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Thursday, October 26, 2023

Dear Shawnee UMC Family,

Please join us for Worship

this Sunday

in-person or on Facebook Live at 10:30am.

The Scripture for Pastor Changsu's message will be:

1 Kings 19:5-9

Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9 At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’

The Tuesday Lectionary Group invites you to share some of your favorite scriptures, which we will then share with all members.

Please email them to:

maryann13fenstermacher@gmail.com.

Here are this week's scriptures for study and meditation:

Psalm 32:1-7 The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is over, is truly happy! The one the Lord doesn't consider guilty--in whose spirit there is no dishonesty--that one is truly happy! When I kept quiet, my bones wore out; I was groaning all day long--every day, every night!--because your hand was heavy upon me. My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. So I admitted my sin to you; I didn't conceal my guilt. "I'll confess my sins to the Lord," is what I said. Then you removed the guilt of my sin. That's why all the faithful should pray to you during troubled times, so that a great flood of water won't reach them. You are my secret hideout! You protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of rescue!

Jeremiah 29:7-14 Promote the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because your future depends on its welfare. The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Don't let the prophets and diviners in your midst mislead you. Don't pay attention to your dreams. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I didn't send them, declares the Lord. The Lord declares: When Babylon's seventy years are up, I will come and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. When you call me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. When you search for me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me. I will be present for you, declares the Lord, and I will end your captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have scattered you, and I will bring you home after your long exile, declares the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:3-10 I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once--most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles and last of all he appeared to me, as if I were born at the wrong time. I'm the least important of the apostles. I don't deserve to be called an apostle because I harassed God's church. I am what I am by God's grace, and God's grace hasn't been for nothing. In fact, I have worked harder than all the others--that is, it wasn't me but the grace of God that is with me.

Matthew 11:10-15 "... He is the one of whom it is written: Look, I'm sending my messenger before you, who will prepare your way before you. I assure you that no one who has ever been born is greater than John the Baptist. Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is violently attacked as violent people seize it. All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John came. If you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. Let the person who has ears, hear..."