Lunenburg United Methodist Charge

 

Antioch UMC                                                           Williams UMC

 

On our walk. . . . .                 

February 15, 2008

Pastor’s Message –

 

Psalm 121-  A Song of Ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.  The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm; he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going  both now and forevermore.

Today’s Psalm is one of 15 Psalms called the Pilgrim Psalms or songs of Ascent. They were sung by those who journeyed toward Jerusalem or ascended to the temple for the annual feasts. Each psalm is a step along the way.


Psalm 120 begins the journey in a distant land in hostile surroundings.  Psalm 122 pictures the pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem and the rest of these Psalms move toward the temple mentioning various characteristics of God.  This particular Psalm 121 contains much assurance and hope.  These Psalms of Ascent are appropriate for our Lenten journey as we seek to draw closer to the Lord.

The Psalm begins, “I lift up my eyes to the hills--... You have probably heard this Psalm quoted more often from the King James Version which says, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.”  The Hebrew Word for whence is always a question.  Most of the more recent translations say, “I look to the hills, where does my help come from?”  The reason for saying this is that as the pilgrims traveled toward Jerusalem they could see the majestic hills in the distance and Jerusalem--the spiritual center where God dwells.  Their eyes look not to the hills for their help but to God.  My help comes from the Lord who is the maker of the hills.

 

God is our Source.  We’ve got to learn to COUNT on God as the Source.  We should never put all of our trust in a lesser power than God HIMSELF.  Are you depending too much on things other than God Himself?  I think that is a good question for the Lenten Season?  Am I allowing God to just be at the fringe of my life?  Or is He at the CENTER?

 

What Kind of Help Do We Need?  We ought to claim the help of the Lord in our own lives no matter what we see in other situations.  EXPECT the Lord to help you.  EXPECT Him to keep your feet from slipping.  You ask Him to keep you from slipping and falling and then EXPECT Him to be able to do it.  That’s the help from the Lord.  He has the power to keep us.  There is no reason for Christians to have to keep learning the “Hard Way” over and over again.  The Lord doesn’t want us to slip and fall into trouble or sin or a lot of other things where we have to experience a lot of undesirable consequences.

 

Because of our doubt and unbelief, we need assurances more than one time.  The Psalm closes by repeating the assurance three specific times and in three different ways.

 

The Lord shall PRESERVE (keep you, protect, guard) you from all EVIL.  He will keep us from the evil of sin and the evil of trouble.


The Lord shall PRESERVE thy SOUL--our spiritual life.  Some people are so afraid of backsliding. The Lord is able to keep us on track.


The Lord shall PRESERVE your going out and coming in from this time forth and forevermore.  At the beginning of a project and at the ending of the project.  At the beginning of our life and at the ending of our life.  Now and Forevermore.

 

At this Lenten Season let us have a special eye to the presence of God in our lives.  Who’s watching out for us?  Is it God or something else that we are depending on?  We must become more aware of Him as our SOURCE and supply.  He has provided other things to ASSIST us in our journey, but He is the Source.  I expect it from Him in His own way and time.  He helps us in ways that other things can’t help us.  We must believe that He wants to help us and EXPECT IT TO HAPPEN

God Bless

 

 

Upcoming Events – February 15, 2008 – February 22, 2008

 

Saturday, February 16, 2008

    Southside Emmaus Gathering @ Crenshaw UMC, Blackstone@ 6:30 PM

Monday, February 18, 2008

    Evening Bible Study @ Antioch @ 7:00 PM

Tuesday February 19, 2008  

   Bible Study@ Audrey Smith’s @ 10:00 AM

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

   Prayer Service @ Williams@ 5:45PM

   Choir Practice @ Williams @ 6:30 PM

 

 

Worship Events –February 17, 2008

 Service Theme: Nicodemus

 This week’s reading will be: Sermon Text     John 3: 1-17

                                               Hebrew Text      Genesis 12: 1-4a

Pianists:      Nancy Turner

 Special:      Communion

                  

Council Meeting at Williams

On Sunday, February 24, the Williams Administrative Council will meet at the church at 10:45 AM. 

Please plan on joining the Council as they proceed with plans for the new year.

 

Ladies Tea @ Williams on February 23 @ 3:00PM

On February 23 Williams UMC Monthly Ladies Tea will meet at 3:00PM. This month the theme will be CHOCOLATE and Brenda Barnes will be their special guest speaker.  They haven’t told this editor what they are going to do with chocolate, but that many women with nothing but chocolate available is scary to say the least.  If you would like to join in the fellowship, hear a great speaker and eat lots of chocolate (or just enjoy tea) please join them Saturday the 23rd for fun fellowship and the word of the Lord.

 

 

150th Anniversary Throws   Throws are still available. These beautiful throws will make a great present for a family member. Our supply is running low – about 5-6 left.  The cost is $45.00 each.  Please call Jane DiStefano if you would like to order a throw or have any questions.  434-676-2314

 

Cookbooks are still available.  The Cookbook Committee ordered an additional 400 copies. They are here and we have an abundance of them for sale if you wish to get one or more. The cost is $10 each. . If you would like to purchase one, you may contact any member of Antioch Church, or call Earl or Barbara Callis at 676-3063. 

 

Report from the Evangelism Committee.  The Antioch Evangelism Committee met Tuesday night. The discussion was about how to get members who have not been active in church to come back and how to make new disciples in Christ. They decided to start in the church by having greeters available at each service to hand out bulletins and welcome everybody who comes.  They want to establish a prayer phone chain for the congregation so that if something important comes up they can call or e-mail everybody with the information. They want to compile a “Welcome to Antioch” folder that would consist of information about our church and its activities. They are looking for donations of comfortable furniture for the library as they want to make it a combination library/ prayer chapel. They expect to go door to door in the near future with door hangers to invite and provide information to the community about our church. In order to get more information to the community they are going to look into programs such as “Igniting Ministry” to see if it can be an asset to the church.  They are going to post sign up sheets in the near future for volunteers for greeters, all those who would like to be part of the phone chain, and who would like to assist in going door to door with door hangers.

 

Report from the Mission Committee.  The Antioch Mission Committee met on Wednesday night. A discussion on future of mission events took place with the committee coming up with the following programs for the spring. Thy would like to start a program called “Two Cents Per Meal”. This program would help the Lunenburg Ministries resolve a short fall in their ability to distribute food to the needy in our community. It involves a family taking a small container that the committee will provide and at each meal put a set amount (2 cents to whatever you chose) for each person eating a meal in the container. On Palm Sunday we will gather all the containers and deliver them to the Community Palm Sunday Service in Kenbridge. At that time the monies will be given to the Ministries to replenish the food bank. During the month of May they would like to have volunteers to join in the Walk-a-Thon to support the Ministries ongoing programs.  It is scheduled for May 3 at 9:00 AM. The next project where volunteers will be needed is the celebration in Kenbridge on Memorial Day Weekend. They will have a sign up sheet posted as we approach the time of the event for volunteers to bake a dessert to be sold for the Lunenburg Ministries.

 

Help the People of Chacocente

As a start to help those less fortunate in our world are the people that Brenda Barnes helped in January.  Please look at the following and if you can, use this product. It only takes your use not your money to provide funding for a disadvantaged area in the world. Let us ALL reach out and help these people.

 

GoodSearch makes Good “Cents”

Internet and supporting Chacocente. Every search you make using GoodSearch earns one cent for Chacocente. Searching for a way to help children move out of the dump? Use GoodSearch! You can now support Project Chacocente every time you browse the Internet! A new search engine called GoodSearch, powered by Yahoo!, donates 50% of its advertising revenue to nonprofit organizations and schools selected by its users. To benefit Chacocente, all you have to do is download the Good-Search toolbar, which is free, and use it when you search for any topic on the Internet. Download GoodSearch at-http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbars.aspx and type in “Project Chacocente” as the organization you would like to benefit. You can immediately begin searching the day you download, Chacocente could receiveU$7,300 a year. That’s enough to feed our families for 9 months!! It costs you nothing, so please download GoodSearch today.

Williams Library & Prayer Room.  Everyone is invited to visit the Library/Prayer Room at Williams.  We have done a little remodeling and added an altar for prayer and some comfy chairs, but the room still houses the original Library and we are hoping to add more books.  It’s a great place to sit quietly and read a book, or spend some time with the Lord.  Or just stop by to borrow a book or two to read.

 

Sunday School is available each Sunday morning.  The importance of Sunday School is that, though you may think hearing the word will suffice for you, you really need to be in attendance at Sunday School to gather all the information that you can in an open discussion classroom.  Jesus’ word cannot be totally understood just by listening to a sermon.  You have to interact with it and with other Christians to learn what He was saying to us.  This is a life long study and you should take part.  There is a class for every age so please plan on joining us to learn more about our Lord, Jesus Christ.   Sunday School at Williams begins at 10:45 AM and at Antioch at 10:00 AM.

 

Evening Bible Study. Evening Bible study will continue on February 18 at 7:00PM at Antioch. We will start our study of Deuteronomy. We will focus on chapters 11-20 this week. If you are looking for a study of God’s word join us not only for the study, but good fellowship.

 

Morning Bible Study. Morning Bible study will meet this week. We will meet on February 19th at 10:00AM at Audrey Smith’s. We will begin our study of Deuteronomy. We will focus on chapters 11-20 this week. If you are looking for a study of God’s word join us not only for the study, but good fellowship.

 

If you cannot reach Rev. Ed at the parsonage, you may call him on his cell phone:  252-532-0952.  He can also be reached via e-mail at revedumc@yahoo.com .   If you would like to receive e-mail messages from the pastor send an e-mail to him at revedumc@yahoo.com and we will add you to our list.

 

Please keep the following families in your prayers:

Marjorie Thompson

Christian Sutton

Bertha Arthur

Sarah Agnes Callis

Sheila Cage

Paul & Agree Turner

Bobby & Virginia Overbuy

Sara Sutton

Jeff Hendricks

Earl "Chucky” Barnes

Our Military

Nathan Hendricks

Edna & Wilson Bagley

Alan Green

Maria Kay

Phyllis Going

Elsie Pennington

Frances Hawthorne

“B” & Etowah Hayes

Sophia Jones

 Elizabeth Bigger staff 

Becky Evades & boys

Thomas Taylor

Bernard Bottoms

Agnes & CV Thompson

Tom Tanner

Cathy Mitchell

Doreen Marie Saunders

Delores H

Jason McReynolds

Kenneth Chandler

Michelle

Lily Grace Coleman

Everett Family

Alice Wright

Kenneth McDaniel

Nancy & Grayson Bagley

Gertrude Hite

Elizabeth Reese

Gussie Abernathy

Tommy Cage

Hilda Olin

Jefferson Family

Nick Holden

Virginia King

Harry & Margaret Smith

Grace DiStefano

David King

Jane DiStefano

 Mickey Narrow

Dorothy Ann Irby

If you have anyone who is in need of prayer, please place their names on the Prayer List and lift up their names in prayer during worship service and throughout the week.

 

Breast Cancer Awareness

 

Shirley Hite asked me to let everyone know about this program and the plight it is in. If you get a chance help a person who can’t afford to get this procedure.

A favor to ask, it only takes a minute....Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman.  It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle). This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors /advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.
Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.
 
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/ 
 

 

The Methodist Way –

 

      Justo Gonzalez suggests that Christians make a basic mistake of approaching the trinity as a puzzle to be solved rather than an example to be imitated. What is to be imitated? Community. Relationship. Unity.

        The word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible. The word was first used around 180 by Theophilus of Antioch. A couple of hundred years later, the church was defending the teaching about the Trinity so that the Council of Nicea in 325 made the Trinity a centerpiece of classical Christian teaching.

       Although the word “Trinity” is not a biblical term, the truth of the Trinity is solidly biblical. There are more than enough reading to point to the three persons in relationship as one God.

        The language sometimes used to describe unity is “the three persons of the Godhead are of one substance.” “Substance” comes from a Latin word meaning “to stand under.” To be of one substance is to stand under the same essential nature, the same fundamental characteristics, the same quality. (That nature, characteristic, quality is love.)

          Methodists baptize in the name of the Trinity (using the terms Father, Son, Holy Spirit) because the Trinity is the fullness of God. The Trinity is the community of God. That is why it is tragic and unbearable for our relationships to be broken; in that brokenness, we no longer reflect the image of God.

          The classic terms for God are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some persons find the word “Father” a difficult word to use for God. Perhaps they have had an abusive father. Perhaps the term supports a male-dominated society. Perhaps the word makes God seem distant, far-off. These are legitimate concerns. God is not male so why use a male term top name God?

           All human language falls short of naming God. “Father” is often used to tell  about God because Jesus used that term “Father”.  “Father” is sometimes used so Christians can fida common speech to address God. “Father” is used because it is a personal, relational term. (“Father” is a personal relationship, unlike “Creator,” a term that describes not a personal relationship but a function of God.)

 

                                                        “Being Methodist in the Bible Belt” F. Belton Joyner, Jr.

 

 

Remember: The will of God never takes you to where the Grace of God will not protect you.

Have a Blessed Week