Everyone is welcome at Cherry Log Christian Church (DOC). 

Our prayer this week - March 14-19, 2010:

Almighty God, you see the greatness of our individual and collective humanness.  You know us not so much as people who have broken rules, but as people who have failed to live into our created and divine-given greatness.

Our sin is that we have not loved with whole-heartedness, risking self and risking hurt.  Our sin is that we have found a niche that seems safe and have called that safety home, only to realize this cave of a home is a tomb of hopelessness.  Our sin is that we have not seen the value in failure and have not recognized the frailness of success.  Our sin is that we have allowed the image of our minds and hearts to fossilize into statues that only we worship.

Our sin is that we have stayed in step with our simple drumbeat and have missed the symphonic panorama of sound and rhythm.   

Our greater sin is that we have missed the mark of our potential and your promise.  We have played it safe but have not found security in safeness.  

• We have mistaken belief for faith;
• we have mistaken institution for mission;
• and we have mistaken cliques for community.

Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy.     

Amen

OUR LENTEN FAST - FEED MY SHEEP

Annually we make the grand cycle through our liturgical year. In the first half of that cycle from Advent to Pentecost we remember and mark the person of Jesus. In the second half of the cycle from Pentecost Sunday until Advent comes again we remember and mark the teachings of Jesus.

We are now at almost the mid-point of the first half-cycle. We observed Advent as a time of anticipation and preparation for the coming again of God Incarnate in the Babe of Bethlehem. At Christmas we celebrated that coming of the Incarnate Light into the world and into our lives. At Epiphany we proclaimed that Incarnation not only for our lives, but as the Light for the Nations, for all the world. We remembered the Baptism of Jesus as the invitation to remember our own baptisms into him, into the sharing of his incarnation.

What lies ahead is the memory and reliving of Jesus’ crucifixion, which we will observe on Good Friday, April 2. Then the proclamation of Easter: death could not hold Jesus, he lives in us, and we are raised to new life with him.

What an extraordinary set of faith claims we make! If Jesus is all that we proclaim, are we not called to make an extraordinary response to those claims?

We will mark the beginning of this Lenten season on Ash Wednesday, February 17.  As an expression of our Lenten fast we are going to arrange a “Food Tree". Every member of Cherry Log Christian Church is encouraged to participate in the Food Tree. Each time you come to the church during Lent, for worship, or rehearsals, or meetings, please bring an item of non-perishable food to place under the Food Tree. By Easter we shall have amassed a sizeable amount of food, which on Easter Monday we will distribute to the food banks of  Fannin and Gilmer Counties.

We look forward to your involvement in our observance of a Holy Lent.

Cherry Log Christian Church will celebrate its 13^th Anniversary Homecoming on Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010.  We will honor our church moderators through the years with a photo slideshow of memorable events that occurred during their terms.  Please join us as we express our appreciation to these people:  Bruce King, Frank Osborne, Bill Hild, Lynn Chapman, Lynn Doss, Byron Wyndham, and Ronald Midkiff.