Worship - June 1, 2008

Rock of ages,
    hold us now.
Be the road beneath our feet.
Be the foundation of our faith.
Be the strength of our very lives.
As the sands of life shift all around us,
    help us remain steadfast and true.
As the winds swirl and blow,
    help us hear your Spirit's breath.
As we worship,
    help us rebuild our faith.
Shore up those places
    where doubt has crumbled our faith
        or shifted our priorities.
Center our focus on the foundation you offer,
    that we may live with Christlike love
        and rock-solid faith. Amen.

from Cokesbury’s Worship Connection
author not listed or copyrighted

Thanksgiving for Teachers

How many times do we need to hear something before it sinks in? Once? Twice? Ten times? Twenty? The words we just heard from the eleventh chapter of Deuteronomy are a repeat of a refrain written earlier in this Torah, this law handed down through Moses. In the sixth chapter we find what our Jewish friends call the Shema. “Shema Yisrael,” it begins. “Hear, O Israel,” followed by statement that only God is God, and then the commandment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might.” It goes on to talk about keeping these words, reciting them to your children, talking about them everywhere (at home or away, in bed or out), binding them on your hand, fixing them on your forehead, writing them on your doorpost. In other words, repetition is no small matter. Even twenty times is not enough for something this important to sink in. It takes a lifetime. And we begin as children.

Today marks the beginning of our summer break from Sunday School. Week in and week out, from September until last Sunday, many persons in our fellowship have answered the call and devoted themselves to teaching. They have taught in a variety of ways. There is no “one-size-fits-all” method, you know. Some are very systematic, and we benefit from seeing how things fit together. Others are good at starting a ball rolling and allowing those they teach to arrive at conclusions themselves. Some work well with young children, others with youth, still others have the knack for teaching adults. We have been blessed by God with these teachers.

This morning we want to celebrate and thank them for the time and effort they spent during the past year. Let me read their names, and as I do I ask each to stand if they are here this morning. If I have missed any, please say so at the end, so we might recognize these as well.

(read list of teachers)

In sign language, applause is shared visually, with hands shaking above your heads. Let’s do so in this way, thus raising our arms to the One who provides the gift of teaching. Thank you. Now notice, doing this, like applauding, requires repetition for all of us. Once is not enough. It’s sort of like learning. We participate in the lesson week after week, here and at home, at work, at school. Hear, O Long Green Valley church. That’s how we “love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might.” Again and again and again. Amen?

For Children
"A one eyed owl, the most perfect gift"
based 2 Corinthians 8:12 (CEV):
"It doesn't matter how much you have.
What matters is how much you are willing to give
from what you have."

         I had a half-brother Ernie who came to visit with us when I was little. He didn't bring any toys with him (I really believe he did not have any). I never considered the toys I had to be that great, all the kids in my neighborhood had much better toys. I was happy though to share mine with him while he was visiting.
         One day we went to the grocery store as a family, and Ernie and I asked for money to try our luck with the capsules in the gumball machines (I intend to elaborate about these machines and have a sample capsule with me). My step-dad and his dad gave us each a quarter, and we each got one of these capsules. I forget what I got. I thought it was junk. But, Ernie got a little white plastic owl. This owl had a loop at the top suitable for a key chain. It had two eye sockets, one was filled with a green plastic gem stone, the other socket was empty. Ernie showed it proudly to me as though it was some great find. I said "Ernie, your toy is broken, it has an eye missing!" He said, "I think it is winking." Whatever!
         He cherished this toy (I think because his dad bought it for him). One day Ernie and I were deciding what to play. Ernie reached in his pocket (I said to myself, "please don't show my friends that owl, they'll think you're stupid") and he did it, brought out the owl and showed it to my friends. Like, what do you think we can do with this, you can't play with that.
         Ernie left at the end of the weekend and I was sorry to see him leave. He reached in his pocket one last time and handed me the owl. He said, "I want you to have this." A boy who seems to have nothing, gave me everything. I learned a great lesson about seeing things that I am given, and have, a lot differently. The gifts we have from God are like this, they are so important and yet we don't see them that way...

Ed Lewis
(previously shared on 8/29/04)

Pastoral Prayer

written closer to the time (if not at the moment)

Heifer International Moment

Members on our congregation's Witness Commission will challenge the congregation to participate in a month-long outreach offering project to go toward Heifer International, perhaps sharing from this news release.

Responding with our Tithes and Offerings

Now is the time to respond with your tithes and offerings. Before you do, please pray with me.

Great God in Heaven, in a hushed whisper you quietly summon us to do your will. Awaken our minds, enabling us to hear and to act courageously on your desire for our lives. Our knowledge of your truth inspires us to follow your teachings and to give freely. Accept these offerings. We pray in your exalted name. Amen.

Ushers?

prayer written by David S. Bell, former Director of Stewardship with GBOD.
He currently serves as Vice-President of Stewardship with the United Methodist Foundation of Michigan.
You may contact him by visiting www.covenantquest.com.
Copyright © 2008 David S. Bell
Any local church, regardless of denominational affiliation, or any United Methodist organization
may reprint any or all of these prayers provided that the author is cited.

Benediction

Go now and continue to “rock and roll,”
         to build your lives on the solid rock
                           of Christ’s words,
                  which you have heard over and over.
Put them into action.
Do not be ashamed of the gospel,
                  but live by faith
         and find your refuge and strength in God.

And may God be known to you in the stillness;
May Christ Jesus be the solid foundation of your lives;
And may the Holy Spirit give you courage,
........even when the earth rolls and rocks.

Tercentennial Minute
(printed in bulletin rather than read this week)
The First Annual Meeting of the Church of the Brethren. Maybe.

The first Annual Meeting of the Church of the Brethren took place on Pentecost, June 7, 1742, at the home of Martin Urner of Coventry.

Maybe.

It seems clear that from the beginning of the Brethren movement we settled our disputes democratically, in joint study of the bible, with all members having an equal voice. And initially all Brethren were able to gather together at the same Love Feast to discuss the issues that faced them.

However, the clearest indication for when the Annual Meeting as we know it first took place comes from the pen of Georg Adam Martin (1715-1794), elder and author, who was later excommunicated by the Brethren on a charge of immoral behavior, and who therefore regarded the Brethren with some disdain.

In 1741 the charismatic Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a leader of the Renewed Moravian Church, tried to unite the German-speaking Christians into one body through a series of conferences. Brethren sent delegates, but later abandoned the movement, believing the Count was taking too large a role and that the doctrinal disagreements were too great. According to Martin, the Brethren decided they would hold conferences of their own on an annual basis.

Martin did not think much of the tone of the discussion that went on at these meetings. He later recalled, “ After this general meeting had been established, the opportunity was offered to speak of various matters whenever we met, and since most of the (Brethren) who had laid the foundation of their Congregation in Schwarzenau, were uneducated arch-idiots and ignoramuses, their followers, of course, brought their absurd nothings also to this meeting, always appealing to their predecessors, saying the Old Brethren in Germany did so, and we must not depart from their ways.”

After Martin was expelled in 1760 from the Brethren he was appointed as a leader to the Ephrata community by the Superintendent Conrad Beissel. He later went on to found congregations in Bermudian, York County, and Stony Creek in what was then Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Both of those congregations later became Brethren.

The historian Martin Grove Brumbaugh recorded the date and place of the first conference but there is no clear record of this. Hence the maybe. No matter. At some point during this period the pattern was established for the Annual Conferences which take place to this day.

And that’s the Tercentennial Minute for Sunday, June 1, 2008

by Frank Ramirez, pastor of the Everett, PA Church of the Brethren
posted by permission
The Everett church graciously makes available these weekly vignettes from Brethren history
to all who are interested during this 300th anniversary year of our denomination.
Frank will be the guest preacher for our Homecoming on October 26, 2008
(this is our congregation's 100th anniversary year)