Christ's mission in the world

Good morning brothers and sisters,
As many of you know, Laurelton is part of a coalition of urban churches called Urban Presbyterians Together (UPT). The latest UPT project is an exciting one: we're building a house together. Along with Flower City Habitat for Humanity, UPT members and friends are building a house in the JOSANA neighborhood in Rochester. No prior experience is needed to volunteer, but you do need to be 16 or older. Work days run from 8:45 to 3:45 Wednesday through Saturday and Tuesday 9:45-3:45. You can only sign up for a full day. You can sign up on your own or with friends. The easiest way to sign up is through the Habitat website, which I've linked below. You can also call the Habitat office to sign up. It's not possible to sign up for part of a day. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me or Charlie Plummer a call or email.

http://urbanpresbyterians.org/habitat_project.htm

to sign up by phone: Kayla Himelein
546.1470 ext. 315

Our reading for the day is the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, commonly called just Acts. Acts is the sequel to Luke's Gospel, so going right from yesterday's close of Luke to the opening of Acts is fitting. Notice that Jesus gives his disciples a mission and tells them to wait for the Holy Spirit. The mission is to spread the good news of forgiveness and love in Jesus Christ to the whole world. Even before the Spirit comes, the disciples are praying, which is a great attitude for us too as we seek where God is leading.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 1:1-14

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning ²until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. ⁴While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; ⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. ¹¹They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. ¹³When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

stronger together

Hi friends,
Often we think about the church, especially a small church like ours, in terms of what we can't do. Fortunately, we aren't alone. We have several local partner churches in the North East Church Cluster (we'll worship together on Tuesday at 7:30 at St. Ambrose to start Holy Week). We also have the broader presbytery and especially Urban Presbyterians Together, so we don't have to do ministry alone. We are much stronger together, as the author of Ecclesiastes (traditionally, King Solomon) reminds us in today's reading.

God bless,
Sam

Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

⁷Again, I saw vanity under the sun: ⁸the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. “For whom am I toiling,” they ask, “and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business. ⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. ¹¹Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? ¹²And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

community power

Good afternoon friends,
This week our theme is community. The world is scary sometimes and sometimes we don't know how the church can continue to be effective in a new time. The truth is that God is always with us and the church has always faced challenges. The way the church will be effective in the future is the same way we've been effective since the beginning. Not through fancy programs, but through prayer, faith, witness and community. Here in Rochester we're especially blessed to partner with the other urban Presbyterian churches to minister to our city. 


In this passage Peter and John have just been released from prison for preaching the gospel. The first thing they do is meet up with their faith community to share and pray. God worked then through powerful and committed communities of faith, and God still does.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 4:23-37

²³After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, ²⁵it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? ²⁶The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’

²⁷For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ²⁸to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. ²⁹And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, ³⁰while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” ³¹When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

³²Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. ³³With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. ³⁵They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). ³⁷He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

contest for queen

Good afternoon friends,
I hope your week is starting out well. I have a couple of announcements for our life together: First, tonight at St. Ambrose there will be a worship service celebrating the week of prayer for Christian unity. The week of prayer is a week focused on bringing different churches together so we can witness to Christ's love. Tonight's service will include leaders from different churches and is a great chance to meet Christians in the neighborhood. The worship service begins at 7 tonight at St Ambrose (Culver and Empire). On Tuesday, January 29th there will be a UPT follow up discussion on our New Beginnings process. If you attended the last of these (at Trinity Emmanuel) or if you have been excited by our New Beginnings process and want to learn more about working on reaching out with other Presbyterian neighbors, this event is for you. The evening begins with dinner at 5:45 at South Presbyterian Church (Mt. Hope and Crittenden, near Strong Hospital). If you're interested, please let me know as soon as possible.


Today's reading follows up on the story of Esther that Trina shared with you on Sunday. The story takes place during the Babylonian exile of Judah. Esther is a really interesting story and rare in that it never mentions God. After firing his queen, King Ahasueras decides to choose a new queen through a beauty pageant. As we'll see, the winner and new queen is a Jewish woman named Esther, whose courage will save her people.

God bless,
Sam

Esther 2:1-10, 16-18
After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. ²Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. ³And let the king appoint commissioners in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in the citadel of Susa under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; let their cosmetic treatments be given them. ⁴And let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.

⁵Now there was a Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite. ⁶Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away. ⁷Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor mother; the girl was fair and beautiful, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter.

⁸So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in the citadel of Susa in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. ⁹The girl pleased him and won his favor, and he quickly provided her with her cosmetic treatments and her portion of food, and with seven chosen maids from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem. ¹⁰Esther did not reveal her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell.

 ¹⁶When Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, ¹⁷the king loved Esther more than all the other women; of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. ¹⁸Then the king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers—“Esther’s banquet.” He also granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal liberality.

giving

Good afternoon friends,
Today's worship and potluck lunch was a lot of fun. Thanks for everyone who took part by bringing or eating food, decorating the sanctuary or sharing time with others. It's good to be together. The challenge in Advent is that we want to slow down and enjoy the season, to focus on Jesus and our faith journey, but there's so much stuff we have to do, so that's hard. Having said that, there's a great opportunity to slow down and focus tomorrow evening at Third Presbyterian Church (in their chapel). It is a UPT Taize style Advent service. Taize worship is about singing and silence, reflection and meditation. It's about creating a pocket of stillness in a crazy week. If that sounds like something you would like, I'd love to see you there at 7 tomorrow evening (Meigs and East). If you don't have time or are not interested, that's fine too.

Today's reading is about giving, but it's about how God sees giving. We often think that more is better, and there are some ways that's true. Certainly I'm grateful for our strong pledges of financial support for the coming year. At the same time Jesus reminds us that the same gift means something very gift to different people. Interestingly, this passage comes right after Jesus criticizes the religious leaders for "devouring widow's houses," or taking advantage of the vulnerable.

Blessings on your afternoon,
Sam

Luke 21: 1-4

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; ²he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. ³He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; ⁴for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

let the children come

Good night/good morning brothers and sisters,
This passage may be familiar to many of us, but it's a great fit for this week as we consider children and the church's responsibility to support kids, healthy families and communities. The disciples try to protect Jesus' time or dignity or something in the face of parents bringing their children to Jesus for a blessing. I'm not sure what their concern was. In some way, they seemed to feel that children were not worthy of their great teacher's attention. As we see, Jesus felt differently. In fact, a child's curiosity, engagement and openness provides a model for how all of us should approach the kingdom of God. How can we do better? I hope many of you will join UPT for prayer in front of the school board offices (131 W. Broad) on Sunday morning at 8. I'd also like to invite all children/youth and the young at heart to join in a youth led worship service at Brockport Presbyterian Church. We continue Jesus' legacy by honoring, protecting, and ministering with children today.
God bless,
Sam

Mark 10:13-16

¹³People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Children's Sabbath

Good afternoon brothers and sisters,
Sunday we finished a long series of preaching and daily readings taking us on a tour through the Bible. This week we shift our focus to thinking about children. We know that children are our future. We also know that today's kids face all kinds of challenges and pressures. This coming Sunday we will observe the Children's Sabbath, led by a group called the Children's Agenda. Children's Agenda works to raise awareness of the difficulties facing kids in Rochester. As a major concern in our society, that's a major concern for the church too. The first part of our children's Sabbath will be a prayer vigil in front of the city school district building (131 West Broad Street, downtown between Plymouth and Washington) at 8 am on Sunday morning with other urban Presbyterian churches.

Today's reading shows Jesus healing two women, a girl with a powerful father and a woman who would have been an outcast with nothing. Jesus loves all of us, no matter what.

God bless,
Sam

Matthew 9:18-26

¹⁸While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, ²¹for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” ²²Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. ²³When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. ²⁵But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶And the report of this spread throughout that district.

leaving the garden

Good morning friends,
One exciting opportunity I haven't shared with you aggressively enough is an Urban Presbyterians Together initiative called Boots on the Street. Boots on the Street is an intensive week of community service by our urban churches to make a difference and show the community we care. This is the week and there are many ways you can participate. If you've enjoyed home rebuilding projects or wanted to, but never been able to, there are opportunities to spend a day working on a Habitat house in Rochester. That opportunity is available Wednesday through Saturday and is an all day commitment. There are also opportunities to serve in food ministries at Third Presbyterian Church on Thursday or Saturday. New Life, Brighton and Calvary St. Andrews all have touch up projects this week. I'll be heading over to School 25 (Goodman and Bay) to do some painting and possibly some gardening tomorrow afternoon around 4. Please give me a call (340-6095) or email if you can help out with any of these opportunities. You'll have a good time, get a T shirt, and meet other great Presbyterians engaged in the community.

Our reading today follows up the story of Adam and Eve leaving the garden and beginning their family. The twists and turns of the story of God's people keep things interesting.

God bless,
Sam

Genesis 3:20-4:2

²⁰The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

²¹And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.

²²Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— ²³therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life. 

4:1 Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” ²Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.

better together

Good afternoon friends,
I chose today's reading as a reflection on this week's prayer theme, community. We are stronger and wiser in community than we are alone. That's true for us as individuals and for our congregations. We work best together. Tonight at 7 we'll have our final Urban Presbyterians Together Advent service at New Life Presbyterian Church (Monroe Ave and Rosedale St.). It is a service focused on community support and hope. I'm very much looking forward to it. If you feel in need of a boost of hope and community it would be great to see you there.
Blessings on the evening and the season,
Sam

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. ¹¹Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? ¹²And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.