Tuesday, March 6, 2012

OUR WEEK-MARCH 11TH TO MARCH 17TH

REMINDERS —
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7TH —
ADAIR U.M.W. MEETS AT 1:30 IN CHURCHTHERE ARE NO LENTEN SERVICES TODAY
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THURSDAY, MARCH 8TH —
GRACE MORRIS FUNERAL
IN
CASEY U.M.C. AT 10:00 A.M.
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SUNDAY, MARCH 11TH —
Yes folks, it's here already —
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME BEGINS!
SET YOUR CLOCKS ONE HOUR AHEAD
EARLY
THIS MORNING SO YOU WON'T
MISS CHURCH.
† • † • † • † • † • † • † • † • † • †
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THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT
COLOR: PURPLE

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• OUR SCRIPTURE READINGS ARE:

EXODUS 20:1-17
(The Message)
God speaks the "Ten Words" —
(as they are known in Judaism), beginning with
an important identity statement: "I am the Lord
your God, who brought you out
of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of slavery."
- - the giving of the Law (Exodus 20:7-17).
1 God spoke all these words:
2 I am God, your God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery.
3 No other gods, only me.
4 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of
anything whatever, whether of things that fly or
walk or swim.
5 Don't bow down to them and don't serve them
because I am God, your God, and I'm a most
jealous God, punishing the children for any sins
their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes,
even to the fourth generation of those who hate me.
6 But I'm unswervingly loyal to the thousands who
love me and keep my commandments.
7 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or
silly banter; God won't put up with the irreverent use
of his name.
8 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Work six days and do everything you need to do.
10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your
God. Don't do any work - not you, nor your son, nor
your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor
your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in
your town.
11 For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and
sea, and everything in them; he rested on the
seventh day.
Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it
apart as a holy day.
12 Honor your father and mother so that you'll live
a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving
you.
13 No murder.
14 No adultery.
15 No stealing.
16 No lies about your neighbor.
17 No lusting after your neighbor's house - or wife
or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don't set your
heart on anything that is your neighbor's.———————————————————————
PSALM 19 (UMH 750) (The Message)
A psalm declaring Creation's praise of God
and our praise of God's instruction. As
followers of Jesus, bound to him in the
covenant of baptism, we are called to "accept the
freedom and power Christ gives us to resist evil,
injustice and oppression in whatever forms they
present themselves.

1 God's glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on
exhibit across the horizon.
2 Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
3 Their words aren't heard, their voices aren't
recorded,
4 But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is
spoken everywhere. God makes a huge dome for
the sun - a superdome!
5 The morning sun's a new husband leaping from
his honeymoon bed, day breaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.
6 That's how God's Word vaults across the skies
sunrise to sunset, Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.
7 The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives
together. The signposts of God are clear and point out
the right road.
8 The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to
joy. The directions of God are plain and easy on the
eyes.
9 God's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a
lifetime guarantee. The decisions of God are accurate
down to the nth degree.
10 God's Word is better than a diamond, better than
a diamond set between emeralds. You'll like it better
than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe
strawberries.
11 There's more: God's Word warns us of danger
and directs us to hidden treasure.
12 Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know
when we play the fool?
13 Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day
fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can
take over your work; Then I can start this day
sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
14 These are the words in my mouth; these are what
I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them
on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
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1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-25 (The Message)
Paul notes the obvious - - proclaiming a crucified
man as Messiah and Savior may be a stretch for
all people, Jewish and Gentile. But for those who
"get it," it is a powerful, life-changing message
that opens up a new understanding of God and
the world.

18 The Message that points to Christ on the Cross
seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on
destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it
makes perfect sense. This is the way God works,
and most powerfully as it turns out.
19 It's written, I'll turn conventional wisdom on its
head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots.
20 So where can you find someone truly wise, truly
educated, truly intelligent in this day and age?
Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense?
21 Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had
a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his
wisdom took delight in using what the world may
consider dumb - preaching, of all things! - to bring
those who trust him into the way of salvation.
22 While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations
and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom,
23 we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified.
Jews treat this like an anti-miracle - and Greeks pass
it off as absurd.
24 But to us who are personally called by God himself
- both Jews and Greeks - Christ is God's ultimate
miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one.
25 Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to
the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't
begin to compete with God's "weakness."
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JOHN 2:13-22 (The Message)
• Jesus makes Temple worship impossible at the
Passover sacrifice. He confronts those who had
turned the Temple courtyard into a marketplace,
and
they ask him what authority he has for doing
this.
He tells them, "Destroy this temple, and in
three days
I will raise it up." • Jesus commits an
act of public vandalism in
the
temple during the height of the Passover
season,
releasing what may have been thousands
of animals
into the streets, overturning the tables
of
moneychangers, and offering the strongest
possible
words of justification for what by many
could have
been seen as a religiously hostile, if
not
"blasphemous" or "abominable" action.
• Jesus declares, referencing Isaiah, "My father's
house is to be a house of prayer for all nations,
but
you have made it a safe house for thieves!"
• Jesus, whip in hand, has already driven out the
moneychangers and the people responsible for
selling the larger sacrificial items. He then turns
his face and his words toward the sellers of
doves
(the sacrifices available at the lowest cost
for the
poor). "Get these things out of here! Stop
making
my Father's house a shopping center!"
13 When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring
by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled
up to Jerusalem.
14 He found the Temple teeming with people selling
cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were
also there in full strength.
15 Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather
and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the
sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan
sharks, spilling coins left and right.16 He told the dove merchants, "Get your things out
of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a
shopping mall!"
17 That's when his disciples remembered the
Scripture, "Zeal for your house consumes me."
18 But the Jews were upset. They asked, "What
credentials can you present to justify this?"
19 Jesus answered, "Tear down this Temple and
in three days I'll put it back together."
20 They were indignant: "It took forty-six years to
build this Temple, and you're going to rebuild it in
three days?"
21 But Jesus was talking about his body as the
Temple.
22 Later, after he was raised from the dead, his
disciples remembered he had said this. They then
put two and two together and believed both what
was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.
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MONDAY, MARCH 12TH —
This is Pastor Bob's and Naomi's day off.
The office is closed today.
• • THIS IS GIRL SCOUTS OF AMERICA'S 100TH
ANNIVERSARY.
Girl Scouts of America (GSUSA) is
a youth organization for girls in the United States and
American girls living abroad. It was founded by
Juliette Gordon Lowe in 1912.
President Barack Obama signed the "Girl Scouts of
the USA Commemorative Coin Act" for the 100th
Anniversary celebration. The act authorized the
minting of 350,000 silver dollar coins in honor of
Girl Scouts and the achievements of the 50 million
women influenced by Girl Scouting during the last
100 years. Currently there is a membership of
2,303,388 youth. — Wikipedia
• GIRL SCOUT PROMISE •
On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14TH —
LENTEN SERVICES IN ADAIR U.M.C. @ 7 P.M.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 15TH —
DEBORAH- MARY CIRCLE MEETS AT 2 P.M.
IN CASEY U.M.C.≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
SATURDAY, MARCH 17TH —
Today is St. Patrick's Day which we traditionally
celebrate by the "wearin' of the green".

MARCH 18TH —
ADAIR & CASEY UNITED
METHODIST CHURCHES
ANNUAL SPRING CHICKEN DINNER.

BECAUSE OF THE SCHEDULED SUNDAY DINNER
WE WILL HAVE COMBINED WORSHIP SERVICES
SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 17TH, IN THE
— ADAIR COMMUNITY CENTER - AT 6 P.M. —

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CHICKEN DINNER WILL BE SUNDAY @ 11A.M.≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
SUNDAY, MARCH 25TH, REV. ED KAIL WILL BE
PREACHING AT ADAIR U.M.C. AND SHARING
THE INFORMATION COLLECTED FOR THE
CONGREGATION REPORT.

God Bless and Keep You,
Pastor Bob