Upcoming
Meetings / Events
22 April – Sunday
Worship
Sermon: "Other Sheep”
Rev. Wendell Luke
25 April - Wednesday
Church Council Meeting
7:00 PM
Rev. Luke will be at the church each Wednesday morning
if you would like to meet with him.
New Bible Study
May 1, 2018 - 5:00
– 7:30 pm
Mark your calendar
Dinner at 5:00, Study at 5:30.
Please reach out to Carole Kerr
if you plan on attending
Cost - $15 for the
book
Order of Worship
Rev.
Luke opened the 15 April Worship Service with an explanation of our Order of
Worship, with particular focus on the sequence of prayers. Each Sunday in April, he will be in the
Sanctuary 15 minutes before the service to talk with people about the Order of
Worship and its ecclesiastic basis.
Earth Day Sunday - April
22
In
preparation for Earth Day this year, you are encouraged to watch and reflect on
this Photo Prayer video, featuring stunning images of Nature along with the
beautiful words of a prayer written by United Methodist Bishop Ken Carter when
he was a pastor in North Carolina in 2005:
To
help guide our thinking and acting about how we live in, and are in engaged in
ministry in the world, The United Methodist Church has created statements to
guide the church in its efforts to create a world of justice. Our "Social
Principles", part of our Book of Discipline, explain how United Methodists
are called to live in the world. To learn more about them, and in particular
our UMC "Social Principles on The Natural World", including Water,
Air, Soil, Minerals, Plants, Energy Resources Utilization, Animal Life, Global Climate
Stewardship, Space, Science and Technology, Food Safety, and Food Justice, see:
Here
is an excerpt...
All creation is the Lord’s, and we
are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil,
minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and
conserved because they are God’s creation and not solely because they are
useful to human beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should
meet these stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect.
Economic, political, social, and technological developments have increased our
human numbers, and lengthened and enriched our lives. However, these
developments have led to regional defoliation, dramatic extinction of species,
massive human suffering, overpopulation, and misuse and overconsumption of
natural and nonrenewable resources, particularly by industrialized societies.
This continued course of action jeopardizes the natural heritage that God has
entrusted to all generations. Therefore, let us recognize the responsibility of
the church and its members to place a high priority on changes in economic,
political, social, and technological lifestyles to support a more ecologically
equitable and sustainable world leading to a higher quality of life for all of
God’s creation.
Water,
Air, Soil, Minerals, Plants - We support and encourage social policies that
serve to reduce and control the creation of industrial byproducts and waste;
facilitate the safe processing and disposal of toxic and nuclear waste and move
toward the elimination of both; encourage reduction of municipal waste; provide
for appropriate recycling and disposal of municipal waste; and assist the
cleanup of polluted air, water, and soil. We call for the preservation of
old-growth forests and other irreplaceable natural treasures, as well as
preservation of endangered plant species. We support measures designed to
maintain and restore natural ecosystems. We support policies that develop
alternatives to chemicals used for growing, processing, and preserving food,
and we strongly urge adequate research into their effects upon God’s creation
prior to utilization. We urge development of international agreements
concerning equitable utilization of the world’s resources for human benefit so
long as the integrity of the earth is maintained. We are deeply concerned about
the privatization of water resources, the bottling of water to be sold as a
commodity for profit, and the resources that go into packaging bottled water.
We urge all municipalities and other governmental organizations to develop
processes for determining sustainability of water resources and to determine
the environmental, economic, and social consequences of privatization of water
resources prior to the licensing and approval thereof.
(From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church -
2016. Copyright 2016 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by
permission.)
Dinner for Bristol Lodge
Soup Kitchen
Our
next serving day is Monday, May 14th at 5 pm (the
second Monday of every month). As
always, please keep in your prayers this ministry of love
and everyone who it touches.
Please
reach out to Bob Hout to help share Christ's love in this ministry. You can contribute one or more food items for
our serving day and/or assist with reheating or serving the meal
