January 28, 2023 (Mountain Wisdom)

The most famous sermon ever preached is known as "The Sermon on the Mount." Jesus often spoke and taught on hillsides and mountains. One of the obvious advantages was that crowds could more easily see and hear Jesus since he was standing above them. But there's also a theological significance for speaking on mountains. God lived there! (Or so thought the ancients.) Have you ever noticed how many divine experiences occur on mountains in the stories in the Bible? The story of the Burning Bush, the giving of the 10 Commandments, and the Transfiguration to list a few. The gospel writer makes it clear that Jesus delivers this sermon on a mountain. In other words, these are very, very important teachings - they are teachings from God.

There's a strong possibility that The Sermon on the Mount was not preached in one sitting. The teachings in this section of the Bible are probably a conglomeration of Jesus' most important goals and instructions for living. They are Jesus' Greatest Hits! The writer of the Gospel of Matthew has nicely gift-wrapped them for us and put them all in one spot. 

The lectionary text for this Sunday is from a section of The Sermon on the Mount called "The Beatitudes." I always get a little nervous when the lectionary says it's time to preach on the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are filled with paradox and can easily be misunderstood. Yet this is one of the most important sections in Jesus' most important sermon, so it's important for us to wrestle with these paradoxical sayings. Pray for me today as I seek to study the text and prepare a message for you tomorrow that honors the mystery of the text while at the same time helps us in our daily living in a practical way. 

I am thankful that Rev. Bob Chvatal will be with us tomorrow to lead us in prayer. Our choir and musicians will be blessing us again with their inspiring and prayerful music.

Please say a little prayer that all goes well with our Live Stream connection and equipment tomorrow. We are sorry that last week's service wasn't able to be seen and that we do not have a recording of it. In observing other churches' services, many of them are still having some technical issues periodically. This is the nature of something so very new that involves many different components. We are thankful that most of our broadcasts have been successful.

Our New Member Orientation Class will be meeting again this Sunday.

As we did last week, we will gather in the choir room for lunch after the service. 

If you are looking for a church home, we'd love for you to be part of a future class. Please see Candace Jenkins after church or call or email her at the office during the week. She will make sure to notify you when we plan the next class.

The Church Council, the Round Table, and the Stewardship Team have all had meetings in 2023. We are excited about the new year! We are blessed with wonderful leadership. I want to welcome again the new committee members and again thank those who served so faithfully and rotated off of their committees at the end of December.

We also want to say thank you again to Rev. Claire Marich for her ministry. Be sure to see all of the great pictures in the February Newsletter of the Sunday we celebrated Claire's ministry and retirement. 

In thanking those who rotated off of committees in December, we need to give a special thank you to Mike and Debra Skinner. Mike served as our "Church Treasurer" for many, many years. He played a major part in the growth and vitality of Asbury through his skills, advice, encouragement, and faithfulness to God and the Church. Mike's skills and wisdom helped us in the development of our staff, with the renovation of the sanctuary, with the disaffiliation from the United Methodist denomination, and with countless other endeavors over the years. Mike blessed us with his rare combination of qualities: someone who is highly skilled with finances...while also being a person of great faith and a sense of the possible. What an incredible combination!

Mike's wife, Debra, served for many years as the secretary for the Church Council. We also thank Debra for sharing Mike with us in his decades of service as Treasurer.

Jeff Tucker started as our new Treasurer in 2023. Jeff has been a member of Asbury for over 25 years and has served as chair of the Finance Committee. We are thankful for his willingness to serve as our new Treasurer.

Love & Blessings,
Billy