You won’t want to miss the festivities coming your way on Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010 as we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

10:20am – Children Age 3 – Youth (up to Grade 12) are invited to gather in the Narthex of the Sanctuary to prepare for processing with Palm Branches to the altar rail, reliving Jesus’ triumphal entry;

11:30am – Join us for the Berean Sunday School Class Spaghetti Lunch in Fellowship Hall.  Get your tickets Sunday:

• $7 / Adult (Grade 7 and Up)
• $4 / Child (Grade 6 and Under)
• $25 MAX / Family
• Bring a friend, and your friend eats free
  (thanks to the Evangelism Committee)
  

During Lunch – Children & Youth (Grade 4 and up) are invited to help hide Easter Eggs!

Following Lunch – Children (Toddlers – Grade 3) are invited to take part in the Easter Egg Hunt (please, bring your Easter Basket).  Each child will receive an Easter Gift for participating, and we anticipate a special guest!

Our 2010 Perkins Lecturer will be Amy-Jill Levine the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Graduate Department of Religion, and Program in Jewish Studies.

Holding a B.A. from Smith College, M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University, and honorary doctorates from the University of Richmond, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, and the University of South Carolina- Upstate, Professor Levine has been awarded grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies.  She has held office in the Society of Biblical Literature, the Catholic Biblical Association (she is presently the New Testament book review editor for the Catholic Biblical Quarterly), and the Association for Jewish Studies.

Her most recent books include:

• The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (HarperOne);
• The edited collection, The Historical Jesus in Context (Princeton Readings in Religions) (Princeton);
• The fourteen-volume series, Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings (Continuum);
• The Cambridge Companion to the Bible (Companions to Religion) (Cambridge).

In addition, she has recorded “Introduction to the Old Testament,” “Great Figures of the Old Testament,” and “Great Figures of the New Testament” for the Teaching Company.

A self-described “Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches in a predominantly Christian divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt,” Professor Levine combines history and literary insight with a frequent dash of humor to bring aspects of the Scriptures down-to-earth.  In all of this, she maintains a commitment to eliminating anti-Jewish, sexist, and homophobic theologies.

This year, the lectures will be:

• Sunday, March 7, 2010 – 10:30am
  The Good Samaritan
• Sunday, March 7, 2010 – 7:00pm
  Hearing the Parables Anew
• Monday, March 8, 2010 – 12:00noon
  The Prodigal Son
• Monday, March 8, 2010 – 7:00pm
  The Laborers in the Vineyard

Join Rev. Lydia Pellikan in Perkins Chapel to begin the season of Lent with a sacred worship service:

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

• 12:00noon
• 6:30pm

As you prepare for this holy season of the Christian year, we hope you’ll consider meditating upon these texts from Scripture:

Isaiah 58:1-12
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

6:30pm

Re-commit your life to God and the Church on Sunday, January 10, 2010 at the 8:30am or 10:30am Worship Service.

As a part of the services, we will share in Holy Communion and bring forward our “Covenant Cards” (you should receive one in the mail, and there will be one inserted in the Order of Worship) noting where we will be willing to serve FUMC in 2010.

If you will not be able to attend on Sunday, we hope you’ll still sign up to volunteer this year.  You can send in your covenant card OR fill out the online form at http://www.fumcwf.org/volunteer.

In preparation for the service this Sunday, you might consider this:

Have you ever noticed that the cup we share in Communion is the “cup of the COVENANT?”   Since a covenant assumes that each party has an obligation, what is our obligation in Holy Communion?

Some will answer “forgiveness” since our Communion liturgy says the cup is “for the forgiveness of sins.”  Interestingly, only Matthew’s gospel says that the cup is “for the forgiveness of sins” (see Matthew 26:26-29 and compare 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Mark 14:22-25, and Luke 22:14-20).  Since Jesus commands us to forgive in Matthew 6:14-15, that is surely part of it, but what is our obligation inherent in the other passages where forgiveness is not mentioned?

Mark gives us the clearest answer, I believe.  There are only three other passages in that gospel that use the term “cup,” the latter two most important to our discussion here:

• Mark 9:41 where Jesus says those who share a cup of water with us, who bear the name of Christ, will be rewarded;
• Mark 10:38-39 where Jesus asks James and John if they are able to drink the cup Jesus is to drink, which Jesus says they will do; and
• Mark 14:36 in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asks God to remove the cup from him.

What is the cup?  It is the cup of discipleship, of commitment to the teachings and example of Jesus Christ who was willing to drink “the cup.”  When we accept the “cup of the covenant” in Communion, we are obligating ourselves to living out the instruction and commitments of our ultimate teacher – Jesus.  We say will drink the same cup as Jesus.

God provides our abilities and inspiration – even our forgiveness – to be free to serve God and others.  In Holy Communion – and especially on this Covenant Sunday – we are taking up our cross to serve within and outside First United Methodist Church. Let us serve together.

Rev. Troy Sims

There will be only one worship service at 10:30am on Sunday, January 3, 2010.  We hope to see you there!

Join us on January 10, 2010 for both services (8:30 & 10:30am) for our Covenant Sunday, featuring Holy Communion at both services.

Happy New Year!

The 2009 Christmas Eve Worship Service has been cancelled due to snowy weather.  However, you can watch a re-broadcast of our 2008 Christmas Eve Service at:

7:00pm – KJBO – MyTV35, Digital 3.2, Cable 7

9:30pm – KJTL – Fox 18, Digital 15, Cable 9

MERRY CHRISTMAS!