Monday, June 10, 2013

OUR WEEK—
JUNE 16TH TO JUNE 22ND


REMINDERS —
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12TH —
• • A-C FOOD PANTRY OPEN • •
IN CASEY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

FROM 9 A.M. TO 11 A.M.

• SMALL GROUP WILL MEET IN CASEY U.M.C. 
AT  5:30 P.M.
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SATURDAY, JUNE 15TH —
• MOBILE FOOD PANTRY • WILL BE AT OUR
 
CASEY COMMUNITY BUILDING THIS MORNING.
10:00 A.M. UNTIL NOON

• Happy Birthday, Art Arter! 
• Happy Birthday Ryne Noland!
• Happy Anniversary, John and Rita Elgin

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SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2013
FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
• HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! •

YOU DON'T NEED TO DO ANYTHING 
EXTRAORDINARY ——
JUST DO IT TOGETHER!
 COLOR: GREEN
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SCRIPTURE READINGS:
1 KINGS 21:1-21
THE MESSAGE (MSG)

Ahab and Jezebel plot the death of Naboth to
obtain his vineyard, and God sends Elijah to
confront Ahab.
In today’s reading, we finally see Elijah doing
what we may normally think prophets do all the
time: calling a king to account for acts of
disobedience and injustice.
Consider reading through the end of the chapter
(verse 29).

1-2  And then, to top it off, came this: Naboth the
Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel that
bordered the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
One day Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give
me your vineyard so I can use it as a kitchen
garden; it's right next to my house—so
convenient.

In exchange I'll give you a far better
vineyard, or if you'd prefer I'll pay you money
for it."

3-4  But Naboth told Ahab, "Not on your life!
 So help me God, I'd never sell the family farm to
you!" Ahab went home in a black mood, sulking
over Naboth the Jezreelite's words, "I'll never
turn over my family inheritance to you."
 He went to bed, stuffed his face in his pillow, and
refused to eat.

5 Jezebel his wife came to him. She said, "What's
going on? Why are you so out of sorts and
refusing to eat?"

6 He told her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the
Jezreelite. I said, 'Give me your vineyard—I'll pay
you for it or, if you'd rather, I'll give you another
vineyard in exchange.' And he said, 'I'll never give
you my vineyard.'"

7 Jezebel said, "Is this any way for a king of
Israel to act? Aren't you the boss? On your feet!
Eat! Cheer up! I'll take care of this; I'll get the
vineyard of this Naboth the Jezreelite for you."

8-10 She wrote letters over Ahab's signature,
stamped them with his official seal, and sent
them to the elders in Naboth's city and to the
civic leaders. She wrote "Call for a fast day and
put Naboth at the head table. Then seat a couple
of stool pigeons across from him who, in front of
everybody will say, 'You! You blasphemed God
and the king!' Then they'll throw him out and
stone him to death."

11-14 And they did it. The men of the city—the
elders and civic leaders— followed Jezebel's
instructions that she wrote in the letters sent to
them. They called for a fast day and seated
Naboth at the head table. Then they brought in
two stool pigeons and seated them opposite
Naboth. In front of everybody the two
degenerates accused him, "He blasphemed God
and the king!" The company threw him out in the
street, stoned him mercilessly, and he died.

15 When Jezebel got word that Naboth had been
stoned to death, she told Ahab, "Go for it, Ahab—
take the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for
your own, the vineyard he refused to sell you.
Naboth is no more; Naboth is dead."

16 The minute Ahab heard that Naboth was dead,
he set out for the vineyard of Naboth the
Jezreelite and claimed it for his own.

17-19 Then God stepped in and spoke to Elijah
the Tishbite, "On your feet; go down and
confront Ahab of Samaria, king of Israel. You'll
find him in the vineyard of Naboth; he's gone
there to claim it as his own. Say this to him:

'God's word: What's going on here? First murder,
then theft?' Then tell him, 'God's verdict: The very
spot where the dogs lapped up Naboth's blood,
they'll lap up your blood—that's right, your
blood.'"

20-22 Ahab answered Elijah, "My enemy! So,
you've run me down!"

 "Yes, I've found you out," said Elijah. "And
because you've bought into the business of evil,
defying God. 'I will most certainly bring doom
upon you, make mincemeat of your descendants,
kill off every sorry male wretch who's even
remotely connected with the name Ahab. And I'll
bring down on you the same fate that fell on
Jeroboam son of Nebat and Baasha son of
Ahijah—you've made me that angry by making
Israel sin.'"
23-24  As for Jezebel, God said, "Dogs will fight
over the flesh of Jezebel all over Jezreel. Anyone
tainted by Ahab who dies in the city will be eaten
by stray dogs; corpses in the country will be
eaten by carrion crows."

25-26  Ahab, pushed by his wife Jezebel and in
open defiance of God, set an all time record in
making big business of evil. He indulged in
outrageous obscenities in the world of idols,
copying the Amorites whom God had earlier
kicked out of Israelite territory.

27 When Ahab heard what Elijah had to say, he
ripped his clothes to shreds, dressed in
penitential rough burlap, and fasted.
He even slept in coarse burlap pajamas. He tiptoed
around, quiet as a mouse.

28-29 Then God spoke to Elijah the Tishbite: "Do
you see how penitently submissive Ahab has
become to me? Because of his repentance I'll
not bring the doom during his lifetime; Ahab's
son, though, will get it." 
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PSALM 5:1-8 (UMH 742)
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
A sense of lament.
A PSALM OF DAVID

1-3 Listen, God! Please, pay attention! Can you
make sense of these ramblings, my groans and
cries? King-God, I need your help.
   Every morning
      you'll hear me at it again.
   Every morning
      I lay out the pieces of my life
      on your altar
      and watch for fire to descend.

4-6 You don't socialize with Wicked,
      or invite Evil over as your house guest.
   Hot-Air-Boaster collapses in front of you;
      you shake your head over Mischief-Maker.
   God destroys Lie-Speaker;
      Blood-Thirsty and Truth-Bender disgust you.

7-8 And here I am, your invited guest—
      it's incredible!
   I enter your house; here I am,
      prostrate in your inner sanctum,
   Waiting for directions
      to get me safely through enemy lines.
———————————————————————
GALATIANS 2:15-21
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
This is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number
of Early Christian communities in the Roman
province of Galatia.  Paul explains how important
it is that he and the Christians in Galatia not go
back to trusting in the law for justification, but
rather trust in Christ.

 15-16 We Jews know that we have no advantage
of birth over "non-Jewish sinners." We know very
well that we are not set right with God by rule-
keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus
Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we
had the best system of rules the world has ever
seen! Convinced that no human being can
please God by self-improvement, we believed in
Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set
right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not
by trying to be good.

17-18 Have some of you noticed that we are not
yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are
you ready to make the accusation that since
people like me, who go through Christ in order
to get things right with God, aren't perfectly
virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory
to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was
"trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the
same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting
as a charlatan.

19-21 What actually took place is this: I tried
keeping rules and working my head off to please
God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law
man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life
showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I
identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I
have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no
longer central. It is no longer important that I
appear righteous before you or have your good
opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress
God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me
living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me. I am not going to go back on that.

   Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old
rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an
abandonment of everything personal and free in
my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to
repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with
God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ
died unnecessarily.
———————————————————————
LUKE 7:36–8:3
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
At the table of Simon, a Pharisee, a sinful woman
anoints Jesus' feet, and Jesus announces that
her sins are forgiven.  In the story he tells Simon,
we learn to expect that those who have been
forgiven much may show love in more lavish
ways than those who have been forgiven
relatively little.

ANOINTING HIS FEET
36-39
One of the Pharisees asked him over for a
meal. He went to the Pharisee's house and sat
down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of
the village, the town harlot, having learned that
Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee,
came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and
stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his
feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet,
kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume.
 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this,
he said to himself, "If this man was the prophet I
thought he was, he would have known what kind
of woman this is who is falling all over him."

40 Jesus said to him, "Simon, I have something
to tell you."

   "Oh? Tell me."

41-42 "Two men were in debt to a banker. One
owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty.
Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker
canceled both debts. Which of the two would be
more grateful?"

43-47 Simon answered, "I suppose the one who
was forgiven the most."

   "That's right," said Jesus. Then turning to the
woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, "Do you
see this woman? I came to your home; you
provided no water for my feet, but she rained
tears on my feet and dried them with her hair.
You gave me no greeting, but from the time I
arrived she hasn't quit kissing my feet. You
provided nothing for freshening up, but she has
soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn't
it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so
she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is
minimal, the gratitude is minimal."

48 Then he spoke to her: "I forgive your sins."

49 That set the dinner guests talking behind his
back: "Who does he think he is, forgiving sins!"

50 He ignored them and said to the woman,
"Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."
LUKE 8
1-3 He continued according to plan, traveled to
town after town, village after village, preaching
God's kingdom, spreading the Message. The
Twelve were with him. There were also some
women in their company who had been healed
of various evil afflictions and illnesses: Mary,
the one called Magdalene, from whom seven
demons had gone out; Joanna, wife of Chuza,
Herod's manager; and Susanna—along with
many others who used their considerable means
to provide for the company.

Happy Anniversary, Lloyd and Carol McCuen!
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• 1858 - In a speech in Springfield, IL, U.S. Senate
candidate Abraham Lincoln said the slavery
issue had to be resolved. He declared, "A house
divided against itself cannot stand."
• 1897 - The U.S. government signed a treaty of
annexation with Hawaii.
• 1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
ordered the closure of all German consulates in
the United States.
• 1952 - "Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl" was
published in the United States.
• 1971 - An El Greco sketch, "The Immaculate
Conception," was recovered in New York City by
the FBI. The work was stolen 35 years earlier.
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MONDAY, JUNE 17TH —
THE OFFICE IS CLOSED TODAY.

Happy Birthday, Vickie Carney!
Happy Birthday Diana Young!
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• 1579 - Sir Francis Drake claimed San Francisco
Bay (California) for England.
• 1775 - The British took Bunker Hill outside of
Boston.
• 1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte incorporated Italy
into his empire.
• 1879 - Thomas Edison received an honorary
degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the trustees
of Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ.
• 1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York
City aboard the French ship Isere.
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TUESDAY, JUNE 18TH —
Happy Birthday, Clay Larson!
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• 1778 - Britain evacuated Philadelphia during the
U.S. Revolutionary War.
• 1812 - The War of 1812 began as the U.S.
declared war against Great Britain. The conflict
began over trade restrictions.
• 1815 - At the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon was
defeated by an international army under the
Duke of Wellington.
Napoleon abdicated on June 22.
• 1873 - Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for
attempting to vote for the U.S. President.
• 1918 - Allied forces on the Western Front began
their largest counter-attack against the German
army.
• 1925 - The first ever degree in landscape
architecture was granted by Harvard University.
• 1959 - A Federal Court annulled the Arkansas
law allowing school closings to prevent
integration.
• 1983 - Dr. Sally Ride became the first American
woman in space aboard the space shuttle
Challenger.
• 2009 - Greenland assumed control over its own
law enforcement, judicial affairs, and natural
resources from the Kingdom of Denmark.
Greenlandic became the official language.
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19TH —
• MARTHA CIRCLE IN CASEY U.M.C. AT 7:00 P.M.

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• 1586 - English colonists sailed away from
Roanoke Island, NC, after failing to establish
England's first permanent settlement in America.
• 1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln outlined
his Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed
slavery in U.S. territories. 
• 1865 - The emancipation of slaves was declared
in Texas.
• 1903 - The young school teacher, Benito
Mussolini, was placed under investigation by
police in Bern, Switzerland.
• 1942 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
arrived in Washington, DC, to discuss the
invasion of North Africa with U.S. President
Roosevelt.
• 1964 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was
approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in
the U.S. Senate.
• 1998 - Switzerland's three largest banks offered
$600 million to settle claims they'd stolen the
assets of Holocaust victims during World War II.
Jewish leaders called the offer insulting.
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THURSDAY, JUNE 20TH —
• DEBORAH-MARY CIRCLE IN CASEY U.M.C.     
AT 2:00 P.M.

Happy Anniversary, Doug and Lonnie Harris!
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• 1782 - The U.S. Congress approved the Great
Seal of the United States.
• 1793 - Eli Whitney applied for a cotton gin
patent.
 • 1863 - West Virginia became the 35th state to
join the United States.
• 1950 - Willie Mays graduated from high school
and promptly signed with the New York Giants.
• 1977 - The Trans-Alaska Pipeline began
operation.  
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FRIDAY, JUNE 21ST —
• UMW GUEST DAY AT GREENFIELD U.M.C.     
BEGINS AT 1:30 P.M.
~ ~ THIS IS THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER ~ ~ 

 
Happy Birthday, Annette Noland!
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• 1788 - The U.S. Constitution went into effect
when New Hampshire became the ninth state to
ratify it.
• 1985 - Scientists announced that skeletal
remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi
war criminal Josef Mengele.
• 2003 - The fifth Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter
and the Order of the Phoenix," was published by
J.K. Rowling.  Amazon.com shipped out more
than one million copies on this day making the
day the largest distribution day of a single item
in e-commerce history. The book set sales
records around the world with an estimated 5
million copies were sold on the first day. 
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SATURDAY, JUNE 22ND —
Happy Anniversary, Chad and Traci Stephenson!
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• 1611 - English explorer Henry Hudson, his son
and several other people were set adrift in
present-day Hudson Bay by mutineers.
• 1772 - Slavery was outlawed in England.
• 1868 - Arkansas was re-admitted to the Union.
• 1876   General Alfred Terry sends Lieutenant
Colonel George A. Custer to the Rosebud and
Little Bighorn rivers to search for Indian villages.
• 1933 - Germany became a one political party
country when Hitler banned all parties other than
the Nazis.
• 1942 - A Japanese submarine shelled Fort
Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia River.
• 1944 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed
the "GI Bill of Rights" to provide broad benefits
for veterans of the war. 
• 1946 - Jet airplanes were used to transport mail
for the first time.
• 1970 - U.S. President Richard Nixon signed 26th
amendment, lowering the voting age to 18. 

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Thank you for the help you have given to our 
church life this week.  In our turbulent weather, 
take care of yourselves.  Do not take chances if 
you think there may be tornado winds or if 
torrential rains are expected that could cause 
local flooding.  Safety first. 

God Bless and Keep You,
Pastor Melodee