Dear Friends,
This Sunday is Reformation Sunday. Over 500 years ago Martin Luther posted the 95 theses on the Wittenberg door on October 31. The Christian world has not been the same since. How can each of us change the world in love today?
If you would like a home visit, conversation, or home communion, please call me at 573-437-2779 (church) or 573-832-2475 (cell).
- We have Apple Butter for sale: Quarts - $10, Pints - $6, Half Pints - $4
- Wednesday: Bell Choir Practice at 4:15pm and Choir Practice at 7pm
- Dorcas meeting on Monday, November 6 at 7pm
- The Turkey Supper will be on Saturday, November 18. We will need church members to help with baking items and making crafts for the Country Store, prepping food on Friday, November 17, and cooking, serving, and cleaning up on Saturday, November 18.
Blessings,
Pastor Stephanie DeLong
Scripture: Deuteronomy 34:1-12 and Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 • 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 • Matthew 22:34-46
Sermon: Love
Love, we all want it, we all need it, so why is love so hard. Jesus called upon the pharisees to live a life focused on the love of God and people. All people, not just the people they could control, not just the people who lived as they did, not just the people who were just like them. All people. Jesus asking saying that we should love all people and implying that he was the Messiah was enough to get him killed. Pretty ironic.
Often, we get so caught up in the rules and the details that we forget that the rules are there to help us to get along. Sometimes there are misunderstandings about who, whose and what we are. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that make no sense.
Recently, I was reminded of something odd that happened to me as a middle school student. (Junior High School Student back in my day.) My mother had been told about a volunteer opportunity in our community that took place on a Saturday morning. My mother and I went to volunteer. The women at the registration checked my mother in and sent her off to her volunteer station. She looked at me and asked if I was there for community service. Since I was there to serve my community, I said yes. She sent me to the area for teens who were serving that day.
I arrived at my station and helped the other teens with their volunteer activities. I quickly made friends with another teen who told me some sad stories about her family life. When the supervisor came to check on us. He began to berate and criticize the other teens. He really tore into the teen I had befriended. I was appalled, after all weren’t we all volunteering.
Then I began to listen to who the other teens were. They were foster children and others who had been charged with community service. I could not discern that any of them had done anything particularly bad, but they were being treated as though they had. The next time the supervisor came in he really tore into the group even though they had been working hard. He especially yelled at my new friend.
Out of love I defended her to the supervisor. He became very angry, asked my name, and went to write a report about me. My new friends out of love were frightened for me. This supervisor could really ruin my life they said. Now I was really confused.
So was the supervisor who returned to the room and said that he could not find my name on any of the lists. I explained that I had simply shown up to volunteer that day and was sent to be with this group of teens. I let him know that I thought that these were good kids who found themselves in a bad situation and that I was going to let the person in charge of the event know. My mother and I did.
We all have a choice as to how we treat each other. We can do so out of love, or we can do so out of a need to exert our own power. When we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, we are called to let that love flow through our hearts and lives. Love is not about following the rules exactly, but following the rules because that helps us get along better. For example, stopping at a stop sign keeps cars from crashing into each other.
We are called to love one another. The supervisor could have chosen to treat those teenagers with love. These teens were struggling with difficult life situations. The only thing that I could see that my new friend had done wrong was to be black, poor and in from a troubled family. Love rather than rules could make all the difference in her life and the life of others like her.
God understands that we get frustrated, loose our tempers, and to love. That is why Jesus came as a different type of messiah. Jesus came to teach us and show us the way of love. Jesus came to save us all.
Prayer: God show me the way of love. Give me the strength to live out of your love. Amen.
Prayer list: All who have been on our list for a while, Mark’ s brother Billy, Delores W., Tyra, Freya, Vicki B., Barb Z., Jesse, Heath who is at Lifecare in Sullivan, Tammy. Jennifer, Richard, Tamara, John, Dixon’s great granddaughter, Ashlely and Cody, Garth, Linda, Tessa, Carl, Kimbra, Liz’s father, Dannie, Lathe, Marilyn, Kris, Lee Ann, Bob and all who are in need about which we do not know. If you know of anyone who would like a prayer shawl, please let us know.
Prayers for all the places in the world where there is war, special prayers for Israel and Gaza.
Prayers for the family of Heath Huntley who passed away last week.
