This Sunday at Balboa Union Church
10.00 a.m. English Worship Service |
 This coming Sunday July 3rd there will be no Spanish service, as we invite all our members to participate in the Potluck Lunch and fellowship. |
|
We would love to have you sing in our Pick Up Choir.
Practice is at 9.30 a.m. on Sunday morning, and will be lead by Irena Sylya.
Come & join the fun!
Special songs & music:
We will be singing “Welcome to the Family“,this Sunday at Emily’s baptism –https://www.youtube.com/watch?
We will also be closing the service with Hymn 671 – Lord Dismiss Us with Your Blessing.
We will also be singing My Tribute, by Andrea Crouch – just the chorus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
To God be the glory,
to God be the glory,
to God be the glory
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
for the things He has done.
With His blood He has saved me,
with His power He has raised me;
to God be the glory
for the things He has done.
Special Message from Pastor Eduardo Smith
“I pray that they may all be one”.
For several years, I jogged at “Parque Omar”. One feature of that park I enjoy is the abundance and variety of its vegetation. Even so, after visiting the park for years, one day I suddenly noticed that while all the trees had green leaves, not all the leaves had the same shade of green. There were many different shades of green. And this is only one item in God’s creation. Can you imagine the countless varieties of species of animals and plants in the world? They have many different sizes, shapes and colors. Yet, they all contribute to the planet’s ecosystem. This is awesome!
I don’t know what this tells you, but it tells me that God—the Creator—loves diversity. God’s creation is full of diversity, not only with plants and animals, but also with humans. Human diversity includes: physical features, ethnicity, language, nationality, creed and culture. Some people allow our differences to divide us; however, God’s purpose is unity in diversity.
In the 17th chapter of the gospel according to St. John, Jesus prays for the unity of his followers. He prayed that believers be in Him and in his Father, like the Father and the Son are in each other. In other words, the unity between Jesus and his Father is the model of unity that God desires for his followers; and for the entire humankind. Notice how many times the words “one, in” and other words and phrases reflecting unity are used in this passage.
The source of unity between Father and Son is love (verse 24). Jesus prays that his children also may be united by love (verse 26). Love produces solidarity or service to each other. I will summarize these thoughts as follows: love produces solidarity (service); solidarity produces unity; unity strengthens love. This is what I call the virtuous circle of love.
There is unity and harmony in God’s creation. But selfishness, greed, hate and violence have disrupted it. God is calling his people—and all people–to work towards restoring unity and harmony to his creation. Let us love each other, in spite of our differences, so that we may enjoy unity in diversity. For only thru practicing the virtuous circle of love can humanity recover justice, peace and wellbeing for all.
Fundraising for the purchase of the Land – Building 773
2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”
We continue our recent fundraising effort to purchase the land under Building 773, across the street from the Church & parsonage. As many of you know, BUC applied in 2000 for the purchase of the land, according to the terms of the Panama Canal treaty, of all three of our buildings: the church, the parsonage and building 773. In 2012, thanks to the efforts of past and current members, the purchase of the land under the church and parsonage was finalised, and we were given title to not only our buildings, but also the land. At this time, we have title to building 773 itself, but we do not own the land under and around it.
We are asking all friends and members to collaborate and assist in any and all ways possible, financially, with their skills and time, so that we can make this purchase also a reality. We ask you to give generously, as you are willing and able.
Please contact Leslie, our church secretary, for details on how you can make donations to this fundraising, or contact one of the Council members for more details if you have any questions.
Volunteers Needed!
We have updated our website to include the code and plugins necessary to publish our entire Church website in Spanish. Beth & Leslie will be working arduously over the coming days & weeks to translate each of the pages into Spanish, so that it is available for our visitors in either English or Spanish, according to their browser settings.
We would appreciate greatly any volunteers that can assist with either:
- translating or
- proof-reading
in Spanish as we progress on this project.
We would also appreciate feedback and constructive suggestions regarding content of the website which should be updated at this time. We appreciate any and all assistance that can be given. For volunteering or simply providing feedback about the website, please write to us at the newsletter email address.
Furniture Donation Needed For Pastor’s Home
- Refrigerator
- Stove
- Base for a king-sized bed (we need the mattress)
- Cutlery, plates and some cookery
Next Week at Balboa Union Church:
Upcoming Events in Balboa Union Church
SATURDAY, JULY 2ND -8:00 AM
SUNDAY JULY 2ND -2:00 PM- GAY PRIDE PARADE
Estimados Señores:
Con esta nota, el Comité Organizador del Gay Pride Panamá 2016, coordinador de la 12da Marcha de la Diversidad Sexual, con el lema ENCIENDE TU ORGULLO, le extiende una cordial invitación para que su organización forme parte de esta actividad.
Durante 11 consecutivos años hemos organizado la marcha de la Ciudad de Panamá, marcando año tras año records de participación, llegando el año pasado a congregar casi 4000 personas en el área de recorrido y contando con una cobertura mediática de más de 20 canales televisivos, radioemisoras y páginas de internet nacionales e internacionales. La congregación será en la intersección de Vía España con Vía Argentina entre las 2 a 4pm, cuando se iniciará la marcha por Vía España hasta el cruce con la Avenida Espinosa Batista y entraremos en Vía Argentina para llegar al Parque de la Cabeza de Einstein, donde tendremos un acto político y cultural hasta las 8pm.
Agradeciendo de antemano su apoyo, de enorme valía para la lucha por los Derechos Humanos de miles de panameños que forman parte de la Comunidad GLBTI, se despide atentamente
Ricardo Beteta Bond
SUNDAY, JULY 3 – 10:00 AM service – Emily’s Baptism
POTLUCK LUNCH – INDEPENDENCE DAY & CELEBRATIONS
UPDATE ON PASTOR BILL WILBUR (July 1st)
We thank God that pastor Bill is progressing in his mediacal treatment step by step, let us continue to pray for his recovery.
Thank you for praying!