Announcements
Volunteer—Friday,
March 1, from 9-2, is Read to Kids Day at East Brainerd Elementary.
If you're interested, please contact Kimberly Wheeler
(wheeler_k@hcde.org) to
reserve your time and grade spot. Or you can call 855-6161. Books
will be available, or you can bring your own.
Movie
Night—Every other
Saturday, there is a group that watches movies in the basement and
talks about the spiritual themes in them. Tim Meyers leads the
group. They meet at 5:30 on March 2nd for their next meeting.
UTC
Board—The UTC Board is still in need of
members. If you're interested in joining, or attending a meeting to
see what they're like, let me know.
Community
Kitchen Spot
There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God
and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to
help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday &
put them in the grocery cart.
Dry Cereal
New
Hope News
Sunday
School—This Sunday, the adult class will study
Romans.
At
Work on Purpose—Starting February 21, there will be
an evening seminar about how best to be Christians at work. If you
want to learn more about the organization behind the curriculum,
click
here. Please speak with Andy Sanislo if you're
interested and/or planning on attending.
Pray
For:
Walt
Suber & Sybil Bryant! It's their birthday weeks!
Pray
for those who do not know Christ.
Links
Keith's
Random Thoughts
If
my research is correct, the last time a pope resigned it was to end a
schism that had resulted in there being three popes. Fortunately,
this papal resignation is under much better circumstances. I will
say I am rather impressed with the pope's choice—I think it takes
tremendous wisdom and courage to admit that you can no longer
adequately perform your duties, especially with the whole world
watching. For the record, the Catholic church has yet to contact me
about accepting the role.
The
curious thing is to see what the Catholic church will do next. Will
they elect a representative from Africa or Latin America, where the
church is booming, or will they stick with what they know, a European
pope, who may perform his duties well but perhaps not represent the
future of the Catholic church? Time will tell...
Change
is hard for all of us. It's easy to do what we're comfortable doing,
to keep moving forward in the same way we always have. But the Holy
Spirit calls us to look forward, to be willing to trust God wherever
he may lead us, no matter how prepared or anxious we may feel in the
face of that future. God will not abandon us in the days to come,
even though they may be unfamiliar.
As
New Hope peers into the future God has in store for us, how is God
calling us to be faithful? This may look different than it has in
years past, and that's ok. Let's be willing to trust God, to live
boldly and without restraint, falling in the grace of God and
trusting him to uplift and support us. Through our faithful service,
God's Word will be proclaimed. Through our works of love, others
will glorify God.
While the decision of the Catholic
church seems far bigger than our own decisions, let us approach them
with the same seriousness. May each action, thought and word be done
with utmost attention to God's leadership, and may we follow where
God leads us, rather than choosing the same comfortable footsteps out
of habit.
Text
for this Sunday
Genesis
22:1-18
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’
And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your only
son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him
there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show
you.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and
took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the
wood for the burnt-offering, and set out and went to the place in the
distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up
and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay
here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will
worship, and then we will come back to you.’ Abraham took the wood
of the burnt-offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself
carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on
together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, ‘Father!’ And he
said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ He said, ‘The fire and the wood are
here, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?’ Abraham said,
‘God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.’
So the two of them walked on together.
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an
altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and
laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out
his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the
Lord called to him from heaven, and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And
he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy
or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you
have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’ And Abraham
looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham
went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt-offering instead
of his son. So Abraham called that place ‘The Lord will provide’;
as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be
provided.’
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
and said, ‘By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have
done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will
indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the
stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your
offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your
offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for
themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.’
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Hope on iTunes
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