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A Devotional Life
John 7:37-52
"Others said, 'This is the Messiah.' But some asked, 'Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he?'... They replied, 'Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.'" (John 7:41, 52)
Place matters. Scholars refer to this importance of place as one's "social location." And scholarship is increasingly sensitive to the ways in which one's social location influences one's view on the world. This is seen most evidently when, for example, an African womanist theologian reads a biblical text and interprets it differently than, say, a German man does. Social location matters.
Today's reading from John 7 shows that this is not new. Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God and still some people were hung up on his hometown. Like a Cleveland Browns fan living in Steelers' country, some were a little doubtful about Jesus' place of origin. What is interesting, however, is how Jesus never responds to these criticisms. Quite often He does take the time to respond - sometimes in love, other times with a rebuke - to His critics. But not on this matter. He doesn't respond because He knows that while we invest places with importance and meaning, God the Father does not. God does not privilege Peters Township over Homewood-Brushton. America is not privileged above Ethiopia. Big homes are not privileged over tenement housing. Not in God's eyes. And this is because God knows that the borders and boundaries we use to make meaning in our lives are going to be torn down. In their place, God puts His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Now meaning is made wherever He is present, not where we are present. Our social location matters less than where Jesus is located. And Jesus is located wherever two or more gather in His name.
It is tough to untangle ourselves from the nightmare of boundaries and borders. Our lives are imbued with the sense of meaning they give us. But this meaning is idolatrous if it is trusted over and against the meaning we find in Christ. In our passage today, those who say, "This is the Messiah" have caught a great glimpse of what God is doing. Nicodemus has caught a glimpse of what God is doing. Let us pray that we, too, catch a glimpse of what God is doing. Amen.
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Sunday worship happens at 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
Communion served weekly during Lent
Throughout Lent we will explore God's promises to His creation; promises that give us life and sustain us daily. As we move deeper into these promises we will find our love and adoration grow for the Lord our God. As part of our Lenten worship, we will celebrate the Eucharist weekly so that each week we can get a real taste of that ultimate promise - eternity in communion with our loving God.
March 15, 2015 (Fourth Sunday of Lent)
Sermon Title: "God's Promise: Security"
Sermon Text: Numbers 21:4-9
Other Text: John 3:14-21
Walking through the desert was dangerous business. Heat, lack of water, hard eastern winds, and - of course- snakes. Snakes are humankind's bitterest natural enemy, at least as the Genesis account of the Serpent understands it. So God's use of snake bites and healing is a form of reversing this curse. As He reverses this curse, we find that we not only receive forgiveness from our original sin (and on-going sins), but a certain and trustworthy security is granted to us as well. Israel had the serptent lifted up for their security; we have Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross and them lifted up from the grave for ours. The former is a foretaste of the latter.
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Music in Ministry
Worship hymns for March 15th
"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing"
The text for this hymn was written by Charles Wesley (
1707-1788) and comes from an eighteen-stanza hymn he wrote to mark the first anniversary of his life-changing conversion experience. It is now customarily the first hymn in Methodist hymnals worldwide. Wesley wrote over 6,000 hymns; as with most hymnists, his works were frequently altered. In the preface to the 1779 Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists, his brother John wrote: "I beg leave to mention a thought which has been long upon my mind, and which I should long ago have inserted in the public papers, had I not been unwilling to stir up a nest of hornets. Many gentlemen have done my brother and me (though without naming us) the honour to reprint many of our hymns. Now they are perfectly welcome to do so, provided they print them just as they are. But I desire they would not attempt to mend them, for they are really not able. None of them is able to mend either the sense or the verse. Therefore, I must beg of them these two favours: either to let them stand just as they are, to take things for better or worse, or to add the true reading in the margin, or at the bottom of the page, that we may no longer be accountable either for the nonsense or for the doggerel of other men". Well, all nonsense and doggerel aside, the Wesley brothers are certainly due the recognition of their body of work. In addition to hymn writing, Charles & John founded the movement which became the Methodist denomination.
The tune for this hymn was adapted from German composer Carl Gotthelf Gl�ser, 1828, and later arranged by American composer Lowell Mason in 1839.
Dr. Mason is justly called the father of American church music; and by his labors were founded the germinating principles of national musical intelligence and knowledge, which afforded a soil upon which all higher musical culture has been founded. To him we owe some of our best ideas in religious church music, elementary musical education, music in the schools, and the popularization of classical chorus singing. More than that, we owe him no small share of the respect which the profession of music enjoys at the present time as contrasted with the contempt in which it was held a century or more ago. In fact, the entire art of music, as now understood and practiced in America, has derived advantage from the work of this great man.
"When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"
The familiar text to this hymn from the beginning of the 18th century grew out of Isaac Watt's (1674-1748) desire to give Christians the ability to sing about gospel events. It is set here to a very restrained tune from the early 19th century inspired by the patterns of Gregorian chant (coincidentally, the tune for this hymn was also written by Dr. Lowell Mason). English theologian and hymn writer Isaac Watts is considered the "Father of English hymnody".Pick up almost any modern hymnal, look in the index listing the composers of the hymns, and the name "Watts, Isaac" has a long list of hymns beside it. In his long life, Watts wrote over 600 hymns, and many of them continue to be used by English-speaking Christians to worship and praise the same Savior Watts loved and served. Austin C. Lovelace (Fellow, Hymn Society of America) wrote: "More than one hymnologist has called this the finest hymn in the English language. It was included in Watts' hymns "for the Holy Ordinance of the Lord's Supper", but its theme is larger than the sacrament. Our gaze is fixed entirely on the cross, and it warns us not to glory in ourselves. When we feel something of the horror of the crucifixion we are confronted with the demand of the cross: 'my soul, my life, my all'".
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Upcoming Events
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A special meeting will take place this Sunday, March 15 at 7:00 in the Gathering Place with parents of our children and youth to brainstorm ideas and talk about how we can better minister to your family. This will not just be about programming, but more about the why and purpose of programs. We do not want to create a program just to say we have one. It should have a purpose and value. We know that your children are busy with many activities and we don't want to plug one more into your schedule, just for the sake of it. We would like your input on structure and maybe new ways of doing ministry. We value your opinion and it is important to have your participation. We look forward to meeting with you! If you can not make it to the meeting, please let Becky know.
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Session is meeting tonight at 7:00 pm in the Bride's Room. The meeting was moved due to, hopefully, our last heavy snowfall.
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Rachel Circle will meet on Wednesday March 11th at 7:30 PM at the church in the Dining Room. If stairs are an issue, please park by the dining room doors.
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March Mission Madness begins Monday, March 16. Fill out a bracket. Select a mission partner of the church. Pay $10. Let the madness begin! The full sum of monies collected will go to the mission partner selected by the winning bracket. Opportunities to fill out your bracket online will be made available via e-mail on Monday, March 16. Those who need help filling out their brackets can come to the church that evening and Steve Perryman will provide assistance.
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Did all the snow and terrible weather make you feel like you haven't seen anyone from church for pretty much the entire month of February? Are you missing some church friends you haven't seen in awhile? Yeah. Me too! So, it is time for... a "Crock-Luck" Dinner! On Wednesday, March 18th at 6 p.m., we will have a "crock-luck" community dinner. What's a crock-luck? Well, it's a potluck dinner made up of only crockpot foods. This month's crockpot theme is "soup." So, prepare your favorite soup and bring it to the church to share. The church will provide bread, drinks, cutlery, and the like. You just need to show up with your offering and enjoy the Christian fellowship! Please RSVP to Pastor Jeff if you plan to attend. And please feel free to bring friends.
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Orders for Easter flowers will be accepted beginning this Sunday. The deadline for orders is March 29th but early orders are welcome! An order form will be included in the next several bulletins and on the website. Payment is appreciated when you place your order, checks made payable to Center Church noted for flower fund.
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The Pastor's Christian Ed Evening will continue their study of How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth chapter 8: The Parables. Monday, March 16 in the Parlor at 7 p.m.
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Talk Back Tuesday returns from its one-week absence on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. in the Brides Room.
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CPC's Book Club's next selection is Anne Lamott's Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers (ISBN13: 978-1594631290). You are encouraged to pick up this concise, 112-page book, read it, and meet for "Brunch & Books" some time in early April (day/time TBD).
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One Great Hour of Sharing kicks off this Sunday in worship. More details to follow (you can begin by checking out the video in "A Joyful Life" below!)
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HOLY WEEK ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Maundy Thursday Service - April 2
at 7:30 p.m. at Center Church
2. Ecumenical Good Friday Service
at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church - Friday,
April 3 at noon (lunch to follow).
Pastor Jeff will join with other pastors from
Peters Township to lead this worship service.
You are encouraged to attend.
- Intergenerational Summer Mission Trip to The Center in Baltimore, MD - June 13-20. Cost is $400/person, but plenty of scholarship funds are available. $50 deposit to reserve your spot due by Sunday, March 1. Everyone interested in traveling with this trip is being asked to complete this application. For questions, contact Rev. Schooley or Becky Boyer.
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The offering collected during our special worship for Black History Appreciation was given to BASH for their scholarship fund. A total of $828.00 was donated that evening! A reprint of a letter from BASH in acknowledgement of the evening and donation will be in this week's bulletin.
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All loose offerings collected on Communion Sundays is held for the Session Fund. Session uses this fund for special projects and gifts.
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Preschool registration is still open. Classes are filling fast. Pass the news to your neighbors. We may be offering some afternoon classes this year to accommodate a growing enrollment.
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A Joyful Life
One Great Hour of Sharing teaches Empowerment - http://youtu.be/Y4pb8Z9q3Ac
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