Broken on the cross

Joyce and I had a very relaxing Sunday. I did help serve communion at our church which is now in the pattern of John Calvin serving communion every Sunday. Not sure what I think about that yet except I believe we need to do some different liturgy with it rather than using the same one ever Sunday. Being new to the congregation I will not say much about it and I can live with what is. Joyce and I biked over to Leah and Kurt tonight. We wanted to see Emma before she heads off to Camp Geneva for a week. We could use some rain in Holland as it has been some weeks since we received any. I will do Pedaling for Parkinson's tomorrow at the Fitness center. I ride the back seat of a tandem bike with a Parkinson's patient on the front. We bike for an hour at a cadence (rpm) of above 80. Research has shown that this type of rapid leg movement for this amount of time helps reduce the symptoms of the disease. So I have been doing this two or three times a week. The difficult part for most of us doing this both captain and patient is the seat issue. It gets to be a long hour staying on the seat for that length of time. We are also looking forward to our friends the Murphys from Des Moines coming for a visit.

Henri Nouwen writes the following in Bread For The Journey.

Jesus was broken on the cross. He lived his suffering and death not as an evil to avoid at all costs but as a mission to embrace. We too are broken. We live with broken bodies, broken hearts,, broken minds, or broken spirits. We suffer from broken relationships. How can we live our brokenness? Jesus invites us to embrace our brokenness as he embraced the cross and live it as part of our mission. He asks us not to reject our brokenness as a curse from God that reminds us of our sinfulness but to accept it and put it under God's blessing for our purification and sanctification. Thus, our brokenness can become a gateway to new life."

May Holy Spirit apply and use the above to grow our souls.

Do what God says and say what God does!