t s o P h s i r a P The Spring 2011
Volume 1; Issue 4
To my beloved Church Family,
You can reach Pastor Chad at:
It was the new year when I asked you to pray for the church and our lives together in 2011. I laid out a vision for us to strengthen 3 things, individually and corporately.
(570) 356-7022 ccarter@susumc.org www.kulpmtzion.org FB search “Catawissa Parish”
1.our temples: our bodies and our buildings 2.our families: our community and our homes 3.our faith: through bible study and prayer
On Mondays & Tuesdays, Chad is at seminary in Washington DC. If you have an emergency, please call Rev. Ed Minnich at (570) 799-5636.
This vision for the church is woven throughout this edition of the Parish Post. Please, take time to read and reflect on the news and articles. I am excited about the opportunities that are available to our community in the coming months.
In order to strengthen our families this spring and summer we are going to offer two special bible studies. The first is a marriage seminar that will be held Wednesday nights in May and June. It is going to be a challenge for the churches to provide childcare and a meal for 6 weeks in a row, but I know with God’s grace we can offer our community this special gift. The second study is for the men in our families. We are going to get together this summer to read and discuss the book Desiring God by John Piper. This book has made a profound impact on my life and walk with God. If our families are going to be strengthened, men, we are going to have to step up and lead them. Recently several members from both churches attended an seminar on hospitality in the church. After the seminar, we met at the parsonage to discuss what we heard, and what it might mean for Kulp and Mt. Zion. Out of our work that day, both churches recognized the importance of a “visitor” friendly church—be on the lookout for changes at our entrances and information areas. Also, we will start to make use of Pew Hosts, men and woman who are responsible to extend hospitality everyone in their section. I am very excited about what God is doing in our valley. Mt. Zion and Kulp are alive, growing and active in the community. I am very grateful that God has allowed our family to be part of your family. BUT, we must remember the urgency that the gospel requires. Jesus’ last words to his disciples in Matthew 28 were, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..” Jesus told us to “Go”. We cannot wait until the community comes to us, we must “Go” to it. How can you help the church accomplish its mission? Has God called you to lead a bible study at home? Who are you praying God will bring into the kingdom? Who can we show the love of Christ, and how might that look? Yours in Christ,
Please Help SERVE Our Lord GREETERS STILL NEEDED
PEW HOSTS NEEDED
Mt. Zion is looking for volunteers to serve during the 11AM wor‐ ship service. We are in need of individuals to welcome visitors and regular attendees alike. There is a sign up sheet on the table outside of the sanctuary.
We are looking for pew hosts to help make Kulp and Mt. Zion hos‐ pitable churches. A pew host will be responsible for certain pews in the sanctuary. They will be asked to greet EVERY person in their section and be on the look‐
Guatemala Team Fundraiser St. Paul's UCC, Numidia ('red church') It will be a buffet‐style roast beef dinner on Saturday, March 26th from 4:30 to 7PM at a cost of $10/person. This is the ministry that Cale and Deanna Beaver are a part of. Come out to support them and their passion for witnessing to Christ is Guatemala.
The Garden of Gethsemane Matthew 26:36–46
Nevertheless, Calvin also comments, Christ’s humanity is different than ours in that His grief and weakness is never “Going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, mixed with sin. Jesus is not questioning His Father’s wis‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nev- dom when He asks the cup (that is, God’s wrath; see Jer. 25:15; Zech. 12:2) to pass from Him (Matt. 26:39, 42, 44). ertheless, not as I will, but as you will’” (v. 39). Instead, while bowing to the Almighty’s will, He admits honFollowing His prediction of His disciples’ falling away (Matt. estly His dread of what is to come upon Him — divine afflic26:30–35), Jesus comes with them to a “place called Geth- tion for the sins of His people. As Calvin says, Jesus trembles in Gethsemane “because he [has] before his eyes the semane” (v. 36). They enter a garden there (John 18:1), dreadful tribunal of God, and the Judge himself armed with probably a grove of olive trees since gethsemane means “oil press.” Christ separates Himself from most of His disci- inconceivable vengeance; and because our sins, the load of ples, going off to pray with the three men who are closest to which [is] laid upon him, [presses] him down with their enormous weight.” Our prayers, Jesus shows us, may honestly him — Peter, James, and John (Matt. 26:37; see 10:2; 17:1). Our Lord is about to enter His most difficult trial and, confess the anguish we may feel when faced with the prospect of suffering for the Lord’s name as long as we submit like all people, desires the support of good friends in to God’s will, no matter the pain that may come about. His ordeal. Jesus, of course, is the incarnate, second person of the Trinity. Still, He is also truly human and His humanness is shown through His prayer in Gethsemane. Knowing what is ahead, our Savior begins to experience an anguish so profound that it feels like it might kill Him (Matt. 26:38). This tells us that to feel sorrow is not necessarily wrong, for Jesus grieves and is yet without sin (1 Peter 2:22). His grief, in fact, helps prove the fact that God became incarnate. John Calvin writes, “Those who imagine that the Son of God was exempt from human passions do not truly and sincerely acknowledge him to be a man.”
Prayer is not on the radar of Jesus’ three friends in Gethsemane. They prefer to sleep, so unprepared are they for what is to come (Matt. 26:40, 43, 45). From Ligonier Ministries, the teaching fellowship of R.C. Sproul. All rights reserved. Website: www.ligonier.org | Phone: 1-800-435-4343
Catawissa Food for Friends
A Real VICTORY Garden!
April 28th
It is getting to be that time of year!
4:30-6:15PM
What do you do with all of those tomatoes? Or cucumbers? Do you have produce that goes to waste? Why not give them to the food bank?
Kulp & Mt. Zion are signed up to help with the food bank for April. A sign up sheet will be posted the first Sunday in April. We will be collecting food the month of April for the food bank. Please consider picking up some extra groceries next time you are at the store. Particular needs are: Peanut Butter Spaghetti Sauce & Noodles Cereal Canned Vegetables Diapers
The Israelites were commanded by their law to be merciful to the poor. The corners of fields were not to be reaped, and the sheaf accidentally left behind was not to be taken away, according to the law of Moses (Leviticus 19:9, 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:21). They were to be left for the poor to glean. Similar laws were given regarding vineyards and olive yards. Basing her words on this law, Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother-in-law Naomi: “Let me go to the fields and pick up (glean, KJV) the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor” (Ruth 2:2).
Does the Bible Tell Us When Jesus Will Return? Certainly not specifically. Many people have attempted, by a careful (and sometimes a not so careful) examination of the prophetic passages of Scripture to establish a timetable. Some have even predicted months, days and years— none of which, up to this point, have been correct.
We remember that on the Mount of Olives Jesus told his disciples “There is a day that even the Son did not know and an hour the day and the hour of his rethat God has turn; that is in the Father’s hands. There is a day and an ordained, and hour that God has ordained, and he just does not reveal it prehe just does cisely. Yet at the same time Jenot reveal it sus was zealous, as were Paul and the other writers in the New precisely” Testament, to instruct the church of certain things they ought to be paying attention to—signs of the times, things that would have to happen before they could expect the return of Jesus.
When Martin Luther was going through the tremendous upheaval and agitation in Europe during the Protestant Reformation, he thought that the great distress coming upon the church in the sixteenth century was a clear sign of Of course, there’s a great dispute as to what those things the eminent return of Jesus. Luther looked for it in is lifeare and if any of them have taken place. Some people betime, and he was wrong by at least five centuries. lieve that all such signs have already taken place. I don’t know that this is true, but I think we have every reason to In the middle of the eighteenth century, before the Declara- be optimistic that the day is drawing very close. I think tion of Independence was signed but more than one hunmany of the things that Jesus speaks of (and that are mendred years after the Pilgrims had settled this country, Jona- tioned in other Scriptures as well) as harbingers or signs of than Edwards was much inclined to think that the return of the times have already taken place or are taking place Christ was about to happen. Edwards was wrong. I mennow. There has been a tremendous renewal of interest in tion these two men because there aren’t too many men the return of Christ. I’m very hopeful that it will be soon, whose theological expertise I respect more than I do Luthough I can conceive of its being another two or three ther’s and Edwards’s. To see that both of them were wrong thousand years. makes me very careful about giving precise predictions about the day and the hour of Christ’s return.
Birthdays (if we missed anyone, please tell Pastor Chad) Vanessa Weaver 3/17 (MZ)
Adrienne Miller 4/14 (MZ)
Edwin Lease 4/25 (MZ)
John Camp 5/11 (KP)
Kade Smith-Cullen 3/19 (MZ)
Nancy Styer 4/15 (MZ)
Karen Knight 4/27 (KP)
Cole Potter 5/13 (KP)
Tajya Smith-Cullen 3/27 (MZ)
Linda Sircovics 4/16 (MZ)
Lacey Eckert 4/27 (KP)
Fred Styer 5/30 (MZ)
Brenda Sircovics 3/28 (MZ)
Ron Levan 4/16 (KP)
Becky Schlieder 4/28 (MZ)
Amy Rhoads 5/30 (MZ)
Mary Ann Minnich 4/2 (KP)
Jean Getty 4/18 ()
Bud Breech 4/29 (MZ)
Terry Runge 4/10 (KP)
Duncan Weaver 4/20 (MZ)
Earl Bell 4/30 (MZ)
Mark Potter 4/11 (KP)
Kathleen Getty 4/24 (KP)
Gavin Weaver 5/9 (MZ)
Anniversaries Fred & Em Styer 4/22 (MZ)
Eric & Karen Knight 5/8 (KP)
Ralph & Audress Hinkle 4/23 (MZ)
Matt & Bonnie Williams 5/25 (KP) Nathan & Marsylvia Weaver 5/29 (MZ)
Marriage: Built to Last with Chip Ingram, Dave Ramsey and Kurt and Brenda Warner Research has shown that over 50% of marriages are ending in divorce. That is why we’ve partnered with Pastor Chip Ingram of Living on the Edge Radio Program, financial guru Dave Ramsey and Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner to tackle the common issues couples are facing in their marriages today. Marriage: Built to Last isn't your typical marriage study. Throughout the series, you'll watch 24 real life couples from across the country share candidly about their struggles in communication, finances, sexual intimacy, expectations, and more. In the study, you will hear the story of Dave Ramsey and his wife Sharon as they recovered from financial stress and hardship. You will hear the story of Kurt Warner and his wife Brenda share candidly about expectations, trust issues, and adjusting to a blended family. Marriage: Built to Last includes Biblical and practical teaching from Chip Ingram on these six critical topics:
Adjusting to Expectations
Learning to Communicate Clearly
Breaking Down Walls
Resolving Conflict Restoring Sex and Intimacy
6 Sessions Wednesdays from May 4th—June 8th Wednesday Nights From 6:30 to 8:00PM
Striving for a Christ‐Centered Marriage
Whether you’re newly married, remarried, or wanting to improve your relationship, Chip Ingram provides Biblical and practical teaching to give you tools to live intentionally and love Biblically.
There will be safe sanctuary compliant childcare available. Registration will be available online beginning April 15th.
Summer Group for Men Pastor Chad will be hosting a small group of guys this summer to discuss the book Desiring God by John Piper. This book is not hard to read, and we will discuss it a chapter or two at a time. However it is very challenging spiritually. Desiring God was a book that I read several years ago and has affected every part of my walk with God. Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. Now revised and expanded, Desiring God reveals how delighting in God can motivate us to glorify Him through worship, stewardship, loving our neighbor, rejoicing in suffering, and other "duties." John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn't truly exist: De‐ light is our duty. Discover how to lay a biblical foundation for a life of celebration by truly desir‐ ing the Lord. I challenge you men, come and read it with me. I challenge you women, encourage, make a way for your husbands to meet. Strong fathers mean strong families. See Chad if you are interested in joining me on this journey. We will begin meeting the first week of June.
the rest of the message…
How’s Your Sabbath? The message we shared on Ash Wednesday was from Isaiah 58:1-14. As we looked at that passage, we focused on what it means to be an AUTHENTIC Christian, and not just Christian by name. That an authentic faith is one that leads us to pour forth the love of Christ. When are faith is true, we find our delight in God and not in the material pleasures of this world. There is more to be said about this. Read with me the last two verses of our passage... Isaiah 58:13-14 If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. How can you “delight” in the Sabbath day and not seek your “pleasure” on it? In one sense you can’t. It’s like saying, “Delight yourself in this meal but don’t seek your pleasure in it.” Or, “Delight yourself in this concert but don’t seek your pleasure in it.” But then why does God say that seeking your pleasure on the Sabbath and taking delight in the Sabbath are opposites? It’s not because the word “pleasure” is low and “delight” is high. That same word “pleasure” (Hebrew hēphes) is used in Psalm 1:2 (the law is his pleasure) and Psalm 16:3 (the saints are his pleasure) and Isaiah 46:10 (God does all his pleasure). “Delight” and “pleasure” are virtually synonyms. So why does God contrast “seeking your pleasure” and “delighting in the Sabbath”? Evidently because “your pleasure” is not the Sabbath. When what the Sabbath stands for is not “your pleasure” then there is a huge contrast between seeking your pleasure and delighting in the Sabbath. But if we are the kind of people who love
the holiness of God then there will be no contrast between seeking our pleasure and delighting in God’s holy day. Christians by and large set aside one day in seven to honor the Creator, but celebrate it on the first day instead of the seventh to honor the risen Redeemer. We have pretty much lost the rigors of Sabbath-keeping. That is partly good, since the day is to be a delight not a dread.
God appointed one day in seven to be “holy to the Lord.”
But are we perhaps starved for an experience of holiness? Could it be that some of our pursuit of pleasure on the weekend is the faint echo of a deep quest for reverence? Ayn Rand said that admiring something great is the rarest of pleasures. But most of what excites us is trivial. God appointed one day in seven to be “holy to the Lord.” It is designed to provide a weekly meal of reverence for our shriveling souls. Sunday should not be trivial. It should be holy—set apart for God. A day in which we delight ourselves in the Lord in ways we can’t on other busy days. Many innocent and good things should probably be replaced with deeper things on the Lord’s day. But not as a burden! The text says, “Call the Sabbath day a delight.” When we become the kind of people who delight in weekly encounters with a day of reverence then we will “ride on the high places of the earth…for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Think about this… if we take a Sabbath day every week, that is 52 days given to the Lord in holy rest. That is an additional 7 1/2 weeks of rest! Whose soul and body wouldn’t benefit from 7 1/2 weeks of restful reverence?
Important dates to remember Mar 19: Kulp Cleanup the Grove 9AM Mar 19: MZ Breakfast Mar 26: Guatemala Dinner, St. Paul’s UCC Mar 27: Youth & Jr. Youth at Kulp, 2‐4PM Apr 4: Kulp UMW, 7PM Apr 4: MZ UMW, 7PM Apr 7: Ad Council Mtg MZ, 7PM Apr 10: Youth Group, 2‐4PM Mt. Zion Apr 14: Ad Council Mtg Kulp 7PM Apr 16: MZ Breakfast Apr 23: Easter Egg Hunt @ Kulp, 10AM Apr 28: Food For Friends (food bank) May 1: Kulp UMW 7PM
May 1: MZ UMW 7PM May 5: MZ Trustee’s Meeting May 7: Work/Clean Up Day Mt. Zion 8:30AM May 8: Youth Group, 2‐4PM Mt. Zion May 21: MZ Breakfast May 21: Children’s Carnival @ St. Paul’s/Esther Furnace May 22: Youth & Jr. Youth at Kulp, 2‐4PM Jun 2: MZ Ad Council, 7PM Jun 4: Strawberry Social at Kulp Jun 12: Youth Group at MZ, 2‐4PM Jun 12‐16: VBS at Kulp 6‐8PM Jun 18: MZ Breakfast Jun 21: Ad Council Mtg Kulp 7PM
To get an event or meeting on the calendar, please email Pastor Chad at ccarter@susumc.org
Maundy Thursday Service April 21st, 6PM at St Paul’s UMC/Esther Furnace Cover dish dinner prior to service at 5:30PM
Catawissa/Bloomsburg UMC Cluster
Services are Sunday Evenings beginning at 6PM
Holy Week Activities Good Friday April 22nd, 7PM at Fisherdale UMC
Catawissa Ministerium
Services are Wednesday at Christ Lutheran (Catawissa) in the fellowship hall.
Easter Morning Sunrise Service April 24th, 7AM at Kulp UMC Breakfast following the service
Roaring Creek Ministerium Services are Wednesday evenings beginning at 7PM
Series Theme: “God’s Grace Breaking Through”
Series Theme: “A Passion Pilgrimage”
Series Theme: “The Glory of It All” “The Hard Sell” March 13th at Lightstreet UMC Pastor Calvin Rich preaching
“Sin and Deception” March 16th Pastor Charlie Swank preaching
“Cross Bearer” March 16th at St. Paul’s Lutheran Pastor Chad Carter preaching
“Testing Time” March 20th at Kulp UMC Pastor Sue Rogutski preaching
“Evil and Injustice” March 23rd Pastor Anna Fyock preaching
“The Daughters of Jerusalem” March 23rd at Fisherdale UMC Pastor Tom Searfoss preaching
“No Intimidation” March 27th at Trinity UMC Pastor Terry Brosius preaching
“Oppression and Abuse” March 30th Pastor Calvin Rich preaching
“More Time” April 3rd at Wesley UMC Pastor Anna Fyock preaching
“Failures and Fears” April 6th Pastor Gretchen Johanson preaching
“The Two Prodigals” April 10th at Catawissa 1st UMC Pastor Jennifer Parks-Snyder preaching
“Unbelief and Rejection” April 13th Pastor Chad Carter preaching
“Holy Extravagance” April 17th at Lime Ridge UMC Pastor Ralph Hartenbach preaching
Good Friday Service April 22nd in the sanctuary of Christ Lutheran Pastor Calvin Rich preaching
“In the Glow of a Camp Fire” March 30th at St. Paul’s UCC (Red Brick Church) Pastor Gordon Smith preaching “Gethsemane” April 6th at Kulp UMC Pastor Don Snyder preaching “The Night Court” April 13th at Grace UCC (Millgrove) Pastor Anna Fyock preaching