Looking Toward Sunday

"Unwrapping Our Gifts" Sermon Series

May 31 - June 14, 2015

Have you ever wondered what sort of ministry God is calling you to do? How you can contribute to a purpose greater than yourself and make a meaningful difference in the world? How you have been uniquely gifted to serve as the heart and hands and feet of Christ?

This Sunday we begin a 3-week spiritual gifts exploration series that will begin to answer those questions. We'll learn more about what "spiritual gifts" are, where they come from, and what their purpose is. On Sunday, June 7 you're invited to a luncheon sponsored by the Lay Leadership Team during which you'll have the opportunity to complete a "Spiritual Gifts Inventory". This inventory will identify the gifts with which the Spirit has equipped and empowered you. (If you can't make it on the 7th, don't worry! You can take the inventory another time.) We'll even have special age-appropriate surveys for the kids who wish to do one.

We hope you'll join us as we discover what our gifts are and begin to discern how God is calling us to use them.

Looking Toward Sunday

"And How Is It That We Hear...?"

Pentecost Sunday

May 24, 2015

This week we're taking a look at the Pentecost story in the Book of Acts. (You can read it here.) It's a dramatic narrative about the Holy Spirit falling on a gathering of the earliest Christians. Filled with the Spirit, they went into the streets of Jerusalem praising God in languages that were foreign to them. Thousands of pilgrims from every country who were in the city to observe the Jewish festival of Pentecost were astonished when they heard the sound of their own native tongue being spoken. The Spirit's Pentecost miracle enabled very diverse people to hear and be heard. The walls of language that separated and divided were dismantled, making genuine communication possible. 

Are we Christians utilizing that particular gift nowadays? In our contentious contemporary culture, could we be doing a better job of communicating with those who speak a different language, figuratively speaking? How can we begin to practice communicating in ways that transcend barriers and lead to reconciliation? 

Join us as we celebrate Pentecost and look to the Spirit to empower us once again with the gift of genuine communication.

See you on Sunday!

Looking Toward Sunday

"Jesus Is Boss"

Transfiguration Sunday

Children's Sunday

May 17, 2015

Join us for an exciting day of worship at Bangor First! It's "Children's Sunday", which means the children and youth will be leading worship. There will be presentations of Bibles and Sunday School certificates. The children's chime choir will play. And there will be worship dance!

This week is also "Ascension Sunday". Pastor Arlene will offer a reflection on the question "What does it mean to say that Jesus is Lord?" ,We'll be looking at the opening verses of the Acts of the Apostles (click here to read) and Paul's Letter to the Ephesians (click here to read).  

See you on Sunday!

Looking Toward Sunday

"Water Is Thicker than Blood"

Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 3, 2015

This week we're taking a look at a passage from the book of Acts. (You can read it here.) It's a story about Philip's Spirit-directed encounter with an Ethiopian eunuch, and the man's subsequent baptism. 

The Ethiopian is a God seeker, but he's also an outsider. He's a gentile, a foreigner, and worst of all, a eunuch (a castrated servant). One scholar suggests that the Ethiopian's status as a eunuch makes him the ultimate outsider - someone who by design has no family, no place, no attachments, no home. But after Philip introduces him to Jesus and baptizes him into the family of faith, the eunuch finally belongs.

Join us as we take a closer look at the Ethiopian's story and reflect on Jesus' invitation to the outsiders of this world to come inside the circle of love in the family of God.

See you on Sunday!