This week's message is my Annual Money Sermon.  It is not the same sermon each year but it is the same subject..."money."  I enjoy money when it is my servant but money is a terrible master.  Money can be used or money can use us.  Money and the stuff money buys can be an awful tyrant at times.  The Mammon god is out to get us while we think we are out to get it!  Jesus said that it was impossible to serve both God and Mammon.  In other words Mammon (wealth deified) is a rival god.  Giving helps us defeat the Mammon god.  Would you care to comment on your experience with Mammon or the blessings of giving?  Why do you give?  Why do you not give?  What blessings do you have from giving?  Do you have any regrets about giving?

Sunday (October 9) we'll be gathering around the Communion Table in our morning services as we consider the final moments of our Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary.  It is a bit more work for those setting things up and serving the elements of the communion memorial but it is worth the effort when we think about what we are doing.  First, Jesus invited us to this table.  Therefore simply out of love and respect for our Redeemer it makes sense to take the effort.  Second, this simple memorial reminds us of more than the cross.  It reminds us of the incarnation as we take the bread, it reminds us of the substitutionary atonement as we drink the cup; and, as we read the instructions from Paul, it reminds us of the return of Christ when we read..."we show the Lord's death till He comes..."  We are as confident in the second Advent (arrival) of Jesus as we are in the first.  He really came to earth as a man and He is really coming back as King.  We have this admonition from the Lord..."do this in remembrance of Me..."  It always amazes me how simple it is to forget the most profound things.  We have the news of the world at our fingertips every day and yet the most profound event of history is easily overlooked and forgotten without this simple memorial.  I'm delighted that the "Crucifixion" was the winner of Art Prize this year.  If people don't make it to a church this week for communion, I hope they will be thoughtful about what Christ has done for them.  Join us Sunday morning for communion and a message from John 19, "It is Finished."