Lunenburg United Methodist Charge

 

Antioch UMC                                                           Williams UMC

 

On our walk. . . . .                 

December 12, 2007

Pastor’s Message –

 

                             The History of O Come All Ye Faithful

The Englishman, John Francis Wade, wrote both the words and the music, Adeste Fideles.  The Musical score was first published in 1782 in Samuel Webbe's An Essay on the Church Plain Chant in 1782.  John Francis Wade first included it in his own 1751 publication of Cantus Diversi.  The lyrics were first published in 1760.  It has been listed in some pamphlets and on the net as an ancient Latin hymn, and it has been called the Portuguese Hymn.  However, it is not Portugese.  It is English, despite the original Latin verses.  The major reason O Come All Ye Faithful has been called the Portugese Hymn is because it was sung in the Portuguese Embassy in London where the famous Vincent Novello was organist.  He ascribed the melody to John Redding.  He called it "Air by Redding, 1860".  Some Christmas pamphlets credit  Reddings as the composer.  However since he lived a century after the original manuscripts, and since I do not believe in reincarnation, I leave credit to John Francis Wade.  Though he was English, he never translated the song into his native language.  That was left for Frederick Oakley to do a century later.  The version that we sing today has actually been worked over by several translators.

As you can see this hymn has an interesting history but it words are ones of profound meaning.  It calls all of us to worship and celebrate the day Jesus was born and God became human.  We do not need to forget that during this season.  God became human to save us by letting his son be born and die for us and our sins.

   God bless

Upcoming Events – December 12– December 18, 2007

 

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

   Prayer Meeting @ Williams @ 5:45 PM

   William’s Celebration Choir practice @ Williams @ 6:00 PM

 

Friday, December 14, 2007

    Night in Bethlehem @ Antioch 7:00 -830 PM

 

Saturday, December15, 2007

   Williams Decorating of Chrismon Tree and Spaghetti Dinner@ 3:00 PM

 

 Sunday, December16, 2007

   Williams Third Sunday Luncheon

    Antioch Youth to Visit Pine View Nursing Home.

 

Monday, December 17, 2007

    Evening Bible Study@  Parsonage @ 7:00 PM

 

Tuesday, December 18, 2007  

   Bible Study@ Parsonage @ 10:00 AM

   UMW meeting @ Dawn Bacon’s @ 7:30 pm

 

Worship Events—December 9, 2007, 2nd Sunday of Advent

  Service Theme: Mary’s Visit

 This week’s reading will be: Sermon Text     Luke 1: 39-56

                                               Hebrew Text      Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11

Pianists:   Yvette Morris

                Nancy Turner

 

Tree Decorating and Spaghetti Dinner

 

 A tree decorating and spaghetti dinner will take place Saturday, December 15 @3:00 pm at Williams UMC. Bring a friend and enjoy a homemade spaghetti dinner and decorate the Williams Christmas tree. Fun will be had by all.

 

A Night in Bethlehem

On December 14th Antioch UMC will be converted into the little unassuming town of Bethlehem. From 7-8:30 our church will be carried back 2000 years to the night Jesus was born. Join all of those who spent the past weeks putting all of this together so we can deliver the message of His birth to our community.

 

An Open House

On December 21st, beginning at 7:00 PM, Jane and I will be hosting an open house and would like for all the members of the charge to join us.  We will, as we did last year, provide refreshments and a time of fellowship during this season.  

 

150th Anniversary Throws   Throws are still available. These beautiful throws will make a great present for a family member. Our supply is running low – about 5-6 left.  The cost is $45.00 each.  Please call Jane DiStefano if you would like to order a throw or have any questions.  434-676-2314

 

Cookbooks are still available.  The Administrative Board has authorized the Cookbook Committee to order an additional 400 copies.  If you would like to obtain copies for the upcoming Christmas Season please contact Susan Moseley at 676-2081, Gayle Grant at 676-3531, Trudy Wilkins at 676-4458, or anyone at Antioch.  Any church member can get a copy to you for $10 each.

 

Sunday School is available each Sunday morning.  The importance of Sunday School is that, though you may think hearing the word will suffice for you, you really need to be in attendance at Sunday School to gather all the information that you can in an open discussion classroom.  Jesus’ word cannot be totally understood just by listening to a sermon.  You have to interact with it and with other Christians to learn what He was saying to us.  This is a life long study and you should take part.  There is a class for every age so please plan on joining us to learn more about our Lord, Jesus Christ.   Sunday School at Williams begins at 10:45 AM and at Antioch at 10:00 AM.

 

Evening Bible Study. Evening Bible study will continue on December 17 at 7:00PM. We will be viewing the movie “The Nativity Story” at the parsonage. If you would like see this movie please join us.

 

Morning Bible Study. Morning Bible study will continue on December 18 at 10:00 AM at the Parsonage. We will be viewing the movie “The Nativity Story” at the parsonage. If you would like see this movie please join us.

 

 

 

The Methodist Way

 

Methodists do not shy away from reason and learning.  There is an expectation that clergy will be educated. United Methodists in the United Stales have thirteen schools of theology, one medical college, ninety-two four year colleges and universities, eight two-year colleges, and nine preparatory schools."  Keep in mind that this list does not include the many academic institutions of other denominations in the Methodist fam­ily and does not represent educational settings outside of the United States.

 

Reason needs the power of grace to overcome its "bent to sinning."  God gives such grace;

and reason becomes an instrument for clarity in faith, consistency in witness, and freshness in understanding.

 

What about tradition?  John Wesley gave the greatest value to the teach­ing and practice of the ancient Church (up through the fourth century) and to the Church of England of his own time (1700s).  Wesley read widely and deeply in the writings of the earliest Christian thinkers.

In a sense, Methodists have Jewish roots deeper than Christian roots.  (Our predecessors in faith were Jewish longer than they were Christian.)  And, in a sense, Methodists have longer Roman Catholic roots than Protestant roots.  (We were Roman Catholic longer than we have been Protestant.)  And in a sense, Methodists have fuller Protestant roots than they do Church of England roots.  (We were Protestant before there was Church of England.)  When Christian belief moved out of the Jewish tra­dition, it did not abandon all the power of Jewish heritage. When the Protestant Reformation led some of the Church apart from Roman Catholicism, it did not mean that there was no longer any meaning in the faithful teachings of Roman Catholic scholars.  And when the Church of England became one expression of the Protestant Reformation, it did not mean that all other Protestant thought was no longer relevant.  When Methodism began to breathe separately from the Church of England, it did not mean that all was to be forgotten about the Anglican faith.

 

Tradition is not without sin and mistake.  Scripture is still the standard, but tradition represents how God has moved among cultures and peoples to move the gospel from one generation to the next.  The prophet Isaiah grasped that reality when he wrote, "Go now, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, so that it may be for the time to come as a wit ness forever."

 

The writer of Deuteronomy named tradition in this manner: “When your children ask you in time to come, 'what is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord your God has com­manded you?' then you shall say to your children, “We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, but the lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand." The writer was penning this six hundred years after the exodus, six hundred years after the Hebrews had escaped from Egypt, but the writer still used the word "we." “We”, were Pharaoh's slaves ... the Lord brought us out with a mighty hand, even though it was six centuries later, the writer of Deuteronomy knew that indeed this was more than just a story about "back then"; it is also our story! He wrote it as if he had been there!

 

That is the power of tradition. It is not a matter of trying to remember how we have always done it.  That would be traditionalism, getting stuck in the past.  Listening to tradition is having a conversation with those who first climbed the mountain, asking them where the rocks might be and what the view is like.  There is an arrogance in not talking with the ancients. Would we dare to say that God was not alive and well in those days?

 

                                      “Being Methodist in the Bible Belt” F. Belton Joyner, Jr.

 

 

                             

If you cannot reach Rev. Ed at the parsonage, you may call him on his cell phone:  252-532-0952.  He can also be reached via e-mail at revedumc@yahoo.com .   If you would like to receive e-mail messages from the pastor send an e-mail to him at revedumc@yahoo.com and we will add you to our list.

 

Please keep the following families in your prayers:

Marjorie Thompson

Allen Green

Bertha Arthur

Sarah Agnes Callis

Christian Sutton

Paul & Argy Turner

Bobby & Virginia Overby

Sheila Cage

Jeff Hendricks

Earl "Chuckie” Barnes

Rev. Al Green

Nathan Hendricks

Edna & Wilson Bagley

Sara Sutton

Maria Kay

Yvette Morris & Family

Anthony Majors

Diana Keegan

Audrey Glassock & Fam

Ron Halbrook

Junior McHenry

Rev. & Mrs. Robert Day

Mickey Narron

Kevin Cassada

Roy Crews & Family

Jeanette Smith

Gertrude Hite

Joe & Marjorie Coleman

Justin McDaniel

Tony Wilkins

Agnes Reed Hawthorn

Agnes Whittle

Charles McDaniel

Becky Eades & boys

Ricky Walker

Gayle Grant

Virginia King & Family

Shawn Umstead

Dorothy Driskill

Virgie & Pete Gillispie

Elijah Taylor

Grace Marshall

“B” & Teewah Hayes

Tom Tanner

Sharon Smith

Elizabeth Biggerstaff

Gene Edmonds

Frances Hawthorne

Dorothy Ann Irby

Our Military

Bernard Bottoms

Marvin L. Crutchfield

Jack Heater

Tommy Cage

Faye & Ray Seamster

Wayne King

Grace DiStefano

Walter B. Moseley

Nick Holden

 

If you have anyone who is in need of prayer, please place their names on the Prayer List and lift up their names in prayer during worship service and throughout the week.

 

 

 

In the Library

 

The Heart Remembers, Frontier Doctors Trilogy #3
Al Lacy, JoAnna Lacy
The final book in the Frontier Doctor trilogy continues the story of Dane and Tharyn Logan, husband and wife medical team serving a mining community west of Denver. While caring for the physical ailments of the residents of this frontier town, the Logans also minister to their spiritual needs. And Dane has the joy of leading a Ute Indian chief and his family to faith in Christ. Dane's biggest challenge comes, however, when the stagecoach he's riding crashes down a ravine. Dane survives, but loses his memory. Who is he? Does he have a family somewhere? And will his trust in God help him find his way back home?
     

Beloved Physician, Frontier Doctor Trilogy #2
Al Lacy, JoAnna Lacy
   

 

Dane and Tharyn Logan, back from their honeymoon, take over a medical practice in Central City and join the church there. It's not long before Dane establishes a name for himself. After he risks his life to rescue the mayor, who has been shot by an angry gunman, the townspeople officially dub Dane the "beloved physician of Central City." Nurse Tharyn faces a challenge of her own when her dear friend Melinda is captured by the local band of renegade Utes. Melinda's friends and fiancée don't know any better than to give her up for dead

 

 

The Walk to Emmaus

 

This week we continue our new series about “The Walk to Emmaus”.  The following information comes from “What Is Emmaus?” We hope you find it informative and we hope it clears up any misconception there may be about the Walk to Emmaus

Rev Ed

 

What Are the Strengths of Emmaus?

        After my Emmaus Walk, I have started taking regular daily time for devotions and Bible study

-Layperson from Ohio

God is using Emmaus in our time. When countless adult Christians experience true renewal and the healing of love, and feel moved to make fresh and informed commitments to Christ and his church, the Holy Spirit is at work.

Emmaus attempts to strengthen the local church through the empowerment of disciples and the raising lip of fresh leadership in con­gregations. Emmaus at its best is bringing new life of the Spirit to the established church by revitalizing and sustaining the Christians within it.

Emmaus maintains important balances to which The Upper Room commits itself. Emmaus unites "those so long divided-----true knowledge and vital piety" John Wesley), Emmaus holds together the unity of per­sonal spirituality and Christian action in the world.

Emmaus is dependable. Emmaus leaders strive for consistency in form and quality from event to event. Team members' faithful adherence to a standard manual prevents the dangers inherent in experiences cen­tered upon the whims of leaders. Reliance on proven guidelines also allows more laity and clergy to serve in leadership positions and ensures safe space in which persons can be themselves with God and one another.

Emmaus includes follow up aimed at under girding the ongoing discipleship of the people. At its best, Emmaus takes people to the moun­taintop of God's grace and helps them enter into the valley for the liv­ing of the Fourth Day through covenant groups for support and accountability.

Emmaus makes partners of laity and clergy, involves both in leader­ship together, and is based on confidence in laypersons' willingness and competencies for Christian service.

Emmaus focuses in the essentials of Christian faith. John Wesley's words express the spirit of the program well. He wrote, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things charity."

Emmaus is ecumenical in the sense that both the three-day experi­ence and the follow-up seek to foster unity and mutual appreciation among Christians of different denominations who participate in the program in each community.

Emmaus is fun and full of joy, while at the same time confronting sleepy Christians with the reality that Jesus meant what he said and did, that God’s business is serious business and so are our commitments, and that God love, us more deeply than we ever knew was possible.

 

 

Remember: Quit griping about your church; if it was perfect, you couldn’t belong.

 

Have a Blessed Week