March 26, 2023
WORDS OF WELCOME
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
NOMOFOMO
Just Be - For the 15-25ish crowd, Sunday afternoons, Ice House Library, 1-2:15 pm
Today’s Topics - Evangelism, Salvation, and JudgmentA Reading & Conversation With Garrard Conley, author of the New York Times-bestselling memoir Boy Erased, at JMU this Thursday, March 30 - 6 pm, Wilson Hall Auditorium. Conley will read from his work, followed by an onstage conversation with Greg Wrenn, memoirist and JMU associate professor of English. Free and open to the public. Get all the info about the event HERE.
Holy Week Plans! (Full Details can be found in the latest RISE Report)
Palm Sunday Brunch Church - NEXT SUNDAY, April 2 @ exactly 10ish am (Ice House Suite 203)
“The Last Supper” Dinner Church - Maundy Thursday, April 6 @ 7 pm (Home of Laura Douglas)
Good Friday Worship - Friday, April 7 @ 7 pm (JMU Edith J. Carrier Arboretum)
Easter Sunday Picnic and Worship - Sunday, April 9 - 9ish - Noonish (worship @ 10ish) (JMU Edith J. Carrier Arboretum)
Harrisonburg Chocolate Walk - Friday, April 7, 4 - 7:30 pm
“The Sweetest Event in Harrisonburg" returns for its TENTH year in action! If you like chocolate and supporting local nonprofits, then this is the event for you! It doesn’t get much easier to support a cause you care about than by feasting on chocolate treats and enjoying a leisurely stroll around downtown Harrisonburg. Participants follow a map, which guides them through downtown as they stop at participating stores, restaurants, businesses, and offices along the walk's route and sample a wide variety of handcrafted chocolates prepared by the area's best chefs, bakers, and the Collins Center's confectionary-minded supporters. All proceeds support the work of the Collins Center & Child Advocacy Center to promote healing to all affected by sexual harm in our community.Volunteers are needed during the event in two shifts! The first one will run from 3:30-5:45pm and the second one will run from 5:45pm-8:00pm. Most of the time on these shifts would entail helping distribute chocolates at participating host sites nearby, with some help setting up/cleaning up at the event's beginning and end. If you are interested in the possibility of volunteering, please fill out the short form HERE to let the event organizers know. Contact Abby B-C if you have any questions!
A New Season at RISE
Those of you who are on the RISE E-mail list received an e-mail recently highlighting some of the transitions that are happening at RISE. (If you have not yet seen that letter you can view it HERE.) Leadership Team would like to know what questions and feedback you have after reading it. To submit your questions, thoughts, and comments, please complete this FEEDBACK FORM. Leadership team will be reviewing the submissions received, responding as necessary, and compiling a FAQ document as appropriate.Connect:
If you would like to connect more deeply with RISE, you can start by submitting this short form to Get Connected!
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Make sure to check out the latest edition of the RISE Report - Your bimonthly(ish) source of information for all things RISE!
WELCOMING STATEMENT
Roy Nelson
RISE believes that God has open arms, and so should we. Our Creator wants us to love, accept and affirm every human being, including persons of every age, race, ethnic background, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, family or socioeconomic status, educational background, and physical or mental ability. We celebrate our diversity and recognize the sacred worth and dignity of all. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join us as we seek to follow Jesus with mutual respect, understanding, and love.
*Read more about “Why Pronouns Matter” HERE.
Hit Pause for a Moment
Alexis Owens
SONG
Brent Holl
“ONE & ALL”
~Michael Stern
You may have been all the right places,
You may have known all the right faces,
You may have lots of people comin’ when you call.
You may have lots of insurance,
You may have weapons of deterrence,
But then it’s not gonna’ help you here at all.
CHORUS:
The hungry will eat and the children will play,
and the haughty will go empty away.
The victims will stand and the mighty will fall,
and the kin’dom will be shared by one and all.
You may have learned all the right phrases.
You may receive the loudest praises.
You may have thought that you were never goin’ to fall.
You may have made lots of money .
But then it won’t help you any
because money doesn’t matter here at all.
CHORUS
You may have heard this simple story
about a diff’rent kind of glory.
Those who have ears won’t you listen to the call
to be the salt, to be the leaven,
to be on earth as in heaven,
a little seed finally growin’ so very tall.
CHORUS
THEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
Nancy Gaston
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND QUESTIONS OR TEXT THEM TO 833-803-0868!
When you hear the word “judgment,” what comes to mind? (Images, people, art, etc)
Why does judgment seem to be part of the “human condition?” Is it possible to truly be “non-judgmental?”
How have you seen judgment used to cause harm?
Is judgment ever useful or even a gift?
Jesus has a fair amount to say about judgment. Here’s a well known passage:
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? [I always imagine that the people listening to Jesus laughed a little at this point.] You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5).
What do you hear here? What’s he saying?
Then, there’s the text often called the “final judgment” scripture…
Matthew 25:31-45
31 “Now when the Human One comes in his majesty and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his majestic throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right side. But the goats he will put on his left.
34 “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. 35 I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. 36 I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’
37 “Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? 38 When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Get away from me, you who will receive terrible things. Go into the unending fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 I was hungry and you didn’t give me food to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me anything to drink. 43 I was a stranger and you didn’t welcome me. I was naked and you didn’t give me clothes to wear. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn’t do anything to help you?’ 45 Then he will answer, ‘I assure you that when you haven’t done it for one of the least of these, you haven’t done it for me.’ 46 And they will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous ones will go into eternal life.”
What do you notice here? What jumps out at you?
What does this say about the way “things will end?”
What should we do with the serious discomfort this passage evokes?
How might this passage/conversation change us? Could judgment transform us if we see/understand it in a new way?
SHARE YOUR QUESTIONS OR TEXT THEM TO 833-803-0868
COMMUNION
SONG
Brent Holl
“Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning”
~Rev. Gary Davis
(REFRAIN)
Keep your lamps trimmed an burning,
Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,
Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,
Come see what the Lord has done.
Children, don't grow weary,
Children, don't grow weary,
Children, don’t grow weary,
Come see what the Lord has done.
Troubles and trials soon be over,
Troubles and trials soon be over,
Troubles and trials soon be over,
Come see what the Lord has done.
REFRAIN
Soon the morning will be breaking,
Soon the morning will be breaking,
Soon the morning will be breaking,
Come see what the Lord has done.
Brothers and Sisters keep on singing,
Brothers and Sisters keep on singing,
Brothers and Sisters keep on singing,
Come see what the Lord has done.
REFRAIN
FINAL BLESSING
Chris Zepp
~adapted from a quote by the theologian Frederick Buechner
Scripture proclaims that at some unforeseeable time in the future, God will bring down the final curtain on history, and there will come a Day on which all our days and all the judgments upon us and all our judgments upon each other will themselves be judged.
The judge will be Christ. In other words, the one who judges us most finally will be the one who loves us most fully.
Let’s hold onto that promise.
Amen.