One
of the appointed scripture lessons on the month of October was The Parable of the Persistent Widow and the
Unjust judge. The main theme of my sermon was, of course, to delve deeper
into this parable and relate it to our lives and the life of the church.
The
parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge found in Luke 18:1–8 is
part of a series of illustrative lessons Jesus Christ used to teach His
disciples about prayer. Luke introduces this lesson as a parable meant to show
the disciples “that they should always pray and never give up.”
The
parable of the widow and the judge is set in an unnamed town. According to the
Book of Deuteronomy, the judge presides over the town. This particular unjust
judge has no fear of God and no compassion for the people under his
jurisdiction. In the Jewish community, a judge was expected to be impartial, to
judge righteously, and to recognize that judgment ultimately belongs to God.
Thus, the judge in this story is incompetent and unqualified for the job.
Justice was not being served.
A
needy widow repeatedly comes before the judge to plead her case. According to
Jewish law, widows deserve special protection under the justice system, a law
also found in the Book of Deuteronomy. But this unjust judge ignores her. Nevertheless,
she refuses to give up.
Eventually,
the judge says to himself, “I don’t fear God or care about people, but this
woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she
is wearing me out with her constant requests!”
The widow gets the justice she was seeking. Then Jesus explains His
point: if an uncaring, unfit, ungodly judge answers with justice in the end,
how much more will a loving and holy Father give what is right to His children?
We
do not always get immediate results when we pray. Our definition of swift
justice is not the same as the Lord’s definition. The parable of the persistent
widow demonstrates that effective prayer requires tenacity and faithfulness. A
genuine disciple must learn that prayer never gives up and is based on absolute
trust and faith in God. We can fully count on the Lord to answer when, where,
and how He chooses. God expects us to keep on asking, seeking, knocking, and
praying until the answers come. Disciples of Jesus are people of persistent faith.
The
parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge is similar to the parable
of the persistent neighbor found in Luke 11:5–10, another lesson in Jesus’
teachings on prayer. While both parables teach the importance of persistence in
prayer, the story of the widow and the judge adds the message of continued
faithfulness in prayer.
Jesus
presents a final quiz on the matter at the end of the parable of the persistent
widow and unjust judge. He asks, “But when the Son of Man returns, how many
will He find on the earth who have faith?”
Just as Paul stresses in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, continual devotion
to prayer should be a way of life. The Lord wants to know if He will find any
faithful prayer warriors left on the earth when He returns. Will we be among
God’s people still praying at Christ’s second coming, “Your Kingdom come, your
will be done?”
Faithful, never-ceasing,
persistent prayer is the permanent calling of every true disciple of
Christ who is dedicated to living for the Kingdom of God. Like the persistent
widow, we are needy, dependent sinners who trust in our gracious, loving, and
merciful God alone to supply what we need.
As
your Pastor, I would like to stress that everyone is important to God, and His
Son Jesus Christ. We at Emmanuel UCC feel the same way about each other and
everyone in the community near and far.
You are worthy of the love of God and Jesus, and worthy of the love we
would like to share with everyone who walks through our doors.
Feeling unloved? Unworthy of love? Want to learn more about your own spirituality? Want to get involved in mission near and far? Give Emmanuel UCC a chance. Remember, wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here! With Agape love,
We have Gift Card Fundraiser
through Great Lakes Scrip Center and includes tons of cards – from Advance Auto
Parts to Wet Seal (young women’s clothing).
By purchasing the gift card through Great Lake Scrip, our church earns a
percentage of the sale price. They make
great gifts for Christmas. Lisa Ceaser will be taking orders Sunday, November 3rd and Sunday, December 1st, she will order
them and distribute them as they arrive.
If you have any question, please see Lisa Ceaser.
The
Sunday School will be collecting monetary donations for $5 gift cards to
McDonalds. Deadline for donations is November
24th. If you wish to make a donation,
please see Lisa Rinehimer. Their goal is to be able to purchase 30 gift cards.
The
Sunday school will also be collecting women’s hats and gloves for Ruth’s Place
again this year. They are in need of women’s hats and gloves.
The Sunday School kids will wrap them. Deadline to donate will be December 6. Their goal is to collect 30
sets of hats and gloves. Donations can
be placed in the designated box in the narthex.
Thank you for supporting the
Sunday School’s missions.
Our
Sunday School children, youth and the chancel choir will be having a Christmas
Program on December 15 during our worship service. Please mark this special
service on your calendar so you won’t miss our Sunday School’s heartwarming
presentation. More details TBA in upcoming bulletins and December Newsletter
for more information.
On
behalf of myself and the congregation of Emmanuel United Church of Christ, I am
proud to say that we are celebrating 150 years of worship and service to our
communities, and the world!
Starting
in 1845, religious services were held in a school-house on the lot which
Emmanuel’s church now stands, Rev Isaac Shellhammer, a minister of the Reformed
Church, living in Black Creek Township, came and preached about once every four
weeks. He preached altogether in the
German language, and his records are in the same language. As the congregation was small, and the people
poor, his salary was from $10-$15 per anum.
Even though this salary seems small, it was the custom of the day to
supplement the payment with goods-often farm produce. He died in 1873, and is
buried in the cemetery adjoin a church which is called in honor of his name,
the Shellhammer church, in Black Creek Township.
Our
history continues throughout the centuries leading to this present day. The
cornerstone of our present church was laid November 1868and the church was
dedicated Sunday, August 15th 1869. 150 years, and many ministers
later, Emmanuel UCC still standing Dorrance, PA, still worshipping, and still
contributing to our local and global communities.
In
our present time, we see a changing world with churches of all denominations
attempting to keep up with this rapid change.
Tod
Bolsinger, author of “Canoeing the Mountains” is going to be our main speaker
at our Penn Northeast Conference Annual Meeting in November. His above
mentioned book deals with this rapid change. A quote from this book which
stands out to me is, “For Christian leaders this means that ministry is not
only the means to bring the gospel to the world, ministry together is how God
makes a congregation into a corps that is ready to continually bring the gospel
in new ways to a changing world.” Tod
Bolsinger, Canoeing the Mountains:
Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory.
After
reading this my thoughts turned to the congregation building this church 150
years ago with the “dream of continually bringing the Gospel in new ways to a
changing world.”
We can
be the fulfillment of that dream and carry on the work of our ancestors. Tell
others about the church you attend. We
are a full service church because we believe in that dream and will continuing
to bring the Good News to our communities and the world.
The world does change rapidly. It was changing in 1869 and continues to change in 2019. We breath in the tenacity and bravery of our ancestors in faith and say that we are ready and able to meet the challenges faced in keeping Emmanuel UCC alive for another 150 years and beyond. May God be with you all,
Please remember that it is not necessary to be at the dinner “forever”. If everyone takes a turn, we can all help each other and feel good about volunteering to support our church.
See Steve Moyer or Allen Dennis
for tickets to sell. There’s plenty for
everyone, so get them and sell, sell, sell.
The fall Dinner is usually our best dinner fundraiser and is easy to
promote. Why? Because people love to eat – especially good food!! And we’ve been complimented again and
again about how really good it is!
We need people to cook the
turkeys. Allen Dennis is the person to
see if you can volunteer your time for this important item (what’s a Turkey
Supper without turkey, right?) The
turkeys arrive either at your home or at the church (depending on how you
arrange it with Allen).
On Thursday evening at 6:00 p.m.,
walls are taken down and tables are set up.
Then there is the cleaning and cutting up of the vegetables and for making
the pickled cabbage.
Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. we
make the stuffing which takes strong arms to mix thoroughly. Please come out Friday night if you can help.
Saturday morning at 8:00 am is
when we clean the meat off the turkeys, which is easier to do if the turkeys
are warm. Those of you who clean your
own turkeys and then deliver them really help to speed up this process. Please remember to bring the turkey broth to
make the gravy. After a short
break, workers gather again at 2:30 pm to start heating everything up so it’s
good and hot for serving our guests at 3:00 pm..
Then, of course, the actual event
begins at 3:00 and goes to about 7:00 p.m.
By the end of the supper at 7:00 p.m., the workers, (many of whom have
been there since 2:30 p.m. so that everything is all set to serve at 3:00 p.m.)
are ready for a rest. That’s when it’s
nice to have a clean-up crew come in. The
area needs to be cleaned up and Sunday School rooms put back in order and the
walls put back up. The large roasters
and cook pots are washed and put away until the next supper. The kitchen cleaned and floors washed and
vacuumed.
There’s a lot to do to hold a dinner,
but the work’s not hard when you’re having fun.
And we do have a lot of fun, even if we are a bit frantic while serving
our guests. It’s all part of the
experience and we’d love for you to experience it, too.
Nick Aitaand Robert Duffy have a great time horsing around on the inflatable slide as their friend Leah Dietrich watches at their recent Rally Day held on Sunday September 8.
According
to the Bible, every Christian has been given at least one spiritual gift
to use in service to the body of Christ. “Each of you should use whatever gift
you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its
various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very
words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God
provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him
be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen”. So, an important step in
determining how to best serve in the church is for us to discover what our
spiritual gifts are. Of course, we don’t have to know what our gift is before
we start getting involved in the church. In fact, we often discover our gifts
in the process of serving.
There
is a difference between the Body of Christ universal and the local
church Christians attend for corporate worship. But there is no difference in
how Christians ought to use their spiritual gifts, because serving God is a
twenty-four-hour proposition, not a Sunday-only enterprise. All Christians
everywhere should be serving God in their local churches and looking for
opportunities to serve outside the walls of a church building. It may be difficult
to discover which spiritual gift(s) God has bestowed, but it’s better to serve
somewhere than nowhere. Often, the discovery of gifts becomes more clear in the
doing—as we serve in various jobs, we learn what we are good at and what we
have a heart for.
There
are always more needs than willing workers; this was true in Christ’s day and
is still true today. It’s never a problem to find a need in the local church.
From evangelizing the community to cleaning the bathrooms, there is always
plenty of work to be done. It is good to inquire of the church leadership
regarding the needs of the church.
Every member of every church should be serving in some way, and every servant of the Lord should remember that it’s more than just serving others; it’s loving them: “Serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13). Serving the church can take on many forms: preparing a meal for a family struck by illness, visiting an elderly, housebound widow, or just picking up a phone and saying, “I was thinking about you today.” Christians may busy themselves in tasks of service like the ones listed above, but endless performing, without love, is meaningless. As we go about serving God and others, let us do so with a spirit of humility and brotherly love. Yours in Christ,
Our Teen Talk is for anyone in 7th grade and
above. We meet on Sunday mornings starting on
September 8 at 9:30 am. to talk about God
and Jesus, how our lives are influenced by them and how we can be an influence
to others around us. There are so many
things that try to manipulate us away from God.
This is our own time to dig deeper into our faith. It’s not just another “Sunday School class”
or Bible Study. It’s all about us – who
we are, what’s happening in our lives right here and now, and how does any of
this relate to God and our faith. We’ll
be discussing the important things going on in the world, our town and our
lives. And if you have any particular
ideas to discuss, just give them to me. Come
to Teen Talk and find other teens who want to make their faith
stronger and be better at dealing with ideas and things that pull us away from
being Christians. We’re looking for everyone in 7th
grade and up to come out and talk about how God really relates to us – not just
in theory, but in reality.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, — Colossians 1:9 (NIV)
