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10/27/2015 0 Comments October 27, 2015 Honoring the Saints As most of us know, this weekend we celebrate two major things: Halloween on Saturday and the end of Daylight Savings Time with that blessed extra hour of sleep on Saturday night/Sunday morning! This Sunday, we are also celebrating one of the holy days of the church calendar in All Saints' Day. As United Methodists, we do not speak of the saints nearly as often as our Catholic and Episcopal brothers and sisters. Yet we still recognize the importance of those people of faith who have gone before us, those who shaped the faith we hold centuries before we were born and those who taught us through their lives and words what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ. On All Saints' Day - celebrated each year on November 1st - we remember and honor all the saints. Instead of focusing on the famous people of faith - the apostles Peter and Paul and pillars of the faith like Patrick of such renown in Ireland and Francis of Assissi, for example - we remember all the countless, everyday faithful people of God who in their own small ways have made our world and faith what it is today. There are so many people in our lives who have helped shape who we have become as people of faith: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, neighbors, teachers, and so many more. So we remember and honor them on All Saints' Day. We especially remember those saints who have passed away in the last year as we honor their joining the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us even now. May you remember with fondness and thanksgiving the saints of your life, and may God grant us the grace that those who follow us may find us to be just as faithful as those who went before us! Blessings on the journey, Jim This Week in Worship: Weathering the Storm Like all of God's churches, we at Port Church are called to worship and serve in the name of Jesus Christ. But just as no two people are exactly alike, neither are any two churches. No two churches are called to worship and serve in exactly the same ways. The ways in which we are called to worship and serve are as unique as the history which has shaped who we have become as a church. Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to look at some of things that have shaped who we are as God's people, what we are called to do, and how we live out that calling. This week, in keeping with our celebration of All Saints' Day and those who have gone before us, we will look at the ways our fore-fathers and -mothers weathered the storms and the literal floods that challenged their calling as a village church with a mission to the world. Join us this Sunday as we explore our special heritage of "Weathering the Storms" of life! Free CheckingThis past Sunday, we finished up our look at the theme of stewardship in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians and learned about a fourth thing to do to give well. Sermon Snippet: A Harvest Bigger than Our Sowing (2 Cor. 9:6-15) For Paul, giving well does not end with the actual act of giving. Giving generously to the needs that God calls us to meet in the world leads to overflowing thanksgivings. As we give thanks for what God has given us that we can in turn give to others and for the opportunity to give, those who benefit from our giving also give thanks to God. Through giving thanks to God, we are brought together in a harvest of righteousness that provides seed for more acts of generosity that grow the harvest further. When we give thanks in all our giving and receiving, the harvest grows exponentially bigger than what we have sown. Over the last few weeks, we have learned from Paul four things we need to do to give well and experience the joy that God wants us to have in giving: 1) Ask for an opportunity to give that is inspiring, 2) keep our focus who Jesus is to us and who we are to Jesus, 3) prepare financially to give by saving to give or giving as we have extra, and 4) give thanks as we give money. This Week's Challenge Which of these four things do you fall short on? Make a plan to give well by doing all four of these steps. (For instance, we heard from someone who decided to open a special savings account to put away extra money each month above and beyond their tithe in order to have money on hand to give for special offerings and charities as they feel led.) Operation Christmas Child Packing Party Demonstrate God’s LOVE in a tangible way to needy children around the world through a simple gift! Join in our church-wide Operation Christmas Child packing party on Sunday, Nov. 8th. The gift items have been donated and are ready to be packed. Come to the Fellowship Hall after Worship Service and pack a box for a girl, a boy, or both! We have 175 boxes to fill. The boxes will be dedicated the following Sunday, Nov. 15th. You can also pack boxes as families or individuals and bring them by Nov. 15th. Boxes are available in the sanctuary. We hope to have at least 225 boxes total! Living in Community
This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, October 28 9:30 am - 2 pm - Office Hours 6 pm - Wednesday at the Port Thursday, October 29 9:30 am - 12 pm - Office Hours 10:30 am - Prayer Time Sunday, November 1 Daylight Savings Ends - Remember to fall back and reset your clocks! 9:30 am - Worship with Communion - All Saints' Day: "Weathering the Storm" 11 am - Sunday School Looking Ahead
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10/20/2015 0 Comments The Lighthouse - October 19, 2015 Ever Thanks I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks. ~ Shakespeare What can I say? I was certainly surprised by the thoughtful gift of dinner (at my favorite restaurant Corgan's, no less) and babysitting and the kinds words that you gave me this past Sunday! Your appreciation means than you can imagine as we work together for Jesus here in our community. I suppose all I can I say is "Thanks!" Thanks to you, Steve, for your kind and honest words! I believe that you just may be on to something in saying that God has sent a crazy shepherd to lead the crazy sheep called Port Church. I pray that God will use us all to do crazy and amazing things in the name of Jesus Christ! Thanks to you, Sue and all the ladies who hosted such a delicious cookie reception for us! Thanks to all of you kids who made such nice cards for me! You are awesome! Thanks to all of you who love and watch over my boys while I am working at church! I know this is no easy task, and I am thankful for the ways that you have embraced them as a part of your family! Thanks to you, Dianna, Dinah, Amie, Linda, and Linda, for being a part of an amazing staff that keeps our church working smoothly and growing week after week! There is no way we could do the ministry we do without you. Thanks to all of our leaders who work together beside me to discern and implement the vision that God has given for our church! Thanks to all of you who are a part of Port Church! Thank you for being the awesome folks that you are! It is my privilege to serve and lead you. May God bless you all in your lives and your ministry in the name of Jesus whom we serve together! Blessings on the journey, Jim Free Checking In our latest worship series on stewardship - "Free Checking: The Rewards of Learning How to Give Well!" - we are learning how to give well so that our giving to God through the church can be the joy that God intends it to be in our lives. These lessons will come to us from 2 Corinthians 8-9 in which Paul writes to the church in Corinth about how they should take up the collection to support the poor in Jerusalem. Sermon Snippet: A Joy Deeper than Our Generosity (2 Cor. 9:1-9) In this passage, Paul turns from the motivation for giving - a vision worth giving to and a focus on who Jesus is to us - to practical method for giving. He recognizes that, no matter how motivated someone is to give, the joy of giving still eludes them if they have nothing or little to give. So he encourages the Corinthians to prepare for the collection for the poor in Jerusalem by not waiting until he comes to pick it up. If they were to wait until he arrives to gather it, they may not have much saved up to give and may feel compelled to give grudgingly. We do this today in our churches as we wait to give until there is an emergency - a ministry that needs additional funds or a problem with the building. When the emergency arrives, we may feel motivated to give but we have little to offer if we have not prepared ourselves. So we either resent the request for more giving or we are regretful that we cannot give more. Either way, this robs us of the joy God wants us to have in giving. To find joy in giving, we must be prepared to give so that we can give freely and cheerfully and not under compulsion or guilt. Today, there are at least two things we can do to prepare to give as we feel led: 1) Give extra along the way. As we have extra to share, we can go ahead and give. When a need arises, we have already given towards it and can rejoice that we can meet the need. 2) We can budget for extra giving and put it aside so that whenever we hear of a need we feel called to meet we can easily give towards it. Being prepared to give rather than procrastinating frees us to experience a joy deeper than our generosity. This Week's Challenge How much extra do you have that you feel called to give to God's work through the church or other groups in the community? Pray for God to reveal to you where you are being called to give it and for the courage to just go ahead and give it. Looking Ahead Ask for something worth giving to. Keep your focus on who Jesus is. Be prepared to give by putting aside the extra you have. This the advice Paul gives the Corinthians - and us too - to help us experience freedom and joy in our giving. But what happens next? What happens after we give? Join us this Sunday as we expect "A Harvest Bigger than Our Sowing!" October 25 - A Harvest Bigger than Our Sowing - 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 Supporting Our MinistriesHere at Port Church, we are blessed with a huge vision of what God wants us to do in our community - VBS, Wednesday at the Port, Bradburn Park, youth and children's ministry, Sunshine Seniors, maintaining our beautiful, historic building, being a light in the village - the list goes on and on! Our ministry leaders have let our Finance Committee know what they need funding to do in the coming year, and our whole Council is excited about what is in store for us this coming year! To help us best plan for these ministries, we need you to let us know how you plan to support our church's ministries in the coming year. As we wrap up our stewardship series "Free Checking" this Sunday, please bring your completed Pledge Form (and Automated Giving Authorization Form, if you want to sign up for this service) and return it for a blessing during our worship service. Thank you for your support of this awesome vision of what God is doing in our lives and in our community! Living in Community
This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, October 21 9:30 am - 2 pm - Office Hours 6 pm - Wednesday at the Port Thursday, October 22 9:30 am - 12 pm - Office Hours 10:30 am - Prayer Time 6:30 pm - Trustees Meeting Sunday, October 25 9:30 am - Worship "Free Checking: A Harvest Bigger than Our Sowing" 11 am - Sunday School Looking Ahead
10/13/2015 0 Comments The Lighthouse - October 12, 2015 Asking for a VisionIt's one of those things that annoys those of us who preach the most. Far too often for my taste, God takes the message given to me to share with you on Sunday and shows me that it really has something that I myself need to hear. So many weeks, I am convicted by the very words I share with you of how far I still have to go in faith and how much work I have to do for God. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad except that it's really hard to pretend that you don't know what the sermon is speaking to you when you are the one speaking those words. Oh well, I suppose it's a small price to pay for the overwhelming, humbling privilege of being called to share the good news with you, God's people. This past week, I had an experience of just this - God using my own message against me to convict me to do more in faith. You may remember that a couple of Sundays ago I preached on Paul's encouragement for us to be like the Macedonian churches, who asked - even begged - for the grace to be able to give a work worth doing in taking a collection for the poor in Jerusalem. It is my claim that when we ask for such, God gives us a vision large enough to stretch us, help us grow, and ultimately bring us joy in our giving. Fast forward a few days, and Courtney and I were starting our yearly discussion on our budget for the upcoming year. Each year, we take a few opportunities over the course of a month or two to talk and discern how we will spend, give, and save our money for the next year. As we talked about what new goals we feel is important for us to include in our plans, Courtney asked me a question: "Do you think maybe we need to ask God for a vision large enough for where we are as a family now?" Oh, have mercy on us! What can I say to that after preaching the sermon I had? Of course, in my sermon I had not really thought about the vision we have for our families, but here it was plain and simple. Of course, we need to ask for a large enough vision - but I am little bit afraid of asking, because we might just get what we ask for. Do I really want a larger vision for our family, one that will stretch us and challenge me? I know that it will be awesome and full of joy if God shows us a larger vision, but I kind of like how comfortable things are now. How I wish I could pretend I never preached that sermon, but you and God know better! Here we go, God! What do you have in store for us as a family? I want to invite you and your families to consider joining ours in asking God for a larger vision for your family for 2016 - a vision worthy of your best time, energy, money, and very selves! May the Spirit gives us all the courage we need to beg for a family vision and to say, "Here we are, Lord! Send us!" Peace on the journey, Jim Free Checking In our latest worship series on stewardship - "Free Checking: The Rewards of Learning How to Give Well!" - we are learning how to give well so that our giving to God through the church can be the joy that God intends it to be in our lives. These lessons will come to us from 2 Corinthians 8-9 in which Paul writes to the church in Corinth about how they should take up the collection to support the poor in Jerusalem. Sermon Snippet: A Passion Greater than Our Commitment (2 Cor. 8:7-15) Paul recognizes that, although they are folks who excel in so much of what they do, the Corinthians have not excelled in the same way in their commitment to collecting an offering for the poor in Jerusalem. And who among us can blame them? Continuing to give and serve over a long period of time is difficult but it is the norm for those who follow Jesus. It is exciting to start something new and there is satisfaction in finally completing a task, but so much of what we do in following Jesus has no end or new beginning. We simply continue to serve and give day after day, week after week, season after season, year after year, and continuing to do our best is incredibly hard. Eventually, our commitment falters, and we either go in search something new and exciting to do or simply fall into the lifeless habit of doing what we've done. Either way, we lose the joy of serving and giving to God. Paul reminds the Corinthians who they are to Jesus - people who excel in following him - and who Jesus is to them - the one who gave everything that they may have eternal life. By focusing on who Jesus is to them and who they are to Jesus, they can gain the reward of a passion for giving and serving that surpasses their level of commitment - something to carry them through when their commitment falters. By keeping our focus on who Jesus is to us and who we are to him, we can continue in our ongoing ministry in a way that brings joy rather than boredom or apathy. This Week's Challenge Who is Jesus to you? Who are you to Jesus? Where do you see Jesus in your service and your giving? Pray for God to show you where Jesus is working in your life and inviting you to join him. Looking Ahead So Paul thinks that we experience joy in giving if ask for a vision worth giving to and keep our focus on Jesus. But how can I find joy in giving when I don't have enough to spare anything to begin with? Where is the joy in giving when I am worried about paying the bills, buying groceries, and hopefully saving a little for a rainy day? Join us this week as we hear how we can experience "A Joy Deeper than Our Giving!" October 18 - A Joy Deeper than Our Giving - 2 Corinthians 9:1-9 October 25 - A Harvest Bigger than Our Sowing - 2 Corinthians 9:9-15 Fill the FieldWhat do boxes, tents, teenagers, and a field in Port Republic have in common? Drive through Port Repbulic Village November 7th and you will see! The Harrisonburg District Youth are going to bring their own box to sleep in overnight to "Fill the Field for Hunger & Homeless Awareness". There will be speakers from Our Community Place, Rockingham County Fire & Rescue, Salvation Army and more! The teenagers will engage in activities to bring awareness to this sad but true situation, and a collection box will be by Port Republic Road for all who want to donate to Blue Ridge Food Bank. Sunday morning, November 8, the District Youth have been invited to worship at Grottoes or Port Republic UMC. Living in Community
This Week at Port ChurchTuesday, October 13 7 pm - Administrative Council Meeting Wednesday, October 14 9:30 am - 2 pm - Office Hours 6 pm - Wednesday at the Port Thursday, October 15 9:30 am - 12 pm - Office Hours 10 am - Sunshine Seniors 10:30 am - Prayer Time Sunday, October 18 Charge Conference Reports Due 9:30 am - Worship "Free Checking: A Joy Deeper than Our Generosity" 11 am - Sunday School Looking Ahead
10/6/2015 0 Comments The Lighthouse - October 5, 2015 Every Life Save a Life In June of 2014, Bishop Cho challenged the churches of the Virginia Conference to raise $1 million for Imagine No Malaria - enough to save 100,000 lives from this preventable, treatable disease. He called this effort "Every Life Save a Life!" This past week, our conference surpassed its goal - a mere fifteen months after this lofty challenge was put before us. Here at Port Church, our kids led our efforts with our Spring Confirmation class taking this on as a mission project. Through their lemonade stand, they raised over $250 saving 25 lives. Later in the summer, our VBS adopted this as their mission, and they raised an amazing $1,500 to save another 150 lives. I am proud of our church for the part we have played in making such an incredible difference in the world! Thank you to everyone who helped our kids do such a wonderful thing in the name of Jesus Christ, and thank you especially to all the kids who helped lead us along the way! I cannot wait to see what wonderful work God has in store for us next! Blessings on the journey, Jim Free Checking This past Sunday, we kicked off our new sermon series on stewardship - "Free Checking: The Rewards of Learning How to Give Well!" Over the next few weeks, we are going to learn how to give well so that our giving to God through the church can be the joy that God intends it to be in our lives. These lessons will come to us from 2 Corinthians 8-9 in which Paul writes to the church in Corinth about how they should take up the collection to support the poor in Jerusalem. Sermon Snippet: A Vision Larger than Our Giving (2 Cor. 8:1-6) In encouraging the Corinthians to continue collecting an offering for the poor in Jerusalem, Paul lifts up for them the example of the Macedonian churches whose "overwhelming joy and extreme poverty welled up" in a generous offering. In fact, these churches had begged for the grace to be allowed to collect this offering. Today, when giving to the church - even talking about money at all in church - so often creates feelings of guilt over needing to give more or resentment of being asked to give so much, the example of these churches is amazing. They begged for the opportunity to take up offering and to give to something that mattered. But this is the point - the vision of the work to be done was big enough to inspire them to beg for the grace to be able to give. The first step to giving well is to first beg God for a mission worthy of giving to. When we ask for this, God gives us a vision that is bigger than our giving. Such a large vision means that whatever we gives makes a difference for God's kingdom - something we can take joy in and calls us to grow and stretch ourselves spiritually in our giving. Too often today, our churches have visions too small to bring us joy in our giving - paying the bills, keeping the doors open, etc. When God gives us a vision for ministry that actually makes a difference in the world, giving - even going above and beyond - is not something that makes us feel guilty or resentful but instead something that brings us true joy. This Week's Challenge Ask the Spirit for the grace to see the vision for the ministry that God wants done here in our church. Is the vision you see worth giving to? Is the vision we have - The Village Church with a Mission to the World! - and the ministries we do large enough to bring us joy in giving? If not, pray for God to show us a large vision that will stretch us and bring us joy. Looking Ahead When we see a deep need in the world that touches our hearts or an exciting new ministry that ignites our souls, it's easy to get motivated to give well. We want to make a difference and so we make a commitment. But over time, the heartfelt concern dulls and the fire dwindles down, and it is hard to stay motivated to meeting the commitment we once made. So, how do we continue to give well over the long haul when the newness wears off? Join us this Sunday as we learn how God can give us A Passion Greater than Our Commitment! October 11 - A Passion Greater than Our Commitment - 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 October 18 - A Joy Deeper than Our Giving - 2 Corinthians 9:1-9 October 25 - A Harvest Bigger than Our Sowing - 2 Corinthians 9:9-15 Party in the Park!When? Saturday, October 10, 4-9 pm Where? Bradburn Park in Port Republic What? Chili Cook-off (4-6 pm) - Help us choose the People's Choice Award! Cornhole Cake Toss (4-6 pm) - Win your dessert! Silent Auction (4-6:30 pm) - Bid on over 80 awesome items! Dancing Across the Decades (6:30-9 pm) - Music and dancing for all ages! Why? Have fun, eat good food, and support our RENEW Youth Mission Team! Invite your friends and neighbors! Living in Community
This Week at Port ChurchTuesday, October 6 7 pm - PPR Meeting Wednesday, October 7 9:30 am - 2 pm - Office Hours 6 pm - Wednesday at the Port Thursday, October 8 9:30 am - 12 pm - Office Hours 10:30 am - Prayer Time Saturday, October 10 4 pm - Party in the Park Chili Cook-off and Silent Auction 6:30 pm - Silent Auction ends/ Dancing Sunday, October 11 9:30 am - Worship "Free Checking: A Commitment Greater than Our Passion" 11 am - Sunday School Looking Ahead
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