Okay, I am sold. I will take 80-degree days versus 40-degree days anytime. Boy, did I pick the right day off or what. I know, I am not going to be fooled. I have lived in the Midwest for all my life. Do I dare say we still might get snow? Besides the calendar saying so, I am officially calling off winter. The disclaimer is I have no special power to do so but one can hope.
Looking forward to Monday evening. I am performing a marriage in the evening at St. Johns. I haven’t performed many of those so I am excited to do them. The fun part is they are older than I am. We did some marriage counselling prior to this day, and their responses were much different than younger couples. They love each other a great deal. They love to do things together. The only problem they might have is being able to get off the floor as quickly as they used to, but I think many can relate to this.
Next, I am wondering what is happening after the first Lenten service? We had twenty people there and last week we had eight. I wish I could say that is surprising, but ever since I have been here, this is the pattern. I am not interested if this happened before I took over as your Pastor. It has been happening since I have been here. So, the common denominator has been your Pastor. I can have this wrong but maybe you come and check it out and say it is not for me. I have tried all different types of services. We have done the Holden Evening prayer service, shared a meal while studying a particular person in the Bible, and now, going over God’s abundances. I know it is not about numbers. I love the people who came last Wednesday. I felt we had a good discussion. However, I feel like we should have many more people enjoying the discussion.
I wonder what to do? It will be something we will talk about in this month’s Music & Worship committee. If you have any comments or suggestions, bring them to the members of the committee. Are you sending me and the church a message? I am not good at figuring these things out on my own. I would love to have some input here. These services can be so different than the normal Saturday and Sunday services. Those are pretty much set. Wednesday Lenten services are not. What are you looking for?
One thing I am looking forward to is the Spring Fling Breakfast on Sunday, April 6 from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. You all really outdid yourself regarding the chalkboard. It didn’t make it for two weekends. By the second Saturday service, I believe that the board was clean. I know CSLE is very thankful. Tickets are still on sale. They are $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for children. All the money goes to the youth of our church.
All the Lutheran churches around us have the same problem. We just don’t have a large number of youth, especially the older children. Having ties now with Dave Kromphardt at County Line and Jeff and Lori Whalen at churches in Ohio and Manlius, there are plans to possibly pool our resources and children and sponsor activities throughout the year. More on this later.
How is your Lent going? Do you find it different than any other times in the year?
Truth: Only by filling up with God’s love, do I have love to share. (Living Lutheran, March 2023)
Pastor Tom
815-223-1144
Readings for 5 Weekend of Lent – April 5 & 6
Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4b-14 John 12:1-8
Reading the Bible in a Year- Monday, March 31 to Sunday April 6
Day 1st Chronicles Psalms Proverbs Romans
Monday Ch 6 89:30-37 Ch 11:33-Ch 12:21
Tuesday Ch 7-Ch 8 89:38-45 Ch 13:1-14
Wednesday Ch 9-Ch 10:14 18:17-19:2 Ch 14:1-18
Thursday Ch 11-Ch 12:22 89:46-52 Ch 14:19-Ch 15:13
Friday Ch 12:23-Ch 14 90:1-10 Ch 15:14-33
Saturday Ch 15 -Ch 16:36 90:11-17 Ch 16
1st Corinthians
Sunday Ch 16:37-Ch 18 19:3-12 Ch 1:1-17
1st Chronicles-a few more lists that you can skim. Then it turns to the exploration of the kingship of David. It should sound familiar because we read about King David in 1st Kings. Probably two very good reasons to read it. One, hopefully it does sound familiar and two, if it doesn’t it will be good to read it again.
Psalms-not sure why they would split up Psalm 89. I think there are 3 distinct parts to this psalm and it should be read together. Here, we get two of the three parts. Might want to read this whole psalm together again. You should notice that we are in book 4 in the psalms. There are 5 all together. Moses is thought to be the writer of this set of psalms.
Proverbs- 18:22b says, “It is better to be poor than a liar.” We always need to watch what comes out of our mouths. Blatant lies are bad in the sight of this author. But I have to imagine is it stretching the truth. I think some of the times we stretch the true is to make ourselves better than we are. Who are we fooling? Not God.
Romans- Paul finishes up talking about his brothers and sisters in the faith. He is greatly concerned that they are going to miss the Messiah who has already come. He makes some very strong arguments that Jesus is the One.
1st Corinthians – I am going to make the same argument that I made with Romans. Don’t be so quick to read this section. Probably this could be said about the rest of the New Testament writings. They are extremely rich. Read them slowly. May want to read them aloud.