First Baptist Church of East Aurora will again be hosting the Community Thanksgiving Dinner on Thanksgiving Day.  This event is open to everyone who would like to share a good meal on Thanksgiving Day, or would like a Thanksgiving dinner delivered.   The dinner is free to all, but reservations are required.  Please call the church to make your reservation today.

We will be singing  “Happy Birthday to You” to our church on October 16th and 17th as we celebrate our church bicentennial. We are 200 years young!  The events starts on Saturday, October 16th with a dinner  at 6 pm followed by a special celebration, and continues on Sunday morning at 11 am with a special church service.  The committee has put together many photo displays and a 200 year time line to let us view “days gone by” while we look forward to our future.  Be sure to be there to share in the memories and fellowship!

Sunday, September 19th starts the kick-off for our Sunday School year.  It includes a breakfast at 10AM, followed by a fun program for kids and adults.  Regular Sunday school classes start next week at 10, with church service at a new time, 11AM.  Everyone is welcome!

Have you heard?  FBC has some big happenings coming up this year – it’s exciting and we can all be a part of it!  On July 3rd, FBC will again be at Hamlin Park after the parade to have games, prizes, popcorn and helium balloons for kids form the community. 

On July 24th, FBC will be at the EA Sidewalk Sale greeting the community, offering face painting, temporary tattoos for the kids as well as duck pond game, and prizes and selling water.

Aug 7th – the community is invited to FirstFest on our grounds for a day of fun, music, food, fellowship, raffles games and lots of prizes. The early afternoon wil be focused on kids of all ages playing games and hearing a special concert by Glen Colton!  Later we’ll be entertained by several bands on stage sharing Christ through their music.  Families can bring their own picnic or purchase from us with food vouchers that will be sold.  This promises to be a really big day of fun!

20100523scriptureThe servce on May 23rd was a layman’s Sunday, run by the Worship committee, as Pastor Ayers recovers from surgery. Here are a few audio excerpts from the service:

Kids Konnect
Counting Blue Cars
Scripture Reading
Questions For God
God Of Wonders

I discovered a great website the other day for Christians seeking new music to listen to, new places to go, festivals to attend or just great info on the key Christians in the area. You truly need to go to www.buffalochristian.com and sign up for the free email. I learned more about what was happening in the area for people of faith in 30 minutes on the site than I did in 9 months of living here. Mark Weber has done a great job and putting together something that all of us need for our growth and entertainment. I invited Mark to be on the Journey Radio Show on Palm Sunday. Go  to the site and let me know what you think.

Pastor Tim Ayers

PALM SUNDAY MESSAGE: “It’s Sunday…But Friday’s Comin’”

As a pastor and a preacher I’ve developed my own top ten of the messages I’ve heard preached by other men and women. One of my favorites, and it may be number one on my list, is Tony Campolo’s “Its Friday…But Sunday’s Comin’.” Dr. Tony Campolo tells the story of a little preaching competition that he had with his pastor during services at the church where he attends. Dr. Campolo tells how he preached the perfect sermon, perfect in every way. He had taken the congregation to the heights of glory and the depths of despair. And as he sat down beside his pastor, Dr. Campolo patted him on the knee and simply said, “Top that.” The older black pastor looked at him and said, “Boy, watch the master.”

It was a simple sermon, starting softly; building in volume and intensity until the entire congregation was completely involved, repeating the phrases in unison. The sermon went something like this.

It’s Friday. Jesus is arrested in the garden where He was praying. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. The disciples are hiding and Peter’s denying that he knows the Lord. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is beaten, mocked, and spit upon. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Those Roman soldiers are flogging our Lord and they press the crown of thorns down into his brow. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. See Him walking to Calvary, the blood dripping from His body. See the cross crashing down on His back as He stumbles beneath the load. It’s Friday; but Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. See those Roman soldiers driving the nails into the feet and hands of my Lord. Hear my Jesus cry, “Father, forgive them.” It’s Friday; but Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is hanging on the cross, bloody and dying. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is hanging on the cross, heaven is weeping and hell is partying. But that’s because it’s Friday, and they don’t know it, but Sunday’s a coming.

By the end of the message the old preacher was simply calling out, “It’s Friday” and whole congregation was responding, “Sunday’s coming!”

You heard the Palm Sunday story before and maybe you thought like I did that this is the exact opposite of the story of Good Friday. Because this was Sunday, Palm Sunday and Good Friday’s coming.

All the people were waving palms, throwing their cloaks, coats, wraps and Ralph Lauren sweaters on the pathway before Christ. It looked like someone had emptied the St. Paulies shed into the streets. People were cheering, “Hosanna, hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

The crowds ran to the palm trees and cut fronds from them and laid them before Jesus as he approached on a foal of a donkey. “Yeah, Jesus. You’re the messiah. Yeah, Jesus. We saw you raise the dead. Yeah, Jesus. You’ve come to save us. Hosanna. Hosanna.”

But that was Sunday and Friday’s coming.

On Friday that same group of people would stand and scream, “Crucify him! Crucify him! That same group of people that yelled Hosanna would five days later scream out for his blood. They would scream out that he be nailed to a cross. Does that surprise you? Does that shock you? If you were a disciple like Peter, James, or John or the other nine wouldn’t you be surprised, possibly shocked, certainly dismayed and discouraged?

They shouldn’t have been and neither should we because Jesus warned them and Mark recorded it in chapter 4 of his gospel. Jesus was teaching his disciples through parables, which are word pictures designed to teach a point. Mark writes in 4:3-9:

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Jesus warned them that this is the way it would be. He told them who He was. He revealed He was the messiah, the Christ. He cast out the seed that Messiah had come. He did miracles to prove it. But some people were like the hard ground in the pathway of a garden. These people were so hard, so calloused and so bitter to the truth that it would bounce off of them. The seed would lay on the surface waiting for Satan to sweep in and do everything he can to steal it away before it germinates, takes root and grows. In the crowd that formed around Jesus’ triumphant entry there were Jewish religious leaders, Pharisees, who looked at what was going on, then weaseled their way up to Jesus and said, “Teacher, get your disciples under control!” These men hated him and they knew that if Jesus continued to live he would bring the powers of Rome down on their heads and with that their comfortable lifestyle, power and prestige would be gone.

I can envision the Pharisees standing and watching. They knew they had to do something or Jesus would bring destruction on their way of life. You can almost hear Satan whispering in their ears with his venomous, sulphuric scented voice, “It’s Sunday…but Friday’s coming.”

There was another group who stood screaming, “Hosanna, Hosanna” on Palm Sunday. These were the ones that had watched and listened to Jesus. Some were even there when Jesus called Lazarus from grave. They watched as the stone was rolled away and the dead man came forth from his grave clothes. They may have seen him make dinner for everyone out five loaves and three fish. A few may have been to the wedding where he turned water into wine. They were shouting were great fervency, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

These people though were like the seeds that fell amongst the rocks. They sprouted quickly. They saw a miracle here and miracle there and believed this was what the ministry of Jesus was all about. They jumped on the bandwagon quickly but once the heat of the hot sun, the pressure of the Pharisees came upon them they withered. The religious leaders pressed hard upon their congregations. They lobbied and cajoled and threatened those they were there to pastor. Yes, on Sunday these folks screamed for Jesus the King and then on Friday they screamed for him to be crucified. Yes, I can almost hear the Pharisees saying to their congregations, “it’s Sunday…But Friday’s coming.” Yes, on Friday you will not scream out Hosanna. On Friday you will not throw your coats at his feet. On Friday you scream “crucify him” and they will  rip his coat from his bloody and back and cast lots to see who would get it. It’s Sunday now, congregation but on Friday you will do our bidding. It’s Sunday but Friday’s coming.

There was a third group mixed into the crowd. They ran to the streets stripping off their coats, grabbing palms and throwing them at Jesus feet but they were like the seeds that fell among the thorns. The thorns or pressures of life grew up and choked them out. On Sunday they yelled, “Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” But that was Sunday.

On Monday, the bills from the new Passover outfits for the kids and that great new bonnet for mom came in the mail. How was he going to pay them all and the mortgage and still buy food? Then on Tuesday, a Pharisee priest stopped by and said if they continued to follow this Jesus they would be excommunicated and shunned by their beloved fellowship. They would have no friends. They would have no center to their spiritual and social lives. They would be like outcasts. Then on Wednesday, as the family walked through the marketplace to get the supplies they needed for the Passover meal, they were ridiculed and mocked. They were called Jesus Freaks and people wouldn’t wait on them. Finally, by Thursday when the good lady’s husband came home early from work and said he had lost his job because his wife was at the Palm Sunday rally yelling out” Hosanna, Hosanna,” she lost her cool. She couldn’t take the pressure anymore. She was distraught. So when Friday came she was at the front of the crowd teaching her children a new phrase, no longer was she yelling Hosanna but “Crucify him!” I can almost hear the leaders in the community whispering behind the cheering crowds as Jesus rode down the street on the back of a donkey, “it’s Sunday…but Friday’s coming.”

But in that crowd there were people who heard the word and it transformed their lives. It not only transformed their lives on Sunday when they sincerely yelled, “Hosanna, Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” It transformed their lives on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday and Thursday. They saw hope and a future. They found relief and salvation in this man who was the Messiah. Then on Friday they saw him judged and tried before Pontius Pilate. On Friday they saw soldiers beat him with a whip and press a crown of thorns into his head until blood rolled like tiny rivers down his face. On Friday they saw him carry his heavy cross through town and up a hill known as Golgotha or the Skull. On Friday they saw soldiers rip his bloody garment from his body and cast lots for it. On Friday they watched as he was nailed to a cross. On Friday they watched him die a cruel death. On Friday their lives had been ruined. On Friday their faith had been stripped away from thenm. On Friday their trust and belief was rocked as they watched him placed into a tomb. On Friday they wept great, bitter tears as the stone was rolled in front of it.

Yes, they were crushed on Friday. Hope was lost on Friday. Everything they screamed for on Palm Sunday was true but now their faith was pierced by the three nails and dashed on the sharp edges of his stony grave. On Palm Sunday they believed he was the Lord. On Palm Sunday they believed he came in the name of the Lord. On Palm Sunday they believed He was the Messiah. On Palm Sunday they believed everything they yelled as they cast palms at his feet. On Palm Sunday they believed it all as they stripped off their coats and threw them down for him to cross. But that was Sunday. Now, Friday had come and Friday it seemed as if it had all ended. Hope was lost.

They stood around in dark rooms and hidden alleys talking and listening to one another ask, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” Another would ask, “Were you there when they nailed him to the cross?” Another would ask through a tear soaked voice, “Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?” Yes, that was Friday. On Friday it seemed as if it were all finished.

Then like the soft wind or was it a gentle breeze, a voice, somewhere from the sky or maybe from the corner or maybe from within, but it was a voice. A voice as powerful and as soothing as if it came from God himself. It was as if the voice of God whispered—

“It’s Friday…But Sunday’s coming.”

I’VE BEEN GIVEN A GIFT

I was given a gift that I most truly don’t understand. Most people wouldn’t even see it as a gift but I can’t look at it in any other way. It is a gift. Just recently I was diagnosed with a faulty, leaky heart valve. With further tests they discovered some minor blockage (60%) in three of my arteries. None of those in and of themselves is life-threatening in the immediate future. All of them together would in time make my life something akin to vegetable soup. Amazingly, since I was young, my silent and growing, innate fear has been to die or to be impaired by a heart attack or stroke. I’ve been fortunate. My body has thwarted major diseases and minor flus while pushing hard towards the goals I set for myself and the churches I’ve worked with.

Here is where the gift I don’t understand comes into play. Right now, I am looking at a new heart valve and a triple by-pass at the same time. Doesn’t sound like a gift does it? It is though. I will undergo this while I am in good health and still relatively young. There is no pressing date therefore I have ample time to set up things to cover me while I am down. After recovery I will still be young but healthier. BUT the real gift comes in that God has removed the nagging fear that laid in the back of my mind all my life: that I would die from a heart attack at a young age. When I cast all my fears and worries upon Him I never dreamed he would take care of it this way. Nevertheless, God has delivered a viable answer to a prayer request about a nagging worry. He didn’t do it in a way that I wanted. I preferred “the beat my body up and eat pizza everyday until I die at 90” method but the Lord had other plans.

Here is the plan for my recovery. First of all, I need to get as strong as I can before surgery. Better eating is first to come. I will fight the temptation to become a health food nazi but I will have to go for the brown rice over the French frie. Secondly, Marylee had the good sense to follow God’s leading and get me into a living place where we can walk daily on a level surface. This will strengthen me physically.

I don’t plan to be down for long but when I am down and recovering I will be working on three things: 1. Plans for improving our church ministries, 2. my new novel and 3. blogging on our church website. Joni can expect a hundred emails a day which will be down from my normal flow to her inbox.

Again, why is this an unexpected gift? I have many ideas and a vast amount of interests. I like to achieve great things for God if He is willing. It has saddened me that I have been running at half-power for the last few years. I thought it was age and the extra baggage around my waist. I honestly am not used to running at this slow of a pace. Like Rick Hanavan, I will be back in the marathon races (figuratively for me but literally for him). God has given me a gift. He’s given me a bright and healthy future free of the worry that once laid heavy on my heart. We’ll claim this verse for the future: II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” In my case some parts will even be new. Praise God for His wisdom and timing.

Good Friday Service, April 2^nd at Noon

The East Aurora Ministerium is sponsoring a collective Good Friday Service at Immanuel Lutheran at Noon. Choir members and readers will be from all participating churches. Those who are attending should contact the Pastor so we can coordinate our sitting together. Those wishing to participate in the choir should contact the Pastor for copies of the music and plan to be at Immanuel Lutheran at 11:15 a.m.

OUR EASTER HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE

 Palm Sunday

Prepare for a completely different way to start a service. We will all gather in the back of the church with the folded doors drawn. On the first note of the organ we will enter together in a procession down the center aisle to the front, across the front and down the side aisles to our seats. When you come in wait in the back for further instructions.

 Maundy Thursday, April 1^st at 6 p.m.

Passover Seder and Communion Service

On the Thursday night before Jesus Christ went to the cross on Good Friday, he celebrated the Passover Seder with his disciples. Out of that event, which we call the Last Supper, Christ instituted our Communion Service. On Maundy Thursday, First Baptist Church of East Aurora and St. Luke’s Anglican Church are joining together to present a “teaching” Seder followed by a traditional Communion service. A “teaching” Seder follows all the traditions and the ancient format laid out in the Old Testament. These are the same steps Jewish families use today to celebrate the Passover meal. During the “teaching” seder, Pastor Tim Ayers and Father Seth Brooker (of St. Luke’s) will teach the significant Christian meanings behind each item on the Seder plate and each step of the meal. As a note, dinner is not included. This is an instructional meeting with the traditional Passover Seder plate. Understanding the Passover means we understand and appreciate our Lords Table more. This is a must-attend event for any Christian.

Following the “teaching” Seder, the two churches will join together for a joint time of communion where we blend our two styles of taking the bread and cup. This worship service will end with the traditional “Stripping of the Altar.” This meaningful evening is designed to help you grow in your knowledge of your faith and will enhance you worship experience.

Good Friday Service, April 2^nd at Noon

The East Aurora Ministerium is sponsoring a collective Good Friday Service at Immanuel Lutheran at Noon. Choir members and readers will be from all participating churches. Those who are attending should contact the Pastor so we can coordinate our sitting together. Those wishing to participate in the choir should contact the Pastor for copies of the music and plan to be at Immanuel Lutheran at 11:15 a.m.

Easter Sunrise Meditation, Sunday, April 4^th at 7:30 a.m.

Our Easter Sunrise Meditation will be held at 7:30 a.m. on Easter morning. If the weather is permitting, we will go outside by the cross in the back of the church. If the weather is inclement then we will utilize one of the rooms in the church. If you plan to attend please let the Pastor know.

Easter Sunrise Service on the Radio,

Sunday, April 4^th at 7 a.m.

Pastor Tim is joined by Father Seth Brooker of St. Luke’s Anglican Church on his radio show. This taped version of the show is designed to help you focus on the Resurrection of Christ and begin your Easter Sunday with interesting talk and great Easter music. If you are unable to make the Easter Sunrise Meditation at 7:30 a.m. then listen into WECK AM1230 to start your day with an uplifting discussion on the meaning of Easter.