SCHEDULED EVENTS FOR THE WEEK
 Church office Monday-Thursday, 9-4pm
 All announcements due Tuesday by 4pm
 Parking Notice: Off-street parking available one block from
Mount Zion at 50th & Paschall (Humphrys Textile lot).
Beloved Sisters and Brothers,
This is a month of celebration for us, including the holiday
tomorrow. Today is both the fourth Sunday of 2014 and fourth
Sunday since formally beginning our year-long 100th Church
Anniversary Celebration on New Year's Eve. Thank you to
everyone who participated in the Dinner Theater, Watch Night
Service, Prayer Breakfast, Wednesday Midday worship service,
Church Directory and Meet & Greet anniversary events. Led by our
Anniversary Co-chairs (Brother William Evans, Sister Laurie
Johnson and Sister Lorraine Overton) and leadership throughout the
congregation, we joyfully celebrate all that the LORD has done with
us over the past 100 years - since that first Watch Night Service in
2013.
Like our spiritual forebears, we are simultaneously acknowledging
our past, ministering in the present and anticipating a glorious future
as one body in Christ. The 100th Church Anniversary theme and
guiding scriptures are:
One Body: Looking back with love, Still standing by grace,
Moving forward in faith
May the LORD be pleased with our year-long celebration in 2014.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
 100th Church Anniversary Banquet tickets are available to
start making partial payments, $100.
 Girl Scout Cookies for sale on stage.
 “Dinner Among the Stars” tickets available, $15.
MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014
 Men on Mondays (M.O.M.), 7-9AM
 Pantry Open, 1-2:30pm (Volunteers welcomed)
 Joint Usher Board Meeting, 7pm
TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2014
 Mount Zion Morning Prayers “For A Whole Community”,
7-7:30am, (760) 984-1000, 356561#. All may join, especially
Clergy.
 Pantry Open, 1-2:30pm (Volunteers welcomed)
 Budget and Slate/4th Quarter Church Meeting: Prayer,
7pm; Meeting 7:30pm
 Wednesday Feeding Program, 11-1 (Volunteers welcomed)
 Pastor’s Bible Class, 7pm
 Prayer Meeting, 8pm
Reminder: Budget Slate and 4th Quarter Church Meeting to be
held on Tuesday, January 28th, 7pm.
Also, 100th Anniversary Women’s Day Choir rehearsals begin
Thursday, January 30th, 7pm. Bishop Barbara Ward-Farmer will
be our guest director. She will also conduct a Music Workshop on
Saturday, February 1st, 9am. All members of Mount Zion choirs,
please plan to attend.
of Philadelphia
TODAY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2014
Leviticus 25.10 and Ephesians 4.4-7
Mount Zion Baptist Church
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014
 Midday Bible Study and Prayer at Reba Brown, 11am
 Women’s Day Choir Rehearsal, 7pm
1411 South 50th Street
50th & Woodland Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19143-5105
Office: (215) 724-0619 or (215) 727-2322
Fax: 215-724-2649
Founded 1914 by Rev. C. W. Gregory
Rev. Cedric Hughes Jones, Jr. Pastor
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2014
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Music Workshop, 9am
Evangelism Ministry, Walking 10am
Ladies Auxiliary Ushers Meeting, 11am
Dinner Among the Stars, 4pm
“We are becoming Mount Zion ~ by grace,
God’s loving people joyfully responding to the whole gospel
for a whole community.”
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Discipleship
Message
The Order of Service
Praise & Worship Medley
Call to Worship and Invocation
“Bless the Lord, O My Soul”, Arranged
****Seating Intervals****
Hymn of Praise: “Praise Him, Praise Him” #12
Responsive Reading: Christian Unity #575 – Bro. Raekwon
Fletcher
“Glory Be To The Father” #538
****Seating Intervals****
Selection (Carnation Choir)
Announcements & Pastor’s Page Highlights
Altar Prayer
Benevolent Offering (Youth & Young Adult Choir)
Welcoming of Visiting Guests – Sis. Shayla Harrington
Pastoral Remarks & Centennial Moment
****Seating Intervals****
Tithes & General Offerings (Gospel Chorus)
Offertory Response #536
”Open My Eyes, That I May See” #129
Scripture: Leviticus 25:10; Ephesians 4:1-7 – Bro. Stanley
Harrington
Song of Preparation (Gospel Chorus)
SERMON: Pastor Cedric Hughes Jones, Jr.
Invitation to Christian Discipleship
Benediction & Postlude
Hear and Do the Word (Lesson for February 2)
Lesson: James 1.19-27
You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to
speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.
James 1.19-20 (NRSV)
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Love &
Community
The Greek word agape is more than romantic love, agape is
more than friendship. Agape is understanding, creative,
redemptive, good will to all men. It is an overflowing love
which seeks nothing in return. Theologians would say that it is
the love of God operating in the human heart. So that when
one rises to love on this level, he loves men not because he likes
them, not because their ways appeal to him, but he loves every
man because God loves him.
Agape is not weak, passive love. It is love in action. Agape is
love seeking to preserve and create community. It is
insistence on community even when one seeks to break it.
Agape is a willingness to go to any length to restore community.
It doesn’t stop at the first mile, but it goes the second mile to
restore community. It is a willingness to forgive, not seven
times, but seventy times seven to restore a community. The
cross is the eternal expression of the length to which God will
go in order to restore broken community. The resurrection
is a symbol of God’s triumph over all the forces that seek to
block community. The Holy Spirit is the continuing community
creating reality that moves through history. He who works
against community is working against the whole of creation.
Therefore, if I respond to hate with a reciprocal hate I do nothing
but intensify the cleavage in broken community. I can only
close the gap in broken community by meeting hate with
love.
Day
Mon.
Tues.
Wed.
Thur.
Fri.
Sat.
Sun
Scripture
Psalm 50
Matthew 25:14-30
1 Chronicles 16:23-29
Malachi 3:8-10
2 Corinthians 9:5-15
Luke 6:38
N/A
Prayer
Readings
Heb. 12:22-24
Eph. 2:8-9
Matt. 22:36-40
Luke 19:1-10
Rom. 5:12-17
1 Thes. 5:23-24
N/A
Read: James 1.19-27
Gist Readings
Jeremiah 7:21-28
2 Samuel 22:26-31
Deut. 5:22-27
Deut. 4:1-10
Titus 1:10-16
1 John 3:14-20
James 1:19-27
The Gist of the Sunday School Lesson
The epistle of James is associated not with James, the Son of Zebedee,
one of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10.2), but with James, the brother
of Jesus (Mark 6.3). Unlike the Apostle, this James was not a follower of
his brother (none of Jesus brothers believed in him, John 7.5). It was not
until after the resurrection that James became a disciple. He was listed
among those to whom the risen Christ appeared (First Corinthians 15.7),
he was present in the upper room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1.14) and
eventually he (not Peter!) became the leader of the church in Jerusalem
(Acts 15.15, 21.18). The letter of James is called a general epistle because
it was not addressed to a specific church or individual but to the believers
in diaspora. His reference to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad (James
1.1) could have been a greeting to the literal descendants of Jacob/Israel
or an allusion, a spiritual reference to the church, the New Israel, the
people of God not by family but by faith.
Paul’s letters were written in response to controversies in the churches;
the letter of James seems generally applicable to any situation. It is similar
to the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. It contains wise sayings,
and sound, practical applications for the faith. For example, James 1.19 is
for everyone—men, women, children, Jews and Gentiles. Be quick to listen,
means be ready to hear. James warns against closing our ears (and our
minds) too quickly. Too often we assume we know what someone is
about to say or we have pre-judged what they are about to say. Be slow to
speak, means take time to respond, be deliberate; be thoughtful. Today we
might say, “Count to ten before you press ‘Send’.” Slow to anger, means
don’t rush to judgment. Though we would like to believe it, our anger does
not work God’s righteousness. In the wilderness, Moses struck a rock and
berated the people because he was frustrated but the Lord was not
(Numbers 20.10-11). God did not allow him to enter the Promised Land
because human anger does not express God’s righteousness. Indeed God
is patient with the sinner and it is God’s kindness that leads us to
repentance (Romans 2.4).