Service Preview for January 16th

Morning Service Schedule

"The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" - John 1:29

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"[F]or in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind--just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you--so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Corinthians 1:5-7

Our lessons for this Sunday all have something to tell us about witnessing. Our lessons have a message for us about our role in telling others about what our relationship with Jesus has done for us. In our reading from John, we will learn more John the Baptist, and his role as the first witness to Jesus Christ. In our reading from First Corinthians, we will hear an introduction to Paul's letter in which we explains how much we have been given as followers of Christ. The gifts needed to witness and be the church have already been given to us. The readings for this Sunday are:

• Isaiah 49:1-7
• 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
• John 1:29-42

During our morning worship services, we will also be taking the opportunity to recognize our organists and music directors that play a crucial role in the music ministries of our church. We will pray for them and bless them in their ministries this year.

January 16th is also one of six special offerings during the year through the United Methodist Church. This Sunday is Human Relations Day. From the United Methodist Church website:

Human Relations Day is one of the opportunities for United Methodist Churches to celebrate our connectional work. This day of social action and raising awareness aims to heal social ills at the national level. It supports Community Developers, United Methodist Voluntary Service (UMVS), and theYouth Offender Rehabilitation Program. The first two programs are administered through the General Board of Global Ministries.

In The United Methodist Church calendar, Human Relations Day happens the Sunday immediately following the observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. The juxtaposition of these two very special days is not a coincidence. The United Methodist Book of Discipline describes the purpose of Human Relations Day as a call to "the Church to recognize the right of all God's children in realizing their potential as human beings in relationship with each other."

There will be envelopes available in your bulletin if you would like to make a donation.

Evening Service

Our evening service at Oakfield UMC will be starting at 6:00PM. The focus of our service will be on the question: Why do bad things happen to good people? This is the first is series of services that will address difficult questions for Christians. Services after this one will revolve around questions submitted by members of the congregation As always, Communion will be taken at these evening services. We hope to see you there!

January 9 - Baptism of the Lord Sunday

"But Jesus answered him, 'Let it be so for now. For in this way we shall do all that God requires.' So John agreed." - Matthew 3:15 (Good News)

You can certainly understand John the Baptist's concern when Jesus approached him to be baptized. Certainly it was Jesus that should be doing the baptizing! It makes you wonder why Jesus needed to be baptized at all. Our baptism has many meanings: (1) It means we become part of the family of God, (2) It means we begin a new Christian life, (3) It offers a time of repentance and forgiveness, (4) It sets us apart a new person in Christ. Even if we don't remember our baptism, it marked a beginning in our journey of faith. Our baptism is important.

Jesus' baptism was even more important. Jesus baptism was the beginning of his ministry. His baptism began his journey to teach us all that was required to be in relationship with God. Come, and join us in worship as music, scripture and prayer all focus on the importance of baptism. During our morning worship services, we will renew our baptismal vows, as well as take Holy Communion together.

The scripture readings for this Sunday are:

• Isaiah 42:1-9
• Acts 10:34-43
• Matthew 3:13-17

Evening Worship

For those looking to attend this Sunday's worship service at our new starting time of 6:00PM, you will have to wait one more week. The NFL schedulers decided to put the Green Bay Packers playoff game right during our worship service. I have a feeling attendance will be low, and even your pastor is excited for Packers post-season play. Services will resume on the 16th...unless the schedulers decide to create a conflict again ;-)...

Christmas Eve Worship - First Sunday after Christmas Worship

I realize that I have been sending E-mails over the last few weeks about our Christmas Eve services. I promise that this will be the last time. :-) I am just excited that there will be three unique opportunities to celebrate Christmas. I hope that you might be able to make one, or more, of these opportunities! Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve (December 24th) Worship Schedule

• 6:00PM at Oakfield UMC - Join us for worship as we sing traditional Christmas hymns, as we hear the Christmas story, as we reflect on the meaning of Jesus' birth and as we renew ourselves for 2011. Our worship service will also include a service of Holy Communion with a liturgy that is unique to our celebration of Christmas. We will also be lighting candles and singing Silent Night together .
• 7:30PM at Tabor UMC - Our worship services will include the singing of Christmas hymns and a hearing of the Christmas story. It will also be exciting to watch and listen to the children of Tabor UMC perform The Surprising Christmas Pageant. Watch a large cast and various soloist retell the story of Jesus' birth. There is also an opportunity to watch the preschooler's Candy Cane Message.
• 10:00PM at Oakfield UMC - The sanctuary will be lit only by candlelight for this subdued service of lessons and carols. Hear the story of the birth of Christ beginning from Genesis. There will be nine readings of the Bible that weave the story of Jesus together, and we will sing and listen to our favorite Christmas hymns in between. The service will end with a congregational singing of Silent Night.

First Sunday after Christmas (December 26th) Worship Schedule
"I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, because of all that the Lord has done for us, and the great favor of the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love." - Isaiah 63:7

With the original performance date snowed out on December 12th, this Sunday the Tabor Choir will be performing their yearly Christmas Choir Concert at both morning worship services. Let us continue our celebration of the Christmas season!

The scripture readings for this Sunday are:

• Isaiah 63:7-9
• Psalm 148
• Hebrews 2:10-18
• Matthew 2:13-23
  

*** Evening worship services at Oakfield will resume on January 9. Beginning on this date, they will begin at 6:00PM. ***

Service Schedule for December 19th

Barring another winter blizzard this coming weekend, I am hopeful that we might be able to gather together in worship this Sunday. I hope and pray that everyone was able to stay safe during the snow storm. I also hope word got around that our worship services and programs for that day were cancelled. The Tabor Choir Christmas Program will be rescheduled for worship on December 26th.

Morning Worship Services

For the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we will be lighting the candle of Christ, the Prince of Peace. Our hymns, prayers and Bible reading will also point to the peace that we find in Jesus Christ...Emmanuel ("God is with us"). Our Gospel lesson this morning recounts the story of Jesus' birth, with a focus on Joseph. Joseph is faced with difficult decisions. He has to think about adherence to the Law, yet also decide what to do when God tells him to do something that would seem to violate the Law. Jesus in his ministry often told folks that even though they remember laws and traditions being one way, Jesus was telling them that it would be different. Jesus tells us to love God and love one another. Jesus says he is the fulfillment of the Law. What does than mean for us today? How does this relate to Jesus and the Prince of Peace?

At our Oakfield service, the children of the Sunday School program will be performing "Little Drummer Boy."

Scripture Readings for Sunday:

• Isaiah 7:10-16
• Romans 1:1-7
• Matthew 1:18-25

Evening Worship Services

In our final evening service of 2010, we will be spending time looking at Jesus, the Prince of Peace. We, too, will focus on the reading from Matthew 1:18-25. We will also share Communion together.

Christmas Eve Service Review

As we anticipate the celebration of the birth of Jesus, I wanted to remind everyone of our service schedule for Christmas Eve:

• 6:00PM @ Oakfield UMC: Worship Service with Communion
• 7:30PM @ Tabor UMC: Worship Service with the Children's Christmas Pagaent
• 10:00PM @ Oakfield UMC: A Christmas Eve Service of Lessons and Carols - Members of both congregations are encouraged to attend this service. The entire service will be done by candle light, and we will listen to the story of Jesus while singing our favorite Christmas carols. I hope you can join us for this new venture. Please spread the word in the community!

December 12th - Third Sunday in Advent

"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be on their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." - Isaiah 35:10

Morning Worship Services

Our theme for Sunday's worship service will be joy. At both Tabor and Oakfield, the Tabor Vocal Choir will be performing their Christmas Program during the worship service. This performance will include two choir hymns, vocal solos, congregational singing and narration between the various numbers. Outside of the program, we will also sing several familiar Christmas and Advent hymns. It is my hope that during our worship service this morning we can remember the joy that we have in and with Jesus Christ.

Evening Worship Service

Our Sunday evening worship service at Oakfield at 7:00PM we will also focus on the joy that we have in Jesus Christ. We will have our regular scripture study and our time of Holy Communion. We will also take some time during the service to recognize Worldwide Candle Lighting, a service of remembrance through the organization Compassionate friends. We will participate in the lighting of candles during our service to recognize children who have died in the last year. This service is open to anyone from either church community.

Christmas Eve Service Reminder

As we anticipate the celebration of the birth of Jesus, I wanted to remind everyone of our service schedule for Christmas Eve:

• 6:00PM @ Oakfield UMC: Worship Service with Communion
• 7:30PM @ Tabor UMC: Worship Service with the Children's Christmas Pagaent
• 10:00PM @ Oakfield UMC: A Christmas Eve Service of Lessons and Carols - Members of both congregations are encouraged to attend this service. The entire service will be done by candle light, and we will listen to the story of Jesus while singing our favorite Christmas carols. I hope you can join us for this new venture. Please spread the word in the community!

*** Note to readers! After this week, the frequency of posts on this blog will greatly decrease. In the past, I have made an attempt to post 3-4 times a week. I will probably only be posting the service previews on here each Thursday with a few posts here and there. I will be putting more focus on keeping our website up to date. ***

December 5th - Second Sunday in Advent

"A voice cries out: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'" - Isaiah 40:3

"John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."- Mark 1:4

This Sunday is the second Sunday of Advent. This is the Sunday that we think about "Christ, our Way" or "Christ, the Way." Our reading from Mark tells the story of John the Baptist, whose story is also shared in our other three Gospels. John was preparing people for the coming of Christ. How was he preparing them?

In our reading from Romans for this Sunday, Paul sends a message about how Christ's message and Christ's ministry are a gift for everyone. He asks the people to live in harmony with one another. What does that mean for us today as we think about spreading "the way" to others?

I will be exploring these questions during our morning services at Oakfield and Tabor. I hope that you might be able to join us as we continue our spiritual preparations for Christmas. We will also be celebrating Holy Communion during our worship services as well.

Our scripture readings for this Sunday, if you would like to look them over in advance of our service, are:

• Isaiah 11:1-10
• Romans 15:4-13
• Matthew 3:1-12

Evening Worship Service

At 7:00PM this Sunday, we will have our first of three December worship services in preparation for Christmas. Our December 5th service will focus on Christ, our Hope. We will look at Isaiah 2:1-5 and Romans 13:11-14. We will also share Communion with one another.

Growth Revisited

Back on October 13, I made mention that just because a church has more members, that does not necessarily mean that it is a vital church. This article provides some perspective on that idea.

As a pastor, I think there is a pressure from administrators above us, and the pastors around us, that signs that we have a vital church are vested in the numbers. Bigger is better. More members means the church is better.

The time that I have spent with the Oakfield Visioning Team and the time that we have spent reading Vital Signs has definitely helped me realize that a bigger (membership) church does not always mean a better church.

I do appreciate when we bring in new members to our churches. But, it is also important that those new members, along with our current members, are active in the church and the community. Who wants a bunch of members that aren't doing anything? A vital church can be 20 members, if those twenty members are active in ministry.

I encourage you to read the article. I think you will find it interesting and it may change your viewpoint on congregational "growth".