You’ve studied, practiced, trained, or rehearsed for hours. You’ve done the best you can do under the circumstances, but there’s always somebody that does better—likely several somebodies. You didn’t get 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place. You didn’t even get honorable mention. But hey, here’s a participation trophy.
This coming Sunday, we are confronted with a very alarming parable. I call this parable alarming to forgive. Sometimes, in order to understand what something is, it is beneficial to examine what it isn't. This Sunday, we will explore forgiveness—what it isn't and what it is—and how we can ultimately forgive and the results of forgiveness.
This week, there will be only one service at 10:00 A.M. as we celebrate Rally Day. The sermon title is: "Would You Like to See the Church?" Only Matthew records the story of Jesus's most poignant questions: "Who do people say that I am?" and "Who do you say that I am?" As we ponder these questions, we will look at what it means to be the church. A lunch will follow the worship celebration.
Hate has reared its ugly head. Hate speech swirls around us. In times like this, we need a place to turn for love and peace. We turn to the One who is love incarnate, Jesus. But what do we do when we turn to the Gospels and hear what appears to be hate speech from the mouth of Jesus? This Sunday we will confront this hate speech as voiced by Jesus.
Both Matthew and Mark record the story of Jesus calming the storm, with very different details and very different endings, but they both agree on one important fact, Jesus ordered his disciples into the boat. Surely Jesus knew a storm was approaching! What do we do when Jesus orders us to head directly toward a storm? What storms is Jesus asking the church to face head on?
This week, we once again visit the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. This is the only miracle that appears in all four Gospels. We will take a closer look at why it was so important to have the massive crowd sit, especially in groups of 50 and 100.
In the past several months, members of SUMC have gone on mission trips to Honduras and Red Bird and attended Creation Fest. This Sunday, hear tales of these experiences and other ministries as we share how we are Growing the Church Through Nurture, Outreach, and Witness.
This week we turn to our Old Testament lectionary text found in Genesis. We will revisit the ancient story of Esau and Jacob, a story of lies, deception, escape, and the threat of fratricide. We will discover how God works in the midst of such family dysfunction and how Jacob’s story is our story.
This Sunday, we will be dealing with a series of questions…
We will spend some time examining each question in relation to Paul’s letter to the Romans as Paul struggles with how he sees himself, as well as our Gospel reading from Matthew, where we find Jesus offering a comforting, but also challenging, invitation: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Anointing with oil will be offered at both services.
This Sunday we will celebrate freedom: the freedom of being citizens of these great United States. More importantly, we will celebrate another kind of freedom, a freedom gifted to each of us over 2,000 years ago through the Christ event. We will also explore the freedom God gives each of us as to how we will respond to the freedom from sin through grace afforded to each of us.
Language of some type is essential in communicating. Sometimes communication is difficult when we don't speak the same language. On Sunday, June 4, as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, we will learn God's language; a language that everyone can understand.
This Sunday we will also celebrate our graduates at both services, as well as offering a blessing upon our Red Bird Mission Team and the Honduras Mission team.
This Memorial Day Weekend, the sermon title is Replacing A Fallen Comrade. Our sermon text comes from the Book of Acts where we find the disciples and others going about the work of the church as they strive to replace Judas. What is the main characteristic they are looking for in his replacement? What is the most important characteristic in those who lead the church today?
We find some of those essential characteristics in the men and women who are serving (and who have served) in the military. This Sunday offers us the blessing of recognizing those who are serving, and those who have served, our great nation.
This Sunday, we will explore the importance of names. Our identity is found in our name. As we celebrate all women this Mother's Day, we look at the importance of the name "Mom." More importantly, we ask the imperative question, "What does the name Jesus mean to you?”
We celebrate Holy Eucharist at both the contemporary service and the traditional service.
Five of our young people will be confirmed at the 11:00 am traditional service.
Some think he is a prophet.
Some think he is demon-possessed.
Everyone has been talking about him.
What is he going to say this time?
Whereas most weeks, both of our services are built around the same theme and message, we're mixing things up this Sunday.
The contemporary service will look at the question: ‘Why do people go to church?’ We will also explore why people do not go to church. As we revisit the two disciples as they trudge their way to Emmaus, we will uncover the two main reasons people no longer find the church relevant and what we can do about it.
The traditional service will celebrate Heritage Sunday. We will have an opportunity to celebrate our diversity and our uniqueness, while simultaneously celebrating all that we have in common that makes us brothers and sisters in Christ.
Memorials pop up along the highways that mark tragic events. The memorials are erected to remember lives lost. This Easter Sunday, we will look at Easter through the eyes of Jesus’ mother Mary. Erecting memorials were important to Mary’s people. They had a history of marking places in order to remember. Did Mary ever consider making a memorial to remember her son? There is but one memorial needed as we celebrate the living Christ. I invite you to come as we explore what that memorial is.
Are you one who always follows the laws and rules? Is there ever a time to break the laws and rules in order to be Christ like? Come and hear what Jesus says about rules.
Have you ever found yourself moaning and groaning, grumbling and complaining, maybe even wondering when life throws you a curve ball… ‘Is God with me or not?’ If you have, you are not alone. Come this Sunday as we explore what it is we expect from God and what God has to say about those expectations.
