Month: February 2016

Elder, Usher, and Acolyte Schedules for February 2016

Elder and Usher Schedule

Date
8:30
Elder
10:30
Feb 7Daryle Schempp, Gerald Semelka, Nathan Kluender, Steve ParryJohn HardyGreg McNeely, Mike Huth
Feb 10Ash Wednesday 7PMJohn HardyBen Holland, Gene Fuller, Richard Ross
Feb 14John Hardy, Mike FieldRandy ReinhardtBud Kessler, Curt Kessler, Ryan Kleiboeker
Feb 17Midweek Lenten Service 7PMPaul Gerike
Feb 21Daryle Schempp, Jeff Piper, Joshua Parry, Paul GerikeNathan KluenderWill Dowell
Feb 24Midweek Lenten Service 7PMNathan Kluender
Feb 28Charles NottinghamMike FieldBrian Dirks, Holden Lueck, Theron Noth

Acolyte Schedule

Date
8:00 AM
10:30 AM
Feb 7Summer SheleyPastor/Elder
Feb 10Ash Wednesday 7PMJessica Isaaac
Feb 14Pastor/ElderJustin McNeely
Feb 21Lucas PiperPastor/Elder
Feb 28Pastor/ElderCruz Kleiboeker

Lent 2016 Announcement

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).

Stewardship Corner February 2016

We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves us is never alone.  That is because faith is a living, busy, and active thing.  It inhales all of God’s riches in Christ and exhales this in love and service to the neighbor.

But who is my neighbor?  God in His mercy has placed us into three distinct communities: society, family, and the church.  That means we have a duty to those around us in each of these communities.  We pray for the people in these three communities daily.  We rejoice with them in times of joy and suffer with them in times of sadness.  And we give to them from the income that God provides as we are able and as they have need.

So we pay taxes to our governments so that they may do the work that is needed for our neighbors in society.  We give to our families so that they have food and clothing, house and home, even educations.  And we give to our church—our local congregations—so that the gospel may be preached and the sacraments administered for us and others.

The beauty of this is that God smiles upon all that giving.  When you pay your taxes, God is pleased that you have served your neighbor who needs what the government provides.  When you provide for your family, God is pleased.  That you have helped your neighbor with the necessities of life by sharing with them what He has given to you, God is pleased.  And when you give to your local congregation to support the ongoing preaching of the gospel, God is pleased.  To all this giving, He says to you, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Looking at giving in this light makes it a joy to give.  The joy is multiplied.  There is joy in you because you have served your neighbor in his need.  There is joy in your neighbor for God has answered their prayers through you.  And God rejoices and is pleased with it all.  It might just make the humdrum of grocery shopping and mortgage payments a bit more joyous.  It might even make April 15 tolerable (St. Paul had to have this pep talk with the Romans, also, “This is why you pay taxes….” Romans 13:6). And it surely will make the envelope placed into the offering plate a joyful thing.

Indeed God is pleased with you.  You are saved by faith alone because of Jesus Christ. And that saving faith is never alone.  It is busy and active.  It serves the neighbor in society, family, and church with free and cheerful giving.

Celebrating February 2016

Birthdays

2/3 Charles Nottingham
2/4 Betty Bier
2/4 Emily Field
2/6 Ryan Hitch
2/7 Cruz Kleiboeker
2/7 Toni Lueck
2/7 Jennifer Parry
2/8 Marvin Lester
2/9 Justin McNeely
2/10 Herbert Renken
2/12 Mollie Hitch
2/17 Nicole Galante
2/17 Cassandra Fortney
2/17 Sandy Williams
2/23 Luanne Huth
2/28 Lucas Schempp

Baptismal Birthdays

2/3 Cruz Kleiboeker
2/3 Cannon Kleiboeker
2/8 Brian Hitch
2/8 Nicholas Hitch
2/9 Gregory McNeely
2/9 Tanner Hitch
2/14 Matthew Culp
2/16 Beth Mosier
2/17 Robert Hanner
2/18 Georgia Boriack
2/20 Kaitlin Culp
2/23 Travis Henson

Pastor’s Notes February 2016

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Do you ever think about the words we use that don’t go together?  Let me give you some examples:  boneless ribs, minor crisis, slumber party, deafening silence, educated guess, forgotten memories, instant classic, calculated risk, and vegetarian meatball.

In the church we use a phrase that at first glance doesn’t seem to go together either.  That phrase?  “Sinner/Saint.”  How can that be?  These are two words that mean the opposite thing.  For the Christian, though, it works.  We are always both sinner and saint.  This side of heaven, sin will always be a part of our lives.  Who knows what lurks inside of us?  But we are also saint.  Christ has assured us of that through His forgiveness, death and resurrection.  Eternity is already ours.

I recently finished a fascinating book entitled, “Mission at Nuremberg.”  It was the story of a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Pastor who ministered to the twenty-one men who were on trial at Nuremberg for “crimes against humanity” at the end of World War II.  Thirteen of these souls were Lutheran.  Names you would recognize like Goering, Speer, Hess, Keitel.  Some of these men would hang for their crimes.

This idea of sinner/saint was prevalent throughout the book.  As I read, I wondered how these men could get caught up in the atrocities that pervaded their watch over Germany.  As a sinner, I had to see myself in them.  I, too, am capable of some awful things.  If I miss this point, then I don’t quite understand the free will to do evil in all of us.

Now this next part might be harder to see, but some of these twenty-one repented of their sins, received Holy Communion, and even told Chaplain Gerecke they would see him in heaven one day as the noose was put around their neck.  How could this be?  Only a gracious, forgiving God can know.  Like the thief on the cross, the Lord is the One who saves.  The sinner is the saint.  The book was a wonderful read on this topic.  The Jesus we know died for these men just as surely as He died for us.

Sinner/saint is not an oxymoron in the Lord’s Book.  We are both.  Thank God for His love and compassion so that we are saved.

In Christ,

Pastor