Dear Members and Friends,
It’s the dog days of summer and we have not let up providing fun and/or interesting things to do here at FPCA! From VBS to Reverse Advent, to summer fellowship/Lemonade in the Shade, and summer choirs and music, the Golf Tournament benefiting the Allentown warming station and PRIDE happening soon, along with so many of our other activities, we are a busy and vibrant church! Ongoing helping ministries such as Stephen Ministers and the Board of Deacons are also part of what we do. You may not know it, but we help many people, as well as preach and teach the love of God through Jesus, with energy, intelligence, imagination and love.
I am preaching this Sunday 7/27. My chosen texts are Mark 9:33-37 and Hebrews 13:2. In the gospel reading, Jesus tells his ambitious disciples that whoever would be greatest in God’s realm will need to be a servant to all. The word for servant is diakonos in the Greek. We have a Board of Deacons (diakonos) in this church that carry out a ministry providing physical needs services to the church and to those who come to us from the community. The deacons’ ministry helps everyone they can with food, lodging, transportation, etc. You can supply funding to this ministry through your weekly envelope giving or online. In this way, you serve “the least of these” as it says in Matthew 25 by serving even the most insignificant unfortunate persons. Jesus illustrates this by example of a little child.
Deacons, and all disciples of Jesus, serve others with humility and caring. No one is superior to another, in God’s view. The bible reading from Hebrews informs us that when we show humble hospitality, there may be times when we serve “aggelos” (angels) without knowing it.
Your Board of Deacons are diligent in providing this service on behalf of all of you. I will tell you more about it on Sunday, if you attend services or tune in on the livestream. Either way, may God bless you all richly for the love you show to others.
See you in church!
We Give Because Christ First Gave to Us
We give to support the ministries of First Presbyterian Church Allentown because we cannot imagine our lives without the life changing experiences that happen here.
