Month: May 2015

Bulletin Announcements – May 17, 2015

† Bulletin Announcements †

May 17, 2015

THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP:  1 John 5:12:  “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”  Jesus is the foundation, the bedrock, the beginning and the end.  To have Him is to have it all. In Him we have life.  And we are called to live in Him, to live this new life He has given us, to grow up into His image.  This is a struggle in this sinful world!  But His grace is sufficient as He refreshes us through Word and Sacrament

THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS, led by Pastor Lueck, is studying “Luther’s Small Catechism”.  The class meets in the basement at 9:15 a.m.

TODAY IN SUNDAY SCHOOL:  The account of “Paul and Silas in Prison” serves as the focus of Sunday School today.  Just as God freed Paul and Silas from prison, granting them life out of death, so Christ by His crucifixion and resurrection frees me from the prison of my sins and grants me life eternal. Questions for discussion include “How is this event more than just a story about Paul’s escape from prison?” and “How has God rescued us from the prison of sin?”

TODAY:  We welcome by Adult Confirmation this morning Jordan Doddek.  Jordan is graduating from Bradley University with a Civil Engineering Degree and is employed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Peoria.  Jordan enjoys basketball and computers.  His cell# is (309) 660-5735 and his email is jtdoddek@gmail.com.  Jordan’s fiancée is Good Shepherd member Heidi Bliese and they will be married here on Saturday, September 12, 2015.  Please welcome him to our church family.

TODAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the JUNE NEWSLETTER.  Mandy Kluender is our Editor for the church newsletter and any announcements you want to be published in the Newsletter should be submitted to her at mgkluender@hotmail.com or you may call her at (309) 838-9868.

NEXT SUNDAY:  Holy Communion will be celebrated in both worship services the next two Sundays.  May 24th (Pentecost) and May 31st (Fifth Sunday).

CAN YOU HELP:  Following Laura’s surgery this past week, the Kessler family is in need of meals. If you can help, please call or e-mail Curt at 309-287-0109; 71fenderbassman@comcast.net.  Thank you.

FROM THE OFFICE:  Sandy will be out of the Office this coming Thursday, May 21st and Friday, May 22nd.  Any announcements you would like to be published in the bulletin for Sunday, May 24th, must be to her by tomorrow, May 18th, as she will be running the bulletin for the 24th, on Monday, May 18th.  Thank you!

REPAIR OF ORGAN FUND AND UPDATE:  As you know our Project for the 20th Church Anniversary is to repair and update the organ.  The second special collection (2 of 3) for this will be next Sunday, May 24th and Sunday, May 31st.  The collection container for your contributions will be in the church narthex.  The final collection will be Sunday, July 5th and Sunday, July 12th.  Collection Update:  Thus far we have collected one-third of our goal.

YOU ARE INVITED:  Thankful for the Lord’s blessings and the part you have played in Karson’s life (especially his spiritual life), Pastor and Toni Lueck in conjunction with the presenter of his High School Diploma, Normal West High School, invite you to a Graduation Party next Sunday, May 24th, from 3-6:00 p.m. at Union Park Clubhouse (GE Park), 1750 G.E. Road in Bloomington.  You are also invited to the Graduation Ceremony which is this coming Saturday, beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

FELLOWSHIP HOSTS:  The sign-up for help with coffee/doughnuts is posted on the wall by the north stairwell.  We need an individual/family to sign-up each week to pick up the donuts and make the coffee.  If no one is signed up by Friday of each week, the order will be cancelled.  We thank everybody who continues to help with this part of our church fellowship.

JOB OPENING:  Shining lights Preschool at Christ Lutheran Church, 311 N Hershey Rd., Normal, IL has an opening for the Director position.  Qualifications for the director include: (1: An associate’s degree in early childhood education with experience and licenser or certification in Early Childhood Education and Director-qualified according to the Department of Children and Family Services.  (2: Leadership experience in administration and staff guiding.  (3: Significant experience in preschool/elementary age ministry.  (4: Be able to show/share God’s love in the preschool environment.  If you are interested and would like an application, please see Rosemary in the church office or call (309) 452-5609, ext. 2. Please return your application by Friday May 29, 2015.

THE LUTHERAN HOUR:  “Power Connection” is the topic for next Sunday.  The sermon text will be from John 15:26-27; 16:14-15.  Pentecost is a day to celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit as Counselor and Comforter, sent by Jesus to bless you!  The speaker will be Reverend Gregory Seltz.  Hear this Sunday’s message on the Lutheran Hour on WGN (720) at 6:00 a.m.; WJWR (104.7 FM) and WJWR (90.3 FM) both on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.  Also, if you can receive Lincoln, IL radio station WLLM (1370 AM) the program is broadcast two times on Sunday at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.  Tune in!  You can also listen to The Lutheran Hour on your personal computer at RealAudio, www.lhm.org.

PRAYER CHAIN:  If you have a prayer request please submit them by email to Mary Anne Kirchner at makirchner@yahoo.com or you may phone a Prayer Request to Mary Anne; her home # is (309) 661-6522; her cell phone# is (309) 532-2582.  The Prayer Request box is on the table in the narthex for any written requests.

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“A RESURRECTED CHRIST MEANS RADICAL CHANGE”, Acts 10: 34-48 (5-10-2015)

 

May 10, 2015 Text: Acts 10:34-48

Dear Friends in Christ,

A resurrected Christ means radical change. Just ask Peter. He’s stunned, shaken, shocked. Nothing could have prepared him for the encounter he had with Cornelius. He was to eat food he had never eaten before. He was to eat with people he had avoided his whole life. Drastic changes were in store for this famous apostle.
The scene is this: Peter is praying on a rooftop. God comes to him in a vision. Three times He tells Peter to eat certain types of animals that a good Jew back then (or now) wouldn’t ever let cross his taste buds. These were foods that had been forbidden for religious reasons. It was going against his whole spiritual upbringing to eat them. They turned his stomach because they were associated with what he thought God didn’t want him to eat.
Is he shocked? Stunned? Shaken? He has to be. Peter’s response isn’t surprising, “Surely not, Lord!” But God says He has made these foods clean, and Peter is to eat them.
But for Peter it was more than strange foods. God also tells him to eat with a Gentile family. Once again, for religious reasons, Jews just didn’t enter a Gentile’s house. It would make them unclean, unacceptable to God. Peter had grown-up avoiding non-Jews. He didn’t touch them or their belongings. Could you sit down and eat with someone who had the plague, a disease that you could catch just from being in the same room with that person? It would be tough. This is what is happening to Peter. He’s shaken. He’s stunned. He’s shocked.
But Peter does what he’s told to do. He eats with the Gentile Cornelius and his family. He eats food he’s never eaten before. Everything’s changed. Radical changes are in the air. Why? Because Jesus has risen from the dead.
“A RESURRECTED CHRIST MEANS RADICAL CHANGE”
A resurrected Christ changes our world, too! He wants to bring together people who just aren’t usually seen together. He wants people who so often avoid each other to eat at the same table. The radical changes leave many stunned and shaken.
Think about it. We live in a world where people notice differences. Those who wear black leather and nose rings don’t hang around much with elderly widows. Those who drink fancy coffees and eat goat cheese on their sun-dried tomato bagels don’t travel much in the same circles as your meat and potatoes people.
Look at the differences perpetuating themselves daily. The political left does battle with the political right. Aging baby boomers hold jobs and positions that younger folks want. Who stays and who gets pushed out? Tension is high. And we have ethnic battles. What to do about immigration? How many resources and dollars should be spent? Racial problems still abound as we have been seeing about every night on our television. A different skin color and background often separates. Suspicion and fear are more common than togetherness. We live in a country where belonging is not easy and we are divided.
But the church of Jesus Christ is different. We include, not exclude. We join together, not separate. We fellowship, not divide. And that can be shocking.
This is the way Jesus does things. He makes radical changes because He’s the resurrected Christ! Just look at what changed for Peter.
Even though in shock he still went to the home of Cornelius and spoke amazing words. He announces that God accepts all people. No favorites or partiality. You can be any ethnic background, any race, male or female, young or old, rich or poor. The Lord welcomes everyone. Everyone who believes in Jesus and receives forgiveness of sins through this resurrected Savior belongs to God’s church. To be accepted by God even though we are sinful, to belong to His church even though we have failed Him, is the wonder of His grace in our lives.
Even though stunned, Peter speaks these words to Cornelius’ family and friends. The message is simple: Jesus is Lord of all. He was anointed by God’s Spirit to rescue people from the power of Satan. But He was killed. Hung on a tree to die. But God raised Him from the dead. Easter resurrection! Easter joy! The grave could not hold him in. Death would not be victorious. Everything that could keep us from God was defeated that day. Everything that was needed for us to belong to God forever was won that day.
Even though shaken, Peter eats with this family and shares with them that he ate with the resurrected Christ. The one appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. Those who eat with Jesus are forgiven, accepted, raised to new life, promised eternal life.
This is good news for Peter and us. Look at the radical changes a resurrected Jesus brings to our lives. Instead of rejection by the Almighty Father, we are accepted, forgiven by this Jesus who is risen from the dead. Instead of a cold grave, we are given life eternal, victory over death. Instead of being left out, we eat with Jesus; receive His very body and blood every time we go to His table to take Communion. And, yes, because of a resurrected Christ we bring together at the communion rail, all of God’s people, young and old, rich and poor, different parts of our world, the fancy dresser and the casual wearer.
At my first congregation in a small West Texas town the congregants were mostly the same. Men in suits, women in dresses, some cowboy hats and boots. German and white by background. One Sunday, we had a man appear in the back of our church. Disheveled and definitely not in a suit. Rode his bike to our church. Some of the folks were a little leery of this stranger. But being the friendly Texans that they are they reached out and visited with him. I do recall he came back a few more Sundays and then he disappeared. Who knows what happened, but prayerfully a group of Christian men and women made a difference in his life.
That’s the power of the resurrected Christ. He changes Peter and He changes us. That is what Easter is all about. The Easter holiday that we are still privileged to be in is celebrated anew. Why? Because the resurrected Christ has brought radical changes to our lives.
Amen.

Bulletin Announcements – May 10, 2015

† Bulletin Announcements †

May 10, 2015

THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP:  1 John 5:3:  “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.  And His commandments are not burdensome.”  God’s commandments are not burdensome, but that’s only true for Christians precisely because we know that we are not saved by our keeping of the Law.  We are saved by grace.  Therefore we are set free by grace to walk in newness of life, to grow in faithfulness, and rejoice in the Law of the Lord: for the love of God is that we keep His commandments.

THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS, led by Pastor Lueck, is studying “Luther’s Small Catechism”.  The class meets in the basement at 9:15 a.m.

TODAY IN SUNDAY SCHOOL:  Our Sunday School students will study the story of “Lydia” today.  Just as God worked His miracle beside the river, clothing Lydia with Christ in Baptism, so God works His miracles in pulpits and fonts around the world today, destroying the work of Satan, ripping believers from the jaws of death, washing away sins in water tinged with Jesus’ blood, and clothing believers with His righteousness.  Parents could ask, “How did God use water to save Lydia and us?  Who does God use to reveal His Word to us today?”

TODAY is our monthly door Offering for Seminarian Chris Suggitt, (please see his note on the church bulletin board announcing his dual Parish call), and for Reverend Michael Kearney.

THIS WEEK:  We have Ascension Worship with Holy Communion this Thursday, May 14th at 7:00 p.m.  The Ascension message: “Raising Our Focus”.

NEXT SUNDAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the JUNE NEWSLETTER.  Mandy Kluender is our Editor for the church newsletter and any announcements you want to be published in the Newsletter should be submitted to her at mgkluender@hotmail.com or you may call her at (309) 838-9868.

ATTENTION:  The 20th Church Anniversary Committee needs photos from 2005-2015 to be used in a power point presentation during our Anniversary week-end.  Please let us know if you have any photos to share such as from Sunday School, Bible Class, Church Meetings, worship services, picnics, etc.  Please contact Marvin Huth at (309) 829-6897 if you have any photos to share or questions.  Thank you!      The 20th Church Anniversary Committee

FELLOWSHIP HOSTS:  The sign-up for help with coffee/doughnuts is posted on the wall by the north stairwell.  We need an individual/family to sign-up each week to pick up the donuts and make the coffee.  If no one is signed up by Friday of each week, the order will be cancelled.  We thank everybody who continues to help with this part of our church fellowship.

JOB OPENING:  Shining lights Preschool at Christ Lutheran Church, 311 N. Hershey Rd., Normal, IL has an opening for the Director position.  Qualifications for the director include: (1: An associate’s degree in early childhood education with experience and licenser or certification in Early Childhood Education and Director-qualified according to the Department of Children and Family Services.  (2: Leadership experience in administration and staff guiding.  (3: Significant experience in preschool/elementary age ministry.  (4: Be able to show/share God’s love in the preschool environment.  If you are interested and would like an application, please see Rosemary in the church office or call (309) 452-5609, ext. 2. Please return your application by Friday May 29, 2015.

THE LUTHERAN HOUR:  “Without a Fight or a Prayer” is the topic for next Sunday.  The sermon text will be from John 17:11-19.  Jesus prays for us because He knows we are vulnerable and need protection from a world that seeks to steal us away from God.  The speaker will be Reverend Gregory Seltz.  Hear this Sunday’s message on the Lutheran Hour on WGN (720) at 6:00 a.m.; WJWR (104.7 FM) and WJWR (90.3 FM) both on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.  Also, if you can receive Lincoln, IL radio station WLLM (1370 AM) the program is broadcast two times on Sunday at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.  Tune in!  You can also listen to The Lutheran Hour on your personal computer at RealAudio, www.lhm.org.

PRAYER CHAIN:  If you have a prayer request please submit them by email to Mary Anne Kirchner at makirchner@yahoo.com or you may phone a Prayer Request to Mary Anne; her home # is (309) 661-6522; her cell phone# is (309) 532-2582.  The Prayer Request box is on the table in the narthex for any written requests.

Happy Mother’s Day