Thursday, June 21, 2007

Mike Yaconelli

Credit Marko also for this clip of Mike Yaconelli highlights. Mike is my youth ministry hero. He was killed a couple of years ago in a traffic accident.

Women in Art

My wife told me about this video the same day I saw a link to it on Marko's blog. Check it out.

Sunday, July 1

We will begin a study for the next two weeks on the sacraments. July 1 will be "Experiencing Communion" in which we will examine the Biblical roots of our modern day practice, and we will center the whole service around the experience of the eucharist. Scriptures will be Mark 14.22-25, Matthew 26.26-29, Luke 22.17-20, Acts 2.42, 46-47, and 1 Corinthians 10.15-17, and 11.17-26. Sacrament refers to a means of grace. Some denominations do not use the word, holding that grace is only bestowed by God, and there is nothing we can do to invoke it. Others want to be sure to communicate that both communion and baptism are purely symbolic acts with no inherent power or meaning in themselves. United Methodists believe that God does act in communion and in baptism. Grace is indeed imparted to those who participate in the sacraments. This is not magic. This is not human manipulation of the divine. This is God responding to his people when they honor God by observing the sacraments. You can read "This Holy Mystery" which is the result of a United Methodist study on communion, published in 2004. On July 8, we will consider "Remember Your Baptism". There is a United Methodist study on baptism also, "By Water and the Spirit".

Sunday June 24

This Sunday, we will again be considering the Lectionary Scriptures. The Gospel reading is Luke 8.26-39, which is the story of the demon-possessed man Jesus encounters in the land of the Gerasenes. This story is also told in Mark 5.1-20. This is a story of change, of radical life transformation. As we have said before, God is a God of change. This story describes the kind of change that can come into a life that encounters Jesus. The other Lectionary Scriptures for this Sunday are 1 Kings 19.1-15, Psalm 42, and Galatians 3.23-29.
The worship bulletin for June 24 is here.