The First Congregational Church United Church of Christ

Transcription

1 The First Congregational Church United Church of Christ Pastor Rev. Raymond Dekker (home & cell phone) ( ) Keyboard: Creative Ministries Mat Emerick Facilitator ( ) Music Facilitator Deb Emerick Secretary Lorene Witte Website: Church: Hillcrest Drive Fremont, MI 49412

2 Second Sunday after Epiphany January 20, 2019 Prelude Chimes Call to Worship Joyfully Welcome Opening Prayer * those who are able, please stand As you enter the sanctuary, please be mindful of those already seated who want a quiet place to pray. The Order of Worship 10:00 a.m. Praise Group *Opening Hymn Blue Hymnal #10 Majesty Invitation to Prayer Majesty (By MWS) Prayer of Confession *Response Thank You Jesus Story Bell "Jesus Loves Me Praise Group Congregation/Praise Group Deb Emerick Hymn of Preparation Blue Hymnal #184 Thy Word (verse 2) I will not forget Your love for me, and yet my heart forever is wandering. Jesus, be my guide and hold me to your side; I will love You to the end. Message Discover the Fullness in the Word Pastor Ray Dekker *Hymn Blue Hymnal #571 Trust and Obey (verses 1,4,5) Prayers of the People and Silent Prayers The Lord s Prayer As It Is In Heaven Offertory *Doxology Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. *Prayer of Dedication Praise Group Matt Mar * Closing Blue Hymnal #670 Make Me a Blessing Out in the highways and byways of life, Many are weary and sad. Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife, Making the sorrowing glad. Make me a blessing; make me a blessing. Out of my life may Jesus shine. Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray. Make me a blessing to someone today. *Benediction *Pastor: The Peace of Christ be with you. Congregation: And also with you. Scripture Reading Psalm 119: O.T. 2 Timothy N.T. *Postlude

3 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! May each person who worships here sense your deep love for them. Welcome! *Visitors ~ Welcome! There is a Welcome Packet in the pew rack for you. Please fill out the Guest Information insert, place it in the offering plate and take the packet home for review of the other information. We are thankful you are here and hope that your time here is a special blessing to you and your family. Please let us know how we can best serve you. *Large print Bibles, bulletins, and Children s bulletins are available from the ushers. Quiet bags for children to use while they are in the worship service are available on the table in the narthex. *Children are an important segment of the living body of Christ, so we welcome them in our worship services and grant to them the blessing of worshiping along side their parents, siblings and family in Christ. Families with young nursery age children are also welcome to use the nd Family Room in the balcony located on the 2 floor. *Our sanctuary is equipped with a T-Coil Hearing Loop. Please turn your hearing aid to the T-Coil position to access this feature. Other hearing devices are available at the sound booth upon request. *The Deacons invite you to join us for a few moments of prayer in the library at 9:40 a.m. each Sunday morning. We want to ask God to prepare our hearts for worship, to guide those leading worship in word and song and invite the Holy Spirit to minister to our church family and visitors. Please come and pray! Following the worship service you are invited to join us in Fellowship Hall. Come meet new friends and have some refreshments. We look forward to meeting you. Serving Us: Altar Rep: Barb Clark Altar Flowers: (today) Ted & Jeannie Caris(next week) Greeters: (today) (next week) Ushers: Ted Caris, Jean Morehouse(today) (next week) Compassion: Judy Clapp Keyboard: Sound System: Coffee Hosts: Rick St. Peter (today) Ted & Jeannie Caris(next week) Celebrating this week: Happy Birthday to ~ Marjorie Derks, Ann Werner (20), Mat Emerick (21), Fran Stewart (22), Garrison Frei (24) Happy Anniversary to ~ Prayer Requests ~ (Prayer requests will be printed for two weeks. The person or family requesting prayer must call the church office or Pastor Ray in order to have the request printed) Shelli Waldo - health concerns Our shut-ins: Frank Blain, Bob DeShetler, Bob Erber, Barb Lindner, Jim & Jean Morse, Marge Peets, Siria Pinnick, Don Potter, Norma Purvis, Karen Zick This Week s Calendar Sunday, January 20 9:00 a.m. Praise Group Rehearsal - sanctuary 9:40 a.m. Prayer Time - Library 10:00 a.m. Worship 11:15 a.m. Fellowship Time - Fellowship Hall SCRIP is available for purchase Monday, January 21 7:00 p.m. Trustees - Library Tuesday, January 22 - Church Office Closed 5:00 p.m. Violin Lessons - Fellowship Hall Wednesday, January 23 - Church Office Closed 6:30 p.m. Praise Group Rehearsal - sanctuary 7:30 p.m. Choir Rehearsal - Fellowship Hall Thursday, January 24 9:00 a.m. Woodshop Open 10:00 a.m. Christmas Crafters - Fellowship Hall Friday, January 25 Saturday, January 26 9:00 a.m. Woodshop Open Sunday, January 27 9:40 a.m. Prayer Time - Library 10:00 a.m. Worship 11:15 a.m. Fellowship Time - Fellowship Hall SCRIP is available for purchase

4 Our Church News Pastor Ray is preparing a series of messages to begin 2019 entitled: Discovering the Fullness of New Life. In weeks 1-6 we will explore some ways that God delivers New Life to us. This weeks the theme is Through Quiet Great thanks to all who provided food items for last weekends "Snow On the Mountain" and to all who came and partook of both the food and the Hymn Sing! Our bellies and souls were both filled! Lorene will be switching Wednesday and Thursday this week. I will be in the office on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Women s Fellowship Valentine Luncheon will be held on Thursday, February 14. A sign up sheet is located in Fellowship Hall. Menu and cost to be determined. Requested Announcements The January Series of Calvin College will be video streamed live at the Dogwood Center, from 12:30-1:30 PM. The lectures are free and open to the public. Both the Black Box and Main Stage areas will be available for seating. Attendees may bring their lunch or order a lunch for $5 by calling (231) Please give 24 hour notice if you would like a lunch. Monday, January 21 - Willie Jennings in celebration of MLK day The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race Tuesday, January 22 - Rachael Denhollander A Time to Speak: Addressing Justice and Forgiveness Wednesday, January 23 - Mary Robinson Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience & the Fight for a Sustainable Future Friends of the Library - WHO: Friends of the Fremont Area District Library WHAT: Used Book Sale WHERE: Fremont District Library Community Room WHEN: Friday, 1-25from 1:00-8:00 & Saturday, 1-26 from 9:00-1:00 WHY: To raise money to support purchases and programming at the Fremont Area District Library! Love Inc - Newaygo is in need of volunteers in the following areas: Cashiers, Sorting Room, Donation Receiving and Truck Drivers (delivery/pickup). If any of these volunteer opportunities interest you please contact Love Inc Dementia What the layman needs to know about dementia, stages of dementia, specific strategies for working with dementia, boundaries and dementia and other information. Friday, February 1, 8:00-9:30 am at the Newaygo County Commission on Aging, 93 S. Gibbs Street, White Cloud. Please RSVP to by January 25. Coffee, fruit, donuts, and other items available. Appearing in Concert - 4One Quartet Sunday, February 10, 5:30-7:00 pm at the Croton Trinity Bible Church, 8198 S Croton/Hardy Drive, Newaygo. Feed My Starving Children would like volunteers for 2 hours sometime on March 22 and 23. Meeting at True North to put together food packs which will be sent to developing countries with starving children. Learn more at FMSC.ORG/MOBILE PACK or call Linda at Community Closet of Fremont would like to say THANK YOU to all our donors and supports. No matter is you are a church or individual donor, monthly or one-time monetary donor; your kindness is overwhelming. Volunteers and donations are always welcome. For further information see the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Announcing ConGo Enjoy-Meant Events We are ConGo (Christians on the Go) and meant to go and enjoy good food and fun activities together! Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Neh. 8:10 Go and enjoy : Feb 10 Tacorama and Hymn Sing 5:30-7:00pm- A fully stocked taco bar will be provided as well as another inspiring hymn sing and of course trivia while we eat! If anyone would like to provide one of the food items for the taco bar that would be great! Looking Ahead- SATURDAY - May 18 "Congo-Que" with Professional Barbequer Mark Wescott ("Smokin' Good Time BBQ")- More details TBA but put it on your calendar!

5 "Jesus Loves Me" is a Christian hymn written by Anna Bartlett Warner ( ).[1] The lyrics first appeared as a poem in the context of an 1860 novel called Say and Seal, written by her older sister Susan Warner ( ), in which the words were spoken as a comforting poem to a dying child.[2] The tune was added in 1862 by William Batchelder Bradbury ( ). Along with his tune, Bradbury added his own chorus "Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus Loves me..."[3] After publication as a song it became one of the most popular Christian hymns in churches around the world,[4] especially among children. In 1943 in the Solomon Islands, John F. Kennedy's PT-109 was rammed and sunk. Islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana who found Kennedy and the survivors remember that when they rode on PT boats to retrieve the survivors, the Marines sang this song with the natives, who had learned it from Seventh-day Adventist missionaries. Besides her teaching, the forty-year-old Anna also wrote. With her sister Susan she had written several novels, using the pseudonym Amy Lothrop. In 1860 the sisters Say and Seal became the country s bestselling work of fiction. Written for the masses and the moment, not fueled by timeless struggles or epic writing, the book would quickly pass from the public s fancy, lost with thousands of other period pieces of the time. Yet, thanks to one very special scene on but a single page, the essence of the book and of Anna s faith would live for decades after Say and Seal and Anna herself had been forgotten. In one chapter a child lay dying. Nothing could be done to ease his pain or give him a second chance at life. As his ultimate fate grew nearer, the novel s focal character, attempted to comfort the small boy. Looking into the child s eyes, he slowly recited a poem that began, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. The very first Christian song most children learn is Jesus Loves Me. If there were a best-seller hit list among the preschoolers, this very simple but precious song would have to be at the top of the charts. Yet few people know that Jesus Loves Me began life not as a song but as a part of one of 1860 s best-selling novels. Anna Warner was well aware of the coming of the war between the states. She lived with her father and sister on Constitution Island. Their home was practically next door to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and from her front porch she constantly heard the rumors of war. Yet even in the face of uncertain times, every Sunday Anna taught Bible classes to the cadets. She realized that if the southern states made good on their threat to withdraw from the Union many of the boys she knew could be killed or wounded in the war that would follow. While it broke her heart to consider the dismal fate for those too young to have experienced the many blessings of life, she also fully comprehended the importance of leading each of them to Jesus now. With an urgency brought about by a nation on the brink of dividing, sharing Christ s love became her mission in life.

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