Annual Conference

Jenny and I are off to Annual Conference. Linda has our cell phone numbers and can reach us in case of an emergency. Also Stephen Ministers are on call.

Posted by John

Habitat for Humanity Taking Applications

From Rev. Susan Daniel-Brey,

Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County is currently in the process of taking applications for our newest Partner Family. Construction will begin this summer in Cherryvale, once a family is selected. If you are interested in becoming involved in other ways, please contact us using my phone or the e-mail address shown above.

I don't want to post Susan's phone or email online, but if you get in touch with the church office, we'll be glad to pass any information along.

Posted by John

Wenesday Worship begins Next Week

A friendly reminder that our "Wednesday Casual Contemporary Service" begins not this Wednesday, but the next (June 7).

Posted by John

No Book Study this Week

Because of Annual Conference this week, there will be no The Overload Syndrome book study this week on Tuesday or Thursday. We'll pick up next week.

Posted by John

Annual Conference Next Week

Annual Conference begins next Wednesday, May 31 and ends Saturday, June 3. John, Jenny and every other pastor in the Kansas East Conference will be at Baker University in Baldwin City. Linda will have our cell phone numbers in case of an emergency. We'll be back for Sunday worship.

Posted by John

T-shirt Update

The second round of t-shirts have arrived and are available for pick-up in the church office. Just a reminder to wash them inside out in cold water.

Posted by John

All (Air Conditioning) Systems Go

All the thermostats are now hooked up and the AC is working throughout the building. These are programable thermostats. If you are too hot or too cold press the red up arrow to move the temperature up and the blue down arrow to move the temperature down. The thermostat will hold it at that temperature for 4 hours before reverting back to its program. I must say the office will be a much more pleasant place to work this summer.

Posted by John

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on DVD

The church library now has a copy of the movie version of C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe available on DVD for checkout.

Posted by John

Trees

Yesterday evening the youth group planted five Easter Redbuds on the west side of the church building. Be sure to drive by and take a look.

Posted by John

Difficulties with 9:00 am Worship Service

Jenny and I have recently been alerted to the fact that some people would have real difficulty in attending a 9:00 am service because of health issues. We're considering what The Book of Worship calls "A Midweek Service of Prayer and Testimony" or an "Evening/Night Service of Praise and Prayer" as supplements, but not complete replacements, for the Sunday Service. These would be brief services, possibly Wednesday evening in the chapel. We would appreciate any input you have to offer.

Posted by John

New Summer Worship Schedule

The Church Council met last night and approved a new summer worship Schedule from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We will be worshiping together in one service at 9:00 am followed by Sunday school at 10:15 am. We'll return to our regular worship schedule the Sunday after Labor Day.

Posted by John

Da Vinci Code Decoder Key

The following was published in the May 16 edition of The Christian Century. My own additions are in [brackets].

With the expected release this month of the film version of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, we offer these reminders of some of the more prominent errors and fanciful ideas that the novel presents as true or plausible:

• Parchments discovered in Paris's Bibliotheque Nationale contain information about the ancient Priory of Sion, a secret society that has been guarding the knowledge that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had children and that their descendants were later part of the Merovingian line of French kings. [Anyone who has read about the Merovingian line of French kings can appreicate the audacity of this claim.] Actually, these documents--and the Priory of Sion--have been exposed as a 20th-century hoax. [Nicely debunked by CBS's 60 Minutes recently.] The documents were the subject of Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982), by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, a book generally regarded as without scholarly merit. (Baigent and Leigh accused Brown of plagiarizing their book. In April a judge in London rejected their claim.)
• Publication of the secret "Q" document (which is being guarded by the Priory of Sion) would overturn the church's account of Christian origins. Actually, the existence of the Q document is a scholarly hypothesis regarding the source of Gospel materials. This hypothetical document is well known to--indeed, it is posited by--Christian scholars.
• The emperor Constantine at the fourth-century Council of Nicea upgraded Jesus' status to divinity in order to prop up his own political power. Actually, all parites at the council agreed that Jesus was divine; the issues was the nature of that divinity. [Quickly summarized: was Jesus of the same or similiar substance of the Father? The council's answer: the same.]
• The early church adopted Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the canonical Gospels because they omit earthly aspects of Jesus' life; the church rejected gnostic gospels for the canon because those writings speak of Christ's ministry in very human terms. Actually, the opposite is more nearly the case. The Gospels present an at-times scandalously human Jesus, whereas the gnostic gospels assume a radical body-soul dualism and display an antagonism between God and all things material. [The gnostics were also convinced that they had secret knowledge about who Jesus really was, so one can see why Dan Brown would by sympathetic to them, he is, in effect, a modern day gnostic.]
• References to a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene "kept recurring in the gospels" and the marriage is a "matter of historical record." No such reference or record exists.
• Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper mural depicts John, the "beloved disciple," as a woman. Actually, Renaissance conventions called for John to be depicted with long hair.

United Methodists and the Front Page

Wow ... United Methodists are just all over the front page of The Coffeyville Journal. Congratulations to Brian Walker who appeared Sunday and Danny Funk who appeared today.

Posted by John

New High Chair

The new highchair arrived today.

Posted by John

Highchairs and Booster Seats

In an attempt to be more family-friendly we ordered a new highchair and two booster seats for the church. The booster seats have arrived and the highchair should be hear soon.

Posted by John

Internet Based Fax Service

Linda and I are trying to trim costs in the church office. Currently our separate fax line is costing us $54.28 a month. We would like to drop it. One possibility seems to be internet fax services. Anyone have any experience with these?

Posted by John

Office AC

The portion of the air conditioning system that cools the office and choir room has been installed and is working. Installation of the entire system should complete in three weeks.

Posted by John

Coffeyville's Newest Salvage Yard? ... No!

If you've driven by the parsonage recently you may be wondering if Jenny, Elizabeth and I are starting a salvage yard. We're not. All the stuff is from the bricklayer who is replacing some bricks in the parsonage that have gone bad.

Posted by John

Solo During Communion

The song that Dr. Dan Frizane sung during communion today was O The Depth of Love Divine by Charles Wesley to music composed by Dr. Gene Lowry a former professor of preaching at Saint Paul School of Theology. O The Depth of Love Divine is one of Chuck's best hymns on communion.

Here are the words:

O the depth of love dine, the unfathomable grace!
Who can say how bread and wine God into us conveys!
How the bread his flesh imparts, how the wine transmits his blood,
fills his faithful people's hearts with all the life of God!

Let the wisest mortals show how we the grace receive;
feeble elements bestow a power not theirs to give.
Who explains the wondrous way, how through these the virtue [power] came?
These the virtue did convey, yet still remain the same.

How can spirits heavenward rise, by earthly matter fed,
drink here with divine supplies and eat immortal bread?
As the Father's widsom how: Christ who did the means ordain;
angels round our altars bow to search it out in vain.

Sure and real is the grace, the manner be unknown;
only meet us in thy ways and perfect us in one.
Let us taste the heavenly powers, Lord we ask for nothing more.
Thine to bless 'tis only ours to wonder and adore.

Hopefully, after we've heard Dr. Frizane sing it a few times, we'll be able to sing it together.

Posted by John

T-Shirt Care

Our first order of t-shirts came in. Here are the care instructions: turn inside out and wash in cool and tumble dry low.

Posted by John

Congratulations to Jason Helkenberg

Congratulations to Jason Helkenberg who made the front page of The Coffeyville Journal for placing third in television (video) production at the state leadership conference of SkillsUSA.

Posted by John

T-Shirts Deadline

The Deadline for ordering T-Shirts will be May 15. Front and back designs are below:

Front (please note that this is a small image on the front left of the t-shirt):


Back (please note that this is actually bigger than the logo above and stretches accross the back of the shirt):

Prices are $7 for sizes up to and including XL and $9 for sizes XXL and XXXL.

We also have mousepads for $7.

Mousepad:


Posted by John.

Multi-Media Fund Update

We received $677 last Sunday for the multi-media fund. This brings the total amount raised to $3,048 or about 14% of our $22,000 goal. As previously announced, we have completed phase I and the portable screen and projector are already in use.

Posted by John

Working from Home Tomorrow

Jenny has District Board of Professional Ministry meetings all day tomorrow, so I'll be working out of the house to better keep and eye on Elizabeth. Feel free to call.

Posted by John

Paraments

Fabric for new paraments (the "table cloths" on the altar) was purchased today. Be on the lookout for something new in the chapel and (after Easter) the sanctuary.

Posted by John

Video Camera Needed

The trustees are doing some work on the valuation of church property for insurance purposes. It would be very helpful if someone with a video camera that (preferably one that records to DVD's) would be willing to go from room to room and film the contents. Please let the church office know if you are able and willing to help with this important task.

Posted by John