Join us this Sunday for a service on choosing joy through spiritual growth |
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This Sunday:
I have a friend who frequently reminds me "Life is about choices!" One very important choice is
whether to stay in a negative frame of mind or not. It's quite natural to do so, but it's quite spiritual to be joyful. God is not angry or sad - not even a frown can ever appear on God's face. God is the source of joy, and that joy is infinite and continuous and active. Our mission in life, if we choose to accept it, is to get rid of the blocks that interfere with the inflow of that joy. Easy, right?! Well apparently not all the time.
With our booth at the Tucson Festival of Books this weekend, I thought it would be useful to highlight our world-renowned Spiritual Growth Program with its emphasis on experiencing joy. After all, Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." John 15
LOTS OF OTHER THINGS GOING ON: New web presence for the Arizona Spiritual Growth Foundation!
choosejoynow
is the new internet address for the Arizona Spiritual Growth Foundation https://choosejoynow.org
Thank you! to the Foundation Board for
supporting this update, and to Sarah L, a U of A graduate student, for helping with the transition. We are still tweaking the site, but it is looking good. Any comments, affirmations, suggestions for improvement, etc. are welcome!
The Tucson Festival of Books - This weekend! > See below We have booth #162 this year on March 11 & 12. It is towards the west end of the U of A Mall, and it is on the south side of the mall road. 162 is the correct number. See below for more information.
New Art Work for The Tucson Festival of Books! Thank you Sammie A for her amazing, creative, thoughtfully detailed graphic design on the Choose Joy logo and four large posters for our Booth at the Festival!
She has put a lot of love and attention into these, and they will be GREAT promotional pieces for the Spiritual Growth program. Check them out at booth #162! And we also have T-shirts with the Choose Joy logo on them! Need your RSVP for meal-planning for the 30th
Anniversary Celebration March 24-26 See below for details!!
With love and respect, Nathan
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UPCOMING CHURCH ACTIVITIES: SATURDAY and SUNDAY > 9:30-5:30
Booth 162 at the Tucson Festival of Books!
SUNDAY 3/12/2017 11 am Worship Service - Choose Joy through Spiritual Growth
12:00 pm Luncheon by Sunday School
MONDAY 3/13/2017
11 am Tai Chi for Health 12:15 pm "Go for it" Meeting
TUESDAY 3/14/2017
6:30 pm Bereavement Support Group
WEDNESDAY 3/15/2017 9:30 am Sermon Writing
Team
THURSDAY 3/16/2017 11 am Tai Chi - Yang Style 7:00 pm Women's Group. Contact Elise G, Betsy G, or Kelly W for location.
SATURDAY 3/18/2017 10 am Private Memorial Service in the
Chapel 4 pm Private Wedding Reception in Friendship
Hall SUNDAY 3/19/2017 10 am
Music rehearsal 11 am Worship Service 12:00 pm Luncheon
The Tucson Festival of Books - March 11-12 > Booth 162 |
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"Hi, welcome! Would you like to try a simple activity to help you feel more joy right now?" This is what we will be asking as a way of inviting people to consider picking a
spiritual growth task to do right in the booth and while they are roaming the Festival grounds. We will have copies of twelve cards, each with a different task on them. They will serve as an introduction to the Spiritual Growth Program, and people will be invited back to the booth at 11 am and 2 pm for a "micro group experience" to hear and learn from one another's experience.
Once again, we have the privilege of hosting a booth at the 3rd largest book event in the nation - the Tucson Festival of Books! March 11 & 12 from 9:30-5:30. Our booth number is 162 (not 126 as reported earlier), and we are excited to share our unique gifts with lots of
people!
Thank you to Sammie for designing our new logo and promotional posters which will be displayed in the booth!!
This year, organizers of the Festival anticipate an attendance of over 130,000 people. The feature of our booth will once again
be "The Joy of Spiritual Growth" and the Spiritual Growth Groups.
Thanks to a number of volunteers, we have an energetic set of friendly
people to share their testimonials about the value of being involved in the spiritual growth groups.
Nathan Gladish
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Eating at the upcoming 30th Anniversary Celebration March 24-26 |
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We have planned a weekend of fun, inspiration, information, and community. We would be delighted to have you here!
Several meals are planned, and we need to collect numbers for our meal planners and Sunday caterer. (This doesn't include purchases from food trucks from 11-3 on Saturday. That is on-your-own.)
Please let us know which of the following meals you plan to attend:
Friday 5 PM
Meet and Greet & BBQ
followed by presentations by Frank Rose and Bishop Keith
Saturday 5:30 PM
Pizza and Salad
followed by the Rose Band
and 7-minute “TED-type” talks by various speakers
Sunday - after church
Catered Lunch
Cost: $20 for all 3 meals, $7 for a single meal, Children under 10 free.
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Readings for Reflection for this Sunday, March 12 |
The Lord Wants You to Experience Joy
John 15:9-12
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."
Heaven and Hell
395, 397, 398
Hardly anyone nowadays knows what heaven is or what heavenly joy is. People who think about either subject come up with such pedestrian and crude notions that they scarcely amount to anything at all.
By its very nature, heaven is full of pleasures, even to the point that if we see it as it really is, it is nothing but bliss and pleasure. Divine love is the intent that everyone should be saved and should be most profoundly and fully happy.
Heaven’s
pleasures are both indescribable and innumerable; but no one can realize or believe anything about their multitude who is wholly wrapped up in pleasures of the body or the flesh. Their deeper levels are looking away from heaven toward the world, which is backward. The pleasure in eminence or profit or in physical and sensory gratification stifle and smother deeper pleasures of heaven so completely that people do not even believe such pleasures exist.
The heavenly pleasures that take their
place are countless and simply defy comparison with pleasures of the body and the flesh, especially pleasures of eminence and profit. “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it."
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Helping people experience heavenly joy through spiritual growth
www.sunrisechapel.org
nathan@sunrisechapel.org Office 520-298-1245
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