|
|
2330 South Jefferson Street
|
|
|
2330 South Jefferson Street
|
|
|
|
ASCENSION
SUNDAY
MAY 23, 2004 ORDER OF SERVICE-11:00 A.M. + Indicates the people standing ENTRANCE
Words of Welcome, Registration of
Attendance and Announcements
Bill Davidson +Indicates the people standing
THOSE SERVING TODAY:
The Altar Flowers Are
Given *CHILDREN (AGES 3 through 1st GRADE), may meet the acolyte to recess to Children’s Church. Please ask your child to line up behind the acolyte who will lead all children out together. After the worship service, parents must pick up their child in the Children’s Department; children will not be allowed to leave the room until their parents arrive. WELCOME! We're glad to have all who have joined us for this time of worship. Especially to our guests and visitors, we welcome you to South Roanoke and to our fellowship. We invite those who have no church home to make South Roanoke your church and add your witness to ours. NEXT WEEK’S SERMON, The Household of God: Third Key to a Healthy Life—Focus on Mission, will be based on Acts 2:1-8, 12-21; John 14:25-27. Please read and study these texts this week. THE ROSE ON THE ALTAR is in honor of the birth of Jennie Tanner Vogel, who was born Saturday, May 15 to Jennie Hall and George Vogel. The proud grandparents are Jack and Lee Burrows, and the proud great grandfather is David Burrows. NEXT OPPORTUNITY FOR WORSHIP: WEDNESDAY, May 26, 7:00 P.M. CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP SERVICE. Rev. Bill Davidson will be the speaker. IF YOU HAVE A college or high school graduate this year, please call the church office as soon as possible so we can recognize them in an upcoming bulletin. THE ADULT FELLOWSHIP GROUP will leave the church at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 10 for a trip to Wytheville and the Wolfhart Haus Theater. Lunch will be served at the tables at 12:00 and the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, is at 2:00 p.m. The cost of $33.00 includes the meal (with gratuity and tax) and the play and transportation. Sign up on the sheet on the board by the church office. THE SRUMC ANNUAL MIRACLE OF MISSIONS rummage sale is coming up June 4-5. The proceeds will go to support ministries in our Sister City of Kisumu, Kenya. The Ministries include the Agape Children’s Home, the Salem Orphanage, TEMAK (Teenage Mothers Assoc. of Kenya), the New Life Baby’s Home and Kisumu Hospice. We also hope to provide support to missionary Dr. Jerome Freund who will serve for a year at Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya. Please help us help our friends in Kenya by cleaning out your closets and donating to our sale. You can bring items to the church Fellowship Hall as early as Saturday, May 29th. If you need help with larger items or boxes, please call Diane D’Orazio (725-9886). We also need your help in sorting and pricing items the week before the sale and we need volunteers to help man shifts one or both days of the sale. This sale has become a tradition at our church that we hope you will support. It’s a labor of love that touches many lives. MEMORIAL GIFTS: Given in Memory of Barbara Sherertz by: Eddie and Carolyn Barnes, Betty G. Norris, Lucy Fink and David Nash, and Pat Baker. Given in Memory of Mary Pierce Mundy by: Mr. and Mrs. Watt Ellett and Iva C. Ferguson. EACH YEAR FROM MOTHER’S DAY TO FATHER’S DAY, we are given the opportunity to contribute to the Virginia United Methodist Homes, Inc. A gift of $68.00 to the Samaritan Offering adopts for one day a resident of a community of Virginia United Methodist Homes, Inc. whose personal resources are no longer adequate to meet the cost of care. Annually, churches, church organizations and individuals provide $225,000-$250,000 for residents who receive benevolent care. Make your donations today by making your check payable to SRUMC and earmarking it “Samaritan Offering”. WANTED: South Roanoke United Methodist Preschool’s Mother’s Day Out is looking for a newer model Pack and Play or Port-a-crib for the church nursery/Mother’s Day Out room. Please call Colleen Marston or Debby Rattenbury at 982-3707 to make your donation. THE CONGREGATION expresses sympathy and concern to Loretta Hodges and Shirley Berry in the recent death of their sister, Barbara Peck. DAVID MUNDY AND FAMILY wish to thank the staff and members of the congregation for the many acts of kindness expressed during their recent bereavement. INTERFAITH HOSPITALITY NETWORK will be our guests again the week of June 6-13. If you would like to help by preparing a meal please call Terry Wilkinson, 772-0490, or if you can help by spending a night please call Jeff Huffman, 772-6912. RESULTS OF THE MINISTRY AND WORSHIP SURVEY are available in the church office. Your leaders thank you for your thoughtful responses. MARCIE JARVINEN expresses her thanks for all the cards and visits she has received during her convalescence.
MAY
SERMON SERIES CONCLUDES NEXT SUNDAY 3. May
30 (Pentecost Sunday) The Third Key to a
Healthy Life-Focus on Mission _____________________________________ TODAY
IS THE DEADLINE TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE FOR Sunday, June 6, 3:00-9:00 p.m. All church leaders, members of committees, councils, and boards, and all interested church members are invited to share in this experience designed to enhance communication and unity for the church. Rev. Don Hawks, pastor of Bethany United Methodist Church in Weyers Cave, has extensive experience in this program and will lead us. Due to budget restraints we will need to charge a $12.00 fee per participant. This will include dinner and program materials. Please register with the church office, 344-4437, by Sunday, May 23.
CHURCH CALENDAR ___________________________________
Sermon for May 23, 2004
2. Second Key to
a Healthy Life—Focus on Strength There they were gazing up at the sky. Their risen
Lord is alive! He has been with them again for 40 days after his
resurrection. He has patiently taught them and prepared them for this
moment. Jesus has ascended into heaven to be at the right hand of God to
reign there forever just as he said he would. Now, at his Ascension,
these men of Galilee and those who follow with them are the Body of Christ
in the world. They are to carry on in the power of the Gospel in his
name. Pondering all of this, Jesus’ disciples gaze up at the sky. In
that moment, those two men in white robes who suddenly appear beside them
name for them and for us the greatest challenge the church ever faces: In the Ascension of our Lord Jesus there is hope and joy in the fulfillment of his promises. But the Ascension also brings to us a radical change in how we perceive the presence of Christ in our lives. Just as the disciples were so we are so easily tempted to succumb to the belief that, with Jesus gone on to heaven, we are left with no resources, no strength of our own to carry on and lead the healthy life to which we are called. There so easily comes upon us the fear that we are here all by ourselves, alone to face the difficulties and challenges and mission of life. So overtaken by this fear we so often deny ourselves the healthy life Jesus has already given us. We so easily just stand there looking. This sense of helplessness is so often a part of
our everyday experience. What is life like at your house? That’s the continuing question before us as we explore together life in the household of God. The household of God is a community of love where people know and support one another and where every idea is respected and everyone is committed to the common goal for which the whole community strives. The household of God—you know, the place where God lives, where the peace of Christ reigns. Is that what life is like at your house? The first key to a healthy life (which we discussed in the previous sermon in this series) is accept differences. The second key to a healthy life is focus on strength. In a study of patients with a terminal disease researchers have identified styles of coping. These ways of coping with terminal disease rang from “a fighting, feisty spirit” on the one hand to “helplessness and hopelessness” on the other. It is no surprise to any of us that those patients who exhibited “a fighting, feisty spirit” lived with a higher quality of life and lived longer than those who felt “helpless and hopeless.” Persons, groups, organizations, and congregations are the same way. When preoccupied with weakness, limitation, and problems situations deteriorate. This preoccupation with weakness and lack of imagination and courage can become so ingrained in the relationship system that nobody ever gets anywhere. They find themselves locked in pathology of blame, deficits, and weakness. But whenever a person, a family, a group, an organization, or a congregation can look at options, identify resources, seek out support, ask imaginative questions, find the courage to reach goals, and make clear, thoughtful decisions, that person, that family, that group, that organization, that congregation is well on its way to healthy relationships and a healthy life. There are three things that a focus on strength can
bring us to face the difficulties of life. There are three things that we
can do when we focus on strength that we are not able to do when we remain
focused on weakness and limitations. When we focus on strength: First of all, when you focus on strength you can learn. When you focus on weakness and limitations your imagination is stifled. You cannot see the future. Options are closed to you. You are temporarily unable to learn, to adapt, to bounce back. You just stand there looking. When you focus on strength and possibilities, you can learn how to adapt. It has been pointed out that the human body “learns” to be healthy. That’s how the immune system works. The immune system “memorizes” the shape of alien substances and learns to reject harmful invaders. The body develops what has come to be called “wise blood.” “Wise blood” also makes for healthy relationships and a healthy life. When we focus on strength we can learn. Secondly, when you focus on strength you can mourn. When you focus on weakness and limitations the experience of loss can be utterly devastating. When you feel there are no resources available to face difficulties of life, grief leaves you numb, lost, and aimless. When you cannot mourn appropriately and face the reality of loss with dignity and grace, emotional scars of unresolved loss and grief can result. You just stand there looking. The same thing happens in families, groups, organizations, even congregations. When systems of relationship such as these cannot mourn they become locked in time. They refuse to let go of yesterday’s memories, the present is never satisfying, and they dread the future. When they cannot mourn and let go their relationships with one another, rather than being a real resource of healing, can become a continuing source of pain. If you can manage to focus on strength in such a moment and not weakness, the natural process of mourning a deep loss can begin to bring healing. Healthy organisms adapt to change. When we suffer a cut or sprain, the body rushes blood to the site. We feel faint but the healing process has begun. To grieve is to empower. When you focus on strength you can learn. When you focus on strength you can mourn. Finally, when you focus on strength you can be gracious. A focus on weakness is such fertile ground for negativity, lack of confidence, misery, and depression. You just stand there looking. Hans Selye, a pioneer in charting the effect of emotional states on physical health, noted that the two emotions most detrimental to health are vengeance and envy. Conversely, the most nourishing attitude is gratitude. Healthy persons, healthy families, healthy groups, healthy organizations, healthy congregations are graced and gracious, foster a caring spirit, and are generous with one another and others.When you focus on strength you can learn. When we focus on strength you can mourn. When you focus on strength you can be gracious. Lance Armstrong focused on strength. Following his cancer diagnosis he endured his treatment and rehabilitation with courage and returned to win the Tour de France once again. Homer Avila was a noted dancer and choreographer. He died just one month ago in Manhattan at the age of 48. In April of 2001 he underwent treatment and surgery for cancer. Soon after the operation he returned to dance class and was performing again in less than a year. He focused on strength. What makes his recovery so remarkable is that the treatment for his particular form of cancer was the amputation of his right hip and leg. Homer Avila could learn. He could mourn. He could be so gracious. You can see a “streaming video” of his performance last fall of November 19, 2003 (and others as well) on the website of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. What is life like at your house? At your school? At your workplace? At your church? The writer of the letter to Ephesians prays for you
when he prays for the church as he says He describes here life in the household of God
where there is immeasurable power and grace to focus on the strength given
us by God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He has ascended and sits at the
right hand of God. But we are not left here with no resources all alone
to face the difficulties and challenges of a healthy life. We just need
to be nudged by certain emissaries of the household of God who, from time
to time, stand beside us and ask,
|
|
|
