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Faith Formation for ALL ages

May 29, 2022


Earth is so thick with divine possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins on altars.

Barbara Brown Taylor


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Lectionary for 7th Sunday of Easter


Acts 16:16-34 / Psalm 97 / Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 / John 17:20-26

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Paul and Silas in Prison

One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a female slave who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

 

But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.  When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men, these Jews, are disturbing our city and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us, being Romans, to adopt or observe.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.


About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lordto him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.  He brought them up into the house and set food before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.


Acts 16:16-34, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Slapstick Theater (Paul and Silas)

Slapstick Theater (Paul and Silas)



“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 



John 17:20-23, NRSVUE

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The Adventurous Lectionary from Patheos
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God's Story - Paul
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Coming this summer!

Vermilion Labyrinth and Contemplative Garden


Learn more about something happening this summer at our church!


read more here

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The labyrinth project has begun and is starting to take shape.

Watch for updates and opportunities to help construct the site, just like Anne and Rich did. I promise, it will not always be so muddy!

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United Church of Christ, Congregational | website

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