Success? By Whose Yardstick? – True Success

Problems, like the inheritance dispute brought to Jesus here, were often submitted to rabbis to settle.

Jesus’ response to this unnamed questioner sidestepped his surface issue. But it zeroed in on his heart.

Similarly, when we bring a problem to God in prayer, instead of providing the surface solution we’ve requested, He may reveal what we need to change.

 

 

Interact with God’s Word

Luke 12:13-21

1. The prosperous farmer of Jesus’ hypothetical illustration was well positioned (v. 19) for retirement. Was this what Jesus was criticizing?
2. What attitude, implied in verse 15b, made this landowner a fool?
3. What, judging from verse 21, was omitted from the farmer’s priorities?
4. How does the advertising industry work at cross-purposes to the admonition of verse 15a?
5. Are you taking Jesus’ warning seriously? Have you found a way to tune out the constant enticements to buy?
6. How can you concentrate more on your relationship with God and on doing His work?

Spend Time in Prayer:  Ask God to work on your dreams, bringing them into alignment with His “good and pleasing and perfect” will for your life.

Luke 12:13-21

13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Don’t be greedy for what you don’t have. Real life is not measured by how much we own.”

16 And he gave an illustration: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 In fact, his barns were full to overflowing. 18 So he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store everything.

19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?’ 21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Prayer for the Week: I realize, Lord, that I can only become a success in Your eyes if I understand what true success looks like. Please show me.

United Methodist bishops acknowledge breakup is imminent

Disunited Methodists FILE – A gay pride rainbow flag flies along with the U.S. flag in front of the Asbury United Methodist Church in Prairie Village, Kan., on April 19, 2019.

The United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops, ending a five-day meeting on Friday, April 29, 2022, acknowledged the inevitable breakup of their denomination, which will gain momentum during the weekend with the launch of a global movement led by theologically conservative Methodists. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) (Charlie Riedel)

By HOLLY MEYER and DAVID CRARY April 29, 2022 at 4:58 pm EDT

The United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops, ending a five-day meeting Friday, acknowledged the inevitable breakup of their denomination – a schism that will widen this weekend with the launch of a global movement led by theologically conservative Methodists.

The breakaway denomination, called the Global Methodist Church, will officially exist as of Sunday. Its leaders have been exasperated by liberal churches’ continued defiance of UMC bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy.

Bishop Thomas Bickerton, who became the Council of Bishops’ new president Friday, described the launch of the new movement as a “sad and sobering reality.” Bickerton said he regrets any departure from the UMC and values the denomination’s diversity of thought.

“There is no perfect church,” he said. “The constant fighting, the vitriolic rhetoric, the punitive behaviors have no place in how we preserve and promote our witness as Christian believers.”

He said he prays the infighting will stop and the UMC will rediscover its mission to make disciples for Christ. He urged the UMC, even as it suffers defections, to think of May 1 as its launch day as well.

“We are the United Methodist Church not interested in continuing sexism, racism, homophobia, irrelevancy and decline,” he said. “What we are interested in is a discovery of what God has in mind for us on the horizon as the next expression of who we are as United Methodists.”

Bickerton, who heads the UMC’s New York City region, succeeded Louisiana-based Cynthia Fierro Harvey as president of the bishops’ council.

Harvey acknowledged the inevitable splintering of the denomination when she preached April 25 during her final address as the Council of Bishops president, “I also realize that it might be time to bless and send our sisters and brothers who cannot remain under the big tent.”

A leader of the breakaway movement indicated Sunday’s launch would take place with little fanfare.

“This is the date that we can start receiving churches as they leave the United Methodist Church, and that’s going to occur over a considerable amount of time,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the new denomination’s Transitional Leadership Council and a United Methodist minister in Virginia. “It’ll be more of a rolling celebration.”

Its transitional doctrine includes a belief that marriage is between one man and one woman, and clergy must adhere to it – a core point of division in the UMC for decades.

Boyette said he expects some churches and pastors to announce Sunday they are joining the Global Methodist Church. He will be among them.

“On May 1, I will no longer be a member of the United Methodist Church,” said Boyette, who has already been approved – effective Sunday — as a clergyperson in the new denomination.

It is easier for clergy to leave the UMC than an entire church, which has to follow a layered process. As a result, Boyette expects the ranks of the Global Methodist Church will grow over time, noting that some who want to join will wait until after the UMC’s 2024 General Conference – and the possible passage of a protocol that spells out details for the breakup.

Boyette criticized the actions of some members of the Council of Bishops, including the decision to further delay the General Conference. He suggested some bishops are intentionally blocking churches from using certain processes for exiting the denomination.

Global Methodist Church organizers had originally expected to launch the denomination only after the next General Conference of the UMC. That legislative body is the only one that could approve a tentative agreement — unveiled in 2020 after negotiations between conservatives, liberals and centrists — to allow churches and regional groups to leave the denomination and keep their property.

But the General Conference, originally scheduled for 2020, was already delayed for two straight years by the pandemic. In March, the UMC announced it was pushing off the next gathering yet again — to 2024 — due to long delays in the U.S. processing of visa applications. A little more than half of the denomination’s members are overseas, notably in Africa and the Philippines.

The United Methodist Church claims 6.3 million members in the U.S. and 6.5 million overseas.

Differences over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy have simmered for years in the UMC, and came to a head in 2019 at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 to strengthen bans on LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Most U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBTQ-friendly options; they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the delegates from Methodist strongholds in Africa and the Philippines.

In the aftermath of that meeting, many moderate and liberal clergy made clear they would not abide by the bans, and various groups worked on proposals to let the UMC split along theological lines.

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Why Go to Church?

Church attendance is down. Even with most churches gathering physically again, it hasn’t reached pre-pandemic levels.

 

Church Humor was wrestling with the question about how we can inspire people to return to church. So, they turned to that vast reservoir of truth and wisdom: Twitter dot com.

 

They put out the question:

 

Why should people drag their butts outa bed and go to church on Sunday mornings?

 

* One person responded that butts are sinful and shouldn’t be in church at all A fair point.

 

* Another said, “Those bulletins aren’t going to read themselves.”

 

A few more responses:

 

* “Because podcasts can’t give hugs or the Lord’s Supper.”

* “Not for the coffee.”

* “Because it’s free.”

 

There were other reasons given, including the fact that there’s something transcendent and beautiful about gathering as a body of believers to worship the living God. People talked about the obligation we have to each other and to ourselves. “When you want community the least is when you need it the most,” one woman wrote.

 

All great reasons. Whichever one resonates with you, Church Humor hopes that it will inspire you to ditch the pajamas this Sunday and get your butt to church.

 

COVID-19 – Beaver County Metrics – 4-28-2022

COVID-19 Integrated County View:

Here are the weekly COVID-19 statistics for Beaver County, PA as of April 28, 2022, with both indexes  indicating the start of another surge.

 

• The Incidence Rate decreased slightly from 54.2 to 71.9 (an increase of 17.7, or 32.6%) remaining in the SUBSTANTIAL category for the sixth week in a row.

• The PCR Positivity Rate increased from 8.4 to 10.6, moving into the SUBSTANTIAL category.

(Allegheny County’s figures also increased slightly in the SUBSTANTIAL category during the past week, moving from 79.8 to 94.2 and from 9.5% to 10.8).

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The new “COVID-19 COMMUNITY LEVEL” index:

Starting on March 3, 2022, for hospitals and healthcare systems, the CDC is also issuing a new “COVID-19 Community Level“ index that measures the “current potential for strain on the health system” (in other words, the ability of hospitals to take in and treat additional folks with COVID-19.)  

This new index is in addition to the CDC’s “COVID-19 Integrated County View” which they continue to publish each week.

The CDC currently reports that current “COVID-19 Community Level” is LOW, meaning that hospital beds are available for new COVID-19 cases. 

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• At Central Church, in order to look out for our older folks, as well as the unvaccinated or immunocompromised, we are continuing to look to the CDC’s“COVID-19 Integrated County View” to evaluate which protective measures and protocols that we should observe to protect all of the folks who come through our doors for in-person worship or for other reasons, such as to participate in our community feeding ministry outreach.

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• Small Group Meetings (Sunday School, AA, other meetings):

The current guidance on when and how gatherings can take place is based upon the threshold of infection rate.

For Indoor meetings/Sunday School to resume, the 7-day average of daily cases for gatherings that include unvaccinated folks should be:

• • 1.5-2.0 – for everyone except those at high risk; and
  • Less than 1.0 for those at high risk.
  • Our current level is 10.2, so resuming small group meetings may not be feasible for the immediate future.

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As the pandemic continues, we are continuing our efforts to:

• Disinfect Central Church prior to every worship service and feeding ministry event using EPA-registered products in compliance with CDC standards to kill germs and reduce the risk of spreading infection, and in compliance with EPA criteria for use against SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19; and

• We have significantly expanded our new medical-grade HEPA-13 air filtration equipment in our Sanctuary, which is rated to remove COVID-19 from the air, which now provides 10.7 complete air changes every hour in our Sanctuary (every 6 minutes)!

• In addition, our Parlor, Church Office, Pastor’s Office, UMYF Meeting Room, Fellowship Hall, and Nursery all offer even higher levels of air changes per hour using HEPA-13 or HEPA-14 filtration.

• (5 air changes per hour is the EPA’s general recommended standard, and the EPA now recommends 8-15 air changes per hour in Churches. )  
  

Central Church

Downsizing with Class – When Less Is More

Key Bible Verse: You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and wine.  – Psalm 4:7

Bonus Reading: Job 31:24-28

Because we’ve lived on a modest income through most of our marriage, my wife wondered out loud one day if she should get a job to ease financial pressures. Yet if she worked even part-time, we realized, we’d pay more income tax and the net financial benefit would be minimal.

We reviewed the benefits of Donna remaining a stay-at-home parent. We eat nutritious meals because she invests time in planning and preparing meals. At the same time we save money because she makes time to be an excellent purchaser, not relying on packaged meals or fast food.  Her creative gifts are obvious through how she cares for and decorates our home.

The greatest advantage has been her availability to our children. She involved them in projects for both work and play when they were younger so that creativity, instead of television, nurtured their development.

Though we’re closing in on the empty nest, the kids thrive on knowing that she’s available when one of them needs reassurance, help, or advice. We’re able to plan our schedules without considering another job commitment. And her involvement in teaching small group Bible studies has changed other women’s lives.

—Grant McDowell in Alberta

My Response: Is a second family income required for subsistence or elected to support lifestyle choices?

Thought to Apply: One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.—Sidney Coe Howard (playwright)

Prayer for the Week: Lord, help me to hold my belongings loosely so that I’m not diverted from Your Kingdom priorities.

 

Success? By Whose Yardstick? – Caught Up in the Game

Key Bible Verse: “Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it!”  – Jeremiah 45:5

Bonus Reading: Philippians 3:7-9a

They couldn’t have been more than 15 years old, parentless boys in an orphanage outside of Moscow. My traveling companions and I spoke at their assembly.

Afterwards several boys challenged us to a soccer match on the snow-crusted field. It was a rousing game. Toward the end, though, I began to push my teammates. I didn’t want just to play; I wanted to win. I goaded them on, and even got a bit rough in my play.

That evening one of my friends called me on it. “What were we there for?” he asked. “It seemed like you were more fixed on winning a game than on connecting with the kids or caring for them.” He was right. Our purpose for visiting the orphanage was to show love to the children there. But caught up in the game, my actions were guided by an entirely different goal.

I articulate Jesus’ definition of success (“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant”) to myself. But then, more often than I’d like to admit, I get caught up in the game and indulge in silliness like this—not so much in sports now, but in regards to career, financial resources, or reputation.

That’s why I must consistently take time to question myself and refocus, and to be accountable to others pursuing a similar path.

—Jedd Medifind in The Revolutionary Communicator

My Response: How can I stay focused on what’s really important?

Thought to Apply: Ever notice that people never say “It’s only a game” when they’re winning?—Ivern Bell (writer)

Adapted from The Revolutionary Communicator (Relevant Books, 2004)

Prayer for the Week: I realize, Lord, that I can only become a success in Your eyes if I understand what true success looks like. Please show me.

 

Success? By Whose Yardstick? – Goal to Go

Key Bible Verse: Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us.  – 2 Corinthians 10:13

Bonus Reading: James 4:13-16

I recently heard an interview with a football player ready to start the NFL season. He said, “Anything short of winning the Super Bowl will be considered a failure.”

Hmmm. That’s all well and good, but what about the successes along the way? What about the relationships that he could enjoy, the people he could help, the honor he could bring to God by being a good man instead of just being a good athlete?

This NFL player probably made his coach and team owner happy by thinking this way. But when the season is over and he looks at himself in the mirror, he’s probably still asking himself, “Why am I here?”

We’re not in control of the outcome; God is. So why do we base our success on something that isn’t in our control? Why do we allow some other person to dictate our success? Why do we allow some goal to determine our joy?

Unless we surrender the outcome to God, the goal will become our god, and we will bow down to that.

God designed you to live fully and to celebrate life regardless of your circumstances. Part of success is surrendering the outcome to God and being content that God has you exactly where He wants you.

—Larry Julian in God Is My Success

My Response: How could I focus less on career goals and, instead, celebrate more little successes along the way?

Thought to Apply: To find his place and fill it is success for a man.—Phillips Brooks (New England minister)

Adapted from God Is My Success (Warner Faith, 2005)

Prayer for the Week: I realize, Lord, that I can only become a success in Your eyes if I understand what true success looks like. Please show me.

 

Success? By Whose Yardstick? – Whose Dream?

Key Bible Verse: Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed.  – Joshua 1:8

Bonus Reading: Psalm 1:1-3

I had been sold a bag of goods. I’d embraced the American Dream as the way to happiness, and come up empty. All the outward signs of success were mine: a beautiful home, nice car, blooming career, and lovely wife. But inside I felt like a desert. Something was missing.

I began to search the Scriptures and talk to God about my emptiness. My eyes soon came to rest on today’s Key Bible Verse. Joshua had been given the huge task of leading his people in occupying the land God had promised them. They’d have to fight for it. But God assured Joshua that he’d succeed if he made sure to do things His way.

Suddenly it hit me: I’d let culture define success for me. But God’s idea of success is to pursue His plans for our lives, obey His Word, and use our lives for the good of others. Joshua got the message, and he and his people won big.

I decided to do life God’s way. I filled my mind with Scripture and sought God’s plans for my life. Good things happened. Like Joshua, I saw God work through me in wonderful ways. The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction I never found while pursuing the American Dream became mine.

—Mike Raether in Montana

My Response: Which take on success is more motivating to me? Why?

Thought to Apply: Don’t be grieved if you don’t enjoy popular favor; grieve rather that you don’t live as well and carefully as befits a servant of God.—Thomas  à Kempis

Prayer for the Week: I realize, Lord, that I can only become a success in Your eyes if I understand what true success looks like. Please show me.

 

Special Offering – Sunday, May 1, 2022

Native American Ministries Sunday celebration is May 1, 2022. This offering is collected the third Sunday of Easter and funds urban ministries with Native Americans, scholarships for Native Americans attending United Methodist seminaries and annual conference Native American ministries.

Central Church

Success? By Whose Yardstick? – Speechless in Seattle

Key Bible Verse: How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness!  – Ecclesiastes 5:10

Bonus Reading: Psalm 128:1-4

A corporation president called to offer me a job. He’d triple whatever I was making now. I’d never heard God’s voice so clearly! As my wife and I climbed on a plane, I envisioned a bigger house, newer car, security, success.

During the job interview I asked how much time I’d be on the road. “Most of the time,” admitted the president. As we began the flight home my wife said, “The kids and I want to remember you for more than your rear end going out the front door.” But I was determined to take that job.

During a short layover in Seattle, suddenly the restroom I was in began to shake. Knowing I was going to die, images flashed before me of friends and family—but not one of a car, home, or bulging bank account. It took an earthquake to teach me that a hundred years from now, no one will remember what my house looked like, the model of my car, or the thickness of my wallet.

Back on the plane I scribbled these words on a napkin: “I’ll consider myself a success when I’m walking close to Jesus every day, building a strong marriage, loving my kids, performing meaningful work, and making others homesick for heaven.”

—Phil Callaway in Alberta

My Response: To me, real success is …

Thought to Apply: The man who lives for himself—even if he gains much wealth, position, or power—is a failure. The man who lives for others has achieved true success.—Norman Vincent Peale (minister & author)

Prayer for the Week: I realize, Lord, that I can only become a success in Your eyes if I understand what true success looks like. Please show me.

 

Success? By Whose Yardstick? – Keeping Up Appearances

Key Bible Verse: Most people are motivated to success by their envy of their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless.  – Ecclesiastes 4:4

Bonus Reading: Philippians 3:17-19

To most people, according to author Denis Haack, “Success means attaining some measure of money, fame, power, and self-fulfillment—and then looking the part.”

I’d say that’s a pretty accurate definition of our society’s version of success. I mean, think about it. Why are you wearing the clothes you have on? Or why do you drive the car you do? Why do you live in the house or the neighborhood you do?

“But Steve,” you say, “I can’t afford a nicer car or a better house.”

That’s right. But if you had the money to get a better car, nicer clothes, or a bigger home, you’d buy them, right? Most of us would. Why? So people will notice and think we’re successful. After all, in our society, how successful are we—really—if no one notices?

Once, when Socrates saw a woman all dressed up for a trip to the city, he remarked, “I suspect that your trip is not to see the city, but for the city to see you.” It’s sobering, even heartbreaking, to realize how much of our lives we spend on the futile and frantic attempt to become and appear more successful than the very people Jesus has called us to serve and to honor above ourselves.

—Steven James in Becoming Real

My Response: How have I sometimes let concerns about image trump substance?

Adapted from Becoming Real (Howard, 2005)

Prayer for the Week: I realize, Lord, that I can only become a success in Your eyes if I understand what true success looks like. Please show me.

 

Central Church – Online Worship Service – The Second Sunday of Easter – 4-24-2022

On this very warm, sunny second Sunday of Easter, when the coronavirus prevents many of us from gathering in Central Church’s Sanctuary to worship in body, let us join together in spirit with our online worship service. Today’s online worship service includes a favorite HYMN with lyrics so you can sing along! Our prior online worship services are available in our online library, and can be viewed on demand, and be sure to join us in worship, either online or in person, every week!    AND… Both the video on Facebook and the video on YouTube now have closed captions (if you turn them on) so you can read along with the spoken words during the service!  To activate captions in Facebook, click on the Settings “gear” symbol in the bottom right corner of the image, and then click on the “Off” button to change it to “On” for “Auto-Generated Captions”. To activate captions in YouTube, click on the “CC” icon in the lower right corner of the image to toggle captions On and Off. A brief comment on our new closed caption capability – The closed captions on our videos use voice-recognition software similar to that used on Television broadcasts, and with similar accuracy!  Sometimes, the captions are not entirely accurate, so if you read something incongruous, back up the video a few seconds and listen carefully for what is actually being said.  Also, it takes a while to generate the captions after the videos are published, so if the captions are not available immediately after the video is published, just check back a little later. To begin, simply click on one of the links below to join with the folks who have already made their way into our digital Sanctuary.  You can find this week’s online worship service on both Facebook and YouTube at the following coordinates: Facebook –  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2838639459773482 YouTube –    https://youtu.be/qtR-AmXRXhs (If the video doesn’t come up after clicking on the link, just copy and paste the address into your browser search bar.) Central Church

Success? By Whose Yardstick? – Distinction by Device

Who Said It…Tom Petersen

Young Tom first darkened a church door when he needed a pastor’s signature on his Eagle Scout application. That started him on the path to faith. He followed his grandfather and mother into the newspaper business.

Now in the corporate world, Tom looks for the humor in work to ensure that it doesn’t become an idol. A founding elder in his church, he’s developed a passion for encouraging others who, like him, struggle to balance jobs, family, and faith.

What He Said…Distinction by Device

The work world has dozens of ways to measure your success: your salary, your title, or the number of people who report to you. These days, even electronic gadgets can confer status.

The competition to have the latest things can become a virtual electronic arms race. One guy (they are always guys when it comes to technology one-upmanship) shows up at a meeting with a color screen cell phone. Someone brings a camera phone that connects with the Internet. Someone else shows up with the combination cell phone and PDA (Precocious Demanding Accessory) with built-in GPS (Gratuitous Place Specifier). It finally gets out of hand when the boss arrives with his combination laptop, photocopier, espresso machine, and electronic fish finder.

We mustn’t let trivial things define our success. It’s good to be recognized for our good work. But beyond that, a lasting, beautiful way of defining ourselves should be to center our identities in Jesus Christ. We’re to set our hearts and minds on things above.

Prayer for the Week: I realize, Lord, that I can only become a success in Your eyes if I understand what true success looks like. Please show me.

 

From Career to Calling – What Is My Calling?

Jeremiah’s 40-year career was an assignment from God. As a prophet to Judah, he never achieved material success or influence, and often became discouraged.

But he remained faithful to his depressing task through imprisonment, the fall of Jerusalem (which he had warned about), and deportation.

Interact with God’s Word

Jeremiah 1:4-10

1. What words did God use (vv. 5, 10) to describe His action in giving Jeremiah his life’s work?
2. Do you see this assignment as arbitrary or based on God’s intimate knowledge of Jeremiah’s potential?
3. What was the nature of Jeremiah’s assignment?
4. What did Jeremiah say (v. 6) made him unqualified for this assignment?
5. How did God deal with Jeremiah’s objection?
6. Do you respond to new challenges with self-confidence?
7. Are you confident that if God gives you a job to do He will provide all you need to do it?
8. Did God’s promise to protect Jeremiah (v. 8) insulate him from trouble?
9. Do you believe God has given you a specific call or assignment?
10. If not, what mission, common to all believers, should you pursue—unless or until His guidance becomes more specific?

Spend Time in Prayer:  Ask God for an understanding of what His calling for you is, and for your ability to reflect glory on Him as you fill it cheerfully, competently, and diligently.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

4 The LORD gave me a message. He said, 5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.” 6 “O Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”

7 “Don’t say that,” the LORD replied, “for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you. I, the LORD, have spoken!” 9 Then the LORD touched my mouth and said, “See, I have put my words in your mouth!

10 Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. You are to uproot some and tear them down, to destroy and overthrow them. You are to build others up and plant them.”

Prayer for the Week: Lord, let me know clearly the work You are calling me to do in life. And grant me the courage, love, and lasting dedication to answer Your call. —Saint Meinrad

 

From Career to Calling – Career Path

Key Bible Verse: Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t!  – Jeremiah 45:5

Bonus Reading:  Jeremiah 1:4-10

Too often we make our career decisions strictly based on salary, benefits, position, influence, and titles. But Jesus warned that you can have all those things and still lose your soul.

The question isn’t, what are you doing for a living? The deeper issue is, what are you doing with your life? Why did God put you here on the earth? We need to move beyond a career orientation to a mission focus.

A friend took me out to lunch to share what God was doing in his life. He’s worked for about ten years as a business consultant with multinational corporations in England, Brazil, and Italy. Now he’s starting his own consulting firm in the Midwest. “If you’re happy and productive in your current job,” he remarked, “the only reason to take a promotion is to leverage your position for the Kingdom of God.”

That’s a tremendous insight. Don’t just climb the ladder to get to the top. Use the higher position to impact the world for Jesus Christ. Realize that God has put you where you are “for just such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

Understand that behind every open door stands the Lord God who rules heaven and earth. What a huge difference it makes to see all of life as belonging to Him!

—Ray Pritchard in The Incredible Journey of Faith

My Response: Shifting from a career to a mission focus would involve …

Thought to Apply: Life is not just a few years to spend on self-indulgence and career advancement. It is a privilege, a responsibility, a stewardship to be lived according to a much higher calling, God’s calling.—Elizabeth Dole

Adapted from The Incredible Journey of Faith (Crossway, 2005)

Prayer for the Week: Lord, let me know clearly the work You are calling me to do in life. And grant me the courage, love, and lasting dedication to answer Your call. —Saint Meinrad

 

From Career to Calling – Man of Influence

Key Bible Verse: They must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way.  – Titus 2:10

Bonus Reading:  Titus 2:11-14

Sitting in a waiting room while my Honda was being repaired, I noticed a man with shaggy white hair make coffee, pile doughnuts on a plate, and place literature on a table. Salesmen walking through the room addressed him with affection and respect.

After he left I studied the literature; it was Christ-honoring. I learned from an employee that the man owned this and other dealerships, and that his take-charge decisiveness, coupled with kindness and humility, made him great to work for.

When the man reappeared, I introduced myself and voiced appreciation for how he used publications to introduce customers to the gospel. He sat down. Soon after emigrating from Germany to America, he told me, Christ captured his imagination and secured his devotion and commitment. Achieving position and financial strength became subordinate to honoring his newfound King.

The owner didn’t appear rushed, but attentive and thoughtful. If I weren’t yet a believer, I thought, his interest in me would draw me in and awaken interest in his literature. As he walked away, with friendly, cheerful demeanor, I thanked God for impacting many others through him.

—James Hilt in Wisconsin

My Response: How might God use my interactions with coworkers to attract them to Him?

Thought to Apply: [Christians must] regain a lost sense of work as a divine calling.—Emil Brunner (Swiss theologian)

Prayer for the Week: Lord, let me know clearly the work You are calling me to do in life. And grant me the courage, love, and lasting dedication to answer Your call. —Saint Meinrad

 

From Career to Calling – Dream Job

Key Bible Verse: We can do [nothing] of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God.  – 2 Corinthians 3:5

Bonus Reading: 2 Corinthians 2:14-17

Some of us go to work that excites us, demands our best, and rewards us with recognition. We are doing something significant that makes a difference and also makes money to take care of ourselves and our dependents. But after a few weeks or months, sometimes years, doing this work, the feelings and convictions that clustered around our becoming Christians become background to the center-stage drama of our work with its strenuous demands, energizing stimuli, and rich satisfactions.

Along the way the primacy of God and His work in our lives gives way ever so slightly to the primacy of our work in God’s kingdom. The shift is barely perceptible, and it takes a long time for its significance to show up. But when it does, it turns out that we have not so much been worshiping God as enlisting him as a trusted and valuable assistant.

On the job, we are dealing with what we know, and what we are good at. Why not ask God to help us in our work?

He invited us to, didn’t He, when He said, “Ask … and you will receive”? Well, yes, He did.

The problem is that reducing God to what I can use for my purposes, however noble and useful, becomes an act of idolatry.

—Eugene Peterson in Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

My Response: Am I working for God? Or asking God to work for me?

Thought to Apply: It’s not what I do that matters, but what a sovereign God chooses to do through me. God doesn’t want my success; He wants me.—Elizabeth Dole

Adapted from Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places (Eerdmans, 2005)

Prayer for the Week: Lord, let me know clearly the work You are calling me to do in life. And grant me the courage, love, and lasting dedication to answer Your call. —Saint Meinrad

 

From Career to Calling – Academic Grind

Key Bible Verse: Those who become Christians become new persons. … A new life has begun! – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Bonus Reading: Proverbs 4:25-27

It happens every semester at our university. I enthusiastically put together the syllabus, think of innovative teaching strategies, and fill out a spreadsheet with my class rolls. As classes begin, I meet the students, tell corny jokes, and try to get everyone as motivated as I am.

A few weeks pass. I’ve given the first exam. Some students are catching on; others have done poorly. Some are missing classes. By mid-term I struggle to maintain my energy level. My corny jokes have gotten cornier. By the 10th week I realize just how long a 15-week semester is. We’re all dragging. I remind myself that I’m blessed to have this job and I’m responsible for those students. But still routines become, well, routine. Life starts to feel pretty old.

We all long for more. God placed that longing in us. It’s what led many of us to seek and find Him in the first place. But His transforming power extends well beyond the moment of conversion.

When Paul wrote, “A new life has begun,” he didn’t mean that the disciple has shifted to a new routine. He was describing an adventure in newness. The key: get yourself out of the way, and allow Christ, the very genesis of creativity, to transform you every routine day.

—Mark Geil in Georgia

My Response: How can I honor Christ by the way I tackle my job today?

Thought to Apply: If your work is becoming uninteresting, so are you. Work can be made lively and interesting only by injecting yourself into it.—George Hubbs

Prayer for the Week: Lord, let me know clearly the work You are calling me to do in life. And grant me the courage, love, and lasting dedication to answer Your call. —Saint Meinrad

 

From Career to Calling – “Hardwired” for Work

Key Bible Verse: Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  – Ephesians 6:7

Bonus Reading:  Ephesians 6:5-8

Our innate desire for dignity and self-respect can be satisfied only when we discover our purpose, which will embrace our work. When we can use our gifts and creativity on the job, we find great satisfaction in it.

“Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live,” wrote English novelist Dorothy Sayers, “but the thing one lives to do.”

Businessman Howard Butt Jr. tells of a friend who stopped by a garage to have a tire repaired. He watched the mechanic pop the hubcap off with a tire iron, spin loose the bolts with his wrench, and mount the wheel on his tire changer. With the mechanic’s guidance the machine soon worked the old tire off and the new one on. In ten minutes or less, the mechanic had tightened down the last bolt on the restored tire. Then he said, not to his customer, but as if speaking to the new tire, “There, another good job done by me.” Butt said of the mechanic, “Changing tires didn’t define him, but doing a good job did.”

Anyone who hasn’t had a similar experience, doing a concrete task well, with the pleasure that brings, has had a poor life indeed. We all feel connected to the truly good things in life through work.

—Charles Colson in The Good Life

My Response: A task I take pleasure in performing well is …

Adapted from The Good Life (Tyndale, 2005)

Prayer for the Week: Lord, let me know clearly the work You are calling me to do in life. And grant me the courage, love, and lasting dedication to answer Your call. —Saint Meinrad

 

Central Church – Easter Flowers!

Central Church – Online Worship Service – Easter Sunday – 4-17-2022

On this cold, sunny Easter Sunday, when the coronavirus prevents many of us from gathering in Central Church’s Sanctuary to worship in body, let us join together in spirit with our online worship service. Today’s online worship service includes a favorite HYMN with lyrics so you can sing along! Our prior online worship services are available in our online library, and can be viewed on demand, and be sure to join us in worship, either online or in person, every week!    AND… Both the video on Facebook and the video on YouTube now have closed captions (if you turn them on) so you can read along with the spoken words during the service!  To activate captions in Facebook, click on the Settings “gear” symbol in the bottom right corner of the image, and then click on the “Off” button to change it to “On” for “Auto-Generated Captions”. To activate captions in YouTube, click on the “CC” icon in the lower right corner of the image to toggle captions On and Off. A brief comment on our new closed caption capability – The closed captions on our videos use voice-recognition software similar to that used on Television broadcasts, and with similar accuracy!  Sometimes, the captions are not entirely accurate, so if you read something incongruous, back up the video a few seconds and listen carefully for what is actually being said.  Also, it takes a while to generate the captions after the videos are published, so if the captions are not available immediately after the video is published, just check back a little later. To begin, simply click on one of the links below to join with the folks who have already made their way into our digital Sanctuary.  You can find this week’s online worship service on both Facebook and YouTube at the following coordinates: Facebook –  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=363321549070219 YouTube –    https://youtu.be/H2muo_L1yyw (If the video doesn’t come up after clicking on the link, just copy and paste the address into your browser search bar.) Central Church

From Career to Calling – Novocain, No; Prayer, Yes

Who Said It…Don Couchman

Don Couchman is a dentist in Colorado Springs. He and his staff of six pray for ways to minister to their patients. “If we feel the Lord is giving us a certain Scripture to pass along,” Don says, “we just underline the Scripture in one of the Bibles we have in each room, then give the patient the Bible to take home.”

Don and his artist wife, Cathy, also give out “a whole lot” of Bibles at their Westcliffe, Colorado, ranch ministry.

What He Said…Novocain, No; Prayer, Yes

One patient the Lord sent my way was a biker who considered himself too tough to use anesthetic for his dental treatments. But in conversation during his treatment, the man revealed that he was concerned about his son, who was in trouble with the law. “Would it be all right with you if we prayed for your son?” I asked. The man said it would be great, so we did.

I moved on to the next treatment room, but I heard the biker’s cell phone ringing next door. When I came back into the room where the biker waited, the guy was just shaking his head. “That stuff works fast!” he told me. “That was the D.A.’s office calling me to say they are going to send my son into mediation instead of making him stand trial.”

“Then we have to pray again to thank Jesus and ask him to make this a positive experience in the young man’s life!” I said, and we did. Two weeks later when the father returned, he reported that his son was given probation and has to “keep his nose clean” for the next two years—a positive outcome.

Adapted from Catalog (International Bible Society, Fall/04)

Prayer for the Week: Lord, let me know clearly the work You are calling me to do in life. And grant me the courage, love, and lasting dedication to answer Your call. —Saint Meinrad

 

Lenten Devotional – Easter Sunday – God Incarnate

Scripture:  Psalm 116: 13 –

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the Lord,

For many of us, “the cup of salvation” appears each time we participate in Communion, and that is undoubtedly true. But far beyond that sacrament, I believe the cup of Salvation is the love and mercy God pours upon us at all times, whether we realize it or not. When we go through hard times, of powerlessness and uncertainty, those dark seasons, we can rest assured those gifts of love and mercy are there for us.

There is a story of a small child frightened by a storm at night who ran crying to her parents’ bedroom. The parents attempted to calm their child by recounting God’s love and care for her to get the child back to her bed. After listening politely, the child quietly cried, “But sometimes I need God with skin on.” And so do we all. If you are hurting, look carefully at those around you to see God with “skin on” (in the flesh).

If this Lent, if you’re comfortable, instead of “giving up” cookies, chocolate, or other personal indulgences, perhaps look back one verse before our theme verse to Psalm 116:12 and respond to the question, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me?” Maybe you could try to be “God with skin on.”

Prayer: Dear God, please help us see your cup of Salvation this Easter season and respond to your love and mercy for us by offering the same to others.  Amen.

  – Barbara V. Resan – Whitacre, VA

Central Church

COVID-19 – Beaver County Metrics – 4-14-2022

COVID-19 Integrated County View:

Here are the weekly COVID-19 statistics for Beaver County, PA as of April 14, 2022, with both indexes  showing signs of the beginnings of another surge.

 

• The Incidence Rate decreased slightly from 20.1 to 40.2 (an increase of 20.1, or 100.0%) remaining in the SUBSTANTIAL category for the fourth week in a row.

• The PCR Positivity Rate increased from 2.3 to 2.7, remaining in the LOW category.

(Allegheny County’s figures also increased slightly in the MODERATE category during the past week, moving from 31.9 to 57.9 and from 4.2% to 7.3)

Beaver County continues to be classified as MODERATE on the original PA DOH scale as well as MODERATE on the CDC scale.

• Note:  Levels are anticipated to swing significantly upward in the coming weeks with the arrival of the extremely contagious new BA.2 Omicron variant.

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The new “COVID-19 COMMUNITY LEVEL” index:

Starting on March 3, 2022, for hospitals and healthcare systems, the CDC is also issuing a new “COVID-19 Community Level“ index that measures the “current potential for strain on the health system” (in other words, the ability of hospitals to take in and treat additional folks with COVID-19.)  

This new index is in addition to the CDC’s “COVID-19 Integrated County View” which they continue to publish each week.

The CDC currently reports that current “COVID-19 Community Level” is LOW, meaning that hospital beds are available for new COVID-19 cases. 

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• At Central Church, in order to look out for our older folks, as well as the unvaccinated or immunocompromised, we are continuing to look to the CDC’s“COVID-19 Integrated County View” to evaluate which protective measures and protocols that we should observe to protect all of the folks who come through our doors for in-person worship or for other reasons, such as to participate in our community feeding ministry outreach.

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• Small Group Meetings (Sunday School, AA, other meetings):

The current guidance on when and how gatherings can take place is based upon the threshold of infection rate.

For Indoor meetings/Sunday School to resume, the 7-day average of daily cases for gatherings that include unvaccinated folks should be:

• • 1.5-2.0 – for everyone except those at high risk; and
  • Less than 1.0 for those at high risk.
  • Our current level is 5.7, so resuming small group meetings may not be feasible for the immediate future.

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As the pandemic continues, we are continuing our efforts to:

• Disinfect Central Church prior to every worship service and feeding ministry event using EPA-registered products in compliance with CDC standards to kill germs and reduce the risk of spreading infection, and in compliance with EPA criteria for use against SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19; and

• We have significantly expanded our new medical-grade HEPA-13 air filtration equipment in our Sanctuary, which is rated to remove COVID-19 from the air, which now provides 10.7 complete air changes every hour in our Sanctuary (every 6 minutes)!

• In addition, our Parlor, Church Office, Pastor’s Office, UMYF Meeting Room, Fellowship Hall, and Nursery all offer even higher levels of air changes per hour using HEPA-13 or HEPA-14 filtration.

• (5 air changes per hour is the EPA’s general recommended standard, and the EPA now recommends 8-15 air changes per hour in Churches. )  
  

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 40 – Holy Saturday – From Fear to Faith

Scripture:  Psalm 27: 1 –  

Triumphant Song of Confidence

A Psalm of David

27 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold^[a] of my life;
    of whom shall I be afraid?

I looked at the calendar and realized the Lenten season was quickly approaching. I immediately began to fear nothing I sacrificed equated to the blood Jesus shed, and in that moment, I knew I needed to sacrifice fear.

I thought of how I allowed fear to dictate and guide me. I prayed asking the Lord to strengthen me during the Lenten season and move me from fear to faith. Examining myself to ascertain where this sin, the seed of fear, had been planted, taken root, and grown in my life was simultaneously painful and revelatory. I found it was rooted in the duality of who the world said I was, and who God fashionably and wonderfully made me to be.

The Lenten journey I took moved me as I had prayed from fear to faith. As I tearfully confessed I wrongly placed more faith and trust in my fears than I did in the Lord, I recognized that my doing so robbed me of truly tasting the cup of salvation and a closer relationship with the Lord. I repented and started anew.

Prayer: Lord, you did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.  Amen.

  – Tracy Porter – Pasadena, CA

Central Church

Central Church – Online Worship Service – Good Friday (BF Ministerium) – 4-15-2022

On this cool, sunny Good Friday, when the coronavirus prevents many of us from gathering in Central Church’s Sanctuary to worship in body, let us join together in spirit with our online worship service. Today’s online worship service includes a favorite HYMN with lyrics so you can sing along! Our prior online worship services are available in our online library, and can be viewed on demand, and be sure to join us in worship, either online or in person, every week!    AND… Both the video on Facebook and the video on YouTube now have closed captions (if you turn them on) so you can read along with the spoken words during the service!  To activate captions in Facebook, click on the Settings “gear” symbol in the bottom right corner of the image, and then click on the “Off” button to change it to “On” for “Auto-Generated Captions”. To activate captions in YouTube, click on the “CC” icon in the lower right corner of the image to toggle captions On and Off. A brief comment on our new closed caption capability – The closed captions on our videos use voice-recognition software similar to that used on Television broadcasts, and with similar accuracy!  Sometimes, the captions are not entirely accurate, so if you read something incongruous, back up the video a few seconds and listen carefully for what is actually being said.  Also, it takes a while to generate the captions after the videos are published, so if the captions are not available immediately after the video is published, just check back a little later. To begin, simply click on one of the links below to join with the folks who have already made their way into our digital Sanctuary.  You can find this week’s online worship service on both Facebook and YouTube at the following coordinates: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=366886818784787 YouTube –   https://youtu.be/BmaG9uNVgIM (If the video doesn’t come up after clicking on the link, just copy and paste the address into your browser search bar.) Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 39 – Good Friday – A Pleasing Sacrifice

Scripture:  Matthew 25: 40 –  

⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’

In the movie Field of Dreams, an elderly small-town doctor who’s a former baseball player has an opportunity to go back in time and make it in the big leagues. A young man once again, he hits a long ball into the outfield so a runner on third can score—a sacrifice fly. A sacrifice in baseball means the batter gives up a chance for a hit to advance runners already on base.

Later in the movie, the same young ballplayer has another opportunity. A little girl in the stands needs a doctor. A choice must be made. The boy steps forward in time to save her life—his second sacrifice of the day.

Reading Jeremiah 6:20, Isaiah 1:11-15 and Amos 5:21-23, we see that God sends prophets time and time again to help the Israelites understand the type of sacrifice God longs for. Not burnt offerings or blood sacrifices, not even gold or silver. In Amos 5:34, we learn that God longs for justice.

While Jesus speaks cryptically much of the time, using parables and challenging followers to think for ourselves, he gives us firm directions in Matthew 25. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Visit the sick and imprisoned. What we do for them, we do for him.

Does your sacrifice please God by answering this call?  Is its worth beyond the material?

Prayer: God, may our sacrifices be pleasing to you. Help us bless others every day with our gifts, our presence, our service and our witness.  Amen.

  – Lyn Cosby – Birmingham, AL

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 38 – Maundy Thursday – Special Lenten Communion Memories

Scripture:  Joshua 24: 15 –  

¹⁵ And if you be unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

A Maundy Thursday communion service from over twenty years ago still stands out to me above all others. The confirmation class in our church that Lenten season had the privilege of serving Communion to the congregation that evening.  My teenaged son was part of the class. I still can’t properly express in words the feelings I experienced when I walked to the altar in the sanctuary to dip my piece of bread from the loaf into the cup which he held. Suffice it to say; it was a most contented, joyful, and humbling experience to watch my son serve our Lord and our church.

Years later, our pastors expanded the number of communion stations in our worship services and included laypersons as communion servers during the Lenten season. I was honored to accept the position. Every Sunday, holding the cup, representing the blood of Christ, brought thoughts of Jesus: the Last Supper, His sacrifice, and our Salvation.

This experience was a powerful reminder we are all welcome at the table, no matter our age, gender, race, social standing, past transgressions, or any other possible determining factors, to seek forgiveness, redemption, and Salvation through our Savior.

Prayer: Father, we humbly thank you for the opportunities to serve You and the joy service brings, not only during Lenten seasons but every day.  Moreover, we are grateful that all of your children may seek the Salvation You offer to us.  Amen.

  – Julie Erickson – Olathe, KS

Central Church

Central Church – Schedule of Holy Week In-Person Worship Services

Lenten Devotional – Day 37 – Sacrificing My Time

Scripture:  Matthew 25: 40 –  

⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’

In my early years as a Christian, I gave up dessert or chocolate for Lent. This sacrifice didn’t profoundly impact my spiritual life—I just felt grateful when Easter arrived, and I could eat dessert! Then I heard a speaker who changed my attitude about Lent.

His message was about doing more for Jesus in the weeks leading up to Easter, not giving up something. He encouraged me to look for opportunities to meet the needs of “the least of these” as Jesus said in Matthew 25. I visited shut-ins and shared wonderful memories. I sought those who were food insecure and delivered groceries. I spent extra time praying for those on our urgent prayer list and even gave homemade soup to some. I picked flowers from my garden and shared them with those in need of a friend. When you look around you, there are opportunities everywhere. Open your eyes!

Since that Lenten season, I have continued to find ways to give of myself and reach the physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional needs of others. It prepares my heart and soul for the lesson of Lent—how Jesus sacrificed all for me. I am blessed to share God’s love and the message of Jesus with my community.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me always keep my eyes and ears open to respond to the needs around me, not just during Lent but all year. Help me always share the message of Jesus’ sacrifice to feed their soul.  Amen.

  – Linda M. Mays – Appomattox, VA

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 36 – A New Creation in Christ

Scripture:  II Corinthians 5: 16-21 –  

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation;^[a] the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling^[b] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

While growing up on a dairy farm, I worked alongside the veterinarian who attended to our livestock. I felt called to be a veterinarian and went to Virginia Tech. In my third year, I felt called to a new vocation in ordained ministry. After discerning my call, I shared with my mother how God was working in my life in a new way. She wisely said, “I always thought you should go into ministry but hadn’t said anything because it needed to come from the Lord.”

Confirmed in my new calling, I finished my pre-vet degree and entered Wesley Seminary. For me, a scripture verse that became a life verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away… everything has become new!” My new calling was God’s way
of doing a new thing in my life. I praise God who makes all things new, who takes our sin and, by his grace, makes us his new creation.

I may never fully understand what Christ sees in me, but in Him, I see who He calls me to be— an ambassador of his never-failing love. As I journey to the cross during Lent, I am re-created in Christ with newness of faith, perspective, attitude, and hope. That’s what happens in the heart that is open to God’s redeeming presence.

Prayer: God, as new creations, may we be ambassadors of all things new.  Amen.

  – Bill Jones – Waynesboro, VA

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 35 – Renewing Our Souls

Scripture:  Revelation 21: 1-6 –  

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; ³ and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,^[a] and God himself will be with them;^{[b] 4} he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment.

A friend of mine said to me, “You know, when the Steelers aren’t playing because it’s off-season, it feels like many months of Lent!” I could understand Jim’s disappointment when he said that, but I understand it even more now during the rollercoaster of COVID. It feels like the Lent I used to know.

At my church in Denver, Lent was about all the things we shouldn’t do. But, now I know that Lent is larger. It’s a time to find our way back to God.

My creed tells me that: “God saves us from aimlessness and sin.”  It is the aimlessness we need to be saved from, day after day. Lent is a good time to begin.  Being confined by COVID, I feel isolated from people and things that brought me joy, like cross-country skiing and potlucks. I understand Jim now because Lent, in a time of COVID, is giving up the things that get in our way to God. More importantly, it is about the truth that God saves us from ourselves. We need to stop and seek the Lord of our souls— our lives are distracted by so many choices.

Prayer: Gracious God, help us find our way to you. When the things we want fill us with a sadness we cannot name, teach us that prayer is as essential as breathing, and that you are our beginning…and you will be our end.  Amen.

  – Sally Palmer – Denver, Colorado

Central Church

Online Milestone at Central Church!

Today’s worship service marks the 100th online worship service posted by Central Church!

We first ventured into providing an online worship resource in the midst of the first COVID-19 wave, two years ago.  Like today, that first online worship service on April 5, 2020 was for Palm Sunday.

Our prior online worship services are available in our online library and can be viewed on demand, and be sure to join us in worship, either online or in person, every week! 

Central Church

Central Church – Online Worship Service – The Sixth Sunday in Lent – Palm Sunday – 4-10-2022

On this cold, overcast second Sunday in April, the sixth Sunday in Lent, also known as Palm Sunday,  when the coronavirus prevents many of us from gathering in Central Church’s Sanctuary to worship in body, let us join together in spirit with our online worship service. Today’s online worship service includes a favorite HYMN with lyrics so you can sing along! MILESTONE! Today’s worship service marks the 100th online worship service posted by Central Church! We first ventured into providing an online worship resource in the midst of the first COVID-19 wave, two years ago.  Like today, that first online worship service on April 5, 2020 was for Palm Sunday. Our prior online worship services are available in our online library, and can be viewed on demand, and be sure to join us in worship, either online or in person, every week!    AND… Both the video on Facebook and the video on YouTube now have closed captions (if you turn them on) so you can read along with the spoken words during the service!  To activate captions in Facebook, click on the Settings “gear” symbol in the bottom right corner of the image, and then click on the “Off” button to change it to “On” for “Auto-Generated Captions”. To activate captions in YouTube, click on the “CC” icon in the lower right corner of the image to toggle captions On and Off. A brief comment on our new closed caption capability – The closed captions on our videos use voice-recognition software similar to that used on Television broadcasts, and with similar accuracy!  Sometimes, the captions are not entirely accurate, so if you read something incongruous, back up the video a few seconds and listen carefully for what is actually being said.  Also, it takes a while to generate the captions after the videos are published, so if the captions are not available immediately after the video is published, just check back a little later. To begin, simply click on one of the links below to join with the folks who have already made their way into our digital Sanctuary.  You can find this week’s online worship service on both Facebook and YouTube at the following coordinates: Facebook –  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=988734282015785 YouTube –    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtyUxRGaEdY (If the video doesn’t come up after clicking on the link, just copy and paste the address into your browser search bar.) Central Church

 

Lenten Devotional – The Sixth Sunday in Lent – Palm Sunday – Hope in Helplessness

Scripture:  Psalm 116: 5-6 –

⁵ Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
    our God is merciful.
⁶ The Lord preserves the simple;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.

As someone who struggles with wanting control over every aspect of life, I know how easy it is to feel hopeless when your situation slips beyond your control. We love to have power. When we lose it, whether in our health, relationships, or simply in the chaos of the world, it’s easy to feel helpless.

But we were never supposed to have control over everything. It’s a weight we were never meant to carry. Our weakness becomes our strength when it leads us to dependence on God.

The Psalmist who wrote Psalm 116 had lost control. The Lord heard his cry and rescued him from death. In darkness, he remembered the faithfulness of the Lord and responded in praise. The Lord’s past faithfulness in our lives demands our present praise.

God offers the Cup of Salvation to us all. We can have faith in God’s character because He’s proven himself compassionate, gracious, merciful, and forgiving. We can remember who He has been, who He is, and freely draw near to Him in our darkest moments. Helplessness is never hopelessness when it leads us to the cross.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for never changing. We’ve seen your faithfulness time and again. Help us remember what you’ve done and lead us to an unwavering hope in what you will do. Thank you for the Cup of Salvation, a gift to all who drink, and for rescuing us when we cannot save ourselves.  Amen.

  – Leigh Ann Blalock – Jackson, MS

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 34 – Hallels

Scripture:  Psalm 116: 13 –  

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the Lord,

Psalm 116 is part of the Hallel or Hymn of Praise. It is a hymn of personal thanksgiving. In this message, the Psalmist gives thanks to God for saving him from death. This Psalmist lost faith in his flesh because he was likely sick, but he never wavered in his faith in God.

A thanksgiving hymn doesn’t only have to be about being saved from earthly death. It can be thanksgiving for God giving you the motivation to feed hungry people, teach a child a new skill, or show compassion for someone. It can also be about rescuing you from spiritual death through the Cup of Salvation.

In modern times, we are distracted by many things. We become complacent in our thanksgiving to God.  After I accepted the cup of Salvation, I learned my prayers of thanksgiving don’t have to be a formal affair. Eyes do not have to be closed. You don’t have to remove your hat, although some feel that’s disrespectful. When you’re alone, you and God, just give thanks for the cup of Salvation.

We must, for our spirit and Salvation, sing Hallels to God for His provision of all things. We must accept the cup of Salvation.

Prayer: Dear Lord, I give you thanksgiving for providing The Cup of Salvation through Jesus. I pray that my relationship with Him will continue to grow and that people will see his reflection in me as I seek to bless others.  Amen.

  – Langston Moore – Jackson, MS

Central Church

Memorial Service for Evelyn Lane

Evelyn Lane, a dear member of our Central Church family, passed away on November 30, 2021, and the family decision at that time was to hold her Memorial Service at Central when the weather was more favorable in the Spring.  Christine Smilak, another longtime member of Central, is, of course, one of Evelyn’s daughters.  

As a reminder, Evelyn’s Memorial Service will be tomorrow (Saturday, April 9, 2022) at Noon in our Sanctuary.  A funeral dinner will be provided in the Fellowship Hall following the memorial service. 

• If your schedule permits, please join Chris and her family in our Sanctuary at Noon tomorrow for a  memorial service for Evelyn Lane.

Central Church

COVID-19 – Beaver County Metrics – 4-7-2022

COVID-19 Integrated County View:

Here are the weekly COVID-19 statistics for Beaver County, PA as of April 7, 2022, with both indexes  leveling off at low levels.

 

• The Incidence Rate decreased slightly from 24.4 to 20.1 (a decrease of 4.3, or 17.6%) remaining in the SUBSTANTIAL category for the fourth week in a row.

• The PCR Positivity Rate increased from 1.8 to 2.3, remaining in the LOW category.

(Allegheny County’s figures also increased slightly in the MODERATE category during the past week, moving from 27.0 to 31.9 and from 3.7% to 4.2)

Beaver County continues to be classified as MODERATE on the original PA DOH scale as well as MODERATE on the CDC scale.

• Note:  Levels are anticipated to swing significantly upward in the coming weeks with the arrival of the extremely contagious new BA.2 Omicron variant.

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The new “COVID-19 COMMUNITY LEVEL” index:

Starting on March 3, 2022, for hospitals and healthcare systems, the CDC is also issuing a new “COVID-19 Community Level“ index that measures the “current potential for strain on the health system” (in other words, the ability of hospitals to take in and treat additional folks with COVID-19.)  

This new index is in addition to the CDC’s “COVID-19 Integrated County View” which they continue to publish each week.

The CDC currently reports that current “COVID-19 Community Level” is LOW, meaning that hospital beds are available for new COVID-19 cases. 

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• At Central Church, in order to look out for our older folks, as well as the unvaccinated or immunocompromised, we are continuing to look to the CDC’s“COVID-19 Integrated County View” to evaluate which protective measures and protocols that we should observe to protect all of the folks who come through our doors for in-person worship or for other reasons, such as to participate in our community feeding ministry outreach.

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• Small Group Meetings (Sunday School, AA, other meetings):

The current guidance on when and how gatherings can take place is based upon the threshold of infection rate.

For Indoor meetings/Sunday School to resume, the 7-day average of daily cases for gatherings that include unvaccinated folks should be:

• • 1.5-2.0 – for everyone except those at high risk; and
  • Less than 1.0 for those at high risk.
  • Our current level is 2.8, so resuming small group meetings may not be feasible for the immediate future.

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As the pandemic continues, we are continuing our efforts to:

• Disinfect Central Church prior to every worship service and feeding ministry event using EPA-registered products in compliance with CDC standards to kill germs and reduce the risk of spreading infection, and in compliance with EPA criteria for use against SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19; and

• We have significantly expanded our new medical-grade HEPA-13 air filtration equipment in our Sanctuary, which is rated to remove COVID-19 from the air, which now provides 10.7 complete air changes every hour in our Sanctuary (every 6 minutes)!

• In addition, our Parlor, Church Office, Pastor’s Office, UMYF Meeting Room, Fellowship Hall, and Nursery all offer even higher levels of air changes per hour using HEPA-13 or HEPA-14 filtration.

• (5 air changes per hour is the EPA’s general recommended standard, and the EPA now recommends 8-15 air changes per hour in Churches. )  
  

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 33 – Sharing the Common Cup

Scripture:  Luke 22: 29-30 –  

²⁹ and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, ³⁰ that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

One of the things I miss most during this pandemic is the sharing of the common cup during Holy Eucharist. I distinctly recall the last time I was able to do so was March 12, 2020, when I was worshiping with my seminary cohort at a retreat. We knew it would be the last time we would be together in person after  three years of being a community, so sharing Christ in the Eucharist was what we wanted to do, what we needed to do, to celebrate the community of Christ that we shared.

While I know many who never completely embraced sipping from the common cup as it passed from person to person, it allowed me to come to the table in the presence of Jesus and fully participate in the Holy meal. I was welcomed as a child of God, as a member of God’s family, included and loved. I was loved not only when I was joyful but also when I was tired and falling short.  I vividly remember times when I sobbed after receiving Communion as God’s love and forgiveness enveloped me. When I share in the Holy meal and reflect upon the Salvation we receive through Christ, I know I am welcome and a part of God’s family forever.

Prayer: Thank You, God, for welcoming all to the table and for the gift of Salvation whether we sip from the common cup or not.  Amen.

  – Annemarie E. Kalke Delgado – Beulah, WY

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 32 – Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

Scripture:  Psalm 116: 17 –  

¹⁷ I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving
    and call on the name of the Lord.

It was time for Lent again. My friends knew what they were giving up for the season. One would give up soda and another chocolate. And on it went. I chose not to give up something. Something within me uttered, “Add something.” This idea seemed unusual, even to me. The traditional thing to do was to give up something, make a sacrifice. Yet, the utterance would not let me go.

I decided to add a new prayer practice to increase my intentionality and deepen my relationship with Jesus. And it did! By adding a prayer practice, I grew closer to God. I gained new insights into the scriptures and in my faith journey. I continue to add a new spiritual practice during Lent. It may only be for that Lent season, or it becomes a habit that replaces something else in my life.

When I think of the cup of Salvation, high and lifted, all I can do is give thanks. Thanks to Christ for the sacrifice made out of His great love of me.  While I do not offer a traditional sacrifice by giving up, my Lenten practice of adding becomes a sacrifice of thanksgiving — one I make with great joy.

Prayer: Lord, we give thanks for your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, who was high and lifted up out of his great love for me. Today, I make a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the ultimate sacrifice made by Christ.  Amen.
  – Jason C. Stanley – Norfolk, VA

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 31 – Receiving with Gratitude

Scripture:  Psalm 37: 4 –  

⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Have you ever offered a child a gift? If so, you likely saw acceptance as they eagerly received your offer. If it was a snack or sweet, they probably even took a bite.

You— knowing the child far more deeply than themselves — offered something to quench the desire of their heart. They— from a place of earnest gratitude — received your gift without hesitation. Their eagerness made you feel appreciated. At that moment, there was a connection.

And so it is with our Heavenly Father and Creator. He longs to bless us — to give us the desires of our hearts. He poured out His blessings through the cup of Salvation — His Son, Jesus.

Many people accepted without a second thought. Me? I struggled for years to receive His abundant gift. Honestly, I struggled to take anything from everyone. I thought my refusal was self-sufficient and considerate because it “allowed” others to preserve their abundance for themselves or someone more
deserving.

It took me a long time to realize the error of my ways. When I declined the generosity, I refused the giver. I created a barrier and distance in the relationship. Deep down, it was because I felt undeserving.

Prayer: Father, forgive us when we refuse your generosity. You give because you love, not because we are deserving. Soften our hearts so we might accept the abundant cup of Salvation— your gift to us all.  Amen.

  – Andy Lemmon – Brandon, MS

Central Church

Central Church – Schedule of Holy Week In-Person Worship Services

Lenten Devotional – Day 30 – Return to the Table

Scripture:  Psalm 23: 5 –  

⁵ Thou preparest a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil,
    my cup overflows.

Hearing the word repent, I hear a single word of my Pastor Carolyn’s sermon repeating in my mind. “Return!” A physical notion of turning around plays back in my memory. Where am I going? The busyness of life plays on and on. The cycle repeats, as all cycles do, until I turn around!

I am grateful for the “Return to the Table.” For there, God, in the presence of my enemies, my doubts, fears, and nothingness, rescues me and my cup overflows!

Prayer: Dear God, praise and thanks be to you who journeys with us. Thank you for your Table. May we know the returning to your cup of grace again, again and again!  Amen.

  – Beth Harlin – Indianapolis, IN

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 29 – Simple Gifts, Complex Gifts

Scripture:  Luke 12: 25-27 –  

²⁵ And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life?^{[a] 26} If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Most Lenten seasons, I commit to doing something for my church. One year, I was called upon by the Altar Guild to help with creating small linens. I planned to instruct a group of people to embroider and designed a schedule to create sufficient items for Cathedral and Chapel services. I was delighted to organize this project but frustrated by the failure of my plan.

That year, my Lenten discipline was “giving my worry to God”. At first, this took the shape of recognizing I was getting anxious, then praying and asking Him to take my worry or inspire me to do something about it.

During Lent, this became a habit that changed my interactions with God from the ritual prayers taught as a child into a closer, more personal relationship. So, I handed this worry to him and surrendered to meet the needs of the church. By choosing to create these items myself, I allowed myself to revel in the pleasure of creating over seventy items, little gifts that continue to blossom whenever I see them in use! Is worry a barrier to you? Is it preventing you from recognizing blessings God has placed before you?

Prayer: Lord, forgive me for hoarding this worry to myself. Let me share it with you. Let me open my heart and mind to release my worries to you as I allow your wisdom and peace to settle upon me.  Amen.

  – Kimberly Kertis – Knoxville, TN

Central Church

Central Church – Online Worship Service – The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Passion Sunday – 4-3-2022

On this cold first Sunday in April, the fifth Sunday in Lent, also known as Passion Sunday,  when the coronavirus prevents many of us from gathering in Central Church’s Sanctuary to worship in body, let us join together in spirit with our online worship service. Today’s online worship service includes a favorite HYMN with lyrics so you can sing along! AND… Both the video on Facebook and the video on YouTube now have closed captions (if you turn them on) so you can read along with the spoken words during the service!  To activate captions in Facebook, click on the Settings “gear” symbol in the bottom right corner of the image, and then click on the “Off” button to change it to “On” for “Auto-Generated Captions”. To activate captions in YouTube, click on the “CC” icon in the lower right corner of the image to toggle captions On and Off. A brief comment on our new closed caption capability – The closed captions on our videos use voice-recognition software similar to that used on Television broadcasts, and with similar accuracy!  Sometimes, the captions are not entirely accurate, so if you read something incongruous, back up the video a few seconds and listen carefully for what is actually being said.  Also, it takes a while to generate the captions after the videos are published, so if the captions are not available immediately after the video is published, just check back a little later. To begin, simply click on one of the links below to join with the folks who have already made their way into our digital Sanctuary.  You can find this week’s online worship service on both Facebook and YouTube at the following coordinates: Facebook –  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=780644356248617 YouTube –    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OuxTEHzx7o (If the video doesn’t come up after clicking on the link, just copy and paste the address into your browser search bar.) Central Church

What is Passiontide?

The joy of Easter is almost here, but before that we must accompany Jesus in his Passion.

Traditionally, the final two weeks of Lent are used as an immediate preparation for the sorrowful events of the Easter drama. It is a period of time to focus more and more on the Passion and death of Jesus and so accompany him on his way to Calvary.

For several centuries, the Fifth Sunday of Lent (today) was known as “Passion Sunday” and marked the beginning of a special sub-season of Lent called Passiontide, which extended up until Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday). During this time the Church’s liturgy became more somber and a sorrowful mood was reflected in the various practices that occurred in the liturgy.

During Passiontide, the Gloria Patri disappears.  Jesus revealed for us the Holy Triune Name on the day of His Ascension: this is the fullest and complete revelation of God’s Name given to men. To take away the Gloria Patri for two weeks is a bit jarring.  Because this removal is so stark, it has the counterintuitive effect of drawing our attention to it.

All of this is to encourage us to minimize our own flesh and come to depend ever more upon the grace of God in Christ.  For never, even in our most somber of ceremonies, is the Church in doubt about the end.  Jesus died, but is not dead. Jesus lives.  Easter is coming.  We wait, as it were, with bated breath.

The Gloria Patris, the self-denied foods: all these shall return, and because they were removed for a short time, their return becomes all the more worthy of celebration. But even better than that, we shall have them all forever when our own resurrections occur at the Last Day.

Although not specifically observed in every local church, all across the Christian Church, Passiontide extends through Holy Week and the Triduum Sacrum (“three holy days”—which includes Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday).

After Palm Sunday, Passion Week gives way to Holy Week, and we follow Jesus during his final days in Jerusalem.

Wednesday during this week is sometimes known as “Spy Wednesday,” and signifies the day on which Judas betrayed Jesus and informed the Sanhedrin of his plan.

At the end of the Maundy Thursday worship service, the Altar is stripped, and any remaining Sanctuary decorations are removed. The only remaining items in the Sanctuary are the pieces of furniture, laid bare. The congregation departs in silence afterwards.

On Good Friday, all remains bare.  After the Good Friday worship service, the congregation departs in silence. The prevailing mood is one of utterly humble gratitude.

Various other practices can be observed during these final two weeks of Lent, such as the Tenebrae services.  In the end, Passiontide is meant to be a special penitential period where we focus on Jesus’ bitter passion and foster within ourselves sorrow for our sins. The good news is that Passiontide does not have the last say, and this somber period of preparation ends quickly so that our hearts can rejoice in the beauty of Christ’s resurrection

The intensity thus builds from Passion Sunday until Holy Saturday, when Scripture tells us the women arrive at the empty tomb, which marks the point at which Lent ends and Easter begins.

Throughout Passiontide, which leads intensely to its close, there are therefore additional modes of “fasting,” although we hasten to add that it is never appropriate to “fast” from Communion, since we confess that, even in our darkest moments, Christ is always with us, especially when we arrive at the Altar.  He is always there for us in His life-giving, sin-forgiving, holy Body and Blood.

At the very conclusion of Passiontide and of Lent itself, the lights are turned up and the announcement breaks forth, “Christ is risen!” to which comes the hearty reply, “He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!”  These special practices and detail of Passiontide serve to make this moment and all that follows the more heartfelt and festive.

Lenten Devotional – The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Cups and Cups and Cups!

Scripture:  I Corinthians 10: 21 –

²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 

There are lots of cups in the Bible: the Cup of Salvation in our key Scripture, Pharoah’s cup in Joseph’s story, the overflowing cup of Psalm 23, and the cup that Jesus raised at the last supper.  So why choose this reference to what the KJV calls “the cup of devils”?

Lent is a chance for self-examination. As a child, I was aware that people around me “gave up something for Lent” – an elderly relative always gave up going to the movies. The only problem? She’d never been to a movie in her whole life! As I got older, my Lenten sacrifices had varying degrees of success. Once I tried to give up Coke and lasted about 12 hours. As I matured, I’ve worked to make Lent an opportunity to make sacrifices that draw me into a deeper relationship with God instead of suffering the loss of chocolate.

In recent years, the most useful Lenten sacrifices included giving up an hour of sleep to wake early for Bible study and letting go of social media in favor of reading actual books. I made a conscious choice between the cup of the Lord and the cup of the world. And that has made all the difference.

Prayer: Lord, help me choose you over the distractions of the world.  Amen.

  – Chris Howell – Lynchburg, VA

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 28 – Taking, Blessing, Breaking, Receiving – Eucharist and Salvation

Scripture:  Psalm 116: 13 –  

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the Lord,

My response to the query, “Are you saved?” is always “Yes, once and for all!” In the very celebration of Eucharist, Christians claim and confirm the saving grace, at work in and through Christ’s holy people because of the selfless love, suffering and death, and resurrection of Jesus – for humanity.

Through the fourfold sign-acts within Holy Communion— taking, blessing, breaking, giving— we physically and spiritually engage and affirm Psalm 116:13 “I will take the cup of Salvation and call on the name of the Lord”; and as Paul writes in Romans 8 “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; instead, the Spirit brought about your adoption [Salvation] as daughters and sons….and the very Spirit of God testifies with our spirit that we are God’s own.”

Reaffirming “saving grace” and joining in thanksgiving go hand-in-hand in the liturgy of Eucharist. The Christian ‘Eucharist’ transformed libation and oblation from ancient ‘sign-acts’ affirming and rejoicing in YAHWEH, but as a sacrament for sustaining the work and ministry of Christ in the world.

Prayer: Holy One, strengthen our eyes and ears, minds and hearts’ to receive, know, and proclaim the goodness of your endless love for humankind manifest in Jesus Christ. Amen.

  – Roger Dowdy – Richmond, VA

Central Church

COVID-19 – Beaver County Metrics – 3-31-2022

COVID-19 Integrated County View:

Here are the weekly COVID-19 statistics for Beaver County, PA as of March 31, 2022, with both indexes  leveling off at low levels.

 

• The Incidence Rate increased slightly from 32.9 to 24.4 (a decrease of 8.5, or 25.8%) remaining in the SUBSTANTIAL category for the third week in a row.

• The PCR Positivity Rate decreased from 3.1 to 1.8, remaining in the LOW category.

(Allegheny County’s figures also decreased in the MODERATE category during the past week, moving from 30.2 to 27.0 and from 3.9% to 3.7)

Beaver County continues to be classified as MODERATE on the original PA DOH scale as well as MODERATE on the CDC scale.

• Note:  Levels are anticipated to swing significantly upward in the coming weeks with the arrival of the extremely contagious new BA.2 Omicron variant.

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The new “COVID-19 COMMUNITY LEVEL” index:

Starting on March 3, 2022, for hospitals and healthcare systems, the CDC is also issuing a new “COVID-19 Community Level“ index that measures the “current potential for strain on the health system” (in other words, the ability of hospitals to take in and treat additional folks with COVID-19.)  

This new index is in addition to the CDC’s “COVID-19 Integrated County View” which they continue to publish each week.

The CDC currently reports that current “COVID-19 Community Level” is LOW, meaning that hospital beds are available for new COVID-19 cases. 

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• At Central Church, in order to look out for our older folks, as well as the unvaccinated or immunocompromised, we are continuing to look to the CDC’s“COVID-19 Integrated County View” to evaluate which protective measures and protocols that we should observe to protect all of the folks who come through our doors for in-person worship or for other reasons, such as to participate in our community feeding ministry outreach.

---

• Small Group Meetings (Sunday School, AA, other meetings):

The current guidance on when and how gatherings can take place is based upon the threshold of infection rate.

For Indoor meetings/Sunday School to resume, the 7-day average of daily cases for gatherings that include unvaccinated folks should be:

• • 1.5-2.0 – for everyone except those at high risk; and
  • Less than 1.0 for those at high risk.
  • Our current level is 3.8, so resuming small group meetings may not be feasible for the immediate future.

---

As the pandemic continues, we are continuing our efforts to:

• Disinfect Central Church prior to every worship service and feeding ministry event using EPA-registered products in compliance with CDC standards to kill germs and reduce the risk of spreading infection, and in compliance with EPA criteria for use against SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19; and

• We have significantly expanded our new medical-grade HEPA-13 air filtration equipment in our Sanctuary, which is rated to remove COVID-19 from the air, which now provides 10.7 complete air changes every hour in our Sanctuary (every 6 minutes)!

• In addition, our Parlor, Church Office, Pastor’s Office, UMYF Meeting Room, Fellowship Hall, and Nursery all offer even higher levels of air changes per hour using HEPA-13 or HEPA-14 filtration.

• (5 air changes per hour is the EPA’s general recommended standard, and the EPA now recommends 8-15 air changes per hour in Churches. )  
  

Central Church

Lenten Devotional – Day 27 – The Cup of Salvation

Scripture:  Psalm 116: 13 –  

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the Lord,

This verse of Scripture responds to the question in verse 12, “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?” Isn’t it a strange response that what the Psalmist will GIVE is to TAKE? Maybe.  Maybe not.

By taking the cup, the Psalmist is acknowledging all of the gifts the Lord has provided. The Psalmist is offering an abundance of praise for the lavishness of all that has been given. As we progress through this season of Lent and reflect, let us look toward the abundance the Lord has provided to each of us.

Recognizing there are times when blessing was hard to see, when we examined closely, we found abundance in the goodness the Lord provided. A “cup” is often used to refer to an abundance of something. The Salvation offered to the Psalmist is also extended to us each and every day.

Prayer: Show us the way forward, Oh Lord. Open our eyes to the goodness you provide in everyday life and not merely to the spectacular that comes on occasion. Help us to know our worship is acknowledging what you have given and offering back to you, as well as extending our hand to others who might need a share of our abundance.  Amen.

  – Dean Miller – Henrico, VA

Central Church