Introduction to Worship for 9/18/2016

1 Timothy 1:12-17

The letter of Timothy retells the story of Paul and his encounter with the risen Christ. Written from Paul’s perspective, the letter talks about the ways in which this experience changed the apostle’s life. The writer knows that Paul was not deserving of God’s understanding, yet God is loving. This is grace and it is the catalyst for transformation and growth. Once full of cruelty and hatred, Paul is transformed from one who tried to squash the good news of Jesus to one who proclaims it. How wonderful to know that God never gives up on us. Like Paul we are free to grow in God’s love.

Family activity (can be adapted to families of all ages)

Get out family photograph albums and note the many different ways family members have grown and changed over the years. Talk about some of the invisible, internal changes as well.

Take a quiet moment to reflect on examples of personal transformation, and where these experiences have led.
What responsibility do you think individuals have when they receive the gift of God’s transforming love? In what ways do individuals continue to develop and nurture this gift?

New prayer concerns

Bill & Joyce's family: Janet, bone cancer; Grace- lost husband a month ago, broke her hip 2 weeks ago.

Alice- total knee replacement.

Ted- in an apartment, continued prayers for healing.

Cancer: Jeanie- starting chemo; Linda starting chemo and radiation

Alex in hospital

Dylan & Holly- changes

all those who have started new school year

Comments

Introduction to Worship for 4/30/2017

Followers of the Way: Renowned Jesus scholar John Dominic Crossan made a profound statement about this week’s gospel reading. “Emmaus never happened,” Crossan wrote. “Emmaus always happens.” What we are invited to grapple with in that statement is the truth that the factual (historical) significance of the resurrection stories is secondary to a more profound truth: the risen Christ is with us. Now. Here. That is what the early church began to learn, and it is what enabled them to move on. Luke 24:13–35 The exact location of Emmaus is not known. Perhaps this uncertainty forms a commentary on the focus scripture. Emmaus may be anywhere. Hearts burning and eyes opening do not take place in only one place, either geographical or spiritual. Emmaus comes into sight wherever a path leads us toward communion with God and whenever we recognize the risen Christ among us. On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, two disciples walk along the road to Emmaus with Jesus, informing this “strange...

Introduction to Worship for 2/26/2017

Matthew 17:1-9 And so the Season after the Epiphany closes: on a holy mountain where God may be found. It is a place of sacred mystery, where shining and shadow convey a holy presence. It is a place of community across time, where God’s people of past and present meet. It is a place of silence and witness, where visions are kept quiet and God says of Jesus, “Listen to him.” From here, we go forward into Lent: the 40 days and 6 Sundays that take us through Jesus’ progress toward Jerusalem and the conflict with the government of Palestine that would lead to his crucifixion. We will have special worship stations in the sanctuary, for reflection and prayer; a Tuesday morning prayer group; a book study on “Gifts of the Dark Wood,” a book that reflects on the hard places and what we find there; and in worship, we will tell the stories of Jesus and his encounters with people who were on the margins, that he brought into the center. So this week, we pause to reflect on the insight tha...

Introduction to Worship for 9/3/2017

Misfits: As we come to the close of our journey through the Dark Wood, we are considering one final gift. Eric Elnes calls this the gift of “Misfits,” and by that he means two things. The first is the experience each of us sometimes has of being a misfit in our cultural context or our community, when it seems that who we are and what we want is at odds with the world around us. And the second is the gift of others who are also misfits, who guide and challenge us along the way as we strive to find our place and our purpose in God’s commonwealth together. He names this second category of misfits as “mentors”, and invites us to identify and to keep regular contact with those who can mentor us toward living fully in the gospel, and keep us from becoming too comfortable on the wrong paths. Psalm 137: 1–6 The Psalm is the classic cry of the broken hearted, finding themselves in a faraway land and a world that does not value “Zion”—the reign of God on earth. By crying out their grief a...

This Week at UPC

Search This Blog