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Introduction to Worship for 1/22/2017

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Matthew 4:12-23

This week we are excited to have guest preacher Rick Ufford-Chase with us.  Rick is the co-director of Stony Point Center (with his wife Kitty) and is the PC(USA) Associate for Interfaith Relations, a former moderator of the denomination, and an activist and justice worker, as well as a friend of the congregation.

Rick has recently curated and co-written a book called “Faithful Resistance: Gospel Visions in a Time of Empire”, which was the focus of our book study this fall at UPC. The title of his sermon is “Faithful Resistance: Not for the Faint of Heart”.

So it’s fair to ask: what are we resisting, and why are we talking about it in church? We are resisting… the culture that is built on consumption and destruction; the vision of the world that puts white Christians at the center; our own tendencies to the call to love, the practices that lead us away from Jesus’ radical vision of God’s reign on earth, a “kingdom of love.”

Rick will be with us the whole weekend talking about our congregation and our calling with several different groups of people. He will be listening and sharing with us about where we see the Spirit leading us into the future, and after worship we will gather around tables to share a meal and to join him in the next step of our visioning process as we seek to be good stewards of our resources and our community.

Sounds great, but how do we do all of that?

…come and be a part of the conversation!  It would be good to have you with us.

Connecting scripture and life 

‘Disciples’ has become a term for church members, so that we often hear it as an instruction to make recruits. That’s not what is meant. It meant: Go and make learners. ‘Disciples’ meant ‘learners,’ people who will join in learning community and carry on learning – lifelong, to the end of the age. (William Loader)
  • How might this definition of “disciple” give shape to your work and the work of your community?
  • What other words are important to you as you think about our calling as Christians and our work in the world?
  • How do they fit into the challenge to be faithful, and to be a resister?
  • What are the next steps for our community as we follow Jesus’s call?


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