Weekly Greeting - October 20th, 2023
Dear Bethlehem Family,
We are exploring how our membership vows inform our discipleship in our current worship series. When people become members of a United Methodist congregation, they are asked if they will support the church with their prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness.
Our membership vows are intended to provide practical expressions of our commitment to Christ. In our readings from the Book of James in our Tuesday afternoon Discipleship class, we have been reminded of how important it has always been to engage in specific practices that make our faith visible. We are saved by faith, not by works but faith without actions that seek to express our devotion to Christ soon comes to nothing. According to James, as disciples of Jesus it is imperative that we walk in a different direction from the way of the world.
So often in the contemporary church, being a Christian is presented as a technique for happiness and prosperity, a helpful way of getting what you want. In the Book of James, salvation is when you talk and walk like Jesus. Our membership vows constitute our best efforts to identify specific practices we can follow to express our desire to walk and talk like Jesus. As I have mentioned during our recent worship services, our membership vows are a means of grace that enable us to experience the abundant life God has for us as our priorities reflect God’s will and not the priorities of the world around us. Who or what is setting the direction of your life?
We will be sending out pledge cards soon that will enable us to identify our intentions for supporting the church through the promises we have made upon joining the church. Our membership vows really are a means of grace to us and to the world as we make following and serving Jesus, our highest priority
Blessings,
Craig
This Sunday, Jim Melrose will be preaching during both of our worship services as we continue our worship series based on our membership vows. Jim is currently serving as a local pastor in our district.
Our text for this Sunday is 2 Corinthians 9:6-12. Come out and support Jim as we celebrate our membership vows as means of grace for us and for those we might touch with God’s grace and love.