Sunday, October 1, 2006

Coffee Time begins at 9:15 a.m.

Sunday School at 9:30 a.m.
Worship begins at 10:30 a.m.
All are welcome!

Sunday School Adult Forum
Real People Changing the World!
Around Christmas time every year at Shell Ridge we offer opportunities for alternative gift buying through Heifer International, an organization dedicated to ending hunger and caring for the earth. In this week's Adult Forum, we have the opportunity to find out more about Heifer International, especially their microenterprise program of empowering entrepreneurship. In particular, we will be focusing on social entrepreneurs, "real people changing the world." So even if you know all about Heifer International, this will be something new and amazing to learn about!
Discussion Leader: Sandy Mitchell

Worship
World Communion Sunday
Scriptures: Esther 7:1-6; 9-10; 9:20-22; Mark 9:38-50
Prayer this weekend in preparation for worship: Help us, O God, to recognize the times in which we live and to choose to live faithfully. Grant us courage to stand with and speak for those at risk. As we are able, help us to preserve community and to experience as gift the time you entrust into our hands. Amen.
Preaching: Greg Ledbetter; Worship Leader: Jennifer Davidson; Head Usher: Micky Holmes; Communion: Karen DeWeese, Karen Duran, Dick and Lenita Shumaker; Choir: Come to Your Feast and We Come to the Table Where Bread is Broken.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Coffee Time begins at 9:15 a.m.
Sunday School begins at 9:30 a.m.
Worship begins at 10:30 a.m.
All are welcome!

Adult Forum
Who Is Great?
Focus Scripture: Mark 9:30-37
Additional Scriptures: Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
When we open our hearts and minds to the texts for today, we confront the radical nature of God's wisdom. In the surprising reversals we encounter, we hear Jesus' call to live against the grain. As people of faith, we desire intimacy with God and a place in God's sovereign realm. How can we recognize the presence and meaning of God's gift and way of wisdom?
Discussion Leader: Jodie Tooley


Sunday's Worship
16th Sunday after Pentecost
Scriptures: Psalm 1 and Mark 9:30-37
A prayer for the weekend in preparation for worship:
Thank you, God, for welcoming us into your presence and drawing us into your community. Inspire us to offer to others what we have received from your abundance, especially to those who might otherwise go unnoticed or unloved. In Jesus Christ, amen.
Preaching: Pastor Greg; Worship Leader: Jennifer Davidson; Lead Usher: Jim Eklund; Choir: We Are the Church


Words for Meditation

A New Greatness
That's your new definition of greatness . . . It means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve. . . You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in phsyics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant. --Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) "The Drum Major Instinct," sermon. Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. February 4, 1968

Who Is Great?
Jesus sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." --Mark 9:35-37

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Coffee Time begins at 9:15 a.m.
Sunday School begins at 9:30 a.m.
Worship begins at 10:30 a.m.
All are welcome!

Adult Forum
Risky Wisdom
Focus Scripture: Mark 8:27-38
Additional Scripture: Proverbs 1:20-33; Psalm 19; James 3:1-12
Turning points come when we encounter God's unconventional wisdom inviting us to risk for the gospel's sake. Jesus' disciples discover the Messiah who risks suffering for the well being of all people. Wisdom calls us to turn and follow unexpected paths. Will we venture to live by such a ricky wisdom, trusting and hoping in God's presence?
Discussion Leader: Jodie Tooley

Sunday's Worship
15th Sunday after Pentecost
Scriptures: Proverbs 1:20-33 and James 3:1-12
A prayer for the weekend in preparation for worship:
Grant us wisdom, O God -- wisdom to know that faithfulness invites, not avoids risk; wisdom to see where your path leads, when the path we prefer leads elsewhere; wisdom to know your love for us, and to recognize our call in so loving others.
Preaching: Greg Ledbetter; Worship Leader: Warren Holmes; Lead Usher: Brian Kearins; Choir: Many Gifts

Words for Meditation

Letting Go of Fear and Taking Up Risk

It is your cross to bear,” some people are told. “If you suffer, it is because you are bearing a cross like Jesus did. Deny your desire for wholeness and accept the suffering as your burden to bear. Jesus said that we had to lose our lives in order to find them. That’s why you’ve lost yours. Don’t worry. You’ll receive your reward in the life to come.” Too many suffering people in the world have heard this terrible distortion of what Jesus said – people living in poverty, violence, illness, or loss. The gospels do tell us that Jesus said, “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” But this is not a morbid, masochistic acceptance of suffering. Rather, Jesus was inviting his disciples – and note that the address here is to community, not to individuals – to take a risk by joining him in a radical choosing of God’s way of life over a more conventional and safe but life-denying way. Another way of putting it might be, “Come on people. Let go of your fear. Take a risk on God. Put your lives on the line. What good will it be if any of us preserve our lives but lose our very reasons for living? Safety won’t do us much good then. So come on. Take a risk. Follow me as I walk in God’s way of wisdom that leads to abundant life. --Seasons of the Spirit

"Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. . . For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” 1 Corinthians 1:21 & 25