Month: May 2016

Celebrating May 2016

Birthdays

5/3 Anna Holland
5/5 Lorene Backsmeier
5/5 Cory Fortney
5/6 Mike Brewer
5/8 Christian Dowell
5/8 Lucas Piper
5/10 William Dowell
5/11 Lindsay Orr
5/12 Kerry Warren
5/16 Benjamin Holland
5/19 Nicki Cloyd
5/19 Terry Trost
5/21 Pat McQuown
5/26 Joyce Schneider

Baptismal Birthdays

5/1 Catherine Cloyd
5/1 Carly Benjamin
5/1 Marvin Lester
5/5 Marlene Hitch
5/15 Daryle Schempp
5/18 Drew Kemp
5/22 Lorene Backsmeier
5/22 Marvin Huth
5/26 Stephen Parry
5/29 Lucas Piper

Pastor’s Notes May 2016

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It should be a celebration.  The house is full of kids – school friends, neighborhood friends.  You are the guest of honor, and you have five candles on your birthday cake to blow out.  So what could be wrong?  Maybe a brother or sister is messing with one of your gifts.  Maybe Trevor swiped a finger across the frosting of your cake before you blow out the candles.  Whatever it is, it is all coming apart in tears.  The bigger picture – a bright picture of fun and games and friends and presents and cake – has been lost.

Because Jesus ascended into heaven, He is now exalted over all things.  He rules all things on behalf of His Church.  This should bring us great hope and joy.  Yet what happens to us?  We become discouraged by our worldly cares.  We become disgruntled like the birthday child.  Our sin clouds our eyes to see what God has done and is doing through our risen and ascended Lord.  We see with just our physical eyes and because of this we focus on the discouragements of the world.  In our church we may fret about troubles members are having or the number of members who are inactive.  We become discouraged as we fail to accomplish those things that we want to get done.  We find ourselves in a state of despair as we see our own shortcomings or the shortcomings in others.  We then wallow in our self-pity.  But our Lord has ascended on high and rules over all things on our behalf.  He has ascended to fill and be filled by His Church.  Let’s not lose sight of this wonderful truth and all that means for us.

Ascension Day is still important for us as Christians.  Historically, the Ascension has been a big day in the life of the Church.  Many Lutheran churches have Ascension as part of their name.  I wonder how many still have worship on that day?  We still do here at Good Shepherd.  This year it will be Thursday, May 5th at 7:00 p.m..  Christ is in control.  He has been given all rule, authority, power, and dominion.  That is why He ascended on high.  He has prepared a place for us and is waiting.  To God on High Be Glory!

In Christ,

Pastor

Bulletin Announcements

May 1, 2016

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”.

IN TODAY’S SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON, “Jesus Teaches Us to Pray.”  The children learned that our heavenly Father invites us to pray and promises to hear our prayer for the sake of His Son, Jesus. Ask your children, “What things have you prayed for?  How has God answered your prayers?”

GOOD SHEPHERD BLOOD DRIVE:  The day has finally arrived.  Tomorrow, (May 2nd), is our Blood Drive for the American Red Cross.  It will run from 2-6:00 p.m. in the basement of the church.  There are still available slots for walk-ins so if you have never given and would like to see the process which is quite simple, please stop in and give the gift of life.  Thank you to everybody who is part of this outreach to the community.

OUR ASCENSION DAY WORSHIP SERVICE is this coming Thursday, May 5th at 7:00 p.m.  We will celebrate Holy Communion with the message: “Christ Is Lord Over Your Frustrations”.

PASTOR’S SCHEDULE:  Pastor will be out of the office this coming Thursday, May 5th, as Pastor and Toni pickup Karson from college.  Pastor will be back in time to conduct the Ascension Day Worship Service that evening.

NEXT SUNDAY, May 8th, will be our monthly door Offering for Seminarian Brad Ferch.  This will be our last door Offering for the Ferch family.  We will be assigned a new student for next year.  A thank you note from the Ferch’s is on the bulletin board outside the church office.

FROM THE OFFICE:  There are more copies of the Church Directory on the table in the narthex.  Please help yourself to a copy.  If you picked up a copy previously, please note that there have been two changes that you should know about. 1) Lorene Backsmeier has a new Apartment #, it is: Apt. 1212.  2) Gerald Semelka has a new cell phone#, it is: (309) 825-6607; and email is: jerrysemelka@yahoo.com.

PORTALS OF PRAYER:  The April-June 2016 Portals of Prayer are available on the bookrack located 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.

2016 REGISTRATION INFORMATION:  Camp CILCA Outdoor Ministries 2016 Registration Information is available on the table in the narthex.  Camps are available for many different age groups.  The Camp is a CID LC-MS and LLL/LHM sponsored Camp.  It is located in Cantrall, IL which is northwest of Springfield, IL and west of Sherman, IL.  Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends are great for family camping.  Enjoy a Camp this summer.

THE LUTHERAN HOUR:  “Jesus Prayed For You” is the topic for next Sunday.  The sermon text will be from John 17:20-26.  Prayer begins in the heart of Jesus Christ who intercedes for you, offering prayers on your behalf to God the Father.  The speaker is 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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