Monday, February 16, 2015

OUR WEEK-FEBRUARY 22ND TO FEBRUARY 28TH

R E M I N D E R S —
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18TH —
LENT BEGINS TODAY
ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE WILL BE IN 

GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH 
IN ADAIR AT 7 P.M.
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST —
HCI AT CASEY U.M.C.–10 A.M. TO 3 P.M. 

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22ND —
Happy Birthday Janet Wedemeyer!


• COLOR: PURPLE •
As the first Sunday in Lent, this marks
the beginning of the church's journey
toward Easter.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
the early Christians observed with great
devotion the days of our Lord's passion
and resurrection, and it became the
custom of the Church that before the
Easter celebration there should be a
forty-day season of spiritual preparation.
It was also a time when persons who
had committed serious sins and had
separated themselves from the
community of faith were reconciled by
penitence and forgiveness.
You are invited to observe a holy Lent:
by self-examination and by repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and
by meditating on and reading in God's
Holy Word.
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In those days Jesus came from Nazareth
of Galilee and was baptized by John in
the Jordan.  And just as he was coming
up out of the water, he saw the heavens
torn apart and the Spirit descending like
a dove on him. And a voice came from
heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved;
with you I am well pleased'"
(Mark 1:9-11. NRSV).    

FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
NASHVILLE, TN.  FEBRUARY 3, 2015. 
A documentary film tracing the history
of black sacred music, produced by
Discipleship Ministries as part of The
Africana Hymnal Project, has received a
regional Emmy for best documentary.
The film, Reflect, Reclaim, Rejoice:
Preserving the Gift of Black Sacred
Music, was honored at the 20th Annual
Mid-south Regional Emmy Awards show.    
These songs, which are rarely sung
anymore, are lost to the collective
memory of America but this shows how
the music can be kept alive.
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SCRIPTURE READINGS —
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GENESIS 9:8-17
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
God makes a covenant with the earth
not to destroy the earth by flood again.
The rainbow is a sign of this covenant.

8-11 Then God spoke to Noah and his
sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with
you including your children who will
come after you, along with everything
alive around you—birds, farm animals,
wild animals—that came out of the ship
with you. I’m setting up my covenant
with you that never again will everything
living be destroyed by floodwaters; no,
never again will a flood destroy Earth.”   
  12-16 God continued, “This is the sign
of the covenant I am making between
me and you and everything living
around you and everyone living after
you. I’m putting my rainbow in the
clouds, a sign of the covenant between
me and the Earth. From now on, when I
form a cloud over the Earth and the
rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll
remember my covenant between me and
you and everything living, that never
again will floodwaters destroy all life.
When the rainbow appears in the cloud,
I’ll see it and remember the eternal
covenant between God and everything
living, each last living creature on Earth.”
17 And God said, “This is the sign of the
covenant that I’ve set up between me
and everything living on the Earth.”
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PSALM 25:1-10 (UMH 756)
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Israel seeks God's deliverance from
enemies. Unlike the people destroyed in
the flood, Israel claims it has sought to
follow God's way and wishes to learn it
still better.
A DAVID PSALM

1-2
My head is high, God, held high;
I’m looking to you, God;
No hangdog skulking for me.

3 I’ve thrown in my lot with you;
You won’t embarrass me, will you?
Or let my enemies get the best of me?

Don’t embarrass any of us
Who went out on a limb for you.
It’s the traitors who should be
humiliated.

4 Show me how you work, God;
School me in your ways.

5 Take me by the hand;
Lead me down the path of truth.
You are my Savior, aren’t you?

6 Mark the milestones of your mercy
and love, God;
Rebuild the ancient landmarks!

7 Forget that I sowed wild oats;
Mark me with your sign of love.
Plan only the best for me, God!

8 God is fair and just;
He corrects the misdirected,
Sends them in the right direction.

9 He gives the rejects his hand,
And leads them step-by-step.

10 From now on every road you travel
Will take you to God.
Follow the Covenant signs;
Read the charted directions.
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1 PETER 3:18-22
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Peter links the death and resurrection
of Jesus with the story of Noah's flood
and the sacrament of baptism.
13-18
If with heart and soul you’re
doing good, do you think you can be
stopped? Even if you suffer for it,
you’re still better off. Don’t give the
opposition a second thought. Through
thick and thin, keep your hearts at
attention, in adoration before Christ,
your Master. Be ready to speak up and
tell anyone who asks why you’re living
the way you are, and always with the
utmost courtesy. Keep a clear
conscience before God so that when
people throw mud at you, none of it will
stick. They’ll end up realizing that
they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s
better to suffer for doing good, if that’s
what God wants, than to be punished
for doing bad. That’s what Christ did
definitively: suffered because of others’
sins, the Righteous One for the
unrighteous ones. He went through it all
—was put to death and then made alive
—to bring us to God.
19-22 He went and proclaimed God’s
salvation to earlier generations who
ended up in the prison of judgment
because they wouldn’t listen. You know,
even though God waited patiently all the
days that Noah built his ship, only a few
were saved then, eight to be exact—
saved from the water by the water. The
waters of baptism do that for you, not by
washing away dirt from your skin but by
presenting you through Jesus’
resurrection before God with a clear
conscience. Jesus has the last word on
everything and everyone, from angels
to armies. He’s standing right alongside
God, and what he says goes.
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MARK 1:9-15
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Immediately after his baptism, the Spirit
drove Jesus into the desert for a period
of testing surrounded by wild animals,
Satan, and ministering angels — all to
prepare him to spend his life declaring
the good news of the kingdom of God.
9-11
At this time, Jesus came from
Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by
John in the Jordan. The moment he
came out of the water, he saw the sky
split open and God’s Spirit, looking like
a dove, come down on him. Along with
the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son,
chosen and marked by my love, pride of
my life.”
GOD'S KINGDOM IS HERE
12-13
At once, this same Spirit pushed
Jesus out into the wild. For forty wilder-
ness days and nights he was tested by
Satan. Wild animals were his comp-
anions, and angels took care of him.
14-15 After John was arrested, Jesus
went to Galilee preaching the Message
of God: “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is
here. Change your life and believe the
Message.”
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• 1819 - Spain ceded Florida to the
United States.
• 1865 - In the U.S., Tennessee adopted
a new constitution abolishing slavery.
• 1885 - The Washington Monument was
officially dedicated in Washington, DC.
It opened to the public in 1889.
• 1984 - U.S. Census Bureau statistics
showed that the state of Alaska was the
fastest growing state of the decade with
increased population of 19.2 percent.
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD —
Happy Birthday Sally Hubbard!
Happy Birthday Steve Ferguson!
Happy Birthday Ray Sheeder!
Happy Birthday Cain Stephenson!
OFFICE IS CLOSED TODAY.
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• 1792 - The Humane Society of
Massachusetts was incorporated.
• 1822 - Boston is incorporated as a city.
• 1836 - In San Antonio, TX, the siege of
the Alamo began.
• 1861 - U.S. President-elect Abraham
Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington
to take his office after an assassination
attempt in Baltimore.
• 1861 - Texas became the 7th state to
secede from the Union.
• 1870 - The state of Mississippi was
readmitted to the Union.
• 1904 - The U.S. acquired control of the
Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.
• 1954 - The first mass vaccination of
children against polio began in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
•1963 - The 24th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution was ratified. It prohibited
poll taxes in federal elections.
• 1991 - During the Persian Gulf War,
ground forces crossed the border of
Saudi Arabia into the country of Iraq.
Less than four days later the war was
over.
• 2005 - The New York, NY, city medical
examiner's office annouced that it had
exhausted all efforts to identify the
remains of the people killed at the
World Trade Center on September 11,
2001, due to the limits of DNA
technology. About 1,600 people had
been identified leaving more than 1,100
unidentified.     
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH —
Happy Birthday Sharon Larson!
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• 1803 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled
itself to be the final interpreter of all
constitutional issues.
• 1863 - Arizona was organized as a
territory.
• 1868 - U.S. House of Representatives
impeached President Andrew Johnson
due to his attempt to dismiss Secretary
of War Edwin M. Stanton. The U.S.
Senate later acquitted Johnson.
• 1903 - In Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an
area was leased to the U.S. for a naval
base.
• 1942 - The Voice of America (VOA)
aired for the first time.
• 1946 - Juan Peron was elected
president of Argentina.  
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25TH —
Happy Birthday Andrew Lehman!
God Squad meets at Casey U.M.C.
4 P.M. to 5:30 P.M. 

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• 1793 - The department heads of the
U.S. government met with U.S.
President Washington for the first
Cabinet meeting on U.S. record.
• 1913 - The 16th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution was ratified. It authorized a
graduated income tax.
• 1919 - The state of Oregon became the
first state to place a tax on gasoline.
The tax was 1 cent per gallon.
• 1948 - Communists seized power in
Czechoslovakia. 
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH —
HCI Pastor Meeting in Atlantic.
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• 1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte escaped
from the Island of Elba. He then began
his second conquest of France.
• 1870 - In New York City, the first
pneumatic-powered subway line was
opened to the public.
• 1907 - The U.S. Congress raised their
own pay to $7500 per year.
• 1919 - In Arizona, the Grand Canyon
was established as a National Park by
an act of the U.S. Congress.
• 1929 - U.S. President Coolidge signed
a bill creating the Grand Teton National
Park.
• 1945 - In the U.S., a nationwide
midnight curfew went into effect.
• 2009 - The Pentagon reveresed its 18
year policy of not allowing media to
cover returning war dead. The reversal
allowsd some media coverage with
family approval.    
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH ———————————————————
• 1801 - The city of Washington, DC, was
placed under congressional jurisdiction.
• 1827 - New Orleans held its first ever
Mardi Gras celebration.
• 1883 - Oscar Hammerstein patented the
first cigar-rolling machine.
• 1922 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld
the 19th Amendment that guaranteed
women the right to vote.
• 1951 - The 22nd Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution was ratified, limiting U.S.
Presidents to two terms.
1998 - Britain's House of Lords agreed
to give a monarch's first-born daughter
the same claim to the throne as any first
born son. This was the end to 1,000
years of males only.     
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH —
A-C Food Pantry in Casey U.M.C. is
open from 9 A.M. to 11 A.M.   
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• 1844 - Several people were killed on the
USS Princeton when a 12-inch gun
exploded.
• 1849 - Regular steamboat service to
California around Cape Horn arrived in
San Francisco for the first time. The SS
California left New York Harbor October
6, 1848, and arrived in San Francisco 4
months and 21 days later.
• 1861 - The U.S. territory of Colorado
was organized.
• 1953 - In a Cambridge University
laboratory, scientists James D. Watson
and Francis H.C. Crick discovered the
double-helix structure of DNA.
• 1983 - "M*A*S*H" became the most
watched television program in history
when the final episode aired.
• 2001 - The Northwest region of the U.S.
including the state of Washington, was
hit by an earthquake that measured 6.9
on the Richter Scale. There were no
deaths reported.
• 2013 - Benedict XVI resigned as pope.
He was the first pope to resign since
Gregory XII in 1415 and the first to
resign voluntarily since Celestine V in
1294. 

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• FUTURE FOCUS —————
• MARCH IS WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH  

—  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —
• MARCH 6TH —
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER   
—  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —
• MARCH 8TH — DAYLIGHT SAVINGS
TIME WILL BEGIN
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Thank you for your help this week.
Take precautions in this cold, windy 
weather.  We want you to be around 
when warm, balmy, calm Spring 
comes back.      (Ahhhhh, Spring!)

God Bless and Keep You,
Donna