United Methodist Churches of Cresco and Zion
Sunday December 6, 2020
Welcome and Announcements
Call to worship
Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land; thou hast brought again the captivity of Jacob.
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people and covered all their sins. Selah.
Thou hast withdrawn all thine anger, and hast turned back from the fierceness of thy wrath.
Turn us, O God of our salvation, and release thine anger toward us.
Will thou be angry with us forever? And will thou prolong thy wrath from one generation to another?
Will thou not turn again and quicken us that thy people may rejoice in thee?
Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hearken what the Lord God say: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his Saints, that they turn not again to folly.
Hymn 219 – “What Child Is This” Sung by: Julie Carter
Second Advent Candle Lighting and Reading
The Reis Family
Scripture – Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15; Mark 1:1-8
This is the Word of God
Thanks be to God
Sermon – In Order not to Lose Hope, Our Lord Provides Comfort during Crisis
Communion
Joys and Concerns
Closing Hymn 89 – “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” Sung by: Julie Carter
Benediction
In Order not to Lose Hope, Our Lord Provides Comfort during Crisis
We are in a time of the year set aside to commemorate the first advent of the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. We celebrate Christmas, which is a time when we remember the birth of God’s son into the world. We are pretty familiar with all the details of His first coming. The word “advent” is derived from the Latin word “adventurous”, meaning “coming” which is a translation of the Greek word “Parousia”. By the 6th century, Christians had connected Advent to the coming of Christ. But the “coming” they had in mind was not Christ’s first coming in the manger in Bethlehem, but his second coming in the clouds as the judge of the world.
As Covid-19 rages and robs so many people of an earthly tomorrow, one trait it cannot steal away from us is Hope. Hope is a candle providing us a light to guide out way through the darkness the coronavirus has brought upon the world. Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist and survivor of Auschwitz, once said, “Many people in the hospital hung on to the idea they will be home by Christmas. When that did not happen, a number of them died. Why? Many people lost their will to live, because they lost hope”. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl reminds us, “There is no guarantee that what you hope for will happen.”
Though many people believe it is, hope is not a wish list, expecting God or another person to give us what we expect. What God promises is fulfilled in God’s time. Our task is to remain steadfastly faithful and hopeful. If and when we lose patience or are hanging on by a thread, we need to remember Israel’s story. Because of its unfaithfulness, Israel was wiped out as a country by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. Israelites hoped that in God’s time they would have a homeland once again. We must not allow the Covid-19 crisis to erase all the good things God has done for us in the past. Let us comfort one another so we can remain hopeful.
Remember, Israel’s unedited story of God’s promise was passed down from generation to generation until 1948, when the State of Israel was declared.
“Our task is to find purpose in life. The human life is purposeful because it is a unique story. Within the story, we must realize we have a purpose larger than ourselves. How our story ends matters.” (Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine, and What Matters in the End.)
In times like these, the words of God found in Isaiah 40 must be acted upon. Doctors, nurses, pastors, scientists, mental health professionals, family members, friends and even strangers are answering the call of our Creator to, “Comfort my people…” They, and all of us, have been called to be the ‘boots on the ground’ for those who suffer and those who grieve through the darkness of the pandemic. Together, we all take our light from the one who has said, “I am the light of the world.” When so much misinformation by so-called leaders has been thrown around regarding the virus and if followed leads us deeper into the darkness, it is left to us to hear and practice the hard truth of what exactly we need to do for this pandemic to wither. Throughout our journey, the prophets of old, the gospel writers, and the writers of the epistles call us to be hopeful, faithful, to love one another. Like our Master Jesus is for us, we must be a light for others as we journey through this darkness. The world is familiar with Bethlehem, the shepherds, Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, the Angels, the Frankincense, the Myrrh and the Gold, along with the other parts of the Christmas story. But, the world is far less familiar with the Lord’s Second Coming and the hope it brings. Before Jesus went to the cross to die for sins, He wanted His disciples to understand what would happen when He returned the second time. So, in very clear, concise language, the Lord Jesus tells His disciples, and us, what will happen when He returns. Our lesson from second Peter, warns us not to be ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. We should continue to provide hope to a hopeless world, because our Lord is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. Like John the Baptist, let us not only prepare the way of the Lord’s paths, but give hope to a hopeless world of challenges. Let me just say that we need to live in the light of His coming. It is “hope” for the believer and it is “damnation” for the unbeliever. So, it is important that we have some understanding of the events that will surround His return. When Jesus comes in splendor, in strength and with salvation, He shall baptize us with the Holy Spirit.
Children of God, are we ready for His coming? If Jesus were to return today, would He find us faithfully serving Him and carrying out His will in the world? Or, would He find us skating around the edges, holding hands with the world? Would He find us inactive in the church? Would He find us doing His will or doing as we will? I challenge every believer in Cresco UMC to look at yourself and your walk with the Lord in the light of His coming. Do we want Him to come while we are living the life we are living right now – without hope?
Precious One! What can we take away from all of this? Jesus is coming, whether we are ready or not! If we aren’t ready, we can be! If we are ready, let’s be watching and working, for the Master is at the door! Enjoy the service. Stay BLESSED. AMEN!!
Announcements
Sunday, December 6th – 2nd Sunday of Advent
Fellowship (on Zoom) – 9:15-9:55 A.M. There has been a change in Zoom. We will now have church meetings, Bible Study, Youth Group and worship without interruption. The NEW Zoom meeting ID is 215 026 6631 (same as last week) and the passcode is still QW0F59 (the 0 is a zero).
Worship service – 10:00 A.M. Today is communion so have a piece of bread and wine/juice/water to take part in communion.
Wednesday, December 9
Bible study using Zoom-9:15-10:15 A.M. (meeting ID and password are the same as Sunday.)
Youth Group using Zoom – 7:00 P.M.
All items for the Care Tree are to be under the tree.
Cresco Area Blood Drive will take place at the VFW Hall on Thursday, December 10th from 1:00-6:00 P.M.
The best way to donate blood is by making an appointment. To make an appointment, please call Pat at 563-547-5839 or Red Cross at 1-800-733-2767. Because of COVID, they will only take walk-ins if there is room.
The “virtual” Children’s Christmas program “Christmas Gifts” will be on Sunday, December 20th. This has been a unique year, and we will have to adapt – even our Christmas program. I hope all will join us!
Our Christmas Eve service will be on Thursday, December 24th at 5:00 P.M. on Zoom. Volunteers are needed! If you would like to read a scripture (Genesis 3:13-19 is the longest) or sing/play piano or another instrument/play the bells, etc. for the Christmas carols, let Melodee know. The Christmas carols are “Come,
Thou Long-Expected Jesus,” “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “The First Noel,” “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly,” “Silent Night,” and “Joy to the World.”
The Northeast Iowa “Back Pack Program” along with Immanuel Lutheran Church could use our help. They are running out of peanut butter and could use more 16 oz. jars of CREAMY peanut butter. As you know these jars of peanut butter are included in the weekly backpacks that go home with students. Feel free to drop off the jars at Immanuel or there is a box in our church on the table by the south entry. If there are questions, call Cindy (Immanuel’s church secretary) at 719-237-6102 or 547-2108.
Please remember your offerings. For those of you who are not using direct deposit, please send your checks in the mail, or you can put your money in an envelope and slide it under pastor’s door or the secretary’s office door. In the past our offerings during December were very good. May that continue this year!
If you have any items for the bulletins or the newsletters, please send them to umc@outlook.com or slide your written message under the secretary’s office door.
To reach Pastor Derrick, email him at pastderrick@gmail.com or call/text him at 605-691-6020.
November 29, 2020
Welcome and Announcements
Call to worship
Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with celebration! Come before him with shouts of joy!
Know that the Lord is God – he made us; we belong to him. We are his people, the sheep of his own pasture.
Enter his gates with thanks; enter his courtyards with praise!
Thank him! Bless his name! Because the Lord is good, his loyal love lasts forever; his faithfulness lasts generation after generation.
Hymn 196 – “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” Sung by: Pat Joiner
First Advent Candle Lighting
The Loveless Family
Scripture – Matthew 1:1-6, 18-25
This is the Word of God
Thanks be to God
Sermon – Creating a Support Group for Mary through the Grandmothers of Jesus
Joys and Concerns
Closing Hymn 246 – “Joy to the World”
Benediction
Creating a Support Group for Mary through the Grandmothers of Jesus
Many people take genealogies as boring parts of scriptures. For Matthew, that of Jesus showed the purpose in the history of Israel and Jesus’ birth as “anointed one”.
Though Jesus’ had male ancestors, yet Matthew notes four women. The grandmothers of Jesus – Tamar (Matthew 1 v 3), Rahab (Matthew 1 v 4), Ruth (Matthew 1 v 5) and Bathsheba (Matthew 1 v 6) tell the story of inter – racial marriage. Each was either a non-Israelite or had an irregular story. Mary, a young virgin, was to be the fifth in the Lord’s unusual choices.
The Christmas story is one of hope for the oppressed, suppressed, and undeserving members of our community.
Tamar sold herself as a prostitute to her father-in-law Judah, to bring forth Perez and Zerah. (Genesis 38)
Rahab, who God saved from both judgement and prostitution decided to die for Israel to save her family instead of her nation. (Joshua 2)
Ruth: She was from Moab, a Gentile, and until her conversion out of the covenant of Israel. (Ruth 1)
Bathsheba the adulteress, despite all the humiliation decided to be the wife of David (2 Samuel 11). God can take unlikely people and use them in great ways.
V18 – Mary missed her youth due to God’s plan for her life unexpected and unplanned pregnancy. Our community has single mothers; do we see the stigma in being pregnant and no know whose? Today, Joseph will ask for a DNA test and Mary, for an abortion. God created a support group for Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba.
The lesson is, “No temptation has overtaken you (Mary) but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you (Mary) to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
V19 – Joseph refused peer-pressure to go on social media to divorce Mary. Are we willing to take care of somebody’s child for nine months without intimacy? We should adopt children without proper parental care?
V20 – Christians are to obey God before complaining. Joseph allowed the Holy Spirit to lead him in marrying Mary.
V21 – Mary bore Jesus to meet us in our sin, and saved us from our sins. What is our mission on earth?
V22 – God breathed all the scriptures, so let’s appropriate the promises to our lives for victory on our pilgrimage.
V23 – Immanuel means – God is always with us at home, school, office, grocery, factory and community. Consult with God anytime in crisis. He will never leave us or forsake us.
V24 – Joseph awoke from his sleep and took Mary as his wife. How many of us are ready to obey all that God commands? To obey it better than sacrifice. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Sam 15: 2-26).
V25 – Joseph kept Mary a virgin until she gave birth to a Son. We need self-control to stay away from what does not belong to us? God adopted us, so we can adopt parentless children?
We see a lot of fatherless marriages, orphans cause by AIDS and now Covid-19, single-parenting in our Cresco community and the USA as a whole. We need to extend grace and mercy while showing compassion to immigrants and strangers. This Thanksgiving and Christmas, the good news is nobody should be left out of our celebration because they are poor, marginalized, parentless, oppressed or homeless. Happy Thanksgiving!
Announcements
Sunday, November 29 – 1st Sunday of Advent
Fellowship (on Zoom): 9:15-9:55 A.M. There has been a change in Zoom. We will now have church meetings, Bible Study, Youth Group and worship services without interruption. The NEW Zoom meeting ID is 215 026 6631 (don’t need the spaces) and the password is still QW0F59 (the 0 is a zero).
Worship service (on Zoom): 10:00 A.M.
Wednesday, December 2
Bible study using Zoom-9:15-10:15 A.M. (meeting ID and password are the same as Sunday.)
Youth Group using Zoom – 7:00 P.M.
Next Sunday, December 6th, will be communion. Please have a piece of bread and wine/juice/water to partake in communion.
Cresco Area Blood Drive will take place at the VFW Hall on Thursday, December 10th from 1:00-6:00 P.M.
The best way to donate blood is by making an appointment. To make an appointment, please call Pat at 563-547-5839 or Red Cross at 1-800-733-2767. Because of COVID, they will only take walk-ins if there is room.
The Northeast Iowa “Back Pack Program” along with Immanuel Lutheran Church could use our help. They are running out of peanut butter and could use more 16 oz. jars of CREAMY peanut butter. As you know these jars of peanut butter are included in the weekly backpacks that go home with students. Feel free to drop off the jars at Immanuel or there is a box in our church on the table by the south entry. If there are questions, call Cindy (Immanuel’s church secretary) at 719-237-6102 or 547-2108.
If you have any items for the bulletins or the newsletters, please send them to umc@outlook.com or slide your written message under the secretary’s office door.
To reach Pastor Derrick, email him at pastderrick@gmail.com or call/text him at 605-691-6020.
NOvember 22, 2020
Call to worship
Let my whole being bless the Lord! Let everything inside me bless his holy name!
Let my whole being bless the Lord and never forget all his good deeds: how God forgives all my sins, heals all my sickness, saves my life from the pit, crowns me with faithful love and compassion.
God doesn’t deal with us according to our sin or repay us according to our wrongdoing,
Because as high as heaven is above the earth, that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him. As far east is from west – that’s how far God has removed our sin from us.
Like a parent feels compassion for their children – that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him.
Because God knows how we’re made, God remembers we’re just dust. AMEN!
Student Day Mission Moment – Cathy Meinecke
Hymn 553 – “And Are We Yet Alive” Sung by: Pat Joiner
Scripture-Deuteronomy 28:1-21; Isaiah 53:1-5
This is the Word of God
Thanks be to God
Sermon – (test below) Christ Has Redeemed Us From the Curse of the Law
Joys and Concerns
Closing Hymn 463 – “Lord, Speak to Me” Sung by: Pat Joiner
Benediction
Christ Has Redeemed Us From the Curse of the Law
The Lord will make us the most excellent of all people when we think of ourselves as forsaken.
We shall live wealthily. Our children and succession – all our enterprises shall have good success.
In many ways, God will bless us, if we do our duty, and not be idle. He is our God, and we are his people. For nothing in the earth is profitable but when God sends his blessings from heaven. If we cooperate with God by our relationship and devotion to God, we will always be the head and never be the tail. We will be the highest and never the lowest in the earth our God has created.
The Lord becomes our enemy if we decide to not have a relationship with Him, live in sin and not worship our creator. Just as God has blessed us, the curses or wrath of God will come over us and overtake us. Imagine living perpetually with curses, confusion, and frustration in everything we do, until at last we are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning our creator.
Can you imagine drought, storms, and hurricanes attacking to destroy our every enterprises? How will we survive the affliction of wasting diseases, fever and inflammation with scorching heat and drought, more moisture than if it were of brass, or out of the air as dust raised with wind. We shall be terror and fear, when we hear how God hath plagued us.
We shall be cursed both in our life and in our death: for the burial is a testimony of the resurrection which sign for our wickedness we shall lack.
In things most evident and clear we shall lack discretion and judgement. Can you imagine getting married to a spouse and another sleeping with her? How will you take it if your planted vineyard is being enjoyed by another?
When we shall return from our captivity a foreign nation will attack us. The Lord will exile us from our own nation to an unknown country. Why? Because we have been the enemy of our creator in thought, word and deed. The olive trees we have planted will be shaken before they are ripe.
The pests and swarms of insects destroying our products cannot be described. Under one kind the Lord contained all the vermin which destroyed the fruits of the land: and this is an evident token of God’s curse. God’s plagues are evident signs that he is offended with us. A barbarous, cruel or impudent nation will swoop on us.
Due to the destruction of our livestock and firstborn of our bullock, we will starve to death.
Do we realize that walls do not prevent COVID-19 or terrorism or put us in a safe mode? Why? Because God created us and put us in a community. Whatever is happening in countries outside our home, school, and country
affects us.
Greed and selfishness will be at an all-time high. The television and social media is full of stories very unheard of in the history of the USA.
Hunger shall so bite her, that women shall be ready to eat their children before it be delivered.
It is dangerous to live by the law and not by the Spirit. For he that offends in one law, is guilty of all.
Declaring, that God has infinite means to plague the wicked, besides them that are ordinary or written. Signifying that it is a singular gift of God to be in a place whereas we may worship God purely, and declare our faith and religion.
Remember, our forefathers were unmindful of that miracle, when the Sea gave place for them to pass through. Please shall we worship him with our family and thank Him for protecting us from COVID-19? Happy Thanksgiving!
Announcements
Sunday, November 22
-NO Sunday School
-Fellowship (on zoom) 9:15-9:55 A.M. For those of you who are not familiar with this app (short for application), you will first go to your app App Store on your computer, smart phone, or your iPad (your tablet) and download Zoom, a blue icon with a white movie camera. Then on Sunday, you will click on the ZOOM icon: 1. It will ask for the meeting ID. It is 912 625 0029 (Don’t need the spaces between
the numbers.) Then click on Join. Password is QW0F59 (the 0 is a zero) and click on Continue. OR 2. If you are new to Zoom you can double click on this link (you will still need to download Zoom) https://us04web.zoom.us/j/9126250029?pwd=MHIIU0ZqMzAwbThEOTVIWHBSWWtjUT09
-Church service: 10:00 A.M.
Tuesday, November 24
NO Ecumenical Thanksgiving service .
Wednesday, November 18
Bible study using Zoom-9:15-10:15 A.M. (meeting ID and password are the same as Sunday.)
NO Youth Group
Items for the December newsletter are due in the office.
Thursday, November 26
Happy Thanksgiving!
Advent begins Sunday, November 29th. If you and your family would like do a reading and light the Advent
candle please let Melodee know. The dates are November 29th, December 6th, December 13th, December
20th, and Christmas Eve, December 24th. Send me an email at mnbbalk@iowatelecom.net or text me at 330-
641-8711. All Advent Sundays will be done on Zoom.
Because there will be NO in person services until January 10th, there will be NO need to purchase poinsettias
for the Advent Season.
The CARE tree is at the front of the sanctuary with tags on the branches. Please take one, buy the item and return it unwrapped with the tag by Wednesday, December 9th. Wrapping paper is also appreciated.
To reach Pastor Derrick, email him at pastderrick@gmail.com or call/text at 605-691-6020.
Deuteronomy 28:1-68 (CEB)--Future blessing 28 Now if you really obey the Lord your God’s voice, by carefully keeping all his commandments that I am giving you right now, then the Lord your God will set you high above all nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and find you if you obey the Lord your God’s voice: 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. 4 Your own fertility, your soil’s produce, and your livestock’s offspring—the young of both cattle and flocks—will be blessed. 5 Your basket and your kneading bowl will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you are out and about and blessed when you come back. 7 The Lord will defeat any enemies who attack you. They will come against you from one direction but will run for their lives away from you in seven different directions. 8 The Lord will command the blessing to be with you—in your
barns and on all the work you do—and he will bless you on the land the Lord your God is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as his own, a holy nation, just as he swore to you, if you keep the Lord your God’s commandments and walk in his ways. 10 All the earth’s peoples will see that you are called by the Lord’s name, and they will be in awe of you. 11 The Lord will make good things abound for you—whether the fertility of your womb, your livestock’s offspring, or your fertile soil’s produce—on the very land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to you. 12 The Lord will open up for you his own well-stocked storehouse, the heavens, providing your land with rain at just the right time and blessing all your work. You will lend to many nations, but you won’t have any need to borrow. 13 The Lord will make you the head of things, not the tail; you will be at the top of things, not the bottom, as long as you obey the Lord your God’s commandments that I’m commanding you right now, by carefully doing them. 14 Don’t deviate even a bit from any of these words that I’m commanding you right now by following other gods and serving them. Future curses 15 But if you don’t obey the Lord your God’s voice by carefully doing all his commandments and his regulations that I am commanding you right now, all these curses will come upon you and find you. 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 17 Your
basket and kneading bowl will be cursed. 18 Your own fertility, your soil’s produce, your cattle’s young, and your flock’s offspring will be cursed. 19 You will be cursed when you are out and about and cursed when you come back. 20 The Lord will send calamity, confusion, and frustration on you no matter what work you are doing until you are wiped out and until you disappear—it’ll be quick!—because of the evil acts by which you have abandoned him.[a] 21 The Lord will make a plague stick to you until he has totally wiped you off the fertile land you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with consumption, fever, and inflammation; with scorching heat and drought;[b] with destruction and disease for your crops.[c] These things will chase you until you are dead and gone. 23 The sky over your head will be as hard as bronze; the earth under your feet will be like iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain on your land into dust. Only dirt will fall down on you from the sky until you are completely wiped out. 25 The Lord will hand you over defeated to your enemies. You will go out against them by one direction, but you will run for your life away from them in seven different directions. All the earth’s kingdoms will be horrified by you. 26 Your corpses will be food for every bird in the sky and animal on earth; no one will frighten them off. 27 The Lord will afflict you with Egyptian inflammation, hemorrhoids,[d] rash, and itch. You will be untreatable. 28 The Lord will make you go crazy, make you blind, make your mind confused. 29 You will fumble around at high noon as blind people fumble around in darkness. Your plans won’t prosper. Instead, you will be constantly oppressed and taken advantage of without any savior. 30 You might get engaged to a woman, but another man will have sex with her. You might build a house, but you won’t get to live in it. You might plant a vineyard, but you won’t enjoy it. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered while you watch, but you won’t get to eat any of it. Your donkey will be stolen right out from under you, and it won’t come back. Your flocks will be given to your enemies. No one will save you. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation while you watch; you will long for them constantly, but you won’t have the power to do anything about it. 33 The produce of your land and all your hard work will be consumed by people you don’t know. You will be nothing but oppressed and mistreated constantly. 34 The sights your eyes see will drive you insane. 35 The Lord will strike you with horrible inflammation in your knees and legs, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. You will be untreatable. 36 The Lord will send you and the king that you appoint over you far away to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have known. There you will worship other gods made of wood and stone. 37 You will become a horror, fit only for use in proverbs and in insults by all the nations where the Lord drives you. 38 You might scatter a lot of seed on the field, but you will gather almost nothing because the locusts will eat it all. 39 You might plant lots of vineyards and work hard in them, but you won’t drink any wine or harvest the grapes because worms will devour them. 40 You might have many olive trees throughout your territories, but you won’t cover yourself with their oil because your olive trees will fail. 41 You might have sons and daughters, but they won’t be yours for long because they will be taken away as prisoners. 42 Crickets will take over all your trees and your soil’s produce. 43 The immigrants who live among you will be promoted over you, higher and higher! But you will be demoted, lower and lower! 44 They will lend to you, but you will have nothing to lend to them. They will be the head of things; you will be the tail. 45 That’s how all these curses will come over you, pursuing you, reaching you until you are completely wiped out, because you didn’t obey the Lord your God’s voice by keeping his commandments and his regulations that he gave you. 46 These things will be a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever. 47 Because you didn’t serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly above all else,
[e] 48 you will serve your enemies—the ones the Lord will send against you—during famine, drought, nakedness, and total deprivation. God will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has wiped you out. 49 The Lord will bring a
distant nation—one from the far ends of the earth—against you as fast as the eagle flies: a nation that speaks a language you can’t understand, 50 a stern nation that doesn’t go easy on the very old or show pity to the very young. 51 That nation will devour your livestock’s offspring and your soil’s produce until you yourselves are
destroyed because you will have no grain, wine, or oil left—nor any young from your cattle or offspring from your flocks—that is, until that nation annihilates you. 52 That nation will attack you in all your cities until your high, reinforced walls that you thought were so safe fall down across your entire countryside. That nation will attack you in all your cities throughout the land the Lord your God has given you. 53 You will eat the offspring of your own womb—the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God gave you—because of the desperate and dire circumstances that your enemy has brought on you. 54 Even the most gentle and refined man among you will scowl at his brother or his own dear wife, or the last of his surviving children. 55 He won’t want to give them any of his children’s flesh that he will be eating because he has no other food due to the desperate and dire circumstances that your enemy has brought on you in all your cities. 56 Even the most gentle and refined woman among you, who is so refined and gentle she wouldn’t stomp her foot on the ground, will scowl at her own dear husband, her son, or her daughter— 57 not wanting to give them any of the afterbirth she
pushed out or the babies she bore, because she will be eating them secretly while starving due to the desperate and dire circumstances that your enemy will bring on you in your cities. 58 If you don’t carefully keep all the words of this Instruction that are written in this scroll, by fearing the awesome and glorious name of the
Lord your God— 59 the Lord will overwhelm you and your descendants with severe and chronic afflictions, and with terrible and untreatable sicknesses. 60 He’ll put on you all the Egyptian diseases about which you were so afraid; they will stick to you! 61 What’s more, the Lord will bring on you all the other diseases and plagues that aren’t written in this Instruction scroll until you are completely wiped out. 62 Once as countless as the stars in the night sky, only a few of you will be left alive—all because you didn’t obey the Lord your God’s voice. 63 And just
as before, the Lord enjoyed doing good things for you and increasing your numbers, now the Lord will enjoy annihilating and destroying you. You will be torn off the very fertile land you are entering to possess. 64 The Lord will scatter you among every nation, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known—gods of wood and stone. 65 Among those nations you will have no rest and no place to call your own.[f] There the Lord will give you an agitated mind, failing eyes, and a depressed
spirit. 66 Your life will seem to dangle before your very eyes. You will be afraid night and day. You won’t be able to count on surviving for long. 67 In the morning you will say: “I wish it was nighttime,” but at nighttime you will say, “I wish it was morning”—on account of your tortured mind, which will be terrified, and because of the horrible sights that your eyes will see. 68 Finally, the Lord will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the route I promised you would never see again. There you will try to sell yourselves as slaves—both male and female—but no one will want to buy you.
United Methodist Churches of Cresco and Zion -Sunday November 15th, 2020
Prelude
Welcome and announcements
Call to worship
P-Fools by reason of their transgression, and because of their iniquities are afflicted.
A-Their soul abhors all meat, and they are brought to death's door.
P-Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and God delivers them from their distress.
A-God sends his word and heals them, and delivers them from their graves.
P-Let them therefore confess before the Lord his loving kindness, and his wonderful works before the sons of men,
A-Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and God brings them out of their distress.
Hymn 266-Heal us Emmanuel
hear our prayer
Children's time-A new skin
for Naaman
Scripture-Genesis 3:1-17; Isaiah 53:1-5; 1 Peter 2:24
Sermon- A SAD DAY
Genesis 3 v.1- As Satan can change himself into an Angel of light, so did he abuse the wisdom of the serpent to deceive man. The great deceiver clothed himself as a serpent, one of God’s good creatures. He created a falsehood and portrayed rebellion as clever, but essentially innocent self-interest. Did God really say…? God suffered Satan to make the serpent his instrument and to speak in him.
v.2-Eve had been told by Adam,
so not really sure of God’s command.
v.3-By doubting God’s
commandment Eve yielded to Satan.
v.4-This is Satan’s main
trick, to cause us not to fear God’s threatenings. When we sin, we die
spiritually (separated from God) and bear the consequence till physical death
comes in the absence of repentance.
v.5-As though he should say,
God does not forbid you to eat of the fruit. God knows that if you should eat
the fruit, you should be like to him.
v.6-Not so much to please his
wife, as moved by ambition at her persuasion. Paul says that it was not Adam
who was tempted but Eve.
v.7- They began to feel
their misery, but they sought not to God for remedy. No longer innocent like
children, they had a new awareness of themselves and each of them in their
nakedness and shame, they made coverings. Their own futile attempt to
hide their shame, which only God could cover. God showed love by killing a
sheep to make better clothes for them.
v.8-God comes to visit Adam
and Eve. God never leaves us alone. He is always close to us. The sinful
conscience flees from God’s presence.
v.10-Adam’s hypocrisy appears
in that he hid the cause of his nakedness, which was the transgression of God’s
commandment.
v.12-Adam’s wickedness and
lack of true repentance appears in this, that he blames God with his fault,
because he had given him a wife.
v.13-Instead of Eve confessing
her sin, she increases it by accusing the serpent.
V.14-God asked the reason of
Adam and his wife, because God would bring them to repentance, but he asks not
the serpent, because God would show the serpent no mercy. As a vile and
contemptible beast, Isa. 65:25.
v.15-There was enmity between
the seed of God and that of Satan. God specifically means Satan (would be
crushed), by whose motion and craft the serpent deceived the woman. That is,
the power of sin and death. Satan shall sting Christ and his members, but not
overcome them. The offspring of the woman would eventually crush the serpent’s
head, a promise fulfilled in Christ’s victory over Satan-a victory in which all
believers will share (Rom.16:20)
v.16-The Lord comforts Adam by
the promise of the blessed seed, and also punishes the body for the sin which
the soul should have been punished for; that the spirit having conceived hope
of forgiveness, might live by faith.
v.17-The transgression of
God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were
subject to the curse.
In Isaiah 53:1-5, we see that
Jesus died to take away our sickness and diseases caused by the curse in
Genesis 3. The good news about salvation and healing need to be believed.
Jesus had nothing of the bearing of royalty. Jesus took our physical and mental
pain to the cross. Diseases often result from sinful living and ultimately the
consequences of original (Adamic) sin. The sins of the world weighed heavily
upon Jesus.
The Apostle Peter writes
about the redemptive work of Jesus Christ our great physician, which has
significance far beyond that of setting an example. Jesus Christ, like the
sacrificial lamb of the old testament, died for our sins, the innocent for the
guilty. As a result of Christ’s death on the cross, we have been healed. It is
another way of asserting that Christ’s death brings salvation and healing-the
double cure- to those who trust in Him. Amen
Joys and concerns
Offering
Closing hymn 657-This is the day
Benediction
Postlude`
Announcements
v Sunday,
November 15
-NO Sunday School
-There will be no in-person church November 15th
and 22nd as our COVID numbers are going up. However, the church services will be on Zoom
at 10:00 A.M. For those of you who
are not familiar with this app (short for application), the first thing you
will do is go to your App Store on your computer, smart phone, or iPad (your
tablet) and download Zoom, a blue icon with a white movie camera. (On my iPhone is called Zoom Cloud
Meetings.) Then on Sunday you will click
on the ZOOM icon:
1. It will
ask for the Meeting ID. It is 912 625
0029 (Don’t need the spaces between the numbers.) Then click on Join. Password is QW0F59 (the 0 is a zero) and
click on Continue. OR
2.
If you are new to Zoom you can double click on this link (you still will
need to download Zoom)
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/9126250029?pwd=MHIIU0ZqMzAwbThEOTVIWHBSWWtjUT09
(A practice will take place on Sunday at 9:30 A.M.)
-The Operation Christmas Child boxes are due today
by 9:45 A.M. Please put them outside the Pastor’s office so Pastor can bless
them. Remember to include the $9 for
each box for shipping.
v Monday,
November 16
Staci Wicks and her family will pick up the
Operation Christmas boxes to take to the drop-off location.
v Tuesday,
November 17
There will be NO Days for Girls.
v Wednesday,
November 18
Bible study using Zoom-9:15-10:15 A.M. (meeting ID and password are the same as
Sunday.)
Youth Group using Zoom-7:00-8:00 P.M.
v Please keep Pastor Derrick and family in your
prayers as his mother died today (Friday).
v There will be NO in-person Thanksgiving
Ecumenical service on November 24th.
It will be preached and posted on Facebook live.
v If you are able to drive Gwen Peter to Rochester for
a radiation treatment between November 30th and December 18th, please let
Melodee know by Tuesday.
v Advent begins Sunday, November 29th. If you and your family would like do a reading
and light the Advent candle please let Melodee know. The dates are November 29th,
December 6th, December 13th, December 20th,
and Christmas Eve, December 24th.
Send me an email at mnbbalk@iowatelecom.net or
text me at 330-641-8711. If we are not
in the church building for services, it still can be done on Zoom!
v To reach Pastor Derrick, email him at pastderrick@gmail.com or call/text at 605-691-6020.
United Methodist Churches of Cresco and Zion
Sunday November 1, 2020
Prelude
Welcome and announcements
Call to worship (Stand if you are able)
I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor soul cried, and was heard by the LORD, and was saved from every trouble.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.
O fear the LORD, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want.
The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
*Hymn 384 – “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (remain standing)
Children's Message Marleen Burgess: “The Good Neighbor”
Scripture – Revelation 7:9-17a
This is the Word of God
Thanks be to God
Sermon – As Living Saints, Who Are the Saints We Remember from Cresco and Zion UMC
Communion
Joys and Concerns
Offering
Closing Hymn 369 – “Blessed Assurance” (stand if you are able)
Benediction
Postlude
As Living Saints, Who Are the Saints We Remember from Cresco and Zion UMC
Today is All Saints’ Day. John Wesley considered it as one of the greatest celebrations in the life of the church. “How superstitious are they who scruple giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of his saints!” said Wesley in 1756. Year after year he commented on the celebration of the saints. It was a festival he dearly loved. We, too, love the remembrance of the saints of the church. Many congregations celebrate traditions in diverse ways. But it seems especially pertinent to observe All Saints this year. It is possible that because of the pandemic and the safety regulations against gathering in large groups, that there have been Cresco First and Zion UMC members like Robert Bronner, Mark Anderson, and Gentry Leeps who have died, and there was no opportunity to celebrate their lives in the body of the church.
If that is the case, this All Saints’ Day can be an opportunity for the community to grieve together and to reclaim the hope of the Resurrection, even as you acknowledge the legacy that remains from the blessed saints of the church. Our Service of Resurrection and Death is designed to be a service of celebration and hope, even while it helps us acknowledge the deep grief we feel at the loss of the loved one from our sight. Let us use this opportunity as a way of giving a voice to our congregations’ need to acknowledge our loss.
All Saints’ Sunday causes me to reflect on the indefatigable saints that we have lost over the previous years. Neither our grandparents and parents nor those of us alive would ever like to call ourselves saints, but throughout the Holy Scriptures (Acts, Jude, Romans, Hebrews, etc.) many authors claim the title for those
who truly followed Christ in their lives.
On All Saints’ Sunday, First John chapter 3 verses 1-3 exhorts us to consider today, “Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the children of God; and that is what we are.” (1 John 3:1) If we are all children of God, we are all saints who live no longer after the flesh, but by the Spirit of God. Thus, where is the chaos, confusion and violence coming from as we prepare for this all-important national election in our country?
Today, we shall all remember our saints in Cresco First and Zion UMC! From this perspective, as I reflect on the saints in my life, I remember those who acted as pioneers and opened the way for me and my faith. While I know that they had enemies because they loved the Lord, yet when I enter any church building, I take the time to look at those names that are attached to windows, pews and other objects. I look at the first page of the hymnal to see who gave the hymnal to the church. I always try to find out from my leaders what connection they have with the departed saints.
One day when I was a bit bored, I turned the offering plate over and discovered that the plates we use every Sunday had been given to the church by one of the families that was active in the church. Those plates are still being used and continue to be a witness every Sunday.
When I served at Akron, Archer and Primghar UM churches, I took the time to wander around these-free standing country churches. Somewhere in the sanctuary were pictures of the founders of these churches. Their descendants are still part of these vital congregations.
Year in, year out, we remember these saints who made it possible for the church to be in existence. These saints have opened the way for us to follow-a window from the “old” church, pictures, documents, memorabilia-you name it. These are the footprints of the saints that came before us.
Announcements:
Wednesday, November 4th
Bible Study – 9:15 – 10:15 A.M.
Youth Group – 7:00 P.M. (Zoom-Meeting ID: 912 625 0029 & Password-QWOF59)
Saturday, November 7th
Ingathering at Cedar Falls United Methodist Church
The updated Conference Re-Entry Plan recommends that we abstain from congregational singing.
(An alternative is to have a soloist.) The pianist/organist will play the hymns as we stand and follow the words on the screen as Julie Carter sings the words.
If you need toothbrushes for your Operation Christmas Child box, Pat Joiner has many!
On Tuesday, November 10th the PPRC Committee will meet in the East Room at 6:30 P.M.
Operation Christmas Child boxes are due in church on Sunday, November 15th for Pastor Derrick to pray for and bless.
On Monday November 16th, Staci Wicks and family will pick up the Operation Christmas Child boxes and take them to the drop-off location.
Gwen Peter is in need of drivers to take her to Rochester for radiation. There is a signup sheet at the back of the sanctuary.
At the back of the sanctuary is also a signup sheet with dates for anyone who would like to lead the congregation with reading the announcements, Call to Worship, and the scripture.
The basket for your Spiritual Gifts survey is at the back of the sanctuary
If you have any items for the bulletin or the newsletters, please send them to umc@outlook.com or slide your written message under the secretary office door.
To reach Pastor Derrick, email him at pastderrick@gmail.com or call/text at 605-691-6020
