San Diego, California, United States Normal Heights United Methodist Church with Reverend Brent Ross, Senior Pastor, for Thursday, 11 September 2014 "This Week in Worship • Jonah: The Running Man"

San Diego, California, United States Normal Heights United Methodist Church with Reverend Brent Ross, Senior Pastor, for Thursday, 11 September 2014 "This Week in Worship • Jonah: The Running Man"

What you'll find in this week's email:

• This Week in Worship • Jonah: The Running Man
• Sunday School & Adult Group Changes
• Community Life Update
• Family Movie Nights (9/13 • 5pm)
• Bible Study Discussion (9/14 • 9am)
• Adam's Avenue Street Fair (9/27-28 • 10am-7pm)

This is the 2nd week of our 4-week series on the Book of Jonah. The story of Jonah is a fantastic story full of sailors and giant fish, worms who do God’s bidding, and a prophet who seems to hate the people he’s been sent to save. It’s a story of irony, humor and satire. In short, it is a true work of great literature. But while its literary status is certainly part of its appeal, it is, of course, much more than that. It is one of our core faith stories. So how do these two things connect? And how does the story of Jonah use humor and satire to help us understand who we are as well? These are just some of the questions we will explore as we work our way through one of the best stories in the Bible… The story of Jonah: The man who ran from God. We will cover one chapter each week through September. Please read along each week. You can find the Book of Jonah here. See you this Sunday!(Pastor Brent)

____________________________
Week Two of the Jonah Story for Normal Heights United Methodist Church for Sunday, 14 September 2014
Scripture Text:
Jonah 2: At the Bottom of the Sea
1-9 Then Jonah prayed to his God from the belly of the fish.
He prayed:
“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.
    He answered me.
From the belly of the grave I cried, ‘Help!’
    You heard my cry.
You threw me into ocean’s depths,
    into a watery grave,
With ocean waves, ocean breakers
    crashing over me.
I said, ‘I’ve been thrown away,
    thrown out, out of your sight.
I’ll never again lay eyes
    on your Holy Temple.’
Ocean gripped me by the throat.
    The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight.
My head was all tangled in seaweed
    at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.
I was as far down as a body can go,
    and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever—
Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive,
    O God, my God!
When my life was slipping away,
    I remembered God,
And my prayer got through to you,
    made it all the way to your Holy Temple.
Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds,
    walk away from their only true love.
But I’m worshiping you, God,
    calling out in thanksgiving!
And I’ll do what I promised I’d do!
    Salvation belongs to God!”
10 Then God spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah on the seashore.
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary:
Jonah 2
Verse 2
[2] And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
Affliction — Straits with which he was encompassed, his body and mind being both shut up, the one by the monstrous dungeon of the fish's belly, and the other by the terrors of the Almighty.
Heardest my voice — Of which undoubtedly God gave him an assurance in his own soul.
Verse 4
[4] Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
I said — With myself, I thought in the midst of my fears and sufferings.
Cast out — Cut off from all hope of life, and as it were forgotten of God.
I will look — Toward heaven.
Verse 5
[5] The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
The weeds — It seems to mean, my case was as hopeless as that of a man wrapt about with weeds in the depth of the sea.
Verse 6
[6] I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
I went down — The fish carried him down as deep in the sea as are the bottoms of the mountains.
With her bars — I seemed to be imprisoned where the bars that secured were as durable as the rocks, which they were made of.
Yet — By what was first my danger, thou hast wonderfully secured me.
From corruption — Or the pit, a description of the state of the dead.
O Lord — In the assurance of faith, he speaks of the thing as already done.
Verse 7
[7] When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
Thine holy temple — Heaven, the temple of his glory, whence God gives the command for his delivery.
Verse 8
[8] They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
They — Whoever they are that depend upon idols.
Mercy — The Lord, who is to all that depend upon him, the fountain of living waters; who is an eternal fountain of mercy, and flows freely to all that wait for him.
Verse 9
[9] But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
Vowed — Which probably was to go to Nineveh, and preach what God commanded him.
The Lord — He only can save.
Verse 10
[10] And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Spake — Though fishes understand not as man, yet they have ears to hear their Creator.
____________________________
Jonah Story Part 2 by Gary Lee Parker
As Jonah was thrown into the ocean and going to the bottom of the sea, he prayed to God and God had a large fish swallo him up. As Jonah was in the fish where it was dark, he continued to pray to His God in repentance and confession of failing to ovey God as he promised to go and preach repentance and the destruction of Ninevah to the Ninevites. God heard Jonah and had it in for the large fish to vomit Jonah up onto the beach. Jonah himself said that he stuck to high heavens and probably found a place to clean up from the ocean water and from being inside of the ship waiting to hear from God. Who in this story to you realte to or not relate to? How do you understand this story in the life you are living? How will you be obedient to God's call upon your life rather than run from it?
As we continue with the story of the young man who ran from God's call into the United States Air Force and became a chaplain guide during his time in basic training, the young man was assigned a training at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi to train to be a Ground Radio Communications Maintenance Repairman. While he was in Basic Training, he heard that his Uncle had a heart attack and survived, but unable to continue doing his carpentry work. As this young man got closer to graduating, he placed three places he wanted to go as his permanent base. The one was at Luke Air Force Base just outside of Phoenix, Arizona where his Aunt and Uncle lived. This is the assignment he was assigned to. He worked and attempted to study for his last year of college through Grand Canyon University until his uncle died. The year his uncle died, he was thinking about something his uncle said about being in a job you did not like, but to quit and get into one you did like. I attempted to go the officer training route, but was unable to because of the military winding down from the end of the Vietnam War. I was able to put in for an early out to complete my college degree in one year which I was able to. During this time, I met a woman and fell in love with as she directed me back into a church where I was baptized with the remembrance of God's call to prepare for pastoral ministry to reach the counter-cultural and marginalized people. After graduating and getting married, I worked as a warehouse helper in a baking company while trying to grow in faith while adapting to being married and not single. Things happened and the job was lost and I struggled with what to do next.
____________________________

A few weeks ago, this article  _____________________ Sunday Schooling Our Kids Out of Church by Tim Wright About 40 years ago a profound shift took place in many Christian congregations across the country…for all the right reasons…with one troubling unintended consequence: In the 1960’s and 1970’s, my generation, Baby Boomers, rebelled against the “institutional church” just as we did with every other institution our parents built/supported.  We rebelled by dropping out: 2/3rds of my generation dropped out of church.  In the late 1970’s/early 1980’s, innovative pastors and congregations of all sizes and denominations looked for ways to draw Boomers back to church.  They began to create worship experiences based on the unique “personality” of the Boomer generation. These churches went “contemporary,” “seeker,” and/or “seeker-friendly.”  Because these were the primary parenting years for Boomers, these congregations recognized the need to not only provide Boomer-friendly worship experiences for adults, but the need to create dynamic experiences for their children as well, knowing that if the kids wanted to come back, the parents were more likely to come back.   So began a shift from kids worshipping with the big people for one hour followed by all ages attending a second hour of Sunday School, to churches creating Sunday School experiences for kids that ran concurrently with their parents’ worship service.  In other words, kids and parents were separated from each other, having different Sunday experiences. Again, the reasons were right…or so we thought.  Because these new Boomer services had a sense of evangelism about them (trying to win Boomers back to the church) we didn’t want anything to interrupt their focus…like squirming or crying or screaming kids. Church leaders sensed that Boomer parents wanted the one hour break from their kids—that they wanted to focus on their own spiritual life for an hour away from the distraction of their children.  And, again, we assumed, reasonably so, that worship targeted to adult boomers would not be all that engaging for kids.  So dynamic Sunday school programs were created to engage the kids at their level in their language while their parents were in worship.  In fact, some churches didn’t (and don’t) allow kids into big people worship at all. The result: Many of these innovated congregations had a positive, significant impact on the lives of disenfranchised Boomers and their kids.  Many saw their congregations and their children’s ministries grow exponentially.  The evangelism imperative to reconnect with Boomers seemed to work. But there was (and is) one huge unintended consequence:  We have raised the largest unchurched generation in the history of our country. Admittedly, there are many reasons why each generation in our culture is increasingly distanced from the church.  Some have to do with societal shifts that have nothing to do with the church.  Some have to do with the inability of the church to articulate the Gospel in compelling ways. But perhaps one of the reasons has to do with the Sunday School shift…as we shifted kids out of the main worship experience, en-culturated them in their own program, and robbed them of any touch points with the rest of the body of Christ.  Another way of saying it: by segregating our kids out of worship, we never assimilated them into the life of the congregation.  They had no touch points.  They had no experience. They had no connection with the main worship service—its liturgy, its music, its space, its environment, and its adults.  It was a foreign place to them.  And so…once they finished with the kids/or youth program, they left the church. With good intentions we attempted to raise kids to be Christians, but we didn’t raise them to be Churched Christians.  And perhaps that, in part, is why so few of them attend a church today.  We’ve essentially “Sunday-Schooled” them out of church—because we never assimilated them into church.  We never “church-broke” them. For years I was an advocate of this model.  And I still, in many ways, feel the tug to stick with it.  But I remember reading a study some 20 years ago that said back then what our experience is now confirming: Kids who attend Sunday School but never attend church are more likely not to attend church as adults.  (It makes sense, doesn’t it?)  And kids who attend worship and never attend Sunday School are far more likely to attend worship as adults.  (Those who attend a mixture of both are also more likely to assimilate into worship as adults.) A few weeks ago I preached on this in our church.  One of our members pulled me aside and told me a story:  When he was small, he looked up at his dad who had tears in his eyes as the congregation sang, “Spirit of the Living God.”  After church he asked his dad why he was so sad during church.  Dad said, “I’m not sad.  I was just remembering how when I was a boy like you I stood next to my dad singing, ‘Spirit of the Living God.’  And now here I am, singing that song with my son.”  How are we creating those kinds of touch points for our kids? Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.  For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” What does it look like in the 21st Century to be a church that belongs to such as these kids?  What does it look like to be a church that makes children the priority of the Kingdom?  That raises them to be “Churched Christians?”  What does it mean that all of us are the Body of Christ together? It may be an upstream challenge.  Many of our churches are used to separating the kids from the adults and having squirming, squealing kids may dramatically change the worship dynamic.  Many parents want their kids in Sunday School during worship and may even demand it…or will leave to attend a church that does so. But what is our ultimate call?  To create programs?  Or to raise disciples (i.e., followers of Jesus committed to his church and his world)?  And what might that that calling to raise “churched” disciples look like? _____________________ made the rounds at our office and staff meetings. The article reminded us that the more we separate children from Sunday worship, the harder it will be to get them back in later in life. The article prompted a lot of discussions, and as we talked, we realized that we wholeheartedly agree with the articles assessment that children need a meaningful worship experience in addition to Sunday School. We have therefore created a Sunday morning schedule that will give our children and adults the best of both worlds.   So beginning October 12th, we will be making some exciting changes to our SundaySchool Program and overall Sunday morning schedule. These changes have grown out of trial and error, input from participants, and several staff discussions about what kind of church we want to be and how to best create a truly inter-generational and affirming church for both our children and adults.   In order to sustain a meaningful and effective Sunday School we will be needing 2-3 volunteers each week to help the kids with crafts and games. Please pray about how you might be able to give of your time at least once a month, to be a positive loving example of God’s love to our kids.  Sunday School & Volunteer sign-ups have already begun, so please sign up this coming Sunday! 9:45-10:30 All Church Sunday School Babies & Toddlers: Nursery Room across from Church Office Preschool-Kindergarten: Preschool “Yellow” Room through the Church Kitchen 1st-6th Grade: Room 205 Upstairs (group will be split up 1st-3rd & 4th-6th and rotate through 2 stations) Adults: Room 208 upstairs or Pastor Brent’s office 10:30-11:30 Worship Service  Adults and children of all ages gather in the sanctuary for a time of worship that is about praising God, but also about helping each other to see the sacred in the ordinary parts of life the rest of the week. Activities are in the sanctuary for children, but childcare will also remain available in the nursery for little ones who need it.  ​2nd Sunday Pancake Breakfast Every Second Sunday we will have a pancake breakfast from 8:30-9:45! Come to serve, talk and eat! ​ EARLIER SERVICE SEPTEMBER 28TH Due to the limitations and lack of parking from the Street Fair, we will have our SundayWorship Service on September 28th at the earlier time of 9am. Mark your calendars now and don't forget! AIDS WALK PARTICIPANTS Our church is pleased to be a part of United Methodists who are walking in the AIDS Walk this year on September 27th, to raise funds for critical services for those who are living with AIDS or HIV. But, for many of us, our participation in the AIDS Walk is personal, because of how it also raises funds for a local United Methodist camp. “Strength for the Journey” is a Methodist camp that is a yearly retreat for those with AIDS or HIV, and it has an incredible 20-year history of providing a place and time for people looking for healing, encouragement and care. This year, Pastor Brent will be one of the “theologians” at the camp, and many others are involved. A large portion of the money we raise for the AIDS Walk will be gifted to the “Strength for the Journey” camp, and we would love your support! If you would like to walk with our church group or donate money to those walking this year, please see our walk sponsors: Jeff and Melissa Burt-Gracik or send an email to(PastorBrent.) Our next movie night is September 13th, where we'll be showing Monsters U! We'll meet every 2nd Saturday (9/13, 10/11, 11/8) at 4650 Mansfield Street in the Church Social Hall. Bring food (for potluck or just your family) and a blanket/beanbag/pillow or mat, we have chairs if needed! In preparation for our upcoming Bible Study, we would like to hear from you. What would you like to cover?  What times work well for you? What would you hope to get out of a study? If you are interested in forming or joining a Bible Study, Pastor Brent would love to get your feedback. Join him this Sunday at 9am to look over some curriculum and give your thoughts. We will meet in the small conference room upstairs, directly ahead from the top of the stairs. We’ll have coffee and snacks for you and, ideally, have a Bible Study set by the end of the morning! This will enable us to launch by October 5th. Questions? Can’t make it, but also want to give your input? Please email Pastor Brentat brent@nhunited.org. See you there! For the past 33 years, Normal Heights has shut down parts of Adams Avenue for an 8-stage free music festival, carnival, and shopping-fest. During these two full days, thousands of people will be walking past our church, and we want to be ready for them to know who we are! This is a huge opportunity for us to connect and publicize who we are! Here is how you can help:  • Hospitality: We have a play room and baby care area available to get little ones out of the sun to safely get their wiggles out. We need two people to be available to meet and greet families who would like to come in, bring up strollers if needed, and orient them to feeding, changing, and play areas. It's also a good time to share the play groups that are currently going on. • Community Greeters: The Street Fair is a great opportunity to spread the word about our ministries of NHUMC, get people's e-mail addresses, and answer any questions people have about our church. While you're there, you can help hydrate the masses and earn some cash for the church by helping us sell water. If you're interested, join in the fun for a few hours! Just pick a day, a preferred time slot (10am-1pm, 1-4, or 4-7) and let Nancy know. Kids are more than welcome to come help out! Stay for the day! More info about what's at the fair at adamsavenuebusiness.com. Again, due to the Street Fair and lack of parking, we will have our Sunday worship onSeptember 28th at an earlier time of 9am. Mark your calendar now and don't forget!

Facebook Email Pastor Brent NHUnited.org

____________________________
Our mailing address is:
Normal Heights United Methodist Church
4650 Mansfield Street
San Diego, California 92116 United States
____________________________