ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES

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1 Warsaw International Church Sunday News: 26 August, 2012 THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST Tel (evenings); Mobile: , WORSHIP at 11:00 every Sunday (Worship at ul. Miodowa 21, near Old Town) ; Website: 67 So he asked the twelve disciples, And you would you also like to leave? 68 Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God. John 6: Image copyright STOJOWSKI ON THE AIR ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES Classical music radio station WFMT in Chicago presents a two-hour documentary entitled, A Romantic Master Rediscovered: Zygmunt Stojowski, on Sunday afternoon, August 26, at 4:00-6:00 p.m. [Central Daylight Time]. Produced by Jon Tolansky, the program features the music of this Post romantic composer. Tolansky holds interviews with Stojowski's two sons, Alfred and Henry, both in their nineties. Conversations with British pianist Jonathan Plowright, Polish conductor Łukasz Borowicz, and Polish-American Stojowski scholar, Joseph Herter, are also part of the program. WFMT, found at 98.7, has live streaming for their classical music concerts, enabling the program to be heard live around the world. Since there is a seven-hour difference in time between Chicago and Warsaw, Polish listeners will have to tune-in to their computers at eleven o'clock in the evening. The station's website is found at: Stojowski - not to be confused with the conductor Stokowski - was born in Poland where he studied with Władysław Zeleński in Cracow. Further studies took him to Paris where his teachers included Léo Delibes, Théodore Dubois, Louis Diémer, and after graduation from the Conservatoire national, Ignacy Jan Paderewski. In 1905, Stojowski relocated to New York, where he became a highly acclaimed and sought after piano pedagogue. At first a founding faculty member of the Institute of Musical Art, Stojowski later opened his own teaching studio. To mention only a few of his more famous students, the cavalcade of stars include conductor Antonia Brico, pianist Shura Cherkassy, film composer Alfred Newman,

2 composer/pianist/entertainer Oscar Levant as well as pianists Arthur Loesser, Mischa Levitzki and Alexander Brachocki. The Polish artist spent the last 41 years of his life in the USA where he died in Until recently, his compositions remained forgotten and unperformed. As this Stojowski documentary aims to show, though, Stojowski left a treasure trove of beautiful works that deserve to be frequently heard. [Joseph A. Herter joseph@warszawa.sky.pl tel: (48) ] Prayers. Please pray for all who are travelling to or from work/home this August and for children who have resumed school. Helping to make this Sunday a fine one for our worship: Worship Leader: Young Osawaru Hospitality: do Ngoc DUC Readers: Marilyn Dypczynski, Stanisław Karczmarek Music: Wojtek Wojtasiewicz Readings for 26 August, 2012 (Pentecost 13): Joshua 24: 1 2a, 14 18; Ephesians 6: 10 20; Psalm 34: and John 6: The hard saying that offends Jesus disciples is his claim that his followers must eat flesh and drink his blood. The followers who return to their old lives know something about how odd it sounds. Simon Peter, on the other hand, knows something about scarcity of living, gracious words. He asks the most important question: To whom shall we go! The Target Prayer group meets every last Sunday of the month just after worship. Our next meeting is this Sunday August 26. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED We are in need of readers, ushers, and coffee time hosts for the months of August and September. The sign up sheet is on the table by the entrance to the sanctuary. OUTREACH CORNER WIC works in cooperation with a number of orphanages in Poland aiding in English teaching, financially and in fellowship. There is also a clothes drive which helps supply aid to different social services in the region. If you would like to make any material donation, or contribute your own time to help, please contact Young Osawaru. Clothes Drive. If you are cleaning up and would like to donate things you don t need to the needy in the institutions we are supporting, please bring the items to church or contact Young ( ) to arrange a pick-up.

3 The Gospel Reading from last Sunday, 19 August (Good News Bible) Gospel reading John 6: JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. The bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live. 52 This started and angry argument among them. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? they asked. 53 Jesus said to them, I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. 55 For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57 The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate. They later died, but those who eat this bread will live for ever. NOTES FROM LAST WEEK S SERMON THE BREAD OF FLESH AND BLOOD BY YOUNG OSAWARU 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. 55 For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. This Sunday we continue on Jesus teachings on the Bread of life which he gave in Capernaum to the people who d come to him after he had fed the crowd of over 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fish. Today Christ connects the bread that he offers with his flesh and blood for he says: The bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live. There is some controversy on this passage, or even on the whole discourse in John 6 about bread. If we listen or read other sermons on this subject they either emphasize the offering of flesh (or maybe body) and blood on the cross or the Holy Communion which is performed in bread and wine as a remembrance of the blood that was shed on the cross. Both points of view are correct because our salvation would be impossible without the sacrificial act on the cross and the remembrance at his table is a commandment handed down at the Last Supper. But then what had triggered this discourse from Jesus Christ in John 6? First of all after being fed with the five loaves of bread and two fish the people searched for him because they wanted more bread. Secondly, on his telling them he was the bread of life they had asked for a sign and cited the manna that Moses had given to their forefathers. So in what we have been reading for the past three weeks Jesus wants to put the issue of bread from manna and living bread in the right perspective. First and foremost what bread are we talking about? The first is the issue of substance. Those who ate the manna took something that had little substance just enough to fill the stomach. Jesus is

4 saying I am the substance that fills the whole body. Not only the body, but the soul that is not seen. Manna came from heaven as a result of complaining. It came as God s reply to people who had wanted to go back to slavery because they d lost hope. Jesus Christ gives bread as the only Son of God to those who draw close to him in faith, in belief and in hope. Manna fell from heaven to all, but Jesus gives bread on a one to one basis as friend, as Lord, Savior and with the love that comes from God as his Son. as the Son of God. The people had to wait till morning for manna for they were already hungry and even later they died and never reached the promised land. The bread of Jesus is available now, at all times and whoever receives it will live now, be raised on the last day and shall have life eternal with him in heaven. We can therefore see that the emphasis is not on what is received by complaining; that this common and short-lived, but on that which is given with the purpose of saving, fills the body and soul and improves the quality of life now and will last for ever. That is why when they found him he had said to them: you have come because you ate the bread and had what you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. In union with Jesus, the flesh fills flesh spiritually in strengthening it for the journey here on earth and the blood cleans blood of the desires of human nature. So the teaching of bread as flesh and blood is less about the sacrifice on the cross and the Eucharist and more about us. Or specifically how much of Christ is in us taken everywhere we go and in everything we do and not in one place. The much of Christ comes, as he said earlier, in the understanding of his teachings and miracles and not coming to him to ask for bread that doesn t fill the whole body. The sacrifice and Eucharist take a greater meaning in us when we have understood the living bread. The search for Christ in order to understand his teachings is wisdom. As we read in the Old Testament reading from Proverbs wisdom has built a house and carved out seven pillars in it. The seven pillars can be referred to as the seven sciences to freedom or seven heavenly bodies, but in James 3 we read of the seven attributes of wisdom from above as pure first of all; it is also peaceful, gentle and friendly; full of compassion and produces a harvest of good deeds; free from prejudice and hypocrisy. We shall be reading the whole book of James as our New Testament reading in the coming weeks. In the Old Testament reading wisdom provided a table of meat and wine with mixed spices food for the heart and soul, but our Lord Jesus says the bread I give is my own flesh and blood not an animal that has been killed and put on the table. In John 6 the people had come seeking bread to be filled once more after the miracle of feeding the five thousand, but Jesus offered himself to them. They had mentioned the manna that Moses had provided, but Jesus corrected this by saying it is God that provided and still provides today. The manna was temporary and without much substance, but we have him that

5 is living and can fill the body and soul with his flesh and blood if we could only believe and draw close to him. Manna is picked from the ground, but our Christ is received when we look upwards in faith towards heaven. So as he said then to the crowd that had come, he still says today that the wise choice is to come to him seeking the bread that leads to life eternal. For the bread of life has content, it brings peace and contentment, heals the sick and is the source of hope in hopeless situations. It also lets us notice and appreciate the miracles he does every day and not to ask him to give us a sign so that we can believe. The rule is to first believe in him as the Son sent by the Father, then every other thing falls into place because there are so many things and issues beyond our strength. For us teachers and the church in general Jesus calls us to consider whether we have the seven pillars in place so that the wisdom from above is available for all who are seeking him. Can the life-giving flesh and cleansing blood be found in his sanctuary? Have we made the people to sit down so that they can receive it? We are imperfect humans and no one can be completely filled with the flesh and blood for then he will be Christ himself. The church also falters and sometimes there is grumbling everywhere. But we all can always come in prayer, read the scriptures and open our hearts to the Holy Spirit to guide us to this understanding Christ, his teachings and the miracles happening every day. In understanding do we find peace, humility and most importantly the love of God. In knowing God we do also know ourselves and love what he created. The good thing is that when Christ is found the temporary bread is also added. Whether anyone in this world likes it or not contact with Christ is inevitable for he has been made Lord of all the universe. Seeking to know him therefore is wisdom. I pray therefore that the Lord in his mercy lead us always by hand as we worship him and open our hearts to understand the numerous gifts he offers leading to life eternal. Amen. Christian Calendar [Courtesy of Sundays and Seasons (Augsburg Fortress)] Tuesday, August 28 Augustine, Bishop of Hippo ( ) Augustine was one of the greatest theologians of the Western church. Born in North Africa, he was a philosophy student in Carthage, where he later became a teacher of rhetoric. Much of his young life was a debauched one. As an adult he came under the influence of Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, and through him came to see Christianity as a religion appropriate for a philosopher. Augustine was baptized by Ambrose at the Easter Vigil in 387. He was ordained four years later and made bishop of Hippo in 396. Augustine was a defender of the Christian faith and argued, against the Donatists, that the holiness of the church did not depend on the holiness of its members, particularly the clergy, but that holiness comes from Christ, the head

6 of the church. Augustine s autobiography, Confessions, tells of his slow move toward faith and includes the line Late have I loved thee Moses the Black, monk, martyr ( ) A man of great strength and rough character, Moses the Black was converted to Christian faith toward the close of the fourth century. Prior o his conversion he had been a thief and a leader of a gang of robbers. The story of his conversion is unknown, but eventually he became a desert monk at Skete. The habit of his monastic community was white, though Moses is reported to have said, God knows I am black within. The change of his heart and life had a profound impact on his native Ethiopia. He was murdered when Berbers attacked his monastery.