Friday, January 31, 2014

Workday, Beattitudes, Souper Bowl

Work days tomorrow (Feb 1) and next Saturday.   Come when you can.  Leave when you must.   Do what you can.   Enjoy the fellowship.   Improve the property.   Experience the gratitude for our mutual blessing.

On Sunday we will start with the most memorable words of the prophet Micah:  What does the Lord require?  To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.  We will center ourselves around the attitudes of being which Jesus considers blessed or perhaps best?  Humble, sad, meek, longing for goodness, merciful, pure-hearted, peacemaking, mistreated for faithfulness.  We will end with Paul’s reminder that God chose what appears foolish, weak, low and despised– so that none of us would boast.

At the conclusion of worship, our youth will collect the Souper Bowl Offering, all of which will be given to the Manatee Food Bank to tackle hunger.  As our seminary friend, Rev. Brad Smith, prayed in 1990, “"Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us to be mindful of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat." This prayer gave birth to an idea in a Presbyterian youth group.  Why not use Super Bowl weekend to unify the nation for a higher purpose: collecting dollars and canned food for the needy?   Since that time, youth groups in churches and schools have collected over 90 million dollars in soup pots for food banks, soup kitchens, and other charities.  Our goal this year = $1000 and thanks to one gift last week, we are 10% there.

The Peace youth and their families will gather at the church at 5:30 to share a meal, report our totals to 
www.souperbowl.org and enjoy the game, even while we critique the excesses of entertainment spending on professional sports, half-time music, and advertising.  Some of the statistics of poverty and excess that the youth and I discussed can be found in this week's Faith Matters in the Bradenton Herald. 

Justice, kindness, humility, and peace to you all!

Elizabeth
 
 

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