http://www.centralmethodist.net en-us ℗ & © 2008 Central United Methodist Church, Florence, South Carolina Weekly Worship Service Rev. Tom Pietila & Rev. Will Malambri Central United Methodist Church holds worship services every Sunday at 9:00am and 11:15am. Our podcast is comprised of audio recordings of the 9:00am service each Sunday morning. Updates are made every Monday. Subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes Music Store. Central United Methodist Church Worship Service Podcast Central United Methodist Church csmith@centralmethodist.net csmith@centralmethodist.net Rev. Will Malambri Let Heaven and Nature Sing We are a people fond of doing. Our spiritual forebear, John Wesley, told us, we’re often reminded, to do all the good we can, as often as we can. We are certain that idle hands are the devil’s workshop. We have a certain scorn for those who can lounge for days on end watching television. We believe, and are mostly right, that our faith is meant to be put into practice.There are times, however, when our faith is simply to be celebrated. The Christ-child in this story does nothing. The doing was in coming, being born, but, in this story, he is simply celebrated. From far and wide (and even from the heavens above) strangers come to celebrate the one will, eventually, do all that is necessary to be done. "Let Heaven and Nature Sing" - Rev. Will Malambri Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:17:13 GMT 11:31 Rev. Tom Pietila Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior On this Sunday when we remember and celebrate the baptism of the Lord, we also remember and celebrate our own baptism. Some of us do not remember our baptism. Some of us remember it vividly and with great joy. However, every service of baptism asks this question: "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" The person being baptized (or his or her family) and the congregation makes a life-changing and counter-cultural response. "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior." We have nearly thirty baptisms a year at Central. It is easy in the repetitiveness of this response baby after baby to forget what it means to declare that Jesus Christ is my "Lord" and my "Savior." People have died for making this claim. Following Jesus' very public baptism, he will begin calling disciples, threatening old allegiances, and showing us what it means to live a God-filled life. It is not an easy way as the Lenten Season will soon remind us. But for people who know what it means to call Jesus "Lord" and "Savior," it is finally true, beautiful, and freeing. "Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior" - Rev. Tom Pietila Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:21:47 GMT 14:55 Rev. Will Malambri The Glad News of Deliverance You might look back on portions of your life and realize that you were in a desolate pit or a miry bog. You probably didn’t call it that, but the vivid imagery captures what moments of our lives feel like: either a barren, sunken place where help seems far away or a swampy, scary place where footing is unstable and the next step is anything but obvious. The Psalmist says that the Lord brought him out of these periods of life and gave him a new song to sing—a song of praise. He was rescued and now shares the glad news of deliverance. Interestingly, though, his thanksgiving does not take the usual form. Offerings, he proclaims, are not what God desires. The God who saved him gave him a heart to delight in God’s will, that is to joyfully obey, and a voice to tell the glad news of deliverance, that is to share the gospel. It turns out we are not delivered merely for our own wellbeing, but we emerge from the difficult places in life to help others. We who have been delivered from the desolate pits or miry bogs of life have stories to tell and help to give. And it is in our responding to God’s deliverance that others begin to know deliverance themselves and learn the verses of our new song of praise. "The Glad News of Deliverance" - Rev. Will Malambri Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:21:47 GMT 13:53 Bishop Marshall L. "Jack" Meadors After the Storm Bishop Meadors will be preaching at both 9 and 11:15 AM on Sunday. He is a recently retired Bishop of the Mississippi Conference. He is a native son of Central Church, spent most of his ministry serving churches in South Carolina, and was elected to the episcopacy while serving the Conference's largest church, Buncombe Street, Greenville. He continues to be very active in his episcopal role. He is especially interested in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina and will share some of his thoughts on the rebuilding with us. We are honored to have him with us! "After the Storm" - Bishop Marshall L. "Jack" Meadors Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:21:47 GMT 16:55 Central's Youth (Youth Sunday) Recollecting in Heaven Our junior high and senior high youth will be leading both the 9:00 and 11:15 worship services this Sunday. During the January UMYF meeting the youth have been studying the Matthew text, learning about worship, and prayerfully planning the worship services. Our four preachers will bring the story of Christ’s transfiguration to life through a creative sermon. Each preacher will be speaking in the voice of one of the characters from the text, bringing to life the amazing reality of God’s love and power. "Recollecting in Heaven" - Central's Youth Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:21:47 GMT 5:19 Rev. Tom Pietila Since By Man Came Death The truth is sin abounds. It abounds personally, corporately, nationally. What else accounts for the recent story in the newspaper that the poor in Haiti are eating dirt while we throw food away? Sin abounds. Paul, in the lesson from Romans, is trying to account for sin. It is a word that has fallen out of fashion in our therapeutic age but is worse than we want to believe. If we can't blame our parents, our diets, our schools, or our upbringing, who do we blame for the sorry state of human affairs. Paul says: "...just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin,...so death spread to all because he sinned." It seems odd for me to put it this way (my father was Lutheran and I was brought up with a healthy respect for sin), but what exactly is sin? The culture has lost all sense of what this word means. And if Paul is correct about the human condition, what is the remedy? Welcome to Lent. "Since By Man Came Death" - Rev. Tom Pietila Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:21:47 GMT 13:45 Rev. Tom Pietila Amazing, Abundant Grace We sing about grace with enthusiasm and talk about grace as if it was an old friend. If the truth be told, however, grace makes us deeply uncomfortable. We like to think of ourselves more as earners than beneficiaries. We see ourselves as those who are in control more than those who are being controlled. "God helps those who help themselves" is still very much a part of our vocabulary, even though it is nowhere to be found in the Bible. Jesus' kingdom calls us to a new way, one that depends not on our performance, but on what God has already done in Jesus Christ. It is the faithfulness of Christ that matters most. How did Abraham come to be righteous? Was it something he did? No, said, Paul. It came to him as a gift. "Amazing, Abundant Grace" - Rev. Tom Pietila Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:21:47 GMT 15:45 Rev. Will Malambri Saved By His Life For the third consecutive Sunday we'll be dealing with Romans. Again, Paul is reminding us that grace, not works; God's love, not our deeds is what save us to life. We, like Adam, are fallen creatures. We are incapable of saving ourselves. We rely on grace to give us temporal and eternal hope. Grace, which cannot be earned, however, is not permission to sin. Rather, it is liberation from the power of sin. It is liberation from eternal death and it is also liberation to life. While Jesus' death saves us from the powers of sin, his life graces us to live well and to live in his love. Living a holy life is not an attempt to earn grace or to repay it, but is a means of grace itself. The Holy Spirit's empowerment to live a life that reflects Jesus' is grace. "Saved By His Life" - Rev. Will Malambri Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:21:47 GMT 15:02 Rev. Tom Pietila Resurrection Eyes It is a long and familiar story. A blind man who has spent his entire lifetime begging for a few coins around the pool of Siloam, encounters Jesus who with spit and mud "anoints" the man's eyes and he finally sees. The cure itself takes exactly two verses; the controversy around the cure takes thirty-nine verses, and that, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story. The rest of the story is that rather than the community celebrating the man's miracle of sight, the religious caretakers decide they need to get to the bottom of what happened. The rest of the story is that the organized church has always been pretty good at sniffing out sin but not so good at acknowledging the power of God. After intense scrutiny and questioning about his miracle healing, the only defense he can muster is: "One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." It might not sound like much, but the surprising power of God is all we have. "Resurrection Eyes" - Rev. Tom Pietila Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:21:47 GMT 12:16 Rev. Tom Pietila Jesus Was Late The "Raising of Lazarus" is one of the most dramatic and familiar stories in John. Jesus is notified Lazarus is near death and instead of instantly traveling to where his friend was, he waited a few days before he left. When Jesus finally got to Bethany (two miles from Jerusalem), he discovered Lazarus had been dead for four days. Why was Jesus late? Of course Martha, Lazarus' sister, is not happy Jesus took his time to get there. "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." It is a natural and often repeated admonition at the time of death. "If only...." "If only I had made him go to the doctor sooner." "If only the doctor would have run that new test." "If only I had not left him alone." "If only..." will drive you crazy. Martha knows that Jesus could have made a difference only he was not there. He was late. Or was he? "Jesus Was Late" - Rev. Tom Pietila Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:21:47 GMT 15:02 Rev. Tom Pietila In Lowly Pomp Ride On To Die Today we begin the holiest week of the church year. It begins with a parade, of sorts, on Palm Sunday. Jesus is moving from Bethany to Jerusalem. "Hosanna to the Son of David," people shout waving their palm branches. What kind of parade is it? Is it a protest march, a hero's welcome, the beginning of a funeral procession? "Who is this?" the crowd must have asked as the parade gathered steam. Is this the Messiah they have long waited for, weapons drawn Rambo-like, ready to organize an army and take out the Romans? Who is this? Why, it is Joseph and Mary's boy, the itinerant rabbi, the "nothing good ever comes out of Nazareth" person. Surely the sophisticates and the powerful continued with their morning coffee knowing this parade would lead to nothing as it was led by a powerless rabbi. Who is this that comes in the name of the Lord? Good question for this Holy Week. "Ride on, ride on in majesty. In lowly pomp ride on to die. Bow thy meek head to mortal pain, Then take, O God, thy power and reign." "In Lowly Pomp Ride On To Die" - Rev. Tom Pietila Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:21:47 GMT 16:20 Rev. Tom Pietila What's Your Story? If you read Matthew's Easter story carefully, you will note that Matthew is aware there is another story--the "official story"-- circulating about the resurrection. The first story is the one we all come to church on Easter to hear. Women come to the tomb early on Easter morning and are greeted by an angel who tells them: "Do not be afraid, you seek Jesus who was crucified; he is not here; he is risen." The women race back to tell what they have heard to the others. Matthew believes that Easter story, and wants us to believe it too, but he knows there is another story going around that on the surface makes sense. The other story is that the disciples have stolen the body during the night and that all this talk about resurrection is foolish. Matthew admits the story is a popular one and has some traction in the community. After all, if both stories were printed side by side in the Jerusalem Morning News which one is more believable? Resurrection, which no one has ever seen, or theft, which we see every day? All that being said, the important thing for Matthew is not which story you believe, but which story will you tell? "What's Your Story?" - Rev. Tom Pietila Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:21:47 GMT 13:48 Rev. Will Malambri The Hope in Impossibility Modern parenting and advertisements work to convince us that nothing is impossible. Of course, they are wrong. We live in a world with limitations. We are limited and until we realize that we’ll have trouble appreciating the grace that comes from an unlimited God. For God, truly nothing is impossible, save one thing—that death can hold him. By God’s power, Jesus overcame the grave and the hope that comes with this truth not only alters our eternal future, but also the living of these days. "The Hope in Impossibility" - Rev. Will Malambri Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:21:47 GMT 17:04 Rev. Tom Pietila We Had Hoped Luke writes that on the third day following the crucifixion several unnamed disciples decided to get out of Jerusalem and make the seven mile walk to Emmaus. From that seven mile dusty walk we have this beautiful little story. We do not know much about the disciples fleeing Jerusalem after the crucifixion. We only know the name of one of them--Cleopas. Beyond that we know nothing. We are not even certain where Emmaus is. What we do know about them is there was a time when they shared the excitement of others about Jesus, his ministry, and the kingdom he would usher in. But now that he has been crucified, their hopes were gone as well. "We had hoped..." they said sadly, "that he was the one to redeem Israel." We do know that they are traveling away from defeat, escaping the painful memories, trying to forget the sound of the hammers nailing their Lord to the Cross. They are also trying to forget their own cowardice and infidelity. "We had hoped..." they said. Hope in the past tense is one of the saddest things you'll ever hear. Broken dreams. Broken promises. Painful memories. We know who those disciples are. They are all of us. It is a road we have all traveled. "We Had Hoped" - Rev. Tom Pietila Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:21:47 GMT 10:02 Rev. Jo Anna Fallaw All We Like Sheep Our scripture this week uses the imagery of sheep. Many of us know that sheep are not the smartest animals. However, they are more capable than we give them credit. With training, sheep can recognize names. John 10 says that the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. In our baptism we are named and called by God, we are then given the choice about whether or not to learn how to live into our new identities. Answering the calling of our name is a salvation issue. Those who follow the voice of the shepherd will enter the gate of salvation. A few questions to ponder: Is a conversation about salvation needed for Christians? How does this passage empower you to new life in Christ? Is this passage about the afterlife, or something more? I look forward to exploring these questions with you on Sunday morning. "All We Like Sheep" - Rev. Jo Anna Fallaw Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:21:47 GMT 16:13 Rev. Will Malambri They Covered Their Ears Two of our lessons this week go hand-in-hand. In Acts we read of the stoning of Stephen, a result of his proclaiming Jesus’ divinity, crucifixion, and resurrection to those who did not want to hear it. Earlier in 1 Peter we are warned of the persecutions that come with faithfulness (what were those early Christians doing that people wanted to bother them over it?) and in this week’s passage we are reminded that Jesus’ rejection should indicate to us that when we are rejected it is a sign of faithfulness. But we are not rejected often for our faith. Is it because the culture has become friendly toward us? Is it because we have become too accommodating of the culture? Perhaps it is because we (the Church) have become dominant (or had!) and are the ones who now cover our ears. Conversation involves at least three essentials. Speaking and hearing are commonly thought of, but too infrequently practiced. The third requirement is to have earned a hearing, to live in a way that inspires dialogue and indicates that you are speaking with integrity, to be willing to admit you do not have all the answers and are not afraid of the questions. Come Sunday - we’ll talk. "They Covered Their Ears" - Rev. Will Malambri Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:21:47 GMT 16:56 Rev. Tom Pietila Preaching to Smart People The good news of Jesus Christ has been preached to all kinds of people. City folks and country folks, rich and poor, male and female. Perhaps its stiffest test comes when Paul takes the gospel to Athens where there are a lot of smart, cultured people. Some philosophers found Paul's teaching intriguing, faint praise really, and so they ask him to come and defend his teachings in a public forum, standing before the Areopagus, a place where speeches of some import were made and heard. Paul preaches perhaps his finest sermon, reasoned, measured, and meant to address the intellectual types to whom he was speaking. You have to hand it to Paul. He just stands up in the midst of this rather intimidating crowd of the brightest and best in Athens, like walking into a faculty meeting at MIT, and gives his testimony. It was an interesting speech until Paul witnesses to the resurrection of the dead. With that, school is out. "When they heard of the resurrection, some mocked" (Acts17:32). It is a typical reaction of many smart, intellectual people. It is odd that the world sometimes caricatures Christians as the ones who are narrow-minded and not good at complex thought. Paul discovered it was the smart ones who were the narrow-minded ones. Christians believe that in the resurrection we have seen something that the world has not yet seen, a more expansive truth of what is going on in the world than the view that is prevalent in our cultured society. It's amazing to me not that so few come to church to hear this "good news," but that so many do. "Preaching to Smart People" - Rev. Tom Pietila Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:21:47 GMT 17:06 Rev. Tom Pietila I've Got Good News and Bad News - 9:00 Ascension Sunday Sermon This Sunday is an important and exciting Sunday in the life of Central Church. Nineteen of our young people have been involved in Confirmation training since January. They have meet each Sunday as a Sunday School class, attended a weekend Confirmation Retreat at Lake Junaluska, each has met weekly with their mentor to discuss faith and discipleship, and many have been involved with servant ministries and other opportunities for learning and fun. They will profess their faith at 11:15, have hands laid on them invoking the power of the Holy Spirit, and be received as Central's newest members. We are grateful for the faithful ways they have learned about and put into action being disciples of Jesus Christ. We thank their mentors who have shared important parts of their lives and faith with them. Join us as we celebrate this high moment in their lives and in the life of Central Church! "I've Got Good News and Bad News" (9:00 Ascension Sunday Sermon) - Rev. Tom Pietila Mon, 05 May 2008 09:21:47 GMT 13:33