August 25, 2019
I better get our August birthdays while we have a day or left in the month. They were Patty Hirst, Neva Smith, Ola Mae La Baume, Paul Beaty, Joann Herrin, and Joe Salinas.
Couples celebrating an anniversary were, Jim and Laura Leatherwood, Bob and Irene Sohm, and Ray and Ola Mae La Baume. Congratulations to all.
We are so happy to see retuning guests with us on Sunday. We enjoyed two first time guests worshiping with us also.
James Sage brought his son and daughter-in-law, Keith and Kelsey Sage, and their sweet baby girl, Dakota. It will be too quiet at James and Leta’s home without little Dakota there.
Pastor Ken asked any teachers and students to come forward. He honored them with a reading from the Holy Bible and a responsive reading, next he prayed for their safety.
Nancy Wooldridge served as our Worship Leader and Cole Moore was acolyte. Nancy asked that we pray for her sister-in-law, Mary Jane Stine, who is extremely ill. Our hearts go out to the family.
It is time to refill the Food Pantry! The pantry can use any food that does not require refrigeration.
We need boxes to pack the food in also. The boxes should be about the size of a case of Dublin Bottling Works soda. Our church office is open four days a week, Monday through Thursday, from 9:00 a.m. till 1:00 p.m. for the delivery of non-perishable food and boxes.
Pastor Ken read the letter from the Council Of Bishops President Bishop Ken Carter to the People of the United Methodist Church concerning the mass shootings and the violence we are experiencing from white supremacy and a fear of immigrants (xenophobia). The use of presidential role granted for the purpose of serving an entire people for white privilege does great harm to us and are rooted in a cynical desire to divide us along racial lines. According to counterterrorism experts, the president’s racial rhetoric is fueling an incipient and violent white nationalist movement in our nation. According to 2 Corinthians 5; Christ died for all; and in this he loved us and gave himself up for us (Ephesians 5).
The scripture lesson was from Luke 13:10-17. This lesson tells about Jesus healing a woman who had been bent over for 18 years. He did this in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath and the leader of the synagogue was incensed.
The Lord replied, “Hypocrites! Don’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from its stall and lead it to drink? Then isn’t it necessary that this woman, a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for eighteen long years, be set free from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”
The synagogue ruler was insensitive to the woman’s plight; and he had the law on his side. But Jesus had a greater principle to follow, that of compassion.
This was not an emergency case; the woman had been bent for 18 years. Jesus was making a point, that people are more important than rules. The ruler had dehumanized the woman and once you dehumanize someone, you can easily dismiss them. You become legalistic and ruled by the rules. We do need to have rules, but we must remember Jesus said: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Check out Chuck Knows Church at http://fumcdublintx.com