What you'll find in this week's email:
Answering the Call: What does it mean to say “Yes” to God?
Faith on Tap @ East County (TONIGHT! • 6:30p-8:00p)
40 Days of Lent (2/18 - 4/4)
Ash Wednesday Experiential Service (2/18 • 6:30p-8:00p)
5-Week Class on Christian Practices (2/26, 3/5, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26 • 6:30p-8:00p)
Listening Conversations Debrief (2/22 • 12:00p-2:30p)
Mid-City Unleashed: Rally for an off-leash dog park (2/15 • 12:00p-2:00p)
There is perhaps a certain art to college admission brochures and pamphlets. They are sales documents that ultimately sell not actually the school or its education, but rather the promise of a particular kind of future. The idea is not only to reduce your uncertainty, but also to demonstrate what and who you would be if you went there. When you look at these pamphlets, they are working to show you what it would be like if you only said yes to them. They want to show you how you would feel, what you would look like, who would surround you and, most of all, what sort of future you might have… if you only said yes.
But while university brochures do this in order to increase revenue, what if there was something that did this in order to increase disciples? What if there was something written (albeit not always in full-color or glossy pages!) to show us what it would be like if we said yes to Christ? Something that would show us how we would feel, what we would act like, who would surround us and, most of all, what sort of future we would walk into… if only we said yes. Well, over the next four weeks in our sermon series entitled “Answering the Call: What does it mean to say yes to God?” we will continue looking at some of these passages in the Bible. Each week, we will take another passage that shows us and helps us picture what is to be if we follow Christ where he leads us. I think for all of us that this will be a great learning experience in how we start to picture what might be if we all spoke “Yes” to God. If you’d like to read our Scripture before Sunday, you can find it here.
Here is our final topic for this weekend. We’ll see you on Sunday!
To Be Transformed
February 15th- Mark 9:2-9
Week Five - To Be Transformed
February 15th- Mark 9:2-9
Scripture Text Mark 9: The True Glory of Jesus
2 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him. They went up on a high mountain, where they could be alone. There in front of the disciples, Jesus was completely changed. 3 And his clothes became much whiter than any bleach on earth could make them. 4 Then Moses and Elijah were there talking with Jesus.
5 Peter said to Jesus, “Teacher, it is good for us to be here! Let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 But Peter and the others were terribly frightened, and he did not know what he was talking about.
7 The shadow of a cloud passed over and covered them. From the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, and I love him. Listen to what he says!” 8 At once the disciples looked around, but they saw only Jesus.
9 As Jesus and his disciples were coming down the mountain, he told them not to say a word about what they had seen, until the Son of Man had been raised from death.
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary for Mark 9:2-9
Verse 2
[2] And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
By themselves — That is, separate from the multitude: Apart - From the other apostles: and was transfigured - The Greek word seems to refer to the form of God, and the form of a servant, {mentioned by St. Paul, Philippians 2:6,7,} and may intimate, that the Divine rays, which the indwelling God let out on this occasion, made the glorious change from one of these forms into the other. Matthew 17:1; Luke 9:28.
Verse 3
[3] And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
White as snow, such as no fuller can whiten — Such as could not be equalled either by nature or art.
Verse 4
[4] And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
Elijah — Whom they expected: Moses, whom they did not.
Verse 7
[7] And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
There came a (bright, luminous) cloud, overshadowing them - This seems to have been such a cloud of glory as accompanied Israel in the wilderness, which, as the Jewish writers observe, departed at the death of Moses. But it now appeared again, in honour of our Lord, as the great Prophet of the Church, who was prefigured by Moses.
Hear ye him — Even preferably to Moses and Elijah.
Sermon Story "The Transfiguaration or The Tranformation" by Gary Lee Parker with Scripture Text Mark 9:2-9 for Sunday, 15 February 2015
After four weeks of hearing about Jesus calling His disciples to come and see His work, we come to the time when Jesus took only the first four disciple with Him up on the Mount, now called the Mount of Tranfiguration. As all five of them, Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, arrived on the top of the Mount, the four disciples sleepily saw Jesus talking with two people from their Jewish Heritage, Moses and Elijah. We know that from the Passover Meal, the Jews were expecting Elijah, but were not expecting Moses. After all Moses died and his body was taken and buried by God's Angels, but Elijah was taken alive in a whirlwind up to God with a chariot of fire. As they sleepily saw this, Peter spoke up and asked Jesus if they could build three tabernacles on this Mount in honor of seeing Jesus, Elijah, and Moses with Jesus being whiter than anything they ever saw before. As they spoke, a cloud descended down on the Mount and a face speaking up saying this is my Beloved Son, I am well-pleased with Him and you should obey everything that He speaks about. The cloud disappears and all they see is Jesus and each other. How would you have responded if you were one of these four disciples? Would you have spoken up as Peter did or how would you have spoken up or kept silent? How do you respond when there is transformation occuring in your life or the life of people around you in or outside the church?
We will also have childcare available for kids 4 and under, AND a kids component where they, too, will learn about what we are covering! We are really excited about this program and what it offers to the whole worship community! The class will be on Thursdayevenings from 6:30pm - 8:00pm.
Read below for our topics and evenings:
Worship - Feb 26th
For many Christians, worship is synonymous with just going to church. But this week, we will be challenged to think about worship as a much richer practice, one we can engage in through the entire week.
Sacraments - March 5th
When we take communion each Sunday or celebrate a baptism, what does that really mean? Or more importantly, what does it DO? This week we will learn and talk about what these acts (called sacraments) are all about.
Food - March 12th
The Bible is chock-full of stories of food. Whether it is communion, the Last Supper, mana in the wilderness or the feeding of the 5000, the Bible clearly believes that food is and can be sacred. But what does that mean? Does it mean just eating healthy? Or is there a truly radical way to think about eating and food? This week we will learn and talk about the most fundamental of human and Christian acts… eating and drinking.
Service - March 19th
What is the spiritual value of working for the benefit of others? What happens with us when we offer ourselves and our time to helping others without asking for anything in return? This week we will discuss what service really looks like in our context.
Community - March 26th
Community. We use this word a lot in our church. But what does it mean? How do we think of this word and practice of gathering with others? How can we all remake and be remade by what we offer to Christian community?
Sincerely,
Nancy
Normal Heights United Methodist Church
4650 Mansfield Street
San Diego, California 92116 United States
____________________________
____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment