The Messenger Neal Road Durham NC

Transcription

1 The Messenger 4102 Neal Road Durham NC

2 Our Church Family: James & Marti Bennett; Danny Blalock; Marian Clark; Freshwater family; Onie Jordan; Peter Klem; Penny Lore; Emma Jean Phelps; Irene Webb; Ernie Wendell; Wendell Family; our college students; preschool families and teachers Friends and Family: Jim Armstrong; Joe Bordeaux; Howell Brown III, Frank Black; Taylor Boone; Alfred Coats; Megan Condry; Dr. Sandy Dawsey; Fogle Family; Klaus Ford; Judge Carl Fox; Pam Gilbert; Ann Marie Good; Rich Goward; Aedin Gray; Ann Gunter; Marianne Hardison; Christine Hayes; Dr. Fred Heinzel; Matt Jones; Eva Elsie King; Ruth King; Luther King; Bobby Korbin; Robert Liertz; Rod Mabry; Grady McCutcheon; Donald McFarland; Cheryl Morgan Maxey; Jeff Parke; George Paulides and family; Louis Rivers; Family of Willie Sander; Melissa & Carl Shuett; Jerry Sorrow & Lynn Harris; Ralph & Betty Spicerman; Emma Staton; Jan Stutts; Family of Anna Belle Stewart, Randy Taylor; Family of Laura Turkel; Scott Turley; Diane Vasilas; Taylor Wagner; JC & Rachel Whitt; Westbrook family; the unemployed and their families; the victims of violence; travel mercies; Residents and staff at C.A. Dillon; Christian Believer Bible study group; Christians being persecuted; our armed forces and military Care Facilities: Mary Berini (Hillcrest); Cordelia Blalock (Emerald Pond); Cleo Fox (Emerald Pond), Sadie Micol (Brookshire), Mildred Neal (Croasdaile Village), Cathy Young 4102 Neal Road Durham, NC Fax: Church Office Hours: Monday-Friday: 9 am - 1 pm Sunday, January 10 8:00 am All are welcome! The 2016 Application for the "Vanessa Louise Hall Memorial Scholarship" is available to be picked up at the church office (919) or from Louise Hall (919) Blessings!!!! January Committee Meetings Preschool Board Tues, Jan 7 pm (E201) SPRC Tues, January 6:30 pm (E201) Finance Tues, January 6:30 pm (FH) Sunday Mornings 8:45 am - Worship (in Neal Chapel) 10 am - Sunday School 11:00 am - Worship (in the Sanctuary) Come and Worship! D eadline for the next newsletter, The Messenger, is Monday, January 25 9 am for all events through February. Staff Ed Priestaf, Pastor pastored@mcmannenumc.org Calvin Dickenson Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries & Outreach calvind@mcmannenumc.org Jackie Bolen Director of Children s Outreach and Ministries jackieb@mcmannenumc.org Anggie Thompson Office Administrator anggiet@mcmannenumc.org John Benton Director of Music Ministries johnb@mcmannenumc.org Floalice Reaves Organist Mission: To proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and to live it out in loving witness to whomever we meet with the purpose of changing hearts and strengthening the community of believers.

3 Friday, Jan 8 Thurs, Jan 14 Lunch and meeting at 12:00 pm. Our guest speaker is Attorney Stacey Walters who will be discussing wills, powers of attorney and health care powers of attorney. RSVP Maxie Honeycutt by Jan 4 at Museum of Durham 11:30 am 2:00 pm Lunch TBA RSVP to Anggie at Deadline 12/31 noon Primetimers Exercise at 10:30 am Monday & Wednesdays in Fellowship Hall To receive more information about a Primetimers program or to sign up for the trip, please contact Jim Lore at or Anggie in the church office Lead by Pastor Ed Tuesdays at 10 am in the Fellowship Hall Thursdays at 2:00 pm in Croasdaile Village All are welcome! Call Anggie in the church office for the address Download our calendar information: A file can be downloaded and imported into any calendar program that will let you import a commadelimited text file. Most calendaring software, like Outlook, Lotus, etc. has this feature built right in. Simply click the ICAL symbol on the calendar (bottom left corner) on our mcmannenumc.org website to download it to your hard drive. Then open your calendar software and import it. Please always refer to the calendar on the McMannen website for the most up-todate information. McMannen Preschool is participating in the Labels for Education program again, this year. We are trying to collect enough labels to purchase a second butterfly garden by the spring so we can watch the caterpillars turn into chrysalises, emerge as butterflies and then release them into the community. Each butterfly garden is 1,500 points, so we really need your help. Labels can be dropped off in the big red box outside of the church office or in Jackie's mailbox.

4 Happy New Year from your McMannen United Methodist Church family! I hope and pray that these days are filled with love and joy. At the risk of invoking a cliché, the New Year has become a time when many people in our culture make resolutions to do something different in the months to come. I would guess that the huge majority of resolutions involve diet, exercise, or relationships, but other resolutions are scattered about as well. One of those resolutions in the not-aspopular category is reading the Bible or attending church more often. We at McMannen fully support such resolutions (and we re all for healthier living with diet and exercise, too!), and so today, I d like to reflect on Bible reading and what it teaches us. Have you ever thought about what kinds of reading material are found in the Bible? There are stories, like those describing how the world came to be (Genesis 1), and like those recounting Jesus miracles (John 2), and like those describing the spread of the early church (Acts 4). There are speeches, oracles, and sermons, like Peter s sermon on Pentecost (Acts 2), and like Isaiah s prophetic warning to Israel (Isaiah 1). There are poems, like Psalm 23, and hymns, like the Christ hymn of the early church in Philippians 2. There are laws, like the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), and wise musings (like in Proverbs 3). There are teaching moments, too, of the directive kind, (like Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 6), and like Jesus parables (Matthew 17:20). I would like to explore parables for a few moments here. Parables were used by other teachers in the ancient world. Here s one that I had never heard of from Seneca, sometime between 4 B.C. and 65 A.D.: And so there is no reason for you to think that any man has lived long because he has grey hairs or wrinkles; he has not lived long he has existed long. For what if you should think that that man had had a long voyage who had been caught by a fierce storm as soon as he left harbor, and, swept hither and thither by a succession of winds that raged from different quarters, had been driven in a circle around the same course? Not much voyaging did he have, but much tossing about. (De Brevitate Vitae 7.10) Jesus wasn t the first to use parables, but he masterfully employed them and they were a centerpiece of his ministry. In a parable, the speaker makes up a story about the visible world in order to teach a lesson, something less easily grasped. For example, when Jesus shares the parable of the Good Samaritan, (he is not recounting in newspaper-journalistic detail a recent event; he has made up the story with imagery that will convey his greater point (in the Good Samaritan, Jesus is illuminating an answer to the question, Who is my neighbor? ). Jesus could have answered the who is my neighbor question by saying everybody or that woman over there, but the parable is infinitely more rich, truthful, and effective in conveying Jesus truth. Jesus imagined and told stories as a gift to aid our learning about God s kingdom and eternal life. I wonder what God would teach us if we applied our imaginations to a parable-starting scenario. I invite you to participate with me in a spiritual exercise, one that perhaps would increase our faith or illumine our spiritual lives together. Think up a parable, an imagined story, using one of the following storystarters. See if the story could illustrate a spiritual truth that you hold dear, in a way that an ordinary fact or idiom couldn t accomplish. How can I describe the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is like a woman who is driving her car to an unfamiliar destination. She has been following her GPS, but suddenly, with a few miles left to go, the GPS stops working and she finds herself in an unfamiliar neighborhood, with no idea how to get where she is going.... (how does the parable about God s kingdom continue on from here?) To what can we compare the church as the body of Christ? While serving a meal at the Urban Ministries shelter, a church-member who is serving greets and asks a person in line his name. He responds that he is Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, apostle of Jesus and founder of the churches in Philippi, Corinth, Galatia and Thessalonica, divinely sent by Christ into the present day to share a special message with the people of McMannen and the people of Durham... (how does the parable about the church as the body of Christ continue from here?) How can we understand the Holy Spirit s power? The Holy Spirit s power is like a young girl in middle school. She is being bullied by an eighth grader. She tried telling her teacher, but nothing has yet changed, and the bullying is getting worse. One day... (how does the parable about the Holy Spirit continue from here?) Perhaps you can have some fun with your coworkers, family, or Sunday school class and share one of the examples above. Or, send us the written parable you come up with, and we ll share them with the congregation and continue the conversation! God has given us the gift of imagination, but more importantly, God has given us you! God has also given us one another, to encourage one another in the faith, to pray for one another, to care for one another, to love one another. May you be aware that God is with you in this new year, leading, guiding, correcting and forgiving us each and every day. God bless you! Pastor Ed

5 Visit our website to pay tuition or donate to the scholarship fund online! Mcmannenumc.org Spaces available in all classes. See Jackie for applications for need-based scholarships. SALE!!! We still have plenty of stew and BBQ left over Stew $7.00 per quart BBQ $12 for 2 pounds Contact John Benton, Director of Music if you are interested in joining the choir. Pastor Ed will be visiting family from December 26-January 2. Rev. Calvin Dickenson will be handling pastoral emergencies ( ). Practices Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm