A "sneak peak" at this Sunday's scripture - Romans 6:12-23 (NIV)

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

 ¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

 ¹⁹ I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹ What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

**Send Lauren your letters, articles, photos or other contributions that you'd like to share with the SLCC Family.**

Notes From your Music Minister about the Food Pantry:

How does a Music Minister get involved with running a Food Pantry?

I ask myself that every Monday! LOL!  I do enjoy meeting the "customers" who come needing food. They all have a STORY! They all have a name!  I love getting their bags ready and picking stuff off the shelves, thinking, "Oh, I hope they like this type of soup or this type of canned veggie." I cannot even begin to tell you what I was thinking when I was at the 99 Cent Only store and found curry chicken in a can! (For those that don't know, curry chicken is my favorite dish! Well, actually curry anything:  beef, pork, shrimp. Yum! Over rice of course.)

I also love handing the customer the bag and seeing the look of relief on his or her face and often a smile as well.  I always get a "Thanks." Our customers are courteous!  I have a background in Food Service and I think that is why I enjoy the food pantry. I like "feeding people".  I was a Round Table Pizza manager for many years! Over-worked and under-paid but rewarding in other intangible ways! These days I'm no longer employed in the food service industry, but being part of the SLCC Food Pantry sure makes me feel connected to that wonderful institution that ALL of us patronize!

Lastly, I want to say a big "T H A N K S" to all you wonderful SLCC'ers who have donated not only money but especially FOOD donations to our pantry! You know who you are and The Lord knows!  Thank You! Thank You! I just love what Pastor Valerie said in her sermon comments [this past Sunday, 6-19-11] about us being co-creators with God and how after reading the "creation story " we had so many joys to share with one another!

You are all "Joys" to me!

Anthony