Welcome to our new church Secretary, Carrie Bucklin!  Carrie began work on Tuesday and is excited to be working with us.  Carrie and her husband, Eric, and daughter, Toulla, moved to Grant in October and attend the 9 a.m. service.  Be sure and come by and say hi to her or say hi on Sunday mornings. She's the one carrying the beautiful one-year old girl!   Our new office hours will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday - Friday.  Articles for the newsletter are due to Carrie on Mondays by 1 and announcements for the bulletins by 1 on Wednesday.

This week we continue hearing witnesses to resurrection and their response to their experience.  The main character in this week's scripture is the Apostle Paul, but as you read the Scripture notice the actions of Ananias and the disciples in Damascus:

9Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" ⁵He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." ⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." ¹¹The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, ¹²and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." ¹³But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; ¹⁴and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." ¹⁵But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; ¹⁶I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." ¹⁷So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." ¹⁸And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, ²⁰and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." Acts 9:1-20

• Many people use Paul's conversion story as THE model for how people come to faith in Jesus Christ.  How did you come to faith?  Was your experience similar to Paul's or more gradual?

•  Luke tells this story three times in the book of Acts (Acts 9:1-20; 22:1-21; 26:9-21) and Paul tells his own version twice (Galatians 1:16-24 and 1 Cor 15:3-8).  Why do you think this story was considered important enough to be repeated so many times?

• How was Paul changed?

•  How would you have felt if you were Ananias and God called you to go and lay hands on a known enemy?

• How was Ananias changed by his obedience?

• If you were one of the disciples in Damascus, what would you have thought when Ananias showed up with Paul in tow?

• What role did Ananias play in Paul's experience?

• What role did the community play?

Please keep CJ and Will Brown in your prayers this weekend as they attend the Confirmation Retreat at Sumatanga with me.

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weather and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!