Worship

Holy Week Events

An update for the events of Holy Week

On Thursday we will record the Maundy Thursday service at 9:30am and post it as soon as possible after that.

“Drive-up” communion is scheduled from 1-3 in the afternoon and 6-7:30 in the evening. We are scheduling those in 15min. slots so as to keep the amount of people at church to a minimum. Each time of distribution will involve driving up to the overhang by the front doors of the church (unless we give you other instructions). Pastor will have the elements set up and will follow a short order of service that he will have printed out for himself. We will make a copy available to you in an email if you wish to print off and use your own. If you wish to stand outside your vehicle you may. Once the elements are consecrated you will get them yourself from the table. The service will conclude shortly after that and things will be reset for the next group. This service is designed to allow you to receive the sacrament while maintaining social distancing. It would be counter-productive for individuals to go into the church for anything. In order to keep communion in the 15 min. timeframe we will need to keep things brief. It will feel unusual as none of us have ever done this in this way before. Times are what they are and the sacrament still is what it is, Christ’s body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Let us focus on and take comfort in what God offers us even if it comes in an unusual way.

The Good Friday Service will be recorded on Thursday and posted on Friday at 11am.

For Easter Sunday we have planned to make use of the 66 Drive-In Theatre’s venue. I have checked with them about meeting in light of the recent Missouri statewide order. I have been assured that we will be fine as long as we are sure to stay in our vehicles for the duration of the service. To that point, none of the facilities at the theater will be open or available. We are scheduled to have the theatre from 1 to 2pm on that Sunday. I understand that there is a group scheduled after us, so we will not be able to go over on time. The 66 Drive-in Theatre is not charging the church for the use of their facilities but they are asking for a free-will donation. There will be a place to put donations on your way out after the service.
All that being said, the forecast at the time of this writing is rain for Sunday. Saturday at noon I will make the call (via our weekly email list and Facebook) about whether or not we will be meeting at the drive-in. If we are not meeting I will record the service on Sunday morning at church and will post it as soon as possible afterword.

I hope that this covers most of the things that will be happening. If there is something that you have questions about do not hesitate to contact the church and ask. Thank you.

In Christ,
Pastor Mehl

Palm Sunday Service

Sunday, April 5, 2020 we will be prerecording the service and then uploading it to Facebook. We anticipate that the service will be available to watch sometime around 10:00 am.

Return to The Lord

Our theme this year for Lent will be ‘Return to the Lord’. This is a refrain that comes up throughout Scripture to describe repentance. Inherent in the theme is the fact that we were once God’s. We once lived lives according to His will. Sin, however, separates us from Him. Lent is a time to repent. Lent is a time to leave our sins and return to God our Father. Because of the new life Jesus gives us, our return is celebrated by the LORD.

This year we will be doing something a little different. Some of the other pastors in our circuit will travel to Good Shepherd to lead that day’s service while I travel to one of their churches to do the same. We will still have a morning and evening service and both will be led by the same pastor. For instance, on March 11th Pastor Griffin from Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lockwood will come here to preach both the 11:00 am and 7:00 pm services (and I will go to Lockwood to preach at their 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm services). This kind of a setup (often referred to as a “round robin”) gives pastors the opportunity to focus on fewer sermons and hearers the opportunity to experience a variety of faithful pastors. God’s blessing to you as we return to the Lord this Lent.

Ash WednesdayReturn to the Lord in ServanthoodPastor Mehl
March 4Return to the Lord in WitnessPastor Mehl
March 11Return to the Lord in ObediencePastor Griffin
(from Lockwood)
March 18Return to the Lord in PeacePastor Backs
(from Stockton)
March 25Return to the Lord in Godly FearPastor Mehl
April 1Return to the Lord in Carrying the CrossPastor Griffin
April 9 ( Holy Thursday)Return to the Lord in Christian UnityPastor Mehl
April 10 (Good Friday)Return to the Lord with Renewed FaithPastor Schnackenberg
April 12 (Easter Sunrise)Return to the Lord in Confident HopePastor Mehl

The Presentation

On February 2nd there will be a rather significant presentation. It will be something that many people have waited a long time for, generations even. And yet it is something that happens every year. I write, of course, about the presentation of our Lord which the church observes on February 2nd every year. It is the time when “[Mary and Joseph] brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.” (Luke 2:22) This is what God had commanded His people to do back in the Old Testament. The idea was that the first-born son of a family would be dedicated to the Lord. Now this did not mean that the kid would then be destined for church work necessarily. It meant that the child needed to be redeemed from the Lord by a sacrifice. Luke tells us that the sacrifice was two turtledoves or two pigeons.

This is interesting in Jesus’ case because He is God and the redemption aspect of His presentation in the temple gets murky. What can be said with confidence is that Jesus was following the rules. He was following the rules that God had set down for His people to follow years ago. As Jesus Himself says, He came not to abolish the Law and prophets but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)

This makes sense when we think about salvation through the lens of Jesus paying the price of our sins    on the cross. He paid with a perfect life, a life that followed all the rules. At first glance, it seems like the presentation of Jesus would be Him being presented to us. While there is an aspect of that in this presentation, the act of presenting a child to God (the Father) is really what the law was about.

You may not think much about Jesus’ presentation in the temple as a month-old baby. But now you are, and it is a good time to think about how Jesus has given His perfect life in exchange for your own. It is also a good time to think about your own presentation to the Lord. You may or may not be a first-born son but you are still the Lord’s. He has claimed you and made you His own through baptism and His word of salvation.

Jesus presented God with a perfect life. That debt has been paid and it a good thing because we couldn’t pay it ourselves. But what about now? Now that you have already been given salvation, what will you present to God? What gifts has God given you? What are you good at? What do you do that can be helpful for other people? How can you show God’s love?

It’s something to think about at all times; before, during, and after the presentation on February 2nd.

~ Pastor Mehl