Buffalo Valley Church of the Brethren (BVCOB)

Our preschool Bible lesson for this week is about the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25. Resources that accompany these lessons can be received by subscribing to them through calling the church office. We hope your preschoolers enjoy the lesson!

14 Turkeys are roasting or thawing... We are mashing 200 lbs of potatoes tonight... Turkey Dinners are in process! The Youth & Young Adult Team is cooking Turkey Dinners to be available this Saturday, January 30th, 4-6pm! $9/dinner... Dinner Includes: Turkey (hopefully obvious), potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, corn, applesauce, and a brownie. This is Take-Out Only Note: Dinners are fully cooked, but are packaged cold, so you will need to warm them up before serving. Meals will be available from 4-6pm on Saturday. Come to Main Entry of Buffalo Valley Church of the Brethren. All proceeds go to support the Youth & Young Adults service, missions and National Youth Conference Fund. Thank you for your support - and spread the word! See more

Weekly summary: God sees us: the boy Samuel who was confused about God, the depressed Psalmist, our physical body, Nathaniel under a tree with prejudiced thoughts... And God not only sees us, but is gracious and patient, and wants to be part of our life. God sees you! I’m realizing that the blessing in Numbers 6, is as more about us sensing God - May you take time to feel God’s face (in others) on you today, and maybe be God’s face to others.

May we respond to each other with the grace that Jesus did to Nathaniel. Although Jesus saw (and I suppose heard) Nathaniel respond with prejudice toward Nazareth, Jesus chose to see and comment on the positive in Nathaniel - thus starting the relationship off on a very different note. In our political climate, can we practice this today - when someone annoys us with a different view of politics? Even though they have a different view - is there something positive about that person’s character that we can highlight to refresh our relationship?

If I put this in my own words & amplify it a bit: Believe in the kingdom of God - a place where God’s justice is done and we don’t have to act selfishly - looking out only for ourselves. God is looking out for us- individually and as a whole. So stop living selfishly - that ends poorly for all; turn around and walk in the way I created the world to work - generously and in love. Follow me and experience the kingdom of heaven now, and invite others into it as well. But that is me - what do you think Jesus is saying?

We continue the theme that God is with us always - even within our very bodies. Please don’t see this as an extra burden to carry- instead of fear of upsetting God, encouragement- Remember, you are not alone - the Holy Spirit is even within you! You are seen! You are loved! Don’t hate yourself by treating your body as if it didn’t matter. What you do does matter - The Holy Spirit feels our pain when we are controlled by addiction, fear, or guilt. As much as we feel frustrated by it, God is with us - feeling our pain and offering to help. The other side of this is that our kindness, and often unseen actions are actually seen and celebrated by God. What we do matters!

It seemed Paul expected Jesus to return any day - so time was short. But even though its been 2000 years, I don’t think we can just ignore this passage. It gives us a clear picture of what is important - what to focus our lives on. I don’t know if it is comforting or not (definitely not meant to be a glib dismissal of suffering), but the things that make us weep, or rejoice, even our material wealth, are not going to last forever. This is more comforting to those suffering, more challenging to those somewhat comfortable. But this principle points us again to how we are living our lives - for ourselves or in consideration of others. If time is short - what are you doing with it?

Patiently wait for God alone, my soul! For God is the one who gives me confidence. ... Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression! Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery! If wealth increases, do not become attached to it! God has declared one principle; two principles I have heard: God is strong, and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love. For you repay people for what they do. - Psalms 62:5, 10-12 Do you ever talk to yourself? The Psalmis...t is- he is reminding himself to trust in God, not money, popularity, or power. It is easy to get pulled into trusting money or power (politics) to solve our problems, or get our way- but it leads to division, violence and oppression. I believe Christ calls us to use our voice / resources to work towards his kingdom, but there is a fine line between (using wealth) & (trusting in it.) What would change about how we speak, react, or post, if we pause and remind ourselves - I trust God, not money, power, or myself. God is love, and God will repay? See more

The story of Jonah, a big fish, and wicked Nineveh. This was a difficult reminder to Jonah (and Israel) that God loves our enemies - even those that oppress us. How does this change how we interact with people we think are wrong? I hope we don’t want to identify with Jonah - who got more upset when a plant died than that a huge city was going to be destroyed. This story can probably inform us as we work to recover unity after growing divisiveness around politics and religion. We tend to think (or even hope) that God’s going to destroy the other, but we realize we both need to repent. With our public memes, social media posts, and casual words - how can we do better than Jonah?

Please join us for the livestream of our worship service this morning.