Try to imagine this--You go to an area where people are different from you. They have different backgrounds and different beliefs. Moreover, there's a history of antagonism between your people and theirs, and they have a reputation of doing bad things.
Keep imagining--You go there anyway, and you get an enthusiastic response. So enthusiastic that you go into a house to avoid the crowds. There you are confronted by someone you weren't looking for, someone that you didn't want to meet.
She's the kind of person you wouldn't want to be seen with, and she comes from those people that your people don't much like. And when you try to get her to just leave you alone, she instead convinces you that you really ought to help her.
Mark is telling us about something that happened to Jesus back then. Could anything like this happen to the Body of Christ today?
Offertory Prayer
Invitation to the Offering
The offering you made last week empowered ministry within our congregation and in response to the needs of our community. It also helped support the work of ministries beyond the local church that reach people who are in desperate need to hear the good news of love and redemption. Ministries that bring medical care to the poor and elderly in our own communities, following in the footsteps of Christ who sought to heal and give hope. I invite you once again to give generously as we worship God through the sharing of our gifts, tithes and offerings.
http://www.umcgiving.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=qwL6KkNWLrH&b=3935565&ct=12937633¬oc=1
Written by Ken Sloan, Director of Stewardship for GBOD. http://www.gbod.org/lead-your-church/offertory-prayers
The offering you made last week empowered ministry within our congregation and in response to the needs of our community. It also helped support the work of ministries beyond the local church that reach people who are in desperate need to hear the good news of love and redemption. Ministries that bring medical care to the poor and elderly in our own communities, following in the footsteps of Christ who sought to heal and give hope. I invite you once again to give generously as we worship God through the sharing of our gifts, tithes and offerings.
http://www.umcgiving.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=qwL6KkNWLrH&b=3935565&ct=12937633¬oc=1
June 23, 2013 — Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
God of the universe and God of our hearts, speak to us this morning in our giving with your still, small voice. Remind us who we are; remind us whose we are; remind us why we have chosen to follow your Son Jesus the Christ. As we share in this offering today, remind us that when we feel as if we are the last ones left who have not turned from you, that we are not alone. What we do, and what we give is multiplied with the compassion of others. Keep us faithful in that knowledge. We pray this in the name that is above all others, Jesus the Christ. Amen. (1 Kings 19:1-15a)Written by Ken Sloan, Director of Stewardship for GBOD. http://www.gbod.org/lead-your-church/offertory-prayers
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