Lunenburg United Methodist Charge
On our walk. . . . .
February 21, 2008
Pastor’s Message –
Psalm 95.
Come, let us sing for to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Lord of our salvation.
Let us come before him
with thanksgiving and extol him
with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and
the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he
made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel
before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his
pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah
in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me,
though they had seen what I did. For forty
years I was angry with that generation; I said,
"They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my
ways." So I
declared an oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my
rest."
Let
me ask you this question, and think about it for a few moments… “Why do you go
to worship? Why do you get up early on a Sunday morning, perhaps your only day
off from work, and get dressed and come to church?” Maybe you go out of habit. You’re family has come to this church on
Sunday morning ever since you were a child and it’s just always been something
you’ve done -- so since it’s Sunday, you’re here. Perhaps you’re here because you feel pressured
to be here. Tony Evans said that growing
up he had a drug problem…he was drug to church every Sunday morning, drug to
church on Sunday night and maybe that’s you. Maybe it’s your parents, or a spouse that has
compelled you to come by either force, threat, or guilt. And instead of fighting it every Sunday you’ve
decided to just come to church to avoid problems in your family. Or maybe you go for the fellowship. You’re friends are there and so this is a
chance for you to get to catch up on the week’s events, a chance to greet one
another with a hug or a hand shake, a chance to have some company for a change.
Maybe you go because you’re hurting. It has been a rough week, and things aren’t going
as you think they should at work or at home, so you’ve come to worship hoping
to hear a solution to your problem and find some sense of hope and healing. Or maybe you go to be entertained and you’re
hoping we’ll sing an older song that will take you back to yesteryear, or that
you’ll hear the preacher tell a funny story that you can tell over a cup of
coffee Monday at work.
The
primary reason for attending a church service should be to worship God. The psalmist said in Psalms 95:6-7, “Come, let
us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for He is our
God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” Worship is more than just singing a few songs,
performing a few rituals and enduring a sermon. We come to church to experience the presence
of God, to acknowledge His authority in our lives and to worship Him as our
Creator. Yet many people in church have
what we call a worship problem. In a
Barna research study, they found that among regular church going adults, one
third have said that they have never experienced God’s presence. On half of Church members claimed that they
had not experienced God in a worship service in the past year. And sadly, the surveys found that the younger
the adult, the more likely they are to state that God is a distant, impersonal
reality for them.
God
commands us to be in His house to worship Him.
That should be good enough reason, but in addition doesn’t God deserve
your praise? Just being who He is should
be sufficient, but consider what God has done for you. The bible says that while we were yet still in
our sins, Christ died for us. Can you imagine that? The almighty God did that just for you.
God
has done so much for us. So is it to
much for God to ask for you to spend one hour on Sunday morning, saying Thank
you God. Fanny Crosby wrote, “To God be
the Glory, great things he hath done, so loved He the world that he gave us his
Son.” Worship is a privilege we have, the chance to say thank you and to give God
glory and praise. It is a privilege to worship the Almighty
Upcoming Events – February
21, 2008 – February 28, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Ladies Tea@ Williams@3:00PM
Monday, February 25, 2008
Evening
Bible Study @ Antioch @ 7:00 PM
Tuesday February 26, 2008
Bible Study@ Audrey
Smith’s @ 10:00 AM
PPR Meeting @
Antioch @ 7:00 PM
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Prayer
Service @ Williams@ 5:45PM
Choir Practice @ Williams @ 6:30 PM
Worship Events –February 24, 2008
Service Theme: All God’s Children
This week’s reading will be: Sermon Text John 4: 5-42
Hebrew Text Exodus 17:1-7
Pianists: Nancy Turner
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
Report from the Evangelism
Committee. The Antioch Evangelism Committee is going to
post sign up sheets in the this week 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
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
Evening Bible Study. Evening Bible study will continue on February 25 at
7:00PM at
Morning Bible Study. Morning Bible study will meet this week. We will meet on February 26th at 10:00AM at
Audrey Smith’s. We will begin our study of Deuteronomy. We will focus on
chapters 21-34 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 |
|
|
Alice Wright |
Kenneth McDaniel |
|
Nancy & Grayson Bagley |
Gertrude Hite |
Elizabeth Reese |
|
Gussie Abernathy |
Tommy Cage |
Hilda Olin |
|
|
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
Methodists frequently use feminine
images for God. Psalm 22:9 depicts God as a midwife who helps birth babies.
Isaiah 42:14 says God is like a woman who is in labor as a baby is being born.
Isaiah 49:15 suggests that God is like a mother who is nursing her baby. Isaiah
66:13 tells of God who comforts us as a mother comforts her child. Like 15:8-10
depicts God as a woman who is searching for a lost coin. Mathew 23:37 gives an
image of a mother hen who cares for her brood; God is like that. To fail to use
some images of God that are feminine is to fail to tell the entire biblical
story.
The
initiation(baptism) of persons, young and old, into the family of God (much as
circumcision welcomed young boys into the Jewish faith community) is one of the
sacraments of the Church, appointed by Christ and which Christ is uniquely
present, granting the gift of a means of grace. The water is an important
symbol. (A sign points to something -----“23 miles to
Taking away
the power of sin is what God can do, God the Father, god the Son, God the Holy
Spirit: the full experience 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