Speech On Generosity

Many factors in the past have influenced my relationship with God and continue to do so daily. I first learned to be a Christian from my parents. They took me to Sunday School and “preaching” on Sunday mornings when I was young. They made sure I was involved in the youth group and children’s and youth choirs while growing up. They taught me to say a blessing before every meal, and they laugh when I still occasionally break into our traditional “God is great, God is good .

I sometimes reminisce back to when my father would sing Amazing Grace with me and my mother would teach me Bible stories. Together, my parents were my Sunday School teachers from third to sixth grade. I loved going to church as a family: my sister, my parents, and myself included. My sister, two cousins, and I even formed a singing group at my church in honor of my grandmother, Minnie (we were called “The Minnie Maberrys”) Needless to say, my family has been an integral part of my faith. I have sought encouragement from them and the wisdom they have instilled in me will remain with me for a lifetime.

Then we start talking about the church services and Christianity in particular. The mission of CCML was knowing, growing and loving. They seek to live out our mission by worshipping together as a local community of believers, growing in spiritual maturity through discipleship, education, and small groups, caring for one another within the context of the larger church body and small groups, and Communicating the love of Christ to our world, both through local outreach and global mis... ... middle of paper ... ...in Islam singing never been a part of a ritual practice. That church was different than any other worshiping places I have visited before. I was very happy after this experience, because they still send me emails, mails, and thank you cards every Sunday.

The True Meaning of Dedication For as long as I can remember, I have been attending the Immanuel Lutheran Church. As I was growing up, my mom was big on attending church every Sunday. If we would miss a service or we would be gone, she would make up for it! My mom would grab the children’s Bible and activity book and we would have our own Sunday school lesson. I loved listening to my mom read my favorite Bible stories.

He also explained that Holy Spirit is a gift from God. Also, he explained that Holy Spirit, is a gift we do not deserve, but its a free gift from God to us “As it says in the Bible that is why everyone must have it.”After that lesson I understood why my sibling were so happy about and where that strength came from. My friends and I came up to Yuriy and explained: “We really want to get that amazing gift from God, what do we have to do?” He replied “Pastors are the ones that can help you with that, come up to them and tell them everything that you just told me.” My friend and I were really excited while coming up to the pastors, but we did not know that a dissapointment was waiting for us. The pastors tried really hard to be nice, while rejecting our wish, we were too young to get it. They probably thought that after we get it, we won’t be able to keep it, and would lose it.

The pastor believed that he was a sinner just like me and spoke of the church in terms of God’s people, versus a building. Most importantly, I felt a strong connection between myself and God and the other worshippers. They seemed to sense that I needed assistance in my spiritual odyssey, and reached out to me. Most of the congregation had attended Carmel Presbyterian for generations and were looking for new people to help rejuvenate the church. They openly embraced my family and we happily reciprocated.

Praise God; that was the phrase I would here every morning when my dad would drop me off for school. Although my family has gone through many hard times, they have grown to know Christ and wanted to share that with their kids. I grew up in the kind of household that if you said “shut up” then you were going to be spanked several times. I knew one thing on Sunday morning and Wednesday nights; you go to church. Church became a hobby to me, I didn’t hate going there but it was just what you did.

Samantha is in 8th grade and has attended St. Paul since pre-Kindergarten. She has been an altar server since 6th grade and assists the priests during weekday and Sunday Masses, as well as Holy Days, weddings, and funerals. She volunteers to read at the Children’s masses on Sundays and participates in various capacities at school masses. Both girls received their sacraments at St. Paul; Rebecca received First Communion, Reconciliation and was confirmed; Samantha was baptized, received First Communion, Reconciliation and will be confirmed in February. My wife, Maria, is a Eucharistic Minister at St. Paul and regularly participates in masses and assists the Priests and Deacons.

Just wanting to learn and pray to strengthen his relationship that he was very excited about. Because his parents weren’t really into going to church and praying on a daily basis. His grandmother is the one who exposed him to Christianity and he was very thankful for that. He attended a meeting with his grandmother as a child and he heard a song being sung about “Jesus and the lamb”. His decision to believe Christ for his salvation was decided that day.

Unlike Jessica, I did not have to engage with the entire congregation, I was just voted in by the church session. Ultimately, what drives these acts of faith is a love and trust in God. Attending the Shabbat service was such an incredible and unique experience. Knowing that the traditions that I witnessed have been practiced for centuries is awe inspiring. However, I feel that it was more of an educational experience than a spiritual one.