The News of Zion
Faith does not make things easy, it makes things possible. Luke 1:37
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Musings~ How Shall They Hear?

Since humans started using language, some more than others have realized the innate power they have to sway the minds and hearts of their fellow people. At times they have used this power to great good and people who heard those words have been changed for their encounters with them. At other times, these words have become weapons used to lead those who heard down paths of pain and self or sometimes corporate destruction. There is a power in words and as a result, there can be a danger to their use.
 
The thought crosses my mind nearly every time I sit down to write or stand up to speak. How will these words be heard? What will they be used for after they leave my mouth? Some of it I have no control over. If a person has made up their mind to hear their one way or another the odds of changing it are not reasonably good. As much as I would like to make sure the intended meaning of everything I say gets from my mind to the mind of those hearing it, I know this simply isn’t possible. There are times that certain words bring up connotations that are so polarizing, so charged that the words have lost any intended meaning and the original power they may have had, no matter how I try to use them.

I don’t lament the change of language, as cultures come and go so do their understanding and use of language. I lament the way we have chosen to politicize and weaponize language. When you consider the poetic expression of the Psalms or the lyrical nature of the Sermon on the Mount and understand that the meaning in them is just as beautiful as the way it is written, it saddens me to see it used to hurt others in the name of ‘being right’, ‘orthodoxy’, or any number of other words we don’t really understand except out of our own fear.

For most of the abuse of language in our culture, fear seems to be the driving factor in our choice. We have decided for our age, as some have in ages past, to use language to divide people along political, ideological, and social lines out of fear that engagement with the other might lead us to actually hearing them and accepting them as fellow human beings. There is something in that act of listening and acceptance on that level that some have been taught to fear as ‘taking the wide road to hell’ or ‘being unequally yoked’ (again, misuse of the language intended). I heard a minister (several actually) justify this mindset by saying, “If you don’t lie down with dogs, you don’t wake us with fleas.” No one has to lie down, or as it is insinuating, become overly, emotionally involved with someone to listen, to hear their story and their heart.

There is nothing to fear in being a human being to another human being. Do you have to agree? No. Do you have to like what they say? No. Do you have to show love and compassion? Yes and you must do so in the way Jesus did to Levi, when he ate at his table or Zacchaeus when he dined in his house or the lepers or the maniac or anyone else that wasn’t what Jesus was but was changed for hearing his message. If you aren’t there with them, if you let the fear of other keep you from people, you cheat them out of the opportunity to see the gospel, specifically the gospel they should see in you if you were there, the language you use with both word and deed. Faith in what God has and is doing in us through the Holy Spirit should be your motivator, not fear of what people might say or think or do. 


Pastor Michael
Join us each morning at 7:00 AM for Prayer and meditation. Join us, also on Thursdays at 12:00 Noon for Bible Study. Pastor Michael is hosting these LIVE from our Facebook page. If you are unable to log in LIVE, these offerings remain available for viewing after on our website
and FB page.
While the church office remains closed, you are encouraged to reach out if you have a need or know of a need. You may call Pastor Michael at 1-859-475-8800, call the church office, 285-3864 and leave a message, call Missy at 804-2434 or email lmjarrell@umcsc.org or zionumc@comporium.net; these emails are being monitored daily. The answering machine will also be checked daily. During these troubling and unprecedented times, we ask everyone to pray together for each other, our church family, our community, our country, and our world. May God be with us all.
Please remember these in prayer:
Nancy Ackerman
Angela Bailey
Francis Bell
Gene Blackmon
Marion Boswell
Carol Boyles
Randy Boyles
Caleb Catoe
Sue Catoe
Brandy Champion
Ann Chappell
Linda Coker
Sandra Cope
Brett Craig
Bill Dingler
Sophia Dixon
Angie Dobson
Heather Elder
John Elder
Ashley Fort
Betsy Gardner
Mike Gay
Steve Ghent
Judy Goodnight
Travis Gordon
T.R. Grier
Ovedia Griffin
Catherine Hammond
JoAnn Hinson
Rev. Shelly Holder
Julia Horne
Kevan Horton
Eric Hough
Libby Hunter
Melinda Hunter
Rick Joyner
Dillon Knight
Henry Ray Knight
Mary Jane McAteer
Kevin McCorkle
Tammy McMillian
Debbie McWaters
Marie Moree
Rusty Mosier
Bell Perry
Betty Jo Phillips
Ann Powers
Vicky Pickett
Ann Reed
Kathleen Robinson
Mayme Jo Robinson
Terry Robinson
James Rushing
Bonnie Sears
Dale Sherrin
Eva Small
Greg Smith
JoAnne Smith
Mike Smith
Freda Snipes
Billy Sowell
Robbie Stepp
Jim Thomas
Laverne Thompson
Mike Vick
Pat Vick
Ellen Walters
Megan Wilson
David Woodruff
Kim Yost
Our President & Troops
Those affected by the COVID-19 virus
Those affected by recent torn adoes
Online Worship this Sunday!!!
Log in to our Zion United Methodist Church Facebook LIVE service at 10:55 AM this Sunday for our service!!
Worship will begin
at 11:00 AM.

If you are unable to join us live, the service will be available online on our FB page or on our website at www.zionumc.com
Growing While Being a House Church
As we deal with the continued effects of the coronavirus, we have come to a place where the safety of our people necessitates not having our weekly worship service. Following the advice of the CDC and our Bishop, we will not be having church activities or worship services for now. We are not sure when regular worship services will be able to resume . Whether we are in a building or not, we are still the church and we will worship together, though we are apart. To that end, Pastor Michael has been hosting Facebook Live worship services on Sundays at 11:00 AM, daily morning Prayer meetings at 7:00 AM and Bible Study on Thursdays at 12:00 Noon. You may log in to Facebook and go to our page and watch the services and studies together. If you are unable to join the group, the broadcasts will remain on our page for viewing as you are able. Let us all continue in prayer for everyone in our communities, our nation and our world.
While our United Methodist Women will not be meeting for now, our thoughts and prayers remain with each one of you and with all in need during these trying times! If you know of a need that our women can help with, please contact an officer in the women’s group so that we can try and meet any needs! Executive officers are Sharon Haile, Darlene Hallman, Terry Robinson, Missy Snipes, Dianne Sweatt, and Mary Knight.
April is our month to support HOPE in Lancaster with donations of food for those less fortunate.  Particular needs are grits, cereal, spaghetti sauce, canned beef stew, and canned chicken. Even though we are not having church services, if you would like to drop off donations, arrangements can be made to accept your donations and your willingness to help those less fortunate is greatly appreciated!! Please place your donations in the collection box in the vestibule or if you are unable to access the building, you may drop donations off at the double doors under the covered porch where the buses are. They will be collected daily from that location as well.
April 22: Jerry Stogner, Ellen Walters
April 23: Becky H. Steele
April 25: Wanda Faile, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Moseley
April 27: Renee Woodward, Cameron Faile, Luke Broughton
April 28: Melissa Payne, Mr. and Mrs. Shane Love
April 29: Leslie Mills, Carol Cauthen

UPDATE: Mobile Food Pantry Scheduled for April 24
While we cannot gather together and do hands on missional outreach for the Mobile Food Pantry like we planned to due to the extended stay at home order, we are happy to announce that Christian Services will still host the Food Pantry at the Lancaster Bowling Center on April 24 and Zion will be making the financial donation for the food for the Mobile Food Truck. We look forward to a later date when we can have hands on mission outreach together.

The UMM Vidalia Onion Fundraiser has had to be canceled for this season! We hope everyone will support us in the New Year with this fundraiser!

Our United Methodist Men's third Sunday meeting and our weekly Saturday Bible Study meetings have been suspended until the stay at home order has been lifted and we are told that we can begin to gather again.

To all church members: please understand that we are unable to allow folks to meet inside the buildings at this time. If you had a reservation for personal use inside of one of the buildings over the next few weeks, we are unable to honor those reservations at this time and will announce when we will be again be able to honor reservations. As it is, gatherings inside our facilities is not possible.
General Fund Expenditures: March 2020
Steve McDonald (Trustees)...........................64.74
Hazel Robinson (bus gas and doughnuts).....34.13
Wespath.........................................................48.25
Wycliffe Bible Translators...........................333.34
SC Conference Direct Billing....................2,469.06
Pastor Jarrell (travel)....................................116.37
Rural Garbage..............................................145.00
Duke Energy.................................................704.97
LCNGA..........................................................723.14
LCWSD..........................................................174.12
Staff Salaries..............................................4,864.95
Custodial.......................................................712.00
US Treasury (federal withholding)..............445.08
People Facts....................................................49.66
Cauthen's Landscaping................................600.00
Wells Fargo (service charge)............................2.00
Comporium....................................................231.57
Dial My Calls (call notification service).......100.00
US Postmaster (stamps).................................10.00
The Home Depot (mailbox)............................19.42
The members of Zion ARE CONTINUING
to support the ministry and outreach
of the church!!!
Let me just say, the folks of Zion are FAITHFUL!!!! Thank you to each one of you who have adjusted to this change in our lives and have continued to support the ministry and outreach of Zion UMC and for your continued presence at online worship!!! Each ONE of you ARE the CHURCH! You can continue to give online through the website, www.zionumc.com by clicking on the donate tab. You do not need to have a PayPal account to use this option, simply click on the donate button and follow the prompts, you can text your giving to 803-525-1834 and follow the secure link, or you may give by mailing your tithes to the church at 1665 Zion Road, Lancaster, SC, 29720. Pastor Michael is also available on Sunday afternoons at the church from 2:00-3:00 PM to accept your donations and have a word of prayer with you! If you have misgivings about online donations or mailing your donations, a locking mailbox has been installed under the covered carport where the buses are. You may place your contributions in the box and it will be checked daily.
Together we can move forward.
Together we can continue and make a difference!
TOGETHER, WE ARE the CHURCH!!
Special Gifts to Zion Church
In Honor of:
Missy Snipes for "keeping it going" by Dennis Hall
In Memory of:
In loving memory of W. Colon Williams, Sr. by Max and Myra Funderburk

Our seven confirmands, who have concluded their classes online with Pastor Michael, will join the church on our first Sunday worshiping together as a church family of Christ in His house! We look forward to that day and pray it will be soon!!
The Record Speaks.....
April 19, 2020

Present for online Worship:
Needed each week for the General Fund $4,360
Received for General Fund $3,931

"...because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to."
Deuteronomy 15:10
285-3864 - www.zionumc.com