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Prayer Ministry

If you have a prayer request, please send it to pastordelawareheadwatersparish@gmail.com. We will be happy to add it to our prayers during Sunday service. If you have a request/need for private counseling or a time of prayer with Pastor Dawn or Pastor Peg about a personal matter, please contact the office or either Pastor.

SERMONS:

Pastor Peg posts her two most recent sermons on this page. If you are interested in reading more of her sermons you can go to pastorpeg.wordpress.com. For Advent we are preaching about The Gifts of God and what they mean to us during this season and for our lives. Enjoy.

The Gifts of Hope and Peace

December 7, 2025 2^nd Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 9:6-7 Luke 1:11-17; Romans 15:13

It’s Advent, and we’re getting ready for the birth of Jesus. During this time, we focus on four positive states of being: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, because they reflect what God has given us through His son Jesus.

Let’s face it, this world can sometimes be very discouraging. In life each of those positive states of being are countered by negative ones. Hope is countered by despair; peace by anger and conflict; joy by sorrow; and love by hate. We all encounter those negatives, but Jesus came to show us how to cope with them by engaging in and practicing the positive ones.

To use hope as an example, we live in those states of beings. (I am hopeful that the Bills will win the Superbowl.) But they are also attitudes that we operate with (I am saving my money because I hope to buy a car.) They are also emotions (I hope I get a good grade on my test.) And finally, something that we quantify (I have a lot of hope for the next basketball game.)

Before I start talking about hope and peace, I want to talk about the four negative states that I brought up: Despair, conflict/anger, sorrow, and hate. We can’t help being in these states sometimes, that’s life. But these are states that none of us should live in, or want to live in, for very long. When we are in them, it’s healthy to try to get out of them or to mitigate them with the positive states so that they don’t overwhelm us. But I do know some people who live in these states permanently.

I have a friend from my high school days who I truly believe has a good heart, but he has somehow gotten himself to a place where he always sees the negative of a situation, of people, or even of things. If I talk to him about a new store that’s opening, he’ll start spouting about how that store is going to run other stores out of business and ruin the area. He always sees events in terms of conflict, and he refuses to see how any conflict might be resolved positively. If I talk about something good that happened when we were younger, he will always talk about how nothing works for us today and he's perpetually mourning for the old times. If I talk about people in the media, or even some people in general, he’ll always go to their faults and how much he dislikes them rather than talk about anything good about them.

I cannot imagine how he must perpetually feel inside. What is it like to have that much despair; to have that much constant conflict with the attached anger; to have that much sorrow; and to have that much hate and dislike within you?

You know, it’s been proven that when you default to negativity and dwell too much on negativity,your body releases acidic enzymes into your bloodstream that can actually cause damage to your organs. And unfortunately, if you keep defaulting in that direction, you’ll rewire your brain into negative patterns which result in negative emotions. After a while you don't even look for hope, peace, joy, and love in your life, and you’re perpetually eating yourself alive with your own enzymes. (Grim thought!)

On the other hand, it’s been shown that if you allow yourself to hope when you're in despair; to find peace and resolution when you're in conflict or anger; to look for joy when you have some sorrow; and find love when you come up against things that bring out the emotion of hate; then your body also releases enzymes that counter-act those acidic enzymes. And when you have those pure moments of hope, peace, joy, and love you can heal the damage that the negative enzymes have caused with the positive enzymes.

Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, was a descendant of Aaron, Moses's brother, and tradition has it that he was praying in the inner chamber of the temple on the day of atonement. Which fits because Zachariah was given a message that his son, John, would prepare the way of the Messiah by preaching to the people to get ready by atoning for their sins and purifying themselves to be ready for when Jesus comes.

This must have been incredibly glad tidings because the Israelis were living under an oppressive Roman occupation. They were living everyday with despair, conflict, sorrow and hate. They believed that the Messiah was going to save Israel, and they would then have hope, peace, joy and love restored to them.

But John told the people that they needed to prepare for the Messiah by atoning for their sins. Atonement means to repair a wrong or an injury. It’s not just asking for forgiveness. Yes, Jesus taught us that we are forgiven for our sins, but that’s the first step. The second step is to atone by trying to repair the wrong or the injury that we've done.

And atonement requires us to think positively not negatively. If you have the attitude that: Well, no matter what I do it's not going to make things better there will always be conflict and anger. Even if I try to make things right people might feel better and be happy for a while but something sad is going to happen to them and they're just going to be sad again. Even if I do show love there's still a lot of negativity and hate in the world. So what good is it going to do?

You can't repair things if you think that there is no end-game that leads to a good outcome.

I get that in very dark moments it is hard to hang onto hope. It is hard during conflict to hang on to peace. It’s hard to find joy when everything around you is so sad. It’s hard to love when people are hating on you. But that’s the challenge of being a Christian.

And that's what Jesus came to teach us how to do; to show us that all those positive states of being are possible. He didn't say that we're not going to go through the other ones. But by his incarnation, his life, and his death and resurrection he gave us proof positive that within our struggles we’re working towards something better.

Jesus’ incarnation into this world showed us that God does care. God was willing to send someone to show us how to do it right, even while all the wrong stuff is happening to us. A Christian carries hope because we know that there is a life beyond this one that’s better and that we can bring it to other people now. Jesus taught his disciples to be the hands of God and we are their inheritors.

Hope and peace are two of the best practices when we are Christians. Hope happens when we help each other get out of bad situations. Hope happens when find a positive reason for living, rather than negative one. Hope happens when we give kindness. Hope happens when we share the story and promises of Jesus.

Peace happens when we put down our anger by trying to understand other people and what they're going through. Peace happens when we stop trying to create or continue conflict and start to look for solutions in which everyone can work together.

Hope and Peace happen when we practice creating societies that recognize the dignity of everyone; give equality to everyone; give opportunity to everyone: and allow people to live together without fear. Hope and peace happen when we practice repairing, even in a small measure, the hurts of our world.

My prayer for everyone on earth is to practice the positive in our lives that will give hope to ourselves and others. To practice stepping back from our conflict and anger and repair our relationships so that they work together and have a measure of peace. My prayer is that we will all accept these gifts from God that were taught to us by Jesus and that we will become a people who are ready to receive the newness that Christmas brings.

On Eagles’ Wings

November 23, 2025 Christ the King Sunday

Isaiah 40:27-31 Philippians 4:4-7;12-13

This is the last day of our sermon series on the rested soul. So far I’ve talked about giving our stress to God, and Jesus, when we feel overwhelmed, and that on our journey, God Jesus and the Holy Spirit are going to be walking with us and giving us nudges of direction so that we don’t get lost. This week we’ll go one step further and talk about harnessing the power that God gives us to do wonderful things. After all, wouldn't you like to receive some of that power so that you could do wonderful things on this earth?

In my first year in ministry the district lay leader came to our church charge conference. Everyone in the church was really happy to see him and they were all asking him how he was doing, and saying, Oh, you look so good. I was a bit confused and then one of my people explained to me that he had just recovered from a very nasty bout of cancer.

I can’t remember the name of the cancer, but apparently only about 15% of the people that get this cancer survive. I said that it must have been hard to get that diagnosis. He looked me straight in the eye and said: I told the doctor that my God can run a truck through that percentage.

It was very humbling for me to see how this man was so strong in his faith and that his faith gave him unlimited strength during a really bad illness. I actually thought to myself: Do I have that kind of faith? Do I have the ability to believe so completely in God’s power that I can claim that kind of healing?

And I know that I will never get the answer to that question until I get to a place that's similar to where his was.

We all have doubt. It's sometimes very hard for us living in this very physical world; to believe sometimes that there is something beyond this; that's greater than this. And yet I really do think that we want to believe it. I think it is why the idea of the force in Star Wars is so appealing to people. Who wouldn't want to be a Jedi and be able to tap into the universe’s force and be able to move things around with their mind? But throughout the centuries people have believed that there is this force of God that can connect with us, and that we can connect with. A force and power that can give us strength during the difficult times in our lives.

Isaiah challenges people to believe in this power of God, and to believe that they can connect with it. Why do you say, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God?” Isaiah asks: Do you really think that your problems are hidden from God? Do you really think that you’re not worthy enough for your problems to be heard by God?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard: God has so many other problems that are so much bigger and are so much more important than mine, that I don't think I should bother God with my problems. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary;his understanding is unsearchable. Aren't all of us taught that God is all knowing; that God is all wise; that God can reach anywhere and do anything? Don’t we say that God is omnipotent?

God has no limits. We have limits. I only have 16 hours in the day to work on things. I cannot do everything, or be everywhere, all at once, so I have to prioritize my life. I have to look at my schedule and when things are due to be done, and then I have to create a game plan of where and when to focus my attention. That's me as a human. That's not God. So why do I catch myself putting my limits on God?

Isaiah goes on to say: He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength That is an invitation to tap into the unlimited power of God. We all receive that invitation; God actually wants to give us strength for what we need to do in life. God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are looking for a relationship with us.

We can't have that power without the foundation of a good connection with our souls, which is where we find our God connection. If I can continue the Star Wars analogy, apparently some people are more gifted with the force, but all people can connect with the force at one level or another. But it takes practice.

And we practice by consciously connecting to God. We connect through prayer. We connect through music and worship. We connect through journaling. We connect through crafting. We connect through fishing. We connect when we visit friends; when we sit with people who are lonely and give them some of our time. We connect when we help people. You know, I've mentioned that our mission until the end of the year is to support our local food banks. I really believe that every time you go to the store, and you say I should get some soup for the food bank you are also connecting to God.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. We all get physically tired, we’re built that way, but I don’t think that Isaiah is talking so much about physical tiredness as he is mental and emotional tiredness. Even in daily-minimum-stress life we get tired of the same old routine. We get weary in our hearts and minds if we’re not being fed love and encouragement. Also, we can sometimes be so embedded in our routines that we can’t see what our actions do for others or where they’re leading us. Don’t you ever get that feeling that you’re in the middle of a really thick forest and you don’t know if what you’re doing is working or that you’re making any progress?

But one of the things that happens when you start to connect with God is that God and Jesus ask you to examine your life. We are asked to examine our motivations; to look at how our actions affect others; to consider how we are making the world a better place. Faith is not blind. Yes, sometimes we take a leap of faith, like Peter did when he jumped out of the boat and started to walk on the water. (Peter’s problem was that he started to doubt his faith. His small amount of faith enabled him to walk on water.)

But for the most part, Jesus tried to get his disciples to think about how they were in relationship with God and everyone they met. He asked them to think about where the justice, mercy and compassion was in their actions. He challenged them to see everyone as a child of God who was worthy of respect and dignity. He was trying to expand their minds and hearts to see a bigger picture.

What does the eagle see when it flies? It doesn’t see the inside of the forest. It sees the whole world spread out before it. It sees how the forest connects to the mountains, which connect to a river, which flows out into the pains and then to the sea. The power of God not only gives us heart-and-mind strength but also a greater perspective that keeps us on track along our journey.

Paul takes this idea and says: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. What happens when we are rejoicing? We are giving thanks for the wonderful things our lives. HMM – Isn’t there a holiday centered around that? I’m going to give you a challenge for this Thanksgiving. Every hour-on-the-hour, give thanks for something. That means that every hour-on-the-hour you’re going to be connecting with God.

Paul said: I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

The Lord is near; connect with God. Live in thankfulness and open your heart to Christ’s compassion and love. Let your requests be known to God so that he can give you strength and help you. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.