News and Readings January 15-22 2012

The Word Newsletter - January 2012

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News and Announcements:

Sun     Jan 15                Early Service – 7:45am

                                    Celebration Service – 9:00am

                                    Traditional Service – 11:00am

Mon    Jan 16                Study 9/11 and God – with the Seekers 7:00pm

Mon    Jan 17                Finance Meeting 6:30pm

Tues    Jan 18               Vestry Meeting 6:30pm

Wed    Jan 19                 Bible Study 4:00pm

                                    Mid Week Eucharist 5:00-6:00pm

                                    Celebration Band 6:30-7:15pm

Thur    Jan  20               Choir practice 7:00pm

Sat       Jan 21               Prayer Shawl meeting – 10:00am                      

Sun     Jan  22               Early Service – 7:45am

                                    Celebration Service – 9:00am

*Traditional Service – 11:00am 

at Christ Church*

**St Luke’s: Please be aware that we will be holding our 5^th Sunday 11am service here at Christ Church and not at St Luke’s, due to repair work currently being carried out there.

The flowers on the altar are given, to the glory of God, by Gary & Pat Parsons and family in loving memory of Chris Parson’s birthday

†††††††††

The flowers on the columbarium are given to the glory of God by Bill Reed in loving memory of his wife, Margo’s, birthday

Sundays At Four

“The Saxophone Goes Classic”

Sunday, January 29, 2012 – 4:00 pm

Trinity United Methodist Church

saxophones

Ed Fraedrich & Dr. Sheri Oyan

Anthony Smith, piano

Tickets at Door: Adult $20, Student $5

Reading Jan 15 9am

Reader:  A reading from 1 Samuel [3:1-10,(11-20)]

Young Samuel repeatedly hears a voice in the night, and he supposes it to be that of Eli. Eli realizes the boy is being called by God, and tells Samuel to be open to God’s word.

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.

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."

    Eli said, "I didn't call you. Go back to bed." And so he did.

 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.)

 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.

Then God came and stood before him exactly as before, calling out, "Samuel! Samuel!"

Samuel answered, "Speak. I'm your servant, ready to listen." 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."

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.

But then Eli summoned Samuel: "Samuel, my son!"

    Samuel came running: "Yes? What can I do for you?"

"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."

So Samuel told him, word for word. He held back nothing.

    Eli said, "He is God. Let him do whatever he thinks best."

Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

People:  Open our ears to hear your Word.

Readings Jan 15 7.45 & 11am

+The First Lesson: Young Samuel repeatedly hears a voice in the night, and he supposes it to be that of Eli. Eli realizes the boy is being called by God, and tells Samuel to be open to God’s word.

A Reading from 1 Samuel  [3:1-10(11-20)]

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am!" and ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down. The LORD called again, "Samuel!" Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again." Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, `Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." Then

the LORD said to Samuel, "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever."

Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." He said, "Here I am." Eli said, "What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you." So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, "It is the LORD; let him do what seems good to him."

As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the LORD

Reader: The Word of the Lord                                                                                           People: Thanks be to God

Psalm 139:1-5,12-17  Page 794, BCP

LORD, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.

Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O LORD, know it altogether.

You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

For you yourself created my inmost parts; *
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I will thank you because I am marvelously made; *
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.

My body was not hidden from you, *
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book; *
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.

How deep I find your thoughts, O God! *
how great is the sum of them!

If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; *
to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.

  

+The Second Lesson: Baptism frees Jesus’ followers from the constraints of the law, but this does not mean that Christians have no moral obligations. Our actions should give honor and glory to God.

A Reading from 1 Corinthians [6:12-20]

"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food," and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication

but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, "The two shall be one flesh." But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

Reader: The Word of the Lord                                                                                          

People: Thanks be to God