Southside Oracle Archive

                     SOUTHSIDE  ORACLE               April 18, 2008

New Bible Classes Scheduled

Four new Sunday morning Bible classes are scheduled beginning May 4th.  The classes will be at 10:00 a.m. and run through August. If you are not now attending a Sunday morning class, this would be a good time to start. The classes will be:

The Book of Isaiah, Jeff Hill teacher.  This is a continuation of a study that is currently being taught.

The Christian Graces, co-taught by different men as a study of the principles of Christian living.

Challenges to Our Faith, Monroe Hawley teacher. This will be an examination of the personal faith issues that Christians face. Specific written questions will be solicited and addressed. Questions can be anonymous if desired.

Learning and Teaching a Biblical World View, Chris West teacher. This is a new class, specifically designed and limited to young adults, including young parents.

The Bulletin Board

The Southside Men's Retreatis this Friday and Saturday at Camp Matawa near Campbellsport. The theme will be "Disciplines of a Godly Man." The retreat begins at 7:00 pm. Friday and concludes Saturday afternoon.

Identified - Maribeth Flynn wishes to place her membership with Southside. Please contact us for details.

The sick - Meagan Van Handel had a successful emergency appendectomy in Madison last week. ...Lucy Ovokaitys' father has been diagnosed with cancer.

Can you help? Southside will have a 50th anniversary homecoming on July 12 & 13. We need the addresses of former members to whom we can send the information.  If any of our readers can help provide information, send it to the Southside Church at P.O. Box 210767, Milwaukee, WI 53221 or e-mail at  mehawley@execpc.com .

Ladies! If you plan to attend the Mother-Daughter Banquet on May 9th, be sure to put your name on the list posted on the Ladies' bulletin board in the church foyer.

Roger Hawley, brother of Monroe, died in St. Louis Tuesday morning.  The funeral is scheduled for this Friday. Roger was well known at Southside having conducted seminars here as well as co-hosting with Monroe tours of the Holy Land in the 1990's of which a number of our members were a part.

ATTENDANCE RECORD

(*`) first service, 126, second service, 99

Calendar of Events

April 18, 19 - Southside men's retreat, Camp Matawa

May 9 - Mother-daughter banquet, Friday, 6:30 p.m.

May 11 -- Praise and Palate, 6:00 p.m.

May 20 - Christian Workers' Meeting, 9:00 a.m.

May 23- 26 - Southside Retreat, Fallhall Glen

June 15 - 19 - Quest family camp, Fallhall Glen

June 15 - 21 - Soul Quest, York College, York, NE

July 12, 13 - 50th anniversary homecoming of Southside Church                           

August 12-17 - Youth and family service trip to Fallhall Glen

Love Has to Be Concrete

An exasperated mother pulled her son from a freshly poured concrete sidewalk and promptly administered a spanking. Through his tears the young boy protested, "But Mama, I thought you loved me." The mother said, "Johnny, I love you in the abstract, but I do not love you in the concrete."

O.K. I'll admit that it's poor attempt at humor, but there is a serious point. We have to be careful about making love a panacea for everything that ails the human race. Abstract love may give the poet something to write about, but it's not worth very much in human relations.

When Paul talks about love in the great love chapter,  I Corinthians 13, he does so in concrete terms. In verses 1 to 3 he tells his readers that love has to go beyond tongue speaking, prophecy, knowledge, faith, benevolence, and even martyrdom. In verse 4 - 7 he talks about how love shows up in everyday living. People show love when they are patient, when they are kind, when they are humble, when they are sensitive and so on.

A person may claim that his love is so deep that he would climb the highest mountain, swim the widest ocean, and cross the hottest desert for his beloved, but it's not likely that his love will be tested that way. Love is tested when you see a mother with three children who has a stalled car on a supermarket parking lot in zero weather. Love is tested when you want to go out for dinner in a nice restaurant that has a lot of atmosphere and then attend a symphony afterwards, but he wants to go to the Pizza Hut and attend a Willy Nelson concert. Love is tested when your child comes home with a "D" on his report card, hangs his head and says, "It just looks like I can't do anything right."

Love is tested in hundreds of concrete circumstances everyday.  I like the way Erma Bombeck puts it: Love is a lot of little things that add up to caring.  It doesn't add up to three little words. Sometimes it adds up to six. "I got your tank filled today."                                                                                                                   Norman Bales

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