The sound of a voice can invoke a variety of emotional responses, from a sense of deep love, trust, peace and comfort to fear, anxiety, confusion, and even anger. What did the voice of Jesus sound like?
This Sunday, January 14, we will begin a two-part series titled “Listening With the Heart.” We will explore several questions over the next two Sundays:
- Does God still speak to today’s church?
- Is there a difference in hearing and listening?
- How do we equip ourselves to listen for the voice of God?
- How do we know it is God’s voice and not our own?
- Are we bold enough to respond to God when the word we hear God speaking is difficult?
These are just some of the questions we will answer as we reexamine Samuel’s call in 1 Samuel 3: 1-20. I invite you in preparation for this mini-series to reread this familiar text and intentionally listen for the voice of God.
Sunday, December 24th
5:00 Contemporary service led by Leap of Faith
7:30 Traditional service with the Chancel Choir, Clocktower Ringers, brass ensemble, and organist Matt McTeague
A single, combined worship service will be held on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve at 10:00 am.
How will we be judged? Will we be judged on the ‘bad’ things we do, or is it the ‘good’ things we fail to do?
Are you one that is always prepared, or are you a procrastinator? Jesus tells about the necessity of always needing to be prepared through the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids. What does preparation look like through the eyes of Jesus?
As we celebrate All Saints Sunday this week, we will celebrate 16 of God’s saints who have died in the last year. We will look at Matthew’s account of The Sermon On The Mount. Blessed are they who… Modern translations use the word “happy” instead of “blessed.” The sermon title is ‘Happy Are Those Who Mourn?’ We will examine how Christians can use happy and mourn in the same sentence!
If only, what if, I should have, I shouldn’t have… these are some of the saddest words heard at the end of one’s life. What changes must you make so life’s journey, even with all of its twists, turns, and detours, is a life well lived?
Once again, we woke up to the tragic news of yet another mass shooting, the worst in American history. Our faith in a loving, caring God can be threatened when faced with tragedy. This Sunday’s sermon is titled “Hanging On To Our Faith!” Is it enough to just hang on, or does God expect more from us who claim to be followers of the Christ?
What do you think? It is a question we are often asked. Our responses often reveal that we are not of like mind on many issues, including theology. In the parable for this Sunday, Jesus asked the religious elite "What do you think?" He asks us today that very question, "What do you think?" We explore 'what we think' when it comes to our salvation.
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…
- How do others see us?
- How do we see ourselves?
- Does the way others see us color the way we see ourselves?
- How does Jesus see us?
- How do we see others?
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.