West Tokyo Union Church Weekly – Sunday, June 19, 2016 worship

Pastor:  Rev. Teresa Thompson Sherrill     wtucrev@gmail.com

9:30 AM – Blessed to be a Blessing Adult Sunday School (no multigenerational Sunday School this week) in the Sacks` living room – best coffee in town = ) All are welcome!!!

11:00 AM – Pastor Teresa will bring the Message “a sound of sheer silence” from 1 Kings 19. Carolyn Morikawa will delight us with the Children`s Message. Kazuko Sacon will lead the worship on the organ. Betsy Terada will be our liturgist. Communion will be served with healing ministers ready to pray for you. We will have a blessing for our Father`s/Caregiver`s. Our delightful robust fellowship time will be after the service.

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words for encouragement this week

At the corner of disarray and emptiness,

you came, Hesed God, passing by

as creation sprang forth out of the sheer silence:

   splitting valleys to push up mountains,

   breaking planets into moons,

   pouring waters into seas.

All this was for those shaped in your image,

   but we threw down your hopes,

   leaving you alone as we

   forsook you for sin and death.

Prophets came proclaiming your word

so we could hear, that in hearing

we might believe, and in believing

we could call on you,

   but we refused to listen.

Unwilling to give up on us,

you sent Jesus to us,

coming into all our broken places.

With those who confess you with their lips,

with those who believe in their hearts,

we sing our praises to you:

Holy, holy, holy, God who does not forsake us.

All creation worships and praises you.

Hosanna in the highest!

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a new study opportunity …

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING ~ How to Have an Intentional Healing Ministry in Your Church 

By James K. Wagner

9:30-10:30am, non-Multi-Generational Sunday mornings – (6/19 and continuing into the fall) @ Sack house.

We will be studying the Sacramental Model of Healing Ministry, using this book by Methodist pastor James Wagner. Dr. Wagner helps us to see healing prayers as a natural outcome of the church, inspired by the compassion of our Lord who wills goodness to each person in both general and specific ways. Any genuine ministry is concerned with encouraging and helping others, not on building up oneself or one’s group. It is centered in the Word of God. 

Let us explore together such questions as: “What is the sacramental healing ministry of the Church?” “What about when healing doesn’t seem to happen?” “What is the significance of forgiveness?” and many other questions. 

We will continue this study over a few months, reading the text out loud together and discussing as we go along. Feel free to join whether or not you have had any prior connections with the healing ministry. 

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Upcoming Preaching Ministry and Community Events

June 19th – Blessed to be a Blessing Adult Sunday School, Pastor Teresa preaching, Communion will be served, Organ: Kazuko Sacon. Children`s Message: Carolyn Morikawa; Father`s/Caregiver`s Sunday, Fellowship time.

June 26th – Multigenerational and Adult Sunday Schools, Last Sunday worship of the 2015-16 church year. Pastor Teresa preaching, Organ: Kazuko Sacon. Children`s Message: Ruth Ingulsrud; Fellowship time. Worship at WTUC will start up again on September 4th, 2016.

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MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL!! ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL!! on June 26th. We have Multigenerational Sunday School from 9:30AM in the cafeteria the second and fourth Sundays of the month. Who is welcome? All ages. We will be creating, discussing, playing games, acting out bible stories and more facilitated by Pastor Teresa. At the same time, there Adult Sunday School, also at 9:30AM in the cafeteria. The method used is the, “Swedish Bible study method,” interacting with the texts for the service through our own life experiences. Come and enjoy! All are welcome. Need more information, contact wtucrev@gmail.com any time = ) BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING Adult Sunday School also at the Sack`s on June 19th, and into the autumn. All friends invited!

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WTUC  Announcements:  *Questions or concerns?  Feel free to email wtucrev@gmail.com anytime *Please enjoy and refer our website https://wtuc.net/ and FB page (West Tokyo Union Church) to others. Please make any suggestions for additions to the Pastor Teresa and/or Steering Committee. If you’d like to be added to the WTUC church email list, are interested in baptism or membership, please contact Pastor Teresa *If interested in joining the WTUC Prayer Chain, let Pastor Teresa or Prayer Chain Coordinator, Kayo Ozawa, know of your interest. Please submit prayers to wtucrev@gmail.com or Kayo. *Sign up for snacks for fellowship time with Ann or Jill. We appreciate your contributions to our community life!

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Text for the sermon – 1 Kings 19:1-15 

1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9 At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.