Mission Moment 10.8.25

Caleb Cooke
Senior Pastor, VillageaBaptist Church
Bowie, Maryland

“I will make with [my flock] a covenant of peace and banish wild animals from the land, so that they may live in the wild and sleep in the woods securely. I will make them and the region around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing,” – Ezekiel 34:25-26

When I was growing up, something that always confused me was how often people talked about rain. I have distinct memories of my dad looking to the sky and saying something about the yard being dry and “needing rain.” Similarly, after almost every rain, my grandpa would say, like clockwork, “Yep, we needed it!” But what really confused me was when people wanted it to rain. Child me viewed rain as an inhibitor, because there were many things you couldn’t (or wouldn’t) do in the rain. Rain cancels events and ruins outdoor birthday parties, so why would anyone say we need rain? 

I’m glad to say that I’ve since learned the way weather can act as a level playing field for conversation. I have come to appreciate all the ways rain is vital. In fact, as I cross many thresholds in my life—for example, having a lawn of my own to deal with, as well as the beginning of our church’s community garden ministry—I often find myself looking up wondering when it’s going to rain. Recently, I even caught myself saying, “Yep, we needed it!”

If we take this text from the prophet Ezekiel as an example, we can view God’s blessing as a soft rain over picturesque hills dotted with grazing sheep. There are many places to find ourselves in this living landscape. See the sheep blissfully unaware of how long it has been since it rained, thus taking God’s blessing only as it comes? Look, there’s a weary farmer feeling the weight of drought lift off his shoulders! Wow, I wonder what stories that tree’s rings could tell, stories of drought and torrential downpours. 

As I think back, the throwaway “Yep, we needed it!” tells a deep story of lived experience from people who have watched crops grow and watched them wither. This phrase ties together those who have felt the ground crack beneath their feet and those who have seen puddles form in long-dry ditches. It’s the kind of phrase that makes sense only when you’ve gone without something vital for a while. Something life-giving.

Maybe you’re in a dry season wondering if the showers of blessing will come. Maybe you’re in a flash flood of God’s favor. Maybe you’re somewhere in between. Wherever you are, that simple phrase still speaks, not just to the rain that has fallen, but to the truth that we depend on something beyond ourselves; to the truth that we are not self-sustaining and we are not alone. 

“Yep, we needed it.”

Ezekiel’s Blessing
from Ezekiel 34:25-26 

I will make with [my flock] a covenant of peace 
and banish wild animals from the land,
so that they may live in the wild 
and sleep in the woods securely. 

I will make them 
and the region around my hill 
a blessing, 
and I will send down the showers
in their season; 
they shall be showers of blessing. 

Pray...Give...Go.

1st Explorers After-School Program Recap

First Explorers had a busy week discussing feelings, with chapel visits from Kaitlyn and other scheduled programming. The students played games, basketball, hopscotch, did lots of coloring and Play-Doh, and got excited to begin play practice. The upcoming theme is “What to do With Anger,” where students will explore effective ways to calm themselves. 

Giving the Jesus Way

United Christian Ministries is in need of cereal. 

 To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.  Thank you!

1st Explorers After-School Program Recap

First Explorers had a wonderful “Leading with Kindness” week full of activities and valuable lessons. They took turns being the leader for outdoor activities, dressed counselors up in toilet paper during chapel, had relay races with Generation Kids, made water color fall leaves, and experimented with exploding apples. The boys loved making successful floating boats with Titus during Royal Ambassadors. We look forward to welcoming October and a new theme next week: Big Feelings!

Midweek Meals Continue

Mid-week meals continue tonight, October 1 at 5:30 p.m. in the MFC. Costs are $12 for adults, $7 for K-12th grade, and college students as well as pre-K are guests of the church (no charge). Please remember to get your reservation turned in to the office by noon Monday so we have an accurate headcount. Sign-up sheets and pew cards will be available as well! Join us!

Mission Moment 10.1.25

Casey Ramirez
Field Personnel in Baguio, Philippines

“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46:10

As a native Texan, I spent my childhood near the relatively small hills scattered around southwest Dallas County. In college, I would sometimes joke that Waco was so flat that we could see all the way to Oklahoma on a clear day! Mountains were a foreign concept to me. I’ve had the privilege of visiting places near the Rockies, the Appalachians and the Alps, but only for short trips. And I never really paid attention to the mountains. They were just part of the background.

We now live in Baguio, Philippines—a bustling city situated at approximately the same elevation as Denver. Its elevation and mountainous terrain give it the benefit of comfortable temperatures most of the year, which is good because walking anywhere is basically hiking. As you can imagine, the mountains make for beautiful scenery. It is hard to go anywhere in the city without a grand view of at least one of the mountain peaks in the distance. But the mountains aren’t just in the background here. We are surrounded by them. We live on them.

And yet, one of my favorite things is the shift of the weather mid-day, when the clouds climb over the peaks and completely envelop the city and the surrounding mountains in this thick, impenetrable, puffy blanket of damp and silence. The mountains fade away, the city becomes still and for a little while, everything seems to disappear into a sea of gray. A few minutes later, the clouds will drop their rain and move higher into the sky, and everything will go back to how it was before.

I think we all need times like these that cause us to experience life in a different way than we usually do. Amid our hectic schedules and busy lives, we need times that cause us (maybe even force us) to stop and just be. Just for a little while. Perhaps it is in these times that we might also experience God in a different way than we usually do.

A Blessing for Being
Wherever you find yourself right now,
whether at work,
or at home, 
or in one of the countless other places,
remember that God calls you to 
“Be still and know that I am God.”

Despite the schedules and the busyness of today,
may the peace of God cover you
like clouds blanket a mountain.
God calls you to 
“Be still and know that I am.”

Amidst your comings and goings, may you pause 
long enough for your lungs to fill with good, deep breath.

Remember to 
“Be still and know.”
May you make the time to 
find God in the quiet.
“Be still.”

Stop what you are doing and just
“Be.”

Pray...Give...Go.

Midweek Meals Continue

Mid-week meals continue tonight, September 24 at 5:30 p.m. in the MFC. Costs are $12 for adults, $7 for K-12th grade, and college students as well as pre-K are guests of the church (no charge). Please remember to get your reservation turned in to the office by noon Monday so we have an accurate headcount. Sign-up sheets and pew cards will be available as well!

The menu that evening will be cheeseburger bar with all the fixings, mac & cheese, baked beans and dessert.  Join us!

Mission Moment 7.24.25

Jeremiah Banks
Associate Pastor of Spiritual Formation
First Baptist Church, Corbin, Kentucky

“The Good Life belongs to those who show mercy, because they will be shown mercy.” – Matthew 5:7 (paraphrased)

I love to listen to podcasts. When I heard the creators of the popular “The Bible Project” podcast translate the usual word “blessed” as “the good life” in their series on the Sermon on the Mount, something unlocked within me. For me, “blessed” can sometimes feel like empty religious language—something you can find sewn onto a pillow rather than the type of radical statement I expect to hear from the mouth of Jesus. 

“The good life belongs to those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” – Matthew 5:4 (paraphrased)

There are a lot of definitions of what it means to live a “good life” or what the “good life” looks like. The world of politics tells us power, partisan politics and putting yourself and your party’s positions first is the key. Hyper-spirituality tells us escaping the cares of the world is how you find blessing. The world of social media attempts to boil the good life down to our highlight reels. Each of these perspectives may be valid in their own way. But none of them sound quite like Jesus to me, the man who, upon seeing the crowds, sat down and began to teach: “The good life belongs to those who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

What would it look like for you to flourish? For our communities to believe Jesus meant what he said? What if the values of non-violence, self-sacrifice and mutuality aren’t just pleasant ideas, but really are the moral arc of the universe? If this is what the good life looks like, then the meek must be the ones moving with the grain of the universe after all.

The Good Life
A blessing inspired by Amos 5:18-24

There will be days when we get it all backwards.
Where we will long for the end of God’s good world.
Where—at the rate we are going—the world will end in darkness, not light.
And we will like it.

O Holy One,
May our hearts beat right. 
May we resist our desire to escape.

When the roaring of markets and politics come charging at us, 
where can we turn?
When we weary and we thirst
from our needs and the world’s needs,
how can we dream?

If we long for darkness, may it be the darkness that dilates.
When we are tempted to fill our time together with smoke and mirrors,
may we remember how quickly an opened window can clear the air.

And when the new heavens and the new earth come ringing,
may the noise we hear be from our own mouths.
May we sing alongside the birds,
chirping of the possibility 
of a world where 
all can stand on common ground.

Pray...Give...Go.

1st Explorers After-School Program Recap

Last week, First Explorers learned steps and skills for solving problems. They built towers and contraptions, had books read aloud, participated in enrichment activities with guests, identified leaves and created leaf rubbings with 4H. They had two days of learning about scarecrows (an answer to farmer’s problems!) and made their own scarecrows from craft supplies. 

Giving the Jesus Way

United Christian Ministries is in need of cereal. 

 To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.  Thank you!