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5/30/2018 May 30th, 2018 Preparing for VBS"Shipwrecked" Vacation Bible School is less than a month away! To better prepare us to share the gospel message with our kids, our worship services this month will focus on some of the same Scripture stories we will be telling at VBS. We will hear stories about people who lose important things, the rivalry between two sisters, and two simple men who changed a life forever. While we will be looking at these stories from a different perspective than we will at VBS, exploring these stories will help us all be more prepared to share them. Even if you will not be working directly with the kids, I hope that these weeks will be a blessing to help connect you with God and with the great work God has given us to do as a congregation. Preparations are going well for VBS, but we still have a few openings for leadership. We are in need of a 3rd grade group leader, assistants for PreK, Kindergarten, third, and middle school groups, and extra helpers on Monday, 5:00-6:30 pm. If you have one night or more that you can bless the children of our community, please see Dinah as soon as possible. Praise in the Park this Sunday!This Sunday, we “Praise in the Park!” Our service will begin at 10 am in Bradburn Park. Bring a comfortable lawn chair or a picnic blanket, and enjoy worshiping God and rejoicing with our graduates down by the river! We will have only a few folding chairs set up. Also please reserve parking at the park for our older members by parking at the church and walking to the park if you are able. Following worship, we will enjoy a potluck picnic so plan to stay and enjoy the feast! Invite a friend to join you for this great day! In the case of bad weather, we will move the service and potluck indoors at the church. We plan to make a decision by Saturday evening. Living in CommunityThanks to Ralph, Jason, and Lee for leading worship this past Sunday! A special thanks to Isaac for sharing a great message! This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, May 30 9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours Thursday, May 31 9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours Saturday, June 2 8:00 am - Kids Fishing Trip Meet at the church! Sunday, June 3 10:00 am - Praise in the Park: Worship and Graduate Recognition followed by potluck picnic Looking AheadVBS Float in Parade - June 22
Vacation Bible School - June 25-29 5/21/2018 May 21st, 2018 Vacation TimeI will be taking time off this week. I appreciate your prayers for rest and renewal. In my absence, Isaac will be preaching next Sunday. I have had a chance to read over his message and know it will be a blessing to you as it was to me. If you are in town this next weekend, you will want to be at Port Church for worship on Sunday morning! Blessings on the journey, Jim Sunday's Sermon SnippetCharacter: The Roots of a Disciple Filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:1-21, 37-39; Song of Songs 8:6-7a) Love of God, joy, thankfulness, prayer, and love of neighbor - these are the marks of what makes a disciple of Jesus. There is still one more thing that is needed - something we discover in the account of how Jesus' disciples came into their own and became truly, fully disciples on Pentecost. It had been fifty days since Jesus' resurrection and ten long days since he ascended into heaven. The disciples were waiting in Jerusalem for the fulfillment of Jesus' promises to them - it had to be a hard wait. Suddenly a sound like rushing wind came and tongues of flame rested upon them. They began to talk in languages unknown to them. The crowd gathered for the festival from over the known world arrived to check out what was going on. They were stunned by what they saw. Simple fishermen and the like from Galilee speaking all kinds of languages so that they all heard and understood. Most were amazed, but some began to mock them as drunkards - a charge that makes little sense in explaining the miracle but gave an excuse to not take them seriously. Peter in response began to preach quoting from Joel about how God would pour out the Spirit upon all flesh and proclaiming the good news of Jesus. Thousands came to believe that day, and the world has never been the same since. That is what happens when we are filled with God's Spirit. Our lives are transformed, and everything we touch in the world changes forever. That is the power of the Spirit, because it is a gift of God's love for us. Just as life from the Creator and the redemption of Christ are gifts of love from our God, the Spirit which guides and strengthens us, gives us visions and dreams, and sets our hearts on fire is just such a gift of love. That love from God and our love for God and one another is greatest force we know. Solomon sang that it is as strong as death but Jesus proved it is even stronger than death. It is more powerful than a blazing fire and cannot be quenched by even a mighty river. When we are filled by God's Spirit, love burns deep within us, and our lives, the lives of those around us, and the whole world even are never the same. Being filled by the Spirit is our last mark of a disciple. For it is not enough to merely talk about loving God and one another or to wish we were more joyful, grateful, and prayerful. We have to let love take over our lives. We need to let the Spirit fill us to overflowing with a love that will make fools of us. We become truly, deeply disciples when the fire God's love consumes our lives and we are filled with the Spirit! Living in CommunityCongratulations to Chandler, Becca, and Emilie on their recent and upcoming graduations! Christian sympathy to the family and friends of Doris Alexander. Thanks to Celest for providing a wonderful lunch for our VBS volunteers and to Dinah for leading our VBS training! Looking AheadKid's Fishing Trip - June 2, 8 am
Praise in the Park/Graduate Recognition - June 3, 10 am VBS Float in Parade - June 22 Vacation Bible School - June 25-29 5/15/2018 May 15th, 2018 Summer FunThe weather lately promises us that summer is not far away! With it, summer brings picnics, graduations, and plenty of time outdoors. So we are planning some summer fun here at Port Church for June. On Saturday, June 2, we are gathering for a fishing trip with the kids. Tom and Dorcy have arranged for us to use a private pond so there is no need for a license. We will meet at the church at 8 am, and then make the short trip to the pond for a couple of hours of fishing. If you have a kid who is interested sign up on the bulletin board at church or let me know. We only have ten spots available for kids. The next day, June 3, we will gather for our annual Praise and Potluck at the Park at 10 am. We will not have Sunday School after worship but will stay for a potluck picnic in the park. Bring a lawn chair, enjoy the great outdoors, and praise God! We will also be recognizing our graduates as a part of our celebration that day! And who can forget about Vacation Bible School at the end of the month? See below for an update on our VBS plans. Hope you can join us in some summer fun! Blessings on the journey, Jim Sunday's Sermon SnippetCharacter: The Roots of a Disciple The Love of Neighbor (1 John 4:11-21) The love of God, the strength of joy, the spirit of thankfulness, the life of prayer - these are all marks of what makes a disciple. They all have to do with our relationship with God. Yet being a disciple of Jesus is not just about how we relate to God but also how we relate to one another. When Jesus was asked about which of the 613 commandments was the greatest, he answered the first was to love God but a second was like it - to love our neighbors as ourselves. All the others, he said, hang on these. In this way, these two "love" commandments are like the poles of a clothesline. Everything else we do relies on these two things. If we only have pole, however, everything we do falls to the ground and becomes dirty laundry. We need to love God and one another. John affirms this in his first letter. After talking about the importance of loving God, he claims we must love one another as well. We cannot love God who we have not seen, he claims, if we do not love one another who we do see. This challenges us to love everybody always (the title of a recent book). If we want to love God, we have to love even the most difficult and different of people. This means overcoming our fear. Fear is the opposite of love and tries to hold it back. When we fear the judgment of others or what someone might do to us, it is impossible to fully love them, but God's perfect love for us can overcome our fear and open us up to love others. Disciples love others just as much as they love God! Vacation Bible School UpdateThe dates for VBS at South River are now confirmed: June 25 - 29! We would typically host a Kickoff Party on the Saturday before VBS, but this year that would conflict with the Fire Department's Lawn Party. So instead, we will entering a float into the parade on Friday, June 22! We will decorating a trailer and will need children on board our Shipwrecked float. We also will need folks to walk alongside our float. Talk with Lee if you are interested in being a part of the parade! We still need Kindergarten leader and assistants, 3rd grade leader, plus assistants for PreK, 4th, and Middle School. Please see Dinah, Angela, or Hannah if you are interested in working with these classes as leaders or assistants. Living in CommunityPrayers of Christian sympathy for Courtney on the passing of her uncle. This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, May 16 9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours Thursday, May 17 9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours Sunday, May 20 9:30 am - Worship: Pentecost 11:00 am - Sunday School 12:00 noon - 2 pm - VBS Training Looking AheadKid's Fishing Trip - June 2, 8 am
Praise in the Park/Graduate Recognition - June 3, 10 am VBS Float in Parade - June 22 Vacation Bible School - June 25-29 5/8/2018 May 08th, 2018 Happy Mother's Day!Since my mother passed away five years ago, Mother's Day has been a bittersweet day. While the boys and I celebrate the mother in our family - often with the planting of flowers in the yard or a container - it is strange to not be able to call my own mother just to say hello. Despite that sadness, there is still the joy of remembering Mama. I certainly wouldn't be who I am today without her. I count myself blessed to have had the mother I did and doubly blessed to have had so many others who mothered me along the way. Growing up with three older sisters, I often joked that I had four mamas. Despite the typical sibling squabbles we engaged in (and still engage in), I am thankful for how they watched after me and helped me along life's way. I am grateful for my aunt who was always there and could always be called upon if I needed her. I remember all the teachers and the pastor of my home church who mentored me and helped me to grow into adulthood. While I will certainly miss my mother this weekend, I know that God has blessed me with so many folks who have mothered me in one way or another over the years, and I find myself happy. Thank you to all the folks in our congregation who are likewise mothering the children of our congregation and giving them a blessing beyond measure! For our Sunday School teachers, children church leaders, nursery care workers, cooks and servers, bus drivers and riders, and friends and mentors to children, thank you for the gift you are giving our kids that they will one day cherish! Blessings on the journey, Jim Sunday's Sermon Snippet Character: The Roots of a Disciple The Life of Prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Revisiting the short list of instructions that the Apostle Paul offered in his first letter to the Thessalonians, we find another root that keeps a disciple grounded in life: pray continually. How can one possibly pray without ceasing? Eventually, we will need to say "Amen," end our prayer, and actually live life: talk with other people, do our work at school, jobs, or home, etc. Yet Paul challenges to keep on praying. To wrap our minds around this idea, we need to look at three aspects of prayer that limit how we view it and how we practice it. First of all, we often see prayer as something we ought to do. We are encouraged to pray daily and to spend at least a certain amount of time in prayer - good things to be sure - but viewing prayer this way can make it seem like more of a responsibility than a relationship. Prayer is the conversation of our relationship with God. Just as we catch up with a friend over a cup of coffee or while working on a project together, we catch up with God when we engage in prayer. Secondly, prayer is not a time when we return to God after an absence as much as remembering that who we are and whose we are. When we leave our homes, we do not cease to be a parent, a child, a sibling, or a friend. We are still in relationship even when we are apart. When we say "Amen," we do not cease to be God's children and beloved. Prayer helps us to remember who we are and that we are always in relationship with God. The third thing for us to think about is what it means to pray. So many of our prayers go something like, "Dear God, please take care of this problem. Amen." If prayer is a relationship, however, our conversation should include at least as much listening as talking. Since God probably has a lot better things to say than we do, it might behoove us to spend more time listening than talking. Often when we do listen, we are waiting for a response to what we have asked for first. What would it be like if we were to listen without an agenda - to start a conversation, "Hey, God, how are things going?" What if we were to just listen to whatever God had to say? What if we were ready to pick up the phone and listen whenever God may call? If prayer is about a relationship rather than a responsibility, about remembering whose we are rather than returning to God, and more about listening than talking, then what we are called to is not set times of prayer but a life of prayer. That life will include all kinds of prayers just as any relationship has all kinds of conversations: spoken and unspoken, active and passive, public and private, written and spontaneous, formal and informal. These words are just an expression of our relationship with God - our continual prayer. A single prayer may end with "Amen" but a life of prayer begins there! Disciples are connected to God because they live a life of continual prayer. Reimbursements and Bill PaymentsIf you are requesting payment of a bill to a company or individual, we ask that you complete an expense voucher available in the church office, sign off on the expense, and leave it along with the bill in the Treasurer's mailbox. If you are submitting a reimbursement for expenses you have paid out of pocket, please complete an expense voucher, then have another person involved in the ministry sign off on the expense as well, and submit with receipts to the Treasurer's mailbox. You can also leave them in the Pastor's mailbox to be signed off on, and they will be submitted to the Treasurer for you. This helps us to keep track of what expenses are for and makes us better stewards of God's resources. Thanks for your cooperation! Living in CommunityThank you, Meg, Chris, and Davida, for helping to serve communion in worship on Sunday! This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, May 9 9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours Thursday, May 10 9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours Sunday, May 13 9:30 am - Worship: "Character: The Roots of a Disciple" 11:00 am - Sunday School Looking AheadVBS Training - May 20, 12 noon
Graduate Recognition - June 3 VBS tentatively scheduled for June 25-29 |
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