The scripture for Sunday has to be Acts 2:1-21:

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs–in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Thoughts? What comes to the surface for you?

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Luke 24:50-53 “Then [Jesus] led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.”

This week, we are looking at the early church. I am planning to use two scriptures from the Lectionary – the readings from Ephesians and Luke. If you are reading along at home, you might think about looking at the book of Acts – especially at the bifurcation that happens in chapter 15.

Some questions to consider:

• What does the Early Church see as its mission?
• Who is in charge of the Early Church?
• How do they see Jesus’ life and message?
• How do they fit in with the culture around them?

These are just some of the questions I am wrestling with right now. Let me know what you think.

Acts 17:22-31 “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’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

This Sunday, we are continuing our series “Easter: A Season of Discovery”. The topic for this week is the story of Jesus. The text from Acts shown above is one of the Lectionary readings for Sunday, and I will be drawing a lot of my sermon out of this passage. I am struck by some of the words and phrases…

• Extremely religious.

• An unknown god.

• Perhaps grope for him.

• And what of this phrase, “Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone…”

• And that we will be “judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed”.

So, what of this man that we call Jesus? Who was he? Why was he important? And, as important as ever, why does it matter? Any thoughts?

The Old Orchard Beach United Methodist Church will be serving the Saco Bay Community on Thanksgiving Day again this year. This is our SIXTH! As in the past, we will be holding a free Thanksgiving Day meal for anyone that would like to attend. For those that cannot make it on your own, we are offering to drive them to and from the event as long as they live in Old Orchard Beach, Saco, or Biddeford. Of, if they prefer or can’t get out of their home, we can deliver a meal to them within that same area.

If you would like to help out, we are looking for donations and volunteers to help us bring this event together. We will need help preparing the meal at three different times:

• Sunday, November 21 – 11AM to 2PM (Food preparation)
• Wednesday, November 24 – 10AM to 4PM (Cleaning and food preparation)
• Thursday, November 25 – 9AM to 3PM (Food preparation, delivering, cleaning, etc.)

If you might be willing to help, please email the church office at info@oobumchurch.org. Someone at the church will contact you with more information once we get a handle on how much help is being offered. Monetary donations can be made directly to the Old Orchard Beach United Methodist Church at P.O. Box K, Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064.

The free Thanksgiving Day meal will be happen on Thanksgiving (November 25) at the Old Orchard Beach United Methodist Church with delivery service starting at 11:00 and the meal being served from 12:00 – 2:00. If you are need of a ride or would like to have meals delivered to you on that day, please leave a message on the church phone at (207) 934-5553. Or you can email the church office at info@oobumchurch.org.

Every Sunday, we offer a free pancake breakfast to our community with no obligation whatsoever. Though not well attended (yet), those that do take advantage are strong advocates for its existence. In an effort to increase attendabce while at the same time offering more opportunities for worship, Pastor Mike has established the Pancake Devotionals.

Every Sunday at 8:30, those wanting to come together to discuss their faith in a way similar to what we do at the Spot on the Beach services are encouraged to come to the church and help prepare our weekly pancake breakfast. This time will center on devotionals and disciple development with a nod to pressing forward to (pancake) perfection.

Think about it. You get free food, too!! We’ll be officially debuting this worship opportunity on November 7.

So, be on the lookout for a new discussion-based worship service before our more traditional 10 AM service starting soon.

If you could, please take a moment and let us know which items on this list are most important to you.  You can either print out the PDF version of the list and send it to us, or send us a quick email detailing what you would like to see changed the most.

1. New chairs, tables, and racks
2. Throw all of the trash away throughout the church
3. Get rid of trash and furniture out back
4. Find a place to hang the mops
5. Find a place to put dish towels and a process to clean them
6. Fix the sticking locks and doors
7. Insulate and/or heat the bathroom and closet
8. Fix the light in the closet
9. Repair the rope for the bell
10. Finish siding the Food Pantry
11. Finish the lattice work and stairs by the office
12. Repair the emergency stairs to the sanctuary
13. Make sure that we are shoveling, plowing, and sanding fully
14. Paint the sanctuary
15. Find a better alternative to the organ in the fellowship hall
16. Repair the outlets that aren’t working
17. Get better lighting in the parking lot and the front stairs
18. Fix the exhaust fan over the stove (bring up to code)
19. Replace/repair the storm glass over the stained glass windows
20. Fix the retaining wall and fence
21. Fix the windows in the fellowship hall
22. Finish the handicap ramp to the street
23. Replace/repair the kitchen cabinets
24. Fix the leaky roof and subsequent damage in the nursery and kitchen
25. Fix the ceiling fans in the sanctuary
26. Replace the windows in the educational wing upstairs
27. Better insulation all around the building (especially in the educational wing)
28. Replace the heating system with something more efficient
29. Repair the plumbing issue in the bathroom
30. Paint the interior of the Food Pantry
31. Find a way to stop the water from falling in front of the door to the hall

Here is the PDF version of the list: Opportunities

You can email your thoughts and comments to info(@)oobumchurch.org or pastormike(@)oobumchurch.org.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Our 4th Annual Thanksgiving Day Dinner and Delivery Service was an incredible success.  By our estimation, we served 50% more meals this year than last year.  Overall, we estimate that we were able to put together over 200 meals.  Of those 200, at least 85 were delivered to the community through our phenomenal delivery people and at least another 20 were taken “to go” by partons at the meal to be delivered to people in their own neighborhoods that they knew were alone or in need of a meal.  There were many comments about how wonderful things went, how much a blessing this meal has become, and how thankful people are that we are holding it – and these were just from the volunteers.  Stories of God’s Grace on this day still abound and are far too numerous to list here.

To all of you that helped us get the word out, prepare the meals, deliver the meals, set-up, clean-up, and do any number of other jobs, I am truly thankful and humbled by the love and support that you have shown this community.  This meal does not belong to the Old Orchard Beach United Methodist Church.  This truly is a community meal and we are so thankful that God has allowed us to be a part of it.

We’ll see you in 2009!  (Planning has all ready begun – and we are going to need even more turkey…)