Readings for Sunday, March 8, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Tonight you have an opportunity to worship at our Midweek Lenten Worship Services. 6:00 PM at Peace United and 7:30 PM at Grey Eagle UMC. There is a Soup & Sandwich Fellowship at each church starting 45 minutes before worship. During Lent our midweek worship is focused on the “I AM” sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Tonight it is John 10:1-18, “I AM the Gate and the Shepherd”. Grab your Bible from home and come and join us.

Saturday night, actually early Sunday morning, is the start of Daylight Savings Time. “Spring Ahead” by setting your clocks and watches one hour forward.

The Lectionary texts for this Sunday are:

Exodus 20:1-17 – “The Big Ten” and not the college sports conference.

Psalm 19 – In praise of God’s Law. Verse 14 should be very familiar to you.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 – Our witness of the cross may seem like foolishness to others but it is the power of God that saves us. If Jesus is God, and we believe he is, then his death on a cross might make God seem foolish and weak. But, “for God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

John 2:13-22 – In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the clearing of the Temple by Jesus happens in the last week of Jesus’ life, some 5 days before his crucifixion. In the Gospel of John, this episode happens at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Why do you think John wanted this story here?

We will be continuing our sermon series “The Beginning of the Good News”. This week will be our longest reading yet as we read the entire Gospel of Mark. We will be reading Mark 9:30-10:52. In this section Jesus will twice tell the disciples that he will be arrested, tortured, killed and be raised on the third day and after each the disciples argue about who will be the greatest among them. Jesus will point to children as a guide to faith and warn the disciples about temptations. He will argue with some Pharisees about divorce and he will tell a rich man to sell all his things. Finally, Jesus will heal blind Bartimaeus. This will conclude Jesus’ ministry and next week Jesus will enter Jerusalem to face the “powers and principalities”. The story begins to heat up.

May the Lord Bless You as you read his Good Word.

Peace in Christ,
Pastor Gary Taylor