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Weekly Update | May 2, 2024
There is No Love Higher Than That…
Dmitriy Zherebnenkov
There are different types of reactions that people have after hearing a sermon. Perhaps one of the rarest—writing a poem. Stepan Yermolenko did just that after hearing last Sunday’s sermon on Mark 15, which I can’t wait to share with you. The first half figuratively portrays Christ as the bridegroom and the Church as the bride.
***The following comes courtesy of AI. The poem was originally written in Russian but ChatGPT was able to translate it poetically into English. Check out the original in the Russian version of this letter.
There is No Love Higher Than That…
Did you ever love with such intensity it stings?
Biting your tongue till blood’s taste clings?
Love so deep it boils with agony’s heat,
Then cools with sweat, a balm for defeat?
Sorrowful souls, tossed by waves’ cruel might,
Dancing together in sorrow’s dark night.
Clouds blanket the sky with their fierce cries,
Offering a cup of wrath for one to baptize.
That decisive moment, crushed beneath weight,
The hour draws near, bones holding fate.
He walked, He waited, wind’s knock at the door,
Calling her name, love’s plea evermore.
Cold eyes… Yet loved until death’s embrace,
A farewell “kiss” like a dagger’s base.
Strange to her, funny, mad in her view,
Too simple, perhaps, for love to construe.
How to entice? Their days but a wisp.
No dawn to meet in their dreams’ gentle kiss.
Shattered like glass, the verses of love,
No more to say what was meant for the two of.
Heaven closed, clothed in the fallen’s attire,
Left alone with the Cross, to inquire.
Earth washed with Blood, the Covenant sealed,
Christ’s tomb appointed, fate thus revealed.
Ever-loving, He breaks mortal chains,
His Love powerful, life’s essence it gains.
She saves the world, Hell’s chains unbound,
The cherished one found, in His love’s surround.
Love above her, a star in the night’s sky,
And with morning dew, washes her face nigh.
To love is to live! With dawn’s gentle sigh,
No Love surpasses that which can love so high!
Stepan Yermolenko
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Continue supporting the churches working among the people who have suffered from the war in
Ukraine: https://gfchurch.com/ukraine/
Scripture Memory Verse
Psalm 8:1-9For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Below are the services and meetings for this weekend:
- Thursday (6:30 PM) – Kid’s Bible School (open to all but required for parents), followed
- by Bible Study (Proverbs) for the whole church at 7:30 PM
- Saturday (9:00 AM) – Women’s prayer breakfast
- Sunday services:
- Worship Service in Russian at 9:00 AM
- Worship Service in English at 11:15 AM