There will be a fellowship dinner following the second worship service in the commons.
"You Turned My Mourning into Dancing"
The Habitude of Gratitude
Speaker
Dwight K. NelsonDwight Nelson served as lead pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University from 1983 to 2023. During his time at Pioneer he spoke on the “New Perceptions” telecast, taught at the theological seminary and has written books, including The Chosen. He and his wife, Karen, are blessed with two married children and 2 granddaughters.
Offering
More In This Series
"'You Turned My Mourning into Dancing': Habitude of Gratitude"
- "Habitude"
- "An act or an attitude that becomes a custom or habit"
- "Habitude of Gratitude”
- Jeremiah 31:3-4, 13-14
- NRSV: "You shall take your tambourines and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers."
- Twenty One Pilots "Stressed Out":
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out
We're stressed out . . . - Jean Twenge: "[The song] 'Stressed Out' captures this possible link between growing up slowly and mental health issues.... As Asbury University student Alyssa Driscoll wrote, the song ‘has exactly what we’re thinking written in it... [It] really GETS US.'" (iGen 111)
- "iGen is on the verge of the most severe mental health crisis for young people in decades. On the surface, though, everything is fine." (93)
- "In Laura's profile picture... she's a girl with wavy brown hair who looks no more than 16. Her site is titled 'a depressed person life.' Her pain is starkly evident in her posts, which include 'That's how depression hits. You wake up one morning, afraid that you’re gonna live,' 'I don't why I am so stupid. I don’t know why I am so sad,' and 'They all looked so [expletive] happy to me. Why couldn't I look like that?' The web page's title appeared as one apt word: ‘Broken.'" (99-100)
- Gregory Boyd: "My life is Christ—nothing else really matters." (Present Perfect: Finding God in the Now 57)
- Ministry of Healing
- Emotional Health Nugget #1: "When you open your eyes in the morning, God that He has kept you through the night. Thank Him for His peace in your heart. Morning, noon, and night, let as a sweet perfume ascend to heaven." (253)
- Emotional Health Nugget #2: "One of the surest hindrances to the recovery of the sick [physically/emotionally] is the centering of attention upon themselves. Many invalids feel that everyone should give them sympathy and help, when what they need is to have their attention turned away from themselves, to think of and care for ." (256)
- "Good deeds are a blessing, benefiting both the giver and the receiver of the kindness. The consciousness of right-doing is one of the best medicines for diseased bodies and minds. When the mind is free and happy from a sense of duty well done and the satisfaction of giving happiness to others, the cheering, uplifting influence brings new life to the whole being." (257)
- Emotional Health Nugget #3: "Let praise and thanksgiving be expressed in . When tempted, instead of giving utterance to our feelings, let us by faith lift up a song of to God." (254)
"My life is Christ—nothing else really matters."
Religious Liberty
Seventh-day Adventists have stood firmly for religious liberty—for everyone—for more than 150 years. But do you know the reason why? Part of the reason is that, when our church was founded, almost every American state had Sunday-keeping laws on the books. Adventist pastors, farmers, laborers, and others were arrested, jailed, or fined for doing “secular work” on Sunday. Even Wille White, son of James and Ellen, was arrested in Oakland, California, in 1882 for keeping the Pacific Press Publishing presses operating on a Sunday! But that’s not the full story. The deeper reason why we continue to stand for religious liberty—in the courts, before legislatures, and through the pages of Liberty magazine—is because we want to reflect the character of the God we serve. He’s a God who created us in His image and who has given each one of us the freedom to choose whom we will worship. He’s a God who, in the words of Ellen White, “desires only the service of love,” which “cannot be won by force or authority” (The Desire of Ages, 22).
Today, please help support this vital ministry of religious liberty. It’s a ministry that defends not only the rights of individual conscience, but also the ability of our church to continue to do its mission. And as we face uncertain days ahead, your prayers and support are needed now, more than ever.
—North American Division Stewardship Ministries
