Sunday, July 23, 2006

 

Church bulletin notes and quotes

The church to which ER belongs. I love it. But it still burns my ol' Baptist eyeballs sometimes! Amen and amen!

--ER


x x x

"If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth."

-- Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Tribe, letter to President Franklin Pierce.

x x x

The Prayer of Confession:

Lord of Life, we come this morning not to see or be seen, but to lose ourselves in the search for truth, and find ourselves in service to others. The world is weary of itself -- its addictions, its impatience, its greed. Turn us, we pray, from love of things, to love of one another. And save us from all form of idolatry, lest we waste our days in wanting foolishly. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.


x x x

(ER's personal prayer: May Israel do what it must do quickly; may Israel and the world care for the women, children and other innocents; may none forget the human cost of war as politics by desperate means. Amen.)

x x x

"Attention parents: Kay Bessler Northcutt is the pulpit series speaker on July 30. The subject of Ms. Bessler's message that morning is on David raping Bathsheba and she has asked that no children younger than middle school be in services that day (and, rather, be in Sunday school or child care.)"

x x x

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Two metro-area churches committed to welcoming gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) individuals into their congregations -- St. Stephen's United Methodist Church in Norman and Epworth United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City -- will host a weekend of workshops and worship July 29 and 30 featuring Rev. Troy Plummer, executive director of the Reconciling Ministries Network.

Read all about it.

Comments:
Allow me to "Amen" ER's personal prayer.
 
This is probably way off-topic, but reading about David and Bathsheeba reminds me of the abortion debate. There are those folks who think abortion should be outlawed :except in the case of rape". What? Either you believe that humanity begins at conception, or you don't. You can't have it both ways. That position can be translated to, "a woman should be forced to bear an unwanted child if the conception was in any way her fault."

Soloman was the fruit of a rape*, and he was favored by God because he took his job seriously and cared about his subjects. In other words, he was judged by the content of his character instead of his origin.

*The Bible doesn't specify her complicity, but since David was The King, she could hardly refuse.
 
Good points, Miss C. And David was a "man after God's own heart." Why? Not because he was more pious or less sinful than others, obviously. I think it was because he dragged his whole sorry arse before God constantly -- sins, warts, doubts, fears, arrogances, power trips, successes, crashes-and-burns, start-overs and all.

Just as he was, so to speak.
 
Could hardly refuse? Well that's certain. After all, David had her husband killed in battle, despite the numerous times he tried to be loyal to David. Should be an interesting sermon.
 
Dang it, I just realized I'm supposed to be in Texas this weekend. Grrrr. Welp, I can hear it on the radio the next Sunday ...
 
Read 2 Samuel 12:14-23

Solomon was indeed the son of David and Bathsheba, but the child that was the product of David's sin died shortly after birth. Solomon is the product of a subsequent coupling.
 
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