South Roanoke United Methodist Church

The season after the Epiphany is a season of Ordinary Time, which includes eight Sundays this year. It is ordinary in that it stands between the two great church year cycles of Advent-Christmas-Epiphany and Lent-Easter-Pentecost, and has no central theme. The first Sunday focuses on the Baptism of Christ and the last Sunday on the Transfiguration. 

SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY                    FEBRUARY 19, 2006
                                                     Scouting Sunday 

As Christ cares, we care… We care about all people.
We care about worship… We care about learning.
We care about service… We care about You.
We are a community of Faith growing in God’s Grace.

9:00 A.M. PRAISE SERVICE
Led By Graceful Praise 

8:50 a.m.-Gathering Songs
9:00 a.m.-Greeting and Singing
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Scouting Report
Children’s Time
Scripture
Sermon
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Offering and Special Music
Singing
Benediction 

ORDER OF SERVICE-11:00 A.M. 

+ Indicates the people standing

ENTRANCE 

Words of Welcome, Registration of Attendance and Announcements            Bill Davidson
     (We encourage all of our worshipers to please sign the registration pad as it is passed
      along the pew; visitors are requested to also list their address. After it has been
       passed, please return it to the center aisle. If you wish to join this church by letter of
       transfer or profession of faith, please check “wish to join” on the registration pad.)
Gathering Music                               Praise and Alleluyas                                McCleary
                                                   (Adult Handbell Choir)
+Opening Prayer                                                                                            Katy Cain
     O God, your will is that all your children should grow into fullness of life.
     We lift to you the ministry of scouting. We offer you thanks for camping, to
     teach us that the world is our great home; for study and work, to build
     character; for service, to see our responsibility to those in need; for encourage-
     ment in genuine patriotism and vital faith. Bless the work of scouting, in this
     place and around the world, that, through its efforts, the young may, like our
     Lord, increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with you and all people.
     Amen.                                                      (Book of Worship; Mark Trotter, U.S.A., 20th Cent.)
+Processional Hymn  158             Come, Christians, Join to Sing             Spanish Hymn
+Salute to the Flags
+The Pledge to the American Flag                                                                   Lydia Higgs
     I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the
     Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and
      justice for all.
+The Pledge to the Christian Flag                                                             William McIvor
     I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the savior for whose reign
     it stands—one family, uniting all humanity in service and in love.
+Litany                                            “Speaking The Law” 
     (A responsive reading written for a joint Girl Scout/Boy Scout worship service, by Rev. Jerry Daily, Avondale United Methodist Church, Kansas City, MO.)
     Girl Scouts: I will do my best to be honest and fair and to be responsible for what
          I say and do.
     Boy Scouts: A Scout is trustworthy and loyal.
     All: God, help us all so to live. 

     GS: I will do my best to be friendly and helpful.
     BS: A Scout is helpful.
     All: God, help us all so to live. 

     GS: I will do my best to be considerate and caring.
     BS: A Scout is cheerful, friendly, and courteous.
     All: God, help us all so to live.

     GS: I will do my best to be a sister to every Girl Scout.
     BS: A Scout is kind.
     All: God, help us all so to live. 

     GS: I will do my best to respect authority.
     BS: A Scout is obedient.
     All: God, help us all so to live. 

     GS: I will do my best to use resources wisely.
     BS: A Scout is thrifty.
     All: God, help us all so to live. 

     GS: I will do my best to be courageous and strong and to make the world a better
            place.
     BS: A Scout is brave.
     All: God, help us all so to live. 

     GS: I will do my best to respect myself and others.
     BS: A Scout is clean and reverent.
     All: Guide us, O God, that we might live the ideals taught us this day by our
            children and youth, through Christ. Amen. 

PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE

Sharing of Joys and Concerns
     -Bob Garner     -William Dorsey
Scouting Report and Recognition of Troops and Leaders 
     Steve Higgs, Kathy Cain      
+Girl Scout Promise                                                                                       Liz Barbour
     On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all
     times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
+Boy Scout Oath                                                                                            Will Austin
     On my honor, I will do my best; to do my duty to God and my country, and to
     obey the Scout Law. To help people at all times, to keep myself physically
     strong,  mentally awake, and morally straight.
Children’s Time                                                                                       Lee Anne Steffe
                             (Children leave for Children’s Church. See * below)
The Gospel Lesson                                                                                       Elizabeth Hill
     (N.T. pg. 36)                                                                                           Mark 2:1-12
     Leader: This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
     People: Thanks be to God. 

THOSE SERVING TODAY:
  Cross Bearer:  Kemper Steffe
  Acolytes:  Jimmy Cain and Katherine Witt
  Ushers:   Captain-Thomas W. Ruble, Mark M. Hall, Joseph J. Masters,
                William G. Sandy,  David E. Nedrow, Jack Gregory 

The Altar Flowers Are Given
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
In Loving Memory of Lucy Davidson
By George Davidson 

The Flowers in the Narthex Are Given
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
In Honor of All Scout Leaders 

*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 will be Stewardship Series I: The Stewardship of All of Life.  

THE CHILDREN’S CHURCH is in need of volunteers. Please consider donating an hour of your time to allow their enrichment to continue. If you can help in any way, please call Tim Johnson at 343-0830 or email tim_johnson@lifenet.org. The children thank you! 

SECOND TRIP—APRIL 8-15: SRUMC VOLUNTEER IN MISSION TEAM TO MISSISSIPPI for Hurricane Katrina Relief with the Interfaith Neighbors Helping Neighbors of the Roanoke Valley. If you are interested and available or want further information please contact our Disaster Relief Coordinator Bill Clark at 721-3340. Transportation will be provided on the church bus. Thanks again for your visionary leadership! 

VBS NEEDS YOUR HELP! Help support our 2006 Vacation Bible School (June 26-30). This year’s theme is Fiesta! Where Kids Are Fired Up About Jesus! For a $5.00 donation you can adopt a Fiesta flag and help cover the cost of materials and supplies. Checks can be written to SRUMC-VBS. Thank you! 

IN LIEU OF THEIR MONTHLY BREAKFAST the United Methodist Men will cook and serve the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on February 28 at 6:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Everyone is invited to attend. 

BILL SMITH who is at the VA Veterans Care Center has been moved from room 235 to room 242. Address for Kathryn Metcalf Snead: Richfield Rehabilitation Center; 3615 West Main Street room 202; Salem, VA 24153.   

CAMP ALTA MONS SUMMER CAMP 2006 BROCHURES are available in the church office. Located near Shawsville, this United Methodist outdoor ministry provides a Christian camping experience for children and youth (rising 3rd graders to high school seniors).               

____________________________

February 19, 2006   7^th Sunday after the Epiphany   You Just Bring Them to Mk. 2:1-12    Scouting Ministries Sunday                     Jesus  

There is something about the Gospel that always surprises me.  No matter how many times I hear the story of Jesus and think that I completely understand, I always get surprised by a brand new understanding that I never had before.  Well, it happened again for me in this story of Jesus—this story of healing and forgiveness of this paralyzed man brought to Jesus by his friends.  In this story the Gospel writer makes first mention of the word “faith” here in the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark.  The word “faith” is not mentioned in the chapter one—it is not until chapter two that the word “faith” appears.  But that’s not what surprised me the most.  What surprises me the most is whose faith it is that gets first mention in the Gospel of Mark.  Whose faith is it as Mark tells the Gospel story?  Listen:
                …some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by
          four of them.  And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of
         the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug
         through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.  [Now
         listen!] When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son,
         your sins are forgiven.’                                                                                Mark 2:3-5
Did you hear it?   Whose faith is it that gets first mention in the Gospel of Mark?  It is not the paralyzed man whose sins Jesus forgives; no, it is the faith of his four friends who bring him to Jesus.  The Gospel says,
            When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins
         are forgiven.’                                                                 Mark  2:5
It is not his faith but their faith.  It is not the faith of the one whose need is the focus of the care, it is the faith of those who care—the faith of those who care so much that when they can’t get in the front door they climb up on the roof and remove it and dig through it and lower him down just to get him in the presence of Jesus.  It is their faith by which this man finds forgiveness and healing and fullness of life.  It is their faith that brings him to Jesus.  That surprises me.   I have heard this story so many times but I am again surprised by a brand new understanding of the story of Jesus that I never had before.  

It is their faith.  What does that mean?  What does it mean that the first to have the word “faith” mentioned in the Gospel of Mark is not that of the one forgiven and healed but it is of they who bring him to Jesus?  What is this Gospel story saying to you today about you and your faith?  

I believe the Gospel writer doesn’t mention faith until the second chapter because some other things had to happen first before faith could truly claim its power and find the full grace of God.  You see, it is in the first chapter of Mark that we meet Jesus, the Messiah, whose way is prepared by John the Baptist.  Jesus is baptized in the first chapter, he is prepared for his ministry through a period of temptation in the wilderness, and then begins preaching in Galilee , announcing,
          The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and           believe the good news.                                                  Mark 1:15
In the first chapter he calls his first disciples and then he confronts evil in all its forms represented by demons who possess people or by illness and disease that afflict people.  It is in the first chapter the demons recognize him and he silences them.  Then the Gospel writer first mentions faith.  I believe the Gospel writer understood that once Messiah comes and demons are silenced then faith can really do its work.  Once Jesus is here and God’s reign starts breaking into the world again ending evil’s reign then faith, faith can do great things.  And whose faith is first identified by Mark?  Whose faith is the first named as doing great things in the Gospel?  It’s their faith—the faith of these four friends who believe that Jesus can help their friend.  The Gospel doesn’t even tell us if the man wanted them to take him to Jesus—we assume that he does and we know he acknowledges Jesus’ ministry in his life because he does respond to Jesus’ invitation to rise up and take up his pallet and walk, but it is the faith of his friends that is the operative focus of the story.  “When Jesus saw their faith,” the Gospel says.  Would that everybody had friends like these!  

Sisters and brothers, there are persons all around you who are paralyzed, whose lives are so caught up in the struggles, pain, and frustrations of life that life has left them nowhere to turn.  There are persons all around you who are so heavily burdened by the realities of ill health, or advancing age, or deep personal loss that it is almost paralyzing.  There are persons all around you who pursue the consumption of wealth and luxury so prevalent in this culture at the expense of that which is really important in life that they are paralyzed—caught in a vicious web of consuming and acquiring which does nothing but bankrupt the spirit.  There are children all around you who cry out for love.  So many of these persons, these victimized, misguided, lonely children of God are so paralyzed they cannot even get themselves to where the help is.  So, the Gospel asks, whose faith is it that will bring them to Jesus?  

Whose faith is it that will bring them to Jesus?  It’s your faith.  Your faith.  That’s what the Gospel was saying to the early church on the very frontier of Christianity in the midst of a culture full of people who were so victimized and misguided and lonely, so paralyzed that they couldn’t make their own way.  The first faith for so many who first come to Jesus is your faith, the faith of the church, the faith of the community of Jesus, the body of Christ.  

Isn’t that true in your life?  You did not come to your faith in Jesus all by yourself.  It was the faith of others who first brought you to Jesus—family, friends.  I believe when you stood before the church that first time and publicly professed your faith in Christ the first thing Jesus saw was their faith, don’t you?—the faith of those who first brought you to him.  When Jesus saw their faith he said to you, “my daughter, my son, your sins are forgiven” and then by your own faith acquired in those loving and nurturing relationships with others you rose up, stood before God on your own two feet, and accepted your Lord’s forgiveness for yourself, and then you joined with them that together your faith might even bring another to Jesus.  It is their faith—that’s a surprise.  

As is always true with the surprising Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the surprise there is good news.  What is the good new in the surprise of the Gospel this morning?  What did these four friends have to do?  All they had to do was just bring them to Jesus.  The Gospel says you just bring them to Jesus.  Remove the roof, dig through it if you have to, just bring them to Jesus.  That’s what they did!  When Jesus heard the commotion inside the house and felt the pebbles of the roof on his head and shoulders and beheld this man secured to his palate that was lowered into the middle of the room, when he looked up and first saw four faces peeking through the hole in the ceiling, faces full of hopeful expectation and compassionate love, what did he see?  The Gospel says “he saw their faith.”  

It is no secret to you that you do not have to break open and dig through the roof to bring people to Jesus here at South Roanoke Church .  You just bring them.  Invite them to come with you.  Let our children greet them with love and put a butterfly on their shirt.  Let us extend a warm hand of fellowship.  Let us feed them a good meal.  Let us open the Scripture to them in study and learning.  Let us show them how to serve others through the Interfaith Hospitality Network or in mission in Mississippi with the folks of Aftercare.  Let us teach them how to give and free them from the tyranny of the love of money.  Just bring them to Jesus.  That’s all you have to do.  Let Jesus and his church do the rest.  

I still believe that when you bring your children for baptism or when you bring your friend to stand before the church and affirm faith in Christ, I believe Jesus first looks up and sees your face full of hopeful expectation and compassionate love.  You see I believe the Gospel when it says, “When he saw their faith he said, ‘son, your sins are forgiven.’”  

Messiah has come.  Evil is silenced.  It’s time now for your faith.  You just bring them to Jesus.
                                                                                   William G. Davidson