New Members.

One of our blessings this week will be to receive five new members into our congregation. They are people already well-known to us:

• Kevin Cotsmire (from St. Paul’s Lutheran, North Robinson). Kevin is married to Beth, and their two boys are Keith and Adam.
• Ted Goldfuss (by reaffirmation of baptism). Ted is married to Lisa, and we have already baptized their son, Tyler Jacob.
• Mickey Kent (from St. Paul’s Lutheran, Bucyrus). Mickey is married to Susan, and their children are Cody, Zoe, and McKenzie.
• Tiffy McCarthy (from Salem Congregational Church, New Salem, MA). Tiffy is married to Ed.
• Barbara Stevens (by reaffirmation of baptism). A year or so ago Barb moved to Bucyrus from Willard.

Tami Robinson, Clerk of Session, will assist in this liturgy, which follows the sermon in the order of worship.

Congregational Meeting.

Following the service there will be a brief congregational meeting for the sole announced purpose of electing elders and deacons for the classes of 2007. The Congregational Nominating Committee will make its report, the floor will be opened for additional nominations, and the congregation will vote. It should not take longer than about ten minutes. All active members of the congregation are eligible to vote.

Youth Group Workcamp. Meanwhile, our Workcamp crew, guided by Dan and Barb Price is departing for Harrodsburg, KY, at 9 AM Saturday. They’re travelling in three vans, and will be working on repair and clean-up projects for needy people. In the evenings they’ll be singing, thinking, and praying with hundreds of young people from other parts of the country. (Click here for more info and to send an email of encouragement to any of our young people.)

“Water for the Desert”

An international traveler has settled in for a long trip, and is reading some of the material he brought along with him. This is such a common occurrence for us that our travel centers are filled with books and magazines, and the traveler who does not read is the odd one out.

But, unusual in our experience, this traveler is reading aloud, and someone nearby overhears him and asks, “Do you understand what you just read?” This circumstance immediately moves the story out of the ordinary.

In fact, the traveler is a tall African returning from Jerusalem to his government job in Ethiopia. We don’t know his name, but the eavesdropper is Jesus’ disciple Philip, now a deacon in the early church. At divine direction, Philip catches up with him on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. The story is this Sunday’s New Testament reading, Acts 8:26–40. The lectionary gives it to us with the theme “The Church’s Mission to the Individual.” (The Old Testament reading is Joshua 24:14–25.)

This Is Desert.

At the very beginning of the story, before Philip reaches the road with a solitary chariot on it, we read, “This is desert.” That’s the actual Greek text: three words. The ESV translates, “This is a desert place,” and the NRSV renders, “This is a wilderness road.” In fact, a friend of mine who has lived in Israel, tells me that the route from Jerusalem to Gaza does not pass through “desert,” and I think this word (the Greek eremos) is less topographic than thematic. It sets the tone of the entire story by introducing the idea of loneliness and deprivation.

For the traveler is a eunuch: a man who can never beget children. He is isolated in his work as keeper of the treasure of the Queen of Ethiopia. He is looking for the truth, passing through an eremos of search and discovery. He is an African looking for God in an Asian religion. He has been to Jerusalem to worship, yet Deuteronomy 23:1 excludes persons such as he from full participation in the congregation. This is desert.

Reading the Bible.

The marvel is that while he was in Jerusalem he acquired a copy of the prophet Isaiah. This is what he is reading, and he is especially taken with its description of someone who (like himself) has no name in our text:

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his posterity?
For his life is taken away from the earth.

He, the Ethiopian, knows the humiliation of justice denied and of a life that can never have a posterity. “Who is the prophet talking about?” he demands of Philip. “Of himself, or of someone else?”

The Good News About Jesus.

That’s when Philip began to talk about Jesus—“the good news about Jesus” (v 35)—and how Christians believe that He has brought to completion all that Isaiah says. Perhaps he pointed out that Jesus, too, was denied justice, and died without posterity.

This Good News, brought person to person, was enough for the Ethiopian. At that moment, the chariot passed some water at the wayside. He interrupted the trip to have Philip baptize him, and “went on his way rejoicing.”

Jesus is water for the desert, and the church proclaims that Good News, person to person, the way we received it.

If you’re on the road to Gaza as you read this—a solitary ride of exclusion, quest or question—the One who was silent before the shearers offers you His own life for forgiveness, strength, comfort, life. He is the Water of Life, and the water of baptism, celebrating and initiating the life that we live in Him, makes the desert green.

And if you are Philip instead of the African, remember that the church grows primarily through person to person talk and friendship. Listen to the questions people around you are asking. Keep your witness fresh, so that you can tell them what you know—especially “the good news about Jesus.”

The Service.

Our opening hymn is #77 “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” a familiar hymn of praise that we have not sung for a year and a half. The acclamations of praise are in Songs for Praise & Worship, #11 “Our God is an awesome God,” and #140 “Bind us together, Lord.” The latter is especially pertinent to our reception of new members; at the time of that liturgy, we’ll also sing P&W #139 “With our lips let us sing one confession.” The pulpit hymn is #442 “O come to me, the Master said,” chosen for the theme of the day and sung to the strong tune “Kingsfold.” And for the closing hymn, #689 “The church’s one foundation.” This noble hymn celebrates the chuch’s life in Christ, our struggles, our hope, and is suitable not just because of the new members, but also because we go immediately into the congregational meeting.

Special music this week is by Julie Monk, who will accompany herself on the piano and sing, “Show me your ways.” Al Fulton is the liturgist, Joy Bradford is the duty elder, and I’ll tell the children’s story.

The Interim Ministry at First Church

My appointment to the three-year interim ministry called for by the Maumee Valley Presbytery technically ended on June 19 of this year. The June meeting of Session extended that contract by two months, to Sunday, Aug. 15. After that I’ll return to Toronto where I’ll be Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at Tyndale University College during the 2004-05 academic year. The Personnel Committee of Session will bring forward a recommendation for a brief further interim ministry until the congregation has its new installed pastor. There will be more to report on these matters later.