Poetry Where You Live Poetry and photo site with over 1,650 poems and 660 pictures, along with many links. At least 500 of my poems are faith based. Member of United Methodist Church. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 6 1979

Articles from Poetry Where You Live

“How Deep Are the Roots?” - sermon by Ruth L. Foss, July 30, 2006, Wesley United Methodist Church, Concord, NH 2007-08-19 20:19:00 July 30, 2006Ephesians 3:14-21“How Deep Are the Roots?” When I first read the Scripture reading for today, I was in Awe of what it implicated. “To be rooted and grounded in love!” What a way of life. To love others as myself, to put others needs before my own, to have the love of Christ within me. Oh if we all were grounded in this love what a wonderful place the world would be. There would be no wars; everyone would accept each other, looking at each other through the eyes of God. There would be no more hunger; we would truly be “our brother’s keeper.” It truly would be Heaven on earth. I contemplated this part of the scripture, looking for discernment, looking for a way for me to understand this “being rooted” way of life. It came to me as I was weeding our flower garden last week. As my daughters and I were pulling up weeds…and that’s another story…I noticed that some of the weeds were coming up easily. Their roots were not deep and the girl ...

"Our Little Seedling" - sermon by Ruth L. Foss, for Advanced Lay Speaker class, July 15, 2006 2007-08-19 20:18:00 July 15, 2006Advanced Lay SpeakingMatthew 13:31-32 & 17:20Our Little SeedlingI have had the joy of being the Worship Leader at VBS this week. I have been able to have the fun of getting the kids all pumped up for the day and then pumped up at the end about all the things that they learned for the day. Being Worship Leader, I was able to walk around and talk to, to watch the kids as they hunted for treasure in the Treasure Seekers Vacation Bible School. I was in awe of the leaders and the kids. As I was walking around one child caught my eye. She was really getting into the whole VBS thing. She was singing the songs with all her little heart and learning all the movements. She was one of the first to try and answer all the questions that were asked (and most of the time she was right). You could see her excitement and joy. This child was my daughter Shanequa. I knew she had a love for God but it was great to see it in action. Her “little” seed was planted when she ...

“Oh…The Pain!” - sermon by Ruth L. Foss, July 7, 2006, Wesley United Methodist Church, Concord, NH 2007-08-19 20:16:00 2 Corinthians 12:2-10July 9, 2006“Oh…The Pain!”When I read this scripture, it brought me back to my childhood and a T.V. show I used to watch. How many of you remember the show “Lost in Space?” It was a show about a family that was sent out in a spaceship to explore new planets. The only trouble is, is that they had trouble with the craft and now can’t get home. There was a character on the show, named Dr. Smith. He would always complain that he was in pain. His unforgettable words “oh the pain, the pain,” reverberate in my memory when I am in pain. He would use this excuse to get out of doing his share of the work. He would always say that he was too weak to help out, he had a delicate constitution. He would get the youngest, Will, to do his share of work instead of “stepping up to the plate” and do it himself.Pain...in life, we all have pain. Whether it is physical, mental or emotional, we all have it. It is what we do with our pain that really matters. Do we wall ...

"Take Me to Your Leader" - sermon by Ruth L. Foss, May 7, 2006, for Basic Lay Speaker class 2007-08-19 20:14:00 Sermon on John 10:11-18May 7, 2006Take Me to Your LeaderWhen we think about a Shepherd, we think about some one who leads sheep. Some one who takes care of their needs. They make sure that they have what they need on a daily basis for life. They make sure that they are safe from harm. One who guides them into good pasture with plenty to eat and drink. When think about shepherds I think of someone like David. He was a Shepherd before he became a king. He tended the sheep and when they were in danger from an outside predator, he fought and risked his life for the sheep of the flock he was tending. He had no regard for his own life, only about the lives of these helpless animals that trusted that he would always be there for them and keep them safe from harm. He knew these charges he had and they knew him. I also think of Moses. He was like a shepherd in how he led the Israelites out of Egypt. Through his prayers to God he made sure that they had food and water. He also provided for them ...

"Desert Places 101" - sermon by Ruth L. Foss, June 25, 2007, Wesley United Methodist Church, Concord, NH 2007-08-19 20:12:00 Desert Places: 101Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-15aPrayer: Sovereign Lord God Jehovah Be with us we pray as we look into our Desert Places Send your Holy Spirit down upon us Our Teacher of your knowledge Give us eyes to see, Ears to hear And a willingness to obey And we pray this in the Strong Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior AmenSermon:Good morning class and welcome to Desert Places: 101. I will be your facilitator for this class and the Teacher, the Holy Spirit, will also be here among us…circulating around the room making sure that we hear what we need to hear. There will be no test at the end of the class but…our Teacher may give us “pop quizzes” through out our lives…which I like to call Desert Places 102, 103, 104 and so on.OK…I said there wouldn’t be a quiz but I do have a few questions to ask…how many of you have been in one of these Desert Places? OK…how many of you w ...

"Won't You Be My Neighbor" - sermon by Ruth L. Foss, Marlow United Methodist Church, Marlow, NH 2007-08-19 20:09:00 Won’t You Be My Neighbor(Marlow UMC 7/15/07)Scripture Reading: Like 10: 25-37Prayer:Sovereign Lord God JehovahBe with us we pray as we, together,Begin to discern who our neighbor really isSend your Holy Spirit down upon usThe giver of your knowledge and wisdomMay we have eyes to see,Ears to hearAnd a willingness to obeyAnd we pray this in the Strong Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and SaviorAmenSermon:How many of you remember the TV. “Show Mr. Rogers Neighborhood”? I remember it very well. I remember the neighborhood song he would sing at the start of each show. The verse I remember the most is “I always wanted to have a neighbor just like you…I always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day…since were together we might as well say. Would you be mine, could you be mine, won’t you be my neighbor. Won’t you please, won’t you please…Please won’t you be my neighbor.” (Sing) I always wanted to live in his neighborhood. ...

"Free at Last" - sermon by Ruth L. Foss, July 29, 2007, Wesley United Methodist Church, Concord, NH 2007-08-19 20:08:00 Free At LastScripture Reading: Colossians 2:6-19Prayer: Sovereign Lord Be with us we pray as we look at our Baptism Send your Holy Spirit down upon us Our Teacher of your knowledge Give us eyes to see, Ears to hear And an understanding of your ways and the Freedom you offer us And we pray this in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior AmenSermon:When I first began to decide what piece of the lectionary to preach on…it was very difficult to chose. There was so much to preach about in the words of this week’s lectionary. You have Psalm 85…that talks about the restoration of Israel…it talks about the blessings that God imparts upon the faithful and God’s faithfulness to His people.Then you have Luke 11:1-13 when Jesus teaches how to pray…that in itself would be about 4 or 5 different sermons. Then you have Colossian 2:6-19 that talks about Spiritual circumcision and baptism…it talks abou ...

It's Kairos Time - Sermon August 19, 2007 by Ruth L. Foss at Wesley United Methodist Church, Concord, NH 2007-08-19 20:04:00 It’s Kairos Time!Scripture Reading: Luke 12: 49-56Prayer: Sovereign Lord Be with us we pray Send your Holy Spirit down upon us Our Teacher of your knowledge Give us eyes to see, Ears to hear And an understanding of the signs of the time we are in And we pray this in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior AmenSermon:In this morning’s reading from Luke… Jesus is talking to the disciples in verse 49-53…telling them that He is going to usher in a new age…that this will be an age…a season…where there will be division of people. He came to transform a sinful world…this kind of transformation does not come easily. Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of God. In verse 54…Jesus turns His attention to the multitudes. Jesus puts them on the spot…they can tell the weather by the signs that they see but they don’t realize…they can’t or refuse to see…to read…the “signs” of the pr ...

Tart Fruit 2007-08-19 18:52:00 A clutch of blackberriestempting to the eyecalling for the picking,before the birds get their fillso bright, so urgent, so tartMight have been a good ideato wait a day or too.August 19, 2007 19:52 ...

A Number of Heart Beats 2007-08-19 15:03:00 He numbers our daysbefore we are bornA question of how,of how the Creatorcould number our daysknow our livesbefore we lived them.Hidden deeper still,a story of the heartof a billion and a half heartbeatsdeep down withinthe stuff of life,of living things,the bounds of life.How much easier to comprehend,to believe, that my days are knownwhen the world has an ordereven to the number of beatsto a heart, when life beginsand when life ends.August 19, 2007 16:02Psalm 139:16National Public Radio – Krulwich on Science –“Size Matters: The Hidden Mathematics of Life,by Robert Krulwich:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12877984&ft=1&f=1007August 18, 2007 ...

Signs of the Times 2007-08-19 14:03:00 Kairos time, not Chronos time;how hard a concept, so easily missing.We live in times with signs, like the timesthey shared with You.How could they not see the signs,those people who claimed to beset apart, a chosen peoplethe people of the word, the law,the prophets. But they failed to see,to act on the wisdom, the fulfillment,the signs plain before their unseeing eyes.We too are so comfortable, so lazy,so timid. We fail to see the signsof the end times, signs before us.We are stuck in the tick tock of the clock,the slow march of time. We fail to see,to act in our time. We see only the day to daynot the imperative outside our doors.Kairos time is here. We need to choose.We must act, even if it splits father from son,mother from daughter.He knew that. So must we.August 19, 2007 14:58Luke 12:49-56, and inspired bythe sermon “It’s Kairos Time”,given by Ruth Foss at the 8:00am service,Wesley United Methodist Church,Concord, NH August 19, 2007 ...

Four Races 2007-08-19 13:18:00 There was symmetry, balancein the telling of the story around the fireof the connection of the four racesto the four elements – fire, water, air, and earthof the way we are bound to the elements,to each other, in harmonythe telling of the white people, bound to fire,the sources of innovation, of modern life.Of the black peoples, connected to water,the source of life, the ability to find waterin the arid desert. The yellow people,masters of the air, home of kites and wind.And the red peoples, tied to the earth,mother of us all. How wonderful the tellingof the story of us, in the binding one to the otherelements and peoples, in balance in the natural orderthe way of things on the earth, on Turtle IslandAugust 19, 2007 14:18Our mission trip, from Wesley United Methodist Church,Concord, NH and from First United Methodist Church,Hudson, MA to Jacksonville and Machias, MEto the Down East Maine Mission,Jacksonville United Methodist Campground,East Machias, MEWords of Thunderbird Turtle Woma ...

Growing Edges 2007-08-19 12:50:00 Our mission, our trip, our sharingall part of the growing edgesof the missionaries, gaining strength,new skills, stretching muscles not used beforegaining skills, confidence, sharing, growingbeing ready for more service, more workthrough the growing edges, the pushing,the trusting, our faith, togetherAugust 19, 2007 13:49Our mission trip, from Wesley United Methodist Church,Concord, NH and from First United Methodist Church,Hudson, MA to Jacksonville and Machias, MEto the Down East Maine Mission,Jacksonville United Methodist Campground,East Machias, ME ...

Reporting In 2007-08-19 12:15:00 We were sentout by the congregationto be His hands, to be their handsDown East; putting on His sandalsgoing where they cannotto serve the community.We were, this morning,reporting in, bringing the faithfulwith us on the missioninto the service, the fun,the fellowship we sharegoing with us into the worldthrough our reflections,our witness of the workthey helped support.For we need hands and wallets,feet and prayersto do the workof the kingdom, here on earth.August 19, 2007 13:15Our mission trip, from Wesley United Methodist Church,Concord, NH and from First United Methodist Church,Hudson, MA to Jacksonville and Machias, MEto the Down East Maine Mission,Jacksonville United Methodist Campground,East Machias, MESharing our stories and pictures in worship. ...

Building 2007-08-19 12:07:00 A ramp, a roof, a residenceall the projects of the missionour service to the communityfar down the road from our neighborhooda long ways from our comfort zone,picking up tools,carrying God’s loveout into the worldremembering our call,we all share,to be there, out there,building the house of Godthe community of faithon the foundation of your loveAugust 19, 2007 13:10Our mission trip, from Wesley United Methodist Church,Concord, NH and from First United Methodist Church,Hudson, MA to Jacksonville and Machias, MEto the Down East Maine Mission,Jacksonville United Methodist Campground,East Machias, ME ...