From the Pastor's Desk
To all the Saints at Grace,
As we are preparing our hearts for Holy Week, we the season of Lent to look (mostly) back on. This year, we shared a sermon series with our sister church, Zion Lutheran, Owego, NY. That series is “The Faith of Martyrs,” and covers biblical martyrs, ancient martyrs, modern martyrs, and their faith, which trusts in Christ and His resurrection, even to the point of death. If you’re reading this hot off the press (or warm off the printer), then you can still join us on Wednesday, April 6th for the last midweek Lenten service of the season. Join us at 12 noon, at Grace Lutheran Church, to hear Pastor Heath preaching on “The Martyred Apostles,” or at 7 pm, at Zion Lutheran Church, to hear myself preaching on “The Blood of Martyrs.” A little teaser for you: I’ll be working with the history of faithful discipleship and the growth of the Church, in view of a phrase coined by Tertullian, which has been used for 1,800 years: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Whichever sermon you don’t hear, you will hear on Maundy Thursday, at the same church.
Which brings us to Holy Week. Well… We’ll start with Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is April 10th this year, and we will be the Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusalem with a Palm Sunday processional, and by waving palms as a symbol of His majesty. This year, we’re going to try something new: we will collect the palms at the end of the service. Grace has a long practice of hosting a Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner (as we did just one month ago) and part of the historic Shrove Tuesday tradition is a ceremonial burning of last year’s palms. This burning produces the ashes that we will use the next day, Ash Wednesday, during the Imposition of Ashes. If you strongly desire to take your palm home and fold it into a cross, or whatever other tradition you may have, please do feel free to do that this and every Palm Sunday, otherwise, we would appreciate the return of palms, to enhance next year’s Shrove Tuesday commemoration. Thank you!
We will offer services in the evening during Holy Week. Maundy Thursday service will be held at 7 pm on Thursday, April 14th. Zion and Grace both offer service at that same time. On Good Friday, April 15th, Zion and Grace will both offer service at 7 pm, but Zion will offer an additional service time at 1 PM. Both churches will use the sermon theme “Christ, the Chief of Martyrs.” On Holy Saturday, April 16th all members of Grace are invited to Zion Lutheran Church to join them for a late dinner at 7 PM, followed by a viewing of “The Passion of the Christ” about 8 PM, and finally an Easter Vigil service starting at 11 PM and ending just after midnight. What better way is there to usher in Easter Sunday?
Easter Morning, April 17th, Grace will celebrate the Risen Lord at our usual 9:30 am service time. Time seems to move very fast this time of year. So fast that we almost have to be careful not to blink, lest we miss it entirely. Yet, God works in our lives and speaks clearly to us, even when we aren’t aware. The road to Emmaus is a good example of this. Two of Jesus' disciples are walking to Emmaus when a stranger joins them. They speak with the stranger all along the way, never really knowing who he is, but telling him of Jesus, and their sadness about His death. That “had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel,” but they now doubted, because Jesus was gone. And the stranger says, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?” It was the stranger’s turn to witness to the disciples. Even as they were unaware, concerned with their sunken hearts, Christ came and spoke with them. “And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him… ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’”
We may be distracted at times, especially when we are busy, but God comes to speak with us anyway. And He is faithful to bring us back to Himself, and to return our focus to what matters most. This Easter, do your best to spend extra time in the scriptures, listening to what God has to say. Even if you struggle to find 5 minutes a day, even if you’re just walking down the road like the disciples, distracted as always, God is there and He is speaking.
As we are preparing our hearts for Holy Week, we the season of Lent to look (mostly) back on. This year, we shared a sermon series with our sister church, Zion Lutheran, Owego, NY. That series is “The Faith of Martyrs,” and covers biblical martyrs, ancient martyrs, modern martyrs, and their faith, which trusts in Christ and His resurrection, even to the point of death. If you’re reading this hot off the press (or warm off the printer), then you can still join us on Wednesday, April 6th for the last midweek Lenten service of the season. Join us at 12 noon, at Grace Lutheran Church, to hear Pastor Heath preaching on “The Martyred Apostles,” or at 7 pm, at Zion Lutheran Church, to hear myself preaching on “The Blood of Martyrs.” A little teaser for you: I’ll be working with the history of faithful discipleship and the growth of the Church, in view of a phrase coined by Tertullian, which has been used for 1,800 years: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Whichever sermon you don’t hear, you will hear on Maundy Thursday, at the same church.
Which brings us to Holy Week. Well… We’ll start with Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is April 10th this year, and we will be the Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusalem with a Palm Sunday processional, and by waving palms as a symbol of His majesty. This year, we’re going to try something new: we will collect the palms at the end of the service. Grace has a long practice of hosting a Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner (as we did just one month ago) and part of the historic Shrove Tuesday tradition is a ceremonial burning of last year’s palms. This burning produces the ashes that we will use the next day, Ash Wednesday, during the Imposition of Ashes. If you strongly desire to take your palm home and fold it into a cross, or whatever other tradition you may have, please do feel free to do that this and every Palm Sunday, otherwise, we would appreciate the return of palms, to enhance next year’s Shrove Tuesday commemoration. Thank you!
We will offer services in the evening during Holy Week. Maundy Thursday service will be held at 7 pm on Thursday, April 14th. Zion and Grace both offer service at that same time. On Good Friday, April 15th, Zion and Grace will both offer service at 7 pm, but Zion will offer an additional service time at 1 PM. Both churches will use the sermon theme “Christ, the Chief of Martyrs.” On Holy Saturday, April 16th all members of Grace are invited to Zion Lutheran Church to join them for a late dinner at 7 PM, followed by a viewing of “The Passion of the Christ” about 8 PM, and finally an Easter Vigil service starting at 11 PM and ending just after midnight. What better way is there to usher in Easter Sunday?
Easter Morning, April 17th, Grace will celebrate the Risen Lord at our usual 9:30 am service time. Time seems to move very fast this time of year. So fast that we almost have to be careful not to blink, lest we miss it entirely. Yet, God works in our lives and speaks clearly to us, even when we aren’t aware. The road to Emmaus is a good example of this. Two of Jesus' disciples are walking to Emmaus when a stranger joins them. They speak with the stranger all along the way, never really knowing who he is, but telling him of Jesus, and their sadness about His death. That “had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel,” but they now doubted, because Jesus was gone. And the stranger says, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?” It was the stranger’s turn to witness to the disciples. Even as they were unaware, concerned with their sunken hearts, Christ came and spoke with them. “And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him… ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’”
We may be distracted at times, especially when we are busy, but God comes to speak with us anyway. And He is faithful to bring us back to Himself, and to return our focus to what matters most. This Easter, do your best to spend extra time in the scriptures, listening to what God has to say. Even if you struggle to find 5 minutes a day, even if you’re just walking down the road like the disciples, distracted as always, God is there and He is speaking.