Mission Yearbook: SDOP ministry team co-chair discusses ‘Working for the Common Good’

Witness, Share and Evangelize: Mission Yearbook: SDOP ministry team co-chair disc...: Image Photo by Sincerely Media via Unsplash The Rev. Dr. Jermaine McKinley, the co-chair of the Self-Development of People Ministry Team for...

The SPC Deacon Luncheon and Dessert Auction

On Sunday, August 30, the Sligo Presbyterian Board of Deacons hosted a congregational luncheon and dessert auction. We raised $2,477.50 for our Deacons' community and congregational outreach. We thank our Deacon Board, Cass Neily for serving as our auctioneer, Mike and Melody Troup for participating in the auction, and all those members who supported this activity. We especially thank the following local businesses that provided baked goods:

• Dairy Queen
• Dan Smith's 
• Eat'n Park
• IGA
• The Korner Restaurant
• Tom's Riverside
• Walmart

Below are some pictures from the luncheon.

And below are some pictures from the dessert auction.

Our Kindness Kids Make Signs for the SPC Deacon Dessert Auction

On Sunday, August 30, the SPC Kindness Kids offered their support to the mission of Sligo Presbyterian Church by making donation signs for the SPC Deacon Dessert Auction. Some pictures are below. Under the leadership of Debbie Rudiger, the SPC Kindness Kids meet every Sunday morning, at 10:15 a.m. 

Mission Yearbook: Hispanic, Latino and Brazilian ministry is focus of re-imagining encounters

Witness, Share and Evangelize: Mission Yearbook: Hispanic, Latino and Brazilian m...: As Hispanic, Latino, and Brazilian Presbyterians gathered in Puerto Rico for the last of six regional re-imagining encounters across the den...

Refocusing Faith: A Study of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (Resurrection, part 2 - 1 Corinthians 15:20-58)

Paul faced a problem. One of the churches he’d planted in Greece was being torn apart by factions and internal conflict, a situation that sounds an awful lot like what we see within the modern church. These divisions not only endangered its ability to share the Christian faith within a pagan world, they also threatened the unity of the church itself. In this letter, Paul challenged these Christians to put aside their animosities and refocus their faith on Jesus Christ. In each session, we’ll consider a part of Paul’s letter as follows:

• Session 1 - Paul’s Greeting (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)
• Session 2 - The Issue (1 Corinthians 1:10–3:4)
• Session 3 - Doing the Work We’ve Been Given (1 Corinthians 3:5–4:21)
• Session 4 - Right and Wrong (1 Corinthians 5:1–6:20)
• Session 5 - Marital Distractions  (1 Corinthians 7:1-40)
• Session 6 - Food, Freedom and Focus (1 Corinthians 8:1–9:23)
• Session 7 - What’s Most Important (1 Corinthians 9:24–11:1)
• Session 8 - Dealing with Traditions and Customs (1 Corinthians 11:2-34)
• Session 9 - Like a Body (1 Corinthians 12:1-31)
• Session 10 - Love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)
• Session 11 - Tongues, (1 Corinthians 14:1-40)
• Session 12 - Resurrection, part 1 (1 Corinthians 15:1-19)
• Session 13 - Resurrection, part 2 (1 Corinthians 15:20-58)
• Session 14 - And in Conclusion (1 Corinthians 16:1-24)

In our thirteenth session, we looked at how Paul viewed the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20-58). The discussion and passage are below.

1 Corinthians 15:20-58 [New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition]

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.

Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?

And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought with wild animals at Ephesus with a merely human perspective, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,

    for tomorrow we die.”

Do not be deceived:

“Bad company ruins good morals.”

Sober up, as you rightly ought to, and sin no more, for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. As one of dust, so are those who are of the dust, and as one of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust, we will also bear the image of the one of heaven.

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Look, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

    Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.