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Pastor's Note

"That's My Story and I'm Sticking to It: Part V - Community (II)"

Some of you might remember about five years ago, we did a sermon series entitled; “A Complaint Free World.” We took some time each week to talk about our tendency to complain but we also did something about it. We handed out special purple bracelets inscribed with the words “Complaint Free World”. The goal was to go three weeks without complaining. If we ever caught ourselves in a time of grumbling, we were supposed to take the bracelet off, put it on the other hand, and start the three weeks over. As I recall, no one made it through an entire three weeks!

The bracelets caught on in the community and folks started asking us for them. In fact, at one point, most of the Cosby High School baseball team was wearing them. I was struck a couple of months ago because one of the players (now playing in college) remembered the bracelets and asked me if we had anymore!

During that series, we were all reminded how hard it is to not grumble and moan about things. Unfortunately, when challenges like a recession and tight finance fall our way, it gets worse.

This weekend, we will find that we are not alone in our complaints. In fact, we may not even be in the same league as the people of Israel as we see them in their journey through the wilderness. They complain about everything! There is no food. There is no water. Moses has led them astray. The list goes on and on and on. The word “grumbling” becomes thematic for several chapters.

That is part of the challenge isn’t it? We are called out of “Egypt” to be a part of a community of God’s people. We are supposed to be different, and yet, when you put a bunch of people together, there is this tendency to criticize and complain, especially when resources become tight.

There is a better way and we will be talking about it this weekend. Come join us for worship, and by the way, if you have any complaints about the sermon, well…

See you in worship!
Pastor Pete  

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January 7-8: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part 1 - Creation”
First Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:1-5, 26-27
Second Scripture Reading: Genesis 2:7-9, 15-25

January 14-15: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part II - Catastrophe”
First Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:1-7
Second Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:8-15

January 21-22: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part III - Covenant”
First Scripture Reading: Genesis 15:1-11
Second Scripture Reading: Genesis 15:12-18a

January 28-29: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part IV - Community (I)”
First Scripture Reading: Exodus 3: 1-14
Second Scripture Reading: Exodus 14:15-22

February 4-5: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part V - Community (II)”
First Scripture Reading: Exodus 19:1-2, 20, Exodus 20:1-17
Second Scripture Reading: Numbers 13:1, 26-33

February 11-12: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part VI - Conquest”
First Scripture Reading: Joshua 1:1-11
Second Scripture Reading: Judges 2:6-12

February 18-19: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part VII - Crown”
First Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-11, 16
Second Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 3: 6-15

Wednesday, February 22: Ash Wednesday Service @ 7:30 pm, Woodlake Sanctuary

February 25-26: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part VIII - Conceit”
First Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-9, 14-17
Second Scripture Reading: Micah 6:6-8

March 3-4: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part IX - Christ”
First Scripture Reading: John 1:1-13
Second Scripture Reading: John 1:14-18

March 10-11: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part X - Cross”
First Scripture Reading: John 19:17-18, 25-30
Second Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1: 18-25

March 17-18: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part XI -Church”
First Scripture Reading: Acts 2:1-4, 14, 22, 36-41
Second Scripture Reading: Acts 2: 42-47

March 24-25: “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It: Part XII - Consummation”
First Scripture Reading: Revelation 1:1-3, 9-11, 4:1-6a
Second Scripture Reading: Revelation 21:1-8