October 9, 2013
Greetings to All,
This week’s Midweek Message is a day late because of my trip to Washington D.C.. I am home safely from my journey but have a quick turnaround as I am on my way to Seattle on Friday for the Annual Meeting of the Evergreen Baptist Association. The purpose of that visit is described in the October Transmitter.
My sermon for Sunday will be taken from Luke 17: 11-19 and titled “In Religion Diversity, In Faith Unity.” In this text we meet a second Good Samaritan, in this case a leper who, out of ten lepers healed by Jesus, is the only one who returns to thank Jesus. Jesus the Jew, rather than asking the Samaritan to give up his faith and embrace Judaism, simply praises the man’s faith and sends him on his way.
There is a lesson here for us. That lesson is that true faith is not the possession of any one religious tradition. Rather, faith transcends many boundaries, including religious ones, and thus can be viewed as a source of unity in our fractured world rather than as a source of division.
Prayers of the Congregation
Concerns
- Shirley Jones for her sister in law, Audrey
- Dr. J Alfred Smith Sr. as her recuperates from a stroke
- Kay Baxter for her family
- Max Powers
- Joan Thatcher
- Edna Dorenzo
- Virginia Damretzky
- Fanny Leary
- Cecil White for his brother
- Ann Fields for her brother
- Karen Hopkins for her friend Amy
- Larry Sims for his family
- Bev and Jim Jeffery as they care for Cynthia (home)
- Mary Karne for her daughter Maryla
- George and Sylvia Lee
- Peace with justice in the Middle East
- The peace of our city
- Doris Evans for the Leche family
- Katrina Lau for her grandmother
- An end to the supposed “Holy Wars” that lead Muslims, Jews and Christians to attack each other
- Jeanne Robinson for Esther (a child in Uganda) as she prepares for a major exam
- Joan Patten for her friend John
- Spencer, seeking employment
- Gloria Meads for Mark and Pam
- Bob and Cathy Tharlsen for their daughter
- Rowena Jackson for the Treadwell family
- Sandra Dunn for her father
- Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, surgery on October 14
- Bette Pancoe, Summit Hospital
- Safe travels for all traveling to Seattle for Evergreen Association Convention
Celebrations
- Thanksgiving for the advocacy and education work of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
- Thanksgiving for the ministry of the Seafarers Ministry of the Golden Gate
- Thanksgiving for our animal companions
- Thanksgiving with the Nelson and Meads family that Sean is recuperating
- Thanksgiving for the ministries of our sister churches in the American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York and the Evergreen Baptist Association
- Thanksgiving with Debra Dizen on Lisa’s recovery from surgery
- Thanksgiving for our students and their families
- Thanksgiving with Sandra Dunn on a strong recovery from a fall
- Thanksgiving (and prayers for safety) for Don Johnson and all who serve their country
- Thanksgiving with Charlotte Myers that her sister is home from the hospital