Worship Preview 10.12.25 "A Still More Excellent Way: Loving Boldly"
- FirstUMC FortScott
- Oct 9
- 4 min read
This Sunday, October 12th at 3pm – Join us for a Gospel Concert with Second Hand Strings! A freewill donation fundraiser for Feeding Families in His Name. Second Hand Strings is an acoustic group whose members enjoy sharing their love of music. The group of friends began playing together a few years ago to share their fondness of folk and classic country music. They will perform a selection of popular old-time gospel songs, adding their bluegrass touch.
Community Office Hours – Monday, October 13th. This week, Pastor Christopher is going to spend 2-4pm on Monday afternoon at FSCC in the Student Union at Bailey Hall. Come by to ask a question, share prayer, or just a bit of conversation.
Wednesday, October 15th, Feeding Families in His Name: A free, no obligation meal is served “to-go” style from underneath our portico from 5:30-6:30pm each Wednesday, prepared each week by our members as well as several area churches and community groups. We aim to provide 400 meals per week, even with government funding lapses withholding commodities and increasing our costs. If you would like to support this ministry, you can make donations online at: www.firstumcfortscott.org/feedingfamiliesdonation. Thank you.
Our 5th Annual Trunk or Treat - Friday, October 31st – 5:30pm to dusk. Parking Lot behind the church: 301 S National Open to all. Parents and grandparents are invited to bring the kids. Come in costume and celebrate All Hallows Eve with your friends and neighbors! There is no charge for this event.
Worship This Sunday: 10:30am – “A Still More Excellent Way: Loving Boldly” Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 11-31, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Rev. Christopher Eshelman preaching.
I often talk about how, as helpful as they are, the chapters and verses the Bible is divvyed up into sometimes get in the way of greater understanding and insight. They feed our tendency to take short snippets as standing on their own instead of being a part of longer teaching and flow of thought. Our verses from 1st Corinthians are another great example of that. Most of us know Paul’s magnificent words about love in 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, Love is kind, it is not arrogant or boastful or rude…” yet those words lose something when disconnected from the reason Paul is writing them.
Chapter 12 begins with a lesson on spiritual gifts – another section often taken on its own. We are told that there are different gifts and different kinds of service, but that all these gifts and calls come from the same Lord. This week we’ll focus not on the wonderful description of such gifts but on Paul’s use of the analogy of the body of Christ as formed by those gifts and how that analogy, found in Chapter 12, connects his discussion of Spiritual gifts to his discourse on love. The last line of Chapter 12 is “I will show you a still more excellent way!”
Last week, as part of World Communion Sunday, I preached about the “image of God” and “the body of Christ.” We talked again about God offering his first and best to us in the person of Jesus – and Jesus initiating the ritual practice of Holy Communion. Through our participation, receiving the body and blood of Christ, we are connected with those who have gone before on the journey of faith and those who come after – we receive a foretaste of heaven, the beloved community, called together “from every nation, tribe, people and language.” (Revelation 7:9). We become the body of Christ, participating in Christ’s work, and yet we are not all the same. We aren’t supposed to be! Paul illustrates this by talking about different parts of the body and their interconnectedness with verses like – “If the foot would say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body” and “if the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? He writes “As it is, there are many members yet one body… The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you.” We are intended to be connected in diverse community! The past couple of weeks, we have also begun considering the Golden Rule found in Matthew 7:12 – “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – and an extension / reframing of that that takes us deeper – the Platinum Rule– treating others as they would like to be treated. In Paul’s connection of Spiritual gifts, to the analogy of the body of Christ, to the fullness of love in Chapter 13, he writes “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” We are called together for one another. We are gifted to serve one another. Christ lives this out. Christ offers us himself – and calls us – all of us – to follow, loving neighbors… loving the stranger and sojourner… loving even enemies.
Recently our denomination shared a new vision statement that helps us focus on that.
“The United Methodist Church forms disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide connections.” I’m excited to unpack these phrases, continue to dive deeply into Scripture, and explore where God is leading us along a "still more excellent way!" For the next 3 Sundays, we’ll look at this statement and how it can help focus, encourage, and define who we are as what is sometimes called “the United Methodist branch of the Jesus movement.” As always, we will hear calls to repent, and to rejoice, for God is with us! No matter where you are on your faith journey, we invite you to experience the hope and presence of Christ together with us at 10:30am each Sunday and explore your next steps! 301 S. National here in Fort Scott. Find your path, share your journey!
