Sunday morning the message was based on the Scripture from Luke 6:17-26: \u2018The beatitudes upon the plain\u2019.\u00a0 \u2018 This morning Luke\u2019s version of the beatitudes may sound a little unfamiliar. Because we are far more accustomed to hearing the expansion on these blessings in the gospel of Matthew. In each case, they are set in the context of a sermon that Jesus delivers to his disciples about the character and witness of Christians and the Christian community. Luke is disturbingly direct, whereas Matthew offers the rather poetic third person. \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit\u201d. And \u201cblessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness\u201d, words which are open to interpretation in a vague way. Instead, Luke has Jesus saying he hasn\u2019t been forthright enough he throws in a few woes; \u201cWoe to you that are rich for you have received your consolation\u201d and \u201cWoe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Luke\u2019s gospel there is a strong awareness of the gap between the rich and the poor, an awareness which begins with the Magnificat, Mary\u2019s Song of Hope, which claims that in the coming of the Christ, God has, \u201cfilled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.\u201d\u00a0 The Good news which Jesus offers his followers is that the hungry and the poor will know the blessing of the Creator.<\/p>\n
Creation Connection:<\/strong><\/p>\n Consider water in today\u2019s scriptures (Jeremiah 17:12-20) Those who trust God are like a tree planted by the water. The wicked are like a shrub in the desert or chaff in the wind. The contrast can call to mind how dependent we are on water for our own flourishing. Water is threatened by climate change, which is turning once verdant areas of the earth into deserts. In other places, flooding and rising sea levels make water itself a threat to life. What is the experience in your context?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Announcements:<\/strong><\/p>\n Next Sunday Scriptures:<\/p>\n Genesis 45:3-11,15\u00a0 Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers<\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50\u00a0 understanding resurrection<\/p>\n Luke 6:27-38\u00a0 Love your enemies, be merciful<\/p>\n Lay Leader Maria<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Annual Congregational Meeting <\/strong>will be on Sunday, Feb. 23rd<\/sup> immediately following morning worship. Please make an effort to attend as there will be matters to be discussed and decided upon.<\/p>\n Anyone wishing a copy of the Sunday message may leave a message on the church answering machine, leave your name and where the message can be delivered or mailed. Please.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A special thank you <\/strong>to the gentleman who delivered red roses<\/strong> to our Thrift Shop lady volunteers on Valentine\u2019s Day. The roses and the thoughts were greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n A Thank you<\/strong> to all the volunteers who helped make the Thrift Shop a success. We would like to thank all the shoppers who came and purchased items.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Prayer Shawl group will meet on Saturday, Feb. 22nd<\/sup> at 3 pm in the Family Room. All knitters and crocheters are welcome. Materials can be supplied if needed.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n February 20 \u2013 World Day of Social Justice<\/p>\n February 22 \u2013 Scout and Guide Day<\/p>\n February 23 \u2013 Pink Shirt Day \u2013 Anti -Bullying<\/p>\n March us Irish Heritage Month<\/p>\n March 1 \u2013 Zero Discrimination Day<\/p>\n March 3 \u2013 World Wildlife Day<\/p>\n March 7 \u2013 (First Friday in March)\u00a0 World Day of Prayer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday morning the message was based on the Scripture from Luke 6:17-26: \u2018The beatitudes upon the plain\u2019.\u00a0 \u2018 This morning Luke\u2019s version of the beatitudes may sound a little unfamiliar. Because we are far more accustomed to hearing the expansion on these blessings in the gospel of Matthew. In each case, they are set in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 21:52:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72089"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72091,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72089\/revisions\/72091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}