t s o Fall 2011 P h s i r a P e Th Volume 1; Issue 4
Praying for the Harvest Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I appeal to you in the name of the Lord to pray this fall in a concerted way for harvest time at Kulp & Mt. Zion. The harvest I speak of is not about the crops, but the harvest of souls the Lord would have in store for us. More people visit, listen and are receptive to our churches during the fall and holiday season. Part of growing God’s kingdom, is the harvest of souls. If this is going to be the time of a great harvest, the sign of it will be a widespread movement of prayer. Before God gives a harvest he moves his people to plead for it. That is why we need to enter into the harvest time in prayer. If we are enabled to pray for harvest, the harvest will come. Prayer strengthens desire and desire moves us to compassionate witness. God regularly makes us the answers to our own prayers. Right after commanding the apostles to pray that the Lord of the harvest send out laborers, Jesus sends them out (Matthew 10:5). I know that if we become burdened enough to pray long and hard for the unbelievers around us, it will not be long until the Lord moves us to them. There will be no need of arm-twisting. Prayer will do its work. Pray, pray for a half an hour a day. Some have wondered: How could we spend a half-an-hour in prayer? Here is my three-fold answer: 1.Resolve to do it. Don’t purpose to pray until you run dry. Purpose to pray the full half-hour. Prayer is work. It is not always a “sweet hour.” Jesus did many works with ease, but he prayed with “loud crying and tears” (Hebrews 5:7). 2.Think about what you want to see change in your heart and life and family and neighborhood and church and world. Make a list if necessary. Then pray through it, giving God reasons from Scripture why this is something that he would surely do. 3.Put the Bible in front of you and simply read a line and turn it into a prayer. Paraphrase it, expand on it, apply it to yourself and others. This works best with the ethical portions of Scripture like Matthew 5-7; Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 13; Galatians 5, 6; Ephesians 4-6; Colossians 3, 4; 1 Thessalonians 5; 1 John, etc. You can pray all day once you catch on. And you will be surprised how many insights come as you really take Scripture seriously and try to pray it into your life. If you run into theological or interpretational problems, tell the Lord you will work on that later and move on. If we seek hard to obey what we do understand, more light will come on the hard parts. I am praying for your praying. What depth and power we will have as a church if a hundred of us learn to pray over the Word of the Almighty God! Your partner in prayer,
Prayer Meetings at the Church There are two groups meeting to pray through a Psalm and over the ministries of the church, church families and intercessory prayer. Please consider being part of this vital ministry.
Kulp UMC Mondays at 10AM Pastor Chad Carter
Mt. Zion UMC Tuesdays at 10AM
Bethel • Fisherdale • Kulp • Mt. Zion • St. Paul’s • UM Churches invite you to:
Trunk Or Treat October 22, 2011 • 4:00—6:00PM At Kulp Church (1365 Old Reading Rd) Children are able to “trick or treat” in a safe environment. The parking lot of the church will have car trunks decorated and full of candy.
After you fill your candy bag join us for Candy • Pumpkin Decorating • Crafts • Hot Cider
Stay for an outdoor movie at 6:00PM If you can help, please see the signup sheet in the Sunday School room.
Catawissa Food for Friends December 22nd 4:30-6:15PM Kulp & Mt. Zion are signed up to help with the food bank for December. A sign up sheet will be posted the first Sunday in April. In addition to helping to distribute the bags of groceries, we will also be handing out the Pajamas and children’s books we collected in November. AND we will be providing a light meal for the folks who are coming to pick up groceries. We are going to need at least 12 volunteers that night, so PLEASE mark your calendars!
Wesley Soup Kitchen December 10th, 9AM-1PM Kulp and Mt. Zion are going to be hosting and serving the meal at the Wesley UMC (Bloomsburg) Soup Kitchen on December 10th. If you have any ideas or questions please call Amy Rhoads at (570) 799-5517
What we are collecting for the Food Bank: October: Peanut Butter & Canned Fruit November: Spaghetti Sauce & Noodles December: Cereal & Soup
A New Thanksgiving Tradition for the Catawissa Churches
potatoes, corn, pickled cabbage, cranberry sauce and cookies. “No longer can Using the kitchen at First, the we just open group is going to put together an estimated 200 take out meals, our doors and load them into the vans, trucks wait for people and cars of the volunteers who The past several years, the area churches have gathered are going to deliver the food. to worship with the Sunday before thanksgiving at First UMC and shared in a fellowship meal and short worship service. Last year we us...” prepared for 120 guests and received 70 guests… that There will be an opportunity to made for quite a few leftovers. The ministers decided to serve in many ways; either presend those leftovers to the families at the Women’s Shelter pare food, put together take outs, deliver meal and there is always a need to clean up. in Bloomsburg. This change in how we celebrate Thanksgiving marks a change in the thinking of the church. No longer can we just open our doors and wait for people to worship with us—we have to leave the comfort of our sanctuary, go out into the community and serve them. Jesus set for us an example of this style of ministry, exemplified when He, “rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them There will be no fellowship meal at Catawissa First UMC with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (John 13:4-5) this year. Instead, the churches will gather and prepare take out meals to be delivered to those who are shut in, ill, in need or anyone who could just use a good meal. Beginning immediately, we are collecting names from each church, the “High Rise”, the Senior Center and Hillside Village. Please, if you are aware of someone who could use a meal, please see Pastor Chad to get them on the list. Pastor Gretchen and Pastor Chad took the food to the families. Both pastors were in agreement that taking the extra food to Bloomsburg was the best part of the evening. On the way home from the shelter they asked themselves why couldn’t they do this again next year. That conversation and subsequent conversations with the other pastors in Catawissa has lead to a big change in this years meal.
On November 19th, at noon the churches will gather in Catawissa in the basement of First UMC. Each church will be designated to bring part of the meal: turkey, gravy, mashed
Birthdays (if we missed anyone, please tell Pastor Chad) Mary Mackavage 10/2 (KP) Susan Rarig 10/10 (KP) Connie Levan 10/11 (KP) Em Styer 10/11 (MZ) Judy Lease 10/12 (MZ) Kelin Geary 10/15 (KP) Glenn Weaver 10/17 (MZ) Mary Levan 10/18 (KP) Shelley Hampton 10/19 (KP)
Brooke Artley 10/22 (MZ) Gerald Shultz 10/22 (MZ) Dimitria Smith-Cullen 10/24 (MZ) Frank Dent 10/27 (KP) Marilyn Werner 11/1 (KP) Ina Shultz 11/2 (MZ) Bradley Styer 11/7 (MZ) Thomas Williams 11/12 (KP) Donna Minnick 11/15 (KP)
Bill Motto 11/20 (KP) Ray Minnick 11/20 (KP) Ameila Vega 11/26 (KP) Susan Potter 11/26 (KP) Donald Mills 11/28 (MZ) Robert Krum 11/28 (MZ) Roy Morgan 11/28 (KP) Jenna Hampton 11/29 (KP) Earl Rhodes 11/30 (MZ)
Anniversaries Gerald & Ina Shultz 10/20 (MZ) Derl & Ruth Williams 11/4 (KP)
Marvin & Mary Levan 11/10 (KP) Frank & Marilyn Werner 11/26 (KP)
Pajama Party
Kulp UMW Pie Sale
November 13th 2:00-4:00PM
Pick Up: October 11th
@ Kulp UMC
Sign up Sheet is in the Sunday School Room at church or you can email Pastor Chad at ccarter@susumc.org Apple Crumb, Lemon Sponge, Shoo Fly, Pumpkin Custard $8.00 each
For the 3rd year in a row, the ladies at Kulp will be hosting a Pajama Party for the kids. There will be entertainment, snacks, games and crafts. Come dressed in your PJ’s!!!
Pajama & Children’s Book Drive During the months of October and November we will be collecting new children’s Pajamas and new Children’s books. The PJ’s and books will be handed out to children in this area to help them have a good night’s sleep.
Apple Dumplings for Sale November 8th at Kulp $3.50 each • Regular and Sugar-Free The Kulp UMW will be making Apple Dumplings to sell on election day. Please sign up in the Sunday School room or email Pastor Chad.
How do you know the Bible is true? That’s an excellent question because so much is at stake in the Christian faith in terms of the truthfulness of Scripture. The Bible is our primary source of information about Jesus and about all of those things we embrace as elements of our faith. Of course, if the Bible isn’t true, then professing Christians are in serious trouble. I believe the Bible is true. I believe it is the Word of God. As Jesus himself declared of the Scripture, “Your word is truth.” But why am I persuaded that the Bible is the truth? We need to ask a broader question first. How do we know that anything is true? We’re asking a technical question in epistemology. How do we test claims of truth? There is a certain kind of truth that we test through observation, experimentation, eyewitness, examination, and scientific evidence. As far as the history of Jesus is concerned, as far as we know any history, we want to check the stories of Scripture using those means by which historical evidence can be tested—through archaeology, for example. There are certain elements of the Scripture, such as historical claims, that are to be measured by the common standards of historiography. I invite people to do that—to check it out. Second, we want to test the claims of truth through the test of rationality. Is it logically consistent, or does it speak with a “forked tongue”? We examine the content of Scripture to see if it is coherent. That’s another test of truth. One of the most astonishing things, of course, is that the Bible has literally thousands of testable historical prophecies, cases in which events were clearly foretold, and both the foretell-
ing and the fulfillment are a matter of historical record. The very dimension of the sheer fulfillment of prophecy of the Old Testament Scriptures should be enough to convince anyone that we are dealing with a supernatural piece of literature. Of course, some theologians have said that with all of the evidence there is that Scripture is true, we can truly embrace it only with the Holy Spirit working in us to overcome our biases and prejudices against Scripture, against God. In theology, this is called the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. I want to stress at this point that when the Holy Spirit helps me to see the truth of Scripture and to embrace the truth of Scripture, it’s not because the Holy Spirit is giving me some special insight that he doesn’t give to somebody else or is giving me special information that nobody else can have. All the Holy Spirit does is change my heart, change my disposition toward the evidence that is already there. I think that God himself has planted within the Scriptures an internal consistency that bears witness that this is his Word.
The Bonds of Brotherhood by R.C. Sproul Fraternity … what does this word mean? It can refer to several distinct types of associations or relationships, and the church can learn valuable lessons by exploring these in more depth. The term fraternity may prompt us to recall the motto of the French Revolution: “Liberty, Fraternity, Equality.” Fraternity, along with equality and liberty, ranked right at the top of the concerns of that revolution. The term may cause us to think of college campus groups such as those depicted in the radical fraternity film Animal House. Beyond the college level, there is a wide variety of organizations of men in this world that are “fraternal orders,” such as the Elks, police groups, and various service clubs. The idea of fraternity is also manifested in the field of competitive sports, particularly with respect to team sports. The saying “There is no ‘I’ in team” is a cliché because it is so true. For teams to function efficiently and effectively, there must be fraternity and teamwork. Again and again we witness superstar players in the realm of professional sports being traded by their clubs because they create such a destructive atmosphere in the locker room. No team can function well strictly on the strength of a single individual. In basketball, for example, players who are ball hogs destroy the spirit of teamwork. If the ball is passed to a ball hog, he is very unlikely to pass it to a teammate, but more likely to take an ill-advised shot. In football, a play run by the offense involves blocking, running, passing, tackling, and other dimensions of the sport. The whole affair is an orchestration of the various elements. Even baseball operates on the basis of a team working in harmony. Babe Ruth never won a game by himself. Ironically, when we look at the arena of athletics, we see that the idea of fraternity exists not only in team sports but also in the context of individual sports. Perhaps the supreme example of an individual sport is boxing. It is mano a mano, one man against another. There is no tag team in the boxing ring. The boxer stands toe-to-toe against his opponent with his support systems in his corner. In the ring — the battlefield — he must fight alone. the drama of a tense bout between two equally-matched opponents, each doing his best to knock the other one out or to do enough bodily harm to win the fight on points? And yet, when the final bell rings, we often see these two gladiators come to the center of the ring and hug with an obvious sense of affection. Why do they do this? It is because a fighter is trained in his individual sport not only to compete with his opponent but to re-
spect him. When he is engaged in a match that tests him to the ultimate degree, he comes away exhausted, battered, maybe even beaten, but nevertheless still possessing enormous respect for his opponent. There is a kind of fellowship, a kind of fraternity, that only individual gladiators such as these men understand. The same thing may be seen in golf, even though most matches test individual ability. From time to time, golfers join together as teammates, and there is the sense among them that they are part of a fraternity that is higher than each one in his individual accomplishments. But there is no fraternity as important or as significant as the church and the communion of saints. Obviously, the church is not an organization exclusive to men, so perhaps we can speak of the church as both a fraternity and a sorority. But in any case, the idea of team participation is clearly present. There is no such thing as a oneperson church. Certainly we are not saved or justified by the faith of our families, friends, or associates. In one sense, redemption is an intensely individual matter. But once we are justified, once we are in a state of salvation, we are immediately put into a group. We are immediately put into the church.
“But there is no fraternity as important or as significant as the church and the communion of saints”
The church exists as a corporate body. There is a corporate solidarity that defines the identity of the New Testament church. There is no room for rugged individualism. No one has been given all the gifts of the Holy Spirit; no one has an opportunity to “hog” the ministry. What is needed in the church is a kind of familial relationship that is a brotherhood and a sisterhood. It can be learned in part outside of the church in other endeavors, such as the world of sports or even the battlefield. But the deepest knitting together of human beings for a common cause, a common faith, and a common Lord exists in the church of Jesus Christ. From Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul. © Tabletalk magazine. Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk.
Important dates to remember Oct 3rd: Mt. Zion UMW, 7PM at church
November 3rd: Trustees Mtg at MZ, 7PM
Oct 3rd: Kulp UMW, 7PM at church
November 8-9th: Kulp UMW Apple Dumpling Sale
Oct 6th: Church Council Meeting at Mt. Zion 7PM
November 9th: Charge Conference at Bethel UMC, 6:30PM
Oct 8th: Mt. Zion Work Day, 8:30AM
November 13th: Pajama Party at Kulp, 2-4PM
October 11th: Kulp UMW Pie Sale
November 17th: Food For Friends, 1st UMC 4:45-6PM
Oct 11th: Church Council Meeting at Kulp 7PM
November 19th: 1st UMC, Noon-3PM, Soup Kitchen
Oct15th: Charity Breakfast at Mt. Zion 7-9:30AM
November 20th: RCV Thanksgiving Service, 7PM
Oct 22nd: Trunk-R-Treat at Kulp, 4-6:00PM
November 20th: Bring a Friend Celebration
Oct 23rd—November 1st Pastor Chad on Vacation
November 21st—November 26th Pastor Chad on Vacation
Oct 26th—NO BIBLE STUDY
November 23rd: NO BIBLE STUDY November 27th: Handing of the Greens
To get an event or meeting on the calendar, please email Pastor Chad at ccarter@susumc.org
A Christmas Pageant
Hanging of the Greens November 27th During Worship Mark your calendars and join us as we kick off the Advent season by transforming the sanctuary into a Christmas wonderland while singing our favorite carols.
Annual Charge Conference November 9th at Bethel UMC 6:30PM We will be having a joint Charge Conference with the Catawissa Circuit. This is our annual church meeting where we report the past years activities and cast a vision for the upcoming year. Please plan on attending this important church meeting.
December 17th • 5PM at Mt Zion UMC Written and directed by Ashley Miller Children from Mt Zion, Kulp and other friends will portray the Nativity story as it is told in the gospels. Special guests, Mike Carl and Thia Smith-Cullen, will share their gift of music along with the children. Don’t miss this holiday tradition reinvented!
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
Kulp UMC •December 24th, 7PM
Featuring a combined Kulp/Mt. Zion choir Special Music by Mike Carl and Thia Smith Cullen An evening of “Lessons and Carols” “Silent Night” by candle light The evening’s offering will be given to the Catawissa Food Bank