find ways to begin giving to others or offering additional acts of charity if we’re already engaged in sharing our resources.   P...

We invite you to join us this evening at 6:30 pm in our Sanctuary for our Ash Wednesday Worship Service. You are also invited to share in our Wednesday night meal anytime between 5 - 6:15 pm in the Family Life Cente.r  Introduction to the Season of Lent:   Lent is the season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday (today) and ends on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter).  Lent  comes from the Anglo-Saxon word  lencten , which means “spring.” The season is a preparation for celebrating Easter, much like Advent prepares us for Christmas.   Introduction to Ash Wednesday:  Ash Wednesday emphasizes a dual encounter: we confront our own mortality and confess our sin before God. The service focuses on the themes of sin and death in light of God's redeeming love in Jesus Christ.  During the service, all will be invited to come forward. The pastors will dip their thumb into the ashes and make a cross on the forehead...