Coming Up Sunday, January 23

On Sunday, we'll continue our series "Echoes of Comfort and Joy," exploring how we can keep the Christmas spirit throughout the year. In "Unshaken Consolation," we'll consider Paul's teaching preserved at the beginning of 2 Corinthians, in which he tells the struggling and fractious church in Corinth: "Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation" (2 Corinthians 1:7).

Beginning with inspiration from another popular Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," we will consider how the anxieties and afflictions of our lives threaten the spirit of comfort and joy that most of us enjoy during our Christmas celebrations. We will consider how our faith affects this, both in understanding our challenges and appreciating the hope we have through Christ.

In addition to the sermon on Sunday, we will have a special prayer time as part of the global Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We will again pray Jesus' prayer, recorded in the gospel of John, that "all may be one" through faith.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

For over 100 years, Christians from all over the world have shared a week of special services and prayers for the unity of the church. Called the "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity," it encourages churches to pray that God help eliminate the divisions between all those who should be brothers and sisters in Christ. This year's celebration begins today and continues until January 25.

The Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute, founded by the same group of Episcopal friars who initiated the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, prepares a devotional guide for the week. Available online here, I encourage you to add these scriptures, reflections, and prayers to your personal spiritual time this week. (You can also look around the site to learn much more about the history and significance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.)

Why is this important? In the words of Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, an ordained Disciples minister who currently serves as the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches: "The Week of Prayer is not just a nice occasion for friends to gather; it is a time to give thanks to God for the gift and promise of unity, to be renewed in our ecumenical resolve by the assurance of God's leading, and to recommit ourselves to participate in what God is doing to overcome the barriers between God's children." Amen!

"Echoes of Comfort and Joy" Continues Sunday, January 16

The January sermon series, "Echoes of Comfort and Joy," continues this week during Sunday worship. "Is Anyone Cheerful? Let Them Sing Praise" will consider the lessons offered at the end of the epistle of James, 5:13-20, which begins: "Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise." (5:13 NRSV)

Last week, we admitted that tough times will come, and they will challenge the Christmas spirit we hope to carry throughout the new year. The comfort, in the words of Paul, was that, in the hard times, we could "persevere with prayer." This, however, tends to be a mostly individual response to challenges and catastrophes. The words of James offer a fuller community response, in which we are lifted up by one another in hard times and in which we find forgiveness and healing alongside each other.

By the way, this week's sermon is the result of last October's Furnace Dinner. The silent auction featured a future sermon whose title and Biblical text would be selected by the highest bidder. After some high stakes bidding and negotiation, Larry Wakefield earned the right, and he has selected these verses from James 5. Hopefully the sermon based on his suggestions will meet his expectations.

New Sermon Series Begins Sunday, January 9

Have you finished packing up all of the Christmas decorations yet? (Or have you even started?) Perhaps you have a few more Christmas cookies to eat or a few "thank yous" left to write? Regardless, I hope that your Christmas spirit has outlasted your Christmas "to-do" list.

One of the great gifts of Christmas is that it usually sends us into the New Year full of hope and love, feeling good about ourselves, our families, and our relationships with God. Our challenge is to make those feelings last, rather than crumble as soon as we go back to the grind of work or school, as we face the to-do list of all the things we didn't do in order to get through the holidays, or as we start paying the stack of bills facing us in January.

This Sunday, we begin a sermon series that addresses the period after Christmas, when we're trying to hold onto the Christmas spirit, despite the challenges that inevitably arise. Called "Echoes of Comfort and Joy," the four-week series looks at several New Testament writings meant to encourage us, guide us, and make our darker moments more understandable and more bearable, reminding us that we should never lose hope in Christ.

This week, with "Joy, Patience, Perseverance," we look at one verse in Paul's letter to the Romans, 12:12: "Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer." This is a good way to approach the new year, if not life in general. Sunday we'll celebrate, we'll admit that hard times may be ahead, and we'll remember the promise we have that God will always be there for us -- a promise incarnated in the "God with Us" born in a stable and named Jesus.

Regional Midwinter Retreat -- Registration Now Open

The Christian Church in West Virginia will again host a Midwinter Youth Retreat from Friday evening, February 11 through Sunday morning, February 13. This year's retreat, "The Word on the Street: Conversations with God's People," will be held at Cedar Lakes Conference Center outside Ripley, WV.

The retreat is for young people in grades 6 through 12. (There will also be a gathering of post-high schoolers from around the region this weekend as well.) It is an opportunity for young people to see their friends -- and make new ones -- from around West Virginia in a nurturing setting.

Registration forms and more information of what to bring and what to expect are available from me. You may also submit registration forms and payments online through the region's website.

Week of Compassion Reports 2010 Grants

Like many churches, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has an emergency relief and development ministry, which shares resources (money and personnel) with people around the world in crisis situations. In particular, it gives assistance to help people recover after natural disasters.

Called "Week of Compassion" (a name which comes from the annual offering which supports the ministry), the ministry shares resources around the world. This week, they've released the accounting of where money was distributed in 2010. As might be expected, a large amount was directed to earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. More surprising, though, is the amount shared in the US, and the sheer number of grants made around the world.

You can see the list of grants here, at the Week of Compassion website.

Donations are accepted year-round online. The annual Week of Compassion offering will be collected at Central Christian Sunday, February 20 and Sunday, February 27.