The following are some worship notes for the February 3, 2008 service. These are the reading materials on which the sermons will be based, and some questions we hope to explore together during Sunday's sermon. Join us at 8:45am or 10:15am and explore with us! You are invited to meet with Paster Lynn for a half hour beginning at 11:30am in the conference room to discuss the message.

Read: Luke 10:25-37

Most of us are familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan. In this text we discover it is part of a larger story. A lawyer asks Jesus the question: Who is my neighbor? (verse 29) Jesus answers by telling the Good Samaritan parable. Jesus then turns back to the questioner and transforms the question into: How shall I be a neighbor to another?

• Who is the neighbor in this text?
• What is Jesus' criteria for how to be a neighbor?

Note: Luke 10:31-34

This parable speaks to the immigration issue and its complexity. The priest and the Levite have legitimate reasons for passing the wounded man. They may have presumed him dead and religious law prevented them from touching the dead. The Samaritan himself was an alien, a member of an ethnic group quite distinct from Jesus' listener.

• What is Jesus pointing to in telling the parable?
• What does it say to you in your life?
• How do you answer the question: Who is my neighbor?
• How do you serve as a neighbor in your day to day life?

There are a number of issues related to immigration which challenge Christians. On the one hand, scriptures of both Old and New Testaments call us to welcome "the stranger" or "the alien in your midst." On the other hand illegal immigrants enter the United States by breaking the law. We, as Christians, affirm laws as the way a civil society governs itself.

• How do we apply Jesus' call to love the neighbor to this issue?
• What does it mean "to show mercy" as our nation reflects on laws and policies?

Immigration also relates to other issues: terrorism and security and the United States labor force.

• How does the Christian faith inform our response to these issues?
• Can we set aside our pre-conceived ideas and hear another perspective?
• How might we as Christians call for reasoned thoughtful discussion on this issue?

The following are some worship notes for the January 6 and January 13, 2008 services. These are the reading materials on which the sermons will be based, and some questions we hope to explore together during Sunday's sermon. Join us at 8:45am or 10:15am and explore with us! You are invited to meet with Paster Lynn for a half hour beginning at 11:30am in the conference room to discuss the message.

Read: Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 2:4-15

The book of Genesis records two accounts of creation which circulated in the oral tradition.

In both accounts, God's creative activity initiates a network of relationships: Creator and creature, human and nonhuman, human and human, and humans and earth.

The full account of creation outlines human distortion of creations; still, in the beginning, God declared it all good.

Two words or phrases in these texts give us clues for exploring earth stewardship.

1. Adam: "The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground (adamah); it is also the name Adam." (footnote p. 54 NIV Serendipity Bible).
   Humanity has its roots in earth, the ground, and the soil. We are earthlings! Humanity is imprinted with God's image and yet is of earth.
   • When have you claimed the image of God within you?
   • When have you been made aware of your 'earthly' status?
2. Dominion: In Genesis 1:28, God speaks to humanity and speaks not about relationship to God, but relationship to the earth: Fill it, subdue it, and have dominion. God is involved in divine power sharing! God is choosing to delegate and empower humans to 'rule' the earth as a monarch rules the Kingdom. The word dominion refers more to care-giving than domination.
   • What is your response to God's power sharing?
   • How do we give care to the earth and its creatures?
   • Subdue means: the development of the created order. How do we discern God's intent for the created order?

Read: Matthew 6:9-13

• What does earth stewardship have to do with God's Kingdom on earth?

  God’s New Thing
 
Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
...for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people,
the people I formed for myself
so that they may declare my praise.
[Isaiah 43:18-19, 20b-21]
 
As the new year approaches, I thought I perceived God’s new thing for our congregation in 2008 and beyond.  It is to explore the addition of a third worship service distinct from the other two in music, experience and in the presentation of the message.  The plan is to focus on various traditions of spirituality and worship as a Lenten service in preaching and in small groups.  I hope the congregation will engage in prayer, reflection and discussion about worship and about a new possibility.
 
Then the unexpected takes place.  Just as this goes to print, yet another homeowner on 10th Street writes to our Trustees inquiring about our interest in their property.  The Trustees engaged in a vigorous discussion:  Why acquire additional property?  Beyond expanded parking, how would it be used?  If we decide to purchase additional property, how will we finance it?
 
Opportunities and challenges placed before us—starting with the houses on 9th Street which we purchased and now possibilities for property on 10th Street.  What is God saying to us?  Are these possibilities of God or a fluke of our current economy?  What is God’s vision for our congregation and its ministries in 2008 and in decades to come?
 
What is clear to me is that God is calling us to a season of discernment.  In this season we will gather information, pray, reflect and discuss.  We will dream dreams and we will open ourselves to God’s vision.  We will seek to be faithful to the One who makes a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
 
Seeking God’s guidance with you,
 

The following are some worship notes for the December 23, 2007 service. These are the reading materials on which the sermon will be based, and some questions we hope to explore together during Sunday's sermon. Join us at 8:45am or 10:15am and explore with us!

Read Matthew 1:18-25

In the early church, the gospel stories circulated in oral form before each gospel writer recorded them.

The church community to which the writer, Matthew, belonged may not have heard or read Luke's version of the events of Jesus' birth. Most often it is the story as Luke told it, with the inn, the manger, and the shepherds that we read on Christmas eve.

• How would it change your thinking about Jesus' birth if Matthew's account was the only version that you had?
• How is Matthew's focus different from that of Luke (Luke 2:1-20)?

Joseph, like all of us, had ideas and dreams about his future. But a dream and an angel's visit changed all that. Joseph had one idea of how to respond to Mary's pregnancy which seemed to Joseph to be caring and faithful. God had another response in mind for Joseph.

Still, Joseph could have chosen not to 'hear' the word of God from the angel. We know the story today and we have the possibility of grace because both Mary and Joseph chose to hear and obey God's leading.

• Recall a time when your best plans were changed or a time when your dreams were disappointed. Looking back, are you able to identify God's presence with you even in a difficult time?
• How has God surprised you with a dream or with the voice of an angel in your midst this Advent season?

The angel tells of the birth of Jesus who will be called Emmanuel, God-with-us. Each day this week, pause even for a moment, and name how God is with you in your daily walk.

PRAYER: Holy Living One, visit our dreams, help us to hear angel's voices and ready our hearts for your coming again into our lives with grace and peace. Amen.