Our Music Ministry is making preparations for our Christmas musical.  Practice will be at 7pm each Wednesday in the Worship Center for anyone wishing to take part. 

A Festival of Thanksgiving: Sunday, November 6th at 4:00pm at the Selena Auditorium.  This will be a time to come together again and celebrate what God has done, and hear from those whose lives were touched. There will be a special offering collected at the reunion to reduce the shortfall in the budget from the Festival. The Reunion will take the place of our Sunday Evening Service.  Dr. Ben Lawton’s “How to Read the Bible, Part 2” class will meet at their normal time.

Series: GETTING OUR ACTS TOGETHER Sermon 4: The Real Thing: Acts 19:11-41

"What is Real?" asks Margery Williams’ Velveteen Rabbit in one of the best lines in all of children’s literature. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?" Her mentor, the wise old Skin Horse, replies that "real isn’t how you are made," but is the result of love extruded over long and punishing years. "Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand."

Paul’s ministry in Ephesus drew the battle line between rival realities. The itinerant exorcists hit town with their entourage, complete with roadies and fancy tour bus. They put on a good show, but never stayed long enough to be loved. In the end, they dropped the names of people they’d never met and endured an outward exposure which unmasked their inward emptiness. Forced to show their bottom-line, they admitted to bottomless poverty.

Demetrius thought that reality was not how you were made, but the things you make, and the money they make for you in return. Artemis was a hyper-sexed goddess of the glands whose devotion confused love with lust. Empty people paid well, hoping her images would solidify their souls. In the end, however, they produced only a two-hour slogan-fest in the mistaken belief that a mindless mantra could finally make meaning.

Show-biz religion that shouts about Jesus, and Showtime sex that celebrates bare biology: neither one has ever been an answer to our yearning to become Real. It was presence of Christ in the person of Paul that evicted demons and scuttled the booming trade in alternate religions.

In 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, Paul describes the process by which he became real. Elsewhere, he speaks of the price he had paid. The Lord had loved the hair from his head and the hide from his back. His eyesight was bad and his joints acted up in the damp of his Roman dungeon. But Paul could never be ugly to the ex-demoniacs and former wizards whom he had helped to see God.

Becoming Real, the Skin Horse insists, "takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept." Jesus had no sharp edges, but the nails that held him to the cross did. He was not carefully kept, but he is our careful keeper. Our world is not looking for a quick fix, but for Christians who will endure the long ordeal of being loved into reality.

Horsing Around,

Doug

We will be celebrating the harvest of the season October 30 from 4-6 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. This will be in place of our usual Worship. Come dressed as a Bible character, there will be a contest.  We will celebrate with crafts, games, and good food as we thank God for our blessings.  Please bring some of the following items listed below to help stock our food pantry:  peanut butter, jelly, coffee, canned vegetables, canned soups, stews, etc., canned meat.  Please no boxed, packaged goods, baby food, expired goods, or things you would not normally eat.