Let's Celebate!

LET’S CELEBRATE! Last week we gave $762.00 for Haiti. Sent through Week of Compassion 100% of this money goes to provide help in the name of Jesus. Also we are meeting our weekly budget with our offerings. Let’s continue to be cheerful givers, sensitive to the Lord’s leading, liberal in our generosity, and compassionate in our outeach.

On Souper Bowl Sunday, next Sunday, the youth will provide soup & chili at noon in the Fellowship Hall. Your donations, gathered in the soup pot, will go to our local Crosslines Food Pantry. We will begin to collect donations today. If you would like to contribute a dessert next Sunday please tell Darlene or me. Cookies or sheet cake, please.

Reflecting on the Scriptures : YOUTH SUNDAY
Do not say, "I am only a child."

Jeremiah 1:4-10. Reflecting on his call, Jeremiah remembers a childhood experience. God affirmed his call, defined his responsibilities, promised protection, and equipped him for the task. He becomes the weeping prophet, distraught over the disobedience of the people and the destruction of Jerusalem. Youth is not an excuse to say ‘No’ to God.

Psalm 71:1-6. In a lament the psalmist recognizes a need for a safe place to hide, admits vulnerability, and declares his hope and faith in the Lord, even as a child. Youth is not an excuse to ignore God!

Luke 4:21-30. Jesus, standing with other worshippers in Nazareth, declares he has received the Spirit of God and is called to live out the scripture he has just read. His interpretation angers them. The very idea! This up-start of a young man, a child who grew up in their midst, thinks he has God’s blessing to go to non-Jews! They even tried to kill him!

1 Corinthians 13:1-13. The Apostle Paul speaks to Christians who are abusing their freedom in Christ, refusing to share, looking down on other’s, boasting of their own gifts, impatient and unkind, self-promoting. This is the other side of being a child—acting childish! Paul’s simple command: practice love, the attribute that defines God and is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. ALSO READ: 1 John 4:8-18ff; Romans 5:1-5.