Grace and Peace Be Unto You!

The Book of Job

Our Church theme for 2024 is  “Why?” 

Prayer: “O God, author of the world’s joy, bearer of the world’s pain, make us glad that we are men/persons, and that we have inherited the world’s burden; deliver us from the luxury of cheap melancholy; and at the heart of our trouble sorrow; let unconquerable gladness dwell; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Amen 
Henry S. Nash

A Riddle

If God is will
And will is well,
Then what is ill?
God still?
Dew tell?

“J.B.: A Play in Verse”
by Archibald MacLeish (p. 78-79)

Thank you for your faithfulness and generosity.  Please continue to stay connected with us each week.  May God Bless You, Pastor Jones

Monthly Emphasis: Independence Day, Youth Opportunity University (YOU) Sunday,
Vacation Bible School (VBS)

July Monthly Scripture Readings:

Week of  July 7th  (Holy Communion)

Weekly Readings, Job 20.12-29 Zophar responds to Job

Scriptures: 
* Psalm 37.27-40, Trust God, and do what is right.
* Ecclesiastes 5.13-20, work hard, enjoy your laborer and be honest wicked.
* Matthew 5.11-12, Learn to rejoice when others are kind and fair – smile –!
* --- 23.13-36, their future is not favorable, - so sad -

Questions:
1. What happens after a short triumph?
 2. Will God really punish the wicked when, and where?
 3. Honest, fair, hardworking, faithful people, are not they exempt from the devices of wickedness?

Thought:  Seems like the poor and minorities have been mistreated for a long time.

Week of July 14th (VBS Kick Off)

Weekly Readings, Job 21.7-34, esp. 15, 17, 22-34 Job responds

Scriptures: 
* Isaiah 40.13-26, There is nothing comparable to God.
* Psalm 90.1-17, esp. 17, We desire the now presence and favor of God.
* Hebrews 9.23-28, The act and actions of Christ are still working in our favor.

Questions:
1. Is your complaint with others, God or both?
2. Are there any benefits to praying and serving God?
3. What can I do to assure God’s favor?

Thought: All who live return to the dust, the issue is how life is lived before…

Week of July 21st 

Weekly Readings, Job 22.5-20, Eliphaz responds

Scriptures: 
* Deut. 24.11-22, remember God’s blessing, bless others
*  :27.11-26, and all the people said, “amen!”
* Malachi 3.13-15, Be extremely cautious in comments about God’s fairness.
* Matt. 25.31-46, …you did it or you didn’t do it. 
What’s the difference?

Questions:
1.  What can I do to be profitable to God?
2. Is God fair in allowing the wicked to prosper, live good and die old?
3. Does God take it personally what I do to others?

Thought: It is always right to be fair and honest in your dealings and trust God’s providence for judgement.

Week of July 28th (Y.O.U. Sunday)

Weekly Readings, Job 23.1-17 Job still believes in God

Scriptures: 
* Psalm 139.1-18, Lord you know everything about me.
* Isaiah 8.16-22, esp. 17, a God who hides His face…?
* St. John 4.31-42, The seeds of her testimony became the harvest of their witness.
* James 1.12-17, trials and temptations, blessings and benefits.

Questions:
1. How does one change God’s mind?
 2. What are the reasons for my troubling situation?
3. If God chooses to “hide” how do I find Him?
4. When you find God, what do you say?
 
Thought: One must never forget the looming mystery(ies) about the aloofness of God’s presence

*Books for the Month:  The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney,
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois,
and Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin