September 6 @ St. Paul's UMC: Worship

14th Sunday after Pentecost 

Today’s Meditation Verse                                                                                                                    "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”   -Romans13:8

Welcome – Pastor Charles     

Call to Worship (Psalm 119:33-40)—Pastor Charles (Leader) and Claudia M. (People)      (Congregation is encouraged to read People’s response aloud on mute setting)         

Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to Your decrees, and not to selfish gain.
Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in Your ways.
Confirm to Your servant Your promise, which is for those who fear You.
Turn away the disgrace that I dread, for Your ordinances are good.
See, I have longed for Your precepts; in Your righteousness give me life.

                                   

A Blessing for Workers and All Seeking Work – Claudia M.                                                          (Congregation is encouraged to offer the prayer aloud on mute setting) 

Blessed are You, ever-creating God, in Your image, our lives are made; in Your glory, we offer all the Work of our hearts and hands and minds. Blessed are You, O God, now and forever! Blessed are you whose work is repaid, for by your work, and by the payment you receive your lives and the lives of others around you and around the world are blessed. We thank God for you day by day. Blessed are you whose work is unpaid, who offer what you can to enrich the lives of others, through time, talents, skill, strength, and love. We praise God for your generous labor! Blessed are you who seek work but have not found it, or whose work now is not yet what it may be yet still you seek, that your gifts may be shared more fully. We praise God for your diligent seeking and pray you may soon find! Yours is the glory in their labors. Yours be the glory in all our lives, in Jesus' name. Amen.  

- General Board of Discipleship, 2015

Community prayer requests, concerns, and celebrations—Pastor Charles

Pastoral Prayer – Pastor Charles

 

Gospel Lesson: Romans 13:8-14 – Claudia M.                                                                                                                                                           

Music offering: JO3:16

Epistle Lesson: Matthew 18:15-20 – Pastor Charles                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Sermon: “The value of love” – Pastor Charles                            

Communion                                                                                                                                            The Lord’s Prayer (Congregation is encouraged to offer the Lord’s Prayer aloud on mute setting)

Postlude (Alpha & Omega)

Reminder: Gifts and tithes can be sent directly to Martha B., contributions to the PATH Fund can be marked “PATH Fund” in the memo line. 

Passing of Gil Caldwell

Prayers for the family of the Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell, who passed away peacefully yesterday. He lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Caldwell was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement, walking alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. According to an article about him from United Methodist Communications, Caldwell met King while attending Boston University for seminary. Later he joined the 1963 March on Washington and spent a Freedom Summer supporting voter drives in Mississippi as well as marching from Selma to Montgomery.

Caldwell served as senior pastor of five predominantly black churches and four mostly white churches over the span of six decades. In the legacy Rocky Mountain Conference, he served Park Hill UMC in Denver from 1997 to 2000. He retired in 2001. Caldwell was also the author of four books and his writings appeared in publications from the Boston Globe to the Huffington Post.

Bishop Karen Oliveto said, "Gil was a spiritual giant, knowing that to be faithful to the gospel requires much. A civil rights leader, he understood the intersectionality of oppressions long before others were talking about it, always standing with the marginalized to extend God's love and justice in the world. Now he passes that mantle to all of us. Rest in peace and rise in power, good and faithful servant."

A Zoom memorial service honoring Caldwell will be announced later. More details will be shared through the Mountain Sky Conference News.

A New Season of COVID-19: Not just Survive, but Thrive

                                                            (See the video at this link)

Dear laity and clergy of the Mountain Sky Conference,

WINTER IS COMING

It is hard to believe that while temperatures are in the 80s and 90s across our conference, winter is indeed coming. Winters are harsh in the Mountain Sky Conference. Yet, we have learned how to not only survive winter but thrive.

That is the question I have posed to God as we enter into a new season of COVID-19: how can we not just survive but thrive.

All studies point to the fact that COVID-19 coupled with the flu will make this a very difficult few months. It is highly likely that we will be back to sheltering in place as a way to keep ourselves and others safe.

I want to thank you, all the clergy and laity of the Mountain Sky Conference who have worked so hard in the past five months to learn new ways of being in relationship together, new forms of worship, and new ministries to respond to the hurts and needs of your community during this COVID-19 pandemic. It has been exhausting, relentless work as we needed to pivot overnight and rethink ministry strategies.

I want to thank the COVID-19 Crisis Team for their hard work to provide resources and guidelines for us as we lived into this new moment. Lay and clergy leaders from across the Mountain Sky Conference worked hard, meeting weekly for five months, to ensure our churches had the tools and resources to pivot quickly into the new reality COVID-19 thrust us all.

What has become clear is that, while the crisis moment is over, the long-term work has begun. Scientists and the medical community all predict that we will see increased sickness and death due to both the seasonal flu and COVID-19. With that in mind, the Crisis Team has finished their work and the need for a new team has emerged: Ministry in a Time of COVID-19.

The purpose of this team is to help clergy and laity deepen tech skills in order to enhance the worship experience, provide information on emerging forms of pastoral care, offer stewardship resources, ways to engage in mission work in the community during this time and provide pathways for cooperative ministries so we can carry the burdens and move into the opportunities of this season together.

We are seeking people to serve on this team. Specifically we are in need of people with tech skills to help churches more fully move to online worship and ministry; mental health professionals and those with skills in recovery who can aid us as we ensure that while we are physically distant from each other during the gray days and long nights of winter, we will not be socially isolated; community organizers who can deepen connectionalism so that ministries will be strengthened because we are doing them together across our conference. If you are interested in helping, please contact my office. The first meeting will be Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Secondly, I would like to invite each church’s relaunch chair to join me in a conversation about what you’ve learned these past few months, what best practices have emerged, and what you need from the conference and each other to enter into the new season of COVID-19. Information on registration will be available shortly.

As much as we’d like, there will never be a going back to a pre-COVID-19 normal. The world, and all of us, have been changed. And so has the church. In this moment, God is beckoning us to live into a new normal, a future with hope. I look forward to the work God would have us do as disciples of Jesus for the sake of our churches, our communities, and our world.

May God continue to bless you and your ministries. Be well. Stay safe. Wear a mask.

Bishop Karen P. Oliveto

Last big project of the summer

The Trustees arranged for the dead tree that was in the back of the building (alongside the path off of Grinnell Ave.) to be removed and today was the day! 

Ladies Lunch Bunch today

Ten were on hand this morning for the Ladies Lunch Bunch on the church lawn, using masks and social distancing, to share in the glorious late summer weather!

Wednesday with the Wesley's

 

Methodism 101: Epworth & the Wesleys

The Old Rectory - Epworth, Lincolnshire

(Visit the Old Rectory at this link)

Mother knows best: Parenting tips from Susanna Wesley

Pastor Charles shares about the Wesleys in Epworth at this link.

Susanna Wesley’s House Rules

1. Eating between meals not allowed.

2. As children they are to be in bed by 8 p.m.

3. They are required to take medicine without complaining.

4. Subdue self-will in a child, and those working together with God to save the child’s soul.

5. To teach a child to pray as soon as he can speak.

6. Require all to be still during Family Worship.

7. Give them nothing that they cry for, and only that when asked for politely.

8. To prevent lying, punish no fault which is first confessed and repented of.

9. Never allow a sinful act to go unpunished.

10. Never punish a child twice for a single offense.

11. Comment and reward good behavior.

12. Any attempt to please, even if poorly performed, should be commended.

13. Preserve property rights, even in smallest matters.

14. Strictly observe all promises.

15. Require no daughter to work before she can read well.

16. Teach children to fear the rod.