Worship Preview 11.23.25

Press Release for November 15, 2025

First United Methodist

No Wednesday Meal this Week – our Feeding Families volunteers take the week of Thanksgiving off to spend time with family. We will serve again on December 4^th. 

It takes roughly 65 to 80 volunteer hours per week to make the meals we and our community partner serve possible. We appreciate everyone who helps out. Have a blessed Thanksgiving and we’ll see you again on December 3rd!

Dec 5-7^th – Our 3^rd Annual Nativity Showcase – a part of Christmas on the Bricks. We will again have new displays this year and we’d love to have your favorite nativity set as part of our celebration this year. To reserve your display space, pick up a registration form at the Church office 9am – 2pm Mon. – Thurs. or  download a copy from www.firstumcfortscott.org/nativity-showcase.

50/50 Bake Sale / Holiday Treats – we will be holding a Bake Sale to raise funds for our “Good Sam” ministry projects on Sunday, Dec. 21^st from 11:30 until 1pm or until sold out. We invite community bakers to help out – if you’d like to participate, contact Cindy Valdez at 620-224-8515 and she can share details.

Worship This Sunday: 10:30am –  “The Days are Surely Coming…” Reign of Christ and Thanksgiving Sunday. Scriptures: Psalm 100, Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 3:1-20, Philippians 4:4-8. Rev. Christopher Eshelman preaching. 

When I was discerning a call to ministry, I spent quite a bit of time in a small chapel off the side of the Sanctuary of a United Methodist church in Wichita. It had once been a storage space that was converted into a quiet space for prayer. They had a beautiful, hand painted mural and around the top of the room was a quotation from Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

We live in increasingly anxious times. Last week we talked about who we say Jesus is – in words and in action. And if, with Peter, we proclaim Jesus Messiah or call out to him to be saved when the waves are crashing in as we heard a few weeks ago, then we are acknowledging him as our highest power and authority. That’s what this coming Sunday affirms. The liturgical calendar, or “church year” begins with Advent – so this coming Sunday is the last day of the liturgical cycle and, since a declaration by Pope Leo in 1925 – in response to the rise of fascist and communist regimes in numerous countries -  has been celebrated in many places as Christ the King Sunday, or more recently Reign of Christ Sunday. One article about Pope Leo’s decision shares: “The institution of this feast was, therefore, almost an act of defiance from the Church against all those who at that time were seeking to absolutize their own political ideologies, insisting boldly that no earthly power, no particular political system or military dictatorship is ever absolute. Rather, only God is eternal and only the Kingdom of God is an absolute value, which never fails.” We who claim to follow Christ cannot do so if we have other primary allegiances.

This last Sunday of the Christian Calendar often falls just before or after the US secular calendar’s Thanksgiving Day – it strikes me that the reason Paul could write his call to “prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” is because he understood Christ reign. We’ll explore that with our other readings. Psalm 100 is a call to joyful celebration in “his courts” – imagery of a royal festival, Jeremiah is a warning to those “shepherds” who abuse and mislead their flocks and a promise that the Lord “will raise up shepherds over [the people] who will shepherd them, and they will not fear any longer.” The promise that this

Finally, we’ll hear from Colossians. Here, Jesus is described as, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”   

Reign of Christ Sunday is a festival that invites us to lift our eyes to grasp this grand vision, of the one ruling over all creation, with a realm dedicated for those who have been rescued and redeemed. Jeremiah’s vision promised “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” Colossians celebrates the reality that Christ has, is, and will accomplish this renewal.

In anxious times, we can trust our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer – the day is surely coming! And in the meantime, we are rooted in giving thanks for all God has already done in Christ, enabling us to love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously. Thanks be to God!

No matter where you are on your faith journey, we invite you to experience the love 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!