Tag Archives: quotes

Cee’s Church Of Fun!

Posted on by under Photography

This week Cee has encouraged us to have fun with church photos in her

cees-fun-foto

Click on the funny face and you will be transported into a world of fun churches.

Here are my church photos and some churchified quotes.

The ruined sanctuary of Cashel

The ruined sanctuary of Cashel

Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon.

Martin Luther

Doorways to the Old Center Church Winchendon MA

Doorways to the Old Center Church Winchendon MA

Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where his believers are?

Martin Luther

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, is Church of Ireland a Prfotestant denomination. T

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, is Church of Ireland a Prfotestant denomination.

For years I thought my assignment or the Church’s assignment was to articulate the Gospel and nothing more. Now I believe that if we don’t support the verbal expression of the Gospel with physical demonstration of compassion, we are not imitating Jesus.

Max Lucado

1st Bible Baptist Church, Gardner MA

1st Bible Baptist Church, Gardner MA

The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones.

Henry Ward Beecher

In Other Words…Get Acquainted

Posted on by under The Stories

In Other Words

This week Patricia has asked us to write a piece of flash fiction off of a quote from  Lucy Maud Montgomery.

“I do know my own mind. The trouble is my mind changes and then
I have to get acquainted with it all over again.”

Check out how others have written it at

http://patriciasplace.me/2015/02/25/13182/

Here are my thoughts…

The Window To My Soul

by JE Lillie

“Shut up.” I said

“No. If you don’t like it just walk away.” He spat. Little droplets of moisture dotted the glass between us.

“Why do you always have to make things so hard on me? I just wanted to have some fun. I’ve earned it.”

“That’s your idea of fun?” He managed to choke out.

His face was getting redder by the minute. My blood pressure was rising just looking at him. But this is how it always was between us. I would do something I thought nothing of and he had to make a major production out of it.

The guy thought he knew me because of the length of our acquaintance. The truth was he never really empathized with me for one moment. He never gave me a break, never understood what my life was like. He was just always there doling out the advice for the price of his right to castigate me.

“Yes I thought that was fun and I am sick of your constant harping on me.” I shouted back in his face.

“Fine!” He shrieked.

“Fine!” I bellowed.

I walked away from the mirror confident I had put the jerk in his place.
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In Other Words: Finishing The Island Lady

Posted on by under The Stories

In Other Words

Here is a new challenge I am taking over at Patricia’s Place. You can participate by going to…

http://patriciasplace.me/2015/02/11/13074/

Patricia has given us a quote and has asked us to write a new piece between 250 and 500 words.

Here is the quote and my newest story

Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”
Willa Cather

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Finishing the Island Lady

By JE Lillie

Andre was determined to make his mark on the world. His parents were even more determined that their son would succeed in his ambition. The family moved out of the tenements in lower Cleghorn when Andre was five and  found a low rent apartment in a nearby suburb. It meant commuting in a beat up old truck for Andre’s father and working in the Dollar Store for his mother but they considered the sacrifice for their son worth it all.

Andre was no genius in the classroom but there was nothing the boy couldn’t create with a paintbrush. The word “prodigy” was tossed around throughout Andre’s high school career. That and a dozen blue ribbons from around the state and a full scholarship to the Boston School of the arts made him a shoe in as one of Massachusetts up and coming artists in gallery shows around the Commonwealth.

But Andre’s mark was bigger than a name on a canvas, bigger than money in the bank. When the boy started teaching art classes at the Boys and Girls club in Lower Cleghorn he knew he had come home. He trained a dozen young men and women in the art of painting.

For his Senior project he got permission from the City to begin painting murals over several of the graffitied walls in the center. Andre was warned of the danger of painting over gang tags. When he was interviewed he told the papers he was not challenging anyone’s authority, that his only goal was to revive a love for beauty in the downtrodden village called Cleghorn.

The gang’s did not see his work as beautiful. They shot and killed Andre on a Wednesday as he was finishing the outline of a mural he called, Island Lady.

Andre’s memorial service was held at the site of the outlined portrait. A hundred artists from around the state agreed to finish the Island Lady and to paint over every tag in the city as tribute to one of their own. The broken heart of love can breed anger. Used right that anger becomes resolve. When resolve meets hope and hope meets God that opens the way for many miracles.

A Word A Week: Play

Posted on by under Photography

Well here’s a challenge I haven’t taken in a while:

Sue gives us a word a week to photograph. This week her chosen word is: PLAY

See how others met the challenge at…

https://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-play/

Here is how I saw it.

And the graceful aires of the violin playing over the fields at Blarney Castle.
You can play dead.
You can be in a play
You can even play in a band.

Always remember… “When we engage in what we are naturally suited to do, our work takes on the quality of play and it is play that stimulates creativity. “
Linda Naiman  

As I said earlier today, it’s all work and it’s all play if you enjoy it!

Be the Church

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
The crucifix at Kylemore Abbey

The crucifix at Kylemore Abbey

Gandhi was once quoted as saying,

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.”

and you know sometimes I can understand his point of view. There are moments when, as Mr. Gandhi stated,

“Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

There are days when it is hard to love the people of the church. There are days when it is even hard to be a part of the church. There are days when as Christians we are tempted to chuck it all and go the Christian faith alone. Here is the thing though, Christianity is a team sport. To “go it alone” as a Christian is akin to trying to play basketball or soccer (football for those of you outside of the U.S.) by yourself. IT DOESN’T WORK!!!!

Chris Tiegreen has said,

“Blood is thicker than water….the Spirit is thicker than blood.”

And Matthew Henry has written,

“When we take God as our God, we take His people as our people.”

For better or worse when we accept Christ we are adopted into a family and that comes not only with the blessings of eternal life in Heaven but with the responsibility of loving and working with the rest of this humongous family we call the church.

The Apostle John wrote,

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” I John 2:9-11

Now some of you will say, “Well I don’t hate the people of the church. I just don’t want to have anything to do with them.”

I have to point out that functionally there is little difference between those two things. You are called not just to “not hate” the church. John calls you to “love your brothers and sisters in the church” and that means being involved with them.

I get it. Family is hard. Church is hard. But in the end we are are called to it. In Heaven you will be a part of the church so you might as well practice being a part of it now no matter how hard it might be.

Things Are Not What They Seem!

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
In the shadow of the cross

In the shadow of the cross

Things aren’t what they seem! From everything…most of us can see, it appears clear that “the kings of the earth” are where the action is; theirs is the clout that makes things happen; theirs are the actions determining the course of history….

No things are not what they seem! Contrary to their own inflated opinion that crew does not hold the riens of history….they are being ruled. That ruler…already has won the decisive victory and established his control….God’s is the real power clothed in apparent powerlessness; Evil’s is apparent power which is really powerlessness. Things are not what they seem! Jesus is Lord— and that not only of us… who accept his lordship but of everyone else, up to and including the kings of the earth.-

Vernard Eller