Adult Instruction Class will begin tomorrow, Monday, September 8th. The class, which runs for ten weeks, begins at 7pm and lasts about an hour. The class is designed for non-members who would like to learn more about the Lutheran Church and its teachings. It is also a good refresher course for members. If you know of someone you would like Pastor to invite please call or email him at: revbci@yahoo.com
Church Work Day The Trustees are organizing a Church Work Day this coming Saturday, September 13th from 8am to noon. The focus will be on outside work but there are several inside tasks that need to be completed. Please notify Ron Kwasny at 309-530-6257 or ron.kwasny@comcast.net if you will be able to help. Thank you.
Next Sunday, September 14th, is our monthly door offering for Reverend Michael Kearney and Seminarian Chris Suggitt.
Good Shepherd Lutheran Family Movie Night is Friday, September 19th starting at 6pm. The movie is “The Great Escape“. Come join us in the fun and fellowship.
Blood Drive Our 2nd annual blood drive will be on Monday, September 29th from 2-6pm. You may sign-up on the sheet in the narthex or at www.redcross.org and follow the “donate blood” box. Sign-ups are also available for baked goods, helping at the reception desk or in the canteen (where food and drink are served after giving the gift of life). If you have never given and need a reassuring word, please speak with Pastor Lueck, a long-time blood donor.
Dave Orr Website Our family has created a page about Dave’s health issues and what is still needed for him on a website entitled caringbridge.com. Once the website is accessed just enter Dave Orr to access his page. We truly are blessed with the outpouring of prayers and concern the members of Good Shepherd have shown us. Many thanks and God Bless! Dave and Pat Orr
From the Trustees The fence from the playground area is going to be taken down. If you are interested in the fence, please speak with or call Andy Benjamin (309)724-8520 or Ron Kwasny (309)662-4995.
The Pregnancy Resource Center’s Annual Life Banquet is Thursday, September 18th from 7-9pm at the Double Tree Hotel. Advance reservations can be made until Monday, September 15th at Bloomington@hopeforafuture.com or by calling (309)454-5433. There is no cost to attend. This year’s speaker is former Presidential candidate and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
LWML Lutheran World Relief The LWML ladies will be working on Health Kits again this year. We would like to solicit your help in purchasing items for the Health Kits which will be sent to Lutheran World Relief. The stores will soon have these items marked down for the college students that will be returning. This is a wonderful opportunity to get great specials. A list of items needed is on the table in the narthex. If you have questions, please feel free to call Joann Hart. Thank you.
Marriage Seminar Christ Lutheran Church is Normal is hosting a Marriage Seminar on Saturday, September 20, 2014. Details on the Seminar and information on how to register is posted on the bulletin board outside the church office.
The Lutheran HourThat’s Just Who God Is is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Acts 2:1-39. The journeys of St. Paul teach us how God’s message of grace has been translated so that all might believe. (Footsteps of St. Paul; Part1.) The speaker will be Reverend Gregory Seltz. Hear this Sunday’s message on the Lutheran Hour on WGN (720 AM) at 6am; WJWR (104.7 FM) and WJWR (90.3 FM) both on Sunday at 3pm. Also, if you can receive Lincoln, IL radio station WLLM (1370 AM) the program is broadcast two times on Sunday at 7am and 7pm. Tune in! You can listen to the Lutheran Hour on your personal computer at RealAudio, www.lhm.org
The Gospels are filled with irony. Death itself is defeated by the death of Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God the Father, is given to Pilate in exchange for Barabbas, which means “son of the father.” But one particularly puzzling bit of irony is that Judas was given charge of the moneybag.
In response to Mary Magdelene’s lavish gift, when she poured out almost a year’s wages to anoint Jesus’ feet, Judas replied, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor” (John 12:5)? And then John tells us, “He said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6).
So, why is Judas put in charge of the money? Jesus could have put any of his disciples in charge of it. He could have put Nathaniel in charge, of whom Jesus said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit” (John 1:47), or John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), or Levi, the tax collector, who was financially savvy (Luke 5:27). But he didn’t. He chose Judas, whom He called “a devil” (John 6:70). Why?
Jesus put His money where his mouth was. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19–20). Our Lord put not His trust in earthly treasures, but in the word and will of His Father. The Lord will provide.
In Judas, we see the heart and gut-wrenching end of one who treasured the wrong thing. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21; Luke 12:34). “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13). It’s an alarming example, a visceral image, of what loving money and hating God can look like.
But no one, save Jesus, was the wiser. During Jesus’ three-year ministry, Judas looked, talked, and acted like the other eleven. He seemed to be about the right things. But “love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:10). And this craving led Judas to sell Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, which the chief priests used to buy his own grave — an ironic transaction indeed.
All of this is to say that money is a good thing but it is not God. Use it for the purpose which God gives it. Spend it on providing for your family. Spend it on support of your community. Give it to support and provide for the work of God among you in church, the ministry of Word and Sacrament, through which you receive forgiveness, life, and salvation. Invest in all these things. Put your treasure where God calls you to put it, and your heart will follow. Your hearts will be set on things above, for these things — family, society, and church — are of God. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
So, do not be anxious, but trust in the mercies of God. All you need will be given by your Father in heaven. “For it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). The Father can easily out-give what any thief can steal. And the beauty is: He not only can, but does. There is nothing ironic about that.
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