Generous Goodness
Dear MRC Family,
Pentecost blessings to you, beloved of God, in this season of Ordinary Time
Proverbs 11.25 says, A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.
Our fruit of the Spirit this week for our Summer Sermon Series is Goodness/Generosity. This type of generosity is not necessarily just about financial generosity but includes the whole package. For is financial generosity really generous if it lacks compassion or is performed merely out of duty or in expectation of being rewarded? I think we’ve learned the answer to that question is “No” with the story of the widow’s mite. So, what is biblical generous goodness?
Come this Eighth Sunday after Pentecost to find out and to learn what our job, ministry, and mission is to be generously good as followers of Jesus. Tom will lead us in our hymns and sing the Prelude “I Got You” and the Anthem “Take Off Running.” I am preaching from Galatians 6.7-10 and my sermon title is Generous Goodness. In addition, we will gather around God’s table of grace and goodness and celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. After worship, come up the hill to the Education Building where we will have our 20th Annual Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski, II Youth Group Memorial Scholarship BBQ.
For those who are not aware, the creation of the Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski Youth Group Memorial Scholarship was started by Jo-Ann LoSapio and her son, Christopher Masi in 2006. Jo-Ann is a close friend of Marion and Dennis Zilinski. Christopher knew Dennis during their time in the Youth Group at MRC. Even though we’ve lost the exact number of recipients over the 20-year existence of the scholarship program for students
graduating from high school, entering the military or pursuing a trade, it is estimated that $45,000 - $50,000 has been raised. It is also estimated that approximately 30 to 40+ former youth group members who qualified for the yearly scholarship program were granted scholarships in memory of Dennis’s life and sacrifice.
Dennis was brought up in the Middletown Reformed Church and was a wonderful young teenager and
member of our Youth Group. Dennis was a 1st Lieutenant in the United States Army and at the age of 23, died Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005, in Iraq of injuries because of a roadside bombing near Beji, 155 miles north of Baghdad. He was the loving son of Dennis and Marion Zilinski, brother of Douglas J. Kenner, Matthew J. Zilinski, Michele R. Vaughn and Tiffany A. Zilinski. He was a graduate of Christian Brothers Academy and West Point achieving the rank of 1st Lieutenant in the United States Army. He was laid to rest on Dec. 1, 2005, at The U.S. Military Academy of West Point.
I look forward to worshiping with you on Sunday.
Keep following and bothering Jesus, beloved.
With gratitude for the privilege of being your pastor and the holy call of loving you,
Pastor Trish