Worship for Pentecost 6 - 2013

Thursday after Pentecost 5

Commemoration of Cyril of Alexandria, Pastor and Confessor

June 27, 2013

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost. We will be using Matins for our liturgy (page 219). With this service we use the appointed Psalm for the day instead of the introit, with is Psalm 16 (antiphon verse 11). The other appointed lessons are: 1 Kings 19:9b-21; Galatians 5:1, 13-25; and Luke 9:51-62. The sermon is titled “Christian Freedom and the text is Galatians 5:1.

A quick peek ahead reveals that the USA will be celebrating Independence Day Thursday, July 4. We will not have a special service on Thursday, however we do not wish to take the blessings of the Lord that he has granted us through our country for granted. We will, therefore, reflect our gratitude with our opening and closing hymns (“Before, You Lord, We Bow,” LSB 966, and “God Bless Our Native Land,” LSB 965). Our sermon hymn will be “Rise, Shine, You People,” LSB 825.

Below is the Lutheran Warbler singing “God Bless Our Native Land,” our closing hymn.

While we remember our nation, or specific aspects of our national life, every Sunday, this Sunday our nation will receive a little extra attention in our prayers due to our approaching birthday. We will also remember the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Paraguay and their President, Rev. Norberto Gerke. We will remember the persecuted believers in Mauritania in West Africa. We will remember George and Shary Frahm, our missionaries in Cambodia. They specifically ask for prayers as they learn the Khmer language; that members of the Church would consider how they might be involved in God’s mission in Cambodia; for the Angels Dormitory—that it would be a successful ministry; that they would have courage and creativity and that the dormitory would serve as a model for similar ministries in the future; that their family, children, grandchildren and friends would accept and celebrate the sacrifices they’ve made to serve in Cambodia. We will continue to remember the churches in our denomination. This week we lift up before our Lord Christ, Trinity & Unity, Norfolk, VA; Redeemer, Portsmouth, VA; and Incarnate Word, Sumter, SC. We will continue to remember all those who have been misled by our cultures advocacy of sexual immorality and abortion. We ask, not only that the Lord turn our country around, but also that he bring healing to the lives damaged by our current culture. We also remember the modern slave trade and ask God to bless all efforts pleasing in his sight to end this sinful practice.

In our Sunday morning Bible study we begin our second read through of the Gospel of Luke. Those present last week gave a new title for the book, one which reflects the overall theme of the book. This week we will begin our second read through the book, keeping our major theme in mind, and titling smaller sections (but still more than one chapter). Everyone is welcome to join us as we begin this second read through and provide your own section titles. In discussing the titles of our choice and why we like them, we are discussing the themes of Luke. Bible study (reading) begins at 9:00 am.  

Preview of Lessons

1 Kings 19:9b-21

Elijah was a great “non-writing” prophet in the Old Testament. By “non-writing” I do not mean illiterate, but that he authored no book in the Bible. His story is found in 1 Kings and Sunday’s reading is part of his story. Leading up to this account is Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal, in which God proved himself to be real and Baal proved to be nothing. Queen Jezebel, who worshiped the idol Baal, determined to kill Elijah and sent him word to that effect. In fear, Elijah ran for his life, and went into hiding. Coming to Mt Horeb (another name for Mt Sinai), Elijah takes up residence in a cave. While there, the Lord spoke to Elijah and sends him on his next mission, anointing the next generation of leaders. Things you might notice in this reading including that Elijah was afraid and complaining. Even the great “saints” are sinners and struggle. Note that Elijah’s fear came right after a great victory. Next, the appearance of the Word of the Lord to Elijah came is an unexpected and apparently insignificant way. So, today, many look for the Lord in mighty works, but he still comes to us in his Word. We want fire from the sky, earthquakes, and the like. He chooses Word and Sacraments to make himself known. One last observation. The ministry is the Lord’s, not Elijah’s. The ministry goes on, even after we are gone. Elijah is instructed to pass the torch. We too should pass the torch to subsequent generations.

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

We continue with our trip through Galatians. Paul speaks of Christian Freedom. This will be the focus of Sunday’s sermon.

Luke 9:51-62

These two paragraphs stand in tension. In verses 51-56 a Samaritan village refuses to receive Jesus because he is headed to Jerusalem. While James and John want to call fire down on them, Jesus “rebukes” them, and they move on. Here Jesus deals kindly with those who reject him. In verses 57-62, various people are either called by Jesus to follow him, or they offer to follow him. In each case, the Lord ups the ante. The unifying theme seems to be Jesus dealing with people where they are, and calling them to a deeper realization of who he is and what it means to follow him.

Christ’s Messengers Proclaim His Kingdom

(Summary from LC-MS)

When the prophet Elijah became discouraged and despaired of his life, “the word of the LORD came to him” (1 Kings 19:9b) and stood him “on the mount before the LORD” (1 Kings 19:11). The Lord made Himself known to the prophet — not in the impressive power of gale force winds, nor in an earthquake, nor in the fire, but in “the sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12). Today God reveals Himself to us through the frail preaching of the Gospel. The Son of Man sends “messengers ahead of Him ... to make preparations for Him” (Luke 9:52). Putting their hand to that plow of preaching, they “go and proclaim the kingdom of God,” and they do not look back (Luke 9:60, 62). What they preach is not the power of the Law with its “yoke of slavery,” but the power of God unto salvation through the Gospel of forgiveness, by which “Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5:1).

Tidbits

• Our third summer Vespers service in our series “Breaking the Rules” will be this coming Wednesday, July 3, at 7:00 pm. The message is titled, “Our Muddled Minds.”

• Remember, we are all on “Walkabout” all summer long. So, keep walking in your neighborhood, and beyond. When you see someone, say hello. If you don’t know them, introduce yourself. It is that simple.

• Pastor and Kitty will be going to California for a week, leaving July 4. The main point of the visit is to see Pastor’s mother, who turns 93 this year.

• The July Newsletter should be available in print Sunday. I still have some articles to write. I’m a bit behind schedule because I was down in Charleston helping Good Shepherd with the preliminary steps of a pastoral vacancy as they prepare for the departure of Pastor Sandeno. I’m guessing the newsletter will not be posted on the blog until sometime Saturday.

Well, I pray we will see you Sunday.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert

Worship for Pentecost 4 - 2013

Friday after Pentecost 4

June 21, 2013

First Day of Summer

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Not that it has any liturgical value, but it will also be the first Sunday of summer, which officially begins today. It is our practice to offer the Lord’s Supper each second and fourth Sunday of each month, which means we will offer the Sacrament this coming Sunday. We will be using Divine Service 1 (beginning on page 151) for our liturgy. The assigned lessons are Isaiah 65:1-9, Galatians 3:23-4:7, and Luke 8:26-39. The sermon is titled “Coming of Age,” and the text is Galatians 3:24.

Our opening hymn will be “Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty” (LSB 901). Our sermon hymn will be “In Christ There Is No East or West” (LSB 653). Our closing hymn will be “Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing” (LSB 924). Our distribution hymns will be “Water, Blood, And Spirit Crying” (LSB 597), “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing” (LSB 633), and “Away from Us!” the Demon Cried (LSB 541). This final distribution hymn reflects our Gospel lesson for the day. Below is a video of our closing hymn.

In our prayers, we will remember the , Lutheran Synod of Mexico and their President, Rev. Isaac Garcia. We will remember the persecuted believers in Mindanao, Philippines. We will remember George and Shary Frahm, our missionaries in Cambodia. They specifically ask for prayers as they learn the Khmer language; that members of the Church would consider how they might be involved in God’s mission in Cambodia; for the Angels Dormitory—that it would be a successful ministry; that they would have courage and creativity and that the dormitory would serve as a model for similar ministries in the future; that their family, children, grandchildren and friends would accept and celebrate the sacrifices they’ve made to serve in Cambodia. We will continue to remember the churches in our denomination. This week we lift up before our Lord St. Matthew & St. Paul’s, Meharrin, VA; New Hope, Midlothian, VA; Resurrection, Newport News, VA; and Good Shepherd, Charleston (which will soon begin the call process). We will continue to remember all those who have been misled by our cultures advocacy of sexual immorality and abortion. We ask, not only that the Lord turn our country around, but also that he bring healing to the lives damaged by our current culture. We also remember the modern slave trade and ask God to bless all efforts pleasing in his sight to end this sinful practice.

In our Sunday morning Bible study we have begun studying the Gospel of Luke using the “book” method. This approach asks us to read through the book, without comment, until the end. Comments are then focused of the overall message, with an effort to sum up the entire book with a title. As it turns out, we can read about nine chapters out loud during the Bible study hour. That means we are still on our first read through. This Sunday we will begin with chapter 19 and should finish and we will all have a chance to title the book, seeking to encapsulate the big, unifying, idea in the book. A secondary objective will be to divide the book into major sections for us to read and title. Everyone is encourages to read again chapters 1 through 18 before Sunday so we can pick right up without a lot of time spent on review. Bible study (reading) begins at 9:00 am.  

Preview of Lessons

Isaiah 65:1-9

As I have said many times in these posts, much of what we read in the Prophets from the Old Testament is poetry, or, if you prefer, lyrics. There is good reason to think these words from God were sung, just like the Psalms. This means that we use the “rules” of poetry in understanding God’s Words. The thought driving this song is the patience of God in reaching out to a rebellious people, a people who have turned their back on him despite all his blessing. This patience will not last forever. God will finally judge. However, that judgment will be tempered with mercy. The “servant” in verse eight I take to be Jesus, so should be capitalized. It is because of his incarnation, birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, that we receive mercy instead of justice from God. God’s justice was poured out on Jesus that we might receive his mercy. The “offspring from Jacob” and those from “Judah” who are “possessors of my mountains” are the same group of people, using the Hebrew poetry style called parallelism. This group includes all actual physical descendants of Abraham who have come to faith in Abraham’s Messiah, Jesus. It also includes all who are not physical descendants of Abraham who come to faith in his Messiah. In other words, the Church. The blessing in the cluster of grapes is the promised Messiah. He came from the line of Judah, and he is still proclaimed through Word and Sacrament in the Church today.

Galatians 3:23-4:7

The sermon will be based on this lesson. We will explore the larger concepts of a guardian and coming of age in the Roman world, which is the background to this passage and enables us to understand Paul’s metaphor. So I will not address those thoughts here. Some points that might not make the sermon includes verse 27. Notice that baptism is not simply a symbol but conveys an actual connection to Jesus. This connection to Jesus, established through baptism, makes us Abraham’s offspring and heirs of Abraham’s promise. This ties us in with the remnant referred to in the closing verses of our Old Testament reading. Some twist verse 28 to support ordaining women, while ignoring the clear passages that would argue otherwise (1 Timothy 3:2, 12; etc.). Verse 28 has nothing to do with ordination. It has everything to do with salvation being available to all. Notice also 4:7. Earlier Paul makes it clear that we are made sons through baptism. Now he says that, because we are sons, we have the Holy Spirit. Those who look for the Holy Spirit apart from the Means of Grace (Word and Sacrament) are looking where God has not promised to meet us. He has promised to meet us in His Word and Sacraments.

Luke 8:26-39

This lesson is the story about how Jesus and his disciples met a man possessed by many demons in the region of the Gerasenes. Jesus drives the demons out. They enter some pigs (unclean animals from a Jewish dietary point of view) who immediately commit suicide. The people from the town ask Jesus to leave, and Jesus does. The healed man asked if he could go with Jesus, and Jesus gives him a commission to spread the word about him instead. He takes the job gladly. One thing this text points out is the blindness of fallen man (Isaiah 6:9-10). The people from the town saw the gracious Lord and rejected him. So today many still close their eyes to the goodness of God.

Jesus Brings Release from the Bonds of Sin, Death and the Devil

(Summary from LC-MS)

The Lord finds those who did not seek Him or ask for Him. He spreads out His hands “to a rebellious people” (Is. 65:2) and calls them to be His people and to dwell in peace upon His holy mountain (Is. 65:9). For wherever Jesus Christ enters in, Satan is cast out. Those who were enslaved and driven mad by the assaults and accusations of the devil, are set free by the Word of Christ. He drowns and destroys the old Adam in us with the waters of Holy Baptism and thereby brings us out of death into life. No longer naked in our shame, living “among the tombs” (Luke 8:27), we are brought into the Lord’s house, fully clothed by Christ; for He has come, in “the fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4) to fulfill the Law on our behalf and to redeem us from its every accusation. Therefore, having been justified by His grace through faith in His Gospel, “you are no longer a slave, but a son” (Gal. 4:7).

Tidbits

• Our second summer Vespers service was this past Wednesday. We had five in attendance. We heard about Moralism, trusting rules to connect us with God instead of Christ. It is part of our series “Breaking the Rules.” Our next service will be Wednesday, July 3, at 7:00 pm.

• Remember, we are all on “Walkabout.” So, get out into your neighborhoods and start walking about. When you see someone, say hello. If you don’t know them, introduce yourself. It is that simple.

• LitWits will meet Sunday at Connie’s, at 6:30. I think we will be discussing The Great Divide by Alvin Schmidt.  I think that because it was scheduled for our previous meeting, which we skipped for various reasons. Originally scheduled was The Greatest Stories Never Told.  I’ve read the first book but not the second. I guess the group will decide.

• Information for the July Newsletter is due Sunday.

Well, I pray we will see you Sunday.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert

"Stronger than Iron Bands"

"Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

 1 Corinthians 1:22-25

Over the years many of our Daily Devotion readers have shown they are knowledgeable historians.

Still, not many know much about Lady Anne Grimston. If the name is new to you, allow me to share her story. Lady Anne did not believe in Jesus or in the resurrection. To make her skepticism known in death as well as life, she made sure her grave would remain untouched, unopened and unmarred by anything as foolish as the resurrection from the dead.

When she was dying, Lady Anne could confidently boast to a friend, "The chances of me living again are as possible as that of a tree to grow from my body."

Shortly after saying those words Lady Anne died and was buried in a marble tomb. That tomb was covered by a large marble slab and the whole thing was held together by encircling iron bands. Strangely, and years later, the covering slab was found to have been moved ... just a little bit. Then it moved a bit more. It moved as far as the iron would allow it to move.

Then, when it could move no more, the slab cracked and through the crack a small tree grew. The tree continued to grow, tilting the stone, and breaking the marble masonry. Today the tree has encircled the entire tomb with its roots.

Indeed, the tree at Lady Anne Grimston's grave is one of the largest in all of England.

Now I'm not claiming this tree is some sort of modern miracle. It is quite possible it is only coincidence that has caused the tree to grow in this particular place. On the other hand, it is also possible that God took Lady Anne's challenge more seriously than she did. Either explanation is possible.

But it is certainty, not possibility, which states the day will come when Jesus will bring forth the body of this doubter. In damnation she will be joined by others who showed their disregard for the Redeemer and His blood-bought salvation.

Oh, there is one other certainty. It is also certain that when Jesus hung upon the cross, He was carrying the sins of Lady Anne and the rest of humanity. This He did because the Lord wants all people to be brought to faith and be saved.

All of this may help explain why this Daily Devotion exists, and why Lutheran Hour Ministries preaches a changeless Christ to a changing world, and why your church offers Word and Sacrament ministries.

All these things exist so, if we have anything to say about it, there won't be many Lady Anne Grimstons on Judgment Day.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, it is hard for many people to believe they are sinners or Jesus is their Savior from those sins. Give us the words and the will to proclaim the Christ while there is still time. This I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.

 (June 15, 2013 (Ken Klaus, Lutheran Hour Ministries Devotion)


Below is a youtube link so you can see how the tree has grown from the grave itself and how huge the tree really is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5q8EU0drRY

Worship for Pentecost 4 - 2013

Thursday after Pentecost 3

June 13, 2013

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost. It is also the third Sunday in June. It is our current custom to use one of the services based on, or inspired by, the ancient “Canonical Hours” (aka “Prayer Offices). Communion is not traditionally offered in these services, and we maintain that tradition. This Sunday we will be using Matins, which begins on page 219 of the hymnal. Such services use the appointed Psalm of the Day (as opposed to the Introit). This Sunday that is Psalm 32:1-7. The antiphon is verse 5. The assigned lessons are 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-14; Galatians 2:15-21; 3:10-14; and Luke 7:36-8:3. The sermon is titled: “Are You Cursed or Blessed?” The text for the message is Galatians 3:13-14.

Our opening hymn and sermon hymn for Sunday were both written by Matthew Loy sometime before 1880. They are companion hymns, the first one focusing on the Law and the second on the Gospel. They are “The Law of God Is Good and Wise” (LSB 579), and “The Gospel Shows the Father’s Grace” (LSB 580). Our closing hymn is “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer” (LSB 918). For those whose memory reaches back to The Lutheran Hymnal, you will recognize this hymn as “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” with some modifications in the words. The only reason I can think of for changing the word “Jehovah” to “Redeemer” is that the word “Jehovah” does not appear anywhere in the original biblical manuscripts, but was a faulty translation of the name of God that made it into the King James translation of the Bible in one place. Why go with a faulty translation when you can use a name actually used in the Bible? The hymn is bases on the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. The parallel thought of Jesus as the greater Deliverer underscores the words. The video below is from the most recent royal wedding over in England, where they sang our closing hymn, “Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer.”

In our prayers, we will remember the Lutheran Church of Guatemala and their President, Rev. Ignacio Juan Chan cux. We will remember the persecuted believers in the Maldives. We will remember our missionary in Hong Kong, Megan Birney. We will continue to remember the churches in our denomination. This week we lift up before our Lord Peace, King George, VA; Our Savior, Lynchburg, VA; Hope, Manassas, VA; St. Paul, Mechanicsville, VA; and Mt. Olive, Irmo, SC. We will have a special prayer for Rev. Tim Sandeno, who recently accepted a call to a new congregation and Good Shepherd in Charleston, which will soon begin the call process. We will continue to remember all those who have been misled by our cultures advocacy of sexual immorality and abortion. We ask, not only that the Lord turn our country around, but also that he bring healing to the lives damaged by our current culture. We also remember the modern slave trade and ask God to bless all efforts pleasing in his sight to end this sinful practice. Finally, as this coming Sunday is Father’s Day, we will remember all fathers in our prayers.

In our Sunday morning Bible study we have begun studying the Gospel of Luke using the “book” method. This approach asks us to read through the book, without comment, until the end. Comments are then focused of the overall message, with an effort to sum up the entire book with a title (which can be kind of long). So we began reading Luke last week, but only got through chapter eight. So, for this Sunday, everyone is asked to reread chapters one through eight before Sunday. In class Sunday, we will pick up with chapter nine and continue our read straight through Luke. Our goal is to get the big picture. We will then read through the book a second time, only stopping at natural divisions of contents, giving those natural divisions titles like we gave the entire book. Again the titles will reflect the big picture of the section. We will then move to chapters and follow that by paragraphs. Bible study (reading) begins at 9:00 am.  

Preview of Lessons

2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-14

This reading is about one of the low points in the life of King David. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband murdered, the trusted (and trusting) Uriah. After the appointed time of mourning for her husband, Bathsheba married David. This indicates that David had ample time to repent, but didn’t. The Prophet Nathan was given the unenviable task of confronting the king. Through a story, Nathan brings David’s sin forward in a way he could not deny. Nathan lowers the boom. David repents and receives absolution. Several things jump out as I read this portion of Scripture. One, our sin can, and does, have consequences beyond ourselves. The child of David and Bathsheba dies. This child committed no sin. When we sin, we may very well hurt those we care for very deeply. On the other hand, we may hurt people we don’t even know. At any rate, sin hurts others. Second, sometimes the Pastor has to step in with the “Law.” It is not pleasant for any involved, but if Nathan had not acted, David would have remained a smug and secure sinner, going through the motions of faith only. Next, I again noticed that David’s sin was to despise the word of the Lord. You might think Nathan would say his sin was adultery and murder, which (of course) it was. But the identification of such actions as sin is found in the Bible. When one breaks the law of God revealed in the Scriptures, one is despising the Scriptures. So our film industry, that promotes adultery, every time someone apes the morality of the “media,” every time someone supports the murder of unborn children, they are despising the Scriptures. This would be true of any sin. The ways of a man’s heart are counter to God’s will, as we learned in our first Vespers service. Something not in this text, but often brought up by those who despise the Bible, is that David is called a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Psalm 89:250; Acts 7:46; 13:22). Yet the Bible portrays him as a flawed believer. The assumption of the critics is that “a man after God’s heart” means a man who is either sinless, or at least close to sinless. They also define “sinless” in their own terms, so activities God sends David on are considered deeply morally flawed. That God’s morality and fallen, sinful, unbelieving human “morality” are at variance need not bother us here. However, David clearly breaks God’s Law here. Does “a man after God’s heart” mean a “non-sinner?” It does not! No more that “a man after God’s heart” means one that conforms to the “morality” of fallen, sinful, unbelieving men. What it does mean is what we see displayed by David in 12:13. David truly repented and received absolution. If you desire to be “a man after God’s heart,” then repentance and absolution is the way to go.

Galatians 2:15-21; 3:10-14

We continue to read through Galatians and Paul continues to underscore how important the distinction between “Law” and “Gospel” (to use Lutheran nomenclature) is. While the meaning of the reading is well rendered in the English Standard Version, the actual words of St. Paul are not rendered in a one to one way. For example, “a person” in verse 16 is anthropos (“man” in a generic way), while “no one” in the same verse is pasa sarks, which means “all flesh”. “Flesh” takes on a theological or ethical sense, and is equated to humanity. Paul argues that the works of the Law do not save, not for Gentiles and not for Jews. We are saved just like David was and the sinful woman in our Gospel lesson. We repent and believe in Jesus. As this reading is the foundation for the sermon, I’ll say no more.

Luke 7:36-8:3

This lesson ties into the Old Testament lesson in that both feature people who have many sins, both sinners repent, both sinners receive forgiveness. Also, the point is made in a story in both readings. In this lesson, it is a woman. This woman shows up at a dinner a Pharisee name Simon was giving for Jesus, who would be the honored guest. Homes were built back then in such a fashion that such meals would be in a covered, outside porch area. Low walls separated “inside” from outside. There might have been some lattice work also separating “outside” and “inside.” This allowed people who were not invited to observe and hear everything that was going on. In a culture with no television, no movies, no “gaming” systems, etc., watching a visiting “celebrity” and hearing what he had to say in such a social setting, was common. The points that Jesus makes to Simon, that his feet were not washed, he received no kiss, Jesus was not anointed when he arrived, were all common courtesy for visitors to one’s home.  In other words, Simon snubbed Jesus even while inviting him to dinner. The thoughts of Simon, which Jesus knows, reveal his heart. The actions of the woman reveal her heart, just as surely as the actions of Simon reveal his heart. Notice that Jesus is especially carefully to not give the impression that the woman’s actions merited her forgiveness. He tells her, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” The reading ends with Jesus going to the various villages, bringing this message of forgiveness. It is worth noting the enumeration of women at the end of the text. Indeed, the whole lesson can be viewed as a “woman’s reading.” Not only does Jesus not shrink from the service of the sinful woman (something any “good” rabbi would have done for her touch would have rendered the rabbi “unclean”) but he actually commends her and lifts her up as a positive example of faith for Simon, and us. Chuza, the husband of one of the ladies Luke refers to, has been identified in the archeological record, giving non-biblical support to the Gospels. In general, the Gospels, the book of Acts, and Paul’s epistles, reveal women serving in vital roles in the Apostolic Church. While this certainly doesn’t undercut the important roles men filled, it does underscore that the early Church seemed to have valued the service of both men and women without confusing the two genders.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

(Summary from LC-MS)

It is not by works of the Law that we are justified, for “the righteous shall live by faith” in Christ (Gal. 3:11). He “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13) through His death on the tree of the cross. Though we have “despised the word of the LORD” (2 Sam 12:9), He has pity on us and calls us to repentance. He lays hold of us in mercy and grants us peace. He takes our sin upon Himself, so that we shall not die but live (2 Sam 12:13). And so we worship Him — like that woman who anointed His feet, washing them with her tears and drying them with her hair. We love Him much because our “sins, which are many, are forgiven” (Luke 7:47).

Tidbits

• Our second summer Vespers service will be this coming Wednesday (June 19), and begins at 7:00 pm. The sermon series is titled “Breaking the Rules”. The focus is on seven “Christian” rules which are really not Christian at all, but infiltrate our thinking. Therefore it can be quite challenging, as we will examine beliefs we might hold dear, but are contrary to the Word of God. The sermon is titled “Building Your Bridge to Heaven.”

• Just a reminder, we are all on “Walkabout.” So, get out into your neighborhoods and start walking about. When you see someone, say hello. If you don’t know them, introduce yourself. It is that simple.

• Church Council will meet Sunday, following the worship service.

• As mentioned above, Sunday is Father’s Day.

Well, I pray we will see you Sunday.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert