Mission Moment 5.13.26

Jeff Lee
Field Personnel in Skopje, North Macedonia 

A Blessing from a Farmer

A blessing for new life. The springtime brings with it new life and growth. For us to participate in that new life requires us to fully understand what is occurring. We live in a world of constant changes, and we must find our place in the everchanging landscape we face daily. We must facilitate new life.

Blessed is the seed. As we plant a seed for potential new life, we focus on what is set before us. We have an opportunity to facilitate new life. We are the caretakers of what is new and fresh. We live in a broken world but there is hope with new life. 

Blessed are the hands. New life requires cultivation. When a seed is planted it requires hands to place that seed into the healthy soil. The soil needs nutrients and moisture to encourage the new life to spring forth from the ground. It requires hands to cultivate and to prune the new life—and that are sometimes calloused and worn from years of tending to multiple gardens of life. 

Blessed is the land. The land is the home for new life. We are homemakers on this journey of life. We are required to work and change the land to improve the chances for new life to flourish in sometimes harsh conditions. 

Blessed is the rain. Water is a source of life. We cannot live without water. Often, we pass through a period of drought and famine. The rain brings that new life in time of struggle and pain. 

Blessed is the harvest. The harvest is part of the cycle of life. We benefit from the harvest, which brings new life for us. We are part of the cycle of new life and death. It is a constant part of who we are. A blessing from a farmer is understanding the cycle and providing for those in need around them. 

Blessed is the table. May your table be full and shared with those around you. A blessing from a farmer is to fill your table. May it overflow to create and maintain life in your house and community. A blessing from a farmer is understanding the greatest commandment, to love God and to love our neighbor.

The blessing from the farmer is the understanding that life is an ever-changing journey. 

Peace be the journey.

First Explorers Update

This week at After-School was another fun packed adventure. On Monday, we talked about those who help our community. Each kid wrote a short letter to someone in our community that helps others. On Tuesday, Kaitlyn had chapel with us and talked about what it means to have faith and then played a game. On Wednesday, we had RAs, GAs, and Mission Friends. On Thursday we played outside most of the time as it was a lovely day. And on Friday, we learned about caterpillars. Overall, it was a good week at First Explorers!

Empty Fruit & Vegetable Cans Needed

Thank you for the great response to the egg cartons request!  We have all we need for our project, and now we need some empty fruit and vegetable cans.  If you can donate some, please drop them off at the cart inside the back door of the church.  Thank you!

Mission Moment 5.6.26

Benjami “Benji” Suprice
Collegiate Minister and Yale Divinity School M.Div. candidate,
New London, Connecticut

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” – Matthew 6:10 (NIV)

A Divinity Student’s Blessing

I bless you to live boldly into the calling placed on your life—to walk as a minister and student, a learner and leader, a chef and mechanic. May you discern how your work intersects with the suffering and hopes of the world, seeing your research, writing and presence as opportunities to reveal the heart and way of Jesus. I bless you to embody the way of Christ in contexts where what it means is forgotten.

I bless you to stand as a witness against the ways that are anti-Christ among us. May the pulpit not be an escape from the world’s pain, but a place of preparation, equipping you to see God’s love woven throughout it. I bless you to find courage in the lineage of prophets, disciples and saints who spoke truth to power, even when it was costly. 

I bless you to remember that Jesus did not pray for a distant heaven, but for God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in heaven. May you witness the Kingdom of God breaking through in moments of truth spoken, love enacted, justice pursued and faith embodied. Though we may not see the fullness of this Kingdom in our lifetimes, I bless you to continue this prayer and God’s work, trusting that Jesus considered this prayer holy.

And when it is easy to forget, may you remember that God is with us. We have faced challenges before, and we will navigate them again—together and with God’s abiding presence. May this assurance be the blessing that leads you forward. Amen. 

First Explorers Update

This was another fun-packed week at After-School! On Monday, Rebekah from 4H came by and gave us a lesson on Earth’s many biomes. On Tuesday, Kaitlyn did chapel with the kids. On Wednesday, we had RAs, GAs, and Mission Friends. On Thursday, we did a scavenger hunt outside where we looked for all sorts of nature’s wonders. And on Friday, Debbie led the kids in a cool craft. Overall, it was a great week at After-School!

Empty Fruit & Vegetable Cans Needed

Thank you for the great response to the egg cartons request!  We have all we need for our project, and now we need some empty fruit and vegetable cans.  If you can donate some, please drop them off at the cart inside the back door of the church.  Thank you!

Volunteer Needed

After-School needs a volunteer to meet the Fairview bus on Friday, May 15, from 2:50 to 3:20 p.m. We are short-staffed on this day. The volunteer will be able to leave as soon as the church bus returns from picking up the Scotts Creek students.

Community Helpers Week!

First Explorers After-School Ministry is looking for community helpers wants you to share with our students about what your profession is or was before retirement. How do you help and support our community? 

Nurses
Doctors 
EMTs
Medical field
Firefighters
Police Officers
All community helpers 

We need volunteers from 3:45 to 4:15 p.m. for the following days:
Thursday, April 30
Friday, May 1

Please text Debbie Hansen at 706-669-9781 to get on the schedule!

Mission Moment 4.29.26

Elket Rodríguez
CBF Global Migration Advocate

In a year filled with noise, upheaval and uncertainty, I’ve found myself drawn back—again and again—to the quiet truth that God’s presence is the deepest blessing I know.

Not the gifts God gives, not the answers to prayer, not even the things I’m most grateful for. Just…God.

I think of the words of the psalmist in Psalm 73. For 16 verses, the writer vents frustration and complains that the wicked flourish, while the faithful struggle. But then everything shifts: “Until I entered the sanctuary of God…” That moment of divine perspective reframes everything. Beyond circumstances, the writer realizes, “Whom have I in heaven but you?”

Psalm 42 also echoes the same longing: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?” The author begins in deep despair but slowly remembers that there is something deeper than bitterness and more enduring than sorrow. The turning point doesn’t come with changed conditions, but with God’s presence. “Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”

I’ve had a year full of blessings, no doubt. I have three incredible children—one of whom still runs to me with open arms yelling, “Papá!” when I come home. I have two sons who hunger to learn and explore life, a heritage of the Lord (Psalm 127.3). And I have a wife who, honestly, defies description, a virtuous woman (Proverbs 31:10).

I could write volumes on the blessings in my life. But the real blessing—especially in moments when even those good things fade into the background, when joy is hard to muster, when gratitude feels distant—is this: God is the blessing.

It’s easy to get caught up in everything else—even in the good things—and still lose sight of the giver. But when all else dims, when darkness does not lift, there is One who lifts us, holds us and stays close.

I thank God for nearness, for patience and for faithful companionship. When all other blessings fade, God remains. And that is blessing enough.

A Blessing for the Journey
May you give thanks for all that has been given,
both the gifts you asked for and the ones you didn’t know you needed.
May you notice the holy traces
on the path beneath your feet,
the imprint of a faithful God,
and the footsteps of those who walk beside you.
May you receive the rain of heaven’s kindness,
that falls without condition,
refreshing the just and the unjust alike.
May you rejoice in the sunlight that rises without favoritism,
shining on every corner of your story,
even the ones still under construction.
May you savor the moments
when time slows,
and you become aware:
God is near.
God is here.
God is yours.
And above all,
may you give thanks not only for what God does,
but for who God is.
Amen.

First Baptist Church of Sylva, 669 West Main Street, Sylva, NC, 28779, United States828-586-2095fbcsylva@gmail.com

First Baptist Church of Sylva

669 West Main Street | Sylva, NC 28779
828-586-2095

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