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 "that all might thrive and serve ..." |
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Midweek Blast of Epiphany Light |
February 20, 2013 | |
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Facing Affluenza
A message from Pastor Rick
Dear Epiphany People,
Grace and peace to you.
I spent 30 minutes watching the National Day of Prayer speech by Dr. Benjamin Carson on YouTube. I recommend it. It is a well-spent 30 minutes for anyone who loves God and this country of ours. Dr. Carson is the Director of Pediatric Neurology at Johns Hopkins. His speech is offensive but in a good way. He rightfully takes on political correctness, recognizing that it is hard to communicate with a large number of people without offending some. Taking cues from Dr. Carson, I am aware that this Blast message will offend some. Please understand that I am speaking the truth in love and not to harm.
We need to have a conversation about Affluenza and the future of Epiphany Lutheran Church. This conversation is timely because we are in the middle of our annual appeal and your elected leadership and staff of paid servants will be on retreat this coming Friday and Saturday. Affluenza is a term first coined by Tony Campolo as descriptive of the disease we catch as a result of breathing the air and finding our being in a culture that enjoys the highest standard of living in the history of the earth. One of the symptoms of the disease is that it blinds us to our own predicament. Affluenza forges the falsities of entitlement, the notion that we deserve our wealth, and that we actually earned our wealth. Wise people are aware that wealth is often a result of ingenuity and hard work and also the result of a gracious God, who gifts us with abilities to earn and accumulate and has us born into a culture that is embarrassingly privileged. Compared to the rest of the 7 billion humans on this planet, we were born on third base with a forty foot lead toward home. Affluenza causes us to be terrible stewards of what God has given us, to pay homage to the false gods of consumerism and consumption, and to make us blind to the awareness that our way of life is a huge problem for the rest of the planet. Yet, when the truth is told, it is generally resented or goes in one ear and out the other - blah, blah, blah. Click here to continue reading
pastorrick@epiphanysuwanee.org |
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| Sunday's Sermon | |
The title of my sermon is "The Covenant." A covenant is more than a promise. It is a deal that is sealed, and breaking it bears consequences. God not only makes promises to us; God covenants with us in the strangest of deals, so strange that it is incredible good news. |
| Annual Appeal | |
Our annual appeal to fund God's mission through Epiphany is underway. Over the next few weeks, prayerfully consider three things:
Make a Promise
Keep a Promise
Step up your Promise
Click here to read more |
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| Wednesdays at the Well Tonight | | |
Lenten midweek worship at 7
"God Is Good: Stories of Transformation" is our theme for midweek Lenten worship. Each Wednesday will bring us an Epiphany person to relate his or her own life and spiritual journey with a selected biblical character. Through the trials and victories of biblical people, our Epiphany "preachers" are willing to share and inspire us. Tonight, we hear from Mike Groesch, whose focus will be Samuel. The worship service will be a simple Service of the Word with the Eucharist.
Prior to worship, join us at 6 PM for Epiphany's community meal and, at 6:30, for Imagine Wednesdays. |
| Leadership on Retreat Friday and Saturday | | |
Council and paid servants gather together
This Friday evening and Saturday, our recently affirmed leadership council and team of paid servants gather to get centered in the call God has for Epiphany and for them as leaders of his church in Suwanee. The time will focus on being spiritually equipped to lead and on making covenants toward realizing Epiphany's vision. Leadership will be commissioned into their roles in worship on Sunday.
Please keep Epiphany's leadership council and paid servants in your prayers during this important retreat time. |
| Golf Tournament to Raise Funds for Camp in Haiti | | |
HTF Spring Classic set for May 2
 Epiphany is sponsoring a golf tournament to help fund the 4th annual Fèt Bondye Bò Lanmè (God's Party by the Sea), the summer camp that serves ultra-poor children in the area of Jacmel, Haiti. Epiphany is sending a team of 16 youth and adult guides to Haiti June 29 -July 7, where they'll be joined by teams from Colorado and Nebraska. Epiphany's portion of funding the 2013 camp is $18,000.
The tournament will be played on Thursday, May 2, at the Olde Atlanta Country Club in Suwanee. Sign up now to play! Advance registration for a foursome is $525; individual golfer registration is $150. Sign up to be a sponsor! Opportunities range from $100 to $500; door prizes and gift bag donations also are needed. (Contributions are tax deductible.)
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| Rainbow Village Competing for Technology Update | |
 Vote online to help them win! Rainbow Village is competing with nine other area non-profit organizations to win a technology "makeover" from Milner. Click here to go to the online site and vote for Rainbow Village. You can vote once a day until the contest ends in March.
This Sunday morning at 9:45 we welcome back Dr. John Smith, COO of Rainbow Village. We'll gather for the third and final session that is helping us understand homelessness in our area, looking at how people become homeless and the needs of the homeless, and explaining how our being the heart, hands, and feet of Christ can get them back on their feet.
Rainbow Village, which is a recipient of Epiphany's first fruits gifts, provides transitional housing and a model of self-sufficiency for homeless families with children, a place where they can seek refuge and learn to rebuild their lives with the love and support of a true community. |
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Epiphany Lutheran Church
1350 Peachtree Industrial Blvd.
Suwanee, GA 30024
770-831-1966
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