Sunday, June the 1st from 11AM – The ES & MS Youth have put together all the elements of our worship service for this week.  Please come and enjoy the sharing of their gifts.  Pastor Teresa will preach from Luke 10, with a sermon titled, “The Good Samaritan” following on the theme of the ES study of the parables this year.  After the worship service let`s enjoy robust fellowship snacks.  Pentecost worship is on June 8th. Invite your friends for these upcoming exciting worships.

ES & MS Youth led WORSHIP  11:00 AM
FELLOWSHIP TIME (after the service – all are invited)

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What is Poverty?  Powerful 6 minute video on friendship, being a neighbor and poverty by Brazilian Pastor Claudio Oliver – provides us an opportunity to provocatively think about these important topics in the light of the theme of being “a Good Samaritan.”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGSvDvDZnb4
(pardon the shampoo ad at the beginning of the YouTube clip)

***
Upcoming Preaching Ministry and Community Events
June 1st       Pastor Teresa, ES & MS Youth Service, Communion

June 8th      Multigenerational Sunday School, Pastor Teresa, PENTECOST, RED robust Fellowship Time – invite your friends!

June 15th    Rev. Dr. Jim Sack, Communion, Father/Caregiver blessing

June 22nd   Pastor Teresa, Multigenerational Sunday School, Adult Sunday School, Fellowship Time

June 29th    Pastor Teresa, Last worship service of the 13-14 WTUC church year

September 7th      Pastor Teresa, Worship Services resume, Communion

September 15th    Back to School Sunday

***
MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL IS HERE !!
Upcoming Schedule for Sundays – June 8th and June 22nd.   Twice a month we will have multigenerational Sunday School from 9:30 in the cafeteria.  Who is welcome?  All ages.  We will be creating, discussing, playing games, acting out bible stories and more.  If parents want their kids to join in on the fun at the Multigenerational Sunday School while they attend the Adult Sunday School that will be at the Sacks – that`s great too.  This will be in addition to the regular Wednesday evening offerings for ES, MS and HS.  The Sacks will host the Adult Sunday school, also at 9:30 am in their living room on these same dates.  Their home is right across the Lutheran Campus from our sanctuary.  Best coffee in town = ) Come and enjoy!  All are welcome.  Need more information, contact wtucrev@gmail.com any time =)
****
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CORNER (we value your prayers & involvement in this vital ministry)  Contact Carrie Bennett for ES, Julie Rogers for MS, Amy Harbaugh for HS or Pastor Teresa at wtucrev@gmail.com with any questions.

Little Kids (1-6) Please stay in worship

NEXT MULTI GENERATIONAL Sunday School – Sunday June 8th in Cafeteria from 9:30-10:30 am

NEXT ADULT Sunday School – Sunday June 8th at the Sack`s from 9:30-10:30 am

***
SNACK SIGNUP Sign up for snacks for fellowship time with Ann or on the list on the white board.  We greatly appreciate your contributions to our community life!

***
WTUC  Announcements
*Any questions or concerns?  Feel free to email wtucrev@gmail.com anytime.
*Please enjoy and refer our website and FB page (West Tokyo Union Church) to others.  Please make any suggestions for additions to the Pastor Teresa and/or Steering Committee.  https://wtuc.net/
*If you’d like to be added to the WTUC church email list, please contact Gene Witt ewitt@asij.ac.jp
*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 Ozawa.

***
Luke 10:25-37                             (The Message)   
25 Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”
26 He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”
27 He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”
28 “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”
29 Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”
30-32 Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
33-35 “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’
36 “What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”
37 “The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.
Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Sunday, May 25th – After Multigenerational and Adult Sunday School at 9:30, from 11AM we will have worship.  This Sunday the HS Youth have put together all the elements of our worship service.  Please come and enjoy the sharing of their gifts.  Rev. Jim Sack, Professor at the Japan Lutheran College and Theological Seminary http://www.luther.ac.jp/english/details.html#header will preach from Acts 17, with a sermon titled, “In Him, In Me”.  After the worship service let`s enjoy robust fellowship snacks.  A Steering Committee meeting will follow.  Next week we will have ES/MS led worship – invite your friends for these two exciting worships.

– MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL – 9:30 in the cafeteria, Adult Sunday School at 9:30 at the Sacks
– HS Youth led WORSHIP  11:00 AM, short congregational meeting during the service regarding the budget
FELLOWSHIP TIME (after the service – all are invited)
STEERING COMMITTEE after Fellowship Time

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**************************************
Where was Paul preaching from in our passage? – where and what is the Aeropagus?? What and where are Mars Hill?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areopagus Enjoy clicking around this site for a virtual tour of Athens, the location for the theme of this week`s sermon – http://www.stoa.org/athens/sites/northslope/index.html***
MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL IS HERE! MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL IS HERE !!
This Sunday`s topic in preparation for ES/MS led worship next week – the GOOD SAMARITAN!!!!!!!
Upcoming Schedule for Sundays – May 25th, June 8th and June 22nd.   Twice a month we will have multigenerational Sunday School from 9:30 in the cafeteria.  Who is welcome?  All ages.  We will be creating, discussing, playing games, acting out bible stories and more.  If parents want their kids to join in on the fun at the Multigenerational Sunday School while they attend the Adult Sunday School that will be at the Sacks – that`s great too.  This will be in addition to the regular Wednesday evening offerings for ES, MS and HS.  The Sacks will host the Adult Sunday school, also at 9:30 am in their living room on these same dates.  Their home is right across the Lutheran Campus from our sanctuary.  Best coffee in town = ) Come and enjoy!  All are welcome.  Need more information, contact wtucrev@gmail.com any time = )                                                                                                                       

****
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CORNER (we value your prayers & involvement in this vital ministry)  Contact Carrie Bennett for ES, Julie Rogers for MS, Amy Harbaugh for HS or Pastor Teresa at wtucrev@gmail.com with any questions.
Little Kids (1-6) Sunday School during church Topic: The Story of Ruth   Teacher: Oliver

NEXT ES Youth Grades 2-5: Wednesday May 27th at the Bennett`s home from 5-6:30 pm  Topic: Parables Review  Teachers: Steve/Carrie   Pizza:  Norris/Loveman

NEXT MS Youth: Preparation for the Youth Service

NEXT HS Youth:  Preparation for the Youth Service

NEXT MULTI GENERATIONAL Sunday School – Sunday May 25th in Cafeteria from 9:30-10:30 am

NEXT ADULT Sunday School – Sunday May 25th at the Sack`s from 9:30-10:30 am

***
Upcoming Preaching Ministry and Community Events
May 25th    Multigenerational Sunday School, Rev. Jim, HS Youth Service
June 1st    Pastor Teresa, ES & MS Youth Service, Communion
June 8th    Multigenerational Sunday School, Pastor Teresa, PENTECOST,         RED robust Fellowship Time – invite your friends!
June 15th    Rev. Jim, Communion, Father/Caregiver blessing
June 22nd    Pastor Teresa, Multigenerational Sunday School, Adult Sunday School,         Fellowship Time
June 29th    Pastor Teresa, Last worship service of the 13-14 WTUC church year
September 7th    Worship Services resume, Communion
September 15th    Back to School Sunday

***
SNACK SIGNUP Sign up for snacks for fellowship time with Ann or on the list on the white board.  We greatly appreciate your contributions to our community life!

***
WTUC  Announcements
*Any questions or concerns?  Feel free to email wtucrev@gmail.com anytime.
*Please enjoy and refer our website and FB page (West Tokyo Union Church) to others.  Please make any suggestions for additions to the Pastor Teresa and/or Steering Committee.  https://wtuc.net/
*If you’d like to be added to the WTUC church email list, please contact Gene Witt ewitt@asij.ac.jp
*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 Ozawa.

***
John 14:15-21
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.  In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.  They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Acts 17:22-28a
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’

Sunday, May 18th – Rev. Tim McKenzie of the Lutheran Theological Seminary http://www.luther.ac.jp/faculty/chris/index.html will preach from 1 Peter 2, with a sermon titled, The Rejected Cornerstone.  Communion will be served.  After the worship service let`s enjoy robust fellowship snacks.

– WORSHIP  11:00 AM  with Communion
FELLOWSHIP TIME (after the service – all are invited)

********************************************************************
Enjoy Hillsong`s Christ Alone Cornerstone music video

after the Japanese commercial this link leads to a mix of Hillsong favorites – ENJOY!

***
Our guest Preacher today: Tim & Mari McKenzie are missionaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Tim teaches Historical Theology at Japan Lutheran Theological Seminary and Japan Lutheran College (on this campus). Mari is involved in the prayer shawl ministry and is working to introduce this to churches in Japan. Prior to serving at the college and seminary in Tokyo, they served churches of the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

***
MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL IS HERE! MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL IS HERE !!
Upcoming Schedule for Sundays – May 25th, June 8th and June 22nd.   Twice a month we will have multigenerational Sunday School from 9:30 in the cafeteria.  Who is welcome?  All ages.  We will be creating, discussing, playing games, acting out bible stories and more.  If parents want their kids to join in on the fun at the Multigenerational Sunday School while they attend the Adult Sunday School that will be at the Sacks – that`s great too.  This will be in addition to the regular Wednesday evening offerings for ES, MS and HS.  The Sacks will host the Adult Sunday school, also at 9:30 am in their living room on these same dates.  Their home is right across the Lutheran Campus from our sanctuary.  Best coffee in town =) Come and enjoy!  All are welcome.  Need more information, contact wtucrev@gmail.com any time =)

****
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CORNER (we value your prayers & involvement in this vital ministry)  Contact Carrie Bennett for ES, Julie Rogers for MS, Amy Harbaugh for HS or Pastor Teresa at wtucrev@gmail.com with any questions.

Little Kids (1-6) Sunday School during church Topic: Queen Esther   Teacher: Sammie

NEXT ES Youth Grades 2-5: Wednesday May 27th at the Bennett`s home from 5-6:30 pm  Topic: Parables Review  Teachers: Steve/Carrie   Pizza:  Norris/Loveman

NEXT MS Youth: Preparation for the Youth Service

NEXT HS Youth:  Preparation for the Youth Service

NEXT MULTI GENERATIONAL Sunday School – Sunday May 25th in Cafeteria from 9:30-10:30 am

NEXT ADULT Sunday School – Sunday May 25th at the Sack`s from 9:30-10:30 am

***
Upcoming Preaching Ministry and Community Events
May 18th    Rev. Tim, Communion
May 25th    Multigenerational Sunday School, Rev. Jim, HS Youth Service
June 1st     Pastor Teresa, ES & MS Youth Service, Communion
June 8th     Multigenerational Sunday School, Pastor Teresa, PENTECOST, RED robust Fellowship Time – invite your friends!

***
SNACK SIGNUP Sign up for snacks for fellowship time with Ann or on the list on the white board.  We greatly appreciate your contributions to our community life!

***
WTUC  Announcements
*Any questions or concerns?  Feel free to email wtucrev@gmail.com anytime.
*Please enjoy and refer our website and FB page (West Tokyo Union Church) to others.  Please make any suggestions for additions to the Pastor Teresa and/or Steering Committee.  https://wtuc.net/
*If you’d like to be added to the WTUC church email list, please contact Gene Witt ewitt@asij.ac.jp
*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 Ozawa.

***
1 Peter 2:4-10  New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those     who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

Come and Enjoy worshipping with us this Sunday!

http://www.ari-edu.org/en/home-eng/