Sally Penning, Author at St. Luke's United Methodist Church

26 04, 2019

Gratitude in Hard Times

Sally Penning2019-04-26T08:53:58-05:00April 26th, 2019|Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

A PERSONAL PRAYER God of love, Sometimes, I win. Sometimes I lose. Sometimes the blues get ahold of me, ah just when I thought I had made it. (With thanksgiving to Carole King, "Sweet Seasons." But all you boomers knew that.) It is so easy to give thanks in the good times. My heart is overwhelmed with how you have blessed me. Thanksgiving flows naturally from my heart filled with gratitude. But there are days things aren't going so well. I am so grateful that those are few and far between, but who knows what life will bring. I can [...]

19 04, 2019

Good Friday? An Even Better Sunday!

Sally Penning2019-04-19T08:55:55-05:00April 19th, 2019|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

A PERSONAL PRAYER God of indescribable, unfathomable, incomprehensible love, As dawn broke on Friday morning, your beloved Son was on the way to the court of the pavements between the fortress and the temple. The long prayer of agony in the garden was accomplished. The betrayal was complete. The arrest was carried out. The midnight trial was over. Peter's denial was so fresh on his mind. Still ahead was the unfaithfulness of the crowd, the treachery of the religious leaders, the weak will of Pilate, the scourge and the thorns and beatings, the long walk with a crosspiece [...]

12 04, 2019

Small Acts of Great Love, by Rachel Fisher

Sally Penning2019-04-12T09:50:52-05:00April 12th, 2019|All blogs, We Tell Our Stories|0 Comments

A recent study from The Society for Human Resource Management found that "94 percent of millennials want to use their skills to benefit a cause” and “57 percent wish that there were more company-wide service days.” As someone of that generation, I can attest that the pressure to “make a difference” is tremendous. We all want to do great things that create a better world. Unfortunately, I do not have superpowers. Nor do I have Bill and Melinda Gates’ bank account. But what I do have...are doughnuts. In St. Luke’s 40 Daily Acts of Grace and Mercy: A [...]

12 04, 2019

Save us!

Sally Penning2019-04-12T09:37:06-05:00April 12th, 2019|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

A PERSONAL PRAYER God of grace, Just like every year, I am trying to figure out what to say about Palm Sunday. There will be hosannas and palm branches waving, church family picnics and children's choirs singing and such happy worship. It all reminds me of donkeys and parades, children making a pathway of green for your entrance into Jerusalem. Yet there is something that seems shallow about Palm Sunday. I will say Jesus is king, but do I really mean it? Do I recognize his complete authority over me? Do I recognize that nothing I have belongs [...]

5 04, 2019

It’s not supposed to be easy

Sally Penning2019-04-05T09:56:10-05:00April 5th, 2019|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

A PERSONAL PRAYER Dear Jesus, The other day after a sermon about the idols we worship, someone confessed to me that he has made "comfort and happiness" his god. I thought a lot about that. I think I can make the same confession. So many times I long for life to be easy. I find myself wondering why everything seems challenging, why nothing just flows along nicely without any bumps and bruises along the way. I think, "well, I must be doing something wrong. If I was doing it right, then life would be going smoothly." Ah, but now I see it. It isn't supposed [...]

29 03, 2019

Bible Buddies, by Sydney Collie and Madeline Beem

Sally Penning2019-03-29T09:28:42-05:00March 29th, 2019|All blogs, We Tell Our Stories|0 Comments

Madeline and I both joined the St. Luke’s staff family in the summer of 2018. It is the first time both of us have worked on a church staff. We confess that we thought the need for daily time with Jesus would be less than before, but we were wrong! When Pastor Katie suggested to all of the St. Luke’s staff that we pick a Bible buddy for the Lenten season, Maddie and I decided to get together once a week to study the Word. We have experienced life-change already. One of the things we have discussed is [...]

29 03, 2019

Wine-making with Jesus

Sally Penning2019-03-29T09:24:07-05:00March 29th, 2019|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

A PERSONAL PRAYER God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit, You do some pretty amazing things. I am particularly fond of how you turn water into wine. You did it at that wedding in Cana long ago, and I wish I had been there to see it, and taste the finest wine you provide. But I can see how you do it even today. You take the water that falls on the earth, and you draw it into the roots of the vine, flavor it with nutrients from the soil and energy from the sun, and turn it into sap. You [...]

22 03, 2019

Sheila’s Story, by Pat Witherspoon-Hall

Sally Penning2019-03-22T09:10:01-05:00March 22nd, 2019|All blogs, We Tell Our Stories|0 Comments

“Sheila” found Christian Community Service Center (CCSC) in early 2019 through a local church, where she had initially turned for help in her time of need. The hard-working 34-year-old mother of two children—ages 10 and 1—had recently moved to Houston from another state to flee domestic abuse. Sheila was working as a healthcare assistant but had no local support system to rely upon. In recent weeks, her homeless family had been living in their car. The church and CCSC worked together to help stabilize Sheila’s family and find safe housing. On a few occasions in the subsequent weeks, [...]

22 03, 2019

The Breath of God

Sally Penning2019-03-22T08:59:37-05:00March 22nd, 2019|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

A PERSONAL PRAYER God, I am ready to receive your Holy Spirit. I like to think that I am doing the best I can do. I am trying to be a good husband, a good father, a good son, a good friend, a good citizen, a good neighbor, a good pastor, and overall just be a good person. Yes, I probably can try a little harder and do a little more. But honestly, I feel like I have been trying harder and doing more, and I am not making a lot of progress. It can be pretty frustrating, [...]

15 03, 2019

Some things you have to unlearn, by Rev. David Horton

Sally Penning2019-03-15T09:15:25-05:00March 15th, 2019|All blogs, We Tell Our Stories|0 Comments

An eighth grader at Jane Long Academy, located only one block to the east of Gethsemane, stabbed and killed another eighth grader after school on Wednesday, March 6. It was Ash Wednesday, the day that God literally rubs mortality in your face. The boys had crossed over Bellaire Blvd to a convenience store on the corner. It was there that one of the boys purchased a brownie and the other boy asked for a bite of it. The first boy said no. The second boy said a few choice words he shouldn’t have. Then the first boy pulled [...]

About Sally Penning