The Season After Pentecost, also
called Ordinary Time, is the
period which has 28 Sundays this year. The season begins with Trinity
Sunday (the first Sunday after Pentecost) and continues through the day
before the first Sunday of Advent. The Sundays of this season are
designated as Sundays after Pentecost.
NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
JULY 13, 2008
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.
ORDER OF WORSHIP-10:30
A.M.
+ Indicates the people standing
ENTRANCE
Prelude
Prelude
by J. S. Bach
(During the prelude please use this time for quiet reflection in
preparation for worship.)
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 also
to 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.)
+Singing 374
Standing on the Promises
Promises
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
VBS Kid’s Chorus
Children’s
Time
(Children leave for Children’s Church. See * below)
Sharing of Joys and
Concerns
+The Peace 666
Shalom to
You
Somos Del Señor
+Singing (insert)
Agnus
Dei
by Michael W. Smith
(insert)
Come Into His
Presence
by Lynn Baird
The Epistle Lesson (N.T. pg. 157) Romans
8:5-11 Don Roberts
Pastor: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
Sermon
Your Mind
Set
Bill Davidson
[Sermon manuscripts are posted on the church website the Monday following
the service each week, www.srumc.com]
The Pastoral Prayer
The Lord's
Prayer
Hymnal, No. 895
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily
bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass
against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For
thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Offering of Tithes and Gifts to God's
Work Don Roberts
Offertory Prayer
Offertory Anthem
All Things Bright and
Beautiful
Lani Smith
+Doxology
Hymnal, No. 95
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures
here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Amen.
SENDING FORTH
+Singing
2158
Just a Closer Walk
With Thee
Closer Walk
+Benediction
+Postlude
Fuga
by J. S. Bach
THOSE SERVING TODAY:
Greeters: Mark and Bittsy Hall
Acolytes: Ben Knopf and Ann Wheelock
Nursery Worker: Lillian Meidlinger
Next Sunday’s Nursery Workers: Laura and Jason Hill
Ushers: Captain-Gary Tegenkamp, Dick Clemmer, Ellie Clark, Jeremy
Carroll,
Jeff Huffman
Liturgist: Dr. Donald H. Roberts who served SRUMC as senior pastor
1994-2000
The Altar Flowers Are Given
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
In Honor of the 56th Wedding Anniversary of
Bill and Bettie Neal
*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.
WE WELCOME you to morning worship
at South Roanoke United Methodist Church. Our hope and prayer is that all
who enter here will find the welcoming fellowship of God’s people, joyous
worship inspired by the presence of the Holy Spirit, the faithful
preaching of God’s Word, and the challenge to go into the world as bearers
of God’s grace, love, and justice.
AVAILABLE IN THE NARTHEX: The
July/August Upper Room, hymnals in brail, individual hearing enhancement
equipment, and children’s bulletins (ages 3-12). Please ask an usher to
assist you.
NEXT WEEK’S SERMON,
Labor Pains, will be based on
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 and Romans 8:12-25. Please read and study these
texts this week.
YOU CAN HELP!
ADDITIONAL OFFICE HELPERS ARE NEEDED: If you can help by
answering the
phone and greeting visitors to the office, please call Penny at
344-4437 ext. 10.
VOLUNTEER IN MISSION TEAM TO
MISSISSIPPI--THE DATE IS SET!: For
the Hurricane Katrina relief effort we will be sending a group to
Mississippi October 19-25.
Please contact the church office as soon as possible if you would
like to be a part of this
mission team.
__________________________
PEANUT BUTTER FROM HEAVEN!
Peanut Butter Drive — July 1-31, 2008
Peanut
butter is so important for the 109,000 underprivileged people who are
served each month by the food bank. A great source of protein, it is
always a top-needed staple, especially when families cannot afford meat
due to high gas and grocery prices.
Bring jars of peanut butter to church this month! Our goal is 200 jars!
_____________________________________
CHURCH PICNIC -JULY 27
Our
Annual Church Picnic will be held
at the shelter on Mill Mountain
Immediately following the 10:30 Worship Service on
Sunday, July 27
Chicken will be provided
We ask that you bring two side dishes to share
We need to know how many to plan for
_____________________________________
July 13,
2008 9th Sunday after Pentecost Your Mind
Set
Romans 8:5-11
We
Christians are bi-cultural people. We find ourselves in two cultures at
the same time. And we Christians spend our lives trying our best, by
God’s grace, to live in one culture while residing in the other.
You see,
we reside in the culture
of this world while living in the culture of the
kingdom of God;
we reside in
a world that values independence but we live in a world
that is totally dependent upon God;
we reside in
a world of violence, control, and coercion but we live in
a world of non-violence, love, and surrender of control to
God;
we reside in a world that
is quick to identify adversaries, attack our
enemies, and defy those who are against us but we live in a
world where we are quick to
turn the other cheek to our adversaries, go the
second mile for those who are against
us, and love our enemies;
we reside in a world that
values power and wealth but we live in a world
of the self-giving sacrifice of the death of the Son of
God on a cross;
we reside in a world that
would have things stay just the way they are
but we live in a world that is changing
and transformed by
the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ;
We reside in a world
that’s all about our achievement, our effort,
human accomplishment but we live in a world that’s all
about what God has done and is doing through the Spirit of
the living Christ.
We reside in a
world of fear while we live in a world of hope and
confidence in God.
Yes, we Christians are bi-cultural people. We have two “mind sets,” if
you will. We find ourselves in two cultures at the same time. And we
Christians spend our lives trying our best, by God’s grace, to live in one
culture while residing in the other.
I believe
this is something of what the Apostle Paul means when he says,
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on
the
things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit set
their minds on the things
of the Spirit.
Romans 8:5
Surely the people of the church at Rome knew what it was like to live in
two cultures at the same time, to be bi-cultural. In his book about the
historical context of the New Testament Warren Carter describes the
culture in which the folks of the 1st century lived. The
common people found themselves dominated by the violent political power of
the Roman empire and the economic exclusivity of the wealthy few. The
nature of the political and economic world set the stage for the
predominant values of the time. Life was, first of all, all about
domination and power. It pervaded the entire societal structure. Order
was maintained by the Roman hierarchical social order and economy enforced
by the military. The culture was dominated by the 3% of the population
that had garnered Rome’s favor through civic or military patronage. These
wealthy elite held a deep sense of superiority over the rest of the people
and lived extravagant lives of conspicuous consumption. For them,
productive and manual labor was beneath them, so they depended upon and
looked down on the other 97% of the people for this work: the common
folk. As a matter of fact, most early Christians were among the 97% at
the bottom of the social ladder consigned to varying levels of poverty,
including the Christians in Rome.
Warren Carter, The
Roman Empire and the
New Testament,
2006
So they knew
what it meant to live in two cultures at the same time, to be
bi-cultural. And Paul reminds them,
You are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit.
Paul says you are called to live where the values and practices of the
culture in which you reside are turned completely upside down. In a world
of dominant hierarchy, oppressive economy, violent power, and
all-consuming wealth you live in the different world of equality, justice,
and love. While residing in a kingdom built upon the altar of human
achievement you live in the kingdom of God. As we shared together from
this letter to the church at Rome on a previous Sunday from the 6th
chapter, for the Christian, in baptism you are blessed by God, your status
is changed, you go to a different place, experience a different atmosphere
altogether. The trick is how to live in the culture of the kingdom of
God, that different place, maintain that new status, stay in that healthy,
wholesome atmosphere while all the while residing in the other.
A recent
study of people who are bicultural and speak two languages has discovered
an interesting and, I believe, powerful insight into our own predicament.
Researchers from Baruch College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
recently studied groups of Hispanic women, all bilingual and some who are
bicultural; that is, women who participated in both Latino and Anglo
culture as opposed to Spanish-speakers who have lived in Anglo culture all
their lives.
They found significant changes in self perception or “frame-
shifting” (as they
call it) in bicultural participants…‘Language can
be a cue that activates
different culture-specific frames,’… (a
researcher said. Test
results showed that the bicultural
women)…classified
themselves as more assertive when they spoke Spanish than when they spoke
English…(they perceived themselves) as more self-sufficient and
extroverted.
Reuters.com,
June 24, 2008, “Switching languages can also switch personality: study”
The insight here, for
me, is that when they locate themselves in their native culture, speak
their native language, they become much more “themselves” —more confident,
present, alive. That, I believe, is what the Apostle Paul is trying to
declare. We bicultural people have a native culture, a native language
from which we came. It is the gift of life that made us in the
beginning. That life is still in us by the image of God deep in our
hearts. That life is the gift of God restored to us at baptism. It is a
life so different from the culture in which we reside that it completely
changes our status, you go to a different place, you adopt a completely
different “mind-set.” It is the place of your origin where you will
always feel right at home.
A group of students were asked to list what they thought were
the present “Seven Wonders of the World.” Though there were some
disagreements, the following received the most votes:
1. Egypt’s
Great Pyramids
2. Taj
Mahal
3. Grand
Canyon
4. Panama
Canal
5. Empire
State Building
6. St.
Peter’s Basilica
7. China’s
Great Wall
While
gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student had not finished
her paper yet. So she asked (her) if she was having trouble with her
list. She replied, “Yes, a little. I couldn’t quite make up my mind
because there were so many.” The teacher said, “Well, tell us what you
have, and maybe we can help.” She hesitated, then read, “I think the
‘Seven Wonders of the World” are:
1. To see
2. To hear
3. To
touch
4. To
taste
5. To feel
6. To
laugh
7. and to
love.
The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. The things we
overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly
wondrous…the most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or
bought by man.
http://6doi.net/lifestyle/the-true-seven-wonders-of-the-world.html
Wouldn’t you
say this young girl had a different mind set than the rest of the class?
The Apostle Paul says,
You are not in the
flesh; you are in the Spirit.
He knows full well that those who are in the Spirit still reside in a
world that is very much, to use his term, “in the flesh.” That is why he
so emphasizes that
those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the
things
of the flesh, but those
who live according to the Spirit set their
minds on the things of
the Spirit.
Romans
8:5
It all has to do with your mind set, where your faith is, what you really
believe in.
Have you
ever lain on a bed of nails? I suppose there are few things more
countercultural than that! Recently a Virginia Tech professor was giving
a public demonstration of the mysteries of science. For one of the
demonstrations he first lay on a bed of nails, had a cement block placed
on his chest, then had one of his students smash it with a sledge hammer.
After he arose unscathed the reporter asked him how he could possibly do
that. He replied, “You have to have faith in physics.” That college
professor can do that because he has set his mind on the “things” of
physics, laying aside his fear.
Have you
ever lain on a bed of nails? Are you afraid they’ll hurt you? (Now this
sermon may need the same disclaimer that is required of so many TV
commercials and programs today: “This stunt was performed by
professionals under controlled conditions. Do not attempt!”) Do you have
more faith in your own fears about that than you do in the laws of
physics?
Now to tell
you the truth I’m not real sure I want to lie on a bed of nails either.
And neither do I want to suggest to you that living the Christian life is
like lying in a bed of nails. But when it comes to life, you either
believe in the ways of the world or you believe God. You either have
faith in human achievement and human accomplishment or you have faith in
the cross of Christ. You either live by your own fears in the midst of a
fallen culture or you live by the confidence of the kingdom of God. You
either set your mind on the ways of the world or the way of Jesus.
We
Christians are bi-cultural people. We find ourselves in two cultures at
the same time. And we Christians spend our lives trying our best, by
God’s grace, to live in one culture while residing in the other. Thanks
be to God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who alone rightly sets
our minds and gives us life in the kingdom of God.
William G. Davidson
