Eighty when I was eight

Sixty-five when dad turned twenty-one,
Eighty when I was eight,
My grandfather a regal presence,
A smile upon his face…
 
Life was simpler then,
His fedora in the closet,
Sitting in his presence
Sharing a meal on Sunday…
 
Driver for the Cookie-Lady,
Violets for the shut-ins,
Together they built a life,
One hundred and ten years ago…
 
----------------
April 12, 2024
Eighty when I was eight
 
&
edited January 21, 2016
Arthur – v2
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2016/01/arthur-v2.html
posted February 25, 2004
writing 10/17/03 13:30 to 13:40
Edited 10/20/03, to change yankee to Puritan
Arthur
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/02/arthur.html
about my paternal grandfather
Arthur Leon Foss
(born 11/30/1888, died September 1978)
and his love of the Boston Red Sox
(written a year before their
2004 World Series Championship,
breaking a 84 year drought)
&
edited December 17, 2016
Open to Adoption – v3
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2016/12/open-to-adoption-v3.html
merging edited to original and version 2
edited December 9, 2015
Open to Adoption – v2
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/12/open-to-adoption-v2.html
July 15, 2006 23:00
Open to Adoption
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2006/07/open-to-adoption.html
About Ephesians 1:3-14 and
about the adoption at age 25 in 1913 of my grandfather,
Arthur Leon Foss by Georgiana Foss, matron of
the Faith Home orphanage in Lowell, MA.
Honoring her by taking the name he had always known.
Recognizing the consciousness of accepting
God’s offer of adoption, with its rewards and responsibilities.
&
Edited November 30, 2013
Jessie – v3
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2013/11/jessie-v3.html
(editing original again)
May 12, 2013
Edited for Mother’s Day worship service
Jessie – v2
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2013/05/jessie-v2.html
written 5/2/2001, posted to blog 2/12/2004
Jessie
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/02/jessie.html
 
 
All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 202 2022, 2023, and 2024. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com)  for usage. See all 53,000+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.
 
-----
bread, Faith, Family, flowers, friends, garden, gifts, hands, light, love, memories, morning glories, orange, poetry, senses, sight, smells, taste, voice,
 
#bread #Faith #God #Family #flowers #friends #garden #gifts #hands #light #love #memories #morningglories #orange #poetry #senses #sight #smells #taste #voice
----------
Faith, Family, hope, believe, New Hampshire, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, religious poetry, Arthur Leon Foss, Boston Red Sox, Red Sox, World Series, Red Sox Nation, Babe Ruth, Yankees, New England,
 
#Faith #Family #hope #believe #NH #poetry #BostonRedSox #RedSox #WorldSeries #RedSoxNation #BabeRuth #Yankees #NewEngland
 
-------------
Poetry, adopted, adoption, creator, earth, Ephesians, Faith, Family, father, free will, gifts, God, hope, love, Lowell, mother, Faith Home, Georgianna Foss, Arthur L. Foss, Wright, Poetry Where You Live,
 
#poetry #adoption #adopted #Faith #Home #trust #Lowell #MA #God #love #FaithHome #GeorgiannaFoss #ArthurFoss #Wright
 

Open to Adoption – v3

Choosing to be adopted

ah, that is the key point

isn’t it, the important thing

the fact of choice

A different act, when it is

a purposeful step, choosing

whether in earthly terms

or accepting the offer

paid in full, fully,

one time for all, for everyone

by the Lamb, by our Lord Jesus

An adult has a choice,

the gift of free will

which path to choose in life;

a boldness in choosing

being open to adoption,

penitent and thankful,

by a loving mother or father.

===============

edited December 17, 2016

Open to Adoption – v3

merging edited to original and version 2

edited December 9, 2015

Open to Adoption – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/12/open-to-adoption-v2.html

July 15, 2006 23:00

Open to Adoption

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2006/07/open-to-adoption.html

About Ephesians 1:3-14 and

about the adoption at age 25 in 1913 of my grandfather,

Arthur Leon Foss by Georgiana Foss, matron of

the Faith Home orphanage in Lowell, MA.

Honoring her by taking the name he had always known.

Recognizing the consciousness of accepting

God’s offer of adoption, with its rewards and responsibilities.

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 42,570+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

adopted, adoption, creator, earth, Ephesians, Faith, Family, father, free will, gifts, God, hope, lamb, love, Lowell, mother, Faith Home, Georgianna Foss, Arthur L. Foss, Wright, Poetry Where You Live,

#adoption #adopted #Faith #Home #trust #Lowell #MA #God #love #FaithHome #GeorgiannaFoss #ArthurFoss #Wright

Open to Adoption – v2

Choosing to be adopted

ah, that is the key point

isn’t it, the essential fact

A different act, when it is

a purposeful step, choosing

whether in earthly terms

or accepting the offer

paid in full, finally,

one time for all

by the Lamb, by Jesus

An adult has a choice,

the gift of free will

which path to choose

a boldness in choosing

being open to adoption,

penitent and thankful,

by a loving mother or father.

===============

edited December 9, 2015

Open to Adoption – v2

July 15, 2006 23:00

Open to Adoption

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2006/07/open-to-adoption.html

About Ephesians 1:3-14 and

about the adoption at age 25 in 1913 of my grandfather,

Arthur Leon Foss by Georgiana Foss, matron of

the Faith Home orphanage in Lowell, MA.

Honoring her by taking the name he had always known.

Recognizing the consciousness of accepting

God’s offer of adoption, with its rewards and responsibilities.

All of my poems and photographs are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 40,330+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

rejoice

rejoice in kinship

for our name in heaven

claimed by Almighty God,

adopted at the cross.

rejoice, all of us,

people of dust

whatever our walk here,

we are known in paradise.

===

July 19, 2014

rejoice

Luke 10:20

“Jumping for Joy”

devotion by Jase Robertson

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jase-Robertson/294229310696929

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jase-Robertson/358577187568007

https://www.facebook.com/TheJaseRobertsonFanClub

https://twitter.com/JaseDuckman

for July 17, 2014

read July 17, 2014

Duck Commander Daily Devotional

http://www.amazon.com/Duck-Commander-Devotional-Alan-Robertson/dp/1476748683

compiled by Alan Robertson

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Robertson-duck-dynasty/601622119889439

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Robertson/665992033453188

http://duckcommander.com/meet-the-family/al-robertson

https://twitter.com/BeardlessBro

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 31,230+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

adopted in, grafted in

cut off from our old roots

put into living water

drinking of the nutrients

the soil of the word

leaving the world behind us

adopted in love

grafted in, new life to begin

in the vine of the Lord

grafted in, from our past

like a living shoot,

a new branch,

grafted in, entering

into the body of Christ

a shoot added to the vine

that give us new life

grafted in, included

adopted into the family of God

our old roots replaced

with love divine

the soil of God’s grace

grafted in, growing

into the body of Christ

each one together

growing in new life

====

Edited January 31, 2013

“adopted in, grafted in ”

January 30 2013

“grafted in”

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2013/01/grafted-in.html

Luke 4:14-21 (Common English Bible)

Nehemiah 8:1-3 (Common English Bible)

1 Corinthians 12:21-31a (Common English Bible)

Psalm 27

(and Ezekiel 37:1-14, not included by Pastor Ruth)

Worship Theme: “The People of God Unite”

Call to Worship (Psalm 27:1, 4-5, & 13-14 NIV Bible)

Unison Prayer

Prayer of Dedication (GBOD © 2013 Psalm 27)

and sermon – “Like a Hand in a Glove”

by Pastor Ruth Foss

https://twitter.com/PastorRuthFoss

http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss

http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com

A Handmaiden of the Lord

http://pastorruth.posterous.com

http://www.suncookumc.org

Suncook United Methodist Church

http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965

Suncook, NH

January 27, 2013

Third Sunday after Epiphany

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 21,990+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Adopted – v2

He was a man with secrets
hidden slices of his life
long pushed down
below the surface
covered with pithy jokes
told to his Masonic friends

He was adopted, as an adult,
to take the name he had only known,
or so the story goes
interesting tendrils though
of other threads

Woven into his story
of a mother and uncle
aunt in the sanitarium
blurting out truths buried in his attic
found lifetimes later

What did he know
before the papers were sealed
of who he was, his first name,
before he was
adopted by her



====
Edited August 17, 2012
“Adopted – v2”
July 15, 2006 15:07
“Adopted”
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2006/07/adopted.htmll
About my paternal grandfather and a conversation I had with him in 1976, when he was 88. Also about some of the things in his attic when we moved him in to live with us.


All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 19,720+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Filling the Temple

The hem of his flowing robe
the robe of God
filling the temple
the Lord God in his house
on the Mount of Zion.

The voices of the heavenly host
Holy, Holy, Holy!
shook the very walls
and the smoke of the altar’s fire
filled the court of the Lord

The majesty, the grandeur of God
and my sin, my unclean lips,
made me tremble
in awe and wonder.


April 19, 2009
Isaiah 6:1-8
and
John 3:1-17
Romans 8:12-17
Advanced Lay Speaker class
April 18, 2009

Still Alive

Even in the presence of God
seeing his glory, the awesome King
sitting on his throne
his robe descending, flowing out
into the sanctuary
filling the temple

Trembling, knowing I am mortal
that surely I should die

But I am still alive,
surely by grace alone

My impurity, my sin
has been burned away
reborn, even in the presence
in the awesome courts of the Most High

And, in hearing His call
“Whom shall we send?”
I must respond,
“Here I am; Send me!”


April 19, 2009
Isaiah 6:1-8
and
John 3:1-17
Romans 8:12-17
Advanced Lay Speaker class
April 18, 2009

The Joy of the Word

Sharing, bringing forth
the joy of the Word
the living waters of God
through the mechanics, the process,
the ways for the sermons to come into life
The writing process, the research, the sweat
all of that yes, to a point
But there is joy in the letting go
in the opening up, in the giving over to God
listening, letting the Spirit speak
from deep within us
to turn our minds, our hearts, our spirits
to the living, indwelling Spirit of God
to let the scripture come
to let the words flow as they will
onto the written page
letting inspiration join perspiration
finding, retaining the joy of the Word
coming alive, so we may speak
the message waiting to be proclaimed


April 18, 2009
Isaiah 6:1-8
John 3:1-17
Romans 8:12-17
Advanced Lay Speaker class
sermon writing process
inspiration and perspiration

Offers are Unlimited!

Pray now, offers are unlimited
so ended the sermon,
as it had begun,
sharing thoughts on the offering of God
to become part of the family of God
explaining the Trinity,
Father, Son and Spirit
in the words of our merchantile
our commercial world
Like so many sale items
offering not one but three Gods
But, unlike the products that fade, that fail
no purchase necessary
no phone to call, no hidden charges
an offering, paid by his blood
redeeming each one of us
all of us, open to all
if we but call on the Lord
Offers are unlimited!


April 18, 2009
Isaiah 6:1-8
John 3:1-17
Romans 8:12-17
Advanced Lay Speaker class

The Family of God

We are children, adopted
redeemed into the family of God
Father, Son and Spirit
and each one of us, heirs
members of the family
entering in, by water,
by the Spirit, burned clean
washed pure, redeemed by his blood
entering in, to the loving arms of the creator
journeying, yoked to the savior, forgiven
led by the calling of the Spirit
indwelling within each loving heart
beating within each member
of the family of God

April 18, 2009
Isaiah 6:1-8
John 3:1-17
Romans 8:12-17
Advanced Lay Speaker class

Sermon - "Reborn, The Spirit Within Us" - given at Advanced Lay Speaker Class, April 18, 2009

Prayer

Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, I pray that You, who gave your Son for our reconciliation with You, would grant me peace and a heart open to Your call this day, so that you may speak through me the words that you would have me share with Your people.

We pray that Your Spirit would grow within us, giving us the strength and faith to persevere though the trials of our lives. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our spirits be pleasing to You our rock and our redeemer, and we pray all of these things in the strong name of the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Reborn, The Spirit Within Us

Today is Trinity Sunday, so named to celebrate one God in three persons, revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Creator and Sustainer, Redeemer, and Guide. It is the First Sunday or Ordinary Time, the Season after Pentecost, which ends with Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Christian year, before the start of the beginning of Advent.

Just as we shout, proclaim Christ’s resurrection on Easter morning, just as we are fired by the Flames of Pentecost, there is nothing Ordinary about the Trinity!
The idea of Father, Son, and Spirit, gives a richness to our faith, to help us to comprehend the infinite in more discernible ways. When we call out to God the Father, it is the Spirit within us speaking, crying out to our Father, and when we invoke the name of our redeemer, the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, we are completing the triangle, because he is our brother.

(How awesome it that!)

The scripture passages this morning include some of my favorite pieces of scriptures.

1. In Romans 8:12-17, in his letter to the Romans, Paul proclaims our adoption into God’s family as heirs to the riches of Heaven, to life eternal, with our brother, the risen Lord, Christ Jesus. With a spirit of Adoption, a loving Father taking us into his fold, calling us by name, as he wished from the beginnings of the earth.

2. In Isaiah 6:1-8 One of the bible’s greatest answers to the calling of God, where he said simply, “Here I am; send me!”, which is the title of a poem I wrote.

A prophet answering
the direct call to action
by the Lord God Jehovah
to bring truth to the people
foretell a trial they must face
Whom shall I send?
Here I am; send me!

Oh that we could be so bold, so confident, so faithful, as Abraham, as Isaiah, as Paul, each called by God, each going where God willed.

and

3. We have the words of our Savior, trying to speak to the deaf, trying to show the blind Sanhedrin Nicodemus the revolutionary thought, that we must be reborn, of the Spirit, that the water and the Spirit are needed for a true baptism into the faith, in the wonderful, magnificent passages in John 3:1-17.

What Nicodemus could not even begin to understand, the living Christ in his presence, Isaiah proclaimed, the glory of God’s heavenly court. Can you see it, can you picture the imagery Isaiah’s song creates? Can you visualize the hem of his robe, filling the temple? (pause) I was gifted with a poem, The Hem of the Robe, which reads,

Like shafts of light, woven together;
sheets of flowing luminous light
like a wall of falling water
a curtain of silent thundering rain
so must the hem of his robe have been
filling His Temple on earth
flowing down from his heavenly throne
down from high above
filling the temple with light

Isaiah was redeemed and reborn, by his answer. He was living by the Spirit. Isaiah was reborn, as surely as any who have followed. He was redeemed, reborn of the Spirit.

Isaiah was transformed, not by his action; but by the grace of God. Not justified by the Law; but by confessing his sin, submitting his body, his all, to the voice of God, an indwelling of God’s Spirit within him.

Unlike Nicodemus, the unwise teacher, this member of the Sanhedrin, Isaiah was able to see the throne room of God, was able to gain even a glimpse of the Creator’s glory. Nicodemus was blinded by his station, by the Law. He spoke with the same unclean lips as Isaiah.

Where Isaiah was transformed, changed, his unclean lips burned away… Listen to the words of this poem, Burned Away

A live coal in the grasp
of a six-winged seraph
a burning ember of
a sacrifice
touched to the seer’s lips
sin scorched away
so truth could pour forth
untainted and pure
for the nation of God

Nicodemus, coming to Christ in the dark of night, could not.
Even with the Messiah, the living Word of God, the Son of God speaking truth to power, speaking directly to him, he would not see. He could not understand the truth, revealed to him in the words of Christ in the lesson in the Gospel of John.
Nicodemus could not offer himself; he was not redeemed. He was stuck in his place, in the trap of trying to live, to measure himself with the Law. He could not understand and did not want to lose his position, his authority. To be reborn, of the Spirit, that meant everything of his past was loss, as surely as Paul proclaimed in Philippians 3:7 that, after his encounter with the risen Christ on the Road to Damascus, all his gain was viewed as loss.

What Christ was telling him, oh if he could have only understood… I wonder if it is like this poem, written when I read this scripture almost 2 years ago.

He is the one who said it

A minor epiphany
at the dinner table tonight,
reading the devotional
the familiar story, the
wondrous words, of God’s love
“For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son”
Words that nourish, that uplift
that remind us of the Father,
the parent; But, the context,
the speaker, is the story
This is Jesus proclaiming
the love of God in giving
Himself, to save us
this broken world
by His presence on Earth
without mincing words,
with no sugar coating.
I am here, on his earth
because the father loved, loves
will always love
the living Son,
proclaiming
the Father’s
love

There are so many times in the gospels when Jesus seems to be speaking to “Duh-sciples”. How this conversation must have seemed to him.

Beyond His Ken

Like a professor
explaining theoretical physics
to a wide-eyed preschooler,
so must it have been
the divine and the human
Meaning, full nuanced meaning
lost on the listeners
stuck within the here, the now
understanding only the heard, the seen
Nothing beyond his ken
All of us needing that
singular expert witness,
and repeated instruction

And we, using the scripture from Romans, are each called to be born of the Spirit, to live as Isaiah did, redeemed by the grace of God, our lives turned toward the Father, yoked to the Son, walking, sharing, witnessing, with the power, the authority of those flames of Pentecost that we heralded in worship last week.
Heirs with our brother, to the kingdom of God, called as He was, to listen to the Spirit, indwelling within us.

Oh, I pray that we, that you and I , can answer as boldly as Isaiah when we are called by God the Creator - reborn of the Spirit, living as children of God, as the brothers and sisters of Christ.

Here I am, Send Me!

Amen.

Sermon - "An Adoption at The Cross", by Pastor Ruth L. Foss, Good Friday service, Wesley United Methodist Church, Concord, NH

John 19:26-27


A couple of years ago, Ray and I, with the girls, went up in front of a judge. It was a special day for our family. Ray was adopting Shyanne and Shanequa. The girls would now have the Foss name. The Foss family got a little larger that day. They were adopted, grafted into the Foss family. It was a day of joy and celebration for our families. It is a day I will never forget. Ray was saying out loud that he would be there for them, that he would care for and protect them from harm.

In the scripture that I read from John, we see another adoption in the shadow of the cross. Jesus was making the beloved disciple part of the family. Even though all the others deserted Him, this one disciple, the beloved one, was there at the cross. This disciple was being adopted into the family. But why would Jesus do this in His last hours? His father was still alive…He had brothers and sisters that could take care of His mother. So what is the significance of this adoption at the cross? Well…some scholars believe that this adoption scene symbolizes the beginning of the creation of the new family of God.

At this pivotal time in His ministry…as He was completing His work on earth…Jesus wanted to have His ministry continue through His disciples…His extended family. As Jesus went through His ministry on earth, He spent a lot of time with these disciples. They ate together, slept together, prayed together and healed and cast out demons together to bring healing to those around them. He wanted the family of disciples to grow until there is not one left behind in the final days. This symbolic adoption was a sign of things to come as His disciples, past, present and future would bring about change and healing to the least, the lost and the forgotten.

So…who is able to become part of this family tree? What do we need to do in order to be considered for the adoption process? Mathew 12:46-50 gives us the answer to those questions. I like how the Amplified Bible phrases the scripture. It reads; “46Jesus was still speaking to the people when behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to Him. 47[Someone said to Him, Listen! Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to You. 48But He replied to the man who told Him, Who is My mother, and who are My brothers? 49And stretching out His hand toward [not only the twelve disciples but all] His adherents, He said, Here are My mother and My brothers. 50For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother! All who were there…not just His disciples…He opened the adoption process to all who do the will of the father.

Being a disciple of Christ makes us all one family. We are joined together, graphed into, adopted into a royal priesthood and are co-heirs with Christ. We are “indoctrinated” into this family by our baptism when we become one with Christ and one with each other. There…at the cross…in His final moments…Jesus is connecting the dots of what His whole ministry was about. It doesn’t matter if you are Jew or Gentile to receive this coronation…It is through the blood of the Lamb slain, the final sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world that we receive forgiveness, mercy and that crown of life. We are one! We are brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers to each other. Each one with a gift to share…a call to follow…a road to follow, but in order to do so, we need our family’s help, our family that began at a cross.

Now, Jesus is the one who set the standard of who can become part of the family. He is the one who opened heaven’s gates to all who come in His name. So why is it so many times we try to put up a no vacancy sign in our church windows? Why is it that we let only a select few into our “special secret society’? Who are we to judge who is worthy? Why must we look at our differences and not at our similarities? Why must we shut the door on those who are searching to fill that empty spot in their hearts that only the Risen Lord can fill?

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and she told me a horrible story. She has been searching to fill that empty spot in her heart and have been to a few different churches. At each church she was told that she was welcomed there but there were conditions to her welcome. She was not invited to share her gifts with the congregation but told thanks but no thanks. She has many gifts from God to offer, many talents to share. “You can come here but we are not interested in what God has gifted you with…you can come and bring us your tithe but you cannot give back, not share the gifts you have with us…no thanks, there is no room for you here.” She turned away in silence. How can we put a condition on a gift that God has given to share? How can we turn away someone who is searching for the everlasting arms of our Creator? How can we say you cannot be a true brother or sister here and take part in the work that Christ began so long ago? She’s still searching. I pray she finds a home for her homelessness.

We are all part of God’s design. We are designed to be a family, together, working out our salvation, helping each other along the way. Jesus started the adoption process at the cross on Golgotha’s hill. In the last moments of His life He wanted to ensure his ministry would go on…the ministry of adoption into the royal priesthood. Is there part’s of you today that still hold on to that exclusive crowd instead of the inclusive one? Are there things that you need to let go of in order to begin the healing process in the family? Do you still think that you are not worthy for the family business? I would ask today that you would leave them at the foot of the cross and be embraced by the loving arms of our Risen Lord, hearing him say “welcome home my brother, welcome home my sister, welcome home my mother. I have work for you to do and I will help you do it.”

AMEN

Pastoral Prayer, Easter Sunday, by Pastor Ruth L. Foss, Suncook United Methodist Church, Suncook, NH

Creator, Sustainer, Almighty God, You who made a way for us to receive salvation through your Son Jesus Christ, we thank you for this Easter Morn. We thank you that we may come into your house and worship you today. Christ has risen, yes He has risen indeed. When we think back on this Passion Week we stop and ponder what you have done for us. Our Risen Lord Jesus Christ came into the city a Messiah and left a criminal. He endured the mocking and scourging for us. Without a word He bore our sins on the cross so that we may have new life with you in Paradise. He rose again, on the third day, conquering sin and death for us. For this we are thankful.

We come before your throne today not as sinners but as a forgiven people, redeemed through the blood of the Lamb. We come with our prayers of celebration and of concern. Hear our prayers O Lord, those that are spoken and those that are within our hearts. (Prayers of the people) We pray for those who are ill, we pray for healing…we pray for those who are alone on this Easter Morn. And we ask that they will feel your presence. We pray for those who live in fear and are weak and ask that you would give them strength. We pray for those who are homeless and hungry and pray that you would provide for them all that they need. We pray for those who have no voice and ask that you would help them find their voice. We pray for freedom for the oppressed, set the captives free. But most of all…we thank you for your Son Lord Jesus Christ who taught us to pray… (The Lord’s Prayer) He has risen…He has Risen indeed!

AMEN

By a Spirit of Adoption

At the cross, as the savior hung dying
his mother, his disciple
joined into a family
his mother, his brother
familial bonds, a spirit of adoption
carried out at the foot of the cross

Forever more his mother,
forevermore her son
Here is your mother, here is your son
Together grafted, one to another
blood and spirit
one


April 11, 2009
Good Friday Service
John 19:26-27
The First Congregational Church of Pembroke, NH
and Suncook United Methodist Church
April 10, 2009
&
John 18:1-19:42
Job 14:1-14
Upper Room Disciplines 2009 – April 10, 2009
Upper Room Disciplines 2009 – April 11, 2009
Alive Now – April 11, 2009,
“The Great Vigil of Easter”
&
Holy Thursday service
and service of Tenebrae
Reverend Huntley Halvorson
Pastor Ruth L. Foss
Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
April 9, 2009
Tenebrae – The Service of Shadows
1. THE SHADOW OF BETRAYAL
Matthew 26:20-25
2. THE SHADOW OF INNER AGONY
Luke 22:40-44
3. THE SHADOW OF LONELINESS
Matthew 26:40-45
4. THE SHADOW OF DESERTION
Matthew 26:47-50,55,56
5. THE SHADOW OF ACCUSATION
Matthew 26:59-67
6. THE SHADOW OF MOCKERY
Mark 15:12-20
7. THE SHADOW OF DEATH
Luke 23:33-46
Hymn: Were You There…
FINAL READING
John 1:1-4

Washed with the Spirit

Saturated, washed clean,
filling by the anointing,
the cleansing of the Spirit
filling our cup, our lives
the physical presence of God
within us, that Pentecost fire,
quickening our spirits, our lives
changed forever, made new,
born again, adopted,
entering into the family of God
joining our savior, our brother
carrying our cross, his yoke
sharing his message,
washed with the Spirit
emboldened with its power

January 11, 2009
Mark 1:4-11
Acts 19:1-7
and sermon, “Child of God”,
by Pastor Ruth L. Foss,
Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH

The Strength of the Spirit

Not our own selves,
by the strength of the Spirit alone
empowered to serve,
to be out brother, the Christ
only by the Holy Spirit,
living within us,
adopted, one of God’s family
washed clean, saturated
by the living waters of Christ
the Spirit, waters, coursing within us
new people, a priesthood,
anointed and sent forth
to be Christ in the world

January 11, 2009
Mark 1:4-11
Acts 19:1-7
and sermon, “Child of God”,
by Pastor Ruth L. Foss,
Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH

Gentiles – haiku

We the dogs, children
heir with him by grace alone
adopted, children

January 3, 2009
Ephesians 3:1-12

Sermon - "We are Appointed", by Pastor Ruth L. Foss, Suncook United Methodist Church, October 5, 2008

Acts 1:6-9

In society today…we make appointments with the “important” people we need to see. We make appointments for doctors when we are sick, we make appointments for hairdressers and barbers, we make appointments for lunch with friends, and we even make appointments to see our pastor. It seems if without appointments we would never get to see some of the people in our lives. It can drive you crazy sometimes just trying to make an appointment with someone. But I think the most important appointment I have made in my life was the one that I made with Jesus…the one where I gave my heart, my mind, my body, my service to Him. But in that appointment….something else happened to me…something I never thought would happen. In that appointment, I was also appointed to be in His service.

The disciples in this morning’s message from Acts had an “appointment” with Jesus. They met together with Him and asked Him a question that was on their hearts. They wanted to know if He was going to return the kingdom to Israel. Jesus told them not to worry about that right now; it was not for them to know. Jesus also told them that they would soon receive the power of the Holy Spirit and they would be His witnesses where they were and to the ends of the earth. Jesus appointed them to be His witness...to spread the gospel…to tell about Him to the ends of the earth.

In thinking about this story….I realized that…being a disciple of Christ…I…we are also appointed to spread the Gospel of Christ. At our baptism, we were adopted…we joined the royal priesthood…and that we are commissioned, like the first disciples, to go and do likewise. But how are we to spread the gospel…what can we, here in Suncook, do to help the gospel be heard to the ends of the earth?

Earlier in my sermon…I was taking about appointments. I think that one way that we here in Suncook help spread the gospel is because we make ourselves available for another kind of appointment. We make our selves open for “Divine Appointments.” Have you ever talked with someone and they say “thanks that is just what I needed to hear.” Or maybe…this is one that really freaks me out sometimes…you are talking with someone and all of the sudden all these things start coming out of your mouth…things like pertinent scripture or this wisdom that came from “out of the blue”…and it is exactly what that person needed to hear? Or how about being in the right placed at the right time in order to share your faith with someone who needed to be lifted up? Or many other situations that you can think of that have happened to you in your life? Well…you have had one of those Divine Appointments for God…a time that God uses us to spread the gospel to the least, last and forgotten. A time that God used ordinary you and me to witness to the ends of the earth.

When we open our doors and have a church dinner or Our Families Table and even to AA and NA…we open ourselves up to these Divine Appointments. People from all over the community come to our church to have a meal and fellowship and it is within this fellowship time that God uses us to share our faith with those around us. But sadly…there are times when we miss those divine appointments.

Have you ever walked away from someone and realized that you have missed a Divine Appointment? I know I have. (I may have told you this story before so if I have please bear with me) I remember a time that I was in the grocery store and the bag boy was asking about a rubrics cube I used to have. It was an evangelism tool. It told the story of Jesus. I just kind of told him what it was but never showed him how it worked. Well…I got as far as my car when I felt that
I missed that Divine Appointment. When I turned around and went back into the store I couldn’t find the bag boy to show him. I vowed that day to never miss another appointment like that. You see…not only are we to be open for them but we also must be on the lookout for them. They usually come when we least expect them.

Appointments…we all make them and some are made for us by the Author of our lives. We are appointed to go out and spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. We are not left to our own devices to fulfill this call in our lives. We are given the Holy Spirit to help us and guide us in this appointment. We must be forever on guard to see these appointments…these opportunities…to share our faith. I would like to share a poem written by our resident poet Ray. It is called appointed and I feel it sums up our appointment well:

Like Peter, Paul
We are appointed
commissioned by the same Spirit
the Holy Spirit of God
living, growing within us
to spread the same message of love
commissioned, appointed
witnesses of Christ’s love
sacrificial love of the servant
humble king, fulfilling still
scriptures, law, promises of God
Grace, living, flowing from our hands
our hearts, our feet
walking in his pathways
reaching out his hands
sharing God’s love,
imprinted on our lives

May we always be the hands and feet that bring the Good News of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ. Where ever and whenever He calls. AMEN

Adopted - haiku

Adopted by God
brought into the family
redeemed and made whole

September 5, 2008
written at the Agape Café coffeehouse
Wesley United Methodist Church
(one of 24 written there that night)