The newsletter or related items
Birthdays
4/2 Nancy Fuller
4/3 Finley Mosier
4/4 Dorothy Herberts
4/6 Craig Culp
4/9 Carol Schroeder
4/12 Carly Benjamin
4/12 Drew Kemp
4/13 Gerald Semelka
4/20 Harriet Campbell
4/21 Angelina Isaac
4/22 Marvin Huth
4/27 Daryle Schempp
Baptismal Birthdays
4/1 Fern Noth
4/3 Herbert Renken
4/6 Justin McNeely
4/9 Mary Anne Kirchner
4/11 Toni Lueck
4/13 Michael Anderson
4/16 Nancy Thomas
4/22 Taylor Dirks
4/25 Audrie King
4/29 Laura Kessler
4/30 Bob Bier
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Rom. 6:4)
Following Sunday School and worship on Easter a family was on its way home in the car. The son was looking at his Sunday School lesson, My Easter Faith. As boys are apt to do sometimes, he folded the lesson into a paper airplane and rolled down the back window to test his creation. There was a sudden gust of wind that snatched the paper from his hands. He shouted, “Dad, My Easter Faith just went out the window.”
Where is your Easter faith as you read this? The church was beautifully decorated, the hymns lifted our spirits and the sermon let us know that Our Redeemer lives. But what about the days and weeks after Easter? There are strong impulses to draw our Easter faith out the window. We don’t want it just blowing away in the wind.
Through our Baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection we have died to the old life of our sin and we are made alive in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit teaches us that resurrection power can be used in daily faithful living. The Lord wants us to know Him and the power of His resurrection for all the days of our lives.
Ever faithful God and Father, let not Satan snatch our Easter faith from us. Help us overcome the evil one with resurrection power.
In Christ,
Pastor
Lent is a season of repentance. Repentance is turning away from sin, while we turn toward God for the forgiveness of sins. During Lent, we hear the Word of God and consider our lives in light of it. We confess our failures, and receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, and then commit ourselves to do better.
What does God say about giving to the Church? The Bible tells us: Our giving should be first fruits giving (Genesis 4:4; Proverbs 3:9). Our giving should be regular, on the first day of week, which has the Divine Service in mind (1 Corinthians 6:1–2). Our giving should be proportional: according to our income (1 Corinthians 16:1–2), according to what we have been given (2 Corinthians 8:12; Luke 12:48), our giving should be given with a spirit of eagerness and enthusiasm (2 Corinthians 9:2), generosity and liberality (2 Corinthians 8:20), cheerfully without compulsion (2 Corinthians 9:7). Our giving should be directed to those who teach us (Galatians 6:6–7) because a laborer is worthy of his hire, and we all know the going rate of such laborers in our communities (Luke 10:7; 1 Timothy 5:18).
Now consider your own giving in light of the Bible’s teaching. Are you giving of your first fruits, taking it out of your paycheck first, or does God get what’s left over? Are you giving voluntarily and cheerfully? Are you giving proportionally and generously? Are you giving with eagerness and enthusiasm? Are you giving to your local congregation, sharing all good things with the one who teaches you? If your answer to any of these is “No,” then repent. Turn away from your sin and toward God for forgiveness. Confess your failure. Receive absolution. And commit to do better. We know that the Spirit is willing but our flesh is weak. We believe, and we pray that God, through Word and Sacrament, would help our unbelief, our lack of trust in His ability to provide.
And this is precisely what God promises. This is what St. Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth: ““The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may about in every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.’ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor. 9:6–15).
St. Paul tells us that the Lord of all will both supply and increase what you need to give to the church for its work in and for the world. He tells us that this work that God is doing in us will enrich and bless us in every way and through this it will produce thanksgiving to God. Everyone benefits. We will be blessed in our giving, and it will produce thanksgiving to God in those who receive it.
Giving to the church is not a burden, just like all of God’s teaching (1 John 5:2–4). They are not a burden because of He who gives it: the God who loves us and gave His only Son to die so that we may live. He loved us in that He sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons. . . . So we are no longer slaves, but sons, and if a son, then an heir through God (Galatians 4:4–5, 7). We are heirs. We receive the full rights of sons, a status that Christ our Lord achieved for us by His death, resurrection, and ascension.
So we strive to do what He asks because we are His children. And when we don’t, we repent. We confess our sins. We receive absolution. We desire to do better, praying that God would work in us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
Birthdays
3/1 Michael Anderson
3/1 John Isaac
3/2 Laura Kessler
3/3 Anita Contois
3/4 Vanessa Biddle
3/4 Steve Parry
3/16 Taylor Dirks
3/18 Ruth Alvis
3/21 Jillian Sompong
3/25 Jennifer Cloyd
3/26 Sherry Parker
3/29 Mary Anne Kirchner
3/31 Robert Bier
Baptismal Birthdays
3/1 Lucas Schempp
3/3 Jennifer Parry
3/4 Betty Bier
3/11 Linda Dirks
3/13 Mollie Hitch
3/13 Ryan Hitch
3/16 Johana Kirchner
3/18 Ruth Alvis
3/20 Luanne Huth
3/24 Carol Schroeder
3/31 Carin Henson
Back in June 2002, Orlando Bethel, a preacher from Loxley, Alabama was scheduled to sing at the funeral of his wife’s uncle. Before he began singing hymns, however, Bethel wanted to say a few words about the departed – that he was a “drunkard” and a “fornicator,” and was now “burning in hell.” Bethel never sang – mourners attacked him, beat him up, and threw him out of the church. Bethel later claimed that “the Holy Ghost” instructed him to speak out, and added that the angry mourners were “whoremongers.”
When we were all little, we were instructed by parents, teachers, pastors, and coaches to “tell the truth.” Mr. Bethel may have taken that to the extreme. Jesus’ accusers thought they were telling the truth as they brought Him before the officials and read the criminal charges against Him. They said He was stirring up the people, claiming to be the Messiah, and inciting a rebellion against the government.
When Jesus spoke the truth, He was attacked, beat up, and thrown on a cross to pay for the lies that were being spoken against Him. He was suffering for all the times we have lied about our past, our present, and our future. At His burial, there would be no hymns sung, just a stone rolled before a tomb.
But thanks be to God, there was joy as “The Truth” emerged from His three-day prison. “The Truth” won out over the lies and schemes that had put Him there. He is Risen! He lives!
We live with the truth of that glorious moment each day of our life. We can speak about “The Truth” – the Lord our Savior, to a world and society that needs something solid to hang on to. “The Truth” cannot be denied. See you in worship!
In Christ,
Pastor
The Lenten season begins this year on February 10th at 7:00 p.m. with our Ash Wednesday Worship with Holy Communion. Our theme during this penitential season will be “The Book of Job: Blessed be the Name of the Lord!” The other Wednesday worship opportunities will be on Feb. 17th and Feb. 24th; March 2nd, 9th and 16th. On these five dates we will also have Lenten meals served at 5:30 p.m. in the basement of the church. For the first four dates, those providing the meal will be the various Boards and Committees of the church. On March 16th we would like those not on a Board or Committee to sign-up to provide the meal. Each Board will decide where the meal Offering for that night will go. Watch your bulletin for more details on the meal and the Offering.
Holy Week will consist of worship on Maundy Thursday (March 24), Good Friday (March 25) and Easter Sunday (March 27).