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7/25/2016 0 Comments July 25th, 2016 Celebrating 100 Years of Worship and Mission This past Sunday was a big milestone for our church as we kicked off a second century of worship in our sanctuary! On July 23, 1916, the congregation of Port Church dedicated their newly built sanctuary for the worship of God. On July 24, 2016, we gave thanks for the faithfulness of those who have gone before us and left us with this great gift and re-dedicated our sanctuary for the worship and mission of God's people for the next 100 years. As a part of our celebration, our Trustees chair Lauren shared with us about some of the work we need to do to prepare this building for another 100 years: restoration of our oldest stained glass windows, new coverings to protect our picture windows, replacement of the back steps to the office, trimming of trees at the church and the park, and cleaning up and organization of the rooms of the church. To accomplish these tasks will take the work and financial support of all of us. Our Finance chair Bob shared with us a vision for what ministry could be here at Port Church with increased worship and fellowship space and repair of the house on Main Street to support our outreach to the village and beyond. Our church can truly be a beacon of hope and love to all the surrounding community!To grow and not merely maintain what has been passed on to us will take dedication and sacrifice from us all. I am challenged and excited by their words and vision, and I hope you are as well. May those who gather at Port Church in another 100 years find us as faithful as those who have gone before us! Blessings on the journey, Jim Lazy Days of Summer It sure has been hot lately - hot enough to make you think twice about getting outside to do much of anything! While summer days have a reputation for being a bit lazy sometimes, many of us are even busier than usual, and we think that is a good thing. In our day and age, busyness has become a measure of a person's worth and laziness is seen as a cardinal sin. Yet the Bible tells us that even God rested after working to create all that is and that we should rest as well. Join us this Sunday as explore what it means to "Rest" during these "Lazy Days of Summer!" Living in CommunityThanks to Lauren and Bob for sharing a vision for the work that needs to be done to take care of our building to support our worship and mission for another 100 years! Thanks to Sue for organizing our potluck on Sunday! This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, July 20 No Office Hours this week Sunday, July 24 9:30 am - Worship: "Lazy Days of Summer: Rest" 11:00 Sunday School Looking AheadWednesday at the Port begins September 14
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7/18/2016 0 Comments July 18th, 2016 A Ministry Entrusted to Us These are trying times. It seems that any given morning we can turn on the TV, unfold the newspaper, or load the news on our computer or phone to discover yet another disturbing act of violence somewhere in the world. Whether these things are happening more than they used to or we are just hearing about them more often with the flow of information in the current age, it is heart-breaking nonetheless. The problems we are facing are so much larger than we are. Seeing so much violence in so many places so much of the time, it would be easy to throw up our arms in defeat and hole up hoping that it will all just go away. After all, what can we possibly do? Yet to give up is to abdicate the ministry that God has entrusted to us: reconciliation. Through the power of Jesus Christ, we have been remade and reconciled to God and to one another, and we are called to share the gospel of reconciliation with others. The problems of this world may be huge, but they can only be met by those who are committed to pushing through the dividing walls of violence and blame that are so easily built among us. It begins with how we treat one another. If we cannot break down the dividing walls of hostility among those we love, how can we hope to challenge a world built upon hatred and division. Who in our lives do we need to be reconciled with? A brother or sister? A co-worker or boss? A friend or an enemy? What would happen if we made an effort to reconcile with someone in our lives? I wonder how much it might grow in time if the church of Jesus took this ministry seriously today. Blessings on the journey, Jim All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, NIV Summer Book Club Sunday's Sermon Snippet: Paul's Favor (Philemon) Paul's Letter to Philemon stands out among the many letters of the New Testament as unusual because it was written to a person rather than a church or community. At first glance, the book appears to be simply a personal correspondence between two people with Paul, the writer of the letter, asking a favor of Philemon. Paul has encountered Onesimus, a slave who has fled from Philemon, and taught him about Jesus. Onesimus converted, became a Christian brother, and aided Paul in his work. In writing the letter, Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon while asking that the slave be freed and released so that the can continue in his work with Paul for the sake of the gospel. Paul notes that he could write demanding the favor as an act of obedience to him as a leader of the church. He also notes that he could guilt Philemon with the fact that he owes him his own life because of the gospel of Jesus that Paul shared with him. Yet Paul simply asks for this as a favor because he does not want to deprive Philemon of the opportunity to choose it freely. In this way, Paul models something for us that may teach us something about how God works in the world. God does not force a path upon us but invites and calls us to follow those paths instead. God does not force us to choose the good, because then it would no longer be a choice we make. God frees us to make decisions on our own. While this runs the risk that we may not obey what God desires, it creates room for us to find joy in choosing good and working with God. When we wonder why God does not just fix the problems of this world, we would do well to remember that God does not force even the good on us. While God could fix all the problems of this world by force, that would deprive us of the choice we were made to make. Instead we are called to join with God and make a difference in the world. This Sunday in Worship This Sunday, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of our sanctuary with a special service starting at 10 am! As we celebrate our holy space, we will explore how God's people have found and celebrated holy spaces in generations past. How has our sanctuary been a holy space to you? How have you experienced God in our sanctuary? The service will be followed by a potluck dinner in the park, weather permitting. Please bring a dish from one of the recipes you submitted for the cookbook. You will be invited to fill out a card to put with your dish to include the dish name and page number in the cookbook. That way, we can all sample a lot of the recipes in our wonderful cookbook! Invite family, friends, and former members for this special day! Living in CommunityPlease pray for Bishop Sharma Lewis who will be our new bishop beginning September 1! Bishop Lewis comes to us from the North Georgia Conference where she has served as a District Superintendent. Please pray for Bishop Cho as he prepares for his retirement. Please remember all those families affected by the recent spate of violence across our nation in your prayers. Please lift up our local law enforcement officers and their families, especially those who are a part of our congregation. This Week at Port ChurchTuesday, July 19 6:45 pm - Children's Christian Education Meeting Wednesday, July 20 10:00 am - 12 noon - Office Hours Thursday, July 21 10:00 am Sunshine Seniors Sunday, July 24 10:00 am - Worship: "To This Very Point" 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Sanctuary 12:00 noon - Potluck Looking AheadWednesday at the Port begins September 14!
7/12/2016 0 Comments July 12th, 2016 Prayers for Our Hurting Nation Good morning, God. It’s been a difficult week here – a week filled with death, with anger, with tears, with fears. And so today, Lord, we grieve for our nation that is broken. We are tearing ourselves apart along lines of black and white, liberal and conservative, rich and poor, young and old, right and wrong, and we forget that we are called to be one in you. And so we grieve – for the fear that so many of our brothers and sisters feel in this world, for the sacrifices made by so many good people who have vowed to serve and protect, for those who are planning funerals now because they have lost someone they love. Pour out your healing Spirit upon us; take away our fears and open our eyes to the ways of your love; help us to understand one another as the brothers and sisters we are in you; convict us of the sin that is lodged in the deep, dark corners of our souls; use us as instruments of your peace in a world of conflict and violence. Cure our warring madness and grant us your peace so that all your children everywhere may know the unsurpassable love that is you. Start here and now with us as we come before you in prayer. Grant us joy and courage for the facing of this hour in the life of our nation so that we may be witnesses to you in all that we do. Amen. Summer Book Club Sunday's Sermon Snippet: James and the Giant Teaching (James 1-2) The book of the week for our Summer Book Club is actually a letter - the Letter of James. In the early days of the church, many letters were written by church leaders to communities of believers far and wide - to encourage them, to instruct them, to answer questions, but especially to correct misunderstandings. One of the most misunderstood of teachings was on what was necessary for eternal life with God. The Apostle Paul wrote frequently on this topic and tried to boil it down simply: we are saved by faith alone - but even this simple statement led to confusion as new converts to the faith misunderstood this as license to live life as before (or worse). Since faith alone led to salvation, they thought, how they acted was of little consequence. James similarly wrote his letter to encourage the faithful - most likely Jewish Christians who understood the law - to live holy lives. We should be doers of God's word and not merely hearers, he writes to us. Saving faith is not simply an intellectual exercise of agreeing with certain statements about Jesus nor is it only an emotional matter of the heart in loving God. Faith - to James - is an activity of the whole body: mind, heart, hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouth. How we live our lives is an essential part of our faith. As James goes on to write, faith without action is dead and lifeless. We must have faith and action in our lives if we want to follow Jesus. This does not mean that we earn our salvation by what we do, but it does mean that once we experience saving faith that that same faith is kept alive and indeed grows as we put it into action. Faith and the holy living it leads to cannot be divided. We do not get to choose whether we want to believe or to act. Faith is believing so deeply that we actually live what we believe to be true. If we believe in God's forgiveness, then true faith requires us to be forgiving. If we believe in God's grace, then true faith leads us to be merciful. May we live as those who truly believe! This Sunday in Worship We finish up our Summer Book Club this week by turning our attention to one of the shortest and least known books: the Letter to Philemon. Unlike other letters written to churches or to leaders of the church offer advice and correction, Paul's letter to Philemon is a personal one to simply ask a favor. Yet it opens up to us an understanding of how God works in our lives and wants us to respond. Join us this Sunday as we learn about "Paul's Favor" and the favor God asks of us! Celebrating 100 Years of Worship!Join us on July 24th as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of worship in our sanctuary! We will begin with a special worship service at 10 am, followed by a potluck dinner in the park, weather permitting. Please bring a dish from one of the recipes you submitted for the cookbook. You will be invited to fill out a card to put with your dish to include the dish name and page number in the cookbook. That way, we can all sample a lot of the recipes in our wonderful cookbook! Invite family, friends, and former members for this special day! Your Stories of Faith Needed!To help him in preparation for worship this coming year, Pastor Jim needs to hear your story! How did you come to faith in Jesus? How did you hear God's call to faith and/or service in your life? Whether it is a story of one amazing moment or an awareness that grew slowly over time, your story matters. Please email or write your story to help Pastor Jim as he prepares for our worship. Living in CommunityPlease pray for our Jurisdictional Conference as delegates elect and assign new bishops for our annual conferences! If you are interested in participating in a men's, women's, or couples' breakfast group, please let Pastor Jim know. Thank you to Meg, Chris, and Liz for serving communion in worship this week! Thanks, Melissa, for putting together a wonderful VBS slideshow for us to enjoy! This Week at Port ChurchTuesday, July 12 6 pm - Wednesday at the Port Planning Meeting 7 pm - Administrative Council Meeting Wednesday, July 13 9:30 am - 2:00 pm - Office Hours Thursday, July 14 9:30 am - 12 noon - Office Hours Sunday, July 17 9:30 am - Worship: "Paul's Favor" 11:00 am - Sunday School Looking Ahead100th Anniversary Celebration of Sanctuary - July 24, 10 am
7/6/2016 0 Comments July 06th, 2016 What a Week!What an amazing week we had at Vacation Bible School last week! Over two hundred kids took part in the activities over the course of the week. They learned about the story of God saving Noah and his family through the ark, made a walking stick to help them remember to walk with God, learned some fun songs ("Rock the Boat!"), played fun games, raised over $2,000 for Heifer International to buy livestock for families living in poverty, and witnessed Dinah, Susie, and me kiss a goat! It was a fun week and one filled with joy and learning. Thank you to everyone who made it possible through your time, prayers, and donations! Join us this upcoming Sunday for a slideshow of the week's events. Blessings on the journey, Jim Summer Book Club For a few weeks this summer, we are going to be reading some of the lesser known books or overlooked parts of books in the Bible. Sunday's Sermon Snippet: Jonah and the Worm (Jonah 3-4) Jonah and the Whale is one of the best known stories in all the Bible, but the story we most often hear is just the beginning. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to warn them of the coming judgment against them, but Jonah ran away by ship. When a storm arose to stop him, he had the crew throw him overboard and God sent a big fish or whale to swallow him up to save him. After three days, Jonah prayed and received a second chance. That's where the story we rarely hear begins. Jonah reluctantly went to Nineveh. Walking into the city for a day, he stopped and gave the short warning: "Just forty days more and Nineveh will be overturned." It is one of the shortest prophecies made by a prophet and it is the only one we have recorded from Jonah. Yet his terse warning is much more effective than that of any other prophet. For all their poetic, abundant prophecies, no other prophet met with such success - all the people of Nineveh repent, even clothing their animals in mourning clothes. God shows mercy to the repentent city, and Jonah is furious. He despises God's mercy, especially toward people Jonah dislikes so strongly. In protest, he sets up camp outside the city to watch for the coming destruction. God has a shrub grow quickly to give Jonah shade, and for the first time Jonah is happy even as he continues to pout. The next day, God sends a worm to devour the plant, and Jonah is again angry. God asks Jonah why, if Jonah cares so much for a simple shrub, God cannot care even more so for an entire city of folks who do not know better. We do not know how Jonah responds, but this question is a second chance for Jonah - not a second chance to correct a mistake or to obey God, but a greater second chance to become the kind of person God has called him to be. How often when we serve others - however reluctantly that may be - do we come away feeling changed and more blessed by the experience than those we sought to serve? That is God's second chance at work in our lives helping us to become more Christ-like and more like the people God intends us to be. Thanks be to God that we do not have to be perfect for God to use us for good and that God changes us all the while! This Sunday in Worship In the early days of the church - even dating back to Jesus' time - people wondered what was required to inherit the promise of eternal life. It was a well-debated question, with leaders like Paul assuring people that they were saved by faith alone. Many folks, however, heard this simple answer and misunderstood its simplicity for an easy life free from any expectations at all. Join us this Sunday as we delve into "James and the Giant Teaching" to understand what it means to be saved by faith! Living in CommunityThank you to every one of the 100+ volunteers who made our VBS possible last week! A special thanks to Dinah and Susie for all their work over the course of the year to help us be prepared, especially with all the changes this year! A special thanks also to our South River teachers Linda, Kelly, and Vickie who help us coordinate use of the school for VBS! Thanks to Angela and Eddie for finding a goat for Pastor Jim, Dinah, and Susie to kiss as a part of our mission challenge! Thanks to everyone who helped us "Fill the Ark" for our mission project by raising $2,064 for Heifer International! Thanks to our youth band for leading worship on Sunday and to our VBS kids for sharing special music! Thank you, Liz, for your work with both of these groups! Please remember Carol and Kathryn in your prayers as they recover from their surgeries. This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, July 6 9:30 am - 2:00 pm - Office Hours Thursday, July 7 9:30 am - 12 noon - Office Hours Friday, July 8 7 - 11 pm - Youth Group Sunday, July 10 9:30 am - Worship with VBS Slideshow and Communion: "James and the Giant Teaching" 11:00 am - Sunday School Looking Ahead100th Anniversary Celebration of Sanctuary - July 24
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