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Our website is currently under construction! Deuteronomy 6:5 Challenge
First Pres Sundays
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Have these last few months left you feeling depleted? Did spending too much time at home lead you to bake and eat too much? Did the gyms closing disrupt your exercise routine? Did the shift to online worship not feed your spirit like in-person worship did? Has the isolation from friends and families left you lonely and depressed? Does the daily news make you want to scream? You are not alone. These last few months have left many people feeling worn out in their minds, bodies, and spirits.
Deuteronomy calls on us to love God with all of our heart, soul, and strength. The question, however, is how do we do that when it seems like all of those things are breaking? This summer's sermon series will explore how we can build ourselves up in mind, body, and spirit so that we can love and serve God more fully. We are joined in this series by the members of First Presbyterian Church of Hammond, LA. Their pastor and ours will be preparing messages that will be shared with both congregations (click here to see the posted videos). We are challenging the members of both congregations to spend some intentional time restoring their hearts, souls, and strength. By the end of the summer we are hoping that we will have hit one million minutes of time dedicated to our well-being so that we can love and serve God more fully. In order to track our progress, we are asking you to record how much time you spend in each of these activities. Because these three areas are interconnected (maybe you walk with a friend or listen to a sermon podcast while you garden), it can often be difficult to track them individually so we are only asking you to report the total minutes spent and not how many are spent in each category. We do, however, encourage you to pay attention to where you spend most of your minutes so that you can begin to notice if you are building up one part of your life while neglecting another. Report your name and number of minutes at your convenience (i.e. weekly, several times a month) but always report only those minutes since the last time you reported. Please email your information to the special church office email pbjfirstpres@gmail.com used to track this challenge data. Here are some suggested activities in each category: Heart ~ Visit with a friend, attend a therapy session or support group, garden, sing or play an instrument, read a book... Soul ~ Attend worship (in-person or online), study scripture, read a devotion, meditate, pray... Strength ~ Go for a walk, practice yoga, go swimming, run a virtual 5K, physical therapy... |
