February 2, 2018
Happy February! We are one step closer to Spring and the new life that comes with it. As we continue in this season of Epiphany, we pray that you may experience God’s presence in a new way while we continue to grow in the love and light of Christ. We look forward to worshipping together as a community on Sunday. Our text this week includes Mark 1:29-39, Psalm 147:1-11, 20, and the preaching focus text is 1 Corinthians 9:16-23.
Just a reminder, if you would not like your phone number or email printed in the new directory, please call the church office (828 253-5471) and let Lee Thomas know.
During our 40 days of Lent, we are offering two Lenten Small Groups listed below. Each group will meet every week throughout Lent and will have child care provided. Please let us know if you need childcare. You can sign up for the groups HERE. See descriptions of the two groups below.
See you Sunday,
Rev. Darryl Dayson
Wednesday Evenings Group will start on February 21st and meet at 5:00 pm for a simple meal and fellowship and have a focus on conversation, reflection & accountability around themes for our sermon series called REHAB. Here’s a short description from the UMC resource on this series:
There is much to mine from considering our Lenten journey this year within the frame of rehab, much to explore, much to learn. But the core of the learning in rehab, like the core of the learning in Lent, isn’t cognitive. It’s behavioral. In rehab, we learn how to live differently, to set a “new normal” for ourselves and our relationships after a period of time or perhaps a crisis has made it clear to us it is impossible to live as we had before. Likewise in Lent, we focus on helping those coming to faith in Christ for the first time, as well as those making their way back to Christ and the fellowship of the church after a period of absence or neglect, primarily in concrete, behavioral ways. Our goal for all who engage this period of time is that the way of Jesus becomes either the “new normal,” or, for those who have been consistent in the journey over time, is strengthened as our normal.
Sunday Evening’s Group will start on February 18th and meet at 5:00 pm. There will be light snacks provided. The group’s description is as follows.
“What does it mean to be in Israel, among the people of God, as a stranger, even an enemy? What does it mean to enter the path of vulnerability that comes with being an outsider, a stranger in a land not your own? These are crucial questions necessary for grasping Gentile existence [our existence].” Dr. Willie Jennings, Formation of the Racial World – Reframing Gentile Existence
The book of Ruth helps us dive into these questions and discover that our story is that of the outsider, the Gentile. It is through situating ourselves inside of Ruth’s narrative we begin to understand how we have been brought into the Christian story and how we are encouraged to bring others in.
Throughout scripture we have seen the lengths to which God has gone to be hospitable toward us. This Lenten season let’s explore what it means to be hospitable to each other and our neighbors, while discovering how we are called to affirm the diversity of our racial and cultural stories. My hope is that we may celebrate the ways in which God is forming us into one body and story, and develop an understanding for how we may be more vulnerable to this formation.
Join us as we journey through the book of Ruth and consider how God is calling us to be hospitable to our local and global communities.
Topic Schedule:
February 18 – Story: What’s your story?
February 25– Identity: What’s your identity?
March 4 – Risk: What’s the risk?
March 11 – Vulnerability: Why be vulnerable?
March 18 – Faithfulness: What is faithfulness?
March 25 – Desire: Who do you desire?