
Happy 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany!
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” That’s our guiding phrase from our gospel text for this week in John 1:43-51. “Anything good?” Surely you can hear how that sounds. Surely in our contentious environment, you hear the presupposition behind the sarcasm. You can hear the prejudice tucked away in such an innocuous joke. In the end, the question “can anything good” come from those unlike us, gets turned around to be asked of us, “can anything good” come from within us? Is there anything good in us that is worth God’s grace and Christ’s compassion?
Then there’s the story of Samuel’s call we’ll read from 1 Samuel 3:1-10. The atmosphere is set well by the narrator telling us that “the word of the Lord was rare in those days, and visions weren’t widespread.” God spoke to the boy Samuel when visions weren’t widespread, and spoke to Nathaniel through his prejudicial sarcasm of Jesus’s hometown. Maybe, just maybe, God can speak to us too, in the middle of our chaos, dysfunction, social media-fueled polarization, and pandemic weariness. Maybe some heaven can come down to this dumpy place after all, because we could sure use a clean-up and a little joy right now. Let’s worship on this Sunday, the second after the Epiphany, and have an Epiphany of our own.
Sunday’s Online Service—If you log in to your Google/YouTube account about 10-15 minutes early, you will be able to easily access the chat and fellowship through the YouTube premier page both before and during the service. Find the premier page on our YouTube channel at: 1/17/21 Online Service. The premiere page will be active from the moment the video is uploaded, so you can practice any time this weekend!
Sunday’s In-Person Service – We‘ve launched our in-person indoor worship in the Sanctuary, starting at 9:00am. We are asking everyone to register at this link: cometoworship.org so that we don’t go over our maximum capacity. We ask everyone to wear a mask and maintain social distancing. Temperatures will be taken before entering the building, and communion elements will be provided as you enter the sanctuary to worship on the first Sunday of the month. This Sunday we are not offering in-person worship, but we will return to in-person worship next week, the 10th of January.
Our Children’s ministries include the nursery, SPKidz, and iClub. They are currently meeting at 9am in the Fellowship Hall.
Our regular Youth schedule is: Praise New Generation meeting from 3:00pm-4:00pm every Sunday and SPYouth meeting from 4:00pm-5:00pm every Sunday.
We so appreciate you keeping connected with us as we navigate these trying times for everyone. Please contact the church office by email at info@spocala.org or by phone at 352-694-2161 if you have any questions or need any help. While in-person office hours are limited, someone will receive your message and get back to you as soon as possible.