Looking Ahead from 23 Aug 2009

• 6 Sept 2009 (Sunday) - 9:30 am Worship Service with Communion

• 13 Sept 2009 (Sunday) - 10:30 am FALL WORSHIP TIME RESUMES

• 26 Sept 2009 (Saturday) NOON - 5 pm ABERDEEN DAY (page 3)- at the High School. Come and enjoy the food, fun and music. Peggy Knowles is looking for people to stay by the FPC Booth for an hour or so to hand out brochures, talk about the upcoming Coffehouse

• 9 Oct 2009 (Friday) 7 pm - ? Fall Coffee house - Advance reservations are being taken now for performing! For an idea, check stories on our last coffee house in May. Also look for a notice in the Lantern. Again, the proceeds will go to fund Mission Matawan.

"Choose!" (Sermon Aug 23, 2009)

Today's readings were Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18, and John 6:52-68.

The Sermon today is based on John's Gospel, and I've chosen to present it from a different translation:

⁵²At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: "How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?"

^53-58But Jesus didn't give an inch. "Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always."

⁵⁹He said these things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum. ⁶⁰Many among his disciples heard this and said, "This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow."

^61-65Jesus sensed that his disciples were having a hard time with this and said, "Does this throw you completely? What would happen if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where he came from? The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don't make anything happen. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. But some of you are resisting, refusing to have any part in this." (Jesus knew from the start that some weren't going to risk themselves with him. He knew also who would betray him.) He went on to say, "This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father."

^66-67After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: "Do you also want to leave?"

^68-69Peter replied, "Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We've already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:52-68, The Message)

MUGWUMP: a fence sitter. The term in US History came to be known as a member of the republican party during the election of 1884 who bolted from the party, enabling the election of Grover Cleveland. Today is mugwump is someone who is considered to be cautiously neutral on a topic. Pastor Loril said that a person who is a fence sitter, like many of the disciples who stopped following, were like Mugwumps.

Here is a classic message from a famous rock group from the 60's, Loving Spoonful in the song "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind"?

From "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?"

Sometimes you really dig a girl the moment you kiss her

And then you get distracted by her older sister

When in walks her father and takes you in line

And says, "You better go home, son, and make up your mind"

Jesus knocked the mugwumps right off the fence. Jesus says he IS the bread of life. Sometimes you have to actually make a decision, one way or the other.

Who IS this God? Sermon Aug 16, 2009

¹⁰ But he said unto her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this did not Job sin with his lips. (Job 2:10, New American Standard Bible)

Job said atop a pile of ashes, scraping the boils with a broken pottery shard. In our main reading today (Job 1:1; 2:1-10) God and Satan test the faith of Job, a devout man. The Satan of Job is not the Satan most of us think of. Also known as "ha-Satan" he is the accuser, the bringer to trial, who only worked at the behest of God. For the better part of its 42 chapters, Job encounters misfortunes, the responses of well-meaning but misguided friends, and questions God.

Today's sermon asked "Why are we christian?" Are we only the christian who thanks God for answered prayers of goodness. For the receiving only the rich fluffy buttery muffin, for smart children, and for that rare, front row parking space? The story of Job warns us against believing only in a God that rewards our belief with prosperity and success.

Job's God is the all knowing, powerful God who loves us in adversity as well as good times, and asks us to trust God. It may not look like it from our vantage point, when we may well be sitting on our last nerve ending, or a pile of ashes, but all will be well, in God's time.

Camps and Conferences - Near and Far

Mid-summer reminds me of camps and conferences and all the fun I've had at them. Four facilities of the PCUSA come to mind.

1. This week, the Montreat Conference Center, a PCUSA conference center near Asheville, NC, is hosting the 2009 Montreat Women's Connection. There will be a college conference in January 2010 and a youth ski weekend in February 2010. The Youth Conference and the famous Worship and Music Conference were already held back in June. Read more about Montreat here.
2. You may also want to check out the 2010 Bible Conference at the PCUSA-affliated Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center near Harrisonburg, VA.
3. Stony Point Center, the conference center of the Synod of the Northeast, is primarily a retreat for missionaries while in the US. It hosts the occasional conference. Recently it has affiliated itself with Way Points as a destination for spiritual travelers. Way Points is currently offering a program called Biblical Feasting, which deals with the foods of the Bible. The next session is in October 2009.
4. Through its mission giving, FPC sponsors Camp Johnsonburg, a resource of NJ's seven presbyteries. Check out the camp's interactive calendar of upcoming retreats. Check out building availability for your own church retreats. And consider taking a group to the camp and working on one of the many volunteer projects they need help with.
   

Living Expectantly - Sermon 9 Aug 2009

"Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters." Isaiah 43:16

Today's sermon was based on Isaiah 43:4-21 and 2 Corinthians 1:18-22. The verses that especially resonated with me were from Isaiah: 18 “Remember not the former things,nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (ESV)

Pastor Loril asked us to avoid using at least 2 phrases: "We've never done it that way before" , and "We've tried that, and it doesn't work."

We can more profitably invest ourselves living a life of expectant hope and joy, letting go of hurts of the past and cynicism about new ideas.

Things are always in a state of flux, coming and going, living and dying. But I look at my little pot on the window sill, with the pot of "living stones", and I wait in expectation. What is expected of me?

Coos Van Waalwijk - 7 Aug 2009

Coos Van Waalwijk, former long time member of FPC and husband of Gerda Van Waalwijk (Elder and PW member), passed away on Friday, August 7 after a long illness.

The arrangements are:

Monday, August 10:
Ocean Community
Reformed Church
Route 72
Manahawkin, NJ

10:00 - Reception in fellowship hall.
11:00 - Funeral service/sanctuary.

Condolences can be sent to:
Gerda Van Waalwijk
7 Dogwood Road
Manahawkin, NJ 08850

In memory of a life well lived. Thanks, Coos.

It's Party Time - 2 Aug 2009

Today's sermon was based on the parable of the great feast, from Luke 14:1, 7-24. The other reading was Micah 6:6-8.

We are all invited to share in the bounty of God's table, and celebrate in lives that reflect our joy.