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Excerpts from The New Outlook Early November 2007 Second To Sponsor Burmese Family “Jesus and Global Teachers” Study Begins
November 18 The on-going Bible Study class on the book of Genesis led by Bill Gurley will continue in the Community Room. Young Adult Potluck—And a New Class!
A new church school class for young adults will be launched on Sunday, November 18, at 9:15, with Judy Gurley as the teacher. Dr. Jones, in his book Rabbi Jesus, discusses Jesus’ use of questions in teaching his followers: 89 questions in Luke, 85 in Matthew and 47 in Mark. Our plan for Sunday School class is to use the questions themselves (not all of them!!) as our focus. We’ll look at the context in which the questions were asked, the significance of them in the time of Christ, and the responses of the listeners. Then we’ll ask the same questions of ourselves, looking at the significance of the questions to us in our own time, what our answers are, and what our answers perhaps should be. We had a great time getting together at the
Wakefield home this summer and we’re looking forward to meeting again and begin
learning together each week. Upcoming Sermons Beginning a 2-week stewardship emphasis Not for Sale The Christmas Season at Second Baptist In preparation for the special holiday services, the choir will meet a half hour early (6:30 – 8:30 p.m.) on November 14, 21, 28, and December 5 and 12. Hanging of the Greens Hanging of the Greens will begin with a potluck dinner in Fellowship Hall at 5:30 p.m. Please bring a covered dish to share with others. Following dinner, we will decorate the sanctuary and narthex as a church family, with roles for all ages. At 6:15 p.m., we will gather in the sanctuary for a relaxed informal time in which Stephen Jones will tell two stories, Barrington Bunny and Claude the Dog. We will sing familiar Christmas Carols. And we will dedicate our 2007 Advent Candles and Wreath for use during the Advent worship services. We will offer advent wreaths for home devotional use during this season. We conclude by 7:45 pm. Book Group To Discuss Remains of the Day The Second Baptist Book Group will meet in the Community Room at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, November 12, to discuss Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, Remains of the Day.
It is the summer of 1956 and Stevens, after serving Lord Darlington for 30 years as the perfect English butler, has an opportunity for an auto trip across England. He enjoys this rare treat, but along the way he comes to realize that his memories of Lord Darlington as a great gentleman, as well as his working relationship with Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, now reveal a good deal of self-deception. To his regret, this changes his perception of his whole career and "the remains of [his] day." Meg Gilmore
The Board itself is made up of peace activists and deeply spiritual people, of people from Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the USA. It is made up of pastors and laypersons, gays and lesbians, college students and retired persons, feminists, Latinos and African Americans and Euro Americans. An African American pastor from New Orleans, an American Baptist missionary from Mexico, a former Salvadoran Baptist leader, an African American seminarian, and a leader from the American Baptist Churches USA are all included on the Board. The BPFNA addresses issues of peace, justice and equality in North America and around the globe.
We had an amazingly productive meeting building more trusting relationships among the board and staff. I came away even more committed to the importance of this work and more hopeful as to our future. The BPFNA is an inclusive organization that welcomes everyone to the table and addresses important social/justice issues of our day. It models ways of being together for other national and international Baptist organizations that I am convinced is God’s 21st century way of our being together.
More and more people are concerned about peacemaking, particularly in light of the unpopular war in Iraq. I recently read that eventually every American citizen will owe $8,000 every year in interest on the war alone. We are not paying for this war as we go, as we largely have with past wars. We are borrowing the funds from future generations. We are not attending to the needs of our soldiers coming home with serious psychological and physical needs. The war could easily engulf neighboring countries of Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. Thus, many people are concerned.
We likely don’t need strident or uncompromising positions. We need to find a diplomatic solution that builds a more stable society in Afghanistan and Iraq. We need a diplomatic resolution to the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians. I pray that we find a way to remove everyone, soldiers and civilians, from harm’s way. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Peacemaking is an important calling for all of us. It is important that we seek
shalom as we seek the well-being of all in conflicted places like Iraq and
Afghanistan. It is important that we respectfully dialogue about the things that
make for peace even though consensus is so difficult to attain. It is important
that we earnestly pray for peace. And it is important that we find ourselves
connected to other Baptist peacemakers in times like these.
WEEKLY ACTIVITIES
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9030 Clayton Road (at McKnight Road, 3/10 mile west of the Galleria) St. Louis, MO 63117 (314) 991-3424 |