“I look'd upon the righteous man,
And saw his parting breath,
Without a struggle or a sigh
Yield peacefully to Death,
There was no anguish on his brow,
No terror in his eye,
The Spoiler launch'd a fatal dart,
But lost the victory.
I look'd upon the righteous man,
And heard the holy prayer
Which rose above that breathless clay
To soothe the mourner's care,
And felt how precious was the gift,
He to his dear ones gave,
The stainless memory of the just,
The wealth beyond the grave.
I look'd upon the righteous man,
And all our earthly trust,
Its pleasure—vanity, and pride,
Seem'd lighter than the dust,
Compar'd with his eternal gain,
A home above the sky!—
O grant us, Lord, his life to live,
That we his death may die.”
The Death of the Righteous, Lydia Sigourney
There are few things more certain in life than death, and few themes as universally addressed in the arts as death. Rather it’s the loss of a faithful companion in Old Yeller, William Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet asking the question, “To be, or not to be”, or Tolstoy’s powerful reminder that we can simply not avoid dealing with the inevitability of death and our own mortality in The Death of Ivan Ilyich, death has and will always play a central theme, as art imitates life, and life in this world is certain to come to an end for each of us.
As we continue our series this week, One Thing, we will be taking a look at death from a biblical perspective.
What is death really? Where did it come from? Why is it certain? How do we come to a place where we are prepared to face this One Thing Certain like the righteous man of Sigourney’s poem above?
Join us Sunday at 9 and 1045 for what promises to be a message as powerful as it is practical to each and every one of us.
Shaun
The Men’s Ministry team is excited to invite everyone to our first FCC Fishing Fellowship tournament of the year! This event will be held at the Menke farm outside of Etlah, Missouri on Saturday, May 15, from 7-4. Prizes will be awarded for the largest and smallest catch. As always, we will be providing fresh fried fish with all the fixings and everyone is invited to bring a side dish or dessert if you'd like. The best part is that this is all free of charge. So, gather the family, your friends, and your coworkers, and join us for what promises to be an awesome day of family, fishing, fellowship, and food. We’ll see you there!
Directions:
From Hardees’s in Union
Take Highway 50 East towards I44
Make Left on to Highway 47 North towards Washington
Make left on Highway 100 West towards New Haven/Hermann
Make a right on Highway B towards Etlah, approximately 3.6 miles West of New Haven.
The destination is exactly 1.2 miles to Pehle/Menke Farm/Indian Gardens (look for FCC sign), make left and follow the driveway in between the torn down hog barns until you see the next FCC sign, then turn left and follow gravel road down to the lake
401 Pehle Lane
Berger, MO 63014
It’s time for a little fun and something we are calling a Goodwill Date Night!
During our last date night, we slowed down and spent some time considering how grace is the key component to having a long, joy-filled and lasting marriage. That was a great night and we were all encouraged!
Our lives are filled with busy schedules, long days, stress and the like. And we can easily forget to slow down and enjoy one another. That’s why for this month’s Date Night, we are just going to have a night of FUN!
So what is a Goodwill Date Night?
Here are the details: We will meet here at the church at 7 PM to coordinate together. You will then leave the church building with one or more other couples and head over to Goodwill in Washington. You will then spend $10 per person on an outfit from Goodwill for your spouse which they will wear out to dinner.
You only get to spend $10 so make your choices wisely. As you go out to eat in your new threads, you have to act like everything is ‘normal’ about your clothes. Once dinner (and the laughter) is over, return to the church at 9 PM where we will hear your stories and hand out prizes for different categories like Most Creative, Most Hideous, etc.
Once again, we will be meeting here at the church at 7 PM on Friday, May 21st for a quick meeting and directions for the night. You’ll need $20 per couple plus plans for dinner. So make sure to Save the Date, Friday, May 21st.
It’s going to be a fun night!
Join us for a fun weekend of fellowship and relaxing out at the Matthews’ Farm Friday and Saturday, June 11-12! Before campfire worship and a devotional Friday night, we’ll have the afternoon to set up tents for those who’d like to camp overnight. Come any time after 4 PM. There will be a few available beds inside the house upon request. A warm breakfast will kickstart our Saturday, followed by a devotional and plenty of time to fellowship and enjoy the sunshine! For those who wish to stay for a scavenger hunt in the afternoon, we ask that you bring food for a brown bag lunch. Everything should be wrapped up by 3 PM. We hope the weekend will leave you feeling refreshed and closer to Jesus! See you there!
Hi parents! This week's Jesus Storybook Bible reading is week two for May, "Daniel and the scary sleepover". You can find it on page 152 of your book. Gather the kids around and have fun reading this story.
Keep it simple. Read the story and ask your kids what their favorite part of the story was? Or what picture did you like the most? And then say a short prayer. That's it!
We pray this is a blessing to you and your family.
HIGH HILL CHRISTIAN CAMP
High Hill has set the dates for their summer camps. To register or find out more information click here or go to www.highhillcamp.org/summer-camp/.
Last week we continued our series, Freedom in the Kingdom, with a study on Galatians 3:10-14, Paul’s emphasis that the righteous shall live by faith. Once again, the contrast between performance-based religion and Justification by Faith through a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ stood out as Paul continued his argument against the heretical influence of the Judaizers in the Galatian Church. This week we will be taking a pause from our series as Jason White leads us through a lesson on navigating the trials and troubles of this world faithfully. This will be a night to remember!
I’d like to leave you with a Word from the Apostle John, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:5
Isn’t it funny that on a week we take a break from Galatians and Paul’s arguments for the doctrine of Justification by Faith, one of Jason’s key verses would come from another apostle proclaiming the same?
Notice what John doesn’t say. John doesn’t say, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who fulfills the Law.” That would leave only the Lord Jesus Christ standing. He doesn’t say, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who…enter any other man-made, man-centered religious ideal here.”
No, John says, “Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God,” just as Abraham “believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
So, here’s the question: Do you believe? It is my hope and prayer that for each and every person reading this message, the answer would be a resounding YES!!! Grace and peace to you friends, God bless and keep you in the week ahead.
We Need You
As I Am Music, our student-led worship band and music ministry, has grown so has our need for leaders and teachers. If you are musically gifted and would be willing to spend Tuesday evenings from 6-8:30 PM pouring into our students, I Am Music is looking for you. Even if you could only spare one Tuesday a month, please contact Shaun at shaunratcliff@fccunion.org so we can work together to help our students grow as musicians, Christians, and leaders.
We pray you are finding our new adult class helpful to you as we learn to become more like Christ. We are excited about it as well.
We just wanted to give you a couple of updates about a couple of changes.
We will not be live streaming the class BUT we will be pre-recording the class and posting it 'live' on our Facebook page every Wednesday evening at 6:30. Ultimately nothing will change but this will help protect the live conversations.
For those attending on Wednesday evenings, we are asking you to park downstairs at the rear of the building and to use the downstairs doors. With the students meeting upstairs, this will help us keep our facility secure.
Also, it's never too late to join the class and we have a few books still available. Come join us!
Bible Study
Tuesday mornings from 9-11 AM. The Bible is always applicable, so even if you can't make it at the beginning, you are always welcome! The gathering is in the Fellowship Hall downstairs.
WOMEN'S MINISTRY BIBLE STUDY It's not too late to join. Click here to see the trailer.
Bible Study
Join us this Saturday, May 15 @ 7 AM for men's Bible study at Red, White, and Brew coffee house in Union.
Needs arise more than just on a Sunday morning. If you need prayer at any time, please know you can text ‘prayer2fcc’ to 94000 and a staff member will receive your request any time and be praying for you.
You can also email your request or call the church office to be placed on the prayer list. There is a prayer table in the lobby where you can place a prayer request in the box and we will pray for you!
We are family, and we want to support you in any way we can and prayer is always the first and best place to start. Please feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Join us in the Fellowship Hall downstairs for Celebrate Recovery. We will start with a time of food and fellowship at 6:00 PM. We have childcare starting at 6:30 PM. Please sign your child in at the welcome desk and a team member will assist you in helping them to their class.
We know a lot of us are huggers...please ask before hugging, and maybe try to just offer a high five or fist bump for a few weeks.
We are LIVE! Please check us out on Facebook to view our large group Live! We want to spread the love of Jesus to everyone in recovery from life's hurts, habits, and hang-ups, and while we don’t share some things, we understand the others are uncomfortable in sharing space due to COVID. At this time please feel free to worship at home and interact! We love you all!
Check out our Facebook page at @FCCUnionCR. If you have any questions, comments, or requests feel free to email us.
TAI CHI FITNESS
Tai Chi Fitness Fun for All!
Monday's from 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM, First Christian Church,Union will be a place to participate in a free class for (mostly) senior citizens, but anyone pursuing a healthier life is welcome. Tai Chi fitness is a program developed by Dr. Paul Lam, a Chinese physician living in Australia. It is used worldwide for anyone who wants to improve their physical health and strengthen themselves for fall prevention.
Tai Chi originated in the orient, but the emphasis will be on Christ, beginning and ending each session with prayer. Any reference to any kind of oriental philosophy will be turned toward Christ and His sovereignty.
The medical field and Medicare recognize its effectiveness in improving health and vitality. It is a slow-moving exercise designed to deliberately make a mind/body connection, enabling awareness of our center of gravity, weight distribution and where our balance lies. It is not rigorous, and we don’t get down on the floor. If necessary, this program of Tai Chi can be done by holding onto a chair or even sitting in one. So, if people can get into the building, they can do it! Sessions will be held downstairs in the large, blue room nearest the glass double doors.
Questions? Call the church office, ext 5, or Jenny Hannaford.
Have you ever wanted to do a Bible study with your spouse, kids or maybe a group of friends but you didn’t know where to start? Leading a Bible study can seem like such a big task. Planning what to say and what questions to ask can be one of the reasons people are so hesitant to lead a study. Well, what if we took all the planning and prep work out of it and made it easy for you to do right in your own living room?
As someone who attends First Christian Church you have access to RightNow Media, a website with hundreds of video-driven studies. There are studies on just about every topic you may want; from parenting to having “the talk” with your older kids, marriage, studies on books of the Bible and so much more. There are even cartoons for the kids that teach Biblical principles. And the best part is, it costs you nothing! If you would like to check out this incredible resource you can sign-up here.
