Can I just say, I am not a big fan. Never really was. In my teaching career, that first week or so was rough. I usually taught a first hour class and the students usually were pretty groggy. So was their teacher. Just not a big fan of moving the clock forward. Wondering when we stop saying, “It’s really this time of the day.” Right now, as I write a portion of this letter, I am thinking, it’s really 6:50 a.m. but no, it’s really 7:50 a.m. I just hope I get to church on time.
For some reason, we had a great turn out for Ash Wednesday. The weather didn’t really cooperate which usually would cut our numbers, but not this time. I want to thank all of you who came out and joined our worship services in some really poor weather. Thank you.
Don’t forget that we will have services on Wednesday during Lent. They will be different from what has happened the last two years. We will meet in the church sanctuary at 6:30 p.m.
Yesterday was our first day spending the quarter war money. A group of people went to the laundromat in LaSalle on St. Vincent’s street. Probably the highlight was meeting a family of 4 children and mom. Dad was deployed in Jordan so it was all mom. Someone in our congregation bought three of the young children bouncy balls and the fun began. They were bouncing all over. However, it did let mom concentrate on laundry. There was a great deal of laughter. If you need laughter in your life, come join us at the laundromat on Peoria St. in Peru next Saturday.
Let’s talk about the two practices of following Jesus that I talked about this weekend in my sermon. I’m not sure If you believe in the devil or not, but I hope we can all agree that evil is all around us. If we are going to overcome evil, we need to be like Jesus and do what he did. In last weekend’s message, we see Jesus quoting Scripture. On Sunday I think I called you lazy. Well, that laziness also points to your pastor. At one time, I probably had close to 100 verses/passages memorized. I would work on a stack every day, changing stacks each day. I do not know the reason why I stopped doing this, but I did. How does the saying go, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Well, your pastor has lost it. For some reason I just gave up.
Well, I am back at it, progressing slowly. I am trying to memorize one verse/passage each week. It certainly doesn’t come easier as you get older. It is hard work, but hopefully you see the importance of knowing scripture from last weekend’s passage in Luke 4. Jesus quoted scripture during every test. However, so did the devil. The good thing about knowing scripture is it is another tool in our toolbelt that we can use to fight evil.
I also talked about fasting.
Truth: Only by filling up with God’s love, do I have love to share. (Living Lutheran, March 2023)
Pastor Tom
815-223-1144
Lenten Wednesday Service
Readings for 2 Weekend of Lent – March 15 & 16
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35
Reading the Bible in a Year- Monday, March 10 to Sunday March 16
Day 2 Kings Psalms Proverbs Acts
Monday Ch 16-Ch 17 81:8-16 Ch 26:24-Ch 27:12
Tuesday Ch 18-Ch 19:13 82:1-8 Ch 27:13-44
Wednesday Ch 19:14-Ch 20 83:1-18 Ch 28:1-16
Thursday Ch 21 – Ch 22 16:28- 17:4 Ch 28:17-31
Romans
Friday Ch 23 – Ch 24:7 84:1-7 Ch 1:1-17
Saturday Ch 24:8-Ch 25 84:8-12 Ch 1:18-32
Jonah
Sunday Ch 1-Ch4 85:1-7 Ch 2:1-16
2nd Kings – We are introduced to 2 Kings that pleased God. The first one is Hezekiah. He turned the kingdom of Judah around, destroying most of the places of other gods. God favored him by turning back the siege of Assyria against Jerusalem. When he became ill, God granted him 15 more years of life. During that time, Hezekiah showed all the treasures of Jerusalem to the Babylonian envoys. This was bad. Isaiah the prophet was livid and made and prophesized against the King’s future children. Here is the bad thing, Hezekiah didn’t care because it would not affect him. Not good.
Then we meet Josiah who “was right in the sight of the Lord.” Here is the interesting thing about these two. Hezekiah, who followed the Lord, but his children did not. Josiah’s ancestors did not follow the Lord but he did. Sort of crazy. Most of the time, if you teach your children the ways of God, they will usually follow God. We see in Scripture that this is not usually the case. How are your children doing? Do they have more or less or the same faith as you?
Jonah – very short reading. Probably a story that we have heard many, many times. I actually did a sermon on this. Jonah did not want to go. When he finally did, he really didn’t put a great effort into it. A city that would take 3 days to walk through, Jonah just spent 1. The cool thing is that it worked. God’s work will not be thwarted.
Psalms
Proverb