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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13TH —
CASEY U.M.C. — 5:30 TO 7:30 P.M.
Food Pantry Team Meeting Follows.
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SUNDAY, AUGUST 17TH –
COLOR: GREEN
10TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST————————————————————
SCRIPTURE READINGS —
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GENESIS 45:1-15
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Focus on the “first families” of the people
of Israel (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his
children) is coming to a close with the end
of the Joseph story this week. This is not
the end of Genesis or the end of the family
story. But what happens in this story lays
out the main plot lines for the remainder of
Genesis. Later we will see what happens
when Egypt has a Pharaoh who did not
know Joseph.
Joseph, Prince of Egypt - now second in
command, reveals his identity to his
brothers and promises to provide land,
food, and protection for the family during
the time of famine and beyond.
longer, keeping up a front before all his
attendants. He cried out, "Leave! Clear out
—everyone leave!" So there was no one
with Joseph when he identified himself to
his brothers. But his sobbing was so
violent that the Egyptians couldn't help
but hear him. The news was soon reported
to Pharaoh's palace.
Joseph. Is my father really still alive?" But
his brothers couldn't say a word.
believe what they were hearing and seeing.
4-8 "Come closer to me," Joseph said to
his brothers. They came closer. "I am
Joseph your brother whom you sold into
Egypt. But don't feel badly, don't blame
yourselves for selling me. God was behind
it. God sent me here ahead of you to save
lives. There has been a famine in the land
now for two years; the famine will continue
for five more years—neither plowing nor
harvesting. God sent me on ahead to pave
the way and make sure there was a
remnant in the land, to save your lives in
an amazing act of deliverance. So you see,
it wasn't you who sent me here but God.
He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh,
put me in charge of his personal affairs,
and made me ruler of all Egypt.
9-11 "Hurry back to my father. Tell him,
'Your son Joseph says: I'm master of all of
Egypt. Come as fast as you can and join
me here. I'll give you a place to live in
Goshen where you'll be close to me—you,
your children, your grandchildren, your
flocks, your herds, and anything else you
can think of. I'll take care of you there
completely. There are still five more years
of famine ahead; I'll make sure all your
needs are taken care of, you and everyone
connected with you—you won't want for a
thing.'
12-13 "Look at me. You can see for your-
selves, and my brother Benjamin can see
for himself, that it's me, my own mouth,
telling you all this. Tell my father all about
the high position I hold in Egypt, tell him
everything you've seen here, but don't
take all day—hurry up and get my father
down here."
14-15 Then Joseph threw himself on his
brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and
Benjamin wept on his neck. He then
kissed all his brothers and wept over them.
with him.
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PSALM 133 (UMH 850)
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
A PILGRIM SONG OF DAVID
1-3 How wonderful, how beautiful, when
brothers and sisters get along!
It's like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron's beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly
robes.
It's like the dew on Mount Hermon
flowing down the slopes of Zion.
Yes, that's where God commands the
blessing,
ordains eternal life.
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ROMANS 11:1-2, 29-32
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
God has taken nothing away from the
promises, calling, and gifts previously
given to the physical and spiritual
descendants of Jacob/Israel. Israel has
been firmly planted and cared for like a
well-tended olive tree. Its mature “trunk”
has experienced much pruning over the
years to keep it fruitful.
Paul concludes his excursus on the
theological connection between God's
covenant with Israel and the Jewish —
Gentile church with a strong affirmation
of Israel's place in God's saving intent
toward the whole world.
God has not abandoned the Jewish
people. Rather, God has grafted even
Gentiles into the covenant of promise
through Jesus Christ.
THE LOYAL MINORITY
1-2 Does this mean, then, that God is so
fed up with Israel that he'll have nothing
more to do with them? Hardly. Remember
that I, the one writing these things, am an
Israelite, a descendant of Abraham out of
the tribe of Benjamin. You can't get much
more Semitic than that! So we're not
talking about repudiation. God has been
too long involved with Israel, has too
much invested, to simply wash his hands
of them.
2-6 Do you remember that time Elijah was
agonizing over this same Israel and cried
out in prayer?
“God, they murdered your prophets,
They trashed your altars;
I'm the only one left and now they're after
me!”
And do you remember God's answer?
“I still have seven thousand who haven't
quit,
Seven thousand who are loyal to the
finish.”
It's the same today. There's a fiercely loyal
minority still—not many, perhaps, but
probably more than you think. They're
holding on, not because of what they think
they're going to get out of it, but because
they're convinced of God's grace and
purpose in choosing them. If they were
only thinking of their own immediate self-
interest, they would have left long ago.
25-29 I want to lay all this out on the table
as clearly as I can, friends. This is
complicated. It would be easy to
misinterpret what's going on and
arrogantly assume that you're royalty and
they're just rabble, out on their ears for
good. But that's not it at all. This hardness
on the part of insider Israel toward God is
temporary. Its effect is to open things up to
all the outsiders so that we end up with a
full house. Before it's all over, there will be
a complete Israel. As it is written,
A champion will stride down from the
mountain of Zion;
he'll clean house in Jacob.
And this is my commitment to my people:
removal of their sins.
From your point of view as you hear and
embrace the good news of the Message, it
looks like the Jews are God's enemies. But
looked at from the long-range perspective
of God's overall purpose, they remain
God's oldest friends. God's gifts and God's
call are under full warranty—never
canceled, never rescinded.
30-32 There was a time not so long ago
when you were on the outs with God. But
then the Jews slammed the door on him
and things opened up for you. Now they
are on the outs. But with the door held
wide open for you, they have a way back
in. In one way or another, God makes sure
that we all experience what it means to be
outside so that he can personally open the
door and welcome us back in.
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MATTHEW 15:10-20, 21-28
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Jesus tells the crowd that it is what comes
out of the heart that pollutes us. Then
Jesus discovers great faith coming from a
foreigner (the Canaanite woman) who
won't take "no" for an answer.
10-11 He then called the crowd together
and said, "Listen, and take this to heart.
It's not what you swallow that pollutes
your life, but what you vomit up."
12 Later his disciples came and told him,
"Did you know how upset the Pharisees
were when they heard what you said?"
13-14 Jesus shrugged it off. "Every tree
that wasn't planted by my Father in heaven
will be pulled up by its roots. Forget them.
They are blind men leading blind men.
When a blind man leads a blind man, they
both end up in the ditch."
15 Peter said, "I don't get it. Put it in plain
language."
16-20 Jesus replied, "You, too? Are you
being willfully stupid? Don't you know that
anything that is swallowed works its way
through the intestines and is finally
defecated? But what comes out of the
mouth gets its start in the heart. It's from
the heart that we vomit up evil arguments,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
lies, and cussing. That's what pollutes.
Eating or not eating certain foods, washing
or not washing your hands—that's neither
here nor there."
MATTHEW 15:21-28
HEALING THE PEOPLE
21-22 From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre
and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a
Canaanite woman came down from the
hills and pleaded, "Mercy, Master, Son of
David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by
an evil spirit."
23 Jesus ignored her. The disciples came
and complained, "Now she's bothering us.
Would you please take care of her? She's
driving us crazy."
24 Jesus refused, telling them, "I've got
my hands full dealing with the lost sheep
of Israel."
went to her knees, and begged. "Master,
help me."
26 He said, "It's not right to take bread out
of children's mouths and throw it to dogs."
27 She was quick: "You're right, Master,
but beggar dogs do get scraps from the
master's table."
28 Jesus gave in. "Oh, woman, your faith
is something else. What you want is what
you get!" Right then her daughter became
well.
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• 1790 - The capital city of the U.S. moved
to Philadelphia from New York City.
• 1815 - Napoleon began serving his exile
when he arrived at the island of St. Helena.
• 1896 - The Klondike gold rush was set off
by George Carmack discovering gold on
Rabbit Creek in Alaska.
• 1903 - Joseph Pulitzer donated a million
dollars to Columbia University. This
started the Pulitzer Prizes in his name.
• 1961 - The Communist East German
government completed the construction
of the Berlin Wall.
• 1982 - The U.S. Senate approved an
immigration bill that granted permanent
resident status to illegal aliens who had
arrived in the United States before 1977.
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MONDAY, AUGUST 18TH —
Happy Birthday Jeff Larson!
«» «» «» «» «» «» «» «» «» «» «» «»
Beginning at 8:20 A.M. to 2:20 P.M.
Watch for little feet darting right and left,
in and out or around in circles. Children
are earth's most precious resource.
• 1587 - The colony that is now Roanoke
Island, North Carolina, mysteriously
vanished.
• 1914 - The "Proclamation of Neutrality"
was issued by U.S. President Woodrow
Wilson. It was aimed at keeping the U.S.
out of World War I.
• 1920 - Tennessee ratified the 19th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The
Amendment guaranteed the right of all
American women to vote.
• 1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge was
dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. The bridge connects the U.S.
and Canada.
• 1963 - James Meredith graduated from
the University of Mississippi. He was the
first black man to accomplish this.
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 19TH —
Happy Birthday Rachel Whetstone
Happy Birthday John Scholl
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• 1812 - "Old Ironsides"
(the USS Constitution) won a battle
against British frigate Guerriere east of
Nova Scotia.
• 1848 - The discovery of gold in California
was reported by the New York Herald.
• 1856 - The operation of processing
condensed milk was patented by Gail
Borden.
• 1919 - Afghanistan gained independence
from England.
• 1934 - Adolf Hitler was approved for sole
executive power in Germany as Fuehrer.
• 1940 - The new Civil Aeronautics
Administration awarded honorary license
#1 to Orville Wright.
• 1991 - Soviet hard-liners announced that
President Mikhail Gorbachev had been
removed from power. Gorbachev returned
to power two days later.
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20TH —
Happy Birthday Alex Kading!
— — — — — — — — — — —
Pastor will speak at New Homestead today.
at 7 P.M. Hostess: Carla Eggen
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• 1741 - Danish navigator Vitus Jonas
Bering discovered Alaska.
• 1866 - The National Labor Union in the
U.S. advocated an eight-hour workday.
• 1866 - It was formally declared by U.S.
President Andrew Johnson that the
American Civil War was over. The fighting
had stopped months earlier.
• 1940 - France fell to the Germans during
World War II.
• 1991 - A rally of more that 100,000 people
occurred outside the Russian parliament
building to protest the coup that removed
Gorbachev from power.
• 1998 - Canada's Supreme Court
announced that Quebec could not secede
without the federal government's consent.
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 21ST —
Happy Birthday Phyllis Scholl!
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• 1680 - The Pueblo Indians drove the
Spanish out and took possession of Santa
Fe, New Mexico.
• 1912 - Arthur R. Eldred became the first
American boy to become an Eagle Scout.
It is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of
America.
• 1943 - Japan evacuated the Aleutian
island of Kiaska. Kiaska had been the last
North American foothold held by the
Japanese.
• 1945 - U.S. President Truman ended the
Lend-Lease program that had shipped
about $50 billion in aid to America's Allies
during World War II.
• 1959 - Hawaii became the 50th state. U.S.
President Eisenhower issued the order for
a 50 star flag.
• 1997 - Afghanistan suspended embassy
operations in the United States.
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22ND —
Happy Anniversary Jim and Vickie Moore!
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• 1485 - The War of the Roses ended when
England's King Richard III was killed in the
Battle of Bosworth Field. His successor
was Henry VII.
• 1775 - The American colonies were
proclaimed to be in a state of open
rebellion by England's King George III.
• 1846 - The U.S. annexed New Mexico.
• 1902 - In Hartford, Connecticut , U.S.
President Theodore Roosevelt became the
first president of the United States to ride
in an automobile.
• 1911 - It was announced that Leonardo
da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" had been stolen
from the Louvre Museum in Paris. The
painting was found two years later in Italy.
• 1941 - Nazi troops reached the outskirts
of Leningrad during World War II.
• 1990 - The U.S. State Department
announced that the U.S. Embassy in
Kuwait would not be closed at President
Saddam Hussein's demand.
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 23RD —
Happy Birthday Jennifer Clarke!
Happy Birthday Paul Snyder!
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A-C FOOD PANTRY - CASEY U.M.C.
9 A.M. TO 11 A.M.
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• 1642 - The first commencement exercise
at Harvard College, in Cambridge,
Massachusetts was held.
• 1780 - John Andre, a British spy, was
captured with papers revealing that
Benedict Arnold was going to surrender
West Point, NY, to the British.
• 1806 - The Lewis and Clark expedition,
Corps of Discovery, reached St. Louis,
Missouri, ending the trip to the Pacific
Northwest.
• 1990 - Iraq publicly threatened to destroy
Middle East oil fields and to attack Israel if
any nation tried to force it from Kuwait.
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FUTURE FOCUS —
• AUGUST 25TH —
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY RETREAT
CENTER AT GRISWOLD, IOWA
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church life this week. It has been hectic
on the world stage recently. There are
factions of society who believe they alone
are God's chosen people. I believe we are
all God's chosen people and He would like
nothing better than to see us all get along.
In fact our continued existence
may depend on it.
God bless and keep you,
Donna
