Friends,

We’re continuing in 1 Corinthians for our time together this Sunday. If you want to read ahead, we’ll be in 1 Corinthians 1:10-18. By the way, when we read scripture during our worship service, the reader will often end the segment with the phrase, “This is the Word of the Lord.” Hearing this, the congregation responds with “Thanks be to God!” It’s a simple reminder that the Word informing our thought about following Jesus originates with God, and we’re thankful 1) that God has given it to us as a means of self-revelation, 2) that God has given it in a form we can understand, and 3) that we gain benefit from it for the way we live in this world. There’s a host of other reasons for this kind of thankfulness. If you need some help coming up with these, take a few moments and read through Psalm 119—you’ll find plenty of reasons there to thank God for the Word. 

Thanks for those of you who have indicated interest in helping to lead various portions of our worship service. There’s always room for more, so if this is of interest to you, let me know and I’ll be in touch to get you on the rotation. This is liturgy enacted. Liturgy means, “the work of the people” and as people step into these helping roles, liturgy happens—and it’s a good thing! 

This Sunday after the worship service there will be an information meeting for the Mexico mission trip. You will find this happening in Heritage Hall. It’s the same information given at the previous meeting provided again for those who weren’t able to attend then. This trip is open to all, so, you qualify! Come and discover how you might experience God through service to others.

By the way, a new member class will be offered on Sunday, March 15 at 9AM. More details as this draws near, but I wanted to get the initial announcement out as some have asked about this. What’s the point of membership? In some respects it seems an archaic notion—aren’t all who follow Christ members of his body? Certainly yes, and a piece of what we’ll discuss during the message Sunday, as a matter of fact. In our denomination, formal identification with a local congregation is a necessary component for leadership in the roles of Deacon and Elder. As a connectional church, service as a member of session (elders) makes it possible to serve the larger church as a member of presbytery (the regional governing council) and through this, one may also be elected to serve at the national level in the bi-annual General Assembly where decisions guiding the denomination as a whole are discerned. Not every member goes to the General Assembly, but everyone at the General Assembly is a member of a local congregation or presbytery. This is just one aspect of membership—more to follow at the class.

A practical note in closing—our email service will likely be interrupted this weekend as the church changes to cloud-based operation and storage. So if you send a note to one of us without getting a reply, there’s a good chance we didn’t get it, or can’t get to it until next week. Thanks for your patience!

 See you Sunday!
—frank