Readings News & Announcements September 4-11 2011

                            

News and Announcements:

Sun     Sept 4                Early Quiet Service – 7:45am

                                    Celebration Service – 9:00am

                                    Sunday School; all ages – 10:00am

                                    Traditional Service – 11:00am

Mon    Sept 5                Labor Day – Office Closed

Tues   Sept 6                 Stewardship Meeting 5:30pm

Daughters of the King meeting: 7:30pm

                                    Executive Vestry leadership committee 7:00pm

Wed    Sept 7                Bible Study 4:00pm

                                    Mid Week Eucharist 5:00-6:00pm

                                    Celebration Band 6:30-7:15pm

Sun     Sept 11                **Joint Service – 10:00am**

**Combined  Service for the entire congregation.  We will celebrate the beginning of the new school year, bless backpacks of students, and remember on the 10^th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks** 

The flowers on the altar are given to the Glory of God by Bud & Joyce Gill in loving memory of Jack Gale

                                   

Let us remember September 11, 2001, those who died and their families, our first responders and the men and women of our Armed Forces.  Enjoy The Smithfield Community Chorus's presentation of "Homeland", a montage of songs about our country's roots, heritage and freedom.  The concert is free, open to the public and will be held at the Smithfield  High School on September 11th at 7:30 p.m.

EfM ~Education for Ministry begins in September!
Christ Church has a wonderful program for adult Christian formation called Education for Ministry -- EfM for short. EfM is a program from the Episcopal Theological Seminary at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.   You must register for the program in advance.  Classes are small -- usually between six and eight folks.   There is homework and a two and a half hour class each week.  You register for a year at  a time, but the program is a four year program.  Year one focuses on the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament).  Year two focuses on the New Testament.   Year three focuses on Church history and year four focuses on theology and planning your future life in Christ.  If you think you might be called to dig deeper into your faith journey with a tool like this, speak with Father Gary or any of a number of EfM graduates and students at EfM.  We would like to have registration by September 1.  The course costs $310 per year, and some scholarship is available. 

 

9:00am Reading

Reader:  A reading from the book of Romans [13:8-14]

Paul urges believers to live their lives in a way that shows they know the time of redemption is coming soon..

Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church

People: Open our ears to hear your Word.

Don't run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don't sleep with another person's spouse, don't take someone's life, don't take what isn't yours, don't always be wanting what you don't have, and any other "don't" you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can't go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
 But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

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

People:  Open our ears to hear your Word.

7.45 & 11am Readings

+The First Lesson: God gives Moses instructions that the Israelites are to follow so that they will be protected during the last of the plagues in Egypt.

A Reading from [Exodus 12:1-14]

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

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

Psalm 149: Page 807, BCP

Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, *
and I shall keep it to the end.

Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; *
I shall keep it with all my heart.

Make me go in the path of your commandments, *
for that is my desire.

Incline my heart to your decrees *
and not to unjust gain.

Turn my eyes from watching what is worthless; *
give me life in your ways.

Fulfill your promise to your servant, *
which you make to those who fear you.

Turn away the reproach which I dread, *
because your judgments are good.

Behold, I long for your commandments; *
in your righteousness preserve my life.

+The Second Lesson: Paul urges believers to live their lives in a way that shows they know the time of redemption is coming soon.

A Reading from Romans [13:8-14]

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Reader: The Word of the Lord

The People Respond: Thanks be to God

Prayers of the People IV BCP page, 388

EfM ~Education for Ministry begins in September!
Christ Church has a wonderful program for adult Christian formation called Education for Ministry -- EfM for short. EfM is a program from the Episcopal Theological Seminary at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.   You must register for the program in advance.  Classes are small -- usually between six and eight folks.   There is homework and a two and a half hour class each week.  You register for a year at  a time, but the program is a four year program.  Year one focuses on the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament).  Year two focuses on the New Testament.   Year three focuses on Church history and year four focuses on theology and planning your future life in Christ.  If you think you might be called to dig deeper into your faith journey with a tool like this, speak with Father Gary or any of a number of EfM graduates and students at EfM.  We would like to have registration by September 1.  The course costs $310 per year, and some scholarship is available. 

   

Sunflowers 
This painting was inspired by
one of the many beautiful gardens
in the Smithfield, historic district.

A group of local artists will be painting at St. Luke's Church on  Sept. 12 beginning at 8:30 AM. Anyone interested in trying "plein  air" painting (outdoor landscapes created on location) is welcome to  participate. For more information, please contact Stephanie Faleski  at 610-360-7623 or send e-mail to fineart@calico-studios.com.