May 11, 2011
CAMP DINNER
It is crazy how fast time flies. Somehow, I blinked and it is almost summertime. We all have things we love about summer. We love the long hours of sunlight, and drinking lemonades on the back porch. We love grilling out and working in our gardens. We love the sounds of a baseball game and swimming in cold water. The list goes on and on, but perhaps the one thing we love the most is SOUTHERN OREGON CHRISTIAN CAMP.
Every year about one hundred of us gather in the foothills of the Siskiyous for an amazing week of fun, fellowship and growth in the Lord. We play games and pranks. We sing songs of praise and listen to God’s word mightily preached. We laugh, we cry and we all grow. It is a week that I have come to cherish very dearly.
I couldn’t have these memories if it weren’t for all of you helping out every year. From the scholarships you give, to the man-hours you graciously volunteer, you make these memories possible. And perhaps the most important part we play in this process is the Annual Camp Dinner/Auction Fundraiser.
I am asking each of you to please be a part of this. On Saturday, May 21 at 6:00 p.m. we are hosting this event once again. I NEED your help! We really need to raise some money. Would you please be a part? You can help by donating items for the auction. We will accept crafts, baked goods, and even services … be creative! You can also help by bidding on items. You could help set up or clean up. And above all, you could help us by PRAYING for the dinner and for camp!
I am so excited for what God has in store for us this year. I thank each of you in advance for your contribution.
– Pannell
Food for Thought
I was doing some reading this last week on the Lord’s Supper, and I came across a phrase I had not previously heard used to describe the bread and the fruit of the vine. The writer of this article spoke of how when it comes to the signs of bread and the fruit of the vine at the Lord’s Supper, “Christ saturates the sign.” What a beautifully put phrase! In other words in an intimate and unique way, Christ identifies himself so much with the bread and juice of the grape that he saturates these signs with his presence. After all, did not Jesus say of the bread, “Take it. This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” and of the juice, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Lk 22:17, 20)?
Oceans of ink over the centuries have been poured into theological literature over the exact meaning of Jesus’ words at the Lord’s Supper. Obviously, the little ink being spent in this short bulletin article cannot contend with every viewpoint on the Lord’s Supper. Suffice it to say here, I believe the elements of the Lord’s Supper are a symbolic representation (or signs) of Jesus’ body and blood. In this bulletin article I desire only to speak briefly about the impact the phrase, “Christ saturates the sign” has on me personally, and I hope impacts you for the better as well.
“Christ saturates the sign” brought to my attention that I have placed most of my focus upon Jesus’ Last Supper as virtually just a memorial of remembrance. What I mean is, I have thought more about the signs of the bread and the cup as just symbolic representation, than I have perhaps considered the actual body and blood of Christ. When I read Luke’s account, my time is often spent on the act of remembrance, and not as much on the One I should be actually remembering—Jesus. In other words, symbols are by function separate and distant from what or whom they represent. Symbols imply distance in the sense that they point to something or someone distinct from the symbols themselves. For instance, a picture of a dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit, but the symbol of a dove is not the Holy Spirit Himself; there is a kind of mental gap between symbol and reality. Therefore, since symbols are detached from what they represent, we can potentially spend too much time on the symbol to the neglect of the reality the symbol is actually meant to convey.
“Christ saturates the sign” closed the mental gap in my own mind between Jesus and the symbols of his body and blood. The symbolic nature that the bread and the cup carry is unique. Consider for a moment, what other symbols in your daily life do you ever eat? Each Sunday we literally digest these signs of Jesus’ body and blood. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53). How wonderfully bizarre and glorious at the same time!
When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper each Sunday we are certainly conducting an act of remembrance, but an act so closely connected to the One we are remembering that He “saturates the sign.” Speaking for myself, I have so often emphasized how the signs of the bread and the juice are NOT literally the body and blood of Jesus that I have overlooked how much these symbols literally ARE connected to Jesus body and blood. This Sunday morning as you eat these symbols I pray that what is written here will literally be food for thought.
– Terry
Special Contribution This coming Sunday, May 15, we will be taking a special collection for the storm victims in the South. Please be praying and considering how you can help.
Happy 50th Anniversary
Please join us to celebrate the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Larry and Wydie Denn on Saturday, May 28, at West Main Church of Christ from 1:00-4:00 p.m. Please RSVP. Your presence on this special occasion is the only gift the couple desires.
Camp News *Save the date of Saturday, May 21; 6:00 p.m. for our Camp Fund Raising Dinner and Auction in the Fireside Room .
***Camp Registration Forms are now available in the lobby and at the Visitor Center. Pick up your copy now. Early Bird Discount price is $155.00. Early Bird Deadline is June 13. Camp is: July 10-16.
Ladies Class News
Our last Ladies Class will be held on May 17. On May 24 we will have a potluck luncheon at 11:00 a.m. We will then dismiss Ladies Class for the summer. We will have our annual barbeque at the home of Bill & Barbara Viera on Tuesday, June 28, at 11:00 a.m. until ???
Prayer Requests . . .
Please continue to pray for a complete healing for Mel Hamilton and Connie Kennedy ... Lillian Casebier has bronchitis ... Cooper Albright will have more tests in New York City in May - please pray for his healing ... Hannah Walker sends her love from Uganda. Faith Quest was a blessing to many and she is looking forward to her next assignment ... Ernest Strawn is at home. Please call first if you go to visit him ... For Gerry McCord as she continues with her chemo treatments ... Jerry McElroy, a close family friend of the Pannell’s, discovered this last week that cancer has spread to his entire body. Please pray for him and his family ... For Ron VanDeHey’s foot to heal ... For our President and all of our military men, women and families.
Many Thanks to you generous donors!! Our youth group won the Medford Area Youth Group Challenge Food Drive! We are going to the Newsboys Concert, getting dinner and meeting the band! We are SO grateful for you helping us out. We cannot thank you enough. -- Pannell
Calendar of Events
May 21 Camp Fundraiser Dinner; FSR; 6:00 p.m.
June 21-24 VBS
June 28 Ladies Class Barbeque
August 5-6 Ladies Prayer Retreat
