Our church family experienced both sorrow and joy this week. We said goodbye to our friend and fellow church member, Mac Selfen. We continue to lift the Selfen family in our prayers, giving thanks for Mac’s faithful life and the many ways he blessed our church family through the years.
In the midst of our sorrow, God also gave us reasons to rejoice. It was a joy to see Keith Butterfield back in worship with us last Sunday, and we were delighted to welcome so many visitors to Saint Matthew. Moments like these remind us what it means to be the body of Christ. We grieve together, celebrate together, pray together, and welcome one another with open hearts.
Whether you’re a lifelong member or joined us for the first time this past Sunday, thank you for being part of our church family. May we continue to encourage one another, care for one another, and faithfully reflect Christ’s love in every season of life.
Would you like to share a word with our church family in a future newsletter? We’d love to hear from you. Email [email protected].
Have you ever been so busy playing or talking that you almost missed something important? It happens to all of us!
This Sunday, we learned that God is always close to us, even when life gets noisy or busy. King David wrote that he wanted to wake up each day knowing God was with him. Sometimes the best way to remember that is to slow down for just a moment and notice.
This week, try taking a “God Pause.” Stop for just a few seconds and look around. What beautiful thing do you see? Who can you encourage today? Where do you notice God’s love at work? When we take time to notice, we often discover that God has been with us all along.
Family Challenge
Choose one time each day this week, maybe at dinner or before bedtime, and have everyone share one thing they noticed that reminded them of God’s love. It could be a kind friend, a beautiful sunset, someone who helped you, or a moment that made you smile.
Talk About It
What is something beautiful you noticed today?
When do you feel especially close to God?
How can you help someone else notice God’s love this week?
What do we do when life leaves us without the words to pray?
In this week’s message, Rev. Mary Teague explores one of the most comforting passages in Scripture, reminding us that God’s Spirit never leaves us to face life’s struggles alone. Even in moments of weakness, grief, uncertainty, or exhaustion, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, praying for us when we cannot find the words ourselves.
Drawing from Romans 8, Mary reflects on the many ways the Spirit is at work in our lives: guiding us, strengthening us, praying with us, and assuring us that we belong to God. Because of the Spirit’s presence, we can face life’s challenges with confidence, knowing that God’s love is constant and unshakable.
The sermon concludes with Paul’s powerful promise that nothing, neither hardship, fear, loss, nor any power in heaven or on earth, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. As we seek to love boldly, we do so not through our own strength, but through the Spirit who lives within us.
Where is the Holy Spirit inviting you to trust God’s presence a little more today?
Romans 8:26-39 NIV 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
More Than Conquerors 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Can people really change? Can hearts that have been hardened, distracted, or overwhelmed become fertile ground for God’s work?
As the Love Boldly series came to a close, Rev. Mary Teague returned to Jesus’ Parable of the Sower with a hopeful reminder: none of us is just one kind of soil. Throughout our lives, we experience seasons when God’s Word struggles to take root, but we also experience seasons of remarkable growth. The condition of our hearts is not fixed, and our past does not determine our future.
Rather than dwelling on failures or missed opportunities, we are invited to recognize God’s grace at work in every season. God never stops planting seeds of hope, forgiveness, and new life. As we learn to receive that love for ourselves, we become people who can share it more freely with others.
Where might God be preparing your heart for new growth today?
Matthew 13:1-9 NIV The Parable of the Sower 13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Matthew 13:18-23 NIV 18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
