Friday, May 23, 2025

This message comes to you as we are in our second day of our Annual Conference at the On-Center in Syracuse. Please keep all the members of our Annual Conference in your prayers as we do the "business" of our church! Here are some thoughts from 2 Samuel for your day...

             "David was grieved and offended because the Lord had broken forth upon Uzzah, and that place is called Perez-uzzah (the breaking forth upon Uzzah) to this day."  (2 Samuel 6:8 AMPC)

Poor Uzzah, struck dead for trying to do good.
   
Of course, there's more to the story than just that.
   
David, the recently crowned king of all Israel, had made the newly-conquered Jerusalem his capital. In a celebratory mood, he decided to bring the ark of the covenant to the city from its resting place several miles to the north. Along the way, David and his subjects "played before the Lord with all their might, with songs, lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals" (2 Samuel 6:5 AMPC). This man after God's own heart was leading God's people in a rousing time of praise and worship. What could possibly be better?
   
Well, it would have helped for the ark to be transported properly. This gold-plated box, where God manifested Himself to Israel, was supposed to be carried by poles inserted through the solid gold rings. When David moved it, the ark was simply set on an ox cart -- and when the animals stumbled and Uzzah reached out to steady the load, tragedy followed.
   
Perhaps that seems extreme. But we need to remember that God sets the rules, and we are usually very wise to follow them exactly. Don't ever do your own thing and assume that God will just bless you.  Do everything God's way!

                  Lord, thanks for your grace -- but help me to honor You by
                              following Your rules precisely. Amen.

+++ Sunday worship continues at 8:30am and 10:00am. As we celebrate the 6th Sunday of Easter, we will hear once again about Jesus' idea of love from the 14th Chapter of John's Gospel. My message is entitled, "Who Loves You, Baby?" and if that brings back memories of a favorite television character from years ago... that is good! If you can't be here in the Sanctuary with us, look for us on the church's Facebook page for our 10:00am "live stream". And, of course, after worship is completed we will upload the recorded service to our YouTube channel, as well.  

+++ Remember your donations for our young people's mission project to restock the supplies at Helping Hounds of CNY and the CNY Cat Coalition. You'll find the donation boxes in the Narthex for your gifts and we celebrate our young people getting involved in mission work here in Central NY.        

+++ The church office will be closed on Monday, May 26th in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. The office will reopen on Tuesday morning at 9:00am.

+++ Next Sunday, June 1st is our Highway Clean-up ministry along Route 695. If you have any questions, please speak to our Coordinator Lynne Hessney. Please sign up on the board outside the Fireside Room and join the group as we do the work of maintaining this section of God's creation!

+++ Pentecost is on Sunday, June 8th! Try to wear RED for this celebration and plan to stay and join us for the church picnic after worship! Please sign up this week so we can plan accordingly for the food needs for our annual Church Picnic.

+++ We have camping scholarships available for kids heading off to summer camp! We can pay 50% of the costs for camp from our Eli Whitney Campership Fund. The deadline for applying is June 15th... so we can be sure to get the funds to the camp's location before the kids arrive!   

Make this day a great day and we can't wait to see you on Sunday!   
Pastor Jack