The Bible reading for today is the book of Malachi.

Fall is such a visually captivating season. . .

the vibrant oranges up against the still-green grasses and evergreen branches. . . 

the rose bushes putting on their last hurrah,

the ornamental grasses finally showing off their gorgeous plumes–that’s all from a walk around my home!

The beauty of creation is one small glimpse of the beauty of our Creator–it makes me wonder about how stunning the garden of Eden must have been and long for the breathtaking glory of the new heavens and new earth that we wait for now. 

But, it also reminds me that beauty and creativity matter to our God.  So, enjoy a few snapshots of things we’ve been doing with our hands around the O’Donnell household to express our God-given creativity and think about what you might do today with your hands.

That last picture is meant to be an invitation–join me this Friday night for our first Handiwork gathering at 7pm.   Bring anything you can do with your hands to express your God-given creativity, or come to learn a new skill, enjoy rich conversation, good food and inspiring music.  And look for some pictures this weekend from the event–let’s share our handiwork with one another!

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Psalm 19:1

The reading for today is the book of Malachi.

If you’ve been following along with the readings these past few days, you’ve been following the Jews back to Jerusalem, watching as they labor to rebuild the temple and walls of the city, and listening as Ezra reads aloud the entire book of the Law (the scriptures in their entirety!).  You’ve seen foreign wives sent away, merchants forced out of the city on Sabbath, and the house of God emptied of all common furniture–there’s some major cleansing going on!  But at the dedication of the city walls and the temple, loud and clear, you’ve heard joy.  We read that they celebrated the dedication with “gladness, with thanksgiving and with singing, with cymbals, harps and lyres”, and after describing the different placements of the choirs, Nehemiah ends by saying, “And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.” (12:43) 

I really love that phrase–there’s such passion and exuberance present in the scene, such rejoicing that God has been faithful to His covenant, and thus will be faithful to His covenant.  Yesterday, we read Psalm 126 along with Nehemiah, a psalm that would be sung by the people on the way to the temple.  Its a beautiful song celebrating God’s faithfulness in the past in a way that gives confidence walking into the future–let this be the song in your head today:

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.  Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”  The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb!  Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Whether its been day of weeping or rejoicing, or somewhere in between, sing of God’s faithfulness today.

The scripture reading for today is Neh. 11-13; Ps. 126.

As mentioned in the Sunday post, we wanted to check in with the Finches and Donndelingers since they moved away this summer.  The following is the update from Denise:

Denise Donndelinger

Twinsburg, OH 

Q: How are you doing?

A: This is a trying time for us.  I have found His Word my great comfort and on those days when life looks dark, I go to His word and believe that He is sustaining me—and sometimes the joy of the walk of faith is not there, but I just TRUST HIM. 

Several verses have been a great comfort:

“If Your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.  I will never forget Your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.”

Psalm 119:92 & 93 

“The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all He has made.  The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.”

Psalm 145: 8-18   (vs 13-14)

Q: How’s church?

A: We are encouraged as we see God at work in our new church (Parkside Church, in Solon, OH)! God has blessed us with wonderful fellowship already and conviction, as the Word is preached every Sunday from Pastor Alistair Begg.  We had listened to him on the radio on Truth for Life for many years and had seen him speak in the Chicago area several times; and it is great to be a part of this church now as every Sunday he preaches the Word with boldness! He is currently doing a series on the gospel of Mark.   

Q: Has God provided new friendships for you in your new “home”?

A: We feel very blessed to have this new group of believers at Parkside Church to be a part of every week.  It is a big church, yet one of the strengths we’ve seen is that they are very “outreach-oriented” and people are very friendly here.  We find ourselves talking to people some Sunday’s until the church is closed down and then going out to lunch with people after that.   

I started Women’s Bible study this week (September 14–18) and have already had lunch with several new friends. 

One of the couples we’ve befriended at Parkside moved here from California after they became Christians and then retired,  and Jim and Virginia are pouring their lives into volunteering at the church.  They moved here because they had listened to Alistair Begg on the radio for a few years and wanted to be a part of the ministry here.  Vince also suggested they listen to Doug’s sermons online and Jim just called and said he’d listened to almost half of them and really likes Doug’s preaching.  So the listeners to NCC sermons are building here in Ohio.  

Q: Anything interesting or funny happen while moving/settling in?

A: One interesting story:  We moved to Twinsburg at the end of July, so three of our kids were with us for 3 weeks.  Dave and Gabe (the twins) signed up for and participated in the Annual Twins Day Parade and weekend activities.  Almost 2000 sets of identical twins came to Twinsburg for the event! Dave and Gabe had a lot of fun meeting twins from all over the world. They even took part in some “twin studies” from Universities that set up tents at the event and they signed up to participate in some more studies. 

Friday evening they had a dinner for family & twins.  It was funny and almost freaky to see that many “doubles”—dressed exactly alike (cuz that’s what makes it interesting)! 

Q: What can we join you in praising God for?

A: God has given us much to rejoice about. Every week we see how detailed God’s plan is and how He sovereignly cares for every detail, the timing and the little things as well as the BIG things.  All of our kids have adjusted well to their new life in different cities.  Our kids are literally spread from the east coast to the west coast now.  And it is amazing to see how God has cared for the many details in their lives—not that it hasn’t been hard!  

Q: What can we be praying about for you?

A: One request for me is that my dad, Deane Clingman’s, health is continuing to deteriorate due to the infection in his pancreas.  He will be having a procedure done at the Mayo Clinic in MN on Oct. 14th.  The doctors say there is not much they can do and the procedure is dangerous and the pancreas looks bad.  I am going to be there with my mom and dad during the procedure.  I need God’s strength.  Thanks for praying! 

Q: Anything else you’d like to share with your NCC sisters?

A: I hope you have a wonderful sister’s together meeting this week.  We’re very encouraged by what’s going on at NCC.  We will continue to keep you in our prayers—especially Moriah and Anne.

Blessings to all of you dear sisters in Christ!

Denise

The reading for today is Nehemiah 8-10.

In my readings in Ezra and Nehemiah this past week (which has revealed a huge inadequacy in my ‘return from exile’ Bible knowledge!), I’ve had lots of questions running through my head–one, which actually came out of my head and was spoken to my husband at way too late an hour last night, was ’What’s the big deal about the temple and the walls of Jerusalem?’  As Christians living on the other side of the New Testament, I know that Jesus replaces the temple as the meeting place of God (Jn 2:19-21), and that a new, heavenly Jerusalem will come down to earth (Rev 21:10)–so, why is it so important that God enable His people to rebuild the temple (soon to fade away) and the city walls (soon to crumble)?  What are the books Ezra and Nehemiah doing in my Bible? 

Doug’s answer was short but sweet–the reason it is so important is because the temple and the city of God are SO important.  And that’s why Jesus is SO important.  If the temple (i.e. the meeting place with God)  wasn’t such a big deal, then God would not have miraculously provided the resources and protection and leadership to make sure it was rebuilt.  And He wouldn’t have sent His Son and then His Spirit to make our bodies a living temple, holy and pleasing to God.  The temple is a really, really big deal!  And that’s precisely why Jesus’ claims about Himself (”Destroy this temple [pointing to Himself] and in three days I will raise it up again” (John 2:19)) were considered blasphemous and led Him straight to the cross.  But He did rise again in three days, securing forever the access to God for God’s people–and now nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.  Hallelujah!  Thank you, Ezra and Nehemiah, for playing such an important role in salvation history, and thank you for helping me to see more clearly the wonders of my Lord Jesus Christ.

I’d love to hear what you’re learning as you finish off these Old Testament readings, and look forward to diving into the New Testament with you on Thursday!

The Bible passage for today is Nehemiah 1-5. 

As promised, the winner of yesterday’s drawing is Shalice Brawner.  Keep those comments coming!  I’d love to hear what you thought of our first Sisters Together event for the year and what you’d like our next cooking demonstration to be. . .

As promised, here’s what happened Thursday night.  We were welcomed to Ann’s lovely home.

The food was laid out, ready to be chopped, zested, stirred, baked, toasted and simmered as we watched. 

Emily Gerdts had prepared these amazing ‘cookbooks’ with Make Ahead recipes from Caroline, Ann, Helen-Marie and Peggy Lynne–you can pick one up off the Visitor’s Table at church on Sunday. 

While Caroline and Ann demonstrated the preparation of several recipes,

we sat back and enjoyed the show (don’t you love the vintage aprons!).

After all their labors, we sampled the results–and they were fantastic. 

Baked Chicken Parmesan with Homemade Marinara, alongside Salad with Autumn Vinaigrette

Broccoli & Bow Ties

Chocolate Lava Cakes, served with ice cream and fresh whipped cream

All of these delicious recipes can be made ahead and the recipes are in those lovely books you can pick up on Sunday.  At our future Sisters Together gatherings, we’ll be adding to the books with additional recipes from other ladies in the church.  (Doug teased me that with a church cookbook, we are now officially a church.) 

In keeping with our theme of Hospitality, and in gratitude for all their preparation, we gifted Ann and Caroline with copies of Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, a fascinating (albeit slightly scholarly) read on the ‘discipline’ of being hospitable.

We gathered in the living room and listened as Ann, Peggy Lynne and Helen-Marie encouraged us in the practice of hospitality.  They shared with us the lessons learned from years of opening their homes to others and challenged us to make the effort to welcome others into our own. 

We closed singing, “God is so Good” and left with the beauty of that truth, sung by sisters together, hanging sweetly in the air. 

It was a very good night.  See you at church tomorrow!

The Bible reading for today is Ezra 7-10.

Ladies,

We had a wonderful gathering last night at the Davidson’s home–check back tomorrow for some great photos!  I want to encourage you to start your Bible reading plan today–I know we’re ‘finishing off’ the Old Testament, but reading about the return from exile, the rebuilding of the temple, and the renewal of the covenant, and seeing the expectation of God’s people that with all these changes that now God’s ‘forever king’ (2 Samuel 7:13) would come and rule–this is all setting the stage for the marvelous arrival of Jesus Christ as we open the New Testament! 

So, hit the books!

I spend a lot of nights not sleeping.  Because I’m no longer in the newborn/nursing phase of motherhood, I have little tolerance for this problem.  I’m reminded that Marie Benware would rise during those sleepless hours and fold laundry (5 loads, if I’m remembering correctly!).  I, on the otherhand, sort, fold and organize my ‘mental laundry’–all those ideas that are lying all over my brain waiting to be folded and put away.  One of those ideas is this blog–a place where the women of New Covenant church can share their lives through words, pictures and online conversation.

New Covenant desires that all members are regularly reading the word of God and applying it to their lives; in lieu of a traditional Women’s Bible Study, we are challenging the women of the church to begin reading through the Bible chronologically, at the same pace.  The passage for the day will always be listed at the beginning of the blog entry–to print the entire schedule for your convenience, leave a comment in the blog and I’ll e-mail you a Word document.  Otherwise click on the link above.  Please note, because we are starting in September, we are just finishing up the Old Testatment readings and will spend our next few months in the New Testament.  The reading for today is Esther 6-10 (although reading the whole book might make better sense).

The uniqueness of reading the Bible chronologically is that it puts familiar Bible passages (or unfamiliar ones) in its broad historical context (i.e. the book of Micah right after 2 Chron 27 and Isaiah 9-12) so that the grand story of God’s working is more vivid and easy to identify.  As we read together, processing the same passages of scripture through the differing lens of our unique lives, I hope we will see more clearly the beauty, complexity and richness of God’s Word.  I hope we will be challenged by the honest questions, thoughtful insights and genuine sharing that we find here as we read through the Old and New Testament scriptures together.

This blog will also feature ‘interviews’ with different women from the church (look for an update on the Finches and Donndelingers soon!), photos from different Women’s Ministry gatherings (such as our gathering for Sisters Together), and resources for Christian growth.  May our eyes be opened to the goodness of God in the lives of His children!

I encourage you to leave a comment (look at the top of this post–this will involve leaving your e-mail address and name) and join the conversation–as an added incentive, I will take a drawing of all the women who leave a comment to this post and the winner will receive a copy of Paul Tripp’s War on Words, an excellent resource for taming the tongue (the topic of our next Sisters Together gathering).  The winner will be announced in Saturday’s post.

Welcome, Sisters!

Emily