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A Mother's Love for Wholeness Apparently, the modern version of this celebration started in the US in 1908 by a daughter of a mother who had been a strong social activist during and after the Civil War. The mother was also the Sunday School teacher at a
certain Methodist Church in West Virginia. After her mother's death, the daughter initiated the celebration in a very sincere, non-commercial effort to encourage individuals to honor their own mothers for their unique qualities and gifts. Let's raise up that original intention this Sunday by honoring motherhood and giving appreciation to any women in our lives whom we value for their noble contributions to creating and nurturing a better world.
One Mother's Urgent Financial Need
Last Sunday evening, Lissette Gonzales, the wife our our music leader, Pablo, was in a serious and scary bicycle accident while enjoying Sabino Canyon with her family. Very fortunately, she survived, since she was wearing her helmet. Unfortunately, she broke her collar bone, got
badly bruised and scraped up, and she has some dental complications as a result of the fall. She is out of the hospital, but will be recovering at home for several weeks with very little use of her injured arm. That is very difficult with two children, one of whom is only 2 years old.
Being here on a special educational visa from their home country of Chile, and not having health
insurance, their financial situation is challenging.
How can we help?
Pray for her recovery and the whole family's well being
Offer a meal or groceries
Offer to help with the
kids
Donate financially Who to contact? Feel free to call me or any of the following: Rachael Casto, Lauren Allen, Christine Morey, Cheri Reynolds. Or speak directly with Pablo or Lissette.
If you need contact information, just ask me or Elise.
You can give our treasurer cash or a check (made out to Sunrise Chapel with a memo for Pablo's family), or you can
donate to Sunrise Chapel online with Pay Pal. Bill Smith will then process it and send it to Pablo.
Continuing fundraising efforts - Matching donations See below for information about two opportunities to have your special
donation matched (doubled). The deadline is approaching - June 30.
Arizona Mountain Camp Update See below for a few observations about my visit to the Arizona Elks Lodge Youth Camp last Tuesday.
Annual Church Meeting - Sunday, June 10 at 12:15 pm
Per our By-laws,
we will hold our annual business meeting after church, during our luncheon, on Sunday, June 10. As usual, I will attempt to keep the meeting relevant, useful, informative, and brief (less than an hour). This is the meeting when we normally have elections for Officers and Trustees. We also hear a financial report and a Pastor's report. Hopefully we will also have a guest presenter from our headquarters in Bryn Athyn, PA, but I'll tell you more about that
soon.
This is one of several announcements you will get from me and from our Secretary, Linda Waddell.
Thank you for your support of Sunrise Chapel!
Thinking of you all with love and respect,
Nathan
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UPCOMING ACTIVITIES AT SUNRISE CHAPEL
11 am WORSHIP SERVICE - Happy Mother's Day! 12 noon LUNCHEON
MONDAY
5/14/2018 11 am Tai Chi Basics Friendship Hall 6:30 pm Bereavement Support
Group WEDNESDAY 5/16/2018 9:30 am Worship Team meeting
11 am Tai Chi Yang 24 Friendship Hall
7 pm Women's Group: Contact Elise Gladish for location 11 am Worship 12 noon LUNCHEON
12:30 pm Board Meeting
Arizona Mountain Camp July 13-22,
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SCOUTING OUT THE NEW LOCATION! Last Tuesday I personally stopped at the Elks Lodge Youth Camp 45 miles north of
Globe, Arizona to see it up close. Unfortunately the camp hosts were not there due to an unexpected trip they had to take to Payson. I poked around though, since they were expecting me, and took some photos.
There are 8 cabins, a bath/shower house and a dining room/kitchen building. There is also playground equipment suitable
for children. Workman's Creek was flowing beautifully. The camp is in a pine woods surrounded by the Tonto National Forest at an elevation of 5,600 feet. Even though the temperature on the road near Roosevelt Lake in the valley below was about 102, the temperature at the camp was 87. A few observations: The camp is
about 150 miles from Sunrise Chapel, about 45 miles north of Globe. On the way, I passed Roosevelt Lake and crossed the Salt River. Then came the ascent into the National Forest area. Beautiful vistas. Think of going slowly all the way up Mt. Lemmon before any guardrails. Once I reached State Route 487 where it crosses
Workman's Creek, then there was one mile of lightly maintained dirt road to reach the camp. Very remote.
If you have an RV, you will want to take into consideration the long steep climb up the mountain and the lightly maintained roads. Map: From Sunrise Chapel, the drive to camp is at least 3 hours and 15 minutes depending on the condition of the roads.
Here is a link to a page of maps. http://www.elks4kids.org/campmap.html Elks Lodge information: http://www.elks4kids.org/camp.html You Tube video: https://youtu.be/LSRQUgVCMhc We have reserved the camp from Friday, July 13 through Sunday, July 22.
Anyone is invited to be part of the planning team. Linda Waddell has offered to organize meal planning and preparation. Christine Morey has offered to be the Camp Director. The next step is to work on a registration form. Stay
tuned!!
Nathan |
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A quick trip to the Grand
Canyon |
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This past week Elise and I had the delight of hiking below the rim twice! Every other year since 2006 the Oak Arbor Middle School (Rochester, MI) has taken a science trip to various geological wonders in Arizona. As a former teacher in the school, Elise has had the privilege of being the on-site science teacher (volunteer) for six of these trips. This year I got to meet up with the group at the Grand Canyon for two educational
hikes below the rim! In addition to Elise's teaching, the school hired a geologist guide from the Grand Canyon Field Institute who enthusiastically taught us all a ton of information as we walked and viewed fossils, rock formations, and talked about various features of this wonder of the world.
Only about 3% of visitors to the Grand Canyon go "below the rim" and only a very small percentage of those folks get the kind of immersive educational experience that Christa gave us. What a fabulous experience for the kids and for all the adults, too!
Nathan |
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Special Financial
Request |
First, THANK YOU to everyone who gives to the general operating fund! Your generosity helps keep Sunrise Chapel serving. And as we approach the end of our fiscal year on June 30, please consider giving what you can to help meet our budget goals. Every donation to the general operating fund is needed and
useful.
ALSO, between now and June 30, extra donations to two funds will be MATCHED. Additional contributions will be DOUBLED!
1. Recently, the Asplundh Foundation awarded us a grant for special projects to enhance our programs and facilities. Part of the agreement is for Sunrise Chapel to raise $1,500 in local contributions. In turn, the Foundation will award us $9,250! This week we received another $115, so now we have $785 left to raise. Any amount helps!
2. The Endowment Fund is a new initiative to provide income in perpetuity to sustain the uses of Sunrise Chapel. Since it was launched in December 2017, we have already accumulated $4,000! Additional local contributions up to $1,000 will be matched until June 30 by a remote donor, bringing the overall total to $6,000. Please consider donating to this important cause. This week we
received another $115 toward this match.
These are exciting additions to our financial future! If you contribute, just include a memo to our Treasurer, Bill Smith specifying your preference. To
donate online through our PayPal feature click on the Donate button above, or go to http://sunrisechapel.org/donate/ To donate by check, the mailing address is Sunrise Chapel, 8421 E Wrightstown Rd., Tucson, AZ 85715.
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Readings for this
Sunday's church service |
Abram asks, "Who Will Be My Heir?"
Genesis 15:1-6
The word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram;
I am a shield to you, your very ample reward.”
And Abram said, “Lord Jehovih, what will you give me? For I am walking childless,
and my ‘child,’ the steward of my household, is Eliezer of Damascus.”
And Abram
said, “Here, you have not given me seed, and indeed the ‘child’ of my
household is my heir.”
And see, now: the word of Jehovah came to him, saying, “This one will not be your
heir; but one who will issue from your belly will be your heir.” And leading him
outside he said, “Look, please, toward the sky and count the stars, if you can
count them.” And he said to him, “This is how your seed will be.”
And he believed in Jehovah, and [Jehovah] credited it to him as
uprightness.
Being Reborn or Born from the Lord
Secrets of Heaven 1803 - Swedenborg
People who are born from the Lord, that is, who are reborn, receive the Lord’s
life. The Lord’s life is divine love, or love for the whole human race, and the
desire to save the entire race and all its
members forever, if possible. Those
who do not possess the Lord’s love, that is, who do not love their neighbor as
themselves, never possess the Lord’s life, so they have never been born from him… In addition, when inner organs are mentioned in the Word, they symbolize the love
that is mercy. This is because the reproductive organs—particularly a mother’s
uterus—represent and therefore symbolize the
chaste love of marriage, so they
stand for love of children.
In Isaiah, for instance: The stirring of your gut and of your compassions toward
me have kept on. (Isaiah 63:15)
In Jeremiah: Is Ephraim not a child precious to me? Was he not the offspring of
my pleasures? Therefore my gut has churned for him; I will take utter pity on
him. (Jeremiah 31:20)
This shows that love itself—or mercy itself—and the Lord’s compassion on the
human race are what
the belly and the act of coming forth from it symbolize on a
deeper level. Those who have “issued from the belly,” then, symbolize people who
love.
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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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