Good News - Week of 7/30/2017

PRAYER OF THE WEEK
As we seek to answer your call, O God, please give us all that we need to be faithful, Amen.
​(from Sacredise.com)

Communion

*​NOTES ON THE SCRIPTURES
Genesis 32:22-23 - This passage of scripture contains a pivotal moment for the ancestors of the people of Israel. Jacob, leaving his father-in-law’s home, wrestles with an angel of God. Jacob is leaving the previous generation for the last time—he left his parent’s home to go to his uncle’s, and now he leaves his uncle’s to set out on his own. It is a coming of age story, not just for Jacob, but for the people of Israel, obtaining a new name and new identity—one who wrestles with God. God is no longer something inherited through the worship by our parents and grandparents, but rather God is someone we encounter ourselves, individually and communally, and we wrestle with our encounter, with our relationship with God and others.

Psalm 17:1-7, 15 -  The psalmist sings a plea to God to deliver them from evil, proclaiming their faithfulness and trustworthiness to God. The psalmist proclaims they have been faithful and they know that God will be faithful to them, and that God will judge what is true.

Romans 9:1-5 - is part of the crux of Paul’s argument—that he loves Israel and loves the traditions of his people, but that being part of God’s children is not about human birth but about God’s adoption of all of us—that all of us are to become children of God. Israel was chosen to receive the covenant, the law, the worship and the promises—they have the patriarchs and the prophets—but that alone does not mean they are children of God, but that God loves us all, we are all children of God through Christ Jesus.

Matthew 14:13-21 - contains the feeding of the five thousand—one of the few stories that is in all four Gospel accounts. Whether or not one believes in the miracle that the food miraculously multiplied, or that people began to share what they had brought for themselves and had kept back—it is in the conversation with the disciples that we hear Jesus’ command “You give them something to eat” (vs. 16) when the disciples suggest he sends the people away. Why did Jesus command the disciples to feed them? Because they were hungry.​

We are called to fulfill the needs of the world, to serve Christ by serving others. It is easy for us to tell hungry people to go to a soup kitchen or food bank to find food; it is much harder for us to prepare a meal and share it. We are called to witness that all of us are God’s children, and we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves and witness to Christ in the world by our own words and deeds.

*(This week's notes are from Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell at rev-o-lution.org) 

---

Pastor Joel Holmes

MEET PASTOR JOEL HOLMES
Pastor Joel V. Holmes is a father of four (two boys and two girls), and has three grandchildren. He was raised in Cherry Hill (South Baltimore) where he now lives with his wife of 15 years, Lorna. Pastor Holmes has been fond of electronics since a young child and has worked in consumer and defense electronics from his early 20's until the present. Pastor Holmes graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute High School and has attended several local colleges. Pastor Holmes is continuing his education at Wesley Theological Seminary. In his spare time Pastor Holmes enjoys grilling, fishing, reading and playing golf when he can.

Pastor Holmes always has a joke, a tease, or a story to bring a smile or laughter to everyone he meets. He enjoys laughter and has a sense of humor that has become part of his trademark wherever he goes. He knows God has given him this gift as part of his ministry to help spread the gospel to those who need a laugh or just to bring a smile to others.

On a more serious note Pastor Joel believes and thanks God for all he has done and is doing in his life. Pastor Holmes (aka PH) also believes God has connected him with Beechfield United Methodist Church for a purpose beyond that of Pastor and People. I Corinthians 2:9 says “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him”. All at Beechfield love God and we are excited about the move of God to come!

His favorite scripture is Psalms 138:2 which says - "I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." Pastor Holmes praises God because he has learned that God backs his word by his name. God will perform his word just because it is tied to his name and he will do all he says he will do. He also loves the fact that God will do even more than we could ever think of or imagine and he wants to Give God the glory in everything he does!​

---