JANUARY 27TH TO FEBRUARY 2ND
OUR BUSY, BUSY PLANET —
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REMINDERS —
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 26TH —
IN CASEY U.M.C. AT 6:30 P.M.
• WE WILL HAVE THIS THE LAST SATURDAY
OF EACH MONTH• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
SMALL GROUP STUDY IN ADAIR U.M.C.
LIGHT SUPPER AT 6:00 P.M. FOLLOWED BY
GROUP STUDY AT 6:30 P.M.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2013
THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
COLOR: GREEN
SCRIPTURE READINGS —
NEHEMIAH 8:1-10
† THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Nehemiah and a group of Levites read aloud
from the Torah, interpreted the reading, and
called the people gathered to a day of
celebration and sharing with those who had
no one to prepare a celebratory meal.
EZRA AND THE REVELATION
1 By the time the seventh month arrived, the
People of Israel were settled in their towns.
Then all the people gathered as one person in
the town square in front of the Water Gate and
asked the scholar Ezra to bring the Book of The
Revelation of Moses that God had commanded
for Israel.
2-3 So Ezra the priest brought The Revelation to
the congregation, which was made up of both
men and women—everyone capable of
understanding. It was the first day of the seventh
month. He read it facing the town square at the
Water Gate from early dawn until noon in the
hearing of the men and women, all who could
understand it. And all the people listened—they
were all ears—to the Book of The Revelation.
constructed for the occasion. He was flanked on
the right by Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah,
Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, and on the left by Pedaiah,
Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah,
Zechariah, and Meshullam.
5-6 Ezra opened the book. Every eye was on him
(he was standing on the raised platform) and as
he opened the book everyone stood. Then Ezra
praised God, the great God, and all the people
responded, "Oh Yes! Yes!" with hands raised
high. And then they fell to their knees in worship
of God, their faces to the ground.
Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah,
Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah, all Levites,
explained The Revelation while people stood,
listening respectfully. They translated the Book
of The Revelation of God so the people could
understand it and then explained the reading.
9 Nehemiah the governor, along with Ezra the
priest and scholar and the Levites who were
teaching the people, said to all the people,
"This day is holy to God, your God. Don't weep
and carry on." They said this because all the
people were weeping as they heard the words of
The Revelation.
10 He continued, "Go home and prepare a feast,
holiday food and drink; and share it with those
who don't have anything: This day is holy to God.
Don't feel bad. The joy of God is your strength!"
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PSALM 19 (UMH 750)
† THE MESSAGE (MSG)
A hymn in praise of Torah, joined by all creation.
A DAVID PSALM
1-2 God's glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
3-4 Their words aren't heard,
their voices aren't recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
4-5 God makes a huge dome
for the sun—a superdome!
leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.
6 That's how God's Word vaults across the skies
from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.
7-9 The revelation of God is whole
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
and point out the right road.
showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
and easy on the eyes.
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.
danger
and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool?
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.
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 CORINTHIAN 12:12-31
† THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Paul reminds a divided congregation that the
differences in the ways the Spirit's gifts operate
in each one are intended to sustain the
community's functioning as one body.
12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind
of thing works by looking no further than your
own body. Your body has many parts—limbs,
organs, cells—
you're still one body. It's exactly the same with
Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said
good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives.
We each used to independently call our own
shots, but then we entered into a large and
integrated life in which he has the final say in
everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word
and action when we were baptized.) Each of us
is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed
and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where
we all come to drink. Old labels we once used
to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek,
slave or free—are no longer useful. We need
something larger, more comprehensive.
14-18 I want you to think about how all this makes
you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a
single part blown up into something huge. It's all
the different-but-similar parts arranged and
functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant
like Hand, embellished with rings;
I guess I don't belong to this body," would that
make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye,
limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on
the head," would you want to remove it from the
body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear?
If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that
God has carefully placed each part of the body
right where he wanted it.
19-24 But I also want you to think about how this
keeps your significance from getting blown up
into self-importance. For no matter how signifi-
cant you are, it is only because of what you are
a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand
wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have
is one body with many parts, each its proper size
and in its proper place. No part is important on
its own.
lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot,
"You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As
a matter of fact, in practice it works the other
way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and
therefore necessary. You can live without an eye,
for instance, but not without a stomach. When
it's a part of your own body you are concerned
with, it makes no difference whether the part is
visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it
dignity and honor just as it is, without compar-
isons. If anything, you have more concern for
the lower parts than the higher. If you had to
choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to
full-bodied hair?
25-26 The way God designed our bodies is a
model for understanding our lives together as
a church: every part dependent on every other
part, the parts we mention and the parts we
don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't.
If one part hurts, every other part is involved in
the hurt, and in the healing. If one part
flourishes, every other part enters into the
exuberance.
27-31 You are Christ's body—that's who you are!
your part of that body does your "part" mean
anything. You're familiar with some of the parts
that God has formed in his church,
which is his "body":
• apostles
• prophets
• teachers
• miracle workers
• healers
• helpers
• organizers
• those who pray in tongues.
But it's obvious by now, isn't it, that Christ's
church is a complete Body and not a gigantic,
unidimensional Part? It's not all Apostle, not all
Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer,
not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of
Tongues. And yet some of you keep competing
for so-called "important" parts.
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LUKE 4:14-21
† THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Jesus reads and interprets from the scroll of
Isaiah, announcing that the words he has read
are now fulfilled: "The spirit of the Lord is upon
me, for he has anointed me to bring
good news to the poor…"
TO SET THE BURDENED FREE
14-15 Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the
Spirit. News that he was back spread through
the countryside. He taught in their meeting
places to everyone's acclaim and pleasure.
16-21 He came to Nazareth where he had been
reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he
went to the meeting place. When he stood up
to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet
Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place
where it was written,
God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of
good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, "This is God's year to act!"
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the
assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place
was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've
just heard Scripture make history. It came true
just now in this place."
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ON THIS DAY:
JANUARY 27 —
• 1880 —
Thomas Edison was granted a patent for his
incandescent light bulb.
• 1888 —
The National Geographic Society was founded in
Washington, DC.
• 1926 —
John Baird, a Scottish inventor, demonstrated a
pictorial transmission machine called television.
• 1945 —
The Russians liberated Auschwitz concentration
camp, where over 1.5 million people, including
over 1 million Jews were killed.
• 1973 —
The Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.
• 2010 —
Apple unveiled the "iPad".
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JANUARY 28 —
• 1878 —
The first telephone switchboard was installed in
New Haven, Connecticut.
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JANUARY 29 —
• 1850 —
Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a
compromise bill on slavery that included the
admission of California into the Union as a free
state.
• 1861 —
In America, Kansas became the 34th state of the
Union.
• 1886 —
The first successful petroleum-driven motorcar,
built by Karl Benz, was patented.
• 1963 —
Britain was refused entry into the European
Economic Community.
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JANUARY 30 —
• 1649 —
England's King Charles I was beheaded.
• 1798 —
The first brawl in the United States House of
Representatives took place. Congressmen
Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold fought with
each other on the floor of the House of
Representatives.
• 1847 —
The town of Yerba Buena was legally renamed
San Francisco.
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 —
• AD COUNCIL WILL MEET AT ADAIR U.M.C.
AT 6:30 P.M.
• CASEY AD COUNCIL WILL MEET AT 7:00 P.M.
IN ADAIR U.M.C.
• ABC AD COUNCIL WILL MEET AT 7:30 P.M.
(ALL AT ADAIR U.M.C.)
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JANUARY 31 —
• 1865 —
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
was passed by the U.S. House of Represent-
atives. It was ratified by the necessary number
of states on December 6, 1865. The amendment
abolished slavery in the United States.
• 1940 —
The first Social Security check was issued by
the U.S. Government.
• 1950 —
U.S. President Truman announced that he had
ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.
• 1971 —
Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D.
Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard
Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.
• 1971 —
Telephone service between East and West Berlin
was re-established after being severed 19 years.
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FEBRUARY 1 —
• 1788 —
Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patented
the steamboat.
• 1790 —
The U.S. Supreme Court convened for the first
time in New York City.
• 1793 —
France declared war on Britain and Holland.
• 1861 —
Texas voted to secede from the Union.
• 1862 —
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic," by Julia
Ward Howe was first published in the
"Atlantic Monthly."
• 1893 —
Thomas A. Edison completed work on the
world's first motion picture studio in West
Orange, N.J.
• 1898 —
The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford,
CT, issued the first automobile insurance
policy. Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo, NY, paid
$11.25 for the policy, which gave him $5,000
in liability coverage.
• 1900 —
Eastman Kodak Co. introduced the $1 Brownie
box camera.
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FEBRUARY 2 —
• • THIS IS GROUND HOG DAY • •
AND MAY YOU FAIL TO SEE HIS SHADOW!
• 1536 —
The Argentine city of Buenos Aires is founded.
• 1653 —
New Amsterdam (now New York City) was
incorporated.
• 2007—
The world's leading climatologists said global
warming has begun. It is "very likely" caused by
humans and may be unstoppable for centuries.
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FUTURE FOCUS —
HOLY COMMUNION WILL BE OBSERVED ON
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17TH AND NOT ON
FEBRUARY 3RD because there will be a guest
speakers, THE GIDEONS on the first Sunday
in February.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6TH —
• Adair U.M.W. will meet at 1:30 P.M.
in the church.
• SPRC Meeting in Casey U.M.C. at 7 P.M.• Adair U.M.W. will meet at 1:30 P.M.
in the church.
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We see today that everyone plays a part in the
body of the church. Your gifts may not be like
those of anyone else, but they will add to and
generate a stronger organization - just because
you are there to make your contribution.
God Bless and Keep You,
Pastor Melodee
