Lunenburg United Methodist Charge

 

Antioch UMC                                                           Williams UMC

 

On our walk. . . . .                 

November 28, 2007

Pastor’s Message –

Advent – A time of Preparation

Advent is a creation of the Western churches that looked to Rome as their leader.  There were two main streams flowing into it.  The first came out of France, during the fourth century AD, probably from Celtic monks.  A period of about six weeks before Christ's Mass was used as a penitential and devotional period, a lesser Lent.  The second stream came from Rome, where there was a practice of having a three-to-six week fast during which they had to come to church regularly.  This was a fast before the feast of Christmas time.

The current form of Advent crystallized under Pope Gregory I, who set the current four-week length, and wrote liturgical materials for use in Advent.  By the 10th century, the Celtic 'get ready' prayers and practices had been fully brought into the Roman form.  Later on, the church adopted a system of liturgical colors, and Advent received a purple color not unlike Lent's.  The 20th century brought a rediscovery of joy in Advent preparations; this was signaled among Protestants by using the color blue (with or without a touch of red in it).

But Advent has fallen on hard times.  For most people, it's become a time to get ready for whatever you're doing with family and friends on Christmas, and not a time to get ready for the Christ child.  The bigger Christmas became, the more it swallowed up Advent.  In fact, whatever Christmas-y thing we think of as being done before Christmas Day is actually done in Advent.  In the US, everything after Thanksgiving is now seen as a part of Christmas.  The main problem is not that Christmas intrudes on Advent.  The real problem is that people no longer keep their Christmas focus on Christ, and then that Christ-less Christmas saps Christ from Advent.  Practicing Advent as a religious season may help recover Christmas, but it can't do it by itself.  If you don't look to Jesus every day in every season, you'll lose Advent, Christmas, Lent, and even Easter.  It'll be a tiring rush, not a loving celebration, and it'll be about family or money or image and not our loving Maker.  There are even a few who are openly advocating giving up on the cultural war over the holiday, letting the world have its Christmas, and then Christians can do their thing on Epiphany.  (That would bring them to within a day or two of synch with the old-calendar Orthodox.)  But that, of course, chucks Advent too, which is as lost as Christmas is becoming.  Besides, each Christian has as much right as anyone else to put their stamp on the culture -- that's an important matter of freedom, and it needs to be exercised or it too will be lost.

Advent will begin on Sunday, December 2 and end on December 23.  Let us all spend this time to prepare for the first coming of Christ so that we will be ready for the second coming.  Just remember as the cliché goes, “Jesus, the reason for the season”

God bless

 

 

 

Upcoming Events – November 14 – November 21, 2007

 

Saturday, December1, 2007

   Antioch Men Breakfast, Meet @ 8:00 AM

   Women’s Tea @Williams @ 10:00AM Baking Bread for Mission

Monday, December 3, 2007

   Bible Study@ Antioch’s @ 7:00 PM

Tuesday, December 4, 2007  

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

Wednesday, November21, 2007

 Prayer Meeting @ Williams @ 5:45 PM

 William’s Celebration Choir practice @ Williams @ 6:00 PM

 Night in Bethlehem Meeting @ 6:30PM @ Parsonage

 Antioch Evangelism Committee @ Antioch @ 7:30PM

 

   

Worship Events—December 2, 2007, 1st Sunday of Advent

Service Theme: The Coming of Jesus

This week’s reading will be: Sermon Text     Isaiah 7: 10-17

                                              Hebrew Text      Psalm 25:1-10

Pianists:   Leigh Anne Bacon

                Nancy Turner

 

Thanksgiving Eve Services.

 

Thanksgiving Eve services took place Wednesday, November 21 at 7:00pm at Williams UMC.  During the service the choir robes that were donated to the Williams Celebration Choir by Kay Davis were consecrated for their use in the joyful praise of our Lord.  It was a time for thanksgiving that was enjoyed by all.

 

Evangelism Committee to Meet

 

The Antioch Evangelism Committee will meet on Wednesday, December 5 @ 7:30 @ Antioch.  The discussion will be on developing plans for the coming year.  This is a change of date as Rev Ed has to attend a meeting in Farmville on Tuesday.       

                     

Family Ministries Committee to Meet

 

The Family Ministries Committee will meet on Wednesday, December 5 @ 6:30 @ the Parsonage. The discussion will be on planning A Night in Bethlehem.

 

We’ve Decorated Antioch

On November 25th, an afternoon of food and fun was had by all who could attend.  The members decorated the Sanctuary for the Advent Season and enjoy a luncheon of barbeque, baked beans, corn pudding, ice cream and cake.  There was plenty for all and a lot of fun as we prepare for the coming Advent Season by decorating the Chrismon tree.  Thanks go out to all who took time to help with and provide everything for a great afternoon of fellowship.

 

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 Administrative Board has authorized the Cookbook Committee to order an additional 400 copies. If you would like to obtain copies for the upcoming Christmas Season please contact Susan Moseley at 676-2081, Gayle Grant at 676-3531, Trudy Wilkins at 676-4458, or anyone at Antioch.  Any church member can get a copy to you for $10 each.

 

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 December 3, at 7:00PM. We will be continuing to read and study Leviticus with a particular look at the historical view of the writers in chapter 21-27  If you would like to join us come on over, Monday @ 7:00PM at Antioch.

 

The Methodist Way

It's funny the way traditions get started.  Some say that the custom of standing when choirs sing the "Hallelujah Chorus" began because the king stood up at one of the early performances, so everyone else stood up in respect.  The United States has its own parallel: the seventh ­inning stretch at a baseball game first happened when President Taft was attending a game; he got up to leave in the seventh inning; the crowd stood to honor the President!  Folks have been standing during the seventh inning ever since.

So it is with the quadrilateral.  Nice word: quadrilateral. (It is a little hard to work into non-Methodist conversations.) It means "four sides."  No one meant to create a quadrilateral. It just happened, sort of like the seventh-inning stretch.

For a little more than a quarter of a century, Methodists have referred to the quadrilateral as the "Wesley quadrilateral," although Mr. Wesley would not have known the term any more than he would have known about "adverse camber.”  This five-syllable mouthful has been part of United Methodist vocabulary at least since 1972 when The Book of Discipline adopted that year made "the assertion that contemporary doctrinal reflection and construction in The United Methodist Church should be guided by four interdependent sources or guidelines: Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason. (Four sides, get it?) In fact, although "quadrilateral" is used frequently in United Methodist circles, it is not part of official church language.  It has just become the way United Methodists talk.

And why not?  The four sides (Scripture, tradition, experience, reason) are the guides, the filters, the boundaries, the sources for Methodist theological thought.  In contrast, some modern traditions insist that reason be the prime decid­ing factor for religious thought.  Other persons want a literal reading of biblical text to be nor­mative.  Some Christian denominations draw most heavily on tradition in making decisions. Often, in contemporary church life, religious meaning is measured primarily by what persons feel and experience.  The quadrilateral is one way that persons in the Wesleyan tradition seek to blend and balance all four of these sources: Scripture, tradition, experience, reason,

John Wesley frequently brought together “knowledge" and “feeling" as he preached the fullness of salvation.  “You see, you know, you feel, God is all in all."

Charles Wesley weaved both knowing and feeling, both mind and heart, into his hymns of Christian assurance (the emphasis is mine):

How can we sinners know our sins on earth forgiven?

How can my gracious Savior show my name inscribed in heaven?

 

What we have felt and seen, with confidence we tell,

 And publish to the ends of earth the signs infallible.

We who in Christ believe that he for us hath died,

We all his unknown peace receive and feel his blood applied.

We by his Spirit prove and know the things of God,

The things which freely of his love he h

We by his spirit prove and know the things of God

The things which freely of his love he hath on us bestowed.

The meek and lowly heart that in our Savior was,

10 us that Spirit doth impart and signs The meek and lowly heart that in our Savior was,

to us that Spirit doth impart and signs us with his cross.

Our nature's turned, our minds transformed in all its powers,

And both the witnesses are joined, the Spirit of God with ours,

 

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

 

                             

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

Allen Green

Bertha Arthur

Sarah Agnes Callis

Rev. Al Green

Paul & Argy Turner

Bobby & Virginia Overby

Ron Halbrook

Jeff Hendricks

Earl "Chuckie” Barnes

Shawn Umstead

Nathan Hendricks

Edna & Wilson Bagley

Christian Sutton

Maria Kay

Jason McReynolds

Sheila Cage

Frances Hawthorne

“B” & Teewah Hayes

Virginia King

David King

Elizabeth Biggerstaff

Sara Sutton

Tommy Cage

Marjorie & Joe Coleman

Bernard Bottoms

Our Military

Marvin L. Crutchfield

Jack Heater

Kitty Springer

Walter B. Moseley

Wayne King

Grace DiStefano

John Lynch Family

Gertrude Hite

Elijah Taylor

Family of Scott Kay

  Dorothy Driskill

Jason McReynolds

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

 

 

In the Library

 

Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days (Left Behind Series #1)

by Tim LaHaye, Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins, Jerry B. Jenkins

      From Our Editors

Beautifully written and biblically accurate, Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days is the book that began it all...or at least the book that heralds the beginning of the end! This bestselling series will appeal not only to Christian readers but to anyone who loves a great story -- they don’t call the Bible "the greatest story ever told" for nothing. Beginning with the rapture of the church as related in the Book of Revelations, Jenkins and LaHaye brilliantly imagine the tribulations we will experience and endure, and perfectly describe for us the events prophesied to occur prior to Christ's return to earth. The Left Behind novels are the fastest-selling works of Christian fiction ever published.

From the Publisher

"When the trumpet sounds, where will you be? Passengers in an airborne Boeing 747 find out in this riveting novel by renowned Christian speaker Tim LaHaye and master storyteller Jerry Jenkins. Without any warning, passengers mysteriously disappear from their seats. Terror and chaos slowly spread not only through the plane but also worldwide as unusual events continue to unfold. For those who have been left behind, the apocalypse has just begun. This fictional account of life after the Rapture delivers an urgent call to today's readers to prepare their own hearts and minister to others.

 

 

Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist (Left Behind Series #3)

by Tim LaHaye, Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins, Jerry B. Jenkins

·                     From Our Editors

In this third installment to the Left Behind series, two years have passed since the Rapture, and as the seven-year period hurtles toward the midpoint, the Tribulation Force faces conflict at every turn in their holy war against Nicolae Carpathia, the ruler of the new Global Community -- the Antichrist. Nicolae is the quite simply the most powerful, gripping and thought-provoking of novel of the first three.

From the Publisher

First they were left behind. Then they formed the Tribulation Force. Now they must face Nicolae.
In Nicolae, the most explosive of the three books thus far, the seven-year tribulation is nearing the end of its first quarter, when prophecy says that "the wrath of the Lamb" will be poured out upon the earth. Rayford Steele becomes the ears of the tribulation saints at the highest levels of the Carpathia regime. Meanwhile, Buck Williams attempts a dramatic all-night rescue run from Israel through the Sinai that will hold you breathless to the end.

 

 

The Walk to Emmaus

 

This week we continue our new series about “The Walk to Emmaus”.  The following information comes from “What Is Emmaus?” We hope you find it informative and we hope it clears up any misconception there may be about the Walk to Emmaus

Rev Ed

 

 

What Happens in Emmaus Follow--up Groups?

 

Since my Walk, I have been active with a group of people who meet weekly for encouragement, support, and prayer for one another’s spiritual well being, for others, and for our church

                                             -Layperson from New Mexico

Persons traditionally refer to the follow-up groups as "group reunions" or "reunion groups," though they have other names as well, such as "fourth day groups," "accountability groups," groups," "discipleship groups:' and "Christian support groups." The follow-up groups have a common purpose: our perseverance in grace. Group members reinforce one another's desire to maintain con­stant communion with Christ and contact with other Christians who share a vision of life lived wholly in the grace of God.

Emmaus group reunions meet at regular times, usually weekly for an hour. The meeting consists of persons' sharing the stories of their walk with Christ during the past week. The pattern on the reunion card, which everyone receives on the third day of the Emmaus Walk, guides the sharing.

First, each person reviews his walk with Christ through the practice of the threefold discipline of vital piety, study, and service. Second, each person reflects on the ways she has experienced Christ's presence and calls to action. Third, each person shares plans for living out his or her discipleship in the week to come. The meeting concludes with announcements and closing prayers. During the group meeting, mem­bers listen to one another, celebrate the grace of God in each person's life, and reinforce each person's commitment to living in union with Christ in all facets of daily life. The members express that reinforcement through gentle accountability, encouragement, and support. Men and women commonly form separate groups. But many groups form without regard to gender. Some people prefer groups that include men and women. Still others enjoy the advantages of meeting as married couples. Most groups are all laity, some include c1ergy, and a few are all clergy

 

Remember: The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.

 

Have a Blessed Week