This Week at Tabernacle
THIS WEEK AT TABERNACLE CHURCH, UCC
August 23rd, 2026
Join us this Sunday, August 23rd, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary for our Sunday Service followed by Fellowship Time in the Bigelow Room.
Danielle Shevchenko will be singing this Sunday. Don’t miss this special treat!
A message from Reverend Joe……..
Dear Members and Friends,
Power is an interesting topic. My sermon title for this Sunday is Using Power for Life instead of Death. We’ve all heard sermons on how Jesus turns our understanding of certain concepts upside down. Sometimes seemingly powerless people end up having all the power. So, to wet your appetites for this Sunday consider these words from the Call to Worship:
In a world where powerful people make decisions to lift themselves up and cast others aside, how does God teach us to use our power?
God teaches us to protect the vulnerable, resist the oppressors, and persist in doing good.
In a world where power means might, how does God show us what power means?
God shows us through the midwives’ daring, Peter’s truth-telling, and Jesus’ humility.
In a world where power is held over people’s heads, how does God exercise power?
God exercises power with—with the oppressed, with the outcasts, with the poor and downtrodden.
Beloved, we gather to recognize our world as it is and to grow as disciples and imitators of Christ. So, how will you use your power today?
See you in church or on zoom,
Reverend Joe
The Deacons for the month of are Brenda Lewis and Betsey Bennett.
The Lighting of the Steeple for the month of August is provided by
Brenda Lewis in honor of her brother, Walter H. Lewis.
NEW ITEM FOR SALEM PANTRY
JULY, AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER
“Reading is Fundamental”
To support the Salem Pantry during the months of July, August, and September, Missions is collecting donations of new or used (good condition only please) books for all ages (all languages welcome).
The growing literacy crisis is troubling and Missions is aware that our previous donations of reading materials were a great hit at the Pantry.
Books can be left at the church in the narthex. Missions has put together an amazon Wishlist & has provided amazon with a delivery address of a mission’s member that will be automatically supplied if you choose to use the wishlist. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/8Z9UN68AM89K?ref_=wl_share
WE NEED HELP SERVING LIFEBRIDGE MEALS
Sign-up Sheets are on the board in the Bigelow Room
or Call Martha Bagby: 508-932-0221
CHOOSE YOUR MONTH TO SERVE
4-6- P.M. the fourth Monday of the Month
WITHOUT VOLUNTEERS WE CANNOT MAKE THIS MOST IMPORTANT COMMUNITY SERVICE HAPPEN!!
AND WE ARE STILL COLLECTING …..
Missions is collecting plastic tabs from bread and fruit bags, and the pull tabs from cans. Collection Jars are in the Bigelow Room.
Calendar
Sunday, August 23rd, 2026
10:00 a.m. Worship Service in the Sanctuary and via Zoom
11:00 a.m. Fellowship Time in the Bigelow Room
Monday, August 24th, 2026
7:00 p.m. Alanon Meeting downstairs in the dining room.
Tuesday, August 25th, 2026
6:00 p.m. Zilber Beatles rehearsal downstairs classroom
7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Jubilate Choir Rehearsal in the Bigelow Room
Wednesday, August 26th, 2026
7:00 p.m. Bible Study via Zoom
Friday, August 28th, 2026
6:30 p.m. AA Meeting downstairs in the dining room
Sunday, August 30th, 2026
10:00 a.m. Worship Service in the Sanctuary and via Zoom
11:00 a.m. Fellowship Time in the Bigelow Room
BIBLE STUDY TONIGHT
August 19th, 2026
7:00 pm via Zoom
TONIGHTS READINGS
HEBREW BIBLE READING
Exodus 1:8-2:10 Pharaoh’s daughter takes Moses in
1:8Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
1:9He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.
1:10Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
1:11Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.
1:12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
1:13The Egyptians subjected the Israelites to hard servitude,
1:14and made their lives bitter with hard servitude in mortar and bricks and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
1:15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,
1:16″When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”
1:17But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.
1:18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and allowed the boys to live?”
1:19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
1:20So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong.
1:21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
1:22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
2:1Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.
2:2The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months.
2:3When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.
2:4His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
2:5The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it.
2:6When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said.
2:7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”
2:8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.
2:9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it.
2:10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
CHRISTIAN TESTAMENT READING
Matthew 16:13-20
The profession of Peter’s faith
16:13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
16:14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
16:15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16:16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
16:17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.
16:18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
16:19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
16:20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.