Good Friday morning Church Requel!
Who has lived a full life without feeling the sting of betrayal? If you're like me the moment you read "betrayal," you immediately think of one person in the painful past of your life. The British romanticist poet William Blake wrote, "It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend." Fast forward 250 years to our time and nothing much has changed. Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, wrote: "For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first."
Jesus knew the pain of betrayal. He was betrayed by Judas. We know the story so well that we aren't at all surprised anymore that Judas would trade in his friendship and trust with Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. But make no mistake about it - Jesus knew the hurt of betrayal. He trusted Judas. Of the hundreds who wanted to be his close disciple, Jesus picked Judas to be a close friend and follower.
We often make two mistakes when considering the story of Judas. The first is to lessen the impact of the betrayal. We just always knew Judas would do it, so how could Jesus have been surprised? Surely the omnipotent, omniscient Jesus would have figured it out. We completely discount the humanity of Jesus when we think that way. Rather we should start with our own human hurt and work backwards to think: if Jesus was fully human then he was fully hurt too - just like me.
As Hebrews 2:18 reminds us, Jesus "would have already experienced it all himself - all the pain, all the testing."
The second mistake we make when considering the story of Judas is to apply the betrayal to Judas only. Who among us reads the story of Judas and puts our own name in Judas' place? We won't even name someone else with the name Judas any more, let alone consider ourselves capable of such betrayal to the Son of God. Yet the sad truth is that if we are a Christ-follower, we have all eventually betrayed Jesus too.
Sunday we're going to take a bold step and consider Judas' story as our own potential story too. What are the tricky steps towards treachery? How can we avoid them? You might want to get out your Bible between now and Sunday and read just 6 verses - Luke 22:1-6.
Children Participate Sunday! Since it will be the first Sunday of the month, our children will participate in many parts of our worship experience Sunday morning. As you can see from the picture on the right, Leia, Paityn and Aaliyah will join Brandi and Cindy on the praise team. Aaliyah is a neighbor and new friend to Leia. She has been attending Church Requel over the past few weeks. How cool is it that she will be singing on the praise team Sunday?!
Anna Scott will be making our announcements. Grayden and Cohen will be joining their dad in the tech booth running sound and graphics. Saudaie may be playing her violin during the offertory and we will have two of the children pass the offering baskets. I always love the first Sunday of the month, don't you?
This first Sunday will be a little different, however. All of our children will be going downstairs to practice their Christmas program during the second half of our worship time together. I've heard that they are all really enjoying their "Super Christmas" practices. Thanks so much to Tamara for taking the lead with our kiddos this Christmas!
Save the date on your calendars - December 17th! That will be the morning of the children's Christmas program AND we will enjoy a potluck meal together afterward! Love it!
Church Work Day December - Here's another date to put on your calendar - Saturday morning December 2nd. From 10am to noon we will do some work around the church. We have a list of things that need to be done and if enough folks show up we should be able to get it all done inside of our two-hour work window.
Here's the list of what we hope to accomplish!
1) Remove modesty rail in front, carry to basement.
2) Remove front center pew (two sections) and move to basement
3) Remove south rear pew and move to basement
4) Move altar to south rear space made by removed pew
5) Remove back two north pews and set in entranceway in back.
6) Move grand piano to space in back
7) Move the two north pews up to where piano had been.
8) Bring up pew from basement that fits in space where piano had been.
9) Remove ugly black speaker from ceiling beam in front center.
10) Replace fan that should hang form second ceiling vent.
11) Place north speaker on organ console. Or possibily come up with an even better alternative for both speakers.
12) Clean and straighten up and throw away items that have accumulated in the basement.
13) Put up the outside nativity. Put up the indoor Christmas tree. Hang the indoor wreaths. (We won't be putting up all the nativities inside the church this year as we have in years past.)
14) Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.
I'll have a sign-up sheet in the foyer for you Sunday morning. I hope many of you signup. You can also go over to our Facebook Event Page and join up there. The more the merrier!
Keep praying. Let's continue to keep Jenny, Aimee, Loni, Jack and Mari in our thoughts and prayers. Thanks to all of you who have sent a card or note letting them know they are not forgotten - even though they cannot attend services because of their illness. I believe God will do a great work in our midst and as a result we'll see all five in worship with us some day soon. That's how I'm praying!
Last but not least - remember to set your clocks back Sunday morning! I don't mind at all if you want to show up an hour early for worship, but I'm guessing you'd rather enjoy the extra hour of sleep!
Love you all much. Hope to see you Sunday morning at 11am. Pastor Mark
