Month: January 2016

Bulletin Announcements – January 31, 2016

†  Bulletin Announcements  †

January 31, 2016

THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP:  1 Corinthians 13:4-5: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.” Love is the greatest of the three “theological virtues” because God is Love. That is why love is the fulfillment of the Law, because the Law is the reflection of God’s being and God is love. St. Paul urges the Corinthians to grow in love, to grow up into the image of Christ who demonstrates what love looks like with His sacrifice on the cross. For love always seeks the good of the other, always seeks to serve, to give, to bless.

THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS, led by Pastor Lueck and meeting in the church basement at 9:15 a.m. is studying “Lutheran Doctrine and Practice Today”.

TODAY IN SUNDAY SCHOOL:  The lesson today is “The Boy Jesus in the Temple.” As a boy, Jesus was found in His Father’s house. In God’s house I hear His Word, see that Jesus is my Savior, and receive His gifts of forgiveness and salvation. Because of sin, we are like Jesus’ parents and do not understand what Gods says to us. We don’t recognize who Jesus truly is—our Savior. Ask your children, “How does the Holy Spirit help identify who Jesus is?”

LENT IS EARLY THIS YEAR! Yes, it seems like we just got through Advent/Christmas/Epiphany. Ash Wednesday Worship with Holy Communion is on Wednesday, February 10th at 7:00 p.m. Our Lenten Theme this year is based on the Book of Job: Blessed Be The Name of the Lord! Plan to join your church family during this penitential season.

WINTER WEATHER PLAN: If bad weather is likely, the Elders will send an email reminder to the Newsletter email list the night before services reminding you to check WJBC or email to see if church is cancelled. If you do not receive the Newsletter email and want to receive cancellation emails, subscribe to the Newsletter email at: http://www.goodshepherdblm.org/about-us/contact-us/

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.

LUTHERANS FOR LIFE FISH FRY: Pastors Joe Burns of Eureka and Bruce Scarbeary of Roanoke are sponsoring a Lutherans For Life Fish Fry. It is a dinner for up to twenty people with the proceeds going to a local Lutherans For Life Chapter. They are taking “bids” until March 13, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. If you would like to bid on this group outing, please place your bid and information on the sheet in the narthex. The current high bid is $500.00.

LUTHERAN MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER: Marriage is for a lifetime. Want to get out of the rut and focus on the Biblical principles of fidelity, commitment, physical enjoyment and marriage as the Bride of Christ? Lutheran Marriage Encounter is here for you. The next weekend is scheduled for April 1-3, 2016 in Peoria IL. For more information and/or to register visit: www.GodLovesMarriage.org.

THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “It’s Best To Be With Jesus” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Luke 9:28-36. Life is not a do-it-yourself project. To live life to its fullest, we need Jesus. 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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Sermon — January 24, 2016, Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

January 24, 2016                                       Text:  1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Have you ever put a jigsaw puzzle together?  At our house we have put 4 or 5 together and a couple of them are framed in my office.  One of those puzzles is a picture from the “Andy Griffith Show.”  It shows Andy and Opie going fishing along with frames of some of the other main characters like my all-time favorite Barney Fife.  As with most jigsaw puzzles this was going to take time and patience.

We usually spread our puzzles out on our cardboard table and work on them when we have time or even as we pass by and see where a piece might go.  Each piece would get us closer to a finished product.  The closer to completing the puzzle the easier the pieces were to find.  What was at first a conglomeration of confusion was now a harmonious symphony of order.

Then the symphony struck a sour note.  There it was a missing piece.  All this labor for naught.  The family searched everywhere – on the floor, in the box, behind the sofa cushions, under the chair.  The search was futile.  The puzzle was incomplete, it was not whole.

Our lives can be like that jigsaw puzzle.  Young people who are just beginning their lives have a difficult time fitting all the pieces together.  Teenagers don’t know where they fit in as they find themselves between childhood and adulthood.  The elderly at times feel as if they have been taken out and replaced and forgotten.

What we want to do this morning is focus in on a deeper level.  The missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle means that the puzzle is not whole, it can never be until what is missing is found.  Today then . . .

“THE MISSING PIECE”

Paul uses an interesting metaphor in our text, He states that “the body is one and has many members…if one member suffers, all suffer together.” (vs. 12a, 26a)  I know that when my back hurts, the rest of my body suffers as well.  If you get a sore throat or migraine the rest of your body “suffers” with your head.  You don’t feel like doing anything until that part of the body that is suffering has time to heal.

Paul, however, sees a deeper meaning to his metaphor.  He sees us, Christians, as the many members that make up the body, the church.  We are members of the body with Christ as the head.  Just as any body cannot function without the members working in perfect harmony, so too the body of Christ, the Christian Church.  The church cannot function in perfect harmony unless all its members work together.

Does the church work in harmony?  Do we make an effort to welcome a visitor or make another member feel comfortable in worship?  Do you call on a member who has not worshipped with us?  My experience has been that people who have not been here in a while want to be called, they want to be missed.  Do you make an effort to seek out the pains of other members of this body?  If we just look inward then the missing pieces are not missed.  When the members of the body are not here, the picture is incomplete, there’s a hole in the church.

When our bodies become injured we take care of it.  We visit a doctor to get a shot or a prescription to relive the pain and quicken the healing.  We take care of the injury until it is healed.

Is it any wonder that we refer to our Lord Jesus Christ as the “Great Physician?”  He alone is the One who has taken our sin of self-centeredness upon his shoulders to the cross of Calvary.  He is, as the Gospel lesson states, “sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering sight to the blind.”

Unlike the parts of our body suffering, Christ suffered in order that the entire body might not suffer.  Upon His shoulders were the infections of our souls.  By his cuts and bruises we are whole.  St. Paul writes in Romans 5:8 that “while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”  By way of His forgiveness He wraps us and heals us to such an extant that there is no scar, no reminder of our sins.  The healing balm of the empty tomb bursts forth in glory to each and every one of you as you come to his throne of grace and forgiveness.  Each time we take the Lord’s body and blood the soothing ointment of grace heals the suffering of sin.

Paul in our text is calling us a family; the many-membered body of Christ.  We have family members that need to be reached. We don’t have to travel thousands of miles to see them.  They may be in your family, under your same roof, or those you have become friendly with.  They need the good news of the Resurrected Christ.  They need the same love that Christ has shown you.  They need to know they are missed.  They suffer if they don’t hear about the healing of God’s grace.  Is there a missing piece or two that you notice as you look around the pews this morning?

Paul gives the direction in our text.  “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”  In other words, no one is more important than another.  We have an equality in the body of Christ.  It is like the Trinity:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  All are equal in majesty, divinity and eternity.

So it is with us.  We have the same baptism and an equality of purpose.  The Council is not more important than the Elders, the Treasurer is not more important than the Trustees, the LWML is not more important than the Sunday School teacher.  All work together for the unity of the body, for the good of the body, for the glory of the body, Christ Jesus our Lord.

We never did find the missing piece.  Go into my office and there toward the upper left hand corner it stares you in the face, the puzzle is incomplete.  May God grant us all the strength to work as a body, in unison with one another in love, to bring back our missing pieces.

Amen.

Bulletin Announcements – January 24, 2016

†  Bulletin Announcements  †

January 24, 2016

THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP:  I Cor. 12:16: “And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.” The Lord has called each of us individually and given each of us unique gifts. He has made our whole lives holy in our Baptism and has called us to a life together in the Church, His body. You are a part of that body, and that body needs you and the gifts the Lord has given you. This is your holy calling from the Lord.

THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS, led by Pastor Lueck and meeting in the church basement at 9:15 a.m. is studying “Lutheran Doctrine and Practice Today”.

TODAY IN SUNDAY SCHOOL: “The Visit of the Wise Men,” as told in Matthew 2, is the Bible story in Sunday School today. This Bible story teaches us that the Savior came into the world for the salvation of all people. Just as the Wise Men came to Bethlehem to see the Savior and honor Him, so we come to church to see the Savior in His Word and Sacraments. With these gifts, He both honors and blesses us. Consider discussing, “How are we sometimes like Herod? How are we like the Wise Men?”

TODAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the FEBRUARY 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.

FORT WAYNE SEMINARY COOP COLLECTION: John & Paula Hardy will be traveling to Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana again this year. Please bring in any lightly used clothing or household items that you wish to donate for the seminarians and their families. The CoOp provides these items to the seminarians and their family free of charge and really helps in making their time at the seminary more affordable. Please have your donations to the church on or before this coming Thursday, January 28th. We will be packing up, and depending on weather, leaving on Friday, January 29th.

FROM THE OFFICE: If you do not receive the Church Newsletter by email, please pick up your copy of the January Newsletter on the table in the narthex. This is only for the month of January. Thank you!

WINTER WEATHER PLAN: If bad weather is likely, the Elders will send an email reminder to the Newsletter email list the night before services reminding you to check WJBC or email to see if church is cancelled. If you do not receive the Newsletter email and want to receive cancellation emails, subscribe to the Newsletter email at: http://www.goodshepherdblm.org/about-us/contact-us/

PORTALS OF PRAYER: The January – March 2016 Portals of Prayer are available on the book rack in the narthex. Pick up your free copy today.

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.

LUTHERANS FOR LIFE FISH FRY: Pastors Joe Burns of Eureka and Bruce Scarbeary of Roanoke are sponsoring a Lutherans For Life Fish Fry. It is a dinner for up to twenty people with the proceeds going to a local Lutherans For Life Chapter. They are taking “bids” until March 13, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. If you would like to bid on this group outing, please place your bid and information on the sheet in the narthex. The current high bid is $500.00

THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “If Jesus Had Stayed” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Luke 4:42b-43. God wants us to love Him in response to His love for us. 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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