Sunday, March 8: Worship at 10:30: Second Sunday in Lent. Gospel includes our most familiar passage in scripture. Fellowship downstairs to follow.
Monday, March 9: Bible Study at 6 pm. Join Pastor Paul as we explore this week's scripture in the lectionary and bring it into our lives and faith. Questions encouraged.
Tuesday, March 10: Church Council meets 7 pm; Trustees & Diaconate 6 pm.
Wednesday, March 11:
**History Work Day, 10 am
**"Grill's On!" Community Potluck, 5-7 pm. Join us in the Fellowship Hall as we share a community meal together. Friends and strangers welcome! As always, bring what you have, or just bring yourself. There is always enough!
Thursday, March 12: AA meets in Fellowship Hall, 7 pm
From Pastor Paul: Toward Sunday
"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." ~John 3:17
'Had one of those grumbly, snarly, bark and bellow moments yesterday…long story short it was one of those auto-renew subscriptions that I thought I had cancelled long ago but the big corporation had no record of it and I could find no record of it, and all of this means I probably never did cancel it, so I wound up spending a year paying for something I never used.
"Grr." I said. "Double and Triple Grr." And then: "OK, that's enough."
And that last line is the one I want to lift up as I write this. This world has enough grumbling and negativity without my contribution. We all have accidents or mistakes that cause us to lose money, and we all have big corporations trying to tempt or goad us into spending unnecessary money. There's a litany of things that I'd like to gripe about, but to what end? Here's where faith comes in:
If God is always present – as I believe – no matter how aware or alert we may be, then every action or expression of emotion is an opportunity to share my life with God. More to the point: every action or expression in my life is literally shared with God. And in my prayer and study of God through the ministry of Jesus and the Gospel message, I have been guided to believe that God isn't one to give too much weight to the "life stinks" or "everything wicked is here" gripe and grumble. Sure, that's a familiar sentiment, and one many of use have heard taught or preached as a theological conclusion from reading John 3:16, but those that espouse the "this world stinks, only heaven matters" attitude would do well to read on to the next verse, and consider exactly what it was that his "only begotten son" did while he was part of this world. Engage. Embrace. Heal. Preach and teach and model values of love and welcome and kindness. "Not to condemn the world," the next verse reads, "but in order that it might be saved…"
"…through him." Through the God that is with me every moment and hears all my complaints and reminds me that all my gripe and grumble and negativity should conclude with "ok…that's enough" and I should get back to the matter at hand, which is being a disciple of Jesus, the minister and the Christ.
Keep in touch, friends
Pastor Paul