Worship Preview

Dear Geneva Family,

This Sunday we are pleased to welcome The Rev. Mark Adams who will be our guest preacher. Rev. Adams is a mission co-worker with the Presbyterian Border Ministries in Agua Prieta, Mexico. He will be preaching a message entitled, Putting Flesh on God's Good News. In preparation for worship, please read Isaiah 61:1-4 and John 1:1-14, and ponder these questions:

What does it mean to you that the "Word became flesh"?

In what ways is that good news?

How has the Word become flesh in your life personally?

What would it mean for the Word to become flesh, not only to you and in you, but also through you?

Also, in preparpation to make it to church at the right time, please remember that it's time to Fall Back! Daylight Savings Time ends at 2am on Sunday morning, so set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed on Saturday night.

Grace and peace,

Cindy Thomas

worship preview

Dear Saints: This coming Saturday, Halloween arrives and people of all ages will put on masks and costumes for an evening of fun. As soon as the trick-or-treating and the parties end, the masks will come off and be stored away. Masks like the ones worn on Halloween are put on and taken off in the course of an evening. But other masks we wear stay in place much longer--sometimes for an entire lifetime. We wear these masks not to have an evening of fun, but to hide our true selves behind what we consider to be a more acceptable facade. We are often afraid to let others see us for who we really are and we create personas that we think will protect us. In a Scripture reading we will be reading this Sunday, Jesus encourages us not to let social pressures keep us from being true to who we really are. He shares this encouragement in Luke 12:1-7. At this point in the gospel, some religious leaders known as Pharisees are pressuring disciples of Jesus to hide their true convictions about Jesus. The Pharisees are waging a campaign of intimidation to frighten the disciples into keeping silent about their faith. Jesus responds by telling his disciples (which includes us!) not to worry about such threats but to worry only about pleasing God. To prepare for worship, please read this passage, which is included below. As you read this passage you might ask yourself these questions: which masks do you wear in your life?, why are these masks worn? what do we get from wearing such masks? what, according to Jesus, is the danger of hiding our true selves? what does this passage challenge you to do? Please note that we will be celebrating communion tomorrow rather than November 1. I had asked the session to approve this change so I might celebrate communion with you prior to my Holy Land pilgrimage. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. In Christ, Bryan 1when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. 4"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies]">? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Bryan's Holy Land Pilgrimage

Dear Saints:

My family and I have been overwhelmed with the kindness and compassion of so many of you in the aftermath of my dad’s death.. I have greatly appreciated your thoughts, prayers, condolences, and articulations of the hope we share in Christ. Your caring has helped us all to move through this time of loss knowing that we were never alone. My gratitude to God for being the pastor of this church has grown even more in these past two weeks along with a sense of pride. What a joy to hear such wonderful reports of how worship was led in the two Sundays I was gone and for the way so many stepped forward in my absence to provide the ministries in this church. Thank you and bless you!

While I am trying to catch up on all the things that I missed while in California, I am also keenly aware that very shortly, I will be leaving again. As I hope you know, Next Wednesday Oct.28, I will begin a two-week pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a group of twenty pastors. This trip is being funded by a generous grand from the CF Foundation as a way to facilitate spiritual renewal for pastors. For me, this trip represents a chance to do much more than “see the sights” of the Holy Land; it’s a God-given opportunity to pursue a deeper connection with God, our ancestors in the faith, and colleagues in ministry. I trust that God will use this pilgrimage to benefit all of us.

In order to make this journey even more meaningful for all of us, I would like to issue a couple of invitations. First, I invite you to join me in spirit as I make my way through this experience. Each day my companions and I will be visiting a different location, and the focus of the reflection for that day will be based on a story from the life of Jesus that is connected with that location. I have attached to this e-mail the itinerary that we will be followingalong with the Scripture passages for our focus for the day. I would invite you to spend some time each day in prayer and reflection on these passages. You may want read and reflect in the manner of lectio divina, placing yourself in the story and allowing the Spirit to speak to you personally through the words.

Secondly, I would be honored to take with me any prayer requests you might have so that I can offer them at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. This spiritual practice has been going on for eons and I invite you to be part of that tradition. You can e-mail me or send me a prayer request and I will collect them all and take them with me and pray over them as I place them in the Wall..

As I prepare for this pilgrimage is, I also want to share that we have been strongly encouraged by the trip leaders to see this trip as a spiritual as well as physical pilgrimage. Since pilgrimage implies leaving behind the familiar, we have been asked to leave our computers and usual means of communication at home. Thus, for the duration of the pilgrimage, you will not hear directly from me and I will not hear directly from you. But each day our leaders will provide an update by means of a blog. Please let me know if you would like to receive these updates and I will see that you get them.

Please keep me in your prayers over the next few days as I prepare for this adventure. Pray for me and my pilgrimage companions that this would be a transformative time and that our hearts would remain open to the work of His Spirit, that as we immerse ourselves in these physical surroundings, the Holy Spirit would immerse our hearts and minds in the living presence of Jesus.

In Christ,

Bryan

worship preview

I recently upgraded my cell phone.  After I finished filling out all the paper work, Katie, my sales rep., told me that I had three days to return the phone if I changed my mind.  That bit of information was appreciated.  It felt reassuring to know that my final decision didn't have to be made immediately but could be postponed a few days.     In contrast to what I was told by Katie, a man in an encounter with Jesus isn't given extra time to make a decision about something far more important than a cell phone.  This encounter is narrated in the gospel of Luke with these words:  "Jesus said to a man, 'Follow me.'  But the man replied, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.'"   This is certainly one of the harder sayings of Jesus.  This Sunday, we will ponder this teaching together to explore its meaning for us.  As you prepare for worship, you might ask yourself, "why does Jesus turn down the man's request for a delay in answering the call to discipleship?  what does 'let the dead bury the dead mean'?  what is your emotional reaction to this passage?  what might be an implication of this passage in your life?   I look forward to seeing what God has in store for us this Sunday as we worship together.   --Bryan