Palm Sunday Message “The Unmet Expectations of Jesus” Preached at Advocate Condell Medical Center by Barbara Shafer (April 13, 2014) I go through phases in which I enjoy Country Music. Not everyone does, for sure. I remember at one point that at the Home Depot in Vernon Hills (where I worked for years as a […]
Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week and so our regular Lenten devotional series, Be Still and Know that I AM God, will continue tomorrow. Palm Sunday merits a devotional day all on its own, however, because it’s a high point of the church known as the Triumphal Entry (a day in earthly time […]
Chapel Worship Guide for Sunday 9 AM, April 13, 2014 The Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell Worship this morning is provided by the First Presbyterian Church of Libertyville Prelude—LeAnn Malecha Welcome—Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park Worship in Song Scripture Readings (Old Testament) Psalm 118: 14 The LORD is my strength and my song; […]
As we prepare to enter Holy Week in our devotional series Be Still and Know that I AM God, I find today’s verses of Scripture one of the most reassuring passages. It isn’t located in the Gospel accounts of Passion Week, but the same concept is there very clearly, just as it is present in […]
Matthew 2:11 On coming to the house, [the Magi] saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, […]
Prayer is so much more than just conversation with God. Prayer is positively powerful. Mark 9: 17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at […]
Changing the status of the status quo requires no mere tweaking. Especially when it’s the religious status quo. No simplistic tinkering will do: It’s overhaul time! Jeremiah 20:1 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2 he had Jeremiah the prophet […]
Exhaustion. Have you ever experienced it? Many of us know what it’s like to be physically exhausted after doing strenuous activity for an extended period of time. Our legs can feel like rubber and our arms may ache. We may be out of breath and want to collapse in a chair or a bed and […]
Do you ever feel alone in this world? Like everything is stacked against you? Elijah had just royally ticked off King Ahab and his wife—the evil Queen Jezebel—by predicting a drought that would last for years. Go hide, God says. 1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, […]
When Leaders Fail Us For the second time in my life, I’ve been watching from the periphery as a pastor I admired has resigned over moral failings. Having learned some lessons about how to handle things when leaders fail us, I thought it might be helpful to share these lessons with those who may be […]
