In our Gospel reading from yesterday (Luke 10:38-42) about two sisters, Jesus helped us to see that we can be disciples in both learning and service. God desires for us to be both listeners and doers of the Word. How will you make time to listen to God this week? How will you serve God and God's creation this week? Here is a prayer for you to pray this week from "Seasons of the Spirit". God of Wisdom,
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If you were to ask any gardener, they’d tell you that good soil seldom just happens. It is the result of a gardener’s hard work—weeds are meticulously pulled by hand, rocks and stones are painstakingly picked out, and hard dirt is tilled to create easy passageway for a root system. Good soil doesn’t make itself good; it is lovingly prepared by its gardener. So how does God do this when the Seed of Love, whose name is Jesus, is planted in us? One of God’s favorite gardening techniques is telling parables— simple stories with a twist. Parables spark our curiosity, surprise us, and turn our hearts toward Jesus. So let us listen to the story about the Sower and the Seeds and watch the gardening God at work!* Mark 4:1-9 Pastor Suzanne‘s VBS Version (inspired by and largely based on the Easy-Read-Version) Across the church, the call to care for creation has been growing. While some churches have started green teams, planted community gardens and led community efforts to go green, others are struggling to know where to begin. And that’s where our VBS came in. This year, instead of a traditional VBS, we decided to try out ReNew, an environmentally-focused VBS program with the mission to inspire kids and adults to grow in faith, have fun, and change the world as they practice stewardship of creation! And yes, the VBS was for kids – but today all of you are part of this VBS and our hope is that you will be inspired, too. God’s creation is a gift we all share. We all live in it together and depend on it together. Caring for creation—together—is both a good work and collective act of faith. The Bible is filled with stories and teachings that reveal our dependence on God through the bounty of the earth. In fact, you could hardly tell the story of the chosen people or hear one of Jesus’ parables without the water, trees, wilderness, animals, and weather that form their backdrop. Paul tells the church at Corinth that one died for all and therefore all died. Since Christ died for all, we should no longer live for ourselves, but instead live for Christ. Paul discusses our earthly and heavenly necessities and concludes the brief passage by telling us that “if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come.” And, there is an urgency here and now to find our way toward the new creation, to life in a new and different way, to live in harmony with creation. We needs this earth. Our children and our children’s children, and all generations to come need it. Now is time for heightened awareness and change. Our environmental stewardship is part of our being with Christ and being part of the new order. When we create piles of waste we are not being good stewards. Our waste pollutes water and the land and, as our children learned, it kills animals, fish and birds. Recycling is one of the many ways we can show care for the environment. Recycling is also part of nature and an important part of the concept of sustainability. Recycling programs mimic the recycling that goes on in nature, where nothing is wasted and everything, even things that die, serve a useful purpose. In addition to recycling, people can install fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent ones in order to consume less electricity and save money. Grocery and department stores now encourage the use of reusable shopping bags in order to lessen the use and waste of plastic bags. Parking cars in the shade reduces fuel evaporation, and carpooling decreases the amount of fuel consumption. There are numerous steps we can take daily to protect the world. You will need to discern the right ones for you – and right does not necessarily mean convenient. Plastic is one of the most convenient but also damaging things that we use. It never fully breaks down but leaves behind tiny particles, eaten by fish, turtles, and other creatures, thinking that it is food. Our oceans are filled with straws, bottles, and more. Plastic straws and plastic bottles are hard on the environment and easy to replace – and so it is my hope that we will all reconsider the things made of plastic that we can replace with other items or stop using altogether. That includes body wash, liquid soap, and liquid detergents. So – let today be a start, a beginning – to a new, sustainable way of living. So – let us pray together to our God of renewal - that our hearts and minds may be renewed and that our lives will show our love for all of God’s creation by the way we use, reduce, recycle, and renew things. *Text of today's message is largely based on and adaptated from ReNew VBS by Sparkhouse If you would like to see pictures from our VBS this week, you can see them here https://www.facebook.com/pg/TrinityUCCCollegeville/photos/?tab=album&album_id=495024984658886
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Current Worship BulletinCopyright & Recording/Streaming NoticeMusic used in worship services that is not in public domain has been copied, recorded, podcasted, and/or streamed using the following licenses:
ONE LICENSE A-729543 CCLI Copyright License 20805891 CCLI Streaming License 20805884 ONLINE WORSHIPWorship is normally live streamed at https://www.facebook.com/TrinityUCCCollegeville
Worship BulletinAuthorPastor Suzanne Schwarz-Green is the pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, UCC, in Collegeville, PA. Archives
October 2022
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