All are invited to join us for service on Sunday morning at 10 am.  Please feel free to stay for coffee after the service.  Sunday school  runs concurrently with the church service.

Here are a few thoughts on the upcoming service from Rev. Marlene.

Marlene’s Rev. Notes:

“Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:6-7

Paul has suffered much in the ten years since founding the church at Philippi: hostility, imprisonment, and shipwreck to name a few. He must have sometimes wondered if it was all worth the pain? Even as he writes this letter, he is under arrest and “in chains for Christ.” But contrary to what one might think, when Paul’s thoughts turned to Philippi, he must have felt encouraged. In Philippians 2, Paul reveals the source of his passionate spiritual drive.

In this hymn-like paragraph, he marvels that Jesus gave up all the glory of heaven to take on the form of a man—and not just any man, but a servant, one who pours out his life for others. Paul looks at this example and takes on this pattern for his own life. One of the “Saints of Summer,” Teresa of Avila expressed it this way: “I pray as if all depends on God; I work as if it all depends on me.”

This reading speaks to the importance and reason that we as a Church must pursue unity. Because we belong to Christ and participate in the Spirit, we share in the “same mind,” and “same love” that flows from Christ. Christ’s humble attitude is displayed in his rejection of divine power in order to truly share in our humanity. Such rejection speaks to the mystical core of who Christ is.

Jesus is a great teacher. He led by example as he washed the disciples’ feet and walked the long, lonely road to Calvary. As we celebrate World Communion Sunday, we might ask ourselves: How do we pursue the same mindset as Christ in our own lives?