Pearblossom Community United Methodist Church

Dear friends, here is the worship service for this weekend. Please note that it is the first Sunday of the month, but I will no longer be providing "Virtual Communion". It was necessary for you to stay connected with the Sacrament while we were in quarantine this year and a half, but we are back in church. If there is any way I can be more helpful in the online worship experience, please let me know. -Pastor Glenn Hoskins https://youtu.be/AMxAF2AxTIY

https://youtu.be/MLu6psYQ1Y0

May 24, 2021 Isaiah 6:1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of...Continue reading

https://youtu.be/lWNMaKj6ZvA

Time to get to church! Wear red today if you can, it's Pentecost Sunday! And remember to stick around after worship for our Church Picnic!

Friday October 30, 2020 Matthew 5:1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. "Blessed are...Continue reading

Thursday October 29, 2020 Revelation 7:9-17 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the ...Continue reading

Wednesday October 28, 2020 Psalm 34:1-10, 22 "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from eve...ry trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him. O fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned." This Psalm attributed to David is about the time when David was on the run from Saul and ended up in Gath, the city of the Philistines. The servants of the king Achish recognized him so David feigned madness to disguise himself. David then ended up in a cave and four hundred people joined him including his family. (1 Samuel 21 & 22) David praises the Lord for hearing his prayers and the Lord plucked him out of danger. O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy or blessed are those who are hidden in the arms of God (refuge). David invites others to use their senses and experience for themselves the Lord’s goodness. This is not to say that those who worship God will never experience hardship. David certainly does. Yet David is in relationship with the One who rescues him, who wraps him in loving arms like a parent and he feels safe. In David’s world where no one can be trusted, David trusts the Lord completely. How about you? O taste and see that the Lord is good! Your Creator opens loving arms to you, and in them you can hide and find rest for your soul. God wants nothing but goodness in your life with strong relationships with family and friends. But even when you are alone, and there is no one you can fully trust, you can rely upon God to see you through the valley of the shadow. On this All-Saints week, this Psalm gives strength to those who mourn as we remember those who have died. I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth! Prayer: Loving God, comfort those who mourn and grieve as we remember our loved ones, those saints who go before us. Pluck us from despair and save us from the shadow which darkens our heart. Give us refuge in your arms when we need to hide our face. We trust you to see us through today. Amen.

Monday October 26, 2020 1 John 3:1-3 "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure." This Sunday i...s All-Saints Sunday where we celebrate the family of God present in body or spirit. These short verses in 1 John 3 assure the believers that through God’s love and grace, we are children of God, we belong, we are worth everything. We are a family. We are not better than others or superior because we are children of God. Everyone is a child of God, everyone is beloved and given grace through Jesus Christ. Yet our siblings in the world do not recognize God’s love because of sin. It is up to us as the Church to reveal God’s love to all people. How? By loving all peopleloving our neighbor as ourselves. We give our lives to Christ and to this mission to reveal God’s gift of grace and love to all. And when our mortal life is fully spent in service to the Lord, our hope is that we will be like Him as we transition from this life to life eternal. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. God’s steadfast love endures forever, even beyond the grave, where we shall see Jesus face to face. Therefore, we celebrate the lives of all those who are now absent from the body but present with the Lord. This hope does not lessen the pain and grief we have for our family and friends who died this year, we still mourn their absence. Yet, we read this Scripture by faith that our loved one is not gone forever, we will see them again. Let us pray this week for strength to reveal God’s love to all until that great gettin’ up mornin’ when we see the fruit of our labors in the great Family of God. Prayer: Loving God, you have given us this mission as we reveal your grace to all we meet this week. Comfort those who mourn and grieve as we remember our loved ones, those saints who go before us. May we remember their lives and find renewed strength to ably run the race of life in You toward the finish. And when our days on Earth are over, receive us into the arms of your mercy so our joy will be complete. Amen.

Online worship is ready for you! Come and worship God as you are planted by the waters of love. https://youtu.be/RK5BvnWBbYg

Friday October 23, 2020 Matthew 22:34-40 "When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, " "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yours...elf.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."." This Sunday is Reformation Sunday where the Protestant Church celebrates Martin Luther and others who broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in an effort to reform the institution. United Methodists are firmly in the Protestant movement where we significantly disagree with our Roman sisters and brothers on issues of authority. One authority we deeply disagree is the primacy of Scripture. The Reformers proclaimed Sola Scriptura where the Bible is the foundational voice for Christian faith. Roman Catholics then and now uphold that Scripture and Tradition are equal in authority. In Methodism, Scripture is the prime authority but interpreted through the Spirit-filled lens of tradition, experience, and reason. These lenses vivify the Scriptures so Christians can apply them to everyday life, even in 2020. All Christians love God with all their heart, soul, and mind. We follow the Lord Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose again according to the Scriptures. However, it is that second great commandment that gives us trouble. The split in the Church Universal still causes Christians to fight over who is right concerning the Bible and the authority of the Church. The Protestant Church has splintered so many times it is difficult to quantify. As in Corinth, Christians split up into teams and heatedly debate that our team is better than yours. The Apostle Paul wrote that the Body of Christ consists of groups who are supposed to lift one another up instead of disparaging others, and he lists them. (1 Corinthians 12) But at the end, Paul writes, there is a more excellent wayLove. Faith, Hope, and Love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is Love. (1 Corinthians 13) The final word of God is Love. Prayer: Almighty God, as we fight and argue our politics in our country and religion, help us to lift each other in love. For Love is your final word for humanity as given through Jesus who incarnated love throughout his life, death, and resurrection. Empower us to live the more excellent Way of Love today. Amen.

Wednesday October 21, 2020 Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am th...e Lord. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord." Community. Webster defined community as: a unified body of individuals. Such as a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society. In Leviticus, God is creating a community from these Hebrew slaves. However, being former slaves is not their defining characteristic, but being the nation of God, the Chosen People, the vineyard God plants. I am the Lord is said three times in these short verses. God becomes the center of everything within this new community of Israelites. Therefore, the Lord says that in these holy relationships of loving God and neighbor as yourself, everyone matters. The rich, the poor, your family, those outside your family, everyone matters. You shall respect all people and treat them like you treat yourself. You think you are great, then you treat everyone around you as great too. Lift them up to greatness, don’t push anyone down. Don’t slander or gossip, no hate, no murder, or vengeance or even bearing a grudge against someoneI am the Lord. The center of this community is love. A bright line is drawn from this reading in Leviticus to Jesus where he is asked What is the greatest commandment?. Jesus creates a community where God becomes the center of everything, as Jesus stands in his own temple. The Lord replies with holy relationships of love with God and neighbor as yourself, and everyone matters. Of course, they laugh at him, ridicule him, and crucify him for daring to command that everyone matters in community. Yet God cannot be conquered, not even death itself can silence the Word of God speaking community into existence. I am the Lord. Prayer: Loving God, you show us the Way to live in community with you at the center. You came as a human being to demonstrate the community of faith you commanded us to share with each other. Empower us to love you and our neighbor as ourselves today in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Tuesday October 20, 2020 Psalm 1 "Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. ...Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." This Scripture encapsulates the wisdom of Proverbs where good and righteous people prosper in all they do, and wicked sinners fail in everything. Proverbs is full of this ancient wisdom where all you gotta do is follow the rules and your life will always be happy. The problem with this thinking comes when good and righteous people have tragedy and failure in life. The book of Job throws a huge wrench into the machinery of good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Job follows the rules and lots of bad things happen. Job’s argument is What gives God? My point is that when I read this Psalm, I can’t help but refute the certainty of the author. Sometimes bad things happen to everyone. So what can we take away from Psalm 1? Well, what exactly is the Law of the Lord? Is it commandments, rules, or laws like wear seat belts or pay your taxes? Or is it more about a relationship with the Lord? One of the giant messages from the Holy Bible is love God with all your heart, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Love defined by a strong relationship that is divine (vertical) and human (horizontal) gives deep meaning in life. In our Gospel reading this week, Jesus says as much when a lawyer asks him about the greatest commandment from God. Law is not about rules, but relationship based on love. Job discovers this by the end of the book. (spoiler alert!) On this law of the Lord we find delight as we pray and serve the Lord by loving our neighbors. So when tragedy and difficulties happen in life, and they will, we have a relationship with our Maker that gives us strength to get through hard days. We are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in season, and leaves do not wither. Prayer: Plant us like trees in the living water of your Love, O Lord. Give us opportunities today to share that love with others. Amen.

Monday October 19, 2020 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 "You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, ...even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us." One of the reasons the Church loses people is that Christians are supposed to be kind, loving, caring people. The gathered faith community takes seriously their commitment to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. The letters of the New Testament are full of words that show how much Christians care for each other and their community. So when people experience: Gossip, passive-aggressive talk, holier than thou actions and words, or pushing others down so they can look better.no wonder people walk out the front door and never return. They get all of that and more from the world. We are supposed to be set apart, different, a safe space for people to experience being a beloved child of God. Paul, Silas, and Timothy come to Thessalonica and plant seeds of Christianity amid fellow Jews and open Gentiles. Paul persuades and convinces people that the Way of Jesus the Messiah is how to love God and neighbor with righteousness and justice (strong relationships with God and neighbor, and justice is caring for the marginalized). The apostles don’t want money or fame or to be in charge, they are field workers planting seeds and watching God grow faith in folks. This motive is so much different than what we hear on television or perhaps in our own church. Yet even though the Church of Jesus Christ fails to be what God intends there is still forgiveness, repentance, and justification. We can be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading and plant seeds again. This is true for the Church Universal and for you and me. God’s steadfast love endures forever! God is ready to forgive and show mercy to all who repent and turn from sin. Let us turn to our gracious Savior and follow Him today! Prayer: Holy God, show us again how to love you with our whole heart and demonstrate your love as we care for our neighbors. Amen.

It is with sadness that I announce the death of our church member and brother in Christ, George William Hall on October 16th, 2020. We give him and his memory into the arms of God, and we thank the Lord for his life.

https://youtu.be/-Gujjaw3gMc Come and worship the Lord!

Friday October 16, 2020 Matthew 22:15-22 "Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are...Continue reading

Thursday October 15, 2020 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, ...Continue reading

Wednesday October 14, 2020 Isaiah 45:1-7 "Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him-- and the gates shall not be closed: I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is... I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me, so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things." In this passage in Isaiah, the Lord anoints as Messiah a Persian king that conquers Babylon and sets the Jewish exiles free to go home. God is in charge. God does these things for divine purposes to set the people of Jacob free. Yet is this a good Messiah, one who smashes barriers and levels mountains? One who conquers and strip kings of their robes, stealing foreign money from temples all over the world? Cyrus became the Persian emperor and people loved him because they were either afraid of him or wanted to be like him. He became like any man in power, corrupted by wealth and privilege, doing whatever he pleased. But the newly freed Israelites were discriminated against, poor, surviving in the ruins of Jerusalem, third class citizens in their own land. Cyrus was a failed Messiah, who God used to free His people, as God used many nations to teach Judah and Israel the consequences of ignoring the covenant. Yet in a few chapters, God tells Isaiah about the suffering Messiah that startles the nations (Isaiah 52:15) This Messiah surely has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6) Not a conquering king, but this Messiah lays down his life for the sheep and heals us through his sacrifice. This, this is Messiah, the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing! Jesus the Lord! Prayer: Maranatha! Come quickly Lord Jesus our Messiah! Come and show us your Way so we can follow you in acts of loving service. Open to us the Scriptures today that we can clearly see the path of grace. Amen.