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Reflections on 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 - Thanks--giving By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) November 26, 2020 "Since the "Mayflower" had left England nine weeks behind schedule, the New World's harsh weather threatened their very survival... Winter took its toll. Journal entries feature the same melancholy theme week after week, for months on end: "... Aboute noone, it began to raine ... at night, it did freeze & snow ... still the cold weather continued ... very wet and rainy, with the greatest gusts of wind ever we saw ... frost and foule weather hindered us much; this time of the yeare seldom could we worke half the week." That winter more than half the heads of households perished. Aboard ship only five of eighteen wives lived through the ravages of scurvy, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. An entry for March 24th reads: "This month thirteen of our number die. And in three months past dies halfe our company ... Of a hundred persons, scarce fifty remain, the ...

Ramblings from Retirement: Give Thanks! By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) November 21, 2020 Thanksgiving is coming and it is one of my favorite holidays. The reasons for me are many because I not only love the food and family time but I enjoy what Thanksgiving represents. It is truly an American holiday where we are encouraged to pause and give thanks to God for the blessings He has given us. We discover that the early Pilgrims encouraged this with not just a one day celebration but with their entire lives as well. And far from being the black and white dressed grim faced people many think they were the Pilgrims were actually very joyous and colorful people. They came to these shores not to inflict slavery, as some would erroneously have you swallow, but they came here for religious and personal freedom. We discover that within a very short period of time that their communal form of governance caused huge problems with their colony and they decided to give each person the freedom to produc...

Exhortation, encouragement, and prayer! - Philippians 4:1-9 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 26, 2018 How do others see your faith? How do those who witnessed to you or mentored you find your faith walk? Often time we can get so caught up in how the world sees us that we forget or begin to think it unimportant how fellow believers view us. In fact some try do hard to blend in with the world that their church, Christian fellowship, and their daily devotion to the Lord suffer. Here in this last chapter of his letter to the Philippian church Paul desired that they know exactly how he saw their faith. And so he end this letter with not just advice on how to be stronger and more devoted believers, he writes to exhort, encourage, and pray for them. In his words we can find spiritual truths that will help us this morning as well. Let’s take a fresh look at what Paul wrote… READ: Philippians 4:1-9 Lately I have been watching the Little League World Series. I enjoy the sheer joy, sometimes sadness, a...

Thanksgiving! - John 17:1-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 22, 2015 The early Pilgrims understood thanksgiving. In fact, after surviving the first years in the American wilderness, they deliberately set out to print a song book of praise taken from the Psalms. The Bay Psalm Book is an important piece of our nation’s history. It was the first book entirely written and printed in the Colonies. When one considers the difficulties of mere survival during this time, accounting for the short time of 20 years after the first arrivals in Plymouth in 1620, the magnitude of the effort and accomplishment is even more impressive. The first printing press in New England was purchased and imported specifically to print this book in order to give God praise and thanksgiving! Why would our forefathers make such a big deal out of praising and thanking God? We can forget what we are truly thankful for when we are faced with the difficulties of life. Jesus knew this to be true as well and when his discipl...

Now thank we all our God! - Psalm 100 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 20, 2011 AM For some people being thankful is kind of like the story told about a 4-year-old daughter and her mother who were strolling through an open-air market. As the little girl stared at a large pile of oranges, a generous vendor took one from the pile and handed it to the little girl. “What do you say to the nice man?” the mother asked her daughter. The little girl looked at the orange, then thrust it toward the man and said, “Peel it!” Often, thankfulness is something we learn and grow into. How easy it is for us to respond to God’s graciousness like that 4-year-old. An attitude of being thankful is a mark of a maturing faith. The early Pilgrims understood this. In fact, after surviving the first years in the American wilderness, they deliberately set out to print a song book of praise taken from the Psalms. The Bay Psalm Book is an important piece of our nation’s history. It was the first book entirely written ...

Productive and Proper Living -- Titus 3:8-15 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 23, 2008 AM There is s difference between “goodness” and “godliness.” One is defined as the quality of being good, while the other is displaying the divine qualities of God. It is interesting to note that the English term for “goodness” was derived originally from the Old English word “godness,” but there are too many folks in our day that confuse goodness with godliness and there is a danger in doing so. Why? It implies a reward for your actions as in “so be good for goodness sake!” When the first Pilgrims landed on the rocky cold shores of North America they had a truly tough time. Many, over half, died within the first year of exposure, starvation, and disease. They determined from the beginning that since they were in this all together they would share everything they had equally, but there was one problem they forgot to bank on, not everyone in their community was godly, and not everybody would work hard eno...