Sunday, June 21, 2015

OUR WEEK - JUNE 28TH THRU JULY 4TH

R E M I N D E R S —
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24TH —
OFFICE OPEN FROM 9 A.M. TIL NOON
• AD COUNCIL MEETS IN CASEY U.M.C.
AT 7 P.M.


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THURSDAY, JUNE 25TH —
OFFICE OPEN FROM 9 A.M. TIL NOON.
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SATURDAY, JUNE 27TH —
AC FOOD PANTRY AT CASEY U.M.C.
OPEN FROM 9 TO 11 A.M.    

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SUNDAY, JUNE 28TH —
FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
COLOR:  GREEN
The Season after Pentecost continues
to invite us to support disciples as they
grow in personal holiness and live out
the ministries the Spirit has empowered
them to offer.

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SCRIPTURE READINGS —
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2 SAMUEL 1:1-27
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
David leads his troops in public lament
for the deaths of Saul and Jonathan.

1-2 Shortly after Saul died, David
returned to Ziklag from his rout of the
Amalekites. Three days later a man
showed up unannounced from Saul’s
army camp.
3 Disheveled and in mourning, he fell
to his knees in respect before David.
David asked, “What brings you here?”
He answered, “I’ve just escaped from
the camp of Israel.”
4 “So what happened?” said David.
“What’s the news?”  
He said, “The Israelites have fled the
battlefield, leaving a lot of their dead
comrades behind. And Saul and his son
Jonathan are both dead.”    
5 David pressed the young soldier for
details: “How do you know for sure that
Saul and Jonathan are dead?”
6-8 “I just happened by Mount Gilboa
and came on Saul, badly wounded and
leaning on his spear, with enemy
chariots and horsemen bearing down
hard on him. He looked behind him, saw
me, and called me to him. ‘Yes sir,’ I said
‘at your service.’ He asked me who I was,
and I told him, ‘I’m an Amalekite.’”
9 “Come here,” he said, “and put me out
of my misery. I’m nearly dead already,
but my life hangs on.”
10 “So I did what he asked—I killed him.
I knew he wouldn’t last much longer
anyway. I removed his royal headband
and bracelet, and have brought them to
my master. Here they are.”
11-12 In lament, David ripped his clothes
to ribbons. All the men with him did the
same. They wept and fasted the rest of
the day, grieving the death of Saul and
his son Jonathan, and also the army of
God and the nation Israel, victims in a
failed battle.
13 Then David spoke to the young
soldier who had brought the report:
“Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m from an immigrant family—an
Amalekite.”
14-15 “Do you mean to say,” said David,
“that you weren’t afraid to up and kill
God’s anointed king?” Right then he
ordered one of his soldiers, “Strike him
dead!” The soldier struck him, and he
died.
16 “You asked for it,” David told him.
“You sealed your death sentence when
you said you killed God’s anointed king.”
17-18 Then David sang this lament over
Saul and his son Jonathan, and gave
orders that everyone in Judah learn it
by heart. Yes, it’s even inscribed in The
Book of Jashar.
19-21 Oh, oh, Gazelles of Israel, struck
down on your hills,
    the mighty warriors—fallen, fallen!
Don’t announce it in the city of Gath,
    don’t post the news in the streets of
Ashkelon.
Don’t give those coarse Philistine girls
    one more excuse for a drunken party!
No more dew or rain for you, hills of
Gilboa,
    and not a drop from springs or wells,
For there the warriors’ shields were
dragged through the mud,
    Saul’s shield left there to rot.

22 Jonathan’s bow was bold—
    the bigger they were the harder they
fell.
Saul’s sword was fearless—
    once out of the scabbard, nothing
could stop it.
23 Saul and Jonathan—beloved, and
beautiful!
    Together in life, together in death.
Swifter than plummeting eagles,
    stronger than proud lions.

24-25 Women of Israel, weep for Saul.
    He dressed you in finest cottons and
silks,
    spared no expense in making you
elegant.
The mighty warriors—fallen, fallen
    in the middle of the fight!
    Jonathan—struck down on your hills!

26 O my dearest brother Jonathan,
    I’m crushed by your death.   
Your friendship was a miracle-wonder, 
love far exceeding anything I’ve ever
known — or ever hope to know.
27 The mighty warriors—fallen, fallen.
    And the arms of war broken to bits.
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PSALM 130 (UMH 848)
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
In response to a cry of national
mourning, "Out of the depths I cry to
you, O Lord!"


A PILGRIM SONG
1-2  Help, God—the bottom has
fallen out of my life!
    Master, hear my cry for help!
Listen hard! Open your ears!
    Listen to my cries for mercy.

3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrong-
doings,
    who would stand a chance?
As it turns out, forgiveness is your
habit,
    and that’s why you’re worshiped.

5-6 I pray to God—my life a prayer—
    and wait for what he’ll say and do.
My life’s on the line before God, my
Lord,
    waiting and watching till morning,
    waiting and watching till morning.

7-8
O Israel, wait and watch for God—
    with God’s arrival comes love,
    with God’s arrival comes generous
redemption.
No doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel,
    buy back Israel from captivity to sin.
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2 CORINTHIANS 8:7-15
THE MESSAGE (MSG)

Last week, Paul placed the ball in the
Corinthians’ court to restore their
relationship. This week, Paul reminds
the church to make good on its past
promise to provide generous support
for his collection for the poor in
Jerusalem. At stake, says Paul, is not
only their integrity, but their continued
participation in a global body of Christ.
He expects them to give all that they can
so a standard of living for Christians
around the world can be more balanced.

5-7 This was totally spontaneous,
entirely their own idea, and caught us
completely off guard. What explains it
was that they had first given themselves
unreservedly to God and to us. The
other giving simply flowed out of the
purposes of God working in their lives.
That’s what prompted us to ask Titus to
bring the relief offering to your attention,
so that what was so well begun could be
finished up. You do so well in so many
things—you trust God, you’re articulate,
you’re insightful, you’re passionate, you
love us—now, do your best in this, too.
8-9 I’m not trying to order you around
against your will. But by bringing in the
Macedonians’ enthusiasm as a stimulus
to your love, I am hoping to bring the
best out of you. You are familiar with the
generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ.
Rich as he was, he gave it all away for
us—in one stroke he became poor and
we became rich.
10-20 So here’s what I think: The best
thing you can do right now is to finish
what you started last year and not let
those good intentions grow stale. Your
heart’s been in the right place all along.
You’ve got what it takes to finish it up,
so go to it. Once a commitment is clear,
do what you can, not what you can’t.
The heart regulates the hands. This isn’t
so others can take it easy while you
sweat it out. No, you’re shoulder to
shoulder with them all the way, your
surplus matching their deficit, their
surplus matching your deficit. In the
end you come out even. It is written,

Nothing left over to the one with the
most,
Nothing lacking to the one with the least.
    
I thank God for giving Titus the same
devoted concern for you that I have. He
was most considerate of how we felt,
but his eagerness to go to you and help
out with this relief offering is his own
idea. We’re sending a companion along
with him, someone very popular in the
churches for his preaching of the
Message. But there’s far more to him
than popularity. He’s rock-solid trust-
worthy. The churches handpicked him
to go with us as we travel about doing
this work of sharing God’s gifts to
honor God as well as we can, taking
every precaution against scandal.
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MARK 5:21-43
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Two more illustrations of the power of
the Word bringing abundance of life
where no life seemed possible: with the
healing of a woman with an issue of
blood (preventing pregnancy) and then
the raising of Jairus’s daughter, who
had died.

A RISK OF FAITH21-24 After Jesus crossed over by boat,
a large crowd met him at the seaside.
One of the meeting-place leaders named
Jairus came. When he saw Jesus, he fell
to his knees, beside himself as he
begged, “My dear daughter is at death’s
door. Come and lay hands on her so she
will get well and live.” Jesus went with
him, the whole crowd tagging along,
pushing and jostling him.
25-29 A woman who had suffered a
condition of hemorrhaging for twelve
years—a long succession of physicians
had treated her, and treated her badly,
taking all her money and leaving her
worse off than before—had heard about
Jesus. She slipped in from behind and
touched his robe. She was thinking to
herself, “If I can put a finger on his robe,
I can get well.” The moment she did it,
the flow of blood dried up. She could
feel the change and knew her plague
was over and done with.
30 At the same moment, Jesus felt
energy discharging from him. He turned
around to the crowd and asked, “Who
touched my robe?”
31 His disciples said, “What are you talking about? With this crowd pushing
and jostling you, you’re asking,  Who
touched me? Dozens have touched you!”
32-33 But he went on asking, looking around to see who had done it. The
woman, knowing what had happened,
knowing she was the one, stepped up in
fear and trembling, knelt before him, and
gave him the whole story.
34 Jesus said to her, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re
healed and whole. Live well, live
blessed! Be healed of your plague.”
35 While he was still talking, some people came from the leader’s house
and told him, “Your daughter is dead.
Why bother the Teacher any more?”
36 Jesus overheard what they were talking about and said to the leader,
“Don’t listen to them; just trust me.”
37-40 He permitted no one to go in with him but Peter, James, and John. They
entered the leader’s house and pushed
their way through the gossips looking
for a story and neighbors bringing in
casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: “Why all
this busybody grief and gossip? This
child isn’t dead; she’s sleeping.”
Provoked to sarcasm, they told him he
didn’t know what he was talking about.
40-43 But when he had sent them all out, he took the child’s father and mother,
along with his companions, and entered
the child’s room. He clasped the girl’s
hand and said, “Talitha koum,” which
means, “Little girl, get up.” At that, she    
was up and walking around! This girl was
twelve years of age. They, of course,
were all beside themselves with joy. He
gave them strict orders that no one was
to know what had taken place in that
room. Then he said, “Give her
something to eat.”     
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• 1776 - American Colonists repulsed a
British sea attack on Charleston, South
Cariolina.
• 1778 - Mary "Molly Pitcher" Hays
McCauley, wife of an American artillery
man, carried water to the soldiers during
the Battle of Monmouth and, it is said,
took her husband's place at his gun after
he was overcome with heat.
• 1894 - The U.S. Congress declared
Labor Day a U.S. national holiday.
• 1902 - The U.S. Congress passed the
Spooner bill. It authorized a canal to be
built across the isthmus of Panama.
• 1911 - Samuel J. Battle became the first
African-American policeman in New York
City.
• 1914 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand of
Austria, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian
throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo
along with his wife, Duchess Sophie.
• 1919 - The Treaty of Versailles was
signed ending World War I exactly five
years after it began. The treaty also
established the League of Nations.
• 1938 - The U.S. Congress created the
Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
to insure construction loans.
• 1942 - German troops launched an
offensive to seize Soviet oil fields in the
Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad.
• 1949 - The last U.S. combat troops were
called home from Korea, leaving only
500 advisers behind.
• 1960 - In Cuba, Fidel Castro confiscated
American-owned oil refineries without
compensation.
• 1976 - The first women entered the U.S.
Air Force Academy.
• 2000 - Six-year-old Elián González
returned to Cuba from the U.S. with his
father. The child had been the center of
an international custody dispute.        
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MONDAY, JUNE 29TH —
Happy Birthday Judi Rumple!
OFFICE IS CLOSED TODAY.
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• 1776 - The Virginia constitution was
adopted and Patrick Henry was made
governor.
•1888 - Professor Frederick Treves
performed the first appendectomy in
England.
• 1917 - The Ukraine proclaimed it's
independence from Russia.
• 1953 - The Federal Highway Act
authorized the construction of 42,500
miles of freeway from coast to coast.
• 1967 - Israel removed barricades,
re-unifying Jerusalem.
• 2007 - The first generation Apple
iPhone went on sale.    
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TUESDAY, JUNE 30TH —
Happy Birthday LaVonne Heckert!
Happy Birthday Judi Rumple!
OFFICE OPEN FROM 9 A.M. TIL NOON.
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• 1097 - The Crusaders defeated the
Turks at Dorylaeum.
• 1894 - Korea declared independence
from China and asked for Japanese aid. 
• 1908 - A meteor explosion in Siberia
knocked down trees in a 40-mile radius
and struck people unconscious some
40 miles away.
• 1915 - President Warren G. Harding
appointed former President William
Howard Taft chief justice of the United
States.
• 1950 - U.S. President Harry Truman
ordered U.S. troops into Korea and
authorized the draft.
• 1958 - The U.S. Congress passed a law
authorizing the admission of Alaska as
the 49th state in the Union.
• 2004 - The international Cassini
spacecraft entered Saturn's orbit. The
craft had been on a nearly seven-year
journey.
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 1ST —
Happy Birthday Stacy Harris!
Happy Birthday Leland Vorrath!
Happy Birthday Vickie Moore!
OFFICE OPEN FROM 9 A.M. TIL NOON.

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• 1798 - Napoleon Bonaparte captured
Alexandria, Egypt.
• 1847 - The U.S. Post Office issued its
first postage stamps with adhesive
backing.
• 1862 - The U.S. Congress established
the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
• 1863 - During the U.S. Civil War, the
first day's fighting at Gettysburg began.
• 1867 - Canada became an independent
dominion.
• 1898 - During the Spanish-American
War, Theodore Roosevelt and his
"Rough Riders" waged a victorious
assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba.
• 1943 - The U.S. Government began
automatically withholding federal
income tax from paychecks.
• 1950 - American ground troops arrived
in South Korea to stem the tide of the
advancing North Korean army.
On June 25, 1950, the Korean War had
began when 75,000 soldiers from Soviet
backed North Korea crossed the 38th
Parallel into pro western South Korea.  It
ended in 1953 after more than 5 million
soldiers had lost their lives.
• 1961 - The first community air-raid
shelter was built. The shelter in Boise,
Idaho had a capacity of 1,000 people and
family memberships sold for $100.
• 1963 - The U.S. Postal Service
introduced the five-digit ZIP code.
• 1966 - The Medicare federal insurance
program went into effect.
• 1979 - Susan B. Anthony was honored
on a United States coin, the Susan B.
Anthony dollar. It was arranged for the
U.S. Congress to be presented with an
amendment giving women the right to
vote.  Popularly known as the Anthony
Amendment, it became the Nineteenth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in
1920.
• 1997 - The sovereignty over Hong Kong
was transferred from Great Britain to
China. Britain had controlled Hong Kong
as a colony for 156 years.        
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THURSDAY, JULY 2ND—
Happy Birthday Bill Elgin!
Happy Birthday Ward Umbaugh!
Happy Birthday Josh Harris!
OFFICE OPEN FROM 9 A.M. TIL NOON.
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• 1776 - Richard Henry Lee’s resolution
that the American colonies "are, and of
right ought to be, free and independent
States" was adopted by the Continental
Congress.
• 1881 - Charles J. Guiteau fatally shot
U.S. President James A. Garfield in
Washington, DC.  Garfield was probed
with unsterilized instruments and dirty
unwashed hands, but they could not find
the bullet.   Guiteau shot the president
because he was not chosen for a federal
office he wanted.   It should never have
happened.
• 1939 - At Mount Rushmore, Theodore
Roosevelt's face was dedicated.
• 1962 - Wal-Mart Discount City opened
in Rogers, Arkansas. It was the first
Walmart store.
• 1964 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson
signed the "Civil Rights Act of 1964" into
law. The act made it illegal in the U.S. to
discriminate against others because of
their race.
• 1976 - North Vietnam and South Vietnam
were reunited.                  
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FRIDAY, JULY 3RD —
Happy Birthday Amber Anderson!
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• 1775 - U.S. General George Washington
took command of the Continental Army
at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• 1863 - The U.S. Civil War Battle of
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, ended after
three days. It was a major victory for the
North and Confederate troops retreated.
• 1890 - Idaho became the 43rd state to
 join the United States of America.
• 1922 - "Fruit Garden and Home"
magazine was introduced. It was later
renamed "Better Homes and Gardens."
• 1930 - The United States Congress
created the U.S. Veterans Administration.
• 1944 - The U.S. First Army opened a
general offensive to break out of the
hedgerow area of Normandy, France.
• 1945 - The first civilian passenger car
built since February 1942 was driven off
the assembly line at the Ford Motor
Company plant in Detroit. Production
had been diverted due to World War II.
• 1954 - Food rationing ended in England
nine years after the end of World War II.
• 1981 - The Associated Press ran its
first story about a rare illness.   The
disease was later named AIDS.     
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SATURDAY, JULY 4TH —
THIS IS UNITED STATES
INDEPENDENCE DAY!
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

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• 1776 - The amended Declaration of
Independence, prepared by Thomas
Jefferson, was approved and signed by
John Hancock, the President of the
Continental Congress in America.
• 1802 - The U.S. Military Academy
officially opened at West Point, NY.
• 1803 - The Louisiana Purchase was
announced in newspapers. The property
was purchased, by the United States
from France. The cost was $15 million
(or 3 cents an acre).
• 1817 - Construction began on the Erie
Canal, to connect Lake Erie and the
Hudson River.
• 1845 - American writer Henry David
Thoreau began his two-year experiment
in simple living at Walden Pond, near
Concord, Massachusetts.
• 1848 - In Washington, DC, cornerstone
for the Washington Monument was laid
• 1863 - The Confederate town of
Vicksburg, Mississippi, surrendered to
General Ulysses S. Grant.
• 1894 - After seizing power, Judge
Stanford B. Dole declared Hawaii a
republic.
• 1901 - William H. Taft became American
governor of the Philippines.
• 1960 - The 50-star United States flag
made its debut in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
• 1976 - The United States celebrated its
Bicentennial.
• 1987 - Klaus Barbie, a former Gestapo
chief known as the "Butcher of Lyon,"
was convicted of crimes against
humanity and sentenced to life in prison.
• 2009 - The Statue of Liberty's crown
reopened to visitors. It had been closed
to the public since 2001.        
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Hope you have a wonderful holiday as 

you remember:
July 4th, 1776, Independence Day . . .
which was 239 years ago.

The U.N. refugee agency says world 
wide displacement of humans from 
wars, conflict and persecution is at 
the highest level ever recorded, and 
it’s getting worse. The U.N. High 
Commissioner for Refugees has 
released his annual Global Trends 
report, which says nearly 60 million 
people on earth were forcibly evicted
from their homes and displaced by 
the end of 2014.  Of course, donor aid 
cannot begin to keep pace with the 
rising number of needy people  who
are affected by war conflicts.  There 
needs to be political will to find non-
violent solutions for these conflicts.  
Start thinking about that now.

God Bless and Keep You,
Donna

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