“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”
John 13:35
Proclaim the Gospel
Grow in Love
Serve One Another
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
“Today is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” I am really having trouble doing this today (Sunday). Springing forward is not my favorite day. As a teacher, Monday morning was a rough one for everybody. As a Pastor, it seems everything is rushed. My routine is thrown off. It is dark again when we wake up. Not a fan.
But maybe, I tell myself it is good to have things shaken up in your life now and. then. I know I like to settle into things. Maybe it is good to have my routine messed up a little. All I know is that God is never shaken. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (NIV). Malachi 3:6 reads, “I the Lord do not change…” (NIV). Even though this week will feel off for some of us, we worship a God who is constant. Amen to that.
How cool was Sunday. We had a baptism. Scratch that. We had two baptisms, Zoey and Ava. Two more children of God, sealed with the Holy Spirit. To be honest it was a first for me. One, I have never baptized anyone who wasn’t a baby. Second, I have never baptized more than one person. There are so many reasons I love a baptism. One of them is, we are now ALL responsible for their Christian growth. Unless you were quiet when I turned and. ask the congregation will you help Zoey and Ava grow in their Christian faith, you now, each one of us, are responsible in their Christian journey. Please take your promise seriously. Ask yourself, how am I going to help. It might be just bathing them in prayer. They say that it takes a whole village to raise a child, well it takes a whole church to raise someone in the Christian faith.
Holy Week is quickly coming upon us. The schedule is below. Palm/Passion Sunday starts March 24th. The reason it is called Palm/Passion Sunday is because the National Church wants you to experience not only Palm Sunday, but also the Passion of Christ. I am not sure when it started but the main reason it was combined is people were not coming to the Good Friday service as much as they had in the past. The National Church wants everyone to hear the story of Christ dying on the cross. It is so huge for our Christian faith. It is one of those passages you need to hear every year. That is why the church has put them both together on this weekend.
It will be helpful to think of Maundy Thursday through Easter as one continuous service. There are so many moving parts for each one. For instance, Maundy Thursday, we have hand washing, the Living Last Supper, two students making their first communion, and finally, the stripping of the altar. And it keeps on going all the way to Easter.
Thank you to all those who brought something for the Blessing Box. If you were like me, I totally forgot. I have asked that we keep the table up for the week. So, if you did forget, you can drop items off anytime during the week. This ministry is 24/7, 365 days a year. Unfortunately, the need continues to grow.
Pancake breakfast is April 7th. The chalkboard has been rolled out for the first time this year. Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for children. That is quite a deal. One of the reasons we can keep it this way is the chalkboard. We ask you, if you can, to select items on the board, purchase them at the store, and then bring them to church. Not only is this a great fellowship activity, but the money collected goes to our Sunday school. Remember when they were baptized, we said yes to them also. It is a great way to help our children continue to grow in their Christian faith.
Ok, I really don’t know what I am talking about, but, the connectors for the lights on the arch in front of the church have come in. The electricians are going to come for a couple of days this week and put up the rest of the lighting. Then it will be another job we can cross off the list. Thank you to all those who helped. You all are awesome.
Holy Week Schedule:
- Maundy Thursday, March 28th at 6:30 p.m.
- Good Friday, March 29th at 6:30 p.m.
- Easter Vigil, March 30 at 5:30 p.m.
- Easter, March 31st, at 10:15 a.m.
One observation I made this weekend. After the worship service on Sunday, the Schencks had a nice little spread for everyone to enjoy in Fellowship Hall. It was really nice for them to do this. I came in late and I noticed one family sitting by themselves. They were leaving when I entered. This can’t happen. I know it is nice to catch up with friends, but part of this time is to make new friends. If this happened to Patty and I, we would not be coming back. We’ve been having a number of new people coming into church lately. We all need to work on making them feel welcome. Say hello. Introduce yourself to them. If you are sitting in Fellowship Hall ask them to come over, or better yet, go over and sit with them. I hope we will see this couple next week. It will give us another opportunity to make them feel welcome.
Don’t ever forget, that God calls you beloved.
Pastor Tom
630-334-1771
[email protected]
Readings for the March 16th & 17th – 5th Weekend of Lent
Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 51:1-12 Hebrews 5:5-10 John 12: 20-33
Worship News
Couple of thoughts:
1) AED Training – Thank you for those who took the time not only to watch the video, but also actually took the time to go over to the machine and look to see how it was works. The Church Council spent money on this and the more we can get trained on it, the better. It was great to see the people from Sylvan Learning there on Sunday. The Council may kick around the idea that anyone using our building should have training on the AED
2) The question is should this have been done during worship time? There was a lot of thought going into this decision. We wanted to get the most people trained on the AED as possible. In reality, if we had a training session on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. how many people would come? We wanted to get the most people trained on the machine. I actually was willing to give up my sermon time to get this done. Doing it the way we did was, I felt, was the best of both worlds.