Pastor's Notes for June 6, 2010

HELP SEND A CHILD TO CAMP. Your check can be placed in the collection plate, designated CAMP in the memo. Campers are Sarah Culbertson, Ben Vickers, and Kayla Cochran.

PICNIC VOLUNTEERS see Jennie Barrett to sign up to be in the FCC booth for an hour, 6pm & 10pm, July 15, 16, or 17. Picnic planners Jennie Barrett, Mary Horn, Lonnie McNeese, Don Wooldridge or Bill Yurk can answer your questions.

ELDERS, please forgive us in the office. The following changes failed to register in the June newsletter:
June 6—Jeanie Ogle & Kyle Vickers
June 13—Darlene Walsh & Jim Pope
June 20—Rhonda Culbertson & Mike Frier
June 27—Dick Culbertson & Debbie Vickers
July 4—Kathy Dains & Mike Frier

Reflecting on the Scriptures:
WHERE HAVE WE SEEN GOD AT WORK?

1 Kings 17:8-16 (17-24). Scripture calls our attention to the people without a voice—the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. Prophet Elijah becomes a stranger in a foreign land and receives help from a widow who has lost hope.

Psalm 146. The Lord watches over the stranger, the orphan and the widow and calls God’s people to execute justice for them, the oppressed and the hungry, to engender hope.

Luke 7:11-17. In Nain Jesus has compassion for the grieving widow who is burying her son. Like Elijah, Jesus raises him to life and is declared a prophet by the people. Seeing a compassionate response means God is at work in their midst and the crowd gives glory to God.

Galatians 1:1-24. Paul testifies to God’s intervention in his own life and celebrates his god-given task to take the good news of Jesus Christ beyond the Jewish community. Paul becomes the stranger, estranged from his own heritage in order to tell the nations that God is at work in Jesus Christ.

The following summary of our service will appear in our local newspapers this week.
Grace—God’s unexpected generosity—God’s unmerited favor—God’s love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us—the Lord Jesus Christ giving himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age! That’s the good news of God’s grace! That’s the gospel!

The acolytes Ben Vickers and Dustin Burlingame lit the candles as a symbol of Christ present in our midst. Bobby Huber brought in the bread and the cup of grape juice for the communion table, more reminders of the Lord’s presence.

Worship leader, Shirley Lynn, welcomed us and made the announcements. Then Pastor Barbara reminded us that June 1 was the fifth anniversary of the congregation’s gracious call to her to transition from part-time interim minister to permanent full-time minister.

The theme of grace continued in our call to worship and in our hymns. “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God….” Pastor Barbara emphasized the importance of our remembering that God initiated the process that brought us back to the safety of God’s loving embrace.

In our testimony we might forget that God went out looking for us like the shepherd looking for the lost lamb. It was God who swept the floor and moved furniture, searching for us like the woman who finally found the lost coin and rejoiced. “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…” Grace at work!