Mid-Week News: PLEASE REMEMBER IN PRAYER: Dan McEldowney Ben Bemis Family and Friends of Grace Burr Family and friends of Norman Hasbrouck Richard Cowell Rev. Rick Cepris Ruth Lawson Janice Mitchell’s daughter, Charlotte Doug Mather’s Mom, Peg Tim Nordland’s grandmother, Elsie Bruce Burr – healing Pastor Mike Sperry Bob Peppel John Adolphson Tina Schwab Hannah Beason Doretta Fleet Danette Tucker Dan Downey Peggy Paul Bible Study Wednesdays at 7 PM AA Meetings are held at the church on Wednesday evenings beginning at 7 PM PW Fall Mission Project -- Socks and Underwear We are collecting socks and underwear for the children at Corry and Columbus Schools. All sizes for boys and girls in Pre-K through 5th grades are needed. A few of the items will be given to Love INC for two of their families with children. The rest will be given to the school nurses. The collection will be on-going through October. There is a large basket on the table in the entry for the items. If you have any questions, please contact PW Mission Chairperson, Nancy Hasbrouck, at 664-4045 or [email protected] or any other member of the PW Coordinating Team. Thank you for your support of this project. PW Coordinating Team: Kathy Hou, Amy Beason, Janet Beckwith, Marge Harvey, Bev Mercer, Barb DuBois, Nancy Hasbrouck No Handbell Practice this week – September 11th. 150th Anniversary Celebration Reservations for the dinner are due by Friday, September 12th. There is a sign-up sheet at the church or you may call your reservation in to the church office at 814-665-3827. This Fridays movie is Moms Night Out, 6:30 in the church library. Popcorn will be served. Serving the Church Sunday, September 14th Don and Myra Eyman, Greeters and Lois Barton, Liturgist Building and Grounds will meet on Sunday, September 14 at 7:00 PM. Session will meet on Monday, September 15 at 7:00 PM. Newsletter Deadline for the October issue is Wednesday, September 17. Have you read a good book lately? Would you be willing to write up a synopsis of the book for the GOOD READ section of the newsletter? If so, please submit your “book report” to the office by the newsletter deadline. Blood Drive for the Red Cross Thursday, September 18 from 11:30 AM – 6:00 PM. Memorial Service for Grace Burr will be held here at the church on Saturday, September 27th. Visitation will be held at 10:00 AM with the memorial service at 11:00 AM. Annual Fall Rummage and Bake Sale will be Friday and Saturday, October 3 and 4 from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM and 9:30 – 11:30 AM respectfully. Items are needed. Please do not bring items in for the rummage sale until Monday, September 29 as we have no room to store things. Also, bake sale items can be brought in Friday morning. Sermon Cliff’s Notes: Exodus 14:19-31 Matthew 18:21-35 Our passages this week are an extension of last week’s Biblical texts. The Lord instituted the Passover feast for the Israelites on the same night as the last and deadliest plague was cast upon the first born of all living things in Egypt. The Hebrew people were preparing for their exodus from slavery at the hands of the Egyptians. This week the Egyptian army is in hot on the heels of the fleeing Hebrew people. The angel of the Lord was protecting God’s people in the form of a cloud that stood between the Egyptian and Israelite armies. Moses parted the waters of the sea through the power of the Lord, allowing the escaping Israelites to walk on dry land to the other side. Pharaoh’s army followed the Israelites into the sea but became entrenched in the muck and mire of the divided sea floor. The sea returned to the original status and the Egyptian army was drowned by the walls of water. The escaping Hebrew people realized the saving power of the Lord and the hand of God upon their leader, Moses. Last week Matthew was describing to his Jewish / Christian church how to deal with unrepentant individuals within the community of faith and how to pray and worship as brothers and sisters of the faith. This week Matthew builds upon those themes to develop the topic of forgiveness. Matthew records how Peter questions Jesus how many times that a believer should forgive those who sin against us. Peter suggests seven time but Jesus responds with a surprising number of seventy-seven times or some commentators imply seventy times seven (Gen. 4:15, Gen. 4:24, Lev. 26:18). Jesus answers Peter’s question with a parable about a Gentile king who is settling his accounts with a supervising servant who has created an unimaginable debt. The vast sum is recorded as 10,000 talents. One talent was equivalent to 15 years wages of the common laborer. Wishing to recover his assets, the king orders the slave, his family, and his possessions to be sold. The slave begs for mercy and assures the king he will work to repay the debt. Realizing this would be an impossible task; the king takes pity and releases the slave from the debt. A short time later, the forgiven servant deals harshly with a slave who owes the servant only 100 denarii (100 days wages). Although the slave begged for mercy, the servant tossed the slave into debtor’s prison. When other slaves heard of the servant’s harsh treatment of his slave, they reported his unmerciful deeds to the king. The king summoned the servant, rescinds his forgiveness of the debt, and sentenced the servant to torture until the full amount of the debt could be repaid, “‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you,’” (vv. 32-33). Matthew allegorizes the parable by implying that God is the king, the debt is sin, the servant is one who has been forgiven an enormous sin, and the slave is one who has been forgiven an ordinary sin. We would do well to remember that God’s grace has been extended to us as a free gift and we should also extend the same forgiveness to all those within the community of faith as well as those outside the church who have yet to realize our Lord’s message of salvation. The Lord has saved us just as he saved the escaping Israelites. If we do not forgive the debts and trespasses of others they will peruse us much like the perusing Egyptian army chased the Israelites. Once we realize how much we have been forgiven, we can forgive our neighbors of their minor sins.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 13:29:40 +0000
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