Missing Bulletins 9/24 -11/05

I try to post bulletins from every week's gathering, but have been lagging lately. Here's the last 5 that I missed:

Questions:
1. If I were to begin today's service with the announcement "The Kingdom of God is here!" How would you respond?
2. Are you excited about being the member of a kingdom that started with executions?
3. Is the Kingdom of God more present or less present than 2000 years ago? 100 years?

Does it bother you to think of, (and read), Mark as an Author instead of Mark as a compiler? What are the differences? Does it bother you to think of Mark as propaganda?

Do you think that Mark’s portrayal of discipleship has a didactic aspect to it? Are we supposed to learn something from the disciple’s portrayal in Mark? Is the central purpose of Mark to teach us about discipleship? What do you make of the differences in Mark’s portrayal of Peter vs. Matthew’s, Luke’s, and John’s? If Mark is in disagreement with Matthew, Luke, John or Peter,is Biblical inerrancy threatened?

What do you usually hear emphasized in this story?
What are the similarities of these two healings? What do you see repeated?
Why are some more comfortable with impurity than allusions to Israel?
If both women are representatives of Israel undergoing renewal, what do/can they teach us?
Why women?

1. If Mark is not teaching about discipleship, and if we read the verse in context, why did Mark include this episode in his story?
a. Is Jesus saying something to the Scribes?
2. Why is the widow poor?
3. Why are the widows and the orphans so important to God?
4. What relevance does the widow have for us today?

ALL HANDOUTS ARE PRINTABLE PDFs, meaning that they will actually be legible when you click on them, and you can even print them out without distortion. If you do not have adobe page reader, (you have no excuse not to, unless you use a mac), you can get it here.

"If an outsider fights an angel, he may find himself fighting all angels."

I watched a documentary on the history channel the other day on the Hells Angels, and was struck by the strong sense of brotherhood that they demonstrate(d).
Early on in the Hells Angels' history a member of their motorcycle club was arrested. The man didn't personally have money to hire an attorney, nor did the club that he was a representative of. So, in order to cover legal fees, members of the Hells Angels gathered together sold some illegal substances, and then used the money to help their "brother" out.
I watched the documentary and was impressed with the promise that one member has to another to defend and to help one another. I began to feel embarrassed by the global church's inability to achieve the same level of devotion to one another. Members of the Church, should respond to one another with at least an equal amount of consideration towards one another that an "outlaw motorcycle club" has. But instead we neglect people's needs within our own church communities, we gossip about one another, turn a blind eye towards other's afflictions, and just generally operate autonomously, separating ourselves from one another's problems.

May our devotion to one another grow. May we be able to commend brother/sisterhood, and may our concern and action for one another be seen as a model for others.

LemonBookPro

I got an e-mail today announcing that my replacement computer had shipped. After sending my MacBookPro in for a new logic board, twice, a new power adapter, and two new batteries, my laptop still failed to charge or recognize that there was a new battery installed. There was also a bizarre hum that my computer emitted anytime the screen dimmed, (this began to occur after the logic boards were replaced to solve the high pitch ringing noise). Applecare offered to install a third logic board to solve this problem, but I declined, requesting instead a new or refurbished machine. Much to my surprise, I was offered the new updated MacBookPro, (I had already been complaining that my machine was now out of date), with the new intel core 2 duo processor, twice as much ram, and more memory. Hopefully this means that we will get to see more movie projects at Community soon. It's pretty amazing when having a lemon seems beneficial. Now if Wednesday would only hurry up and arrive...