Labor Pains

Today the Amish of Lancaster, Pennsylvania bury the white-garmented bodies of their slain children.

As the horrific events of this school shooting unfolded before our eyes this week, we were once again given a reality check about the world we live in and its fallen nature.  Six days ago, while school deaths were being reported in Colorado and Wisconsin, the Church celebrated the Feast of St. Michael and all Angels, a feast day that clearly points to both the fallen nature of our universe and at the same time to Christ’s promise of deliverance.  At the last conflict of the age, Michael, with all his angels, will be locked in the titanic struggle that will mark the defeat of all the forces of darkness.  Scripture is clear that when Michael emerges victorious, he will accompany Jesus’ eternal and victorious reign over all.

Until then we live in the in-between time…in the renewing labor pains of creation as Jesus’ Peaceable Kingdom begins its birth among us.  This week these contractions have been particularly difficult.

And then, when all seems lost, that Kingdom once again appears.  Almost like the crowning of the baby’s head during delivery, hope is once again restored.  This time it came from a place that might surprise you.  After the shootings and subsequent suicide of the perpetrator, his father received a visit.  It wasn’t from the police or from an angry crowd.  It was his Amish neighbor, who held the weeping father in his homespun-clothed arms as he offered words of peace, love and forgiveness. 

J. Derek Harbin, priest

Around Beloved…The Beloved Beehive (Sunday Christian Formation) for adults and children resumes this Sunday…Beloved’s Worker Bees  (youth 9-12) and Metamorphosis (youth 12-15) will travel 10 kilometers together as Fusion in this year’s CROP Walk for hunger relief on October 15^th.  All participants at Beloved are invited to join in the walk or sponsor a walker.  Please if you’re approached by one of Beloved’s wonderful young people, be generous as “they walk because others walk.”  Sponsor forms are available in the hospitality area after worship.  If you are walking with the Beloved group and will need a ride, please contact Miss Clifford so that she can plan for you…seasonal employment opportunities are available through Operation Christmas Child for those interested in temporary full-time work from mid-November through December.  Skills needed are data entry keyers, cash processors, mail processors, team leaders, forklift operators, dockworkers, shoebox processors and shoebox line workers.  Interested?  Call 888.202.0307 or email occjobschar@samaritan.org to schedule an employment interview.

Serving at God’s Altar this Sunday…Angel Army Team 5 (Captain: Steve Todd; Administrator: Frank Reid; Pastor: Mary Reid; Convener: Tom Friend); Acolytes: Sarah Stone, Brian Sanniota, Jack Sanniota; Reader: Miles Harbin; Presenters: Frank & Mary Reid; Lay Eucharistic Ministers: Wes Nichols & Dick Reif; Offertory Basket Passers: Allie Seidel, Gracie Seidel, Caleb Friend, Hannah Friend; PowerPoint: Cyteria Knight.

In our Prayers…Bishop Gary Gloster who completes radiation treatment for Prostate Cancer at Duke Medical Center…those who have died or have been traumatized by the escalating violence in the Middle East and around the world...those serving in Iraq, especially Bob, Clifford King Harbin‘s nephew and Ron, Marilyn Doyon‘s brother-in-law...Palmer, Betsy Fox’s teenage cousin who has leukemia…Jacqui, niece of Deb and Dan Blackwood who is fighting breast cancer...Harriett, Kathy Raynor‘s mother who has cancer...Jessie Powell, Janie Lownes and the Morley family...Emily, Nancy and Tony Hodgson's granddaughter...Ed and Jean, Dick Reif's parents who are in declining health in Oklahoma...Bucky, Sherrill Lowder's neighbor, who has lung cancer...Bryan McCarthy, Penny Crawford and Chris Morley as they seek permanent employment...the staff and students of Community House Middle School…for those Amish children killed this week in Pennsylvania and for those children killed last week in Colorado and Wisconsin.

Holy God, your beloved Son took children into his arms and blessed them.

Help us to entrust these slain children to your never failing love.

Comfort their families, their community and this nation

as we bear the pain of these senseless deaths,

and reunite us in your good time in your Peaceable Kingdom;

through Jesus Christ our Savior

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever. Amen.