September 2, 2007

Vol. 1, no. 11

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From Your Pastor

Beloved in the Lord: Grace and Peace to you in the name of the One True God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

Amen.

The days are getting shorter, there is a chill in the air, you can feel fall coming. It has always been my favorite time of year. That crisp smell, burning leaves, cooler weather—it is comfortable for me. In addition to all of that, as a young child I always got excited at the beginning of September because that was the month I was born. Birthdays were always fun for me. But, honestly, what is fall? For creation it is a winding down. Things begin to prepare for the winter. Trees shed energy burning leaves to conserve their resources for the winter. Animals prepare by storing food or hibernating. And what do we do? We get busier! School starts with all that entails, vacations are over, we get ready for the business of the holidays.

It is a real paradox, isn’t it? Just when everything else starts to wind down, we wind up. As you are winding up this fall, don’t neglect the holy things of God. Take time to come to our additional worship services on Wednesday evenings and Thursday mornings. Make a point to include prayer and devotional time in your family life. We must never neglect the good gifts of God.

The Lord be with you,

Pastor Jim

Worship Practices

FAQs

(Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: Does it really matter how we worship? Isn’t the most important thing that individuals just feel close to God?

A: How we worship, really how we do anything in our lives in Christ, really do matter. Our worship, as well as our work, our play our rest, etc. all give a confession not only to the world, but to other Christians. Lutherans should look at worship as just as important a confession of our faith as the Creeds. In our worship we tell each other and the world what we value, what our relationship to God is and how we live in that relationship. While it is certainly nice to feel close to God in worship, it is not necessary and it is certainly not the most important thing. The most important thing in our worship is that we receive, no matter how we feel, God’s service in His Word and Sacrament.

Upcoming Worship Opportunities

As we get closer and closer to the start of a new school year, we also look for new ways we can fix our eyes on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. The gifts of the Church are the worship, prayers and praise of God’s saints and His loving service to us through His Word and Sacraments. Beginning on September 5 we will have a regular Wednesday evening Service of Prayer and Preaching at 7 pm. These services will be geared toward the teachings of the Small Catechism and themes throughout Scripture. The first six weeks will look at the use of water in Scripture as well as the Doctrine of Holy Baptism. Make it a priority to join us for this time gathered around the Word.

Also, I will be praying the Litany (LSB 288-289) Monday-Thursday at noon in the sanctuary. If you are ever around please join me for this beautiful prayer of the Church. It takes about 10 minutes and is a beautiful break in the middle of the day!

One more opportunity for worship will be offered beginning on September 5. On Thursday mornings, at 7:15 am Matins will be offered. It is hoped that this could be a good opportunity to reach out to families taking their children to the elementary school behind us.

Five Minutes with Herr Luther

Bible Passage:2 Peter 1:10

Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; The election and eternal foreknowledge of God is, of course, in itself certain enough, so that man does not need to make that certain. The calling of God is also effectual and certain. For whoever hears the Gospel, and believes in it, and is baptized, he is called and saved. Since we are also called to such faith and salvation, we should be all the more diligent (says Peter), that our calling and God’s choosing of us may be certain to us also, and not only to God. This is such a mode of scriptural expression as St. Paul uses, Eph. 2 “Strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” For although there is no man, neither bad nor good, over whom God does not reign, since all creatures are His, yet Paul says such a man has no God, who does not know, love, and trust Him, even though he has his being in God Himself. So here also, although the calling and election are effectual enough in and of themselves, yet within you it is not yet effectual and certain, since you are not yet certain that it includes you. Therefore St. Peter would have us demonstrate that God’s calling and choice of us is certain by doing these good works. For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. That is, you are to stand firm, not stumble nor sin, but go onward, thoroughly upright and active, and all shall go well with you. But if you would build your confidence in your election by your thinking, alone, the devil will soon throw you into despair and hatred of God.

May we Thy precepts, Lord, fulfill,

And do on earth our Father’s will,

As angels do above;

Still walk in Christ, the living Way,

With all Thy children, and obey

The law of Christian love.

Hymn History

Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, written by George Duffield in 1858, is based on the dying words of a personal friend and fellow clergyman, Dudley Atkins Tyng, minister of Epiphany Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. Tyng had preached to a crowd of 5,000 members of the Philadelphia Young Men’s Christian Association one Sunday morning in 1859; the following Wednesday, taking a study break, he visited the barn where a mule was operating a threshing machine. As he patted the mule’s neck, Tyng’s sleeve was caught in the machinery, wrenching his arm from the socket. His death occurred a short time later. Duffield used his hymn, incorporating some specific references to Tyng and his accidental death, the following Sunday, after preaching from Ephesians 6:14. The text was printed on a flyleaf for the Sunday school; from there it “found its way into a Baptist newspaper” and then was included in the Church Psalmist (1859).

Next Week’s Readings

Deuteronomy 30:15–20

Psalm 1

Philemon 1–21

Luke 14:25–35

Next Week’s Hymns

Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds LSB 867

The Man Is Ever Blessed LSB 705

Water, Blood, and Spirit Crying LSB 597

When Peace, like a River LSB 763

Lord of All Hopefulness LSB 738

The Lord be with you!

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 908 W. Main Middleville, MI 49333 +269-795-2391+ goodshepherdlcms@gmail.com