In this category, you will find many inspirational stories to be used for your Church Bulletins, Church Newsletters and/or Inspirational E-mails.
One of the more difficult things for someone on a weekly basis is to prepare content for the church bulletin or newsletter.
Usually, it’s a tug-of-war trying to get information from department or ministry leaders concerning the events taking place soon. Plus, the attempt to get an article from the Pastor can be an adventure due to the busy-ness of their schedule.
We want to do our part by adding a new category called “Church Bulletin Articles”. These will be brief and inspirational and may be used within the context of the church communications to the congregation via e-mail, bulletin or newsletter.
Perhaps some of them would even work as Sermon Illustrations! Stop back often as we plan to build the selection in the weeks and months ahead.
In reality, all our letters can be easily modified for that purpose. So, some of the content will be similar to our letters, while most of it will be new stories.
For many centuries the men and women in Europe looked out upon the western sea, what we call the Atlantic Ocean, and they saw the sun coruscating upon the glittering surface of the waters and they wondered.
They wondered if there was anything beyond. Scholars said that you could sail off the edge of the world—there was nothing out there at all. In fact, inscribed on the escutcheons of the coat of arms of the nation of Spain was its national motto, Ne Plus Ultra, meaning, “There is nothing beyond.”
Jay E. Adams writes that under the roof in his back yard hangs a hummingbird feeder that he keeps filled with sugar water. There are four openings in it from which birds may suck the nectar. Yet, day after day, from early morning until after dusk, the feeder is the source of their own private version of star wars. One bird chases all the others away.
“As I said,” Adams writes, “there is room for four birds at a time, and fully that number attempt to feed. But the top dog (excuse my use of this metaphor for a hummingbird!), who now ‘owns' the feeder, will not let them. All day long he sits on the branch of a nearby apricot tree guarding ‘his' feeder and defying others to transgress on what he has established as ‘his' territory.
Valentine's Day is an opportunity to show others our love. We give candy, flowers, and gifts to friends and loved ones. It's literally a sweet day, with sentiment and real sweets. It's good to show love to those we love and to love our enemies as well. Jesus says in Matthew 22:39, ” Love your neighbor as yourself.” But we know that it's preceded by another and greater commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The joy of Christmas has always seemed to be summed up beautifully in the carol, “Joy to the World.” We sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” and we think of the baby lying in the manger, our precious Savior. But most of us don't know that this was not written to be a Christmas carol at all. Isaac Watts penned these lyrics to reflect the second part of Psalm 98. He prefaced the song with the words, “The Messiah's Coming and Kingdom.” The song also refers to the creation – fields, floods, rocks, hills, plains repeating the sounding joy when Christ comes again.
Turkey Day? Really? It was made a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Was it supposed to be a day to celebrate food? Actually what Lincoln said in his Thanksgiving Proclamation was that the country should “…set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” This is quite different from some modern school textbooks which state that any thanks was given to the Indians.
