Faithfully Share Christ’s Love and Grace with Others All are Welcome
What's going on at Faith!
Message from Pastor John Barton
Click on the link below to download a copy of this week's online service bulletin:
https://faithmenifee.com/service-file-archive
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https://faithmenifee.com/childrens-bulletins
Click on the link below to find other worship videos:
https://faithmenifee.com/service-videos-8%2F30-on
ON-SITE WORSHIP SERVICES ARE POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Newsletter from the Pastor:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3: 23-24)
Dear faithful friends and fellow children of God:
Before I get into the main subject of my article, I wanted to give you a note about time. As you will see, time features into the article, and I wanted to give this logistical note before going on to the rest. I will be maintaining more normal office hours at the church, Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8:30am to midday. This scheduling is in efforts to make myself a bit more accessible in-person for everyone. As always, if you would like to ensure a time where we can meet, I encourage you to schedule an appointment with me on those and other days as well. Whether you drop in or schedule an appointment, I would like to us all to remember that strict adherence to social distancing, mask-wearing, and other health guidelines will be followed. Finally, you can now also schedule a time with Lynn in the Church Office to come to the church to use the sanctuary for prayer, contemplation, and/or watching our most recent recorded worship service. I look forward to continuing to expand our ministry with you all!
Stewardship season is coming up at the end of October and into the beginning of November. We are eager to hear our three temple talks on three consecutive Sundays given by three of our congregational members. The temple talks, inserted into the Sunday services, will be Time (October 25th), Talents (November 1st), and Treasure (November 8th) and are designed to help all of us contemplate God’s gifts, the gifts of others, and our own gifts in these categories and how they can be utilized for God’s ministries.
Let us remind ourselves, Stewardship of our gifts is an important, integral part of the running of our church. Because of that fact, Stewardship does not only happen one time a year. This year in particular, the ways in which we offer ourselves and our gifts have changed due to the pandemic, but at the same time and for the same reason all of our gifts have become all the more necessary to maintain and sustain our ministry. Though our lives and our ministries have been disrupted, they have not disappeared or stopped altogether. So neither has the need for your time, talents, and treasures disappeared or stopped. Good Stewardship is personal because it affects our church, our congregation, our Faith family. Our congregation has it’s own unique needs and passions. Because many of our members are retired, we have our own financial structures and boundaries to stay within. But whether you have been retired for decades or just starting kindergarten (both of which are admirable feats in the pandemic) we also have our own gifts gathered through the course of our lives.
All of us and each of us have different resources and abilities from which we give, and I give thanks to God for exactly where you are in those abilities and resources. I give thanks for the gifts God has given to me, for the gifts God has given to you, and for the gifts God has given to your neighbor next to you in the (currently virtual) pew. I give thanks because God has given us these gifts of time, talents, and treasure so that they can fuel and grow the ministry of the church God has brought us together. These gifts are our offering and they do many things.
At Faith, the offering of your financial treasure does not only sit in an offering plate or in our bank accounts. Just as God transforms each of us, our offered treasures given to the church transform into wonderful things as well. Many of us don't see exactly what our offerings go to or become because they could go towards necessary but less visible things like utilities or mailing supplies. Recently, however, our congregation had an extra need for giving where the givers and the rest of the congregation will see, and more importantly use, the culmination of their giving. With their permission, I can thankfully share the names of those who gave towards the congregation’s new refrigerator: Pat Adams, Betty Baumann, Rudy & Evelyn Bosinger, Bill & Susan Brauer, Vicki Crow, Ruth Ditsch, Arlene Dressler, Gale & Bob Eury, Paul Gajdosik, John Neff, Ron & Esther Neumen, Ray & Pat Olson, Marlene Rosselli, Jerome Stoner, Peggy Westby, Harold & Mary Ann Whitford, Jan Williams, Mary Yturralde. We thank each and every one of you. Every member of our church is a treasure and we all will have different times where we are asked to give above our regular pledged gifts. All of these members prayerfully considered their ability to give and discerned to give of themselves towards this project. To embellish on 2 Corinthians 5: 7, “We walk, and act, and give by faith, and not by sight.” We may see what our gifts turn into, or we may not and either way, seeing it is not why we give. We give because we have faith in Christ.
So as you read this letter, as you watch the temple talks and worship services in weeks to come, I am asking you specifically, yes you as an individual, to give of yourself to your church family. Give of your treasure with all your heart, give of your talents in all of their uniqueness, and give of your time because in doing so, as Colossians reminds us, it is the Lord Christ we are serving- all of the time. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” With so many things to possibly do in our lifetimes, it might seem daunting to adhere to those words, we might feel pressured that we have to do our best with it all… or else. But the Lord we serve and work for is one of all-encompassing grace, not vague “or elses.” Instead of pressure, these words from Colossians give us encouragement, encouragement to put our hearts behind the things we do, to put ourselves into our actions. This is certainly true for our acts of giving. We give as a response to God who gave it all to us. Our giving represents us, it expresses our thanks for God and for each person in our Faith family. And so thank you. Thank you for all that you put your heart into, thank you for being part of this community of faith, thank you for persevering and keeping our church identity in spite of tough times. And thank you for giving.
So, until we see each other again: “May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26).
Yours in the Risen Christ, Pastor John Barton
WORSHIP AT FAITH
Once the pandemic has eased up, we will again gather for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30 am for a traditional service of worship that includes a Liturgy of Praise, Hymns, Choir and the sharing of the Sacrament of Holy Communion. From September to May we have Sunday School available for all children.
Following worship, we gather for a time of fellowship, coffee and light breakfast foods. Come and join in the Fellowship!
As always, please invite your neighbors, family members, and friends to join us. All are welcome!