WELCOME TO GERMANTOWN MENNONITE CHURCH

Transcription

1 February 5, 2017

2 Welcome Prelude WELCOME TO GERMANTOWN MENNONITE CHURCH February 5, 2017 GATHERING Michelle Brix John Bergen *Call to Worship (gratitude to Jan Richardson) All: So may we know the hope that is not just for someday but for this day One: here, now, in this moment that opens to us: All: hope not made of wishes but of substance, hope that has breath and a beating heart, One: hope that will not keep quiet and be polite, All: hope that knows how to holler when it is called for, hope that knows how to sing when there seems little cause, hope that raises us from the dead-- not someday but this day, One: every day, All: again and again and again. PRAISING *Congregational Singing John Linscheid HWB 59 Sing praise to God (verses 1,2,4) *Passing the Peace Please offer a sign of peace to your neighbors and welcome them to our time together. Introduction of Guests CONFESSING Confession (gratitude to Wendell Berry) When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood ducks rest in their beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. Silence Words of Assurance I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

3 I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. Congregational Singing STS 45 Calm me, Lord OFFERING Introduction of Special Offering Dottie Baumgarten Offering Please come forward as you are able to offer your gifts to God. Our special offering this month will provide environmental education training to returning citizens coming out of prison. Food offering for Germantown Avenue Crisis Ministry may be placed in the baskets on the floor. Offertory Prayer PROCLAIMING John Bergen Children's Time Meg Laakso Congregational Singing STJ 68 O hear, my people Children under the age of five are welcome to go downstairs for nursery. Children over five are welcome to play quietly upstairs or join others in worship. Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:13-20 Beth Sutter Scripture Reading: Isaiah 58:1-12 Sermon Choose Your Fast Amy Yoder McGloughlin "Scripture Alive in Philly History" Dave Krueger SHARING Communion We take communion by intinction (dipping the bread in the cup). If you wish to participate, please come forward as you are able or have someone near you notify the servers that you need the elements brought to you. For children and those who wish an alternative, a Grape Circle is also offered. Communion Hymn HWB 464 Let the hungry come to me (feel free to substitute "sibling" for "brother" in verses 4&5) Sharing All are welcome to reflect on the service and to bring joys, struggles, and other prayer concerns before God and our church community. Please wait until an usher brings you a microphone, state your name, joy or petition, and conclude with God of Grace and all may respond Hear our prayer. Prayer Announcements SENDING

4 *Congregational Singing STS 57 Go, my friends, in grace *Benediction *please stand as you are able Following the worship service, all are invited to stay for fellowship and light refreshments. Today s Trustee is Charlie McGloughlin Today s Greeters are Dan Sigmans & Emily Derstine Friesen Today s Hospitality Host is Michael Brix Today s Rug Supervisor is Katie Brown Nursery is provide by Gina Burkholder & Grace Burkholder Matthew 5:13-20 You are the salt of the earth. But what if salt were to lose its flavor? How could you restore it? It would be fit for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. You don t build a city on a hill, then try to hide it, do you? You don t light a lamp, then put it under a bushel basket, do you? No, you set it on a stand where it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, your light must shine before others so that they may see your good acts and give praise to your Abba God in heaven. Don t think I've come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. The truth is, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter of the Law, not even the smallest part of a letter, will be done away with until it is all fulfilled. That s why whoever breaks the least significant of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the kindom of heaven. whoever fulfills and teaches these commands will be called great in the kindom of heaven. I tell you, unless your sense of justice surpasses that of the religious scholars and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kindom of heaven. Isaiah 58:1-12 Shout for all you are worth, raise your voice like a trumpet! Proclaim to the people their faults, tell the house of Leah and Rachel and Jacob their sins! They seek me daily, they long to know my ways, like a nation that wants to act with integrity and not ignore the Law of its God. They ask me for laws that are just, they long for God to draw near. Yet they say, why should we fast if you never see it? Why do penance if you never notice? Because when you fast, it s business as usual, and you oppress all your workers! Because when you fast, you quarrel and fight and strike the poor with your fist! Fasting like yours today will never make your voice heard on high! Is that the sort of fast that pleases me a day when people humiliate themselves, hanging their heads like a reed, lying down on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call fasting, a day acceptable to God? On the contrary! This is the sort of fast that pleases me: Remove the chains of injustice! Undo the ropes of the yoke! Let those who are oppressed go free, And break every yoke you encounter! Share your bread with those who are hungry, and shelter homeless poor people! Clothe those who are naked, and don t hide from the needs of your own flesh and blood! Do this, and your light will shine like the dawn and your healing will break forth like lightning! Your integrity will go before you, and the Glory of YHWH will be your rearguard. Cry, and God will answer; call, and God will say, I am here provided you remove from your midst all oppression, finger pointing, and malicious talk! 10 If you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your shadows will become like noon. God will always guide you, giving relief in desert places. God will give strength to your bones and you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never run dry. You will rebuild the ancient ruins, and build upon age-old foundations. You will be called Repairer of broken walls, and Restorer of Ruined neighborhoods.

5 Prayers For Peacemakers In these dark times when hatred and racism are on the rise around the world, we invite you to build bridges to bring us closer to each other and to overthrow the walls that divide us by our faith, our race, our gender, and our migration status. Let us pray that each of us can overcome the walls that separate us. Let us embrace our sisters and brothers of Muslim, Yezidi and other diverse identities, faiths and origin. Let us welcome all those who have had to leave their homes due to war. Let us pray for the hearts and minds of those who insist on dividing us to open wide. Prayers For Our City Someone in our city killed Troy DeLoatch. Soon after, someone killed Thomas Cherry. All around our city today there are people in the pews of churches grieving for these and other victims of murder. Let us pray today as if these people or their families attended Germantown Mennonite Church. Let us also pray for those who committed these murders. Candle Burning On the Stage Today we remember Terry Edwards, child of God. Terry was executed last week in Texas for the murders of Mickell Goodwin and Tommy Walker, in Today we remember Mark Christeson, child of God. Mark was executed last week in Missouri for the murders of Susan Bourk, Adrian Bourk, and Kyle Bourk, in We remember with our prayers and with the candle lit on the stage Terry, Mickell, Tommy, Mark, Susan, Adrian, Kyle, and all who loved them. Congregational Announcements We Need Your Beautiful Faces! As you may have noticed, the bulletin board downstairs is in a sad state. We d like to restore it to its former glory with new, updated photos of all of you! This time round, the plan is to have all the photos printed via an online photo service so they look a little more professional, which means there is a hard deadline of March 7 to submit your photo to the office! We re also working on getting a photographer to take photos after church again and will have more information about that in the next week or so. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has already submitted photos for the directory/bulletin board. Your work here is done.

6 There are new mailboxes outside the church office door! If you have any mail-like objects that need to get to Amy, John, the Office (if it s for someone other than Michelle, please make a note!) or the folks at Yes! And Collaborative Arts, please deposit them tin the appropriately labeled pocket and they will get to where they need to go. The next Germantown Mennonite Mom group will meet at Kathleen Fredericks' house on Saturday, February 25 at 7:00pm (thanks for opening your home to us, Kathleen!). The address is 6341 Greene Street - very close to church! If you want to bring something, light snacks/desserts are welcome. Please RSVP to Jennifer Brinkmeier (jbrinkm@hotmail.com). Thanks! Please join Kid s Club for Ice-skating at Simons Recreation Center on Saturday February 11th, from 2:30-4:30 pm. Sorry about the change in time, they have to work with the hours the rink is open. Skating is free, skate rentals are $3.00 per child, and there will be snacks provided. The address is 7200 Woolston Avenue, near Martin Luther King HS. All kids in grades K-4 are welcome, and younger kids are welcome with an adult. Please RSVP to Kellie Wicklund. Our special offering for February is the first in our Learning and Giving Theme of environmental justice. It is a joint collaboration between Dottie Baumgarten and William Goldsby of Restoration, Inc. (our December Special Offering recipient). They will provide environmental education for returning citizens which may lead to job training for the returning citizens. These young people will receive a stipend for their participation in the course. Adult Sunday school on February Special Offering: Join us next Sunday, February 12th, for an Adult Sunday School session with Dottie Baumgarten and William Goldsby, from Reconstruction, Inc., our Special Offering from December. They will share about their upcoming environmental education training to returning citizens coming out of prison who are a part of Reconstruction's programs. This training will be a part of Reconstruction's job training and community-building initiatives. The Special Offering collected from GMC in February will pay the leaders from Restoration to receive the training, and possibly set them up to deliver the training to others. Looking for a meaningful way to participate in congregational life? Currently, our only regular nursery volunteers are parents of nursery-aged children and several of our most eager and helpful middle and high schoolers. While we re really grateful for their continued effort to make sure the nursery always has two responsible people looking out for the little ones, it would be great to have some nonparent/youth volunteers as well! This is an opportunity to engage with the youngest members of our congregations, many of whom are quite cool and have interesting things to tell you about sharks and dinosaurs. If you d be willing to add your name to the nursery rotation once or twice a quarter, please contact Michelle (office@germantownmennonite.org) and let her know! We are excited to announce our Summer 2017 Youth Trips! John Bergen sent a flyer with more information, including payment, age limitations, and a link to register, through the google group. Please contact him (john@germantownmennonite.org) if you did not receive the . There will be an Informational Meeting for families on March 12th during Sunday school. You must sign up by April 1st to participate in either trip (there are two!). To register: Treasurer's report for January 2017 January regular offering: $12,707 Special offering: $622 (Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice) Total 2017 income: $16,232 / 2017 budgeted income year-to-date: $17,333 Total 2017 expenses $16,309 / Net Income year-to-date: -$77

7 COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS Ken Reed, author of the new historical novel, Both My Sons, will be at the Mennonite Heritage Center, 565 Yoder Road, Harleysville on Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 2 pm. Reed will be performing a 15-minute dramatic monologue based on the main character of his new historical novel and speaking about the challengers of writing historical fiction. Admission is free. For more info, see or call

8 Germantown Mennonite Church 21 West Washington Lane Philadelphia, PA (215) Congregational Leadership Amy Yoder McGloughlin, Pastor John Bergen, Associate Pastor Rebecca Thut-Witmer, Vision Team Chair Duane Hershberger, Vision Team Member Russ Mast, Vision Team Member Douglas Brunk, Congregational Chair Michelle Bruhn, Office Manager February 12, 2017 Worship Leader: Emily Derstine Friesen Speaker: John Bergen Song Leader: Teri Gemberling-Johnson Prelude/Offertory: Charlie McGloughlin Children s Time: Ken Roberts Trustee: Phil Baumgarten Hospitality: Caitlin VanderWindt Nursery: Grace Burkholder Rug Duty: Wanda Kraybill Greeters: Trish Murzyn & Reba McGloughlin WORSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES February 19, 2017 Worship Leader: Melissa Berkey-Gerard Speaker: Amy Yoder McGloughlin Song Leader: John Bergen Prelude/Offertory: Aikins-Hill Family Children s Time: Jude Smithey Trustee: Joe Murzyn Hospitality: Grace Marie Gerber Nursery: Jude Smithey Rug Duty: Michelle Bruhn Greeters: Susan Barholomew & Anna Hoover LOOKING AHEAD Jan 15-Feb 19: Feb 23: Feb 25: Mar 23: Mar 2-5: Mar 4: Apr 27: Apr 30: May 7: May 25: New Attenders Class during Sunday School Book Group, 7:30pm at GMC GMC Moms Group, 7pm at Kathleen Fredricks home Book Group, 7:30pm at GMC Winter Sort of Thing at Venice Island Performing Arts Center in Manyunk West Philly Potluck at the Gerber/Krueger home Book Group, 7:30pm at GMC OWL informational meeting for parents, following worship OWL informational meeting for parents, following worship Book Group, 7:30pm at GMC Our congregation adopted a child protection policy in 2014, designed to create a culture of sanctuary and openness for all of us. Our policy states the following: All interactions between young people and adults must be visible to others and young people between 5-12 must use a buddy system." The responsibility of child protection is on all of us. If you have any concerns about safety, you can reach out to Karla Hernandez-Thut (karlathut@gmail.com, ); or John Bergen (john@germantownmennonite.org, ). A copy of the policy is available outside the church office.