Can the Church be Saved‪?‬ First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge

Selections from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Egalitarian Translation“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view…If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to God’s self through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. …In Christ, God was reconciling the world to God’s self…and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we…entreat you on behalf of Christ, BE reconciled to God.”

Luke 11:33-36:
You don’t light a lamp only to hide it in the cellar or to put it under a bucket. You put it on a stand where people see it when they come in. The lamp of your body is your eye. If your eye is sound, the whole body is filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your body is filled with darkness. See to it then that the light in you doesn’t fade into darkness. If your whole body is full of light, however, with no darkness in it, it will be completely lit—the way it is when the light of a lantern shines on you.

1 John 1:5-2:2 (The Egalitarian Translation)This, then, is the message we heard from Jesusand declare to you:God is light,and in God there is no darkness at all.If we say we have intimacy with Godwhile still living in darkness,we are liarsand do not live in truth.But if we live in the light,as God is in the light,we are one with each other,and the blood of Jesus, the Only Begotten,purifies us from all sin.

Mark 16:1-8:When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him (Jesus). And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.

Psalm 118: 19-21:Let the doors of righteousness be opened;we will go in and give thanks to the Lord.This is the gate of the Lord;it is opened for the righteous.We will give praise, for God has heard usand has come to save us.

Scripture: Psalm 119:103-105How sweet is the taste of your promises--sweeter than honey in my mouth! Through your precepts, I gain discernment, and because of them I hate every wrong path. Now I know your word is a lamp for my steps, for the path just ahead of me.