Timber Ridge "Old Stone" Presbyterian Church
Yoked Together with
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Timber Ridge "Old Stone" Presbyterian Church Yoked Together with
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The word of the Lord endures for ever. That word is the good news that was announced to you. 1 Peter 1:25 (NRSV) SELECTED NEWSLETTER ITEMS Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church Transforming, Reflecting, Promoting, Committing for Jesus Christ! February 2012
Carl Moore, Pastor
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. (1Co 13:4-8 ESV)
During the month of February in anticipation of Valentines’ Day, we know that love is in the air. Breathe it all in! Can you smell it? Of course you can’t breathe in love, or taste, feel, see, touch, or hear love. If our pagan, materialistic culture is correct (and consistent)…then love doesn’t exist because it is not accessible by our senses. However, we know (both pagans and Christians) that love does exist, but in what sense? If love can’t be known through our physical sense(s), then in what sense can love be sensed? Philosophically speaking, love is accessible through the moral sense of human consciousness. God has created human beings to morally sense, possess, and act out the Virtue of love. The Virtue of love is a moral quality, the possession and exercise of which enables us to attain a life- good or reward, an incentive which is internal to human beings. In other words, love is a moral practice which enables us through habituation to achieve some good. Love always has objects and the practice of love helps us to achieve a particular end or object of attraction. This is why Paul describes love as a practice in 1 Co. 13. Paul teaches us to practice love instantiated or embodied in the practice or practices of patience and kindness, by bearing and believing and hoping and enduring all things. In the original Greek these are all verbs. Paul also speaks of such practices negatively as well: don’t be envious; don’t boast; don’t be arrogant and rude; don’t keep insisting on your own narcissistic way; don’t keep being so irritable and resentful; don’t take joy when someone is wronged or in wrongdoing, but take joy in the truth of God! Paul is saying that if Christians do not do these things (vice) and conversely do other things (virtue) then one will achieve some good or end or object of attraction. What is the good that the Virtue of love will attain? In context, Paul is trying to correct the Church of Corinth’s spiritual and moral sense of dignity and honor. The Church of Corinth was misusing and abusing God’s prophetic, and charismatic gifts, gifts intended to build up the Church. Certain Corinthians were using God’s gifts to glorify and honor themselves a la the Pharisees. Impatience and spitefulness; envy and boasting and arrogance and rudeness; narcissism, irritability, and resentfulness—these, and more, are examples and practices in regards to the vice of self-love. Paul is reproving and correcting their vice of self-love in exchange for the Virtue of Divine Love. The Greek term translated love here in 1 Co.13 is ἀγάπη. Love in this sense is always God-centered and sacrificial. The direct object of this Love (from the human side) is primarily God; the method of this Love (initiated from the divine side and perpetuated from the human side) is always sacrificial, that is, the practice and disposition of putting others before the wants and desire of self. This Love is always motivated by giving, not receiving. In short the object of such Love is always Love of God which is the same as glorifying and honoring and enjoying God. If we could truly Love God this way first, then (and only then) will we be able to Love our neighbor(s) as our self. This is the “moral sense” I spoke of earlier. However, unlike other virtues, this moral, true Virtue of Love is not natural; morally fallen men and women, boys and girls do not naturally possess this moral sense. This Virtue is supernatural: that is, Love of God is a gift from God, a supernatural gift far more superior to other supernatural virtues—i.e. Hope and Faith—and most superior to other supernatural gifts, e.g., prophesy and tongues. As Christians we know that true love is never in the air, but deep within the spiritual marrow of our bones, deep within our hearts, hearts forever changed by the Spirit of God. May we daily and continuously practice such a Love, replacing our love with God’s Love for one another.
Soli Deo Gloria- Glory to God alone!!
SESSION NOTES:
2012 Committee Chairman: Administration: Allen Strecker Christian Education: Beth Armstrong Compassion and Fellowship: Alice Strecker History: Harriet Fix Property: DeWitt Fix Witness and Outreach: Kathy Cummins/ Jan Zarges Worship: Bill Peel
2012 Communion Dates: March 11th, April 8th (Easter), May 13th, July 1st, October 7th, December 24th
Special Offerings: One Great Hour of Sharing – April 8th Mothers/Fathers Day Offering – May 13th Pentecost Offering – May 27th Christmas Joy Offering – December 23rd
New Church Personnel for 2012 Receiving Treasurer : Debbie Lucas, 126Copperhead Lane, Fairfield, VA 24435 540-377-6630 debbielucas@rocketmail.com
Community Building Coordinator: Suzanne Crawford, 1488 Union Run, Lexington, VA 24450 540-463-7420
Newsletter: Beth Armstrong, 312 Cypress Avenue, Buena Vista, VA 24416 540-461-3316 esarms@gmail.com
The Ridge Runners Relay for Life team has begun fundraising efforts for the upcoming year. To date we have raised a total of $1,423 and have 12 team members. If you would like to join our Relay for Life team or get more information please contact Beth Armstrong or go to the Rockbridge Relay for Life website: www.relayforlife.org/rockbridge. All team members need to be registered by March 15th to be guaranteed a t-shirt. Many thanks to Dylan Fix for her help with the Thirty- one Thermal Lunch tote fundraiser, which brought in $225 for the team. A Yard Sale is planned for Saturday, March 3rd (please note change of date) at the Community Building. If you have items to donate please contact Charlene Armstrong (261-1819) or Beth Armstrong (461-3316). 30 Days of Relay Calendars are available in the vestibule for anyone who would like to help with fundraising in a smaller way. The calendar asks you to put aside a different amount of money for Relay for Life each day, such as on Day 3 you are asked to donate 5cents for every gallon of gas your car will hold and on Day 16 you are asked to donate $1 for every smoker you know. The calendar can be started at any time before Relay – it doesn’t have to correspond to the actual calendar month.
THANKS FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!!!
Library News “A Lenten Pilgrimage,” the devotional guide in the Jan/Feb issue of Presbyterians Today, was written by Ruth H. Everhart, a Presbyterian minister. The devotionals provide daily scripture readings, prayers and meditations from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Photographs of Holy Land scenes also accompany the devotionals. There are several copies of Presbyterians Today available in the library.
TIMBER RIDGE PRAYER NEEDS Our Mission and Ministry Near and Far: Fairfield-Timber Ridge Shared Ministry Covenant, WRE, RARA, Cub Scout Pack 94, Gideons International, Relay for Life, Presbyterian Border Ministries, Young Life, Theological Seminaries, Habitat for Humanity, Blue Ridge Food Bank, Kings Way Help Center, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Massanetta Springs, Rockbridge Area Hospice, Samaritan’s Purse, Baja Mexico, Living Waters of the World.
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