Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection eNote with Pastor Adam Hamilton for Friday, 5 September 2014
Dear Resurrection Family,
Do you ever "pray the scriptures"? This is a way of reading the Bible and allowing it to form you. This is what I do almost daily as I'm reading scripture. Whatever I've just read, I restate in the form of a prayer. For instance, I woke up this morning with our scripture memory verses on my mind. So I prayed, "Lord, today, help me to let no evil talk come out of my mouth, but only what is useful for building others up, as they have need, so that my words may give grace to all who hear." When I pray something I focus my heart upon desiring what I've prayed. The passage we've been memorizing from the Psalms is already a prayer, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." You can do this with much of the Bible as you read it, and if you are reading a longer passage, pick out some part of the passage or a key idea to pray.
This weekend is the final sermon in our series on The Power of Words. The title of the sermon is, "In the Beginning was the Word." We'll start by unpacking the meaning of the Third Commandment, commonly quoted as, "Thou shall not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain." This commandment is about more than swearing. We'll then look at the words we say to ourselves - the self-talk or old tapes that play in our head. One woman wrote me this week noting that she says to herself, "You are fat and ugly," and sometimes, "I don't want to live anymore." Finally, we'll consider the power of God's words to us, and why it is that John chose to call Jesus, "the Word." Bring a friend; it will be an important weekend in worship!
This Thursday is September 11 and once again there will be a brief time of gathering at the September 11 Memorial at the Overland Park Fire Training Center. There have been several new additions to the memorial this year. As a congregation you helped with the initial funding for the memorial. I will be there a few minutes before 7 am this Thursday and hope some of you will join me there at 12401 Hemlock.
I'm excited about the upcoming Sacred Steps 5K Run/Walk and Kid's Fun Run on Saturday, September 20 at 8 am. I love the fellowship, the fun and the chance to join over 1,000 others in raising money for clean water wells in Africa. You can sign up here.
On September 24-26, Wednesday-Friday, we will host our 16th annual Leadership Institute. We'll have over 2,000 participants from across the country and around the world who gather here to be encouraged, inspired and equipped to lead their churches to greater health and vitality. We'll challenge each of these churches to touch 10,000 people through their mission and ministry in their local community around the world. We'll give them ideas for how to do this in any size church. But here's what I need you to know: We need volunteers to help make the Leadership Institute possible - serving, ushering, hosts, guides. Can you help? Click on this link and be a part of the 2014 LI team! Here is the link to sign up.
This weekend Saint Paul School of Theology faculty will read scripture in service as their school year kicks off at our Resurrection Leawood campus. Enrollment and giving are up at the seminary and there are a lot of terrific things happening there this fall. We'll also invite you to pray for a particular student throughout the school year and to find ways to encourage and bless them. We have a number of Resurrection members who are taking classes at Saint Paul. There are 139 studentsenrolled in Saint Paul School of Theology this fall, up 15% over the same time last year. You might be interested in taking a seminary course, or know someone who is thinking about going to seminary. On October 7 they will host an Explore Saint Paul day where you can sit in on a class and meet with students. Here's the website if you'd like more information:www.spst.edu.
On the building front, the Building Committee met this week to review the architects plans and interior finishes. We learned that your top choice among the chairs we had in the narthex a couple of weeks ago, samples of what the architects are proposing in the new Leawood sanctuary, was the one with the most cushioning! While one chair had more votes than the others, no one chair received 50% or more of the votes. So we're taking the top three to bid, but specifying the level of foam cushioning that the leading chair received for all three bids. We also eliminated the lowest vote getters. We'll have new samples made up as this process moves forward.
If you are interested in the kind of stone that will be on the exterior of the building, take a look at the sample as you enter the south entrance to Leawood's sanctuary. You'll see a wall of stone erected there as a test. The mortar and other elements have been modified since the wall was erected, but it will give you a look at the stone being proposed. Next month we'll have a comprehensive update on our plans. In the meantime we're going through the Leawood Planning Commission and City Council process over the next month.
Finally, next Saturday, September 13 our new Crossroads Ministry (for those 50 and up) is hosting a Pre-Retirement seminar from 8 am to 2 pm with a chance to help you think about the myriad of decisions and plans surrounding retirement and what you'll do with your life after retirement. Register today at www.cor.org/crossroads.
Finally, tonight LaVon and I are heading down to the Healing House, one of our ministry partners in the urban core. I love this ministry which provides transitional housing for persons formerly incarcerated, former prostitutes as well as those who are simply looking to find freedom from addiction. Many of our members volunteer with Healing House a
nd many Healing House residents are actively involved as members of Resurrection. Tonight 50 people are being baptized at Healing House. LaVon and I are going to show our support. If you are interested in finding out more about Healing House, check out their website at:healinghousekc.org.
I look forward to seeing you in worship this weekend!
Adam Hamilton____________________________
The Church of the Resurrection
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
____________________________
|
No comments:
Post a Comment