PBPC Announcements

PBPC Family, For the next three weeks, during our time of prayer in our worship service, we will reflect on our current mission statement. We seek to glorify God by engaging minds and guiding hearts in a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ. Each Sunday, we will reflect on the following three questions: How are we glorifying God today? How are we engaging minds today? How are we guiding hearts today? These questions will help us discern where we are as a congregation. They will also begin to give us some insight into God's leading for our future. Reflecting on these questions will begin to prepare our minds and prime our hearts for our Day of Discernment on November 12. I wanted to provide these questions to you all ahead of time so you can prayerfully think about them ahead of worship. Three to four minutes is not enough time for reflection (at least not for me!). I trust that there are ways we are already embodying our mission statement. We just don't always name it o...

PBPC Family, Today's reading for our 40 Days of Prayer is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:17-44). It is a powerful story filled with pathos and drama. In reading it this morning, I was struck by verse 44; "The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'" Jesus miraculously heals Lazarus. It is by his word, his power, his Spirit that Lazarus walks out of the tomb. This story would not exist were it not for the life giving power of Jesus. And yet, in this final verse, those gathered around are invited into the miracle. Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead, but the community must remove the grave clothes. Lazarus breathes again, but is still bound. Those who witnessed the miraculous are invited away from mere spectating to become active participants. They are invited to get their hands dirty, to remove the strips of cloth still bindi...

PBPC Family As we continue in our 40 Days of Prayer, I imagine many of you have experienced the following situation. You set aside some time to pray, hoping to have a moment with God that brings clarity to your mind and peace to your soul. You close your eyes and begin to pray silently in your mind. Dear Lord, thank you for this beautiful day. You are God over everything including my life. There is so much going on in my life right now, and in others lives, and we need you. I think about the many things that are on my plate right now - I'm feeling stretched thin. I have to go to the grocery store later today... I forgot to add cilantro to the shopping list. I bought some earlier this week but I think it's wilted. Did I check the recipe to make sure I put everything on the list? We've got dinner plans with the Davis's. They just finished their landscaping project. I would love to get some new drought resistant plants in the front yard. Maybe I can swing by Home Depot la...

PBPC Family On September 1, we began our 40 Days of Prayer journey as a congregation. I want to spend this email providing a little more background behind this communal practice. In Sailboat Church, the author repeatedly emphasized the importance and centrality of prayer as the primary way we shift our personal lives and church culture from relying on our own efforts and strengths to relying on God. Prayer, simply put, is a practice that reinforces our reliance on God. When we come to God, either with our requests or in the hopes of hearing God speak to us, we come with an expectancy and hope that God will intervene in our lives. Prayer is the recognition that we can't do things on our own, that we can't exist on our own. In prayer, we live the truth that God is our life source and that in God, "we live and move and have our being." Prayer reorients us to reality. God is God and we are not. In prayer, we live as if that is true, even if, at times, we struggle to beli...