The Weekly GOOD NEWS newsletter of ALL SOULS ECC

The weekly Newsletter of

ALL SOULS ECC

A Welcoming Family of Faith!

Thank you to everyone who came out to our FALL HARVEST POT LUCK! It was a good evening to relax and be with the All Souls Family.

We also kicked off our Blanket/Towel campaign! So bring in your new or gently used Blankets and Towels over the next few weeks so that we can donate them to the clients of Opportunity House.

Our annual meeting is just around the corner on November 5. Please join us for FEAST DAY Celebration at 1:00 pm with our Annual Meeting. Let your voice be heard on several issues (see below).

We hope you enjoy this issue of the Good News – with this weeks scriptures, hymns, and other information. Feel free to share with friends and family.

This weeks readings and question of the week

Take time to mediate on God’s word and prepare for worship this Sunday. And as you meditate on them, consider the Question of the Week: Because we only love God as much as the neighbor we love the least, whom do I need to look at differently this week if I hope to look more like God?

Exodus 22:20-26

Psalm 18:2-4, 47, 51

Thessolonians 1:5c-10

Matthew 22:34-40

Matthew 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Too often in the church, “love” is used as an excuse to take the path of least resistance instead of the path of excellence. When telling the truth would be uncomfortable, we practice equivocation and call it “love.” How frequently “love” is code for smiling at biblical illiteracy and winking at theological incompetence!

Our definition of “love” is often suspiciously easy on and for us. But this is not the definition of love that Jesus is working with in Matthew. The Jesus we see in these stories thinks that to love God with the whole self, with “all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind” (verse 37) is demanding and risky. Following the path of love leads him to jump into debates and conflicts with his whole self. Love leads Jesus into all kinds of situations that are not just uncomfortable, but dangerous. Eventually, love gets him killed.

Of course, we are none of us Jesus. For us, charity always demands humility. But there is much to learn by seeing the love of Jesus in action. The same love that inspired Jesus to eat with the outcast, reach out to the untouchable, and embrace the powerless, also drove him to confront the demonic, outmaneuver the manipulative, and correct the clueless. Jesus was no pushover and the story of his ultimate decision to relinquish power for the sake of his Father’s mysterious will is all the more fascinating against the backdrop of these accounts of his prowess in the face of his enemies. Jesus is a lot more complicated than we sometimes pretend, and the love he taught demands that we expand our whole selves for God and neighbor — striving for excellence in all we think, say, and do.

Blanket & Towel Collection

We will be collecting blankets and towels (new or gently used) for Opportunity House clients through Thanksgiving.

As we move into the winter months and become more thoughtful and thankful that all that we have, please think of those with no home or bed and see what you are able to donate. THANK YOU.

FEAST DAY and ANNUAL MEETING – November 5

We hope you will join us on Sunday, November 5 for our annual meeting – and celebration of our Feast Day.

We remember our loved ones at 1:00 pm with our All Saints Worship Service. Following worship will be our POT LUCK and Annual Meeting. We hope you will plan to join your All Souls Family for this celebration!

VOTING ISSUES: Let your voice be heard!

  • Board Members
  • Christmas Eve Service times
  • 2018 Parish Picnic (locations, times, etc.)
  • Outreach

FALL BOARD MEETINGS ANNOUNCED

NEW BOARD MEMBERS NEEDED

All members are welcome to attend board meetings. Meetings begin at 6:00 pm. You are welcome to observe and stay for the entire meeting (usually about 2 -3 hours), or you may just come at the beginning to share your thoughts, ideas, concerns, new ministry dreams, etc. Our Fall meetings are as follows:

  • Thursday, August 17
  • Wednesday, September 20
  • Wednesday, October 18
  • Tuesday, November 14
  • Tuesday, December 12

We will be looking for two new board members for 2018 – so if your interested in learning more about what a board member does, please talk to any current board member or join us for any of these meetings.

How are you doing answering this past week’s question of the week?

How am I faithfully exercising faithful, responsible citizenship? Is it time for me to join or initiate a concrete outreach to identify and address specific needs in my community?