The family of God here at Dowagiac Church of Christ wishes to extend to you a warm welcome. If you have questions about our worship services and why we do what we do, we will be glad to give you a biblical answer. The uniqueness of the Church of Christ is that we are trying to restore to the best of our ability those things that we see the first century Church doing. We are also working hard at building the spirit, unity, and love that Jesus taught and prayed for. We have no clergy, but are working together as equal co-workers trying to serve one another and the area in which we live. Come study with us, grow with us, and serve with us as we strive to do God’s will in all things.


We need to keep those in the church family here in our prayers. Kamoka Castaneda is continuing to have hip problems and had some medical attention this past week. Larry Brewer is having sinus surgery Tuesday, June 2. Janice Love is waiting for results on her liver tests and having an MRI on Wednesday.

Work continues on the grounds and the leveling that needs to be done around the parking lot. We need to address the water problems we have had in the basement and get a solution to that situation. The pump has quit on the baptistry. The signs are being worked on for the fair exhibit in August, but the frames to put the signs on need to be built. We received an invitation to participate in the Dowagiac street fair, but this year we are not ready to do that. In the future we may want to continue to use the exhibit we are building for that purpose. There is lots to do--let's all keep busy.

This past week I was in a retreat in Canada with the Sundridge congregation. We had a group that intended to camp and canoe together and study with some folks that had specific issues that my background was felt to be useful to. It started off OK as we had a good day on Friday the 15th to get set up, but Saturday night it got cold and Sunday we awoke to a snow storm. We worshipped huddled together in a wind break. Being cooped up with people in close quarters makes all kinds of questions come up, and we had a good and profitable study period. We finally came out a day early because it continued to be very cold and rainy, but the day we came out the wind was gusting up to 50 mph so we had a challenging time getting out. Good to be home, and warm. John





What does "Memorial Day" mean to you? For a lot of us it is a day off. For some of us it will be a trip to the cemetery to remember those who have passed away that we have fond memories of. Politicians will make a big play on the patriotic significance of the day, and the great sacrifices that many have made to allow us to live in a country where we have incredible freedoms and security. All of these are good things and things that are consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

God has called His people to be thankful people. In Romans 1:19-32 the writer describes people who are totally alienated from God. The list includes sexual deviants, murderers, unmerciful, treacherous people. In verse 21 in which the source of all this evil is identified, these folks are described as refusing to be thankful. Becoming so cold and callous that you are incapable of giving thanks for the blessings you have is a sure way to become an evil, treacherous person. Not being thankful for your wife or husband sows the seeds of strife and divorce. Not being thankful for your parents leads to strife within a family. Memorial Day is a good holiday and should call us to count our blessings and reflect on how we have been blessed as a nation and as individuals. It is easy to look at the recession and the needs that we have and complain and be embittered by the current struggle, but the fact that we have a food pantry to serve the community and a place to meet in peace and security should motivate us to count our blessings.

One part of being thankful and praise-giving Christians is the memorial that we engage in every first day of the week. We know from Acts 20:7 that the first century church had communion on a regular basis as a part of their worship, and in 1 Corinthians 11:18-30 we see that not only was this a major reason for their coming together, but any deviation in purpose was condemned. Verse 29 ("he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself") is often misrepresented. It certainly is not that we can ever be worthy of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, but verses 20-22 tell us they had turned the communion into something other than a time to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and to be thankful for the blessing of having our sins washed away by His blood. This was a heart problem, and had nothing to do with the mechanics of the Lord's Supper. Take time tomorrow to remember how blessed you are, and remember God and the sacrifice of His Son in the process as you remember fallen family and those who died to allow us to live in this country.