March 19 19, , 2017 2017 Please share what is going on with you - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Welcome t to West Elkton Friends Meeting March 19 19, , 2017 2017

Please share what is going on with you

We are still collecting Hygiene and dry good products for Camden Food Pantry

The March for Science in Oxford, Ohio will be held on Saturday, April 22. This is a chance to demonstrate publicly in support of science, reason, and objective facts. Muriel Blasdell will be a speaker and is one of the organizers of the event. Several scientists will speak about the importance of science in our world and why. Meet in front of Armstrong Student Center 550 East Spring Street, Oxford, OH, 45056. at 11:30 to March. March to the Slant Walk for the Rally to be held. The Slant Walk is on the edge of campus. Across the street from Skippers where the Gate entrance to campus is. This will begin at noon.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

• God. The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was

• made. In him was life; and the life was the light within people.

And the light shone in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. The Christ Light within me is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same

• Spirit. There are different ways to serve the same Lord, and we can each do

different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we

• do. The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.

The Christ Light within me is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. And one of its purpose is to serve others.

Count it a blessing when you suffer for being a Christian. This shows that God’s glorious Spirit is with you. But you deserve to suffer if you are a murderer, a thief, a crook, or a busybody. Don’t be ashamed to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God that you belong to him. God has already begun judging his own people. And if his judgment begins with us, imagine how terrible it will be for those who refuse to obey his message. The Scriptures say, “If good people barely escape, what will happen to sinners and to others who don’t respect God?” If you suffer for obeying God, you must have complete faith in your faithful Creator and keep on doing right. The Christ Light within me is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Another reason it is here is to convict me when I am not doing right and to lead me always towards doing right. We must be willing to remain stable and show integrity, not varying from our seeking of God’s will, and our willingness to admit to and remove sin from our lives, even when our lives are not going seemingly well.

Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father who made the heavenly lights, in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting

• shadow. In accordance with his will he made us his children by the word of truth, so that we

might become the most important of his creatures. You must understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.For human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, rid yourselves of everything impure and every expression of wickedness, and with a gentle spirit welcome the Christ Within planted in you that can save your souls. Keep on being obedient to the Christ Within, and not merely being hearers who deceive themselves. For if anyone hears the Christ Within but is not obedient to it, he is like a man who looks at himself in a mirrorand studies himself carefully, and then goes off and immediately forgets what he looks like. The Christ Light within me is the same yesterday, and today, and forever,

We will not be Shaken The video will serve as our Offertory Hymn

In Good times and in Bad, God never changes, and neither does God’s will. If we wait on the Lord and follow God’s precepts, we will not be likely to be movable and the world will benefit; We will find a peace inside that flows and nourishes us to remain steady and strong.

British Dictionary definitions for ”Christ Within”

Inner Light

noun

1.(Quakerism) the presence and inner working of God in the soul; a guiding spirit that is superior even to Scripture and unites man to Christ

In much of the modern Western world past events are seen primarily in terms of "happenedness," a certain action happening at a certain time and

• place. Events can be described by the data-based

mode of thought that answers the questions of what, when, who, where, and how, and often only incidentally addresses the question of why. And yet that question of why, the question of the enduring significance of events, is usually far more

• important. Especially when it comes to

remembering events in terms of the Faith, the event is not so much about the facts and the data as it is recalling the role of that event in a larger

• ngoing story, in God's story and in our own story.

It is not that the "happenedness" is irrelevant. It is more a matter of how to appropriate the event in terms of its ongoing significance for the continuing community, for us.

Throughout Scripture, in both Old and New Testaments, God's people are called to remember (for example, Psa 105). But they are not called to remember events for the sake of the event. They are called to remember because those events are part of who they are, and what they will

• become. It is in this mode of remembering, of re-presenting the events
• f the past as part of a living story that has not yet ended, a story in

which we still participate, that the events become more than dates and

• places. They become markers of a journey as those who were no people

become a people (Ex 6:7, 1 Peter 2:10), as those who grope awkwardly in the darkness come into the light of God's presence (Isa 9:2, John 8:12), as those who were far off draw ever nearer to God and his grace.

Psalm 103: 15 A person’s life is like grass—

it blossoms like wild flowers,

16 but when the wind blows through it,

it withers away and no one remembers where it was.

17 Yet the LORD’s gracious love remains

throughout eternity for those who fear him and his righteous acts extend to their children’s children,

18 to those who keep his covenant

and to those who remember to observe his precepts.

The journey of our Faith as modern Christians is not only a journey through history that can be marked by events in the past. It is also a journey of our own personal commitment to God, of our own growth as a community of Faith and as individuals maturing from self-centered children into faithful servants. It is a journey that we need to remember just as deeply and profoundly as we remember the journey of God's people across 3,000 years of human history, or the journey of Jesus from Pilate’s Hall to Golgotha. (http://www.crivoice.org/stations.html)

The Via Dolorosa (Latin: "Way of Grief," "Way of Sorrows," "Way of Suffering" or simply "Painful Way"; Hebrew: הזורולוד היו ; Arabic: ملبلأا قيرط ) is a street within the Old City of Jerusalem, held to be the path that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion.

Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as Way

• f Sorrows or Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus

Christ on the day of his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The stations grew out of imitations of Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem which is believed to be the actual path Jesus walked to Golgotha. The object

• f the stations is to help the Christian faithful to make a spiritual

pilgrimage through contemplation of the Passion of Christ. It has become one of the most popular devotions and the stations can be found in the churches of many Western Christian denominations.

March 19, 2017 The Last Supper The Agony in Gethsemane Jesus is Condemned to Death March 26, 2017 Jesus is Scourged and Crowned with Thorns Jesus Carries the Cross Jesus Falls under the Weight of the Cross April 2, 2017 Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross The Good Thief April 9, 2017 Palm Sunday Mary and John at the Foot

• f the Cross

Jesus Dies on the Cross April 16, 2017 Easter Jesus is Laid in the Tomb Jesus Rises from Death

Matthew 27: 19-21. 26a, 27a, 30

Then evening came, Jesus was sitting at the table with the Twelve.21 While they were eating, he said, “I tell all of you with certainty, one of you is going to betray me.”

26While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of

bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and handed it to the disciples.

27 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to

• them. 30 After singing a hymn, they went out to the

Mount of Olives.

You are surrounded by your friends, but some have betrayed you, and some are too unreliable. Still you must be humble, not defensive and not absorbed in anger, but willing to be their servants, and their friends. You show grace, and you enjoy their fellowship, and you are thankful to God for these imperfect relationships with imperfect people. You don’t let their failures move you from what it is that you must do or who you are. You know a better way. You speak truth to them, but you do not argue with them and you do not get absorbed in their

• problems. You serve them, and together with those who have

faults, you worship God in fellowship and song.

The Agony in Gethsemane

36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called

• Gethsemane. He told the disciples, “Sit down here

while I go over there and pray.”

38 Then he told them, “I’m so deeply grieved that I feel

I’m about to die. Wait here and stay awake with me.”

39 Going on a little farther, he fell on his face and

prayed, “O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not what I want but what you want.”

40 When he went back to the disciples, he found them

• asleep. He told Peter, “So, you men couldn’t stay

awake with me for one hour, could you? 41 All of you must stay awake and pray that you won’t be

• tempted. The spirit is indeed willing, but the body is

weak.”

You leave this place of comfort to seek peace and guidance. Centering down is hard, and there are harsh realities around you. You ask your friends for help in their prayers, but instead of praying with you, they are distracted by their own lives, or, worse, falling asleep. You desperately need to pray, to find comfort with these people whom you are leaving soon. They sleep instead of being with you in your agony. All alone in your time of trouble. You could get self absorbed as well. You could model after them and just give up on prayer all together. But instead of being distracted, you ask for God’s will. You are there to pray, not judge them.

Matthew 26: 42 He went away a

second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cup cannot go away unless I drink it, let your will be done.”

You pray until you weep. Before you know it, you are face down on the ground, disliking your options in your

• life. You could say it is God’s will for you to be doing

something a lot less painful, and people would

• understand. You could stay here in this position as their

leader longer. You could say your work is not done. There is that temptation, but it passes as you focus on what it is you are supposed to be doing. God’s will can be so tough at times.

Look! The time is near for the Son of Man to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Get up! Let’s go! See, the one who is betraying me is near!”

47 Just then, while Jesus was still speaking, Judas,

• ne of the Twelve, arrived. A large crowd armed with

swords and clubs was with him. They were from the high priests and elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer personally had given them a signal, saying, “The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him.”

.

49 So Judas immediately went up

to Jesus and said, “Hello, Rabbi!” and kissed him tenderly.

50 Jesus asked him, “Friend, why

are you here?” Then the other men surged forward, took hold

• f Jesus, and arrested him.

51 Suddenly, one of the men with Jesus

reached out his hand, drew his sword, and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his

• ear. 52 Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in

its place! Everyone who uses a sword will be killed by a sword. 53 Don’t you think that I could call on my Father, and he would send me more than twelve legions of angels now?54 How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say this must happen?”

55 At this point, Jesus asked the crowds, “Have

you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as if I were a bandit? Day after day I sat teaching in the Temple, yet you didn’t arrest

• me. 56 But all of this has happened so that the

writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted Jesus and ran away.

Your friends act in very human instead of settled or spiritual ways. One of your friends, one they even call your brother, kisses you and you know it is the one closest to you that is betraying you. One of your friends, instead of being stable and focused, gets angry and

• verreacts. You try to remedy the situation because what they are

doing is causing more chaos and harm. And you could run from it all. You could disappear. You remember to focus on God’s will, focus on what you are supposed to be doing for God. You turn and they are all gone, and you are left alone, no friends around to give you comfort or support. Instead of focusing on the betrayals, you focus on God’s will, and what you must do next. Not because they don’t matter, but because God matters more.

Jesus is Condemned to Death

Matthew 27: 1-2, 12-14 When morning came, all the high priests and elders of the people conspired against Jesus to put him to death. 2 They bound him with chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pontius Pilate, the governor. 12 While Jesus was being accused by the high priests and elders, he made no

• reply. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you

hear how many charges they’re bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus did not reply at all, so that the governor was very surprised.

This person in power or leadership seems to have it all wrong. You want to correct him. Instead, you stand quietly. You are accused by your closest coworkers of something you did not do. Politics has gotten involved in something you thought was not political, and you feel like you are suffering as a result. You could be eaten up with anger or spouting off things in your own defense. But you only stand in silence as he orders the worst that could happen to you. You spy a friend to the side who could have said something in your defense, and your friend says nothing, but hides. You have to trust God to get you through this.

We have always seen that life is complicated. But we try to remain simple, to hear God’s voice, to feel God’s leadership, and even when tempted, to avoid doing anything that does not show integrity and

• humility. Sometimes we are hurt by others, but we

know God watches and that all will work better in the future. How is this scene like your life? How can you relate? In what ways are you consistently like Christ? In what ways do you need to rely more on your Inner Christ for Christian consistency?

Let us join our hearts in open

• worship. If God leads you to speak,

please do. If not, be awake and pray with us, as we seek God’s will and the strength to do God’s will as a community, a meeting, and individually. Closing Hymn #120 Fairest Lord Jesus