I greet you with these words from the Apostle Paul: “To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father” (Colossians 1:2, NRSV). Paul, in this greeting to his fellow Christians in the church in Colossae, is teaching an important lesson to the Church of Jesus Christ.

 That lesson is everyone who professes Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of their life becomes family: we become brother and sister to one another. The church becomes our spiritual family.  The Scottsville Church is a living example of Paul’s teaching. This website is more than pages of images in the life of the Scottsville family. It also reflects the love, grace, joy, support, and encouragement we share with each other. In other words, this website symbolizes the faith and trust the people of this Body of Christ have in God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the always-present Holy Spirit.

   So sit down, look through this site and reflect upon how the power of our Almighty God lives in this church through the faces and lives of those you see. God bless you, your  family, and The Scottsville United Methodist Church.

   Thank you for visiting our website. We cordially invite you to join us in worship, Sunday School, and our other fellowship activities.

Peace,

Pastor Dennis Keen

The Symbols of Easter

Christianity has many symbols; the most recognizable is, of course, the cross.  There are a number of symbols linked with Easter or the Resurrection:  the butterfly, the lily, the pomegranate, the phoenix, and the peacock.

The butterfly represents the Resurrection and eternal life.  It emerges from its cocoon or chrysalis and gloriously rises into the sky in its splendid new body.  Similarly, Jesus and his followers are born into a new life on Easter.

The lily is perhaps the most common Easter symbol because it’s displayed during Easter worship services and blooms around this time each year.  The lily’s bulb decays in the earth, yet new life sprouts from it in the form of the flower – reminiscent of the new life that emerged from the tomb so many years ago.

The pomegranate is used as a symbol of the power of Christ and his Resurrection because of the many seeds that burst forth from the fruit.  These seeds represent the many believers who follow Christ.  They also represent the magnificence of divine grace and the fertility of the Word.

The peacock sheds his feathers annually.  Each year the feathers grow back more beautiful and more brilliant in color.  This renewal symbolizes eternal life or resurrection.  There’s also a myth that the peacock’s flesh doesn’t decay after death – immortality.  (The peacock is sometimes used to represent human vanity, because of the way he proudly struts and displays his plumage.)

The phoenix was a mythical bird that lived in the Arabian Desert for five hundred years.  It set its own nest on fire and perished in the flames.  But on the third day it rose from its own ashes and ascended into the sky as a new and beautiful creature.  It’s easy to see why the phoenix represents immortal life and the Resurrection.