24 January 2021 Sunday Announcements

Sunday Morning Sermon:  Sunday's sermon is titled “Watch Out!” from Luke 21:5-38. The Old Testament reading Joel 2:28-21, and the New Testament reading is Romans 8:18-25.

Live streamed Virtual Church (link) is available streaming at 9:00 AM. 

Virtual Foyer  on Zoom (link) at 10:15 AM.

There will be only one  MCC in-person service this Sunday at 9:00 AM.

The recorded services are also available on MCC YouTube Channel (Link).

Week 48 of 52: Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson: “Chazaq = take heart.” In the Old Testament, faith includes an aspect of acting upon that faith in courageous ways. New Testament believers know that we are not saved by our actions, but our belief. Similarly, our belief is followed by action that affirms our loyalty to the gospel message and the Great Commission. A key word from tomorrow’s sermon is “stand,” which might not seem like much activity at first. But I’m sure you have seen that sometimes, when the storms of life come your way, to stand firm and persevere in your faith is your first opportunity to “take heart.”

We worship a Savior who is acquainted with suffering, and he knew that his followers would need this encouragement: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

MCC News:  We lost a member of our MCC family this week. Carol Brown did not succumb to the Coronavirus, but rather ongoing complications from the stroke that she suffered a little over two years ago. Many of our do-gooders know Carol’s friend and advocate Libby, who helped us understand Carol’s situation as an “elder orphan.” Libby organized some of our efforts to help at Carol’s home and at the nursing home. She is also arranging a zoom memorial service for next Saturday, 1/30 at 11:00 AM. I am planning to participate, and Libby will sing, but this will not be a traditional funeral in the MCC building. Please let me know if you would like to attend, and Libby or I will send you an invitation to the zoom meeting.

Please join us for worship at Melbourne Community Church this weekend, however you can. The live service begins at 9:00 AM, and it is live streamed on our YouTube channel. The full service is available on our website after that.

Our “virtual foyer” Zoom meeting is a group of attenders who connect briefly (about 45 minutes) after the worship service. Newcomers are always welcome. Please let me know if you would like to join us this Sunday, and I will send you a link.

17 January 2021 Sunday Announcements

Sunday Morning Sermon:  Sunday's sermon is titled “Beware of the Teachers” from Luke 20:20-21:4. The Old Testament reading Exodus 3:1-12, and the New Testament reading is Acts 2:29-36.

Live streamed Virtual Church (link) is available streaming at 9:00 AM. 

Virtual Foyer  on Zoom (link) at 10:15 AM.

There will be only one  MCC in-person service this Sunday at 9:00 AM.

The recorded services are also available on MCC YouTube Channel (Link).

Week 47 of 52: Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson: “Masada (met-sa-da)” = fortress. Masada is also the name of a mountain in Judea where Herod built a fortress in 37 BC. The mountain fortress had space for 10,000 soldiers and a 37,000 square foot palace. It holds an epic place in Israel’s history because it is where 967 Jewish rebels occupied the fort and withstood a Roman siege for months before their tragic end.

This has been a season when our sources of security – people, institutions, routines – have been disrupted, and it is good for us to remember that we all have only one ultimately reliable fortress. See how David used the same word in Psalm 18:2:

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

If one or more of your alternate fortresses seems questionable, perhaps you could allow that uncertainty to remind you to take refuge in the only fortress that will never crumble to ruin – our God, our rock, our deliverer, our stronghold.

MCC News:  Please pray for our country this week. Please remember that, for disciples of Jesus, our most significant citizenship is in the Kingdom of Heaven, and we have been given the role of ambassadors. I encourage all to consider and pray before we act and speak: Could my support for any other agenda undermine my calling as an ambassador of Jesus? The New Testament is consistent on the idea that Christians should be good citizens wherever they live, even under Roman occupation. Let’s look for opportunities to be part of the solutions rather than adding to the problems. For those of you who have an extra day off Monday, MLK’s birthday seems like a good day to pray for peace.

Please join us for worship at Melbourne Community Church this weekend, however you can. The live service begins at 9:00 AM, and it is live streamed on our YouTube channel. The full service is available on our website after that.

Our “virtual foyer” Zoom meeting is a group of attenders who connect briefly (about 45 minutes) after the worship service. Newcomers are always welcome. Please let me know if you would like to join us this Sunday, and I will send you a link.

10 January 2021 Sunday Announcements

Sunday Morning Sermon:  Sunday's sermon is titled “The Stones Will Cry Out” from Luke 19:29-20:19. The Old Testament reading II Chronicles 7:11-22, and the New Testament reading is Acts 4:1-12.

Live streamed Virtual Church (link) is available streaming at 9:00 AM. 

Virtual Foyer  on Zoom (link) at 10:15 AM.

There will be only one  MCC in-person service this Sunday at 9:00 AM.

The recorded services are also available on MCC YouTube Channel (Link).

Week 46 of 52: Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson: “Zakar” = remember. Since we finished our Torah series in the spring, it might be fresh in the minds of our congregation that “remember” was our one-word summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the Old Testament, there is an implication that remembering involves more than just the mind because “zakar” seems to include an aspect of following with action. For example, God “remembered” Noah and rescued the inhabitants of the ark (Genesis 8:1); and God “remembered” Rachel and allowed her to conceive (Genesis 30:22).

This is a good opportunity to review the MCC approach to taking the Lord’s Supper, a patchwork combination of many church traditions. We offer Communion at the end of every Sunday worship service during the response time at the end of the service. We serve ourselves rather than being served by clergy. We have changed the way we get the Communion elements to be more careful, but we are not overly concerned with those details. Many Sundays you will hear Jared or me say, “The important part of this command from Jesus was to remember. Remember the price he paid for our salvation, and remember that he’s coming back for us.”

MCC News:  

Struna update: Chris is flying to Honduras on January 19th to resume his missionary career but with a new twist. Now he will be the administrator/principal. (What will they call you, Chris? El Jefe?) Before resuming her missionary career as a nurse, Sharon is staying in Florida a bit longer for some specialized medical treatment. Please make it a congregational focus to pray for the success of this treatment and for her to have relief from her migraines. Sharon intends to join Chris in Honduras in March. In the meantime, there is an ongoing need for a loaner vehicle for her to use here in Brevard County. Please let me know if you can help with that, and also look for opportunities to connect with Chris and/or Sharon before they go. After March, I expect that we will see them only sporadically in Florida when they return on furlough and/or when our teams go to Honduras to help.

I was lit up by Jared’s message on John the Baptist and repentance last week to finish our Advent series. He captured me early with this line, “If you are going the wrong direction, there are three things you can do, but only one of them is helpful.”  I am going to keep quoting that line.

I am excited about the start of a new series this Sunday, but it’s not exactly the start. We are returning to Luke’s Gospel for the third and final installment of our series that we have spread out over two years. Now we will pick up with Luke 19:28-20:19, and we will finish the book between now and Easter. I recommend all the usual advance preparation. It took me 30 minutes to listen to the Bible Gateway narrator read aloud the last 5 ½ chapters of this book. The Bible Project videos on YouTube are outstanding and brief, usually about 8 minutes. If you have not starting using Tim Grogan’s bulletin inserts along with the Sunday sermons (available on the MCC website), resolution season would be a good time to try a new thing, or maybe resume an old habit.

Please join us for worship at Melbourne Community Church this weekend, however you can. The live service begins at 9:00 AM, and it is live streamed on our YouTube channel. The full service is available on our website after that.

Our “virtual foyer” Zoom meeting is a group of attenders who connect briefly (about 45 minutes) after the worship service. Newcomers are always welcome.

03 January 2021 Sunday Announcements

Sunday Morning Sermon:  Sunday's sermon is titled “Repent” from Matthew 3:1-12. The Old Testament reading is Isaiah 40:1-5, and the New Testament reading is Luke 1:5-17.

There will be only one  MCC in-person service this Sunday at 9:00 AM.

Live streamed Virtual Church (link) is available streaming at 9:00 AM. 

Virtual Foyer  on Zoom (link) at 10:15 AM.

The recorded services are also available on MCC YouTube Channel (Link).

Week 45 of 52 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson: “Tzedakah (tsed-aw-kaw’)” = righteousness. When I was young, I tended to think of righteousness in negative terms, defined by things I thought Christians should avoid doing. Righteousness could include refraining from certain activities, but it is so much more than that. The Hebrew word means to bring justice into the world by helping someone in need. Consider these uses of “tzedakah” in the Bible:

We are told to pursue righteousness in Proverbs 21:21. The “eyes of the Lord are on the righteous” (Psalm 34:15), and righteousness will result in being remembered forever (Psalm 112:6). In the New Testament, James teaches us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16).

 

MCC News: Happy New Year! I do not have anything profound to say about 2020. I am just relieved that it wasn’t any worse. I often described my own work this way: I worked a good bit harder in order to be somewhat less effective. But I am glad I got to keep trying.

This week is the end of our Advent series called “Prepare the Way” based on the first three chapters of Matthew’s gospel. Jared will deliver the message live on Matthew, chapter 3. Next week we will start the third installment of our series on Luke’s gospel, starting with the “triumphal” entry in chapter 19.

Please join us for worship at Melbourne Community Church this weekend, however you can. The live service begins at 9:00 AM, and it is live streamed on our YouTube channel. The full service is available on our website after that.

Our “virtual foyer” Zoom meeting is a group of attenders who connect briefly (about 45 minutes) after the worship service. Newcomers are always welcome. Please let me know if you would like to join us this Sunday, and I will send you a link.

 

27 December 2020 Sunday Announcements

Sunday Morning Sermon:  Sunday's sermon is titled “After Jesus Was Born” from Matthew 2. The Old Testament reading is I Kings 10:1-13, and the New Testament reading is Philippians 2:5-11.

There will be only one  MCC in-person service this Sunday at 9:00 AM.

Live streamed Virtual Church (link) is available streaming at 9:00 AM. 

Virtual Foyer  on Zoom (link) at 10:15 AM.

The recorded services are also available on MCC YouTube Channel (Link).

Week 44 of 52 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson: “Week 44 of 52 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson: “Revach” = spacious place.  In the 20th century, Germany’s leaders infamously used the concept of “lebensraum” or “living space” to justify their perceived need to expand. The Hebrew word includes not just land, but also the ideas of breathing and being refreshed. Consider these uses of the word in the Old Testament:

“He brought me out into a spacious place” (II Samuel 22:20, also Psalm 18:19; 118:5).

“You have set my feet in a spacious place” (Psalm 31:8).

It makes even more sense when we learn that the Hebrew word for Egypt – “mitzrayim” – also means narrow place. So just as the Israelites were rescued from the narrow place of slavery in Egypt and delivered into the spacious place of the Promised Land, we can trust God to deliver us from our narrow places into His spacious place of refreshing.

MCC News:  Merry Christmas! Thank you to all who helped make our Christmas Eve service such a grand success. If you missed it, it was essentially “Sing Along with Nathan” accompanied by a borderline angelic congregational choir.

Thanks to Ellen and Heather for masterminding the cookie decorating Christmas gifts for our Sunday school kids. If we missed you for any reason, please speak up. The baker is local, and I expect that we will do a supplemental order in January.

If you have an MCC Sunday school kid living at your house, you should be on the lookout for a gift from your teachers this weekend. It’s a cookie decorating kit from a local bakery. If you have not received yours by Monday, please let me know. We compiled this list from the sign-in database we have been using, but we don’t want to overlook any children at Christmas. If you just wish you were an MCC Sunday school kid, let us know and someone will come see you next week.

This week is part 4 of 5 of our Advent series called “Prepare the Way” based on the first three chapters of Matthew’s gospel. The message is titled “After Jesus Was Born,” and it will cover all of Matthew, chapter 2.

Please join us for worship at Melbourne Community Church this weekend, however you can. The live service begins at 9:00 AM, and it is live streamed on our YouTube channel. The full service is available on our website after that.

Our “virtual foyer” Zoom meeting is group of attenders who connect briefly (about 45 minutes) after the worship service. Newcomers are always welcome. Please let me know if you would like to join us this Sunday, and I will send you a link.

20 December 2020 Sunday Announcements

Sunday Morning Sermon:  Sunday's sermon is titled “The Birth of Jesus” from Matthew 1:18-25. The Old Testament reading is Isaiah 9:2-7, and the New Testament reading is Revelation 21:1-8.

There will be only one  MCC in-person service this Sunday at 9:00 AM.

Live streamed Virtual Church (link) is available streaming at 9:00 AM. 

Virtual Foyer  on Zoom (link) at 10:15 AM.

The recorded services are also available on MCC YouTube Channel (Link).

Week 41 of 52 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson: “Ayin tovah” = a good eye. This is one of my favorites of Dave Adamson’s devotions so far this year, so I’m going to paraphrase him without much added from me this week. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light” (Matthew 6:22). He was not speaking of the physical health of your eye but rather using a figure of speech familiar to first century Israelites. A good eye (ayin tovah) was a feature of one who lived a consistently generous life, looking out for the needs of others. Similarly, a bad eye was shorthand for greedy self-centeredness. How would the people who know us describe us? As we reflect the love of Christ, I believe we at MCC are developing good eyes.

MCC News:  

Angel Tree News: God bless you all! The wrapping is done. Pick up is soon. I think this is a good example of a congregation putting its ayin tovahs to work (I doubt if that is the right way to make that phrase plural, but pointing out mistakes in my Hebrew grammar may or may not be part of “a good eye.”

If you have an MCC Sunday school kid living at your house, you should be on the lookout for a gift from your teachers this weekend. It’s a cookie decorating kit from a local bakery. If you have not received yours by Monday, please let me know. We compiled this list from the sign-in database we have been using, but we don’t want to overlook any children at Christmas. If you just wish you were an MCC Sunday school kid, let us know and someone will come see you next week.

Last month Tim Grogan revived an MCC tradition from over a decade ago, and I encourage you to check it out. Starting with the Habakkuk series last month, Tim started posting a bulletin insert for note-takers to use during the Sunday sermon. You can find the virtual bulletin on each week’s virtual service webpage accessed from the Virtual Sunday Service on the MCC website.

This year’s advent series is titled “Prepare the Way” from the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 1-3. Next Sunday’s text is all of Matthew, chapter 2. The title is “The Birth of Jesus,” but I might have subtitled it “We Three Kings vs. Matthew 2.”

Please join us for worship at Melbourne Community Church this weekend, however you can. The live service begins at 9:00 AM, and it is live streamed on our YouTube channel. The full service is available on our website after that.

Our “virtual foyer” Zoom meeting is group of attenders who connect briefly (about 45 minutes) after the worship service. Newcomers are always welcome. Please let me know if you would like to join us this Sunday, and I will send you a link.

Longest Night Friday 18 December 2020

This Friday, December 18, 6:00 - 7:00 PM is our Longest Night service, this year by zoom.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, unless it isn't. Our Longest Night service is a time when we allow space to articulate loss, and we focus on the Biblical genre of lament. We have been doing the Longest Night service for about 10 years. I'm glad we learned how to do this before 2020.

Join the Zoom Meeting at this link.

 

13 December 2020 Sunday Announcements

Sunday Morning Sermon:  Sunday's sermon is titled “The Genealogy of Jesus” from Matthew 1:1-17. The Old Testament reading is II Samuel 7:11b-17, and the New Testament reading is Hebrews 11:17-21.

There will be only one  MCC in-person service this Sunday at 9:00 AM.

Live streamed Virtual Church (link) is available streaming at 9:00 AM. 

Virtual Foyer  on Zoom (link) at 10:15 AM.

The recorded services are also available on MCC YouTube Channel (Link).

Week 41 of 52 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson: “Midbar” = desert, and it also means “place of the word.” This should not surprise us as we consider the many times in Scripture when the Lord met his people in the desert. In our own dry places, our first reaction is often to seek relief. Another common reaction is to embrace the false guilt of religiosity and legalism., as if our dry places must be evidence of God’s disfavor. Since the Bible teaches that the Lord meets his chosen in the desert, let’s look for Him there and pray that we will find his grace and provision – like Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jesus, and Paul.

MCC News:  

Angel Tree news: We will not have an Angel Tree Christmas party at church this year like we have in the past, but there are still ways to help. If you would like to help with the wrapping and/or delivery, please contact Barbara Murgatroyd at barbarajmurgatroyd@gmail.com or text 321-355-9705.

It is time to return the unwrapped gifts. How so?

  1. If you come to church in person, please bring them to the building with you.

  2. If you shop online, you could have them mailed to Barbara if pay attention to the delivery date

  3. Hope Ministries can also be a drop off place since Barbara and Tom are on staff there.

  4. You could drop them off at MCC during any mid-week meeting or by appointment.

The book of Proverbs teaches that steady plodding is the way to prosperity. “Steady plodding” is a good description of my contribution to MCC’s Route 66 virtual challenge team. The last time I checked, the MCC Sole Squad had covered over 270 miles, from Chicago, IL on our way to LA. It looks like we will make it out of the state of Illinois this weekend. It is not too late to join our team, and we would be glad for the help. Contact Ellen Grogan if you are interested.

Last month Tim Grogan revived an MCC tradition from over a decade ago, and I encourage you to check it out. Starting with the Habakkuk series last month, Tim started posting a bulletin insert for note-takers to use during the Sunday sermon. You can find it with the virtual bulletin on the MCC website.

This year’s advent series is titled “Prepare the Way” from the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 1-3. This Sunday’s text is my favorite example of a text that surprised me when I realized how “preachable” it is. It might not appear so at the first reading, but Matthew sent a not so subtle message to his original readers, and we can receive that message also.

Please join us for worship at Melbourne Community Church this weekend, however you can. The live service begins at 9:00 AM, and it is live streamed on our YouTube channel. The full service is available on our website after that.

Our “virtual foyer” Zoom meeting is group of attenders who connect briefly (about 45 minutes) after the worship service. Newcomers are always welcome. Please let me know if you would like to join us this Sunday, and I will send you a link.

06 December 2020 Sunday Announcements

Sunday Morning Sermon:  Sunday the Struna’s (see their webpages at this link) continue sharing their experiences and plans as missionaries with Give Hope 2 Kids, Instituto Del Rey, and Jungle Hospital in La Cuenca, Honduras.

There will be only one  MCC in-person service this Sunday at 9:00 AM.

Live streamed Virtual Church (link) is available streaming at 9:00 AM. 

Virtual Foyer  on Zoom (link) at 10:15 AM.

The recorded services are also available on MCC YouTube Channel (Link).

Week 41 of 52 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson: “Kanafim” (car-na-fim) = “wings” and “corner”, e.g., see Malachi 4:2; Matthew 9:20, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8:43-48.

Please join us for worship at Melbourne Community Church this weekend, however you can. The live service begins at 9:00 AM, and it is live streamed on our YouTube channel. The full service is available on our website after that.

Our “virtual foyer” Zoom meeting has settled into a steady group of attenders who connect briefly (about 45 minutes) after the worship service. Newcomers are always welcome. Please let me know if you would like to join us this Sunday.