September 14 Lectionary

Exodus 14:19-31

14:19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them.

14:20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided.

14:22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

14:23 The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and chariot drivers.

14:24 At the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic.

14:25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the Israelites, for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt."

14:26 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers."

14:27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the LORD tossed the Egyptians into the sea.

14:28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained.

14:29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

14:30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

14:31 Israel saw the great work that the LORD did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.

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Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21

15:1b "I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

15:2 The LORD is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.

15:3 The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.

15:4 "Pharaoh's chariots and his army he cast into the sea; his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

15:5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.

15:6 Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power-- your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy.

15:7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries; you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.

15:8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up, the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

15:9 The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'

15:10 You blew with your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

15:11 "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?

15:20 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.

15:21 And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."

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Romans 14:1-12

14:1 Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.

14:2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.

14:3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them.

14:4 Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

14:5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds.

14:6 Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

14:7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.

14:8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

14:9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

14:10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

14:11 For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God."

14:12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

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Matthew 18:21-35

18:21 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?"

18:22 Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

18:23 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

18:24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him;

18:25 and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.

18:26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'

18:27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.

18:28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, 'Pay what you owe.'

18:29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.'

18:30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.

18:31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.

18:32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

18:33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?'

18:34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.

18:35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

Everything Must Change: Terrorism

This Sunday, we are taking a look at terrorism. Thursday marks the seventh anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington DC.

the thought is to honor all victims of war and terrorism. and look at 9-11 from not just our perspective but what happened in Chile in 1973 and in South Africa in 1906.



September 11, 1973




September 11, 1906

In 1906, Gandhi called a meeting of 3,000 Indians in Johannesburg to discuss a strategy for defeating the Asiatic Registration Ordinance, a statute that required all Indian immigrants to register with the government. All those in attendance pledged to disobey the registration legislation and to accept the penalties that would result from their resistance. This meeting proved to be critical in the development of Gandhi's strategy and the formation of the concept of satyagraha.

It was not long after the Johannesburg meeting when Gandhi read Thoreau's Essay on Civil Disobedience, the same essay that would later influence King. The essay provided Gandhi with a means for articulating his concept for nonviolent resistance in English. Inspired by Thoreau's insistence on disobeying unjust policies, Gandhi spent the next seven years leading the struggle on behalf of the Indian minority in South Africa. This philosophy also influenced Gandhi's thinking about India, as expressed in Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule), a 1909 booklet outlining his early thoughts regarding Indian independence. Gandhi wrote that "violence was no remedy for India's ills” and that the country's civilization “required the use of a different and higher weapon for self-protection."

bulletin for september 7

Worship Service for September 7th

Here is the plan for the service:

Bob is speaking on conflict in the church. From our discussion last night (only he and I were there) it sounds very interesting and thought provoking.

ORDER?
SONGS? ORDER OF?
SPEAKING PARTS?
CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT?
BULLETIN?

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost -- September 7, 2008 (Green)

Exodus 12:1-14. God instructs Moses and Aaron in preparation for the Passover of the Lord and for its observance throughout all generations.

Psalm 149 or 148 (UMH 861).

Romans 13:8-14. [Advent 1, year A uses verses 11-14.] Paul exhorts the Romans to "owe no one anything except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law."

Matthew 18:15-20. Jesus gives instructions on dealing with conflict between church members, speaks of binding and loosing, and promises his presence wherever two or three are gathered in his name.

Themes

So as we enter the last quarter of the year it is worthwhile to start thinking about themes. During the last few meetings, we talked about three themes that would carry us through the end of the year:

1. Everything Must Change: This series would carry us through election day. the series would take a look at the great change that our society is going through and how we deal with crisises facing our world and our faith.


2. Spirit and Place: This will be a brief series that ties us into the spirit and place events that are happening at the church.

3. Advent: This will take us from the end of november through christmas.


What do you think?

Where do we go from here?

Hey all, Mike here. Sounds like Sunday's service turned out quite nice. Hope Joe is feeling better. We are about to enter the church busy season---school is in session, the summer lull is about to lift, and we are steaming towards Christmas. It is probably a good time to start discussing where we might be going with this experiment. Some brief thoughts:

1. I have enjoyed the worship meetings. It looks like Wednesday is not quite working out as a preferred date. Is there a way we can move worship meeting to monday nights and have Joe join us via some sort of technologically advance way (web/tele-conference)?

2. The blog works best if we keep it lively and active. full of pictures and musings and plans and dreams. so please contribute to it. if you do not yet have a password to contribute then please email me so you can get it.

3. bulletins: do you like the bulletins or can we move more of the text and imagary to powerpoint?

4. Music: jordan and crew has done a great job. should we restructure service so that maybe we do three songs up front, delve into the service, have a mediative song after the sermon and end with some music? or something like that. it might be good to do something like that to get the blood flowing and allow a window for latecomers to get settled in....

5. hospitality: how do we do hospitality better? from greeters to coffee and donuts/muffins to getting people's email, etc.