Monday, September 16, 2013

OUR WEEK-SEPTEMBER 22 TO SEPTEMBER 28

REMINDERS —
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH —
DORCUS-RUTH CIRCLE MEETS AT 1:30 P.M. IN
ADAIR U.M.C.

SMALL GROUP STUDY MEETS IN ADAIR U.M.C.
AT 5:30 P.M.

ESTHER CIRCLE MEETS AT 7 P.M. IN ADAIR

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MARTHA CIRCLE MEETS AT 7 P.M. IN CASEY

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH —
DEBORAH-MARY CIRCLE MEETS AT 2 P.M. IN
CASEY U.M.C.

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST —
MOBILE FOOD PANTRY
IN 
CASEY COMMUNITY BUILDING
 











SETUP WILL BEGIN AT 9 A.M.  
WILL BE OPEN 10 A.M. TO NOON
If you have a passion for feeding the hungry, 
please call the office or Pastor Melodee if 
you are available to help.
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SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22ND —

THIS IS THE FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN
 Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
COLOR: GREEN

THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN THE
SEASON OF CREATION, IS CALLED
COSMOS SUNDAY
Cosmos refers to the entire universe, to every
dimension of time and space, spiritual and
material. The cosmos includes the glittering
galaxies that humans have begun to explore, as
well as distant domains far beyond our existing
imagination. 
    
There are domains deep within each molecule 
we have yet to comprehend. Creation is one 
sacred cosmos that seems to be constantly
changing; a spiritual universe filled with God’s
presence.

We focus on the cosmos in all its immensity and
wonder, and also on the spiritual impulse that
permits the universe to exist and permits each of
us on Earth to exist. That impulse may also be
called Wisdom!

In our confession we may recall how we have
focused on our human selves as the center of
the universe and perhaps treated planet Earth
with something less than respect, even knowing
Earth is our home now and will be the home of
all of our descendants in the future.

COSMIC PRAYER
Risen Christ, your presence fills the cosmos.
Cosmic Christ, your presence pulses through all
galactic space, across light years of time.
Living Christ, in this nano-second we call ‘now’,
in this nano-space we call ‘here’, make your
presence felt among us. 

We have ignored our crucial connection with 
the parts of creation where we live.  We have
sometimes loved progress more than the 

planet. Please forgive us Lord, forgive us. 
Teach us to care for the Earth.  Amen
SCRIPTURE READINGS:
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JEREMIAH 8:18–9:1
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
This week, we see, hear, and feel the heart
rending pain of the aftermath in Jeremiah’s
voice as he cries out and weeps for the pain and
destruction of his people.  These people have
experienced more than just the devastation and
loss of their land and property. They have also
experienced utter disillusionment with their
leaders, and possibly even with their God.

It could have been an "I told you so" moment for
Jeremiah. But it was not. Although he had no
illusions about what was coming, and what he
describes here is far from the worst of it, he
grieves with what is happening to his people.
He wants their pain relieved, if only a little.
"Is there no balm in Gilead?" he cries.
ADVANCING FROM ONE EVIL TO THE NEXT
JEREMIAH 8

18-22  I drown in grief.
   I'm heartsick.
Oh, listen! Please listen! It's the cry of my dear
   people
   reverberating through the country.
Is God no longer in Zion?
   Has the King gone away?
Can you tell me why they flaunt their
   plaything-gods,
   their silly, imported no-gods before me?
The crops are in, the summer is over,
   but for us nothing's changed.
   We're still waiting to be rescued.
For my dear broken people, I'm heartbroken.
   I weep, seized by grief.
Are there no healing ointments in Gilead?
   Isn't there a doctor in the house?
So why can't something be done
   to heal and save my dear, dear people?
JEREMIAH 9
1-2  I wish my head were a well of water and my
   eyes fountains of tears
So I could weep day and night
   for casualties among my dear, dear people.
At times I wish I had a wilderness hut,
   a backwoods cabin,
Where I could get away from my people
   and never see them again.
They're a faithless, feckless bunch,
   a congregation of degenerates.
—————————————————————
PSALM 79:1-9 or PSALM 4 (UMH 741)
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
A PSALM OF ASAPH

1-4 God!  Barbarians have broken into your
    home, violated your holy temple,
      left Jerusalem a pile of rubble!
   They've served up corpses of your servants
      as carrion food for birds of prey,
   Threw the bones of your holy people
      out to the wild animals to gnaw on.
   They dumped out their blood
      like buckets of water.
   All around Jerusalem, their bodies
      were left to rot, unburied.
   We're nothing but a joke to our neighbors,
      graffiti scrawled on the city walls.
5-7  How long do we have to put up with this,
      God?
      Do you have it in for us for good?
      Will your smoldering rage never cool down?
   If you're going to be angry, be angry
      with the pagans who care nothing about you,
      or your rival kingdoms who ignore you.
   They're the ones who ruined Jacob,
      who wrecked and looted the place where he
      lived.
8-10  Don't blame us for the sins of our parents.
      Hurry up and help us; we're at the end of our
      rope.
   You're famous for helping; God, give us a
      break.
      Your reputation is on the line.
   Pull us out of this mess, forgive us our sins—
      do what you're famous for doing!
   Don't let the heathen get by with their sneers:
      "Where's your God? Is he out to lunch?"
   Go public and show the godless world
      that they can't kill your servants and get by
      with it.

OR PSALM 4
A PSALM OF DAVID
1
When I call, give me answers. God, take my
   side! Once, in a tight place, you gave me room;
   Now I'm in trouble again: grace me! hear me!

2 You rabble—how long do I put up with your
   scorn?
   How long will you lust after lies?
   How long will you live crazed by illusion?

3 Look at this: look
   Who got picked by God!
   He listens the split second I call to him.

4-5 Complain if you must, but don't lash out.
   Keep your mouth shut, and let your heart do
   the talking.
   Build your case before God and wait for his
   verdict.

6-7 Why is everyone hungry for more? "More,
   more," they say.
   "More, more."
   I have God's more-than-enough,
   More joy in one ordinary day

7-8 Than they get in all their shopping sprees.
   At day's end I'm ready for sound sleep,
   For you, God, have put my life back together.
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1 TIMOTHY 2:1-7
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
SIMPLE FAITH AND PLAIN TRUTH
Paul provides direction for what should be
included in the "prayers of the people" and in
what order.
Early Christian praying was comprehensive in
scope, perhaps even more comprehensive 

than the list offered by Paul this week.
Christian congregational praying was an active
exercise by the whole people ("leading long
processions"), involving movement, song,
possibly dance, and a great spontaneity.
The people's ministry of prayer joins the
ongoing priestly ministry of Jesus as mediator
and participates in the will of God that all
should be saved.

1-3  The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray
every way you know how, for everyone you
know. Pray especially for rulers and their
governments to rule well so we can be quietly
about our business of living simply, in humble
contemplation. This is the way our Savior God
wants us to live.
4-7  He wants not only us but everyone saved,
you know, everyone to get to know the truth
we've learned: that there's one God and only
one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and
us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for
everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free.
Eventually the news is going to get out. This and
this only has been my appointed work: getting
this news to those who have never heard of God,
and explaining how it works by simple faith and
plain truth.
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LUKE 16:1-13
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
THE STORY OF THE CROOKED MANAGER
Jesus praises a shrewd steward and commends
his disciples to follow his example.  This is
thoroughly shocking to most “conventional”
understandings of morality or of Jesus. Here,
Jesus praises a cheater. He tells his disciples 

to use “dishonest mammon” as a means to be
welcomed into homes. He says it’s impossible
to serve both God and mammon at the same 

time. His disciples, others who heard him, and
perhaps we ourselves are reeling in shock from
what Jesus has just said.  Now he introduces
something we think we might understand.
Maybe. “Whoever is faithful with little is faithful
also with much.”

1-2  Jesus said to his disciples, "There was once
a rich man who had a manager. He got reports
that the manager had been taking advantage of
his position by running up huge personal
expenses. So he called him in and said, 'What's
this I hear about you? You're fired. And I want a
complete audit of your books.'

3-4  "The manager said to himself, 'What am I
going to do? I've lost my job as manager. I'm not
strong enough for a laboring job, and I'm too
proud to beg. . . . Ah, I've got a plan. Here's what
I'll do . . . then when I'm turned out into the street,
people will take me into their houses.'

5 "Then he went at it. One after another, he called
in the people who were in debt to his master. He
said to the first, 'How much do you owe my
master?'
6 "He replied, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.'

   "The manager said, 'Here, take your bill, sit
down here—quick now— write fifty.'

7 "To the next he said, 'And you, what do you
owe?'

   "He answered, 'A hundred sacks of wheat.'

   "He said, 'Take your bill, write in eighty.'

8-9 "Now here's a surprise: The master praised
the crooked manager! And why? Because he
knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people
are smarter in this regard than law-abiding
citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for
angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be
smart in the same way—but for what is right—
using every adversity to stimulate you to creative
survival, to concentrate your attention on the
bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not
complacently just get by on good behavior."
GOD SEES BEHIND APPEARANCES
10-13
  Jesus went on to make these comments:

   If you're honest in small things,
      you'll be honest in big things;
   If you're a crook in small things,
      you'll be a crook in big things.
   If you're not honest in small jobs,
      who will put you in charge of the store?
   No worker can serve two bosses:
      He'll either hate the first and love the second
   Or adore the first and despise the second.
      You can't serve both God and the Bank.
—   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —        
CASEY NOMINATING COMMITTEE MEETING
TODAY AT 1:30 P.M.
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CASEY VISIONING TEAM MEETING TODAY
AT 2:30 p.m.

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YOUTH GROUP MEETING TODAY 
IN CASEY U.M.C. FROM 4 TO 5:30
We will examine some of the beliefs we hold as
Christians, and as Methodists.  We will discuss 
the Conformation experience as well. 
•   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   
• 1789 - The U.S. Congress authorized the office
of Postmaster General
• 1862 - U.S. President Lincoln issued the
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It stated
that all slaves held within rebel states would be
free as of January 1, 1863.
• 1914 - Three British cruisers were sunk by one
German submarine in the North Sea.1,400 British
sailors were killed. This alerted the world to the
effectiveness of the submarine.
• 1961 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy signed a
congressional act that established the Peace
Corps.  
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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23RD —
Happy Birthday Lynette Carney!
Happy Anniversary, Matt and Crystal Hall!
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• THE OFFICE IS CLOSED TODAY •
• Happy Birthday Lynette Carney!
• Happy Anniversary, Matt and Crystal Hall!
•   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   
• 1642 - The first commencement at Harvard
University, in Cambridge, MA, was held.
• 1806 - The Lewis and Clark expedition, reached
St. Louis, Missouri, which ended their trip to the
Pacific Northwest.
• 1957 - Nine black students withdrew from Little
Rock Central High School in Arkansas because
of the protesting white mob outside.
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Today we reach an equinox in the earth’s cycle:
Spring in the global South, Autumn or Fall in the
global North.  The North now enters a time of
increasing darkness each day until Spring.

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH —
Happy Birthday, Karl Larson!
•   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •  
• 1869 - Thousands of businessmen were
financially ruined after a panic on Wall Street.
The panic was caused by an attempt to corner
the gold market by Jay Gould and James Fisk.
• 1957 - U.S. President Eisenhower sent federal
troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce
school integration.  
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH —
Happy Birthday Doug Morgan!
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SMALL GROUP STUDY 
IN CASEY UMC-5:30 P.M.
 CASEY AD COUNCIL MEETING
IN CASEY U.M.C.  7:00 P.M.
ADAIR AD COUNCIL MEETING
IN CASEY U.M.C. 7:45 P.M.
COMBINED AD COUNCIL FOLLOWING
•   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •  
• 1493 - Christopher Columbus left Spain with 

17 ships on his second voyage to the Western
Hemisphere.
• 1789 - The first U.S. Congress adopted 12
amendments to the Constitution. Ten of the
amendments became the Bill of Rights.
• 1847 - During the Mexican-American War, U.S.
forces led by General Zachary Taylor captured
Monterrey, Mexico.
• 1890 - The Sequoia National Park was
established as a U.S. National Park in Central
California.
• 1956 - A transatlantic telephone-cable system
began operation between Newfoundland and
Scotland
• 1957 - 300 U.S. Army troops stood guard as
nine black students were escorted to class at
Central High School in Little Rock, AR. The
children had been forced to withdraw 2 days
earlier because of unruly white mobs.
• 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor was sworn in as
the first female justice of U.S. Supreme Court.
• 1992 - In Orlando, FL, a judge ruled in favor 

of 12-year-old Gregory Kingsley as he sought 
a divorce from his biological parents.   
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH —

•   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •
• 1777 - Philadelphia was occupied by British
troops during the American Revolutionary War.
• 1789 - Thomas Jefferson was appointed
America's first Secretary of State. John Jay was
appointed the first chief justice. Samuel Osgood
was appointed the first Postmaster-General.
Edmund Jennings Randolph was appointed the
first Attorney General.
• 1950 - U.N. troops recaptured the South Korean
capital of Seoul from the North Koreans during
the Korean Conflict.
• 1955 - The New York Stock Exchange suffered
its worst decline since 1929 when the word was
released of U.S. President Eisenhower's heart
attack.
• 1980 - The Cuban government abruptly closed
Mariel Harbor to end the freedom flotilla of
Cuban refugees bound for America that began
the previous April. 
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH —
Happy Birthday Toby Moore!
Happy Birthday Carol Weston!
Happy Anniversary James and Shannon Paup!
•   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •
• 1779 - John Adams was elected to negotiate
with the British over the American Revolutionary
War peace terms. 
• 1939 - After 19 days of resistance, Warsaw,
Poland, surrendered to the Germans after being
invaded by the Nazis and the Soviet Union
during World War II.
• 1940 - The Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis was set up.
The military and economic pact was for 10 

years between Germany, Italy and Japan.
• 1979 - The Department of Education became 

the 13th Cabinet in U.S. history after the final
approval from Congress.  
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th —
Happy Birthday Gracie Richter!

•   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •    
A-C FOOD PANTRY WILL BE OPEN IN CASEY 
U.M.C. FROM 9 - 11 A.M.
•   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •
• 1542 - San Diego, CA, was discovered by
Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo.
• 1787 - The U.S. Congress voted to send the
new Constitution of the United States to the
state legislatures for their approval.
• 1850 - The U.S. Navy abolished flogging as 

a form of punishment. 
• 1939 - During World War II, Germany and the
Soviet Union agreed upon a plan to divide up
Poland. 

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Pray for all who are experiencing unprecedented 
rains and flooding.  We hope they are finding 
a way to stay safe.

God Bless and Keep You,
Donna K