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.