We have had three wonderful weeks of celebrating the blessings of Worship, Mission & Ministry here at FCC Scottsdale. We kicked off the campaign on 10/23 by talking about Worship, a week later Rev. Al preached about Mission, last Sunday we focused on Ministry, and now we are ready to wrap up the campaign with Dedication Sunday!
Dedication Sunday means that we’ll be dedicating our Pledge Cards at the end of the worship service…so this is your friendly reminder to bring your Pledge Card this Sunday!
I hope that you have been keeping up with the campaign and that you are as excited as I am about the wonderful things that God is doing with us and through us at First Christian Church Scottsdale. We are praising God in new ways by sharing our Lenten Special Services with our sister congregations at Foothills and Coolwater. We are serving our community in new ways by partnering with Tumbleweeds. We are deepening our faith through the Summer Adventures in Learning series, new small group ministries, and a full cadre of Sunday School classes. That is Worship, Mission & Ministry right there! And it is all made possible by your generosity and faithfulness in giving.
I also hope that you have been prayerfully discerning the ways that you can support our church. Last Sunday we passed out our “I Can…” Checklist that had 30 volunteering opportunities on it that you can choose from. If you didn’t fill one out and drop it off in our basket, know what we’ll have extra copies available in the Fellowship Hall this week. AND, lest we forget: We have a $10,000 Matching Grant before us this year too! For every increase in your pledge this year it will be matched dollar for dollar up to a grand total of $10,000. If you are new to our community and haven’t pledged before that means that your entire pledge will doubled for the coming year! And, if you forgot to turn in a pledge card last year, well, good news because your entire pledge will be doubled for the coming year!
I personally will be increasing my pledge this year in the hopes of maximizing this generous Matching Grant…but more importantly I am increasing my pledge this year because I believe in the good work of this church. I believe in the Worship, Mission & Ministry of First Christian Church Scottsdale and I am happy to support it with my time, talent, and treasure.
I hope to see you at Dedication Sunday! Don’t forget your pledge card…but know that if you do we have extra copies available in the pew racks too!
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Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’
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Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’
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