Message from Pastor Michelle

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but may have eternal life.”

– John 3:16

 

When people are asked what they would do if they won the lottery, most people’s reply includes some sort of gift(s).
Sure, there are plenty of things we’d do for ourselves with the money, but it is rare to hear a response that doesn’t
include something like the following:

“I would buy my parents a new house.”
“I would save some to send my kids to college.”
“I would give to my church/favorite charity.”
“I would take my family/friends on a nice vacation.”

The point is we’re built to be generous. We’re created in God’s image, and God is exceedingly generous at every turn.
God is so generous that he gave us his only Son. Being generous and being connected to God go hand in hand.

The problem is sin and life often get in the way. Some people simply aren’t generous; they’re sinful about how they
view their money and resources. I think most of us fall into this category at one time or another – we just don’t want
to share with others.

But more frequently, more people fall into the “life gets in the way” group. We want to be generous, even exceedingly
generous. It seems like a good thing to do, and we would love to be able to give more to help others. Yet, medical bills and
sports fees and insurance costs and a crumbling economy all lead to very little left over at the end of the month. We aren’t
opposed to being generous; we’re just not at a place to be as generous as we’d like.

This is the starting point for our Lenten focus and study. In his excellent book Giving to God: The Bible’s Good News
about Living a Generous Life, Mark Allan Powell helps sort out the sticky issues around faith and money. Instead of
criticizing how we should be giving more back to God, Powell makes being more generous in God’s name seem like
the wonderful (and realistic) opportunity that it is.

Now there are certainly a number of exceedingly generous people among us, and this book is for you too! I have always
found it important to give, and I knew the theological reasons why I should… but I have never been as inspired to give
as I am after reading this book. After the walk through the Scriptures with Powell, it becomes apparent how generosity
is a part of the life God intended for us – and that is a great thing! Everyone, no matter where you are in your giving,
will benefit from this book.

So this Lent, join me in reading and studying Giving to God: The Bible’s Good News about Living a Generous Life.
This book will help us so much in our walk with Christ that I am asking every single member of BLC to take
part in reading it. We will then study it together on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. Whether you’re able to join us for the
study or not (and I really think it would benefit everyone if you did), please take time to read the book with us.

Then join us on our Lenten journey as we focus on “Giving Generously”. We will Praise God for his generosity to us.
We will confess the ways we’ve failed to be generous to others. We will work to become more Christ-like in our giving.
For six weeks, we’re going to focus on becoming more generous people through God’s work in us!

You are very welcome to order this book yourself, or if you’d like the church to order a copy for you, please sign up in
the narthex this Sunday. You may also to reply to this email, stating your name and how many copies you will need.
Through the church, the books will be $12 each.

Mark your calendars for Lent as well! Ash Wednesday is February 22nd, and service will be at 7:00 p.m. here at BLC.
This is one of the most powerful and painful services of the year, when we are reminded how completely we fall short
of God’s glory and how finite our lives would be without God. It is also the exact point we need to start at if we’re going
to ask God to bring us closer to him.

Our joint mid-week worship with Zion is scheduled as follows:

2/29/12 – Zion Lutheran
3/7/12 – BLC
3/14/12 – Zion Lutheran
3/21/12 – BLC

Dinner is at 6:15 p.m. and worship is at 7:00 p.m. When we’re at Zion, we’re asked to bring place settings and a side,
the main course and drinks are provided. When we’re here, it is completely a potluck meal. These midweek service
are good not only for our individual spiritual health, they are also good for the health of Christ’s Body. Please join
us each Wednesday during Lent.

Then we’ll have Bible study and worship every Sunday. As with Advent, the youth will meet at the 9:00 a.m. time for
Sunday school too. If you’re unable to attend the adult study, but are able to teach the youth a week
(or two or three!), please sign up to teach in the narthex. The youth will also be learning about “Giving Generously”,
and all lessons will be planned out and sent to you ahead of time. Our turnout for Advent was great for both groups –
let’s see if we can have even more participation during Lent!

I am really excited for this time together; I hope you’ll be a part of it. We have a lot of going on until then, however!
This week, we ask that you bring in cans of soup or a cash donation for our youth’s annual
“Souper Bowl Sunday”.

They’ll host a meal of (what else?!) soup, and they’ll donate the cans and proceeds to Hope House to combat hunger.
Plan on staying for lunch after worship!

Saturday, February 11th is our monthly Family Fun Night. As this ministry grows, our need for more volunteers does
as well. Please join us in welcoming guests if you are able, we serve dinner at 5:00 p.m. If you can help with the food
and preparation, that would be fantastic! There will be a sign up sheet in the narthex of food items we need,
and we ask that you come (or drop it off by) 4:15 p.m. on Saturday if you’re able to contribute.

Wow, that was a lot of email. Good things are happening here at BLC, God-things are happening.
The Spirit is inviting us to study, serve, and worship together, what a blessing!

In Him, Pastor Michelle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shined.”

– Isaiah 9:2

Hard to believe, but Advent is approaching again! Advent simply means “coming”…
it is when we celebrate that God has come in a new way through the birth of Christ, and that Christ
will come again someday to judge the living and the dead. Part of celebrating means we prepare…
we prepare to hear the good news of Jesus’ birth proclaimed again… we prepare for Jesus’ return.

As with any preparing for anything, this takes effort. If we’re going to be prepared for Christmas,
to truly hear the gospel, we need to prepare. If we’re going to be ready when Christ comes again,
like a bride waiting for her bridegroom, we need to be prepared.

So this Advent, we’re focusing on preparing. Beginning November 27th, and lasting through
all four weeks of Advent, we will have an Advent Bible study on Sunday mornings. Here’s the details:

Who: Everyone!
What: Bible study using Expecting the Unexpected: An Advent Devotional Guide
When: Daily at home, Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. as a group
Where: BLC
Why: For God, for one another, for ourselves…

The book costs $11.00, and we’ll finish taking orders on 11/13/11 to give adequate time for delivery.
If cost is a prohibiting factor, the church can cover it. At the same time as the adult Bible study, Sunday school
will be provided for the children. There will be crafts, a lesson, and a snack.

I know that Christmas is a hectic time, and it’s difficult to imagine adding one more thing to it.
But at the risk of sounding cheesy – this is the one thing that matters most. Nothing is more important than
our life in Christ, and God has chosen we live this life together. As with any goal…sports, fitness, music, academics…
if we want to grow, we’ve got to practice and prepare. This book will help us do just that! Using hymns, Scripture,
and devotions, we’ll walk through the season of Advent and the questions that arise during it – and during life in
this sin-scarred world – and we’ll do it together.

So please sign up for the Advent study!
There will be a sign-up sheet in the narthex for the next three weeks.
Join us as we prepare for Christ’s coming!

Have you signed up yet?
SIGN-UP SHEET ON THE COUNTER IN THE NARTHEX.
Who: Everyone!
What: An ADVENT BIBLE STUDY “Expecting the Unexpected”
When: (beginning 11/27)
Time: Sunday mornings @ 9:30 a.m.
Why: For God, for ourselves, for one another,

Pastor Michelle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Tradition is the living faith of the dead.  Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”
– Jaroslav Jan Pelikan (noted Church historian)

Ever wonder why we do certain things in church? 
Why we say the Creed?
Or what the Kyrie is all about?
Or why we say such long prayers?

These are all important traditions in the life of the catholic (which means universal, not Roman Catholic) Church. 
Yet, when we’ve done them our whole lives, and for the lives of many before us, we sometimes forget why we do them –
if we ever knew at all.

The problem with not knowing is summed up in the quote above… it runs the risk of making our faith dead. 
When we don’t know what we’re doing or why, God is still at work in our worship, but we’re less able to recognize and
appreciate the myriad of ways God has been involved in the crafting of our tradition. 

So, I will try to answer some of the questions, and hopefully in doing so add a layer of depth to our worship experience. 
Feel free to let me know if there’s a tradition in our worship you would like to better understand!  We will begin with the
“Sharing of the Peace”.

The excerpt above from Jesus’ resurrection appearance to the disciples is the cornerstone of our practice.  Just as Jesus
shared his peace with us, we’re to share it with one another.  Having Christ’s peace is an essential part of being sent into
the world to share God’s love… the popular quote “Know God, know peace … No God, no peace” comes to mind. 

But what does this peace look like? Paul describes it in his letter to the Philippians:

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
– Philippians 4:7

This peace surpasses all understanding, which makes it pretty hard to describe.  I’ve always thought the hymn
When Peace, like a River (LBW 346 or http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm ) captures the sense
of peace well.  It’s knowing in your core that even if your world is falling apart, God’s still holding you and
redeeming all brokenness.

We take time to share this kind of peace with one another each Sunday.  One reason we do so is because Christ
means for us to, all gifts of God are meant to be shared.  Another reason is an extension of the first… to reconcile to
one another before we go to communion.

It is no coincidence that the sharing of the peace comes directly after the prayers and before we offer our gifts to God
and then share in communion.  We pray for peace, and then we begin the work of bringing that peace to the world. 
Communion is literally a “foretaste of the feast to come”, a time when we experience in part the eternal glory that
we’ll experience eternally.  Someday, we will all be reconciled to one another and to God, and we will live in perfect
harmony worshiping our Creator.

So if we offer our gifts back to God and go to communion a broken and unforgiving group, we’re not too likely to
experience all that Christ offers in this co-union.  Jesus actually commands against it (Matt. 5:23-24).  God works
miracles, to be sure, and the miracle he offers here every week is the sharing of his precious peace, which allows us
to be reconciled to one another before we come to the table.  It’s a holy and precious gift, the sharing of Christ’s peace,
and one we’re told in Scripture is a vital part of our life together:

“Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other;
just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you were called in the one body.”
– Colossians 3:13-15

What does this mean for the sharing of the peace in our service?  It means if you’re angry with someone in our
faith community, that moment is the time to be reconciled with that person.  God’s forgiven us, so we’re a
people of forgiveness.

It also means that the sharing of the peace should be kept as the sharing of the peace.  Shake hands, hug, ask how
people are doing, show God’s love to one another… and save the conversations about what we did last week or will
do this coming week for later.  For just a few minutes each week, we specifically set aside time to share Christ’s
amazing gift of peace with one another, so let’s take full advantage of those precious few minutes!

We’ve been called into the one body of Christ, a body marked by peace and clothed in love.  The sharing of the
peace is an ancient tradition that allows live out the union with each other God gifts us with in our baptism. 
It is a Spirit-filled, vital part of our worship that brings us to communion as one Body of Christ, as Jesus, the Father,
and the Spirit are one (17:22).  I look forward to sharing this gift again with you Sunday!

Next is the ….. Liturgy!  
 
“Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
Worship the Lord in holy splendor.” – Psalm 29:2

We worship because that is what we’re meant to do as God’s creatures, and you’ve probably noticed that there is
a rhythm to how we worship each week. Most of us are familiar with this rhythm, but we may not have ever learned
how the worship service developed (I didn’t till seminary!).  When we know the “why” our worship experience is
even more meaningful. It helps us keep our tradition without turning that tradition into traditionalism.

We’ll begin to talk about the liturgy, which translates as “the work of the people”. A church service is liturgical
whenever the people respond in some way to the leader of worship. Scholars are fairly certain that the Psalms were
used responsively even in ancient Israel, so this form of worship has been around for a very long time.

The basic form of any liturgy we do has been the same since the early church – gathering, word, meal, sending.
We’ll focus on gathering and word, and leave the meal and sending to the next article. Each part has a general shape
to it, certain elements you will always see during it. What the elements look like specifically may vary widely from
liturgical setting to liturgical setting, but they will always be in there.

We being with the corporate confession and forgiveness, which is a time to admit before God and alongside our
family of faith the ways we’ve failed to live up to our call as disciples. This is immediately followed by the absolution,
where the minister, by the authority of God, declares sins are forgiven. So we start off with honesty about our sins
and a re-experiencing of God’s grace.

We when move into song. Throughout history and across cultures, people have responded to the Divine with songs.
Music is infused throughout the biblical witness, whether it be Miriam rejoicing after the parting of the Red Sea
or Pauls’ encouragement to the church at Ephesus to be filled with the Spirit and sing (Exodus 15:20-21, Ephesians 5:19).

Then we greet one another, and move immediately into the Kyrie. “Kyrie” is an abbreviation form “Kyrie eleison”,
which means “Lord have mercy” in Greek, the language of the early Christian church. The Kyrie is actually a prayer
which is sung responsively. The cantor sings the petitions, the congregation responds by asking God to have mercy
on us. This pattern of prayer was set within the first few centuries of the Christian church, and has biblical roots
(Luke 17:11-19). That transitions into the prayer of the day, which usually connects to the Scripture in some way.

After the prayer of the day, we officially move into the “Word” portion of the service. Traditionally, we hear a
lesson from the Old Testament and the New Testament (either an epistle, a passage from Acts, or from Revelation).
In between those, we responsively read or sing a Psalm. The Psalm is an ancient book of prayers and so we join
with the saints who have gone before us in praying those same words together.

Then the Gospel lesson is read. We stand during the reading of the Gospel as a sign of respect, since these are the
words and deeds of Christ. (This tradition of standing during the reading of God’s Word dates back at least as far
as the prophet Ezra, see Nehemiah8:1-12). Following the Scripture readings is the sermon, which I have done my
job well, is a Spirit-inspired unfolding of one or more Scripture readings for that day.

Once the sermon is over, we worship through song again. After that, we confess our common faith with the words
of the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the Athanasian Creed (the Athanasian Creed is extremely long, which
is why you probably can’t remember every saying it in worship!). In the early church, there were all kinds of
disagreements about who Jesus is and what that means for us and the Creeds emerged as the disagreements were
worked out. Each Creed has a unique and fascinating history of how it came to be in its final form, and I highly
recommend further study. By saying the Creed, we’re not only joining with saints throughout time and place in
our confession, we are also teaching and then reminding ourselves of the basics of our faith!

Having confessed our faith, we then move to intercessory prayer. These prayers “intercede”; they are prayers on
behalf of others. God commands us to pray for others throughout the Scripture. Also, we are told that Jesus and the
Spirit intercede for us when we need it, and our imitation of that intercession is pleasing to God
(1 Timothy 2:1-6; Romans 8).

Finally, in the “Word” portion of worship, we share the peace (see above).  The rest of the service follows.

The Rest of the Service . . . The Meal and the Sending!

The “Meal” portion begins after that, with the collection of the offering.  Books could be written (and many have!)
about why we give money to God – and why we give it in this way – during the worship service.  The shortest answer,
though, is that we give offering because we believe everything good is from God, and we return some of it in thanks
and praise to God (1 Chronicles 29:11-14).  It is done during the service as an act of sacrificial giving to God; something
that is commanded throughout Scripture and that Jesus assures us is important for our spiritual growth and health
(Matthew 6:19-21; Matthew 25:35-40).  Once the offering has been collected, we pray that God receive our (unworthy)
gifts for the sake of Christ.  Sometimes the prayer also asks God to use the gifts for the work of the Kingdom.

“The Great Thanksgiving” (“The Lord be with you… And also with you…) is a call to prepare for the meal by giving
thanks to God.  This leads into the “Preface”, which briefly recounts God’s story and joins us with all of creation in the
angels’ song, “Holy, Holy, Holy”.  What an awesome idea – that we’re singing with the angels and creation in
singing thanks to God! 

What follows is the “Thanksgiving at the Table with Words of Institution”.  In more detail, we praise and thank God
for God’s acts of salvation throughout history.  This includes the “Words of Institution” (“In the night in which he
was betrayed...”), and somehow between God’s promises contained in those words and the bread and wine, we end
up with a foretaste of the feast to come!  This divine mystery cleanses us, refreshes us, and bridges our divides,
making us the Body of Christ for the world.  Lutherans typically say Jesus is “in, with, and under” the bread
and wine… which is a fancy way of saying we don’t really know what happens, but we know that Jesus promises
to be there, and so he is.  It is a sacred and wonderful time.

Once everyone who wishes has received communion, we say a prayer and then move to the “Sending”
portion of worship.  This is the shortest, but by no means less important than the other aspects of worship. 
During the sending, we are sent out into the world to share God’s love with everyone.  Since this is a big job,
we go with God’s blessing!  We join together in praise through song one final time, and then we’re dismissed
to be Christ’s Body in our daily lives. 

There is much more to say about the worship service than I’ve written, but I hope that this helps you get
started on the journey!  If you would like to know more, please feel free to ask and I’ll be glad to help you
find more resources.  Blessings!

In Him, Pastor Michelle

Pastor Michelle's Office Hours:

She will now be in the office from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Monday - Wednesday.
These are the times when, barring an emergency, she will be in the office. If you need to meet with her
and another time is more convenient for you, don’t hesitate to contact her and arrange another time.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: 8am to noon
Thursday: Visitation
Friday: Pastor’s day off
Sunday: Worship and Bible study

“He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!
Alleluia!”