What Will You Do with Blessings?

,

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

/by

Volunteer Needs Weekly Posting

, ,
Upcoming Project Volunteers Needed for:
  • Provide Lunch for Getting Ahead Class: Lunches are needed for our next Beacon of Hope Getting Ahead Class, which begins on Monday, 9/30. If you’re able to provide a dinner for about 10 people, please contact Dona McConnell (865-599-5047). 12 volunteers are needed.
  • Youth Mission Blitz: Join our Youth during Fall Break (October 10-11) for three different mission opportunities. See the front page of this week’s Messenger for more info. Lunch provided, and construction expertise valued (though not necessary for every volunteer opportunity on those days). Contact Jenny Cross at jcross@churchstreetumc.org if you would like to volunteer.
  • Provide Dinner for Family Promise: If you are able to provide a dinner October 7 or 8, please contact Susan Fowlkes to help at susanfowlkes1432@gmail.com.

  • Trunk or Treat Trunks: Children’s Ministry is gearing up for a great Trunk or Treat on October 27 at 5 pm. We are looking to pack the Magnolia Parking Lot for our kiddos with at least 30 cars. Please contact Katryn Bancroft if you want to join in the fun and decorate your trunk for the festivities (kbancroft@churchstreetumc.org).

  • Halloween Carnival at Beacon of Hope: Help provide activities/games, candy for trick or treating, and support on October 29 at 4:00 at Vestal UMC for the kids Beacon of Hope serves in this South Knoxville neighborhood. Please contact Dona McConnell (865-599-5047) if you would like to help.
Ongoing Needs for Volunteers:
Beacon of Hope Sharing Shop — Second and Fourth Thursday of each month at Vestal UMC in South Knoxville (12 pm). Contact Dona McConnell if interested. 

Beacon of Hope Benevolence Volunteers — Meet every Tuesday at Vestal UMC in South Knoxville (12 pm) to provide assistance to our neighbors in South Knoxville. Contact Dona McConnell if interested.

 

 

/by

Words God Never Says

,

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

 

 

/by

Volunteer Needs Weekly Posting

, , ,
Upcoming Project Volunteers Needed for:
  • Sweep the Music Suite! Thursday, October 3, 9-11 am — Come help us clean the music suite!  Bring your rags, buckets, cleaning supplies, vacuums and hand vacuums! Sign up with Tim or Edie.
  • Spirit Adventure Sunday School Teachers —  curriculum provided. Love of children required! Sign up with Katryn Bancroft.
  • Wesley House Tutors — The Wesley House needs your help! On weekday afternoons, dozens of students grades K-8 at the Wesley House need homework assistance as well as folks to read with them. They are particularly short of volunteers on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00-5:00. If you would like to serve, please contact Jenny Cross at jcross@churchstreetumc.org
Ongoing Needs for Volunteers:
  • Beacon of Hope Sharing Shop — Second and Fourth Thursday of each month at Vestal UMC in South Knoxville (12 pm). Contact Dona McConnell if interested. 
/by

Current Sharing Shop Needs

, ,

Here’s how you can help at our Sharing Shops currently: 

/by

Table Etiquette

, ,

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

 

/by

When the Lord Calls

,

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak,
for I am only a boy.” But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.”
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth;
and the Lord said to me,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”

/by

The Gospel According to The Lion King

,

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace. And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

/by

School Kicks off at Church Street

, , ,

As county and private schools fall back into the swing of the new school year, so does Church Street. From moving up to the next Sunday School class to preparing our hearts and minds through song and prayer, the school year is officially underway.

On August 11, children gathered at the altar with their backpacks to receive a special blessing for the school year. Children and youth met their new Sunday School teachers who will shepherd them through the year in their Christian education. After worship, our children’s choirs kicked off their rehearsals for the year.

Upcoming Activities for Children, Youth, and Families: 

August 17-18 – Parish Youth Choir Retreat

August 18 – Back-to-School Family Prayer Time (4pm, Nave)

August 25 – Youth back-to-school party at 5pm in the Gym

Photos from Promotion Sunday and Blessing of the Backpacks:

/by

Longing for a Better Home

,
Hebrews 11:1-3 and 8-16

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. ”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

 

/by