≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14TH —
• GOD SQUAD WILL MEET
from 4 P.M. to 5:30 P.M.
from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17TH —
HCI WILL MEET IN CASEY U.M.C. —
FROM 10 A.M to 3 P.M.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
SUNDAY, JANUARY 18TH —
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
COLOR: GREEN
• THIS IS HUMAN RELATIONS SUNDAY
of others. There is a strong reminder for
us in the worst terrorist attacks France
had seen in decades which killed at
least 20 people. Al-Qaida's branch in
Yemen said it directed the attack against
the magazine “Charlie Hebdo” in order
to avenge the honor of the Prophet
Muhammad, one target of the weekly's
satire. Then Paris shut down a Jewish
neighborhood in fear that a wider cell
might launch more violence against the
Jewish people.
French President Francois Hollande
called on his nation to remain united
and stay alert. "We are a nation of free
people who cave to no pressure from
radical terrorists."
The drama began with the brothers Said
and Cherif Kouachi methodically killing
12 people Wednesday at the offices of
the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo,
before they escaped by car.
Hours before the Jewish Sabbath, the
street is usually crowded with shoppers
— French Jews and tourists alike. The
street is also only a half a mile from
Charlie Hebdo's newspaper offices.
Black-clad security forces surrounded
appropriate sites, then gunfire, and
booming explosions, with dense smoke,
heralded the news that the sieges were
over and the three gunmen were dead —
but also killed were four of the hostages
at the kosher market. Sixteen hostages
were freed, one from the printing plant
and 15 others from the grocery store.
Wednesday evening, holding up signs
reading "Je Suis Charlie" which means
— I Am Charlie —
How do we learn to respect each other?
In dialogue? discussion? education?
reason? Many elements of humanity
separate themselves from each other.
Is it perhaps a feeling of apprehension
and fear?
Is it a desire for superiority, power and
control? It happens over and over. In
the 1930's it was Hitler who believed he
was entitled to rule the world. How on
earth did he get that idea?
———————————————————
SCRIPTURE READINGS —
———————————————————
1 SAMUEL 3:1-20
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Samuel had some difficulty responding
to a call from God.The message with the
call (verses 11-20) was even harder to
deliver to one who had been a father
and a mentor.
“SPEAK, GOD. I’M READY TO LISTEN”
1-3 The boy Samuel was serving God
under Eli’s direction. This was at a time
when the revelation of God was rarely
heard or seen. One night Eli was sound
asleep (his eyesight was very bad—he
could hardly see). It was well before
dawn; the sanctuary lamp was still
burning. Samuel was still in bed in the
Temple of God, where the Chest of God
rested.
4-5 Then God called out, “Samuel,
Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Yes? I’m here.”
Then he ran to Eli saying, “I heard you
call. Here I am.”
bed.” And so he did.
6-7 God called again, “Samuel,
Samuel!”
Samuel got up and went to Eli, “I heard
you call. Here I am.”
Again Eli said, “Son, I didn’t call you.
Go back to bed.” (This all happened
before Samuel knew God for himself. It
was before the revelation of God had
been given to him personally.)
8-9 God called again, “Samuel!”—the
third time! Yet again Samuel got up and
went to Eli, “Yes? I heard you call me.
Here I am.”
That’s when it dawned on Eli that God
was calling the boy. So Eli directed
Samuel, “Go back and lie down. If the
voice calls again, say, ‘Speak, God. I’m
your servant, ready to listen.’” Samuel
returned to his bed.
10 Then God came and stood before him
exactly as before, calling out, “Samuel!
Samuel!”
servant, ready to listen.”
11-14 God said to Samuel, “Listen
carefully. I’m getting ready to do
something in Israel that is going to
shake everyone up and get their
attention. The time has come for me to
bring down on Eli’s family everything I
warned him of, every last word of it. I’m
letting him know that the time’s up. I’m
bringing judgment on his family for
good. He knew what was going on, that
his sons were desecrating God’s name
and God’s place, and he did nothing to
stop them. This is my sentence on the
family of Eli: The evil of Eli’s family can
never be wiped out by sacrifice or
offering.”
15 Samuel stayed in bed until morning,
then rose early and went about his
duties, opening the doors of the
sanctuary, but he dreaded having to tell
the vision to Eli.
16 But then Eli summoned Samuel:
“Samuel, my son!”
Samuel came running: “Yes? What can I
do for you?”
17 “What did he say? Tell it to me, all of
it. Don’t suppress or soften one word, as
God is your judge! I want it all, word for
word as he said it to you.”
18 So Samuel told him, word for word.
He held back nothing.
Eli said, “He is God. Let him do whatever
he thinks best.”
19-21 Samuel grew up. God was with
him, and Samuel’s prophetic record was
flawless. Everyone in Israel, from Dan in
the north to Beersheba in the south,
recognized that Samuel was the real
thing—a true prophet of God. God
continued to show up at Shiloh,
revealed through his word to Samuel at
Shiloh.
———————————————————
PSALM 139:1-18 (UMH 854)
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
A PSALM OF DAVID
1-6 God, investigate my life;
get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what
I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get
back;
I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming
and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can’t take it all in!
7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid
your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees
me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light,
they’re all the same to you.
13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first
inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breath-
taking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously
made!
I worship in adoration—what a
creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit
by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into
something.
Like an open book, you watched me
grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread
out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how
beautiful!
God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand
of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live
always with you!
And please, God, do away with
wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
all the men and women who belittle
you, God,
infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
see how I loathe all this godless
arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!
———————————————————
1 CORINTHIANS 6:12-20
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Paul confronts the ease with which
some in the church in Corinth could
justify using prostitutes. This is no mere
economic arrangement, Paul reminds.
Just as in marriage we are made one
with a spouse, so in baptism we have
been made one with Christ. As spouses
belong to and are united with each other,
so we belong to and are united with
Christ. We are to give glory and give
allegiance to the One to whom we
belong.
12 Just because something is technically
legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually
appropriate. If I went around doing
whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d
be a slave to my whims.
13 You know the old saying, “First you eat
to live, and then you live to eat”? Well, it
may be true that the body is only a
temporary thing, but that’s no excuse for
stuffing your body with food, or indulging
it with sex. Since the Master honors you
with a body, honor him with your body!
14-15 God honored the Master’s body by
raising it from the grave. He’ll treat yours
with the same resurrection power. Until
that time, remember that your bodies are
created with the same dignity as the
Master’s body. You wouldn’t take the
Master’s body off to a whorehouse, would
you? I should hope not.
16-20 There’s more to sex than mere skin
on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery
as physical fact. As written in Scripture,
“The two become one.” Since we want to
become spiritually one with the Master, we
must not pursue the kind of sex that
avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving
us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex
that can never “become one.” There is a
sense in which sexual sins are different
from all others. In sexual sin we violate
the sacredness of our own bodies, these
bodies that were made for God-given and
God-modeled love, for “becoming one”
with another. Or didn’t you realize that
your body is a sacred place, the place of
the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you
can’t live however you please,
squandering what God paid such a high
price for? The physical part of you is not
some piece of property belonging to the
spiritual part of you. God owns the
whole works. So let people see God in
and through your body.
———————————————————
JOHN 1:43-51
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Jesus calls Philip to follow him. Philip
announces to Nathanael that he has
found the one expected by Moses and
the prophets. Nathanael is skeptical
until Jesus tells him he was watching
Nathanael as he was sitting under a fig
tree.
43-44 The next day Jesus decided to go
to Galilee. When he got there, he ran
across Philip and said, “Come, follow
me.”
(Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the
same as Andrew and Peter.)
45-46 Philip went and found Nathanael
and told him, “We’ve found the One
Moses wrote of in the Law, the One
preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus,
Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!”
Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got
to be kidding.”
But Philip said, “Come, see for
yourself.”
47 When Jesus saw him coming he said,
“There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone
in his body.”
48 Nathanael said, “Where did you get
that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before
Philip called you here, I saw you under
the fig tree.”
49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are
the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
50-51 Jesus said, “You’ve become a
believer simply because I say I saw you
one day sitting under the fig tree? You
haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is
over you’re going to see heaven open
and God’s angels descending to the Son
of Man and ascending again.”
———————————————————
• 1803 - Thomas Jefferson, in secret
communication with Congress, sought
authorization for the first official
exploration by the U.S. government.
• 1778 - English navigator Captain James
Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands,
which he called the "Sandwich Islands."
• 1896 - The x-ray machine was exhibited
for the first time.
• 1911 - For the first time an aircraft
landed on a ship. Pilot Eugene B. Ely
flew onto the deck of the USS
Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor.
• 1919 - The World War I Peace Congress
opened in Versailles, France.
• 1943 - During World War II, the Soviets
announced that they had broken the
Nazi siege of Leningrad, which began in
September of 1941.
• 1950 - A federal tax on oleomargarine
was repealed.
• 1957 - The first, non-stop, around-the-
world, jet flight came to an end at
Riverside, CA. The plane was refueled in
mid-flight by huge aerial tankers.
• 1964 - The plans for the original World
Trade Center in New York are disclosed.
• 1987 - For the first time in history the
Public Broadcasting System (PBS) was
seen by over 100 million viewers. The
audience was studied during the week
of January 12-18.
• 1993 - Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
was observed in all 50 U.S. states for the
first time.
• 1995 - A network of caves were first
discovered near the town of Vallon-Pont-
d'Arc in southern France. The caves
contained paintings and engravings that
were 17,000 to 20,000 years old.
• 2012 - Wikipedia began a 24-hour
"blackout" in protest against proposed
anti-piracy legislation known as the
Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)
(S. 968 and H.R. 3261) in the Senate and
the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the
House. Many websites, including Reddit,
Google, Facebook, Amazon and many
others, contended that this would make
it challenging if not impossible for them
to operate.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
MONDAY, JANUARY 19TH —
———————————————————
• • OUR OFFICE IS CLOSED TODAY • •
———————————————————
THIS IS MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY
• 1861 - Georgia seceded from the Union.
• 1883 - Thomas Edison's first village
electric lighting system using overhead
wires began operation in Roselle, New
Jersey.
• 1915 - More than 20 people were killed
when German zeppelins bombed
England for the first time. The bombs
were dropped on Great Yarmouth and
King's Lynn.
• 1949 - The salary of the President of
the United States was increased from
$75,000 to $100,000 with an additional
$50,000 expense allowance for each
year in office.
• 1955 - U.S. President Eisenhower
allowed a filmed news conference to be
used on television for the first time.
• 1966 - Indira Gandhi was elected prime
minister of India.
• 1977 - U.S. President Ford pardoned Iva
Toguri D'Aquino, who was World War II's
"Tokyo Rose".
• 1983 - China announced that it was
bannning 1983 purchases of cotton,
soybeans and chemical fibers from the
United States.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
TUESDAY, JANUARY 20TH —
———————————————————
• 1265 - The first English parliament met
in Westminster Hall.
• 1801 - John Marshall was appointed
chief justice of the United States.
• 1841 - The island of Hong Kong was
ceded to Great Britain. It returned to
Chinese control in July 1997.
• 1887 - The U.S. Senate approved an
agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in
Hawaii as a naval base.
• 1891 - James Hogg took office as the
first native-born governor of Texas.
• 1937 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
became the first U.S. President to be
inaugurated on January 20th. The 20th
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
officially set the date for the swearing in
of the President and Vice President.
• 1942 - Nazi officials held the Wannsee
conference, during which they arrived
at their "final solution" that called for
exterminating Europe's Jewish
population.
• 1944 - The British Royal Air Force
dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
• 1981 - Iran released 52 Americans that
had been held hostage for 444 days. The
hostages were flown to Algeria and then
to a U.S. base in Wiesbaden, West
Germany. The release occurred minutes
after the U.S. presidency had passed
from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.
• 1985 - The most-watched Super Bowl
game in history was seen by an
estimated 115.9 million people. The San
Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami
Dolphins, 38-16. Super Bowl XIX marked
the first time that TV commercials sold
for a million dollars a minute.
• 1986 - The U.S. observed the first
federal holiday in honor of slain civil
rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21ST —
• Happy Birthday Lilly Rolchholz!
• Happy Birthday Brad Fairfield!
———————————————————
• 1861 - The future president of the
Confederacy, Jefferson Davis of
Mississippi, resigned from the U.S.
Senate. Four other Southerners also
resigned.
• 1924 - Soviet leader Vladimir Llyich
Lenin died. Joseph Stalin began a purge
of his rivals for the leadership of the
Soviet Union.
• 1954 - The first gas turbine automobile
was introduced in New York City.
• 1977 - U.S. President Carter pardoned
almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.
• 2003 - It was announced by the United
States Census Bureau that estimates
showed the Hispanic population census
had passed the black population census
for the first time.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
THURSDAY, JANUARY 22ND —
HCI Pastor Meeting in Atlantic.
———————————————————
• 1666 - Shah Jahan, a descendant of
Genghis Khan and Timur, died at the
age of 74. He was the Mongul emperor
of India that built the Taj Mahal as a
mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal.
• 1771 - The Falkland Islands were ceded
to England by Spain.
• 1879 - James Shields began a term as
a U.S. Senator from Missouri. He had
served Illinois and Minnesota previously.
He was the first Senator to serve three
states.
• 1901 - Queen Victoria of England died
after reigning for nearly 64 years.
Edward VII, her son, succeeded her.
• 1944 - Allied forces began landing at
Anzio, Italy, during World War II.
• 1951 - Fidel Castro was ejected from a
Winter League baseball game after he
hit a batter. He later gave up baseball.
• 1984 - Apple introduced the Macintosh
during the 3rd quarter of Super Bowl
XVIII.
• 1997 - The U.S. Senate confirmed
Madeleine Albright as the first female
Secretary of State.
• 2000 - Elian Gonzalez's grandmothers
met with U.S. Attorney General Janet
Reno asking for help to remove the boy
from his Florida relatives and reuniting
him with his father in Cuba.
• 2002 - Amazon.com announced that it
had posted its first net profit in the
fourth quarter (ending Dec. 31, 2001).
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23RD —
• Happy Birthday Sara Young!
• Happy Birthday Marilyn Wedemeyer!
———————————————————
• 1556 - An earthquake in Shanxi
Province, China, was thought to have
killed about 830,000 people.
• 1845 - The U.S. Congress decided all
national elections would be held on the
first Tuesday after the first Monday in
November.
• 1849 - English born Elizabeth Blackwell
became the first woman in America to
receive medical degree. It was from the
Medical Institution of Geneva, NY.
• 1907 - Charles Curtis, of Kansas, began
serving in the United States Senate. He
was the first American Indian to become
a U.S. Senator. He resigned in March of
1929 to become U.S. President Herbert
Hoover’s Vice President.
• 1950 - The Israeli Knesset approved a
resolution proclaiming Jerusalem as
the capital of Israel.
• 1964 - Ratification of the 24th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
was completed. This amendment
eliminated poll tax in federal elections.
• 1971 - In Prospect Creek Camp, AK,
the lowest temperature ever recorded in
the United States was reported as minus
80 degrees.
• 1978 - Sweden banned aerosol sprays
because of damage to environment.
They were the first country to do so.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
SATURDAY, JANUARY 24TH —
• Happy Birthday Lavonne Sheeder!
• A-C FOOD PANTRY IN CASEY U.M.C.
FROM 9 A.M. TO 11 A.M.
———————————————————
• 1848 - James W. Marshall discovered a
gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern
California. The discovery led to the gold
rush of '49.
• 1908 - In England, the first Boy Scout
troop was organized by Robert
Baden-Powell.
• 1924 - Russian city of St. Petersburg
was renamed Leningrad. It has since
been changed back to St. Petersburg.
• 1943 - U.S. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt and British Prime Minister
Churchill concluded a wartime
conference in Casablanca, Morocco.
• 1964 - CBS-TV acquired the rights to
televise the National Football League’s
1964-1965 regular season. The move
cost CBS $14.1 million a year. The NFL
stayed on CBS for 30 years.
• 1965 - Winston Churchill died at the
age of 90.
• 1978 - A nuclear-powered Soviet
satellite plunged through Earth's
atmosphere and disintegrated. The
radioactive debris was scattered over
parts of Canada's Northwest Territory.
• 1985 - Penny Harrington became the
first woman police chief of a major city.
She assumed the duties as head of the
Portland, Oregon, force of 940 officers
and staff.
• 2003 - The U.S. Department of
Homeland Security began operations.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
Thank you for your help this week. It
was not an easy week to manipulate and
operate. Next week there is a chance the
weather may cooperate more agreeably
and give us some relief from the cold.
God Bless and Keep You,
Donna