Hometown Worship

Our Hometown Worship section is where you'll find our area churches directory, special features about local churches and church leaders and obituaries. Devotional pieces from Pastors Bill Mantel, Bob Mankaka (Amazing Grace) and Rick Warren (A Purpose Driven Life) grace the pages of this section, along with columns by Sherida Nett.

Faith Page Columnist

The devotional book Earl and I use has readings from the Old Testament, Psalms, and the New Testament for each day. The selections are grouped together according to subject with today’s readings focusing on our hidden and not so hidden sins and how to be freed of them and reconciled to God.

These readings affirmed my understanding that I not only must own my sin and confess it, I must work toward eliminating bad practices so that I can be in right standing with Him.

David wrote in Psalm 32: Happy the man whose offense is forgiven, whose sin is cancelled. Oh happy the man to whom the Lord attributes no guilt, in whose spirit is no deviousness.

I kept my offense secret and my frame was wasted. I groaned all day long... your hand was heavy on me. Indeed, my strength was dried up...

But now I have acknowledged my sins; my guilt I did not hide. I said: “I will confess my offense to the Lord.” And you, Lord, have forgiven the guilt of my sin.

So let every good man pray to You in the time of need...

After acknowledging and confessing my sin, I must “seal the deal.” I need to rehabilitate myself and, if necessary, restore whatever may have been destroyed, whether relationships or property. A clear “rehabilitation program” is in the Word of the Lord that came to the prophet Ezekiel:
Though I say to the wicked man that he shall surely die, if he turns away from his sin and does what is right and just, giving back pledges, restoring stolen goods, living by the statutes that bring life, and doing no wrong, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Ezekiel 33:14.

For the “good,” and the “wicked,” the concept should be simple, but the practice can sometimes be very difficult. I may be so steeped in a particular sin that I cannot break free from it on...

For the rest of this story and more, pick up this week's Voyageur Press.

Faith Page Columnist

There are times when the circumstances around us are so overwhelming that we cannot see God anywhere in them. Every distressing detail, no matter how small, becomes bigger than life putting a cloud in front of the reality that God is indeed near us.

When we stop looking only at the circumstances and determine to believe the promises He gave us, the cloud dissipates  and we see that God never once left us.

 A few days ago while I walked through the woods and thought about God’s nearness to me, God gave me a “skeleton” to build on that became this short verse.

      
God is walking in the garden during the cool of the evening looking for you.
God is that still small voice encouraging you to go forward.
He is a pillar of a cloud to protect you from the sun’s heat and a pillar of fire to protect you from the night’s evil.  

God is the word you hear in your ear, “This is the way, walk in it.”
God is standing at the finish line, cheering you on as you run the race to win.
He knew you in your mother’s womb before you were born and He has numbered the very hairs of your head.

God dances with you when you dance with all your might with shouts of joy.
God groans with you when you cry, “Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?”
God knows when you get up and when you lie down.
He is aware of every thought that you think.

God helps you during your suffering knowing it is through suffering that you must enter His kingdom.
God helps you believe when you doubt but say, “I believe, Lord, help my...

For the rest of this story and more, pick up this week's Voyageur Press.

Faith Page Columnist

In a local Christian newspaper we get each month there recently were two obituaries published. One was of a woman who belonged to a religious order in the area and one was of a priest who happens to be a close friend of ours. Both obituaries were quiet long and filled up a whole page.

The woman’s was an impressive list of degrees she had earned in several scientific disciplines, administrative offices she held during the course of her careers, places she had done research, programs she had started abroad, schools she had taught at, and boards she had served on. There was also a long list of awards and honors bestowed her for all her groundbreaking work in science and education. At the end of these illustrious paragraphs was a list of survivors and details of the funeral.

Her abilities and achievements show how different God makes each of us. She was blessed with more than the average amount of brain power and she took that gift and used it to its capacity.

The obituary of our friend, on the other hand, was much different. It was not only an obituary, it was an article filled with testimonies of this man’s great love for humanity.

During his years as a priest he looked after the down and out. He helped countless people spiritually and financially and always looked for the good in everyone. He was gentle and quiet with people, speaking only when he had something very important to say.

He was involved in educational and social groups that helped the spiritual lives of people flourish, and he was a friend who was there when life was hard.

He was one of the founders of the Lake Superior Life Care Center and fought for the lives of children and their mothers. “From cradle to grave, he supported pro-life,” one friend said.

He is described as “a devoted, selfless man who did what God wanted him to do.” This lowly priest will not be forgotten, and because of...

For the rest of this story and more, pick up this week's Voyageur Press.