Natalie's Grace Notes

  Service of Worship Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church February 28, 2021 Rev. Natalie Bowerman, Pastor   Let us pray: In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me. When I have done what is wrong and displeasing in your sight, O Lord, extend your love to correct me. When I ignore those in need and pretend that all is right with the world, O Lord, help me to face the truth. When I turn a blind eye to those who have been stricken with poverty and are facing the injustices that come along with it, O Lord, teach me your way. Enable me to extend your love; and give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify your name forever. Amen. Mark 8: 31-38 Jesus Predicts His Death 31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, ...

  Service of Worship Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church February 21, 2021 Rev. Natalie Bowerman, Pastor   Let us pray: Lord God, you who breathed the spirit of life within me. Draw out of me the light and life you created. Help me to find my way back to you. Help me to use my life to reflect your glory and to serve others as your son Jesus did. Amen.   Genesis 9: 8-17 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:  9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you  10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth.  11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living cre...

  Service of Worship Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church February 14, 2021 Rev. Natalie Bowerman, Pastor   Let us pray: Dear God, Help me today to understand what love really means. I need a love that’s big enough to include all of us. Big enough for the dating and engaged couples, of course, with their giddy daydreams of a future together. But also big enough for the married folks, whether their passion for each other is still blazing brightly or barely more than a smoldering wick. Big enough for the singles toasting their independence, and for the singles wishing someone would come along and make that independence disappear. For the lonely and widowed and brokenhearted, I need a love that understands, a love that welcomes in hurt and sorrow instead of excluding them. The love I need more than anything is Your love. Without Your love, no other love will ever be sufficient. And with it, every other love becomes richer and truer and more life-giving than it ...

  Service of Worship Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church February 7, 2021 Rev. Natalie Bowerman, Pastor   Let us pray Lord, thank you that you are with me. Help me to trust and depend on you today. It’s easy to lean on my own understanding. Help me to sense your presence with me. Give me a stronger desire to read the Bible and to understand what you are saying to me. Show me what I need to cleanse from my heart and life today. Give me a greater desire to take quiet moments to be aware of you. Help me choose to interact with other believers and to keep your Word central in my life. Grow my faith as I trust you to bless me as I arise now into my day. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen. Mark 1: 29-39 Jesus Heals Many 29  As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.  30  Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her.  31  So he went t...