Free for the other

Today's Scripture passage is a weird one, but one of my personal favorites. Read it here. This links to the CEB version which is the version we usually use in worship, but feel free to select a different version to compare.

8:15

By Grace We Have Been Saved comes from a "new" United Methodist hymnal called Worship and Song. It was released a couple years ago. Most often when you see a song listed in the bulletin that does not have a hymn number by it, it has been selected from this new hymnal. Because we use it pretty rarely and we use the screen for words we have chosen not to invest in hymnals for the congregation. We can order a few though. If you'd like one leave a comment on the blog. We can purchase a few and leave them in the back of the sanctuary for you to pick up on those days that we do use it.

A note on liturgy and prayers in the bulletin: We use and adapt pieces that have been written by a variety of authors on Sunday mornings. We believe it is good for us to be exposed to a variety of voices. Whenever we use a resource from outside of St. Paul's the author's name is listed in the bulletin. If you do not see an author's name (like this morning's Call to Worship) then the writer is someone from within St. Paul's, usually Jeni Anderson, sometimes David Livingston, occasionally someone else.

9:30

Playlist:
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
I Refuse
Hold Us Together
Free to Be Me
We Shall Be Free
You Are My King (Amazing Love)

11:00

A note on liturgy and prayers in the bulletin: We use and adapt pieces that have been written by a variety of authors on Sunday mornings. We believe it is good for us to be exposed to a variety of voices. Whenever we use a resource from outside of St. Paul's the author's name is listed in the bulletin. If you do not see an author's name (like this morning's Call to Worship) then the writer is someone from within St. Paul's, usually Jeni Anderson, sometimes David Livingston, occasionally someone else.

By Grace We Have Been Saved comes from a "new" United Methodist hymnal called Worship and Song. It was released a couple years ago. Most often when you see a song listed in the bulletin that does not have a hymn number by it, it has been selected from this new hymnal. Because we use it pretty rarely and we use the screen for words we have chosen not to invest in hymnals for the congregation. We can order a few though. If you'd like one leave a comment on the blog. We can purchase a few and leave them in the back of the sanctuary for you to pick up on those days that we do use it.

Rachael Hulse is dancing with the Chancel Choir's anthem this morning. Rachael and her family are members of St. Paul's. She is a senior at UMKC, majoring in dance performance.  She spent a couple of weeks over the summer in Panama City, Panama performing and teaching in conjunction with an organization called YWAM. Her next major performance will be her final Senior Recital on March 1 at White Recital Hall at UMKC.

Sermon notes:

- Jewish food customs weren't just different in the first century. They still are different. Here's an article that explains some of the distinctions. This Wikipedia article goes into a lot more detail.

- Dietary issues were just one of many points of conflict among the Corinthians. Read more about the church here. Paul was not entirely successful in squelching the animosity. The church in Corinth had a reputation as a divided church into the second century, more than fifty years after Paul's letter.

Free from the Past

The past is the past - just leave it behind. Don't you wish it was so simple? Well, it's not. But you don't have to be defined by the past.

But first, a prayer by Walter Brueggermann:

You are the God of all things new.

You lurk on Saturday night in silence

            just as you lurked

                        at the edge of the old deportation.

And then you leapt up on Easter morning with new life,

            just as you enunciated homecoming for our ancient people.

 You refuse the power of death

and have broken open our displacement with new possibility.

 We give thanks for your promises you have kept among us,

            and for your promises still under way,

                        promises of a new heaven,

                                    a new earth,

                                    a new Jerusalem, and

                                    a new covenant.

 We watch with eager longing

            for your newness

                        that will outrun all our losses.

 Emancipate us from our anxiety to watch for your gifts of newness

            and to receive the strange forms

                        that your new beginnings may take among us.

 At the far edge of our exile,

            just as the new day breaks,

            we will shout with glad elation,

"He is risen indeed!"            

8:15

Every once in a while our Chancel Choir will sing at 8:15. This is one of those lucky times! The song they are singing this morning, Freedom, is actually a medley of five African American spirituals. Two of them you will recognize as songs we've sung in the last few weeks. There may be no group for whom freedom has been as allusive as the African American community in the United States. Mark Hayes, who arranged this piece, is one of our choir's favorites! John Van de Voort is the soloist today. Criag Beck, Brad Footh, Becky Graham, Erik Hulse, Jeremy Krug, and Danny Rojas are helping with the instruments.

Our opening hymn, This Is a Day of New Beginnings, was written by Brian Wren. Wren says the song, "written for a New Year’s Day service [1978] at Holy Family Church, Blackbird Leys, Oxford. In itself, the new year is an arbitrary convention, its “newness” a mere mark on the calendar. The recurrent awakening of life in nature is not a strong enough foundation for hope of real change. Yet by faith in the really new events of the Christian story, a day, or a month, or and hour can become charged with promise, and be a springboard to a changed life!" Read more here. Today is your next chance for a new beginning! Take advantage of it and start now!

If you weren't here last week you might refer back to last week's blog for information on Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).

9:30

We have several "secular" songs today. But secular is really a misnomer. Secular suggests that God is not involved. God's grace can be involved in anything! Our hope is that when you hear songs like Freebird outside of worship that you'll think about God, maybe think about what you learned today, and even say a prayer of thanks for the way that God redeems the world, including music!

Freebird
Love Is Alive
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
Worn
Message in a Bottle
10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)

11:00

Our opening hymn, This Is a Day of New Beginnings, was written by Brian Wren. Wren says the song, "written for a New Year’s Day service [1978] at Holy Family Church, Blackbird Leys, Oxford. In itself, the new year is an arbitrary convention, its “newness” a mere mark on the calendar. The recurrent awakening of life in nature is not a strong enough foundation for hope of real change. Yet by faith in the really new events of the Christian story, a day, or a month, or and hour can become charged with promise, and be a springboard to a changed life!" Read more here. Today is your next chance for a new beginning! Take advantage of it and start now!

If you weren't here last week you might refer back to last week's blog for information on Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).

  This morning's anthem, Freedom, is actually a medley of five African American spirituals. Two of them you will recognize as songs we've sung in the last few weeks. There may be no group for whom freedom has been as allusive as the African American community in the United States. Mark Hayes, who arranged this piece, is one of our choir's favorites! John Van de Voort is the soloist today. Criag Beck, Brad Footh, Becky Graham, Erik Hulse, Jeremy Krug, and Danny Rojas are helping with the instruments.

Today's Sermon:

The monkey story is not a new one. I heard it a week ago at a Court of Honor for a church member, but when I Googled it I found several references. I ran out of time this week, but look for a blog post later today on http://revliv1.blogspot.com/ about some other ways that we can think of the monkey story.





As a pastor I hear lots of stories from people who feel like everything that has happened to them happened because God planned it that way. It's not true. Sometimes it was a monkey throwing the ball! If you feel like everything that happens because God planned it you might go back to my sermon from September 8. 

Free from the Law

Week two of the Break Free series. Last week we established that while we may not have complete free will to literally do whatever we want (I'm still not a major league baseball player!!) we do have a broad ability to make our own choices. So how do we know if we're making good choices or bad choices? Well, that's part of why God has given us laws to follow. But the law can become an idol. So this week we discuss what it means to be free from the law.

A new face joins us today! Stefanie Wienecke is a long term substitute for Jeremy Watson while he is on a national tour of Miss Saigon. Stefanie grew up in Kansas, and decided to venture out to Nashville Tennessee for college where she attended Trevecca Nazarene University. She graduated with a commercial music and songwriting degree. Stefanie was 1 of 6 winners in the John Lennon songwriting competition with one of her original compositions. She is also a part of a traveling worship group called Ruah, and they have had some great success. If you are interested in hearing what they're all about, their self-titled album is available on iTunes. Now based out of Kansas City, Stefanie works full-time doing professional theatre, and is loving every minute of it. Welcome Stefanie! 

 

8:15

The Scripture reading this morning comes from The Message. The Message is a paraphrase written by Eugene Peterson. It's called a paraphrase rather  than a translation because he was freer with his word choice than a translator would be. The translator tries to keep the integrity of each word, whereas Peterson tried to keep the artistry of the original language - "What would this text sound like if it was being written today" instead of "what is the correct English word for this Greek word?" We prefer to use translations like the Common English Bible in worship, but every once in a while Peterson hits on a reading that sounds just right.

Our Call to Worship this morning is global. It was adapted from Ann Siddall, a member of the Uniting Church. The Uniting Church is an Australian denomination that came together from Methodist, Presbeteryian, and Congregationalist traditions.

We're incorporating the refrain from Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) around children's time this morning. This is a great example of contemporary 

church musicians and pastors bringing traditional hymns and songs into congregational worship, they have done so with great creativity and with a variety of methods. For more background on this song go to  http://www.gbod.org/lead-your-church/worship-song/resource/amazing-grace-my-chains-are-gone

 

 

9:30

This morning's playlist:
Free Ride
I Am Free
Manifesto
Free
Redeemed

Welcome to our new members! Eric Hissong, Janelle Schnorf-Hissong, and Zack Schnorf join as full members. Von and Madison join as preparatory members. Preparatory members become full members when they are Confirmed. Confirmation is a series of classes that we generally hold for high-school freshmen and older. Madison and Von plan to be part of the next Confirmation class in the spring of 2014.
 

11:00

Our Call to Worship this morning is global. It was adapted from Ann Siddall, a member of the Uniting Church. The Uniting Church is an Australian denomination that came together from Methodist, Presbeteryian, and Congregationalist traditions.

The Scripture reading this morning comes from The Message. The Message is a paraphrase written by Eugene Peterson. It's called a paraphrase rather  than a translation because he was freer with his word choice than a translator would be. The translator tries to keep the integrity of each word, whereas Peterson tried to keep the artistry of the original language - "What would this text sound like if it was being written today" instead of "what is the correct English word for this Greek word?" We prefer to use translations like the Common English Bible in worship, but every once in a while Peterson hits on a reading that sounds just right.

The anthem this Sunday is a musical look at life inspired by a poem from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." The spirit of youthful life is portrayed in the energetic piano accompaniment. Under brief lines of narration, chords paint a palette of spacious texture and freedom. While the text speaks to the infinite opportunities of life, the piano ends with a dissonant chord, suggesting a tension of choices, possibilities, and the unknown. 

This week's sermon:

 

There are several good resources if you want to dive deeper into the differences among the various sects (think denominations) of First Century Judaism. Major and minor movements are described in the Jewish Virtual Library site. Here's another look from a Jewish laywoman that I think may be better. She includes the Zealots, which are another important group. We sometimes forget that Christianity has its roots in Judaism. We encourage you to explore Jewish traditions more deeply to discover the connections.

 

An important sentence is buried in the sermon that some day I will talk about more. In discussing Jesus' use of two Old Testament stories  I said, "This is exactly how the first century reader would have seen it." This is an important sentence because it is a significant part of how I, and the majority of Christians back to the very beginning, interpret Scripture. The first person that I am aware of who talked about reading the Bible "literally" was Augustine in the 4th century. But for Augustine, reading the Bible literally meant exactly what I just said - it meant reading the Bible the way the first Christians would have read it. The idea that each word of Scripture is historically or scientifically true, what we think of today as "literal", is not what the original authors or first readers had in mind.

 

Freedom of Choice

We're starting a new sermon series this week about freedom. The first question that needs to be asked about freedom is whether or not it even exists. It's a more controversial idea than you might think at first.

The Visual Arts Team redesigns the sanctuary thematically for each series. The team consists of Shirley McNeal, Suzie Dutton, Jonelle Schenk, Sonder Crane, Julie Hoag, Courtney Mayorga and Kim Anothanyanontha.

Here's a little background on the cocoon pendant lights.
Made from shaped chicken wire, spray adhesive was used to secure layers of tissue paper to create muli-shaded texture.  Yarn was then used to wrap the "cocoons".  Each cocoon is lit from the inside with an LED light bar.

8:15 Worship

Morning Has Broken - This morning's scripture passage tells us about the last days Adam and Eve spent in Eden. As we sing the first words, "Morning has broken like the first morning," imagine those first days of creation. Imagine a young universe emerging from chaos, a growing Earth beginning to fill with life, and then finally a new human baby laying in the dew of the morning. God's good creation is all around us. We get to choose how we appreciate it and how to care for it.

Freedom Is Coming is a traditional South African song that has been important in the Civil Rights Movement. Anne Burnette Hook writes, "Under the power of the Holy Spirit, we are granted true freedom. Unfortunately, humans continue to enslave and oppress one another and there are always reasons to call in prayer upon the Almighty for freedom from moaning and weeping, as long as people anywhere in the world seek to be freed from any form of tyranny." One of the vows we make when joining a United Methodist Church is to "accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves." How are you using the freedom that God has given you to fulfill this membership vow?

9:30 Worship

BethanyBridge debuts a new song today: Manifesto by The City Harmonic, a Canadian Christian rock band formed in 2009 in Hamilton, Ontario. The band released their debut EP, Introducing the City Harmonic, on November 23, 2010 in Canada and the United States. After appearing on the K-LOVE Morning show on February 8 2011, Introducing The City Harmonic rose to No. 5 on the iTunes sales charts in the Christian & Gospel Albums category.  The song has also been featured as the walk-up song for Oakland Athletics outfielder Seth Smith,^[5] was recently played at a San Diego Padres game, and was selected as the anthem for the National Day of Prayer celebrations in Nashville.

Here's the whole lineup:

Break on Through

Free for All

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever

Manifesto

Let It Fade

 

11:00 Worship

Each week of this sermon series will start with Freedom Is Coming as a musical introit. It is a traditional South African song that has been important in the Civil Rights Movement. Anne Burnette Hook writes, "Under the power of the Holy Spirit, we are granted true freedom. Unfortunately, humans continue to enslave and oppress one another and there are always reasons to call in prayer upon the Almighty for freedom from moaning and weeping, as long as people anywhere in the world seek to be freed from any form of tyranny." One of the vows we make when joining a United Methodist Church is to "accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves." How are you using the freedom that God has given you to fulfill this membership vow?


From time to time we're going to be using a sung response to the Affirmation of Faith other than the Gloria Patri. this morning's song, Shout to the Lord, is just the refrain of a longer song. You can find the whole text here.

Welcome back to the Chancel Choir! Elizabeth Mulkey is beginning her 8th year as our Chancel Choir Director. Take a moment after worship this morning to thank Elizabeth and the whole choir for their help in leading worship.

 

Today's Sermon: Freedom of Choice

There are several really good resources if you'd like to delve deeper into some of the topics we're covering today. Honestly, even with four full weeks on freedom there is not enough time to talk about everything. To go deeper, try these:

Retrocausation: Here's a brief and a longer article on the experiment of a future event causing a past event. If you really want your mind blown, this 43 minute video begins to explore whether this effect can actually take place in the real world that we live in (i.e. Newtonian instead of Quantum). Confession: my mind was blown a few minutes in. I haven't watched the whole thing yet.

Determinism: I feel wimpy referencing Wikipedia, but this is really a pretty detailed article on determinism. Plus a philosophical article on the subject. You can link from here to articles supporting free will too.

"It's all part of God's plan": Here's a link to a good sermon from another United Methodist pastor about this. I love the title of his sermon series - "9 Lies You Hear in Church". We're planning a similar one called "Twisted Scripture" that will reference Scriptures frequently misused, but this series is more focused on sayings that we hear that have no scriptural basis at all.

Same Site, New Purpose

This blog is being transformed into a new concept. We hope that it's a way of enhancing worship for some while not being obtrusive to those who aren't interested. Each week we will select portions of worship to highlight or extrapolate on and post them here. For example, you might see the history behind the writing of a song. There may be links to resources related to the sermon. There may be suggestions for you to focus on during prayer. It will be different every week.  Please let us know how you find this helpful or how it could be made more helpful!

David will still post occasional pieces on theology and society, but on a new blog - revliv1.blogspot.com.