Laity Sunday is a day set aside to remember that every person is invited to embody God’s restoration project of healing love, justice, and world-repair. It is a special Sunday defined by General Conference “to celebrate the ministry of all Christians” (2016 Book of Discipline, ¶ 264.2). Usually observed on the third Sunday in October, Laity Sunday is one way we express the deep conviction that all are called to participate in God’s mission and live this calling through the ministry of the church.
Each year we celebrate the 24/7 priesthood of all believers. In recent years we have stressed deep discipleship through participation in the means of grace and building authentic relationships with people in our communities. We considered that for John Wesley, works of piety (charity) and mercy are really spiritual attention training, it’s an attempt to upgrade our spiritual senses. They shape our ability to see God at work in the church and in every life and help tune our hearts to participate in God’s world-repairing mission. This is soul-training and attuned vocational discernment. So we learn to hear and answer God’s call on our lives as they intersect with the lives of all people. 2022 continues to bring challenges for those called to gather in Jesus’ name. While the pandemic continues seemingly unabated in many communities, we are still struggling to find ways to agree on vaccination, quarantining, and how to best protect friends, neighbors, and strangers by wearing masks and social distancing. At the same time we struggle to re-invite our families, friends and neighbors back to church. This appears a mighty task, so we remind ourselves that with God… Yes! All things are possible! Last year we emphasized that our calling as disciples leads us to a deeper faith, one characterized by engagement with people (zooming online and in person) beyond church walls. By recognizing persons who need our help and sharing life together, we rediscover that a vocation to discipleship begins and ends with authentic relationships nurtured through listening love, conversation, and shared stories of struggle and grace. Experiencing God’s life-giving presence through attention to the actual lives of others continues to be a key spiritual practice for discovering and sharing scriptural wholeness together in Jesus Christ. The Laity Sunday themes for the quadrennium come from 2 Timothy 1:1-14. Under the call to Rise Up, laity will continue to echo the invitation of this passage: to Rise Up and revive God’s gift of faith (that first lived in those who loved us); to Rise Up and reveal the grace in Christ that destroys death and brings life; to Rise Up and remain committed to sound teaching with faith and love; to Rise Up and retain this reliable gift of good and beautiful things placed in our trust by the Holy Spirit. Scripture Texts for 10/30/2022: Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26; Psalm 137; 2 Tim 1:8-12; (Luke 17:5-10, used last Sunday) <taken from umcdiscipleship.org> So let's get down to brass tacks. 2 Timothy 1:8-12, New International Version 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. Back a few verses in 2nd Timothy, we find these words: I’m grateful to God, whom I serve with a good conscience as my ancestors did. I constantly remember you in my prayers day and night. When I remember your tears, I long to see you so that I can be filled with happiness. I’m reminded of your authentic faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice (just like my Grandmother, Millie, and Mother, Joan). I’m sure that this faith is also inside you. Because of this, I’m reminding you to revive God’s gift that is in you through the laying on of my hands. ~2 Timothy 1:3-6 (CEB) Within just a few verses in 2 Timothy, Paul uses memory words four times (words like remember, recall, remind). And while some memories are loss and tears, Paul invites Timothy to recall the joy and genuine faith—the song of grace—that lived in the young leader’s grandmother Lois and mother Eunice. Why? Because the reminding can be a rekindling that fans the flame of God’s gift in us—a gift we couldn’t see until they did. The Greek word for revive or reignite that Paul chooses contains the words “up,” “again,” “life,” and “fire” (anazōpurein, 2 Timothy 1:6). Authentic faith never starts (or ends) with us. To put it another way, with the words of theologian, Billie Joel, “we didn’t start the fire.” It’s always a new version of an old song lived out by those who love us into the faith. For the witnesses in scripture, faith is always a cover song. But it’s one that’s hard to sing (or live) when we forget the words or even the melody (as my Granma Millie used to sing, “in my heart there rings a melody of love”). So how do we support our laity?, by remembering why we're together in the first place. Such memories of grace help remind us that God’s song of love has “scored” every life, filling each and every person, laity and clergy, with gifts for “a time such as this.” So what will we do to celebrate Laity Sunday? We ask each other, “Whose love rescued you and set you on the path of discipleship?” We will remember our rescues to rekindle faith’s fire. And we will sing them. Maybe for you it’s “Love lifted me” or “I once was lost but now am found” or some other song that brought you back to life so you could share its abundance with others. In a strange land. Because it is the LORD’s song of love for life, for all – and in this song every life has a verse. Happy Laity Sunday! See you tomorrow in Worship. Be blessed, P Jim ♥️⚓️ 10/30/2022
Dear Friends in Christ- God is working in us to conform our character and will to be like his own. God is a giver. God finds delight in generously blessing us. Now He asks us to do the same. Giving is not some arbitrary task given us to support our churches and ministries; no, giving is part of our character transformation to become more like God. It may be one of the truest ways we have placed our allegiance, dependence, and priorities in the gracious work of God. 2 Corinthians 9:7-11, New International Version 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” 10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. As we celebrate the Laity, it’s important we better understand our responsibilities as Children of God. It has been proven, time and time again, that we gain more every time we're generous, than those we seek to help. Why do you believe this is true? Is it because God is a generous giver, setting the example for us? Think about a time you held back vs. when you were generous? What did you learn? Let's pray, Father, forgive me for the times I have been miserly with the abundance you have shared with me. Make me a conduit of blessings. I know that all I have is yours. Please help me use it as you would. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed, P Jim ♥️⚓️ Dear Friends in Christ-
We will celebrate the work of the Laity, this coming Sunday. By tradition, each Committee/Team Leader has opportunity to offer up information on what they do and why. Also noted: why so many Teams and how do the Committees work together? The book of Lamentations articulates the anguish of the Hebrews in the wake of the conquest of Jerusalem and the razing of the city by Babylon. Where's the hope? Considering these past years and related challenges, Lamentations seems to fit our current angst. Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26 New International Version 1 How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. 2 Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. 3 After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. 4 The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed festivals. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she is in bitter anguish. 5 Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. The Lord has brought her grief because of her many sins. Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe. 6 All the splendor has departed from Daughter Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; in weakness they have fled before the pursuer. 3:19-26: 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” 25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Jerusalem has no doubt — and none of our hesitation! — to name the source of her affliction. Yes, “Her foes have become the masters.” Who knows? By empathetically weeping with those who hurt far away and with those who suffer in our own contexts, we may come to love them. And if we come authentically to love them, our eyes might even be opened to see that the Lord to whom we cry out together is already there — where He ever is — among the broken and suffering in our world. Jesus is there, wounded, pierced, weeping, but speaking a quiet promise of a reign of God that will yet come. Oh, maranatha! (1 Corinthians 16:22). Bottom line, no matter what the situation- the pain, the challenges- people need the Lord... Be blessed, P Jim ♥️⚓️ Attached: how stubborn can we be? Thank you all for your patience as I continue to recover from surgery. I will re-start the "Daily" on Tuesday, October 25. I thank you for your continued interest in Sunday Worship preparation. Please take opportunity to join us in live Worship each Sunday, 9am at Round Lake UMC and 11am at Pittstown UMC. You may also use the Zoom application (a free app from the app store) for 11am from Pittstown or call in to listen to live Worship, as below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87618759099?pwd=Y3U2a3lqSE5ZZ1hQWHNyVXM1Z3pTQT09 To join by phone, dial (929) 205-6099 and enter the meeting ID and password below: Meeting ID: 876 1875 9099 Password: 333 Blessings on your day! ♥️⚓️ Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android To the Church Family of Round Lake UMC-
How blessed we are to be part of the Round Lake Family. Karyl and I thank you for the warm reception and look forward to years of loving ministry. In His Service, P Jim ♥️⚓️ 5 The apostles came up and said to the Master, "Give us more faith." 6 But the Master said, "You don't need more faith. There is no "more" or "less" in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, "Go jump in the lake," and it would do it. 7-10 "Suppose one of you has a servant who comes in from plowing the field or tending the sheep. Would you take his coat, set the table, and say, "Sit down and eat"? Wouldn't you be more likely to say, "Prepare dinner; change your clothes and wait table for me until I've finished my coffee; then go to the kitchen and have your supper"? Does the servant get special thanks for doing what's expected of him? It's the same with you. When you've done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, "The work is done. What we were told to do, we did." In Matthew 25, it is said "Well done good and faithful servant". As a Church, we can lean on the accomplishments of those who came before us, but need to strive toward a greater and renewed sense of purpose. Reflect on your purpose ... to family, to friends, and to your Church. In His Service, Wendy D'Avella Lay Leader Friends,
As I recover from Surgery, Wendy D'Avella, Lay Leader at Pittstown UMC, graciously offered to continue our Daily Prayer & Study. Thank you, Wendy. Blessings, P Jim ♥️⚓️ |
ZOOM WORSHIP SERVICE
SUNDAY @ 11 AM To join by phone, dial (929) 205-6099 and enter the meeting ID and password below: Meeting ID: 876 1875 9099 Password 333 PrayerGracious Loving Lord, please keep all of your children safe in these trying times. Guide us. Open our ears to hear, our eyes to see, our minds to understand and our hearts to know and be your love to others. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Want to support RLUMC and our missions? Donate Today
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September 2023
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