Encourage One Another
By Jennifer Vestal Moore
Take, eat; this is my body broken for you. We have heard those words many times in our life and rightfully associate them with the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
On Sunday, October 6, we will once again hear those words, but this day they will mean even more. Together, we will celebrate World Communion Sunday, which originated almost seventy years ago in the winter of 1953. A group of ministers met to study the spiritual needs and possibilities of the church during the dark days of the Great Depression. In 1937, the date of World-Wide Communion Sunday was changed to the first Sunday in October. This special day remains as it began: A great opportunity to unite the membership in dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ. People from the four corners of the world will gather together to answer Christ’s invitation.
Each year, a theme is given to this Sunday. This year, the theme is Encourage One Another. How appropriate when you think about it. After all, we just recognized the one year anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States. How deeply all of us were touched.
Over the past year, we have all heard many stories about the people whose lives were lost because of the attacks. What stands out most in my mind is how the families continue to encourage one another and find strength through their faith.
Recently, I was watching a television special about three women who had formed a support group to help each other through the tragedy of losing their husbands. The interviewer asked one of the women, “What does this group mean to you?” The woman replied, “Everything. The other two women encourage me to find strength and together we encourage all of our children to embrace life and live it to the fullest.” She went on to say, “I don’t know how we would have made it through without each other.” Isn’t that what Jesus teaches us—to find those in need and be a source of strength for them?
World Communion Sunday is just that—the union of all souls in the life and love of Christ. At this table, we join the Church in all times and places and situations from the first Last Supper in the Upper Room in Jerusalem to the great wedding feast. At this table, we remember the great equalizer, death, the ground that is level at the foot of the cross, and the love of God for every soul. At this table, we remember Jesus’ parable of the feast; how those who were first invited refused the invitation. No one is left out except those who refuse the invitation.
This year, as we celebrate World Communion Sunday, think about how your
family, friends, and neighbors encourage you and how, in turn, you might invite them to be part of Jesus’ invitation. This do in remembrance of me. (Matthew 26:28)
Missions Coordinator Mary Adams Joins PUMC Staff
Mary Adams has joined the PUMC staff! As part-time Missions Coordinator, she will provide on-going support for our local, national, and international mission activities.
Please be in touch with her with your ideas and concerns as we continue to share God's love and the Good News of Jesus Christ with others.
Look forward to the many activities, including Wednesday night suppers, which are part of the Missions of PUMC. Welcome, Mary!
Wednesday Suppers Go Weekly
Beginning Wednesday, October 2, the Wednesday Night Supper and the informal worship service and special programs that follow will be available each week. Upcoming newsletters will give the menu items for each week along with the related activities.
The money raised through these meals goes into a fund for ongoing mission work through our church. We plan to continue the informal nature of both the meal and the program/worship time afterwards, so please feel free to come to one or the other or BOTH as they suit your needs. Join us whenever you can!
| Date |
Supper Menu |
Special Program |
| Oct. 16 |
Red Beans & Rice Casserole, Chicken Tenders |
Red Bird Mission (Appalachian home repair and other ministries) and
Craft Sale |
| Oct. 23 |
Baked Ham & Sweet Potatoes |
Informal Worship |
| Oct. 27 |
Pancake Night |
Informal Worship |
What Is Important To You?
By Dr. Gerde
How would you describe your faith to a friend? What part of your faith would be easy to talk about, which part would be hard? We could apply and ask these same sorts of questions of our church. What does our church believe—what is really important to us as a community—as a congregation?
Paul Tillich once described faith as our “ultimate concern” –that which was finally the most important thing to us. Think about it for a moment, what is it or who is it that is for you, finally, of ultimate concern. Even to begin answering this question is a risky endeavor because if you are like me, I begin to see at this point all that stands between God and myself.
Each year at about this time, we begin to produce a church budget, it is one of the ways we ask each other what is really important to us. Where are we going in ministry and mission? These are the questions that we ask ourselves at budget time.
The church budget is really a statement of faith—a theological expression in numbers. Someone looking at our budget could tell a lot about our priorities and directions in ministry. Someone looking at our budget could tell a lot about our faith.
Please hold in your prayers all of those involved in the budgeting process. Pray for their discernment and vision, let us pray that our budget will be reflective of the values of God’s Kingdom least we see in the budget the things that stand between God and ourselves.
And finally, I invite you to respond to the proposed budget not only out of a sense of duty to support one’s church, but out of a deeper place. This is a prayerful place, where gratitude for the gifts of this life and all of the mercy God has bestowed upon us are not taken for granted, but each day is lived as a gift and each moment an opportunity to love, where nothing stands between us and our truest humanity, where nothing stands between us and our Lord.
Nursery Notes
Attention Preschool Nursery Parents:
Please be sure to follow proper check-in procedures when leaving your child in the preschool nursery.
If you are sending your child to the nursery AFTER Children’s Moments in the worship service, please be sure to properly check him/her into the nursery prior to the service.
Remember that these procedures are in place for the safety of the children.
NURSERY
DIRECTORY
*Infant Nursery — for newborns through crawlers, available both services and Sunday school; Room 201; second floor; stairs available by Church Office and Sanctuary foyer.
*Toddler Nursery — for walkers through age 2 and untrained 3 year olds; Room 203, available for both services and Sunday school, second floor; stairs available by the Church Office and Sanctuary foyer.
*Age three (potty trained) — Room 107, first floor hallway near the Sanctuary; available 11:00 services only.
*Ages 4-Pre-K 5 — Room 103; available 11:00 service only; located first floor near the Church Office
