Calling all Lumberjacks (or at least people with chainsaws)

One of our Service Projects for Sunday is for all of you outdoorsy, chainsaw wielding, Carhart-wearing, pickup truck driving folk or any of you wannabes.  In the spirit of The Royal Order of the Red Suspenders we'll be cutting up some trees for firewood to give to a person who won't be able to cut their own this year.  This came together by merging the video link supplied by Brent Hoffman with the concerns of Jim Henderson this past Sunday.

Of course, this is also in the spirit of Jesus.  Take a look at Matthew 20:20-27 (NLT)

Jesus Teaches about Serving Others

Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. “What is your request?” he asked.

She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”

But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”   “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”   Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.

When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant.  But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.  But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We have some wood to cut up.  We need chainsaws and we need people who know what they are doing with them.  If you can help with this, please let Pastor Jim know at chapel@girdwood.net.

We'll meet at the church at 10 AM.

Prodigious, indiscriminate cookie flingers

Download the cookie insert here.

In the OUTFLOW book we've been reading and studying, the author comments on the parable of the Sower from Mark 4:3-9:

“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed.  As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it.  Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow.  But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died.  Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain.  Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”  Then he said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” (NLT)

The authors say that we need to be "prodigious, indiscriminate seed flingers" for Jesus, scattering his love to everyone and praying that some of the "seed" falls on good soil.

On Sunday, we're going to be "prodigious, indiscriminate cookie flingers" for Jesus.  We're hoping to have lots and lots of cookies (packed in small bags of three cookies) to hand out around town to everyone we can get to.  In each bag will be the note that you can download above or HERE.

Please, make cookies.  And let's "fling" them to the community.

Prayers for our former bishop, Ed Paup

PUBLIC RELEASE:  MISSION AGENCY EXECUTIVE RESIGNS

It has been anounce that Ed Paup, our former bishop (and Pastor Jim's bishop for 11 years in Alaska), has resigned from the leadership of the General Board of Global Ministries with a brain tumor.

Our prayers are with Ed, Carol, and the extended Paup family.

The Writing on the Walls -- 30 August 2009

Yesterday after worship the congregation was encouraged to take one of the construction pencils and write on our unfinished sanctuary walls.  They were merely told to sign their name or put up a scripture verse or a prayer or a poem--really, whatever they liked.  They were told that what they put up there was going to be covered over eventually, but would always be a part of the building. 

Today (the day after), Pastor Jim went to take some pictures of what was written and was quite moved by all that was offered up to God on the walls of our new church.  You can SEE ALL THE PICTURES HERE.  Some of the pictures are not as clear as others and some of it was a little hard to read.  But you'll get a good sense of what was written from the pictures you'll find here.

"TRIAL" WORSHIP IN OUR NEW SANCTUARY

We have no flooring.  We have no heat.  We have no water.  But we still wanted our folks to feel what worship is going to feel like in the new sanctuary.  And...it was wonderful.  We had 83 people and had some room to spare.  There was a lot of room up front.  The sunlight came in and made Pastor Jim's head glow during communion.   We thanked the various work teams that got us to this place and challenged folks to help us finish.  It was a very good Sunday.  A holy day.  A wonderful day.  See more pictures HERE.

God is Good!

All the time!

All the time!

God is Good!