Jesus chose to love us

God’s promise in the cross

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV)

Jesus willingly suffered and died for us. In fact, he didn’t suffer for just one person; he chose to suffer for all the people in the world!

John 19 describes some of Jesus’ suffering: “²⁸ After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So, they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth” (John 19:28-29 NRSV).

Jesus was in agony on the cross—and he was thirsty. He was suffering not just from pain but also from great thirst.

Jesus didn’t deserve to suffer for everyone’s sin. We each deserve to suffer for our own sins. But Jesus was willing to suffer and thirst for you so that you can go to heaven.

Jesus did nothing wrong. He committed no crimes. He didn’t hurt anyone. He lived a perfect life. So why did they kill him?

Jesus died for the redemption of others. He was thirsty for your benefit.

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NIV).

Jesus’ love for us is so great, so deep, and so wide that he was willing to take our sins as his own and cover them with his righteousness. Our sins cost him his life. He considers us worth!

Jesus suffered so that we don’t have to. He went through hell on the cross, so we don’t have to go through hell for eternity. He covered us and protected us from the punishment and pain.

He willingly died so we could have eternal life. He chose to suffer to buy our redemption. We never have to wonder how much God loves us.

The Bible says that every one of us sins and that the penalty of sin is death. But God loves us so much that he sent his Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty of our sins, to bring us into the family of God, and to save us from the fear of death.

Join me for the Lenten Bible Study – “The Easter Experience”

every Thursday 10 AM & 7 PM. See you then!

Our JWUMC Media Team is always committed to bringing us the best possible online worship experience. To that end, they have been streaming the live service via Facebook*. The link above will take you directly to the video page for our church. You will use that same link to watch the video after the live service if you aren't able to join us at 10:00 a.m. Thank you to our dedicated Media Team for all their hard work to keep us connected!

*You do not have to have a Facebook account to watch the service.

A Prayer Minister will be available at the back corner of Dunlap Hall, for at least 15 minutes after the benediction. Masks will be worn when requested.

Prayer Minister for this Sunday - Cheryl Harper

Lenten Bible Study - at Augsburg Lutheran Tuesdays @ 11:00 a.m.

Theme: “Swords and Plowshares”

• March 21 – “Restoration Leads to Peace”
• March 28 – “God’s Gift of Peace - Jesus”

“So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived! All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” -2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (CEB)

Have you ever heard someone say, “I forgive you, but I’ll never forget?” It is the question I began with yesterday, as once again I had the privilege to lead our coalition Bible study. Our theme this year is “Swords Into Plowshares.” During yesterday’s session we explored Scriptures to see how forgiveness and reconciliation leads to peace.

Forgiveness is to stop feelings of resentment and anger against those who may have wronged us. Reconciliation is forgiveness in action; it is to embrace the offender and let them back into our lives. True forgiveness cannot happen without reconciliation. To say, “I forgive you, but I won’t forget”! means that I will continue to hold a grudge. When reconciliation follows after forgiveness, we improve the chances of joy, peace, hope, and light to enter our life.

Forgiveness and reconciliation is the central theme of the Bible. It is God’s grace and mercy working through his Son, Jesus Christ, to forgive our sin and accept us back into relationship with him. Jesus made it very plain that we are to forgive others, even our enemies, because God has forgiven us. In fact, he tells us our offerings are not acceptable until after we have reconciled with our brother. He says in Matthew 5:24, “Leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

Today is almost the midpoint of this year’s Lenten season. As we continue our journey toward Easter morning, I hope that all of us, starting with me, will ask ourselves, “Who do I need to forgive; Who do I need to let back into my life?” Let us “put our money(or our words) where our mouths are. Jesus did; “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” He did the unexpected, He laid down his life so that we can be forgiven and reconciled back to God.

So, the next time you tell someone, “I forgive you”, I encourage you to add, “and by the grace of God, I choose from this day forward to never remember it again.

            “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Have a blessed and joyful week,

Dave     

Mission Team - Special Sunday

Sunday March 19 is our next Special Sunday Offering. We have the opportunity to join the other United Methodist Churches in supporting the same cause. This month it is UMCOR. UMCOR responds globally to persons in need. Your gifts ensure that UMCOR can respond quickly and in compassion to disaster to disaster and devastation. You support the daily business allowing UMCOR to keep the promise that 100% of any gift will go toward that project.

Please look for the envelope provided for Special Sundays on March 19. Thank you for you donation.

Thank you, John Wesley Family! 

You donated 229 DOZEN cookies for the 24 inmates participating in this weekend’s Kairos Ministry at the Chillicothe Prison. Each inmate in the prison will also receive a dozen chocolate chip cookies, too.

The prayers you “kneaded” into the dough, are now being felt as these men “taste” God’s abundant love! Keep praying for the Kairos team and the men who witness the joy of having a personal relationship with our God.

We donated: 

167 dozen chocolate chip, 15 dozen brownies, 13 dozen sugar, 7 dozen potato chip, 5 dozen oatmeal, 5 dozen peanut butter, gingersnap, 4 dozen pumpkin, 4 dozen snickerdoodle, 3 dozen lemon bars, and 2 dozen sour cream cookies!!!

Keep praying for these men throughout the weekend. Better yet, include these men and all God’s children in your daily prayers.

Church of the Saviour UMC Justice Committee Presents:

A discussion on Affordable Housing by Margaret Fox, Executive Director of MARCC (Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati).

Where: Church of the Saviour Narthex and Sanctuary

              8005 Pfeiffer Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45242

When: Saturday, March 25, 10am-12 Noon

What: Presentation on affordable housing and people experiencing unstable housing situations

Find out what’s happening in our area, what’s being done about it, and what you can do to help.

There will be opportunity for discussion, and light refreshments. The event is free, but if you can bring a canned good or package of diapers, you would be already helping!

For more information, contact Lora Swedberg at [email protected] or Karen VanWagenen at [email protected].

Can you believe VBS is right around the corber? This year's theme is "Hero Hotline". There is an informational meeting on Monday, March 27th, at 7:00 p.m. in the library. There is a sign-up sheet in Dunlap Hall. VBS will take place June 12-16.

Student Life Camp in the Smokies will be June 26th-June 30th. An email has been sent out with additional information. If there is an adult, especially a male, that would be willing to join us, or if you are a youth and want to go on the trip, please let Jennifer Flott know by April 2nd so she can reserve rooms and register everyone for camp.

The Youth Basket Auction

is back!

Please be on the

lookout for more information

coming soon!

Indoor Easter Egg Hunt at JWUMC

Please drop off individually wrapped candy or small toys to be filled inside eggs. There is a sign-up sheet for the Easter Egg Hunt in Dunlap if you want to help out.

ANNUAL UWF EASTER CANDY SALE

UWF will again be selling Easter eggs (light and dark chocolate) in the following flavors: peanut butter, raspberry, chocolate mint and opera cream.

The money goes to missions and for scholarships to Mission U, Assembly, and youth camp. Money is due upon receipt of eggs. Orders will be ready for pick up on March 26 and April 2 after church and we will have limited amounts for sale on both days. 

Look for order blanks in the Sunday Bulletin beginning March 12 or print the form below and bring it to the church. Return order blanks to the UWF mailbox in the office or by the bulletin board in the hall. Due to increased cost of supplies, we have had to slightly increase our prices. If you have questions please call Judy Grigsby 851-4105. If you need to speak to someone at Church speak to Cindy Rahn or Judy Grigsby.

Prayer Chain Refresher

Please ALWAYS send prayer requests to:

[email protected]

Whether it's day, night or weekends, always send your prayer requests to the address above. From that email address, your prayer request will be sent along to the main prayer chain distribution list by me (Christie) or by Tavane. 

Anyone can send a request to the prayer chain. Also, feel free to call the office and we can write down your prayer request and send it out for you.

THIS PART IS VERY IMPORTANT- Please remember, when replying to prayer chain emails, you need to put the person's email address in the TO section of your reply. Otherwise, your response will only come back to the church office.

Thank you to everyone on the prayer chain for their faith and devotion in praying. You all are a powerful bunch! 

"The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace." ~ Psalm 29:11

If you have any questions about this information, or about the Prayer Chain in general, please contact me at [email protected]. 

Matthew 25 Volunteer Opportunities

A friendly reminder that our next opportunity to volunteer is:

• Saturday April 15, 2023 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM

This is open to everyone in the congregation along with friends and family. Our group is generally small and a great way to get to know someone else in the congregation! We always ask for sedentary work, so it won’t be too physically difficult. We will meet in the lobby of Matthew 25 Ministries at 11:00 AM. For your GPS the address is “ 11060 Kenwood Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242”.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Larissa Waldorf at email: [email protected] (home) or [email protected] (work), or both, or call my cell phone 513-488-9169. M25M likes to know how many people to expect. See you then!

Spring Fling Organ Concert

April 16^th, 2023 - 4:00 p.m.

  Rodney Barbour will present an organ concert here at the church!

Tickets will be sold on Sundays starting next week and will also be available at the door:

 $10.00 for adults & $5.00 for children under 12

Proceeds will benefit the Veterans who reside at Goodwill in Springdale

This concert is sponsored by John Wesley’s United Women of Faith

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