Trinity Church Lower Bucks

Our ability to find ourself is equal to our ability to forgive. With unforgiveness in our hearts our true self is walled up by our false self. Somewhere in our upbringing we forget to forgive and walls begin to build up. We begin to put on our false self to cover over our insecurities, hurts, and anger. Most of the time there is a good reason we do that. We are looking to protect ourselves from future hurt. The hurt we experience could be severe and may take a while to learn ...to forgive. It is in forgiveness that we find freedom. It is through forgiveness that we find who we were created to be. In reality no one is ok. We have all been hurt and hurt others. Part of the process of forgiveness is recognizing that we have hurt others as well and we need to forgive ourselves for the pain we’ve caused others and even self-inflicted. As we begin to forgive others it is helpful to understand that they have been hurt and built up the same walls you have. Their own pain is why they hurt you. As we begin to see ourselves as broken we can begin to see others brokenness which opens our hearts to compassion. The other thing this brokenness does is it opens our eyes to the beauty of our own lives. If you want to truly find yourself you will dive deep into the depths of your soul. You will explore your shadowlands and find the cause of your pain. Ask Jesus to show you where that pain started. Ask Jesus to heal those wounds. Ask Jesus to give you the strength to forgive that person and show them compassion. Pray for that person that they would be able to forgive those that hurt them. It is through this path of forgiveness that we find that little child locked inside our hearts. That little child wants to come out of us and play on Jesus’ lap. It is through forgiveness that we begin to have the heart of the child Jesus talked about where His Kingdom becomes available to us and we become free to be who we were created to be. #forgiveness #Jesus #likeachild #church #freedom

To the saints and to those allegiant to Christ Jesus our King grace and peace to you from God the Father on this All Saints Day. Today is a day where the church has honored saints for the last 1,000 years. I will submit to you that all who are in Christ Jesus are saints. The Apostle Paul constantly was referring to us as saints. In fact, he never refers to the church as christians just saints. A saint is a holy one. A holy one is one who is set apart for by Christ for his own purposes. Being a saint is not about how we see ourselves, it’s not about how others think about us morally, and it’s not about how we measure up to some moral code. Being a saint is all about how God defines us.

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Today is All Hallow’s Eve or Halloween. There are a lot of different cultural traditions for this day some good and some not so good. But the title of the day in which we know it has very Christian roots. Halloween literally means Saints Evening. It’s the Eve before All Saints Day which comes on November 1st. Those Christians who first celebrated it would celebrate by dressing up as their favorite saints to remember and honor them. The holiday is celebrated by many cultures f...or many different reasons but that’s what the early Christians celebrated it as. Today we still call it Saints Evening only now our saints are Pokemon, Disney, Marvel, Athletes and other real or fictional celebrities or American saints. The Apostle Paul tells the Corinthian church to follow him as he follows Christ. For us living in 2019 we have 2000 years of saints to learn from in their journey of following Christ. We see their dependence on God and their faithfulness to their call. As I remember different saints I am encouraged to press on in my faith. Remembering saints is to learn from those who have gone before. Let today be a day of fun with our kids and family. Don’t forget to get the parent tax on the candy. But let’s not forget the saints on the way of Jesus. Tell their stories to your kids today and remember the example they left us. Let’s let today be a day where we remember the saints who have gone before us and be a people who walk in our own sainthood through full dependance on Jesus as King.

4 implications of the incarnation The fourth implication of the incarnation is we are pilgrims on the way of Jesus’ story. Our home is not where we physically are but in Jesus’ story. We are all on a journey to enter into Christ’s story and it is life long. The story we are living goes well beyond just our day to day lives but we are caught up in a 2000 year old pilgrim story of our journey home to Jesus. We are given purpose because of the incarnation. We are given a new st...ory. Before the incarnation our story never found its way home. Without the incarnation we would just wander into the abyss of nothingness. And we know this is true because when we attach our story to something other than Jesus it leads to despair and darkness. We enter into the dark night of the soul without the incarnation. But the incarnation brings us good news of great joy that will be for all people, which is Christ, the Lord, Jesus calling us wandering pilgrims to follow Him home leaving behind the darkness to enter the light of his kingdom. See more