{"id":98217,"date":"2026-02-06T07:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=98217"},"modified":"2026-02-04T07:16:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:16:53","slug":"the-deacons-bench-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=98217","title":{"rendered":"From the Deacon’s Bench"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Clay Collins<\/a>, Guest Columnist<\/em><\/strong>
207 837-0564<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cYou are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”<\/p>\n\u00a0 Matthew 5:<\/strong>13-16<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here it is, another month. What happened to the month of January? Here we are in the second month, looking at a lot of snow and very cold weather, wondering if spring is ever going to get here. Well, take heart, my fellow brothers and sisters, it will come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we are waiting for the warmer weather to come, let\u2019s work on letting our light shine on others. By that I mean during the cold weather, many people (especially the elderly) are spending more time indoors trying to keep warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those of us who can and are able to get out should spread our \u201clight\u201d to those who need help. By calling our friends and neighbors to see if they are doing fine or if they need rides to the store or the doctor. They might just need to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until the next time, remember, \u201cBe well, do good work, and keep in touch.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benediction:<\/strong> “Gracious Father, help us to be better people. Teach us to learn how to help those who are sad and mourning. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thought for the month:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“May good luck be your friend in whatever you do, and may trouble be always a stranger to you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While Chaplain Christine is burdened with technology challenges, she has invited Past MSG Chaplain Clay to share some spiritual thoughts with our Grange Flock. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Clay Collins, Guest Columnist207 837-0564 \u201cYou are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be … Continue reading “From the Deacon’s Bench”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[115,394],"tags":[690,206,25],"post_folder":[704],"class_list":["post-98217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chaplain","category-guest-articles","tag-friends","tag-grange-advocacy","tag-grange-heritage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Walter Boomsma","author_link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?author=2122"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Clay Collins, Guest Columnist207 837-0564 \u201cYou are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be…","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1arC1-py9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98217"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98219,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98217\/revisions\/98219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98217"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=98217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}