Major Goals for 2008

1.) Converting our parsonage to a Hospitality House that would provide short-term housing for people who are caring for friends or relatives in the local hospitals or hospice who need a place to stay.

2.) Declaring 2008 as "the Year of the Bible." The congregation will be challenged to read through the entire Bible in one year. A journal will be available as a guide; the Sunday sermons will usually be based on the readings of the prior week.

September 8, 2008

The Nature of God

Those of us who are holding to our daily Bible readings now realize we are on the downhill slide. We have read over half the Bible since January! One thing that perhaps jumps out at us as we read Old Testament chapters alongside New Testament chapters, is that the God portrayed in the Bible seems to be very emotional. One minute he is lashing out in judgment and the next he is assuring us of his never failing love.

The tendency is to dismiss one aspect of God in favor of another. But our readings are challenging us to put them both together and see them as one. The God of the Bible is no aloof, distant, detached deity. We get the sense he is very near and very involved with his creation. He cares passionately about what happens to us and around us. He has zero tolerance for evil but lavishes mercy and forgiveness on even the worst of sinners if he is given even the slightest opportunity to do so. We also see the way he absolutely respects our free will. We have the awesome and terrible freedom to either bring great suffering on ourselves and others or to be the very embodiment of grace and beauty which so characterizes the heart of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Pastor Scott

3.) Stewardship

"God can do much more with what we give than we could ever do by ourselves."

1- Through our church, we have some of the most meaningful experiences that we can have: programs for people from childhood to old age; friendships; opportunities to grow in our relationship with God; opportunities to serve.

2- Through our church's influence, God works to build a better community for our families.

3- Through the benevolent outreach of our church, God meets desperate human needs of people around the world, offers the Christian faith, and works to build a better world. Do you yearn for a world without injustice, starvation, and war? The mission outreach of our church is our best chance to help make it happen. Know what your gifts accomplish and enjoy it. Yes, we really should enjoy our giving.