Upcoming X-citing Worship, Faith Development, Congregational Care, Compassionate Outreach, Next Generation Ministries and Community News are & Nurture of Membership for Thursday, 13 September 2018 from The Saint James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Ellen McNeil (St. James Place), mother of Carolyn Estell, passed. Service arrangements are pending.
PASTORS CALL TO ACTION
Consider helping to put an end to much of the violence we are experiencing in the Metropolitan area by committing to at least one (1) these action steps. As men and women of faith, we are responsible to go into the community and do something towards establishing peace and non-violence.
Host a Healthy Relationship Class at church: Understanding the signs and symptoms that lead to partnership violence.
Requirement: minimum of 4 people to sign-up for a class, ages 16 and up. No cost to the church.
Mentors for J.O.B. Community Program: Men and women who can spare 4-6 hours per week tutoring and helping people navigate the community to access social services.
Requirement: A person of good character, dependable, ability to model acceptable citizenship/pro-social behaviors
Area Trauma Response Teams: When a homicide or shooting occurs, hit the streets and canvass, spread positive messages and information about local social services.
Requirements: An ability to relate to people in pain, able physically walk 3-6 blocks at a time, attend training on trauma-informed care. Minimum of 4-6 people per church canvass designated areas.
Save a life in real time: Donate to our New Start fund that provides emergency relocation and behavior modification programs.
Requirement: Host an AdHoc Violence Free Sunday take up a special collection and/or sign up for monthly giving online at www.adhocgroupkc.com/donate.
Increase access to employment: Can the church take inventory on what’s needed, take up a regular collection or apply for a grant, and employ one or two people from the neighborhood to do work in the church or in the neighborhood where the church is located?
Janitor, groundskeeper, graffiti removal, nuance abatement, lawn care etc.
Host bi-weekly night walks and talks: Every other Friday or Saturday night after 10 pm church members canvass at night in areas that have high rates of crime and violence and post-up at liquor stores and street corners where loitering is known. Church members engage people in conversation about GOD, increasing peace and nonviolence.
Requirement: Greet people with no judgments, just conversations about love, forgiveness, and Christ for one hour every week.
X-CITING WORSHIP
Access is limited to volunteers and parents dropping off children on Sundays between the hours of 8:30a - 1:00p and Wednesdays between 6:30p - 8:00p.
Parents will check in children on the lower level at the Paseo campus.
UPCOMING EVENTS
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2018 from 12:00p- 1:30p.
We look forward to your participation. Come early to support ShareFest
(formerly known as the Festival of Sharing) which begins at 9:30a.
Get Healthy * Free 12 Week Program * Project FIT!
Come to join us in a FREE 12-week weight loss and exercise program!
Where: St. James UMC- Paseo campus
When: Thursday, September 13, 2018 | 6p – 7:30p*
*If the class has more than 20 participants, please allow for at least 30 extra minutes.
Church contact: Yvette Richards: (816) 802-8234 or yrichards@stjamesumc.com
Open to anyone 12 years old and older. If under 18, an adult guardian must also attend the weekly class.
FAITH DEVELOPMENT
3 In the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu, the king sent Shafan the son of Atzalyahu, the son of Meshulam, the secretary, to the house of Adonai after instructing him, 4 “Go up to Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol, and have him total the money that has been brought into the house of Adonai, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. 5 Then have them give it to the supervisors of the work being done in the house of Adonai; they in turn are to use it to pay the laborers in the house of Adonai to repair damaged places in the building — 6 the carpenters, construction-workers and stonemasons — and to purchase timber and worked stone for doing the repairs on the building.” 7 However, they did not require an accounting from the supervisors given the money to spend, because they dealt honestly.
8 Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol said to Shafan the secretary, “I have found the scroll of the Torah in the house of Adonai.” Hilkiyah gave the scroll to Shafan, who read it. 9 Then Shafan the secretary went back to the king and gave the king this report: “Your servants have poured out the money found in the house and handed it over to the people supervising the work in the house of Adonai.” 10 Shafan the secretary also told the king, “Hilkiyah the cohen hagadol gave me a scroll.” Then Shafan read it aloud before the king. 11 After the king had heard what was written in the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes. 12 Then the king issued this order to Hilkiyah the cohen, Achikam the son of Shafan, ‘Akhbor the son of Mikhayah, Shafan the secretary and ‘Asayah the king’s servant: 13 “Go; and consult Adonai for me, for the people and for all Y’hudah in regard to what is written in this scroll which has been found. For Adonai must be furious at us, since our ancestors did not listen to the words written in this scroll and didn’t do everything written there that concerns us.” 14 So Hilkiyahu the cohen, Achikam, Akhbor, Shafan and ‘Asayah went to Huldah the prophet, the wife of Shalum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harchas, keeper of the wardrobe — she lived in the Second Quarter of Yerushalayim — and spoke with her. 15 She told them, “Adonai the God of Isra’el says to tell the man who sent you to me 16 that Adonai says this: ‘I am going to bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, every word in the scroll the king of Y’hudah has read; 17 because they have abandoned me and offered to other gods, in order to provoke me with everything they do. Therefore my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’ 18 But you are to tell the king of Y’hudah, who sent you to consult Adonai, that Adonai the God of Isra’el also says this: ‘In regard to the words you have heard, 19 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Adonai when you heard what I said against this place and its inhabitants — that they would become an object of astonishment and cursing — and have torn your clothes and cried before me, I have also heard you, says Adonai. 20 Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, you will go to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the calamity I am going to bring on this place.’” So they brought word back to the king.
23:1 Then the king summoned all the leaders of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, and they assembled with him. 2 The king went up to the house of Adonai with all the men of Y’hudah, all those living in Yerushalayim, the cohanim, the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing everything written in the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the house of Adonai. 3 The king stood on the platform and made a covenant in the presence of Adonai to live following Adonai, observing his mitzvot, instructions and regulations wholeheartedly and with all his being, so as to confirm the words of the covenant written in this scroll. All the people stood, pledging themselves to keep the covenant.
4 Then the king ordered Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol, the cohanimof the second rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the sanctuary of Adonai all the articles that had been made for Ba‘al, for the asherah and for the entire army of heaven; and he burned them up outside Yerushalayim in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Beit-El.
5 He deposed the idolatrous priests the kings of Y’hudah had ordained to offer on the high places by the cities of Y’hudah and in the places surrounding Yerushalayim; he also deposed those who offered to Ba‘al, the sun, the moon, the constellations and the whole army of heaven.
6 He took the asherah from the house of Adonai to Vadi Kidron outside Yerushalayim and burned it in Vadi Kidron, stamped the ashes to powder and threw the powder onto the burial-ground for the common people.
7 He smashed the houses of the cult prostitutes that were in the house of Adonai, where the women also wove garments for theasherah.
8 He removed the cohanim from the cities of Y’hudah; then, from Geva to Be’er-Sheva, he desecrated the high places where the cohanim had been making offerings. He also smashed the High Places of the Gates that were at the entrance of the Gate of Y’hoshua the governor of the city, on the left as one enters the city. 9 But although the cohanim who had been at the high places did not come up to the altar of Adonai in Yerushalayim, nevertheless they did share matzah with their kinsmen.
10 He desecrated the Tofet fire pit in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, so that no one could cause his son or daughter to pass through fire [as a sacrifice] to Molekh.
11 He confiscated the horses which the kings of Y’hudah had given to the sun, at the entrance to the house of Adonai near the room of the officer N’tan-Melekh, in the side-courtyard; and he burned up the chariots of the sun.
12 The king smashed the altars on the roof of the upper room of Achaz, which the kings of Y’hudah had made, and the altars which M’nasheh had made in the two courtyards of the house ofAdonai. He broke them into pieces and threw the rubble into VadiKidron.
13 The king desecrated the high places facing Yerushalayim south of the Mount of Destruction, which Shlomo the king of Isra’el had built for ‘Ashtoret the abomination of the Tzidonim, K’mosh the abomination of Mo’av and Milkom the abomination of the people of ‘Amon. 14 He smashed the standing-stones, chopped down the sacred poles and covered their remains with human bones.
15 He smashed the altar that was at Beit-El and the high place made by Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, who caused Isra’el to sin. Yes, he smashed that altar and the high place; he burned the high place, stamped the ashes to powder, and burned up the asherah. 16 Then, as Yoshiyahu was turning around, he noticed the burial caves that were there on the mountain; so he sent and had the bones taken out of the burial caves and burned them on the altar, thus desecrating it, in keeping with the word of Adonai which the man of God had proclaimed, foretelling that these things would happen. 17 Then he asked, “This monument here that I’m looking at, what is it?” The men of the city told him, “It marks the burial cave of the man of God who came from Y’hudah and foretold the very things you have done to the altar of Beit-El.” 18 He replied, “Let him be; no one is to move his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Shomron.
19 Yoshiyahu also removed all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Shomron, which the kings of Isra’el had made in order to provoke [Adonai] to anger, and treated them the same as in Beit-El. 20 He put to death all the priests of those high places on the altars there, then burned human bones on them. Finally he returned to Yerushalayim.
21 The king issued this order to all the people: “Observe Pesach to Adonai your God, as written in this scroll of the covenant.” 22 For Pesach had not been so observed since the days when the judges ruled Isra’el — not during the times of any of the kings of Isra’el or of the kings of Y’hudah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu this Pesach was observed to Adonai in Yerushalayim.
24 Yoshiyahu got rid of the mediums and the people using spirit guides, as well as the household gods, the idols and all the disgusting things spotted anywhere in Y’hudah and Yerushalayim. He did this in order to establish the words of the Torah written in the scroll Hilkiyahu the cohen had found in the house of Adonai.
25 No previous king was like him; because he turned to Adonaiwith all his heart, with all his being and with all his power, in accordance with all the Torah of Moshe; nor did any king like him arise afterwards. 26 Nevertheless, Adonai did not turn away from his fiercely raging, furious anger that burned against Y’hudah because of all the things M’nasheh had done to provoke him. 27 Adonai said, “Just as I removed Isra’el, I will also remove Y’hudah out of my sight; and I will reject this city, which I chose, Yerushalayim, and the house concerning which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”
28 Other activities of Yoshiyahu and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.
29 During his time Pharaoh N’khoh king of Egypt went up toward the Euphrates River to attack the king of Ashur. King Yoshiyahu went out to oppose him; but at Megiddo, Pharaoh spotted Yoshiyahu and killed him. 30 His servants carried his dead body from Megiddo to Yerushalayim in a chariot and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Y’ho’achaz the son of Yoshiyahu, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
31 Y’ho’achaz was twenty-three years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for three months in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu from Livnah. 32 He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his ancestors had done. 33 Pharaoh N’khoh imprisoned him at Rivlah in the land of Hamat, so that he would not be able to rule in Yerushalayim. He also imposed a penalty on the land of three-and-a-quarter tons of silver and sixty-six pounds of gold. 34 Then Pharaoh N’khoh made Elyakim the son of Yoshiyahu king in place of Yoshiyahu his father and changed his name to Y’hoyakim. He also carried Y’ho’achaz off to Egypt, where he died. 35 Y’hoyakim remitted the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but in order to pay the money Pharaoh demanded, he had to levy a tax on the land. He taxed the people of the land, each according to his means, to pay the silver and gold to Pharaoh N’khoh.
36 Y’hoyakim was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Z’vudah the daughter of P’dayah, from Rumah. 37 He did what was evil from the perspective of Adonai, following the example of everything his ancestors had done.
24:1 It was in Y’hoyakim’s time that N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel invaded. Y’hoyakim became his vassal for three years, but then he turned against him and rebelled. 2 Adonai sent against him raiding parties from the Kasdim, Aram, Mo’av and the people of ‘Amon; he sent them against Y’hudah to destroy it, in keeping with the word of Adonai which he had spoken through his servants the prophets. 3 Yes, it was at Adonai’s order that this happened to Y’hudah, in order to remove them from his sight because of the sins of M’nasheh and all he had done, 4 and also because of the innocent blood he had shed — for he had flooded Yerushalayim with innocent blood, and Adonai was unwilling to forgive.
5 Other activities of Y’hoyakim and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah. 6 Then Y’hoyakim slept with his ancestors, and Y’hoyakhin his son took his place as king.
7 The king of Egypt did not leave his own land any more, because the king of Bavel had captured all the territory of the king of Egypt between the Vadi of Egypt and the Euphrates River.
8 Y’hoyakhin was eighteen years old when he began his reign, and he ruled in Yerushalayim for three months. His mother’s name was N’chushta the daughter of Elnatan, from Yerushalayim. 9 He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his father had done.
10 It was then that the officers of N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel marched on Yerushalayim and laid siege to the city. 11 N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel himself went to the city while it was under siege; 12 and Y’hoyakhin king of Y’hudah went out to meet the king of Bavel — he, his mother, and his servants, princes and officers; and the king of Bavel took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. 13 He also carried away from there all the treasures in the house of Adonai and the treasures in the royal palace. He cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Shlomo king of Isra’el had made in the temple of Adonai, as Adonai had said would happen. 14 He carried all Yerushalayim away captive — all the princes, all the bravest soldiers — 10,000 captives; also all the craftsmen and metalworkers. No one was left but the poorest people of the land.
15 Y’hoyakhin he carried off to Bavel; likewise he carried off the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers and the main leaders of the land from Yerushalayim into captivity in Bavel. 16 All the strong men — 7,000 of them, as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metalsmiths, all of them strong and trained for war — the king of Bavel brought captive to Bavel.
17 The king of Bavel made Matanyah, Y’hoyakhin’s father’s brother, king in place of Y’hoyakhin and changed his name to Tzidkiyahu. 18 Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu, from Livnah. 19 He did what was evil from the perspective of Adonai, following the example of everything Y’hoyakim had done. 20 And it was because of Adonai’s anger that all these things happened to Yerushalayim and Y’hudah, until he had thrown them out of his presence.
Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel;
25:1 so in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army. He set up camp against it and built siege towers against it on every side. 2 The city remained under siege into the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu.
3 On the ninth day of the [fourth] month, when the famine in the city was so severe that there was no food for the people of the land, 4 they broke through into the city. All the soldiers [fled] by night through the gate between the two walls, near the king’s garden. Because the Kasdim were surrounding the city, the king took the route through the ‘Aravah. 5 But the army of the Kasdim went in pursuit of the king and overtook him on the plains near Yericho; all his troops deserted him. 6 Then they took the king and brought him up to the king of Bavel in Rivlah, where they passed judgment on him. 7 They slaughtered his sons before his eyes. Then they put out Tzidkiyahu’s eyes, bound him in chains and carried him off to Bavel.
8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was also the nineteenth year of King N’vukhadnetzar, king of Bavel, N’vuzar’adan, the commander of the guard and an officer of the king of Bavel, entered Yerushalayim. 9 He burned down the house of Adonai, the royal palace and all the houses in Yerushalayim — every notable person’s house he burned to the ground. 10 The whole army of the Kasdim, who were with the commander of the guard, broke down the walls of Yerushalayim on every side. 11 N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard then deported the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Bavel and the rest of the common people. 12 But the commander of the guard left behind some of the poor people of the land to be vineyard-workers and farmers.
13 The Kasdim smashed the bronze columns in the house of Adonai, also the trolleys and bronze Sea that were in the house of Adonai, and carried their bronze to Bavel. 14 They also took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, pans, and all the bronze articles that had been used for worship. 15 The commander of the guard took the censers, the sprinkling bowls, everything made of gold and everything made of silver. 16 The bronze in the two columns, the one Sea and the bases, all of which Shlomo had made for the house of Adonai, was more than could be weighed. 17 The height of one column was thirty-one-and-a-half feet; on it was a capital of bronze five-and-a-quarter feet high, with netting and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze; the second column was similar, also with netting.
18 The commander of the guard took [prisoner] S’rayah the chief cohen, Z’kharyah the second-ranking cohen and three doorkeepers. 19 From the city he took an official in charge of the soldiers, five close associates of the king who had been found in the city, the army commander’s secretary in charge of military conscription, and sixty of the common people found in the city. 20 N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Bavel in Rivlah. 21 There in Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, the king of Bavel had them put to death. Thus Y’hudah was carried away captive out of his land.
22 N’vukhadnetzar king of Babylon appointed G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, governor over the people remaining behind in the land of Y’hudah after he left. 23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Bavel had made G’dalyahu governor, they came to G’dalyahu in Mitzpah — Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyah, Yochanan the son of Kareach, S’rayah the son of Tanchumet the N’tofati and Ya’azanyahu the son of the Ma‘akhati — they and their men. 24 Taking an oath, G’dalyahu said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the servants of the Kasdim. Just live in the land and serve the king of Bavel, and things will go well for you.” 25 But in the seventh month Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyah, the son of Elishama, of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated G’dalyah and the Judeans and Kasdim who were with him in Mitzpah. 26 In the wake of this, all kinds of people, great and small, as well as the army officers, set out and went to Egypt; because they were afraid of the Kasdim.
27 In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Y’hoyakhin king of Y’hudah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Eveel-M’rodakh began his reign as king of Bavel; and in his first year he commuted the sentence of Y’hoyakhin king of Y’hudah and released him from prison. 28 He treated him with kindness and gave him a throne higher than those of the other kings there with him in Bavel. 29 So Y’hoyakhin no longer had to wear prison clothes; moreover, he was provided with food as long as he lived; 30 and he was granted a daily allowance by the king to spend on his other needs for as long as he lived. (Complete Jewish Bible).
Join us at the Paseo Campus Wednesdays from 11a-11:30a for light to moderate exercise done from the comfort of a chair! A trained fitness expert will guide you through exercises that help strengthen your body. Then, stay for Bible Study from 11:30a -12:30p and get strengthened in the spirit! Feel free to bring a dish and join us for the potluck lunch following our study time.
CONGREGATIONAL CARE
Christian Sympathyis extended to the families of Duryl Trigg, cousin of Sue Young; and Ellen McNeil (St. James Place), mother of Carolyn Estell.
Acknowledgments were received from the families of Alma Brent; Carolyn Lee; Elliott Bernard Roper and Michael N. Bishop.
Prayer Time. Join us on the Prayer Line every Tuesday and Thursday from 12p-1p Dial: 530-881-1212, code 293680996.
Compassionate Care. When you experience illness, the death of a loved one or if you would like prayer, we want to know so that we may provide compassion, encouragement, and comfort during life's challenges. Please call the church office at 816-444-5588 or, after hours, the Care on Call phone at 816-286-6048.
WORSHIP MINISTRIES
Contact Angela Baker at abswac@gmail.com for more information.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Sunday, October 7, 2018, from 1-4 PM
Roe Park shelter area @ 104th and Roe Avenue, Overland Park, KS
Traditional cookout fare of hot dogs, hamburgers, pop, and water will be provided. Please register to bring chips, dessert or a side dish to share, and enjoy a fun afternoon of fellowship and children’s games.
Effective January 2019 St. James will have a Housing Ministry. The mission of this ministry will be to provide information regarding economic stability for families in the church and community, as well as, educational materials pertaining to wealth building, home ownership, and real estate investment. We are currently recruiting for committee members. If you are interested in joining this ministry, please call Lois Roberts at 816-914-8805.
St. James United Methodist Church
(816)444-5588
Saint James United Methodist Church
Dr. Emanuel Cleaver III - Senior Pastor
5540 Wayne Avenue
Kansas City, Missouri 64110, United States
(816)444-5588
Saint James United Methodist Church
5540 Wayne Avenue
Kansas City, Missouri 64110, United States
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