NATIVITY, FT. OGLETHORPE, GA.

Seen in a recent parish newsletter: Ben Smallwood, writing about visits to assist the people of Haiti, quoted Mother Teresa: “People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

ASCENSION, KNOXVILLE

Excerpted from a recent parish newsletter: Have you ever been down and out and nobody seems to be around to talk to? That’s God – He wants you to talk to Him. Have you ever been thinking about somebody that you haven’t seen in a long time and then, next thing you know, you see her? That’s God – He knows the desires of your heart. Have you ever been in a situation you thought couldn’t get better, but it did? That’s God – He brings us through tribulation to a brighter day. Happy moments, praise God; difficult moments, seek God; quiet moments, worship God; painful moments, trust God; every moment, thank God!

ST. ANDREW, MARYVILLE

In her letter to parishioners in a recent parish newsletter, the Rev. Martha Sterne discussed two concepts of time, Chronos, or clock time, and Kairos, or God’s time.

She said, in part: “Kairos is when the hour has come for the baby to be born or the storm to subside or the friendship to deepen or the rose to bloom.

“God’s time is the fullness of time and, for the most important realities in our lives, Kairos is something no human-engineered timepiece can possibly measure. …

“What clock-time project is driving you crazy?

“Can you step back just a little and listen for the holier tick-tock?”