Sunday, September 22, 2024
18th Sunday after Pentecost
Teacher’s Day

Scriptures: James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8
Message: “Heavenly Wisdom: From the Inside Out”
Preacher: Pastor Michael Lu

*** Announcements for the Week of September 15^th ***

• EM BBQ PARTY
  EM is celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival by hosting a BBQ party on the 12^th floor after the service. If you have registered for the event, don’t forget to attend. And if you haven’t, please pay the registration fee, which is $300 per adult, $150 per child above 6 years of age, and free admission for kids under 6.
• GUEST SPEAKER
  Pastor Michael Lu (盧志強傳道) will be our guest speaker next Sunday (9/22).
• SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
  Application for the scholarship award for the second semester of 2023 academic year is now being accepted. Details of qualification and application can be found on the bulletin board on the 10^th floor. Or call the office (2541-5390) and ask for Secretary Lo (羅靜婷幹事) for details.
• WELCOME TEAM RECRUITMENT
  EM’s Welcome Team is recruiting! If you would like to serve and engage more in EM, the Welcome team is a good place to start. Contact its team leader, Mandy, if you can lend a helping hand. Thank you.
• OFFERTORY RECORDS VERIFICATION
  SLPC encourages its congregation to verify his/her offertory records through SLPC’s Line OA member service. Contact James for help on access.
• OFFERING ENVELOPES
  Please use the dedicated envelopes for different kinds of offerings: tithe, building fund, thanksgiving, seasonal, special occasions, and etc.
• SLPC PRAYER MEETINGS
  SLPC will host prayer meetings in Taiwanese and Mandarin in the 7^th floor chapel every Thursday night from 19:30 to 20:30. Pastors of SLPC will lead the meetings. We encourage brothers and sisters to attend.
• THE ELECTRONIC CONNECT CARD
  The electronic version of the Connect Card can now be accessed by scanning the new QR Code below.
  
  Or by clicking this link: https://forms.gle/AJqmNU2HkizjJXNH6
• SCAN OR CLICK TO SIGN-IN EVERY SERVICE
  Please scan the service QR Code around the Chapel entrance or on the bulletin, or click the Sign-In link that will be posted in the EM Family Line group chat each Sunday morning for attendance.

***Special Notice***

Hello brothers and sisters in Christ! May the peace of Christ be with you!

The Taiwan CDC has loosened its policies on the COVID-19 restrictions. However, it’s an enclosed space inside the church. As a result, please observe the following guidelines when inside the church premises:

1. Please make sure you have your masks properly worn when entering and inside the church. Disinfect your hands with alcohol if necessary. Maintain social distancing whenever possible.

2. If you don’t feel well, exhibit symptoms of cold, or have been in close contact with people who are contracting COVID-19, please consider to stay at home and participate the online service instead.

3. Food and drinks are conditionally allowed inside the church compound.

Thank you and let’s worship God together on Sundays!

Electronic Sunday Bulletin
EM encourages its congregation to use the electronic version of the Sunday bulletin to save paper.  Please click the following link to access the eBulletin:

https://reurl.cc/VMWzZ5

Or scan the following QR code.

If you have any suggestion regarding the eBulletin, please let us know.  Thank you!

SERVE IN EM

Come and serve in EM!  You can join the Liturgy, the Audio/Video team, the Praise team, the EM Choir, the Homeless Ministry team, or the Kids Club.  Email: emcaresforyou@gmail.com for more info.

Our Responsibility

Colins Bulaya / United Church of Zambia

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” ~ Genesis 1:26

Reading Genesis 1:26-28 clearly shows us that God charged us to subdue the earth. To subdue the earth and have dominion over everything is to control these things so they fulfil the will of God as they serve the purpose of His Children. Our privilege to live on this green earth comes with responsibility – taking care of God’s green Earth.

As followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should be taking the lead in this matter of caring for God’s green earth and respecting the environment that God has given to us. It’s part of our mission. Caring for the earth is as an act of love and obedience to its creator and redeemer.

As we read the creation account, we realize that the responsibility to represent God begins with and includes the way we treat creation. To subdue and have dominion is not to simply consume everything and use the earth only for our benefit. In as much as we are to use for our benefit, the use of natural resources must be done in a sustainable manner.

The overexploitation of earth’s resources has reached alarming levels. The earth is groaning, with no one to speak for it. The overexploitation of natural resources has resulted in global warming. We all have seen the devastating effects of this. In the name of doing business, we have depleted most of the forests and today we are paying the utmost price – global warming.

The church must rise up, using scripture, and advocate for environmental justice. Our responsibility as human beings here on earth is to represent God by caring for his creation; using it to sustain human life. There’s nothing wrong with using the resources God has given to us. We are supposed to do that. But we do that in a way that cares for the creation he has given to us and allows that creation to reflect the glory of God. That’s our responsibility.

This responsibility for the environment, the common heritage of mankind, extends not only to present needs but also to those of the future. It is very true that we have inherited a green and clean environment from past generations, and we have benefited. For this reason, we have obligations towards all, especially to those who will come after us.

A human being is identified with nature and counted among animals and so if a human can be identified and protected, so it must be with other non-human living things. Nature is desperately looking for someone to raise a voice so it is saved from the current ecological injustice. Has the church been that voice that can save nature? Where is the prophetic voice of the church? Amen.