OUR WEEK - FEBRUARY 10TH - 16TH

Reminders:
Wednesday, February 6 – Burning of the Palms at 6:30, before Ash Wednesday Service at 7:00 PM at Adair U.M.W.
Saturday, February 9 – Rita Beattie Benefit at Adair Community Centre - 5:00 to 8:00 PM

Sunday, February 10 — This is the first Sunday in Lent and our chosen color is purple.
Our scheduled bible readings are: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7, Psalm 32 (UMH 766), Romans 5:12-19, and the Gospel Reading is Matthew 4:1-11.
This is Boy Scout Sunday. No doubt many scout troops will be celebrating their duty to God on this day.
We are celebrating the first Sunday of Lent with a Stone Soup Dinner in Casey. You do remember the folk tale of the Stone Soup, don't you? You don't? Well it was like this. . . . .

STONE SOUP
Once upon a time, in a small country village, there was a great famine in which all the people jealously hoarded whatever food they could find, hiding it even from their own friends and neighbors. One day a tired soldier wandered into the village and began asking questions about finding a bit of food and finding a bed for the night.

"There is not a bite to eat in the whole province," he was told. "Better keep right on walking. There is nothing here for you."

"Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some Stone Soup to share with all of you." He pulled an iron cauldron from his cart, filled it with water, and built a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary looking stone from a velvet bag and dropped it into the water.

By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come to the square or were watching from their windows. As the soldier sniffed the "soup" and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their skepticism.

"Ahh," the soldier said to himself rather loudly, "I do enjoy a hot tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage, now that's really hard to beat."

Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a cabbage he had retrieved from its hiding place. He chopped it up and added it to the pot. "Wonderful!" cried the soldier. "You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of beef as well, and it was fit for a king."

The village butcher hurried away and was soon back with a pan of beef. So it went . . through potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, beans, peas, corn, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a fragrant, delicious meal that everyone relished. The villagers offered the soldier a great deal of money for that magic stone, but he refused to sell it and traveled on the next day. From that time on, long after the famine had ended, they sat around in the evening reminiscing about the finest soup they had ever eaten.

If you have a bit of cabbage, or a few carrots - or maybe a cup of beans, do bring them on Sunday to add to our Stone Soup.

Sunday, February 11th — There is a "TWEENS" Youth Group Meeting, 6:00 to 7:30 PM at Smilys.

Monday, February 11th — Pastor Lynn's day off. There will be Disciple Study at Casey U.M.C.from 6:30 to 8:30.

Tuesday, February 12th — There is Disciple Study at the Adair U.M.C. from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

Wednesday, February 13th — Prayer Breakfast at 7:00 A.M. at Happy Chef.
At 7:00 PM there will be Lenten Services at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

FIVE PRACTICES OF FRUITFUL CONGREGATIONS

Our conference is offering an opportunity for us to attend special workshops promoting and directing us toward fruitful congregation development. The book we will follow is "Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations" (shown below) written by Bishop Robert Schnase of Missouri. The practices are:
• Radical Hospitality
• Passionate Worship
• Intentional Faith Development
• Risk-Taking Mission & Service
• Extravagant Generosity

Every church exhibits these nouns to some degree, but what sets them apart are dramatic adjectives preceding these nouns. Radical! Passionate! Intentional! Risk-Taking! Extravagant! Our goal will be to help any church raise the bar of its life and ministry with these practices. To make the workshops more accessible, we are offering all three in nine different locations — the first April 12, the second September 20, the third November 8.

There is a downloadable brochure at the Iowa Conference Website: or you may call Scott Hibben at 515-974-8926. The pre-registration cost of $50 allows you to send as many people as you wish to all of the events plus literature and workshop materials. Registrations for the first workshops need to be in by March 1st.

Thank you to all who participated in the Superbowl Sunday Sandwich project. The food was delicious and the assembly line hummed like a finely tuned motor car.

If you have an item or photo you would like to appear in the ABC Parish blog, send it to Pastor Lynn or Donna Kopaska by e-mail, or give us a call. Thanks.

God Bless you,
Pastor Lynn