Baptism

I took a look at the UMC Official Web site and found the sections on baptism and communion, so I hope everyone will take a look before our next meeting. As you can see, I also started the Prayer List. I haven't got the picture quite where I want it but it will do until I can work on it again!

Baptism

Communion

Moravians

There is a well-substantiated and fairly authoritative article on the Moravians on Wikipedia which is a good jumping off place if anyone cares to research them further. The links at the bottom of the article should prove helpful.

Moravians

the point of the article on the website

I think the excerpt below from the website that Rusty posted last week kind of synopsizes what the author was trying to say in a lot of words about Wesley's development of the quadrilateral.

Wesley’s theological pluralism was evangelical in substance (firm and clear in its Christocentric focus) and irenic in its temper ("catholic spirit"). It measured all doctrinal statements by their Biblical base and warrants. He loved to summon his readers "to the letter and the testimony," understood as "the oracles of God." But this reliance on Scripture as the fount of revelation was never meant to preclude a concomitant appeal to the insights of wise and saintly Christians in other ages. And it never gave license to "enthusiasm" or to irrational arguments. Finally, since the devils are at least as clear in their theological assents as believers are, real Christians are called beyond "orthodoxy" to authentic experience—viz., the inner witness of the Holy Spirit that we are God’s beloved children, and joint heirs with Christ. It is this settled sense of personal assurance that is "heart religion": the turning of our hearts from the form to the power of religion. Christian experience adds nothing to the substance of Christian truth; its distinctive role is to energize the heart so as to enable the believer to speak and do the truth in love.

This complex method, with its fourfold reference, is a good deal more sophisticated than it appears, and could be more fruitful for contemporary theologizing than has yet been realized. It preserves the primacy of Scripture, it profits from the wisdom of tradition, it accepts the disciplines of critical reason, and its stress on the Christian experience of grace gives it existential force.

This week's lesson (on tape) is on John Wesley's Quadrilateral. In order to give you some introduction to this topic we're giving you a link to a website with the treatment of the issue. Please review this link so that each of you can be prepared to discuss this important issue relating to Wesley's beliefs for the process to perfection in the worship of Jesus and ultimately God. Take a look and let us dive into the bases for our core beliefs as Methodists.



Yours in Christ



Rusty & Dani Faulk



http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/16-20/20-01.htm

NEWS FROM HOUSTON

Dani is currently getting her second treatment. Her test results were very positive and it could be seen on the X-Ray that she was reacting to the new drug protocol.

DON'T FORGET TO GET YOUR CLOCKS CHANGED BACKWARDS. YOU WILL BE AN HOUR EARLY IF YOU DON'T.

We will be watching the second chapter in What it means to be a Methodist. Last week we were challenged by historical trivia of the Methodist Church and its beginnings. We found out that John Wesley was one of nineteen children born in his family and that he also fathered nineteen children himself. The other interesting bit of trivia was about John's brother Charles who composed a significant number of hymns most of which are pubished in our current hymnal. This coming Sunday, November 2, 2008 we'll start to talk about the Methodist Theology.

Please be praying for our Church, our Sunday School Class and Dani. If you have other prayer requests and prayer concerns please post them on the Blog. We need to get more involvement on this worthwhile communication tool.

Peace be with all of you!

Rusty & Dani Faulk

Sunday, August 31st

We will be meeting this Sunday to view another new "Nooma". This one is entitled "She". Karen will be in charge of the class this Sunday as Rusty and I are going to spend the weekend at the island since Monday is a holiday for both of us and we need a rest! Don't forget that the following Sunday will be our first lesson in the 40 Days Study and we will all be attending the first church service followed by our class. I understand there will also be a covered dish lunch which would also be fun for all of us who are participating in the study to attend.

Message from Terry & Brooke!!

I've been wondering how your simple church 'project' is doing and I just
came across your card with the address.

We're in the middle of the book in the summer Sunday School class Terry
and I lead and we seem to have some enthusiasm building. In comparison
with the author's ideals the shortcomings at Quincy UMC are painfully
obvious. The class is fairly well agreed that we should be growing
spiritual mature Christians and probably are but if so, 'it just sort of
happens'. And so far we can't define spiritual maturity or the kind of
disciple we'd like to see. We'll revisit this for one or two sessions
after we finish the book. We've had more consistent attendance of 15 or
16 than we've had the last couple of summers.

We're enjoying being here now but as it gets colder in October and
November we'll start looking forward to heading south. Right now there
isn't much diference in weather. We're having a week or so of 90 degree
heat and humidity. This should be temporary. At least here we have a real
house with central AC rather than a 'tin box'. We're busy. My thing right
now is paint the wood window frames on the church. Terry's back and leg
have been behaving and she's spending more volunteer hours at the nursing
home.

And how is everyone doing there, the cancer survivor, the new baby, etc?
Best wishes to all and for a Simple Church.

Brooke and Terry Althoouse

NOOMA: OPEN

Sunday August 24, 2008 Lost and Found Sunday School will meet in Room 9. We will be watching a new Nooma release on Prayer.

Its ironic that we engaged in a major discussion last week where Karen Darkwater shared her call to prayer for shoes for her son who desperately needed and wanted shoes for school. In "OPEN" Rob Bell gives us perspective and insight into our struggle with the idea of "what should we be praying for" since we may not trust that God will answer our prayers or that our petitions to God are not worthy.

Be thinking and praying for some of your prayers that have been answered and those prayers that have not been answered. This message from Rob Bell will help answer your questions and concerns over Prayer.

See you in Sunday School.

Yours in Christ,

Rusty & Dani

List so far of 40 Days participants

I have created a list on the right upper corner of the blog of who has signed up so far to participate in our class' 40 Days Group. I will just keep adding as people let me know!

40 Days Study

Well, we decided today in class that we will do the 40 days study in Sunday School. We have agreed that whoever participates in the study will attend the first worship service on those Sundays and then we will have our class afterward. We should be finished during those six Sundays at about 11:30 so their should be no problem with child care or meeting up with family and friends for lunch, etc. after church. We will have to limit those who participate to about 15 people so if you want to be in our group, you need to let Rusty and I know ASAP and we will get a list set up.

If you have committed to be in a different group or just don't want to participate in this particular endeavor, then you'll only be on your own in terms of Sunday School for six weeks. In the meantime, I guess we'll just keep doing our Nooma dvds until the 40 Days gets kicked off on September 7th!!!

Mars Hill/Rob Bell

Well, as you can see above, I have added the feed from the Mars Hill Church which has the weekly podcasts. Of course, it will probably include podcasts for their business and announcements as well but you'll probably be able to figure that out. Just click on the one you want to listen to. You can also download the files to your ipod or other MP3 player if you want to listen to them while you're walking, etc. Some cars now support MP3 files so you can download the file to a CD and listen to it in the car if you have that application.

The Mars Hill podcasts are not just Rob Bell. They also include messages from the other staff members and pastors of the church.

40 Days study

I got an email from Laura and she said it would be all right for us to do the 40 Days Study as a Sunday School class. There are some parameters to that choice though. .Those of us who participate in the study have to covenant to attend the same worship service during the six weeks of the study. So, we will have to decide whether to attend the early service and then have our 90 minute class after or have the 90 minute class first and then attend the late service together. I don't think that should be much of an issue.

Second, we must open the class to other members of the church if they should wish to participate at that time. Laura said we could have up to 15 participants. So, everyone in our class needs to decide whether or not they will be participating in the study on Sunday mornings or not so we can get a head count. If you don't want to participate in the 40 Days Study, then I guess you'll just have to skip Sunday School for 6 weeks. Participation must be a real commitment for the 6 week duration. We'll discuss this Sunday so hope you have a chance to read this post before then!

Nooma

How did Sunday School go? Which Nooma did you watch? Is anyone looking at this blog because so far, NO ONE has left a comment......

Hope everyone is ready to do something for our Church. You should have received by now a letter from Pastor Laura looking for Hosts to open their homes. Please consider getting involved in this worthwhile 40 Days project for the Church. Also, See you in Sunday School.

Rusty

What Nooma DVD does everyone want to watch this Sunday? Don't forget, Rusty and I will be gone to move Cody to San Antonio (of course, if we all haven't been blown away by Dolly). Here is the link to the Nooma site if you want to look at the DVDs we have (we should have all of them). Post a comment and let me know!!

https://www.nooma.com

Getting up to date

So hopefully, everyone got my email giving you the address for our new blog. Yesterday in Sunday School, we visited with Laura again about our study of the Simple Church book and whether or not it theories would be something we could implement in our church. She indicated that she would really like to get together with our class for a half-day retreat where we could discuss these issues more fully. The consensus of those members of the class who were there yesterday was that was a very doable meeting. We just need some comments about timing, etc. from everyone.

We also discussed the 40 Day project that the church is undertaking in September. There were concerns in our class that not enough of us had time at the beginning of the school year to fit in a 90-minute meeting per week. There was some discussion about doing the study in our Sunday School class which Laura said the church was discouraging because part of the idea of the study is to get members of the church together that would not necessarily know each other that well. But, if some of us are going to be able to participate, Sunday School may be the only way we can do it. Comments would be welcome.  Let's get blogging!!

First Post

I am trying to get our blog set up for Sunday School. I think this may be a great way to communicate along with emails. Rusty and I can manage the posts on the blog and then everyone else can add comments. If anyone has a digital picture of our group, like the last Christmas picture, if you would email it to me, I can add it to the blog.