Readings for Sunday, October 9, 2016

Hello Everyone,

Thank you to all who made a donation to World Communion Sunday during worship. In the United Methodist Church 50% of your donation goes to scholarships for women and men around the world administered by General Board of Global Ministries and the other half goes to Ethnic Scholarship and Ethnic In-Service Training Programs administered by General Board of Higher Education and ministry. You can still give to WCS by going here: World Communion Sunday.

In the United Church of Christ donations on World Communion Sunday go to fund Neighbors in Need. 33% of your donation goes to the Council for American Indian Ministry and the balance goes to Justice and Witness Ministries. You can still give to Neighbors in Need by going here: Neighbors in Need Offering.

Our Readings for this Sunday are:

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 - We read this passage back on July 17 when we began the Sermon Series "A Future with Hope". We hear in this passage that while God has a plan for us that plan may take a long time. In the mean time we are to make the best of what we have where we are.

Psalm 66:1-12 - The psalmist sings praises to God for all that God has done. In verses 10-12a, the psalmist ascribes all the hardships the people have gone through as being the work of God but affirms, in verse 12b, that God has seen them through to a "spacious place". Does God give us hardships and burdens? Always an interesting theological debate.

OR 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c - Elisha, the prophet who succeeded Elijah, heals a foreign general named Naaman from leprosy. In those days anyone who has any kind of skin disease was thought to have leprosy, technically Hanson's Disease. The full story of the healing of Naaman, including a sub story of one of Elisha helpers, is whole chapter, 2 Kings 5. Note the cluelessness of this general, two kings, and the prophet's helper. Also note that important role of a Jewish slave girl and the general's servants.

Psalm 111 - Once again, the psalmist praises God for all that God has done. God's attributes are many in this psalm: honor, majesty, righteousness, renown, wonderful deeds, gracious, merciful, providing food, remembering the covenant, powerful, faithful, just, uprightness, sending redemption, Holy, awesome, enduring forever.

2 Timothy 2:8-15 -  Paul continues to encourage the young church leader Timothy. Paul says his gospel is Jesus Christ, raised from the dead. And because of that Gospel he suffers hardship. He reminds Tim that the Word of God is not "chained" or stopped. Paul tells Tim to remind the members of his church to "avoid wrangling over words" for this will destroy the church. Do we often "wrangle over words"? 

Luke 17:11-19 - What do you do when you are approached by 10 lepers? Well, if you are Jesus, you heal them and then instruct them to go to the Temple Priests to get certified clean. Actually, what happens is the opposite: Jesus sends them and on the way they discover that they are healed. One of the ten returns to Jesus while praising God. It is then that we learn he is a Samaritan. Jesus asks where the other nine are? Where do you think they went? Note that Jesus says that the man's faith healed him (some versions) or made him well (other versions). Where is the man's faith demonstrated in this story? Was it the act of praising God? 

May your week be filled with faith, praise, and action for God.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Gary Taylor

Readings for Sunday, October 2, 2016

Hello Everyone,

Grace and Peace to You,

This coming Sunday is "World Communion Sunday", the one Sunday each year when we will be celebrating Communion with Christians around the world. This is an excellent time to invite a family member or friend who hasn't been to church in a while to come with you to worship. Imagine if everyone had one guest with them this Sunday. Now, let's try to make that happen.

We are back to following the Lectionary readings until we begin a new Sermon Series at Advent titled "God Bless Us Every One: The Redemption of Scrooge". As you may imagine, we will be using Charles Dickens classic "A Christmas Carol".

Our Readings this week are:

Lamentations 1:1-16 - Lamentations is the cry of the heart by one, Jeremiah, or more people following the utter destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. This poem begins with the voice of a narrator but then shifts to the voice of Jerusalem in verse 12.

Lamentations 3:19-26 - This is the "Psalm" that is paired with the Old Testament reading above. After the painful cry in the first reading there is hope, love, and faithfulness with this reading.

OR Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 - I have always thought this prophet's name was pronounced Ha-ba-COOK, but I guess it is Ha-BACK-cook. In the first part, this prophet's cry might be ours in the time: Why the violence and when will it cease? The second part contains the answer Jeremiah gave the exiles in Babylon: There is still a vision for the right time.

Psalm 37:1-9 - The psalmist call us to trust the Lord and wait for God to act. "But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land."

2 Timothy 1:1-14 - According to the commentary in my edition of the Bible, this letter to Timothy may be more about me as a pastor than about you as the congregation. Paul gives thanks for the ministry of a young pastor and remembers his faithful grandmother, Lois, and mother, Eunice. He encourages Timothy to stay strong in God's work (a holy calling) by remembering that it is God's grace that strengthens. In one of the more amazing statements is "This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began." What does that statement mean to you?

Luke 17:5-10 - This is a section of Luke that most Bible editors don't know what to do with. My NRSV Bible labels this section "Some Saying of Jesus". What? There are three "sayings" and we have two of them. The first, which we don't have, is about not being a stumbling block and wearing a millstone around our neck and then being thrown into the sea. We get two: having faith the size of a mustard seed (pretty small) that can uproot a tree and not thanking a servant (slave) for doing what was ordered. This is strange stuff. I might throw in the millstone saying (verses 1-5) this week.

May God bless you in your work, in your play, in your waking, and in your sleep.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Gary Taylor

A Future with Hope - Two Poems

A Future with Hope
       Two Poems

Smoldering
        (Inspired by the poem “The Welder” by Cherrie Moraga.)

The ember is placed
       and glows red, then ash-black
       Then Red

Is there fuel, leaves, bark, wood

Is there nothing

will the ember burst forth
       the fuel catching
       the sparks spreading
              What was an ember becomes
                     flame
                     for cooking
                     for warmth
                     for companionship around

Or will the fuel turn to ash
       water smothering weight?
              and the ember is naught.

Burn enough ember to catch
       the night and burn bright.

The Tree
       (Inspired by the imagery of "A Future with Hope" sermon series by Marcia McFee.)

The seed was planted or
       a root sent a shoot

The seed was nourished in fertile soil
       the root found its place

The seed-root pushes up and out
       pushes down and deep
       a place to seek sunlight
              water, food

A sapling emerges and grows upward
       spreading out branches
              budding out leaves, growing fruit
       roots finding stability in
              rocks and soil

And to the tree comes life
       sparrows, crows, woodpeckers
       squirrels, chipmunks,
              ants and moths, and spiders
       and life thrives

Is this the place to send new shoots
       to drop new seeds
              to give life to this place?