United Presbyterian Church in Ingram

04/27/2026

04/27/2026

04/23/2026

FREE COMMUNITY DINNER
SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2026
4PM to 6PM

Chicken Alfredo with Pasta
Green Beans
Salad
Dessert

Eat in or Take out

Come join us for great food and fellowship!

09/18/2025

Free Community Dinner

Sunday, September 21, 2025

Come and join us for good food and fellowship. Eat-in or Take-out.

Hot dogs, Corn on the Cob, Baked Beans, Coleslaw, Ice Cream and Cookies!

05/21/2025

Free Community Dinner
Sunday, May 25, 2025
from 4 to 6 pm
Eat-in or Take-out is available

Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Baked Beans, Corn on the Cob
Lemon Bars

Come join us for the Holiday Cookout!!!

11/10/2024

Responsibility Not Privilege

Mark 12: 38-44



Sunday, November 10, 2024

25th Sunday of Pentecost



The first part of our lesson today is a series of charges that Jesus makes against the scribes. The scribes liked to walk around in long flowing robes. In the east at that time a long flowing robe which swept the ground indicated a noble person. It was the kind of robe in which no one could work or hurry about. It was the sign of a man of leisure and honor. In deference to Old Testament custom, large tassels were worn on each of the four corners of their outer garment to remind people that they were the chosen people of God. Consequently, in all events they liked to dress in such a way as to draw attention to themselves.



They liked to be greeted in the market place. The scribes liked to be greeted with honor and respect. This touched their vanity in a special way. After all, the very title Rabbi, means “My great one.”



They liked the front seats in the Synagogue. It was in the front of the synagogue that the sacred volumes were kept, and facing the congregation, there was a bench where the distinguished sat. It had the advantage that no one who sat there could possibly be missed. It was in full view of the admiring congregation.



The scribes liked the highest places at feasts. There were definite seating arrangements at banquets and feasts. The first place was on the right of the host, the second was on the left of the host, and so on, alternating right and left around the table. It was easy to tell the honor in which a person was held by the place that he sat at the banquet or feast.



Our lesson tells us one of the most savage charges against the scribes, when it says that they like to devour the houses of widows. In those days, the religious experts or the scribes and the pharisees were not allowed to take money for their teaching and knowledge of the law. They were supposed to have a trade in which to work to earn their own money for food and shelter. But these legal experts rather than work, convinced people that when they supported a rabbi in comfort that they would gain a higher place in the heavenly academy. Unfortunately, it was to woman that most of these leaders looked to for comfort and care and most of these women could hardly afford this kind of expenditure.



The prayers of the Scribes and the Pharisees were notoriously long. These prayers were not prayers offered to God, but were offered to people. These long prayers were offered in such a manner as to show the piety of the Scribe or Pharisee and not to the glory of God.



Thus, Jesus warns these Scribes and Pharisees against these actions. Jesus warns against the desire for prominence. It is still true today that people accept an office in the church because they think they earned it or deserved it, when they should merely desire to render selfless service to the House of God. Unfortunately, far too many people believe that their position in the church is a matter of privilege and not a matter of responsibility.



It warns against the desire for respect. It is the Christian understanding that one should make themselves like a silent partner rather than exalt themselves before others. There is an old story of a monk who was a very holy man. This monk was sent up to take the office of abbot at a near-by monastery. The monk looked so humble that when he arrived at the monastery he was summarily ushered to the kitchen to work, because no one recognized him. Without a word of protest, the monk went to work and washed the dishes and did the most menial of tasks. It was only when the bishop arrived at the monastery a considerable time later that the true position of the monk was discovered.



The person who enters an office for the respect which that office implies is starting their service on the wrong path. For unless this person changes, they cannot be considered a servant of Christ or a servant of their fellow-people.



Finally, even now, it is possible for people to use religion for the connections they can make and the self -gain and advancement they might enjoy. This is a warning against all those who are in the church for what they can get out of it and not what they can put into it. One only has to think about the famous address of President John F. Kenedy when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Just substitute the word country with the word church and you’ll be on your way and on the right track.



Grace and Peace,

Pastor Wayne

11/03/2024

God’s Glory

John 11: 32-44



November 3, 2024

Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

All Saints Sunday



The one thing that Jesus maintained during his ministry is that in all things He wanted to bring glory to God. It was not his own actions, but God working through Him that would have mattered.

So, in our story of the raising of Lazarus we find the perfect opportunity for the glory of God to be revealed. As our story begins, Mary is informed of the coming of Jesus and her quick movement showed how much she wanted Jesus to come. Yet when she knelt at the feet of Jesus her first words were words ones which challenged Jesus. Mary said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Although Mary did not yet understand, Jesus saw in the sickness and the death of Lazarus the perfect opportunity to show many people the glory of God. But when Jesus saw the grief of Mary and of the Jews with her it moved him to delay no longer in what he had come to do.



Like Mary and Martha, Jesus too was filled with grief over the death of his friend and he wept. There are several verses within in our lesson that have meaning beyond our usual understanding. The first is the fact that “Jesus wept.” The first thing one must understand is that John is writing to the Greeks, they are his audience. To them this show of emotion would have been staggering. John had written his gospel with the theme that in Jesus we see the mind of God. To the Greeks a god should display the total inability to show emotion. They argued that if we can feel sorrow or joy, gladness or grief, it means that someone can have an effect on us. Now if a person has an effect on us it means for that moment, they have power over us; or we can say that at that moment they are greater than we are. No one can have power over God, so that must mean that God is incapable of feeling any emotion whatsoever. The Greeks believed in a passionless, and compassionless God. But as Jesus wept, he showed to the world a God whose heart was moved by anguish and pain. In the knowledge that Jesus wept, John shows us a completely new picture of God. The greatest thing that Jesus did was to bring us the news of a God who cares.



Jesus then went to the tomb of Lazarus and asked that the stone be rolled away. The tombs at this time in Palestine were either natural caves or caves hewn out of the rock. The tomb had an entrance where the body was first laid. Then there was an inner chamber that had 8 shelves carved into the rock where the bodies were laid. Three on each side and two at the far end. The body was wrapped in linen but the hands and feet were wrapped separately and a towel covered the head. The tomb had no door, but there was a groove at the opening with a round stone that was rolled in front of the opening to seal the tomb.



Martha thought that Jesus wanted to have a final glimpse at the face of his friend, but Martha could not understand this reasoning of Jesus. It had been four days since the death of Lazarus and Martha pointed out that the face would have decomposed and would not have been recognizable. It was the Jewish belief that the soul of the deceased hovered over the body for four days trying to get back into the body. By the fourth day the co**se was unrecognizable and the soul then was free to go for it could not recognized the co**se any longer.



The next significant verse is that Jesus prayed. Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father I thank you for having heard me.” Jesus had prayed even before he came to Bethany for his friend and now, he was reiterating his prayer for the sake of the people around so that they knew what was about to transpire was the power of God working through Jesus. The power which flowed through Jesus was not his power, but the power of God



After he said this, he cried out in a loud manner “Lazarus come out” and Lazarus walked out of the tomb with his hands and feet bound and his face wrapped in a towel. Then Jesus uttered the most profound words, he said, “Unbind him and let him go.” Through Jesus Lazarus gained victory over death. We too know that through Jesus we gain victory over death, but those words can mean so much more for us. From the cross Jesus gave to us a life which is unbound.



It means that we can be unbound from sin and given forgiveness. It means that we can be unbound from fear, knowing that we have a friend in Jesus. It means that we can be unbound from temptation when we put our trust in Jesus.



When we find ourselves unbound, we have a glimpse of what is to come, for we are unbound to the joy of heaven, taking part in the great banquet table. We are unbound to that place where there is no pain and no suffering and all the parts work! We are unbound to an eternity of joy and happiness in the presence of Almighty God.



Everything which Jesus did was due to the power of God, and designed for the glory of God. How different people are! So much that we do is attempted in our own power and designed for our own prestige. It was by God and for God, that Jesus acted. It may be that there would be more wonders in our life, too, if we ceased to act by ourselves and for ourselves and set God in the central place and give God all the glory!!!



Grace and Peace,

Pastor Wayne