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2330 South Jefferson Street
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2330 South Jefferson Street
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SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST SEPTEMBER 26, 2004
As Christ cares, we care… we care
about all people. ORDER OF SERVICE-11:00 A.M. + Indicates the people standing
ENTRANCE
SENDING FORTH +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. THERE WILL BE a meeting of the Staff Parish Relations Committee on Monday, September 27, at 7:00 p.m. in the library/conference room. OUR NEW CHURCH BUS? YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS ARE NEEDED! On September 21, in response to a recommendation of the Council on Ministries, the Board of Trustees voted to retire our church van, donate it to the ministry at Camp Alta Mons, and pursue the purchase of a new 14-passenger bus (parked outside the sanctuary today). With current funds in reserve an additional $20,000.00 in support is solicited from the congregation of which $6,000 has already been secured. Contributions (marked “bus”) are received through the offering plate and in the church office. WE WELCOME PAULA COKER-JONES TO OUR CHURCH STAFF as she begins her full time service with us October 1. We will commission her as our Youth Minister during worship on October 3. Welcome, Paula! NEXT SUNDAY, WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY, WE WELCOME Dr. Ruby Sokwala of Kisumu, Kenya. Invited by our Missions Committee to share her Christian witness, she provides medical care for several ministries including the Agape Children’s Home which is supported by our church. Visiting Roanoke at the urging of Kisumu Hospice she represents Roanoke’s second Sister City for their October 2 Community Forum. A RECEPTION WILL BE HELD NEXT SUNDAY following the worship service to welcome our new Youth Minister, Paula Coker-Jones, and greet our visiting speaker Dr. Ruby Sokwala. “CHANGE FOR A QUARTER” - Sept., Oct., Nov. save your loose pocket change, put it in a sandwich bag with identification label you received in the mail, and place it in the collection plate each week. Help erase the budget shortfall for mission—GOAL $9,000. To date we have received $516.00. THE ADULT FELLOWSHIP GROUP is planning A FOUR-DAY (THREE NIGHT) TRIP TO ST. SIMON ISLAND for May 16-19, 2005. This trip to the Wesley Museum and the Georgia Methodist Conference Center, Epworth by the Sea, will include informative presentation by Bob Garner on the Wesley’s in the U.S. Cost approx. $100/day ($400). Call Romona Williams, 774-6568 or Joe Kennedy, 344-4437 if you are interested. WE NEED YOUR CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS! Please check the booklet in the narthex. THE HERMITAGE GUILD BAZAAR AND LUNCHEON will be held at the Roanoke United Methodist Home on Thursday, October 14, 2004. Items are needed for the following booths: Books, attic treasures, furniture, jewelry, crafts, needlework, decorations, clothing, jams, jellies, plants, bake sale, etc. Bring your donations to the church office at any time. If you would like to purchase a lunch ticket for $7.00 call Doris Cutright, 772-9454 or Virginia Shaver, 343-6079. THE PUMPKINS ARE COMING—AGAIN! Get ready for Pumpkin Patch 2004!! Once again our front lawn will soon be filled with orange and scenes of autumn. The pumpkin truck will arrive on Monday, October 4, at 4:00 p.m. The “Pumpkin Drop” is great fun, and everyone can help. If you can help unload the truck that day, please join us. We can also use help pulling back shucks on the Indian corn if you prefer not to lift pumpkins. As usual we will have a wonderful selection of pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, and corn stalks. Along with the youth group, the Weekday Preschool, Boy and Girl Scouts, the Adult Fellowship Group, the Upper Room Circle, and the United Methodist Men will be running the patch this year. We will be open daily from 10:00 a.m. until dusk and from noon until 5:00 on Sundays. Plan to visit the patch often during October!! TRINITY UMC WILL HAVE A YARD SALE on Saturday, October 2. Proceeds will be used to purchase Sunday school supplies. Donated items can be taken to Trinity from 8:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. THE FOOTSTEPS FOR FAMILIES WALK-A-THON held by the Interfaith Hospitality Network was a success. They had 11 teams participate in the event. Donations have reached $11,652.00 and are still coming in. Thank you to everyone who participated and assisted us with this event. OUR SENIOR HIGH YOUTH are at the Wallace’s Farm for their annual group-building retreat this weekend. _______________________________________ September 26.
2004
17th Sunday after Pentecost
Giving is Living In a newspaper article last Wednesday the headline read: “Study: Walking is good exercise for the aging brain.” Roanoke Times, September 22, 2004, p. 6A A friend wrote another friend a letter the other day. His friend needed some encouragement. They were close friends and knew one another very well. Some time ago they made a pact with one another. Back then they did not feel very well. They were both overweight, felt tired all the time, didn’t eat right, had some bad habits, and otherwise knew they had to change. So they made a pact with each other. They vowed to see their doctors, get a full checkup, and follow the doctor’s recommendations on a healthy diet, exercise regimen, and lifestyle. They promised to hold each other accountable to the task and even exercise together when possible. Why did they do this? Obviously they wanted to encourage health for themselves. But most of all they did it for their loved ones who were concerned about them. They both have children who love them. So they saw their doctors, got the full report on their current state of healthiness, and received clear, explicit instructions on diet, exercise, and lifestyle. And they started out together. Together they faithfully followed that healthy discipline. Now they knew they were not on the same level with one another—one would always be able to walk farther or exercise longer or tolerate differing diets because of their differences in age and physical ability. But they both knew they needed each other’s encouragement and company to keep their commitment to themselves and their loved ones. And so they started out together. But as they went along, for whatever reason the second friend was not keeping to the discipline. He was finding the challenge to great—the food just didn’t taste good; he really didn’t like walking all that much; and it was just easier to do what he had always been doing. Out of concern for his friend, a friend wrote a friend a letter. In his letter he sought to encourage him. He told his friend how much better he himself was feeling now that he had followed the doctor’s instructions for a while. He had lost weight; he had so much more energy and just felt better about himself. He wanted so much for his friend to have that same joy. Have you ever had a friend who shared concern and love for you like that? Have you ever found encouragement and new commitment by the witness of a friend of yours? It is no mistake, I believe, that most of our New Testament is made up of letters of friends written to encourage other friends to take hold of the life that is intended for all through Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact you receive just such a letter today from the Apostle Paul through his servant Timothy. Now the subject of this letter writer’s concern is not your heart rate or cholesterol level or your weight or your physical stamina. The subject of this letter writer’s concern is your soul. The writer’s issue is the ordering of the community of God’s people, the church. The point of this letter is the right and sound teaching of the way of life that is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just like our two
friends who began their journey together when they made a pact with one
another, we all started in the same place at our baptism. In our baptism
God claimed us as God’s own. In baptism God’s love for you and God’s
acceptance of you was affirmed before the community of faith. In baptism
you enter into the pact of the community of the church to learn together
what it means to live life the way it’s meant to be. In baptism you begin
to take hold of the promise and experience the life that God has always
intended for children of God. In the community of the church we learn
from one another the disciplines, lifestyle, behaviors, and practices of
the kingdom of God. We follow these guides to our lives and find
encouragement, models, mentors, and spiritual friends for our own life
journeys right here in the community of the church. That’s what the
church is for. Isn’t that why you’re here today? Don’t you want to know
more about this life that God says will bring health and wholeness not
just to you and your family but to all the world? That’s why this letter
was written to The letter instructs those who are
entrusted with wealth how to manage that wealth for the fulfillment of
their lives and the good of the kingdom of God. Now you and I and all who
live in the so-called “first world” are a part of that 5% of the world’s
population that has 80% of the world’s resources, so there is no question
to whom this letter is written in our day. By the grace of God or the
accident of birth we find ourselves today among the wealthy of world. It
is to us the letter sends the following encouragement: Good works…generosity…ready to share—in other words: giving. We all started in the same place at our baptism. Blessed by the grace of God we all took hold of the vital instructions for life. And, just like our two friends who agreed together at first to take up a faithful discipline that leads to a healthy body, we, of course, find ourselves now in different places of the health of our spiritual lives. Friends need other friends to get healthy. Friends need other friends to stay healthy. Tomorrow members of our congregation will find a letter in the mail. Tomorrow you will receive a personal letter from a friend. It’s a letter of encouragement to you to keep up “the good fight,” as Paul’s letter to Timothy encourages, and to “take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called.” It is a personal letter from a spiritual friend who has found fulfillment and joy in giving. It is a letter to encourage you to grow in your own desire to follow more deeply the holy discipline of giving. Just like the discipline that leads to a healthy body, the discipline of giving leads to a healthy soul. Just as regular exercise increases muscle strength and expands lung capacity so regular giving exercises your spiritual vitality and expands your soul capacity. A dietary discipline makes for a healthy body and regular, systematic giving makes for a healthy spirit. Once you take up the discipline that leads to physical health you begin to feel so much better and build a foundation that leads to a long and healthy life. Once you take up the discipline of giving, well, it just feels so good to experience right now the essence of eternal life. Sisters and brothers, we all started in the same place in our baptism. Now we all need each other to show us the way. So a friend in Christ has written a personal letter to you. Let us learn from one another. Let us encourage one another. Let us be the people who know the way to life. Let us be healthy, whole, joyous people so full of the life of God that the church may bring that same life to this community and the whole world. Last Wed article is
right: “Walking is good exercise for the aging brain.” The letter is
also right “Giving is good exercise for the aching soul.” Make no mistake
about it, giving is living.
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