Sunday, October 30, 2022
Bible Readings for October 30, 2022
Minute for Mission: Reformation Sunday
Saturday, October 29, 2022
Bible Readings for October 29, 2022
Today in the Mission Yearbook - A barista on a mission
Friday, October 28, 2022
Bible Readings for October 28, 2022
Prayer Requests to be shared during Sunday’s service
On Sunday, October 30, Sligo Presbyterian Church will lift to God the following needs.
- Amanda Demchak
- Armed Forces
- Arnold Bowser
- Bob Varner
- Brooke Schmader
- Bruce Amsier
- Bruce Bowman
- Bus Clark
- Caitlyn Barrett
- Cass' Neice
- Church Leaders
- College Students
- Debbie Myers
- Dee, Jeremy & Jacob
- Doctors & Nurses & all essential workers
- Duane Quinn
- Ella Henry
- Government Leaders
- Hugh Henry
- Jim Mason
- Kathy
- Keith McKinley
- Lana Todd
- Lori Myers
- Marlene Barr
- Maxine Hartle
- Maxine Simpson
- Mike Hiles
- Mr. Wolff
- Nancy Wilson
- Noah
- Our Youth
- Police Officers
- Randy Frampton
- Rick Clark
- Riley
- Ron & Shelly Haines
- Ron Lerch
- Rwanda Partner
- Sandy Patterson
- Sandy Patterson's sister-in-law
- Sean Bayless
- Stacie
- Stephen & Alice Lucas
- Tamlynn
- Tracey
- Trudy Burns
- Velma Stewart
- Virginia Heidler
- Wes Lomax
- World Vision
The Bulletin for the SPC Worship Service - Sunday, October 30, 2022
Below is a copy of Sunday's bulletin. During the months of October and November, we'll discuss five parables unique to the Gospel of Luke. During this service, we'll consider the parable of the Unrighteous Manager. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel at 10:00 a.m., Sunday morning.
Page Turners - Our first-ever book giveaway
Reminder: Live2Lead 2022!
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Today in the Mission Yearbook - Empty pews are her...
Thursday, October 27, 2022
Bible Readings for October 27, 2022
Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘It’s church, and church in its best form’
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
A New Devotion - A Warning
Here's a new devotion that I wrote. It's based on the passage below. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.
Luke 11:37-52 [Contemporary English Version]
When Jesus finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him home for a meal. Jesus went and sat down to eat. The Pharisee was surprised that he did not wash his hands before eating. So the Lord said to him:
You Pharisees clean the outside of cups and dishes, but on the inside you are greedy and evil. You fools! Didn't God make both the outside and the inside? If you would only give what you have to the poor, everything you do would please God.
You Pharisees are in for trouble! You give God a tenth of the spices from your gardens, such as mint and rue. But you cheat people, and you don't love God. You should be fair and kind to others and still give a tenth to God.
You Pharisees are in for trouble! You love the front seats in the synagogues, and you like to be greeted with honor in the market. But you are in for trouble! You are like unmarked graves that people walk on without even knowing it.
A teacher of the Law of Moses spoke up, “Teacher, you said cruel things about us.”
Jesus replied:
You teachers are also in for trouble! You load people down with heavy burdens, but you won't lift a finger to help them carry the loads. Yes, you are really in for trouble. You build monuments to honor the prophets your own people murdered long ago. You must think that was the right thing for your people to do, or else you would not have built monuments for the prophets they murdered.
Because of your evil deeds, the Wisdom of God said, “I will send prophets and apostles to you. But you will murder some and mistreat others.” You people living today will be punished for all the prophets who have been murdered since the beginning of the world. This includes every prophet from the time of Abel to the time of Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the temple. You people will certainly be punished for all of this.
You teachers of the Law of Moses are really in for trouble! You carry the keys to the door of knowledge about God. But you never go in, and you keep others from going in.
A Warning
And for us, as we cherry-pick scripture so that we can condemn those we don’t like while excusing those whom we do and as we hide behind manipulated rules so that we can avoid actually doing what God has called us to do and as we confuse ostentatious and pretentious displays of devotion with a humble willingness to follow Jesus Christ and to serve others, maybe we’d be wise to view this passage as a warning.
Bible Readings for October 26, 2022
Today in the Mission Yearbook - Science has a place in our faith
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Bible Readings for October 25, 2022
The Sligo Presbyterian Church Celebration Service - Sunday, October 23, 2022
During the months of October and November, we'll discuss the following parables unique to the Gospel of Luke:
- October 16 – The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)
- October 23 – The Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32)
- October 30 – The Unrighteous Manager (Luke 16:1-9)
- November 6 – The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)
- November 13 – The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)
In our second service, we looked at the Parable of the Lost Son. Below is the bulletin and recordings of the service and the sermon:
Sunday's Message: The Parables in the Gospel of Luke - The Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32)
- October 16 – The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)
- October 23 – The Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32)
- October 30 – The Unrighteous Manager (Luke 16:1-9)
- November 6 – The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)
- November 13 – The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)
In our second service, we looked at the Parable of the Lost Son. Below is the sermon and a recording of the sermon:
*******
I’ve got to tell you; I find northwestern Pennsylvania weather fascinating. I mean, I’ve lived in quite a few places, and whether it’s south Louisiana or eastern Montana, folks who live there have all said the exact same thing: If you don’t like the weather around here, just wait five minutes, and it’ll change. But I’ve got to tell you, moving from snow and the low thirties to the low seventies and sunshine in about five days, man, that’s pretty impressive. Of course, we all know, the warm temperature, now it’s not going to last. As a matter of fact, today could be the last gasp of summer, although “if you don’t like the weather around here...” Well, y’all know the rest.
Anyway, on this bright, warm Sunday morning, I’m delighted that you’re here, as we look at another one of the parables found only in the Gospel of Luke. Now we started this series last week when we looked at the Parable of the Good Samaritan and talked about how we might never really know what it means to love our neighbors unless we intentionally put ourselves in the position of a person who desperately needs our help. Now that’s what we did last Sunday.
And you know, it all starts with the context, and in the case of this particular parable, what came before, because nothing happens after. Now this was what the Evangelist Luke wrote:
Tax collectors and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses started grumbling, “This man is friendly with sinners. He even eats with them.”
Then Jesus told them this story:
If any of you has 100 sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won’t you leave the 99 in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, “Let’s celebrate! I’ve found my lost sheep.”
Jesus said, “In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over 99 good people who don’t need to.”
Jesus told the people another story:
What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Won’t she light a lamp, sweep the floor, and look carefully until she finds it? Then she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, “Let’s celebrate! I’ve found the coin I lost.”
Jesus said, “In the same way God’s angels are happy when even one person turns to him.” [Luke 15:1-10, CEV]
Now that’s what Luke wrote right before the parable of the prodigal.
But I want you to notice that he didn’t launch right into the parable of the prodigal; instead, our story is sort of like Return of the Jedi. It was the third instalment in a trilogy, with two very short parables coming before: one dealing with a shepherd and a lost sheep and the other, a woman and a lost coin. And since Jesus told these three one right after the other, I think it’s reasonable to assume that they all have the same lesson for those grumbling Pharisees, especially, since the first two have almost the exact same structure. I mean, in each, Jesus focused on a story about a person who lost something and about what they did to find it and about how they rejoiced when it was found. And then, for each one, Jesus offered a lesson, didn’t he; that God does the same thing when one person turns to him and is found, something that was directly related to all the sinners and tax collectors who were turning to Jesus, folks who caused the most religious people around to grumble. Now that’s the context for the Parable of the Lost Son.
And I’ll tell you, for this reason, it’s really not surprising that, when you look at the first half of the parable we’re looking at this morning, the pattern we saw with the shepherd finding the lost sheep and the woman finding the lost coin, man, it’s the same. Just listen to what Jesus said,
Jesus told them yet another story:
Not long after that, the younger son packed up everything he owned and left for a foreign country, where he wasted all his money in wild living. He had spent everything, when a bad famine spread through that whole land. Soon he had nothing to eat.
He went to work for a man in that country, and the man sent him out to take care of his pigs. He would have been glad to eat what the pigs were eating, but no one gave him a thing.
Finally, he came to his senses and said, “My father’s workers have plenty to eat, and here I am, starving to death! I will go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son. Treat me like one of your workers.’”
The son said, “Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son.”
But his father said to the servants, “Hurry and bring the best clothes and put them on him. Give him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. Get the best calf and prepare it, so we can eat and celebrate. This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to life. He was lost and has now been found.” And they began to celebrate. [Luke 15:11-24, CEV]
Now, that’s the first half of the third parable. And like I said, I think it followed pretty much the same structure as the first two. For example, it focused on a person who’d lost something, in this case, a father who had lost his son. And although it really didn’t involve the father actively looking, his son sort of found himself and returned to his father. And then it ended with great rejoicing, didn’t it? I mean, not only did the father run out to greet the prodigal with hugs and kisses, he got his son a new suit of clothes and prepared for him a fancy feast and then said, "This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to life. He was lost and has now been found.” [Luke 15:24a, CEV] You see, just like in the first two, there was losing, finding and celebrating, something which Jesus already said that God does when the lost are found.
But you know, it was right here where Jesus threw those grumblers a curve. You see, based on what he’d already said, they probably expected Jesus to offer a lesson, making the same point, now for the third time, you know, how this is what happens in heaven when the lost are found. But that’s not what he did, did he? Instead of just telling them what it meant, Jesus did something that I think is really cool; he sort of brought them into the parable itself. And I’ll tell you, when we grumble about folks coming to Jesus who are just as unacceptable to us as sinners and tax collectors were to the Pharisees, when all we can see are their clothes and their backgrounds, their values and their opinions, their life-styles and their language, when those things blind us to their decision to trust in God and so we grumble, you know, about them being there and calling themselves Christians, maybe Jesus is also bringing us into his parable when he said this:
The servant answered, “Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father ordered us to kill the best calf.” The older brother got so angry that he would not even go into the house.
His father came out and begged him to go in. But he said to his father, “For years I have worked for you like a slave and have always obeyed you. But you have never even given me a little goat, so that I could give a dinner for my friends. This other son of yours wasted your money on prostitutes. And now that he has come home, you ordered the best calf to be killed for a feast.”
His father replied, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we should be glad and celebrate! Your brother was dead, but he is now alive. He was lost and has now been found.” [Luke 15:25-32, CEV]
Although it may be really nice today, I think we’d all agree that we’ll be seeing some colder weather sooner than later. Now, this is just something that we know, right? And as we leave here this morning, thanks to the story Jesus offered a bunch of Pharisees who grumbled because the wrong kind of people were coming, we also know that, in spite of what we may think or want, the Father rejoices whenever the lost are found and that we need to decide whether or not we’re going to put aside our assumptions and to accept God’s unconditional love and to celebrate with him and with them. You see, I think this is the decision we have to make, when we listen to the Parable of the Lost Son.
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