Time to Make the Donuts

Do you remember Fred the baker from the Dunkin’ Donut commercials in the 80’s? I sure do. It is a classic and I can always hear Fred saying, “Time to make the donuts!” Unfortunately for Fred, at least according to the commercials, he didn’t get much rest. He would often be falling asleep at the dinner table, venturing out in terrible weather, or even just having internal turmoil about getting up to make donuts. I don’t know how Dunkin’ Donuts thought this was a good idea to show us poor miserable Fred suffering over counts, but they did and obviously the commercial was a success. I can relate to Fred. Can you? There have been many times in life that I have had to search for the strength to get up to go to school or work. It was not always that I didn’t like school or my job, it was just that I sometimes I was just exhausted.

What do you do when you feel like that? What does it take for you to overcome the feeling of exhaustion? I go to God for my strength. Whenever I feel like giving up or giving in, I look to prayer, scripture, worship, and my faith in general to give me strength. The book of Philippians is one of my favorites.

Locked in chains under Roman custody, Paul writes a letter to a small group of people in Philippi. Paul has an affinity for this small group of believers and despite what is going on in his own life, he expresses joy, thanksgiving and hope for this community. Though burdened with poverty this was a community generous in spirit and Paul wanted for them continue living in that manner as a Christ-Shaped community. This letter has always provided hope for me, it has encouraged me to continue living faithfully and even more so when life gets tough or I get tired.

This Sunday, August 7th, during worship at 8:30 and 10:45 AM we will be looking at the closing segment of this letter. Paul infuses his closing message with joy and peace and says that the only fitting response for a believer who has full confidence in the surpassing value of fellowship with Christ is to rejoice! With students, teachers, and faculty returning to school in the next couple of weeks we are going to look to this letter to provide us hope to carry on. We will also have a special blessing and gift to help prepare them and send them off. We hope that you will be able to join us for a special Sunday of worship.

In God’s grip,

Pastor Chuck Church