Psalm 46:10 for Now

Online Liturgies January - April 2021

 

by Pastor Marshall

 

In lieu of our time together due to the stay-at-home orders issued by our government, because of the coronavirus troubles – which have put our worshiping, studying and serving in our building in abeyance – I offer these abbreviated online liturgies. They in no way are equivalents to our normal fare, when we gather in our beautiful church to sing praise to Almighty God around Word and Sacrament. But they still have value. In them I’m taking advantage of our time apart to accentuate Psalm 46:10 about being silent before God. These liturgies have no audio tracks (except for a hymn link here and there) or video streams – which in Mendocino County, California, have been banned (Doug Mainwaring, “California County Bans Singing in Online Worship Services,” LifeSites, online, April 17, 2020). So what we have here are just words. If I were to provide instead a full mock worship service online, that would be inconsistent with our mission statement and the honor it pays to historical liturgies (which require a congregation present). So the liturgies I provide are short, meditative in tone, and solitary. Use them to stand silently before God and his Word – and its elaborations in prayers, hymn texts, art works, and sermons. Luther thought God has his way with us in this silence (Luther’s Works 6:35). Kierkegaard agreed, seeing in this silence God’s Word gaining power over us (For Self-Examination, ed. Hongs, p. 47). He even thought, somewhat humorously, that by blunting our “loquacity” through this silence, God’s ways were protected from any “undietetic uncircumspection” coming from us (The Book on Adler, ed. Hongs, p. 166). Be that as it may, we must never forget, as Kierkegaard elsewhere warned, that Christianity is not primarily for quiet times, but for fighting the good fight of faith “right in the middle of actual life and weekdays” (Journals, ed. Hongs, §2:2132).


 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

April 25, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

  

Let us compose a proverb:…. When you think that our Lord God has rejected a person, you should think that our Lord God has him in His arms and is pressing him to His heart. When we suppose that someone has been deserted and rejected by God, then we should conclude that he is in the embrace and lap of God.

 

Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis 32 (1542)

Luther’s Works 6:149

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

April 25, 2021

  

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Good Shepherd Sunday

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Son, Christ Jesus, our Good Shepherd. May he protect us on our perilous journey and keep us steadfast in your Word. In his holy name we pray.  Amen.

 

  

First Lesson: Acts 4:23–33

Psalm 23

Second Lesson: 1 John 3:1–2

Gospel: John 10:11–18

 

Opening Hymn:  “All People That on Earth Do Dwell” (LBW 245)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-1dQ8t03mE

 




 




 

Sermon: April 25, 2021


Love Jesus Properly
(John 10:17)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Why do you love Jesus – hopefully with a “love undying” (Ephesians 6:24)? Is it because he’s a nice guy (Matthew 9:36)? Or is it because he’s famous (Philippians 2:10)? Or is it because your family or friends do (John 1:41)? None of these are good reasons for loving Jesus. He himself tells us that we are to love him because he sacrifices himself for us on the cross (John 10:17, 14:23). That’s God’s reason for loving him, and it should also be ours. But that’s not how it goes. Martin Luther spells this out carefully. Christians, he explains, love Jesus “so long as… the message of the Gospel will… enrich them. This is all they look for in the Gospel. But when they hear that through its message they will be delivered from sin, death, and the power of the devil, they ignore all this and despise the Gospel.” Caring for their belly is their “one concern.” They’re not interested in acquiring “a treasure that will not pass away” (Luther’s Works 23:11, 10). So material considerations matter more to Christians than the sacrifice of Christ – which is the only sound basis we have for loving him. And we’re not alone in digging this hole for ourselves. “False teachers [will arise] among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought [you]” (1 Peter 2:1). The Master who bought you? Yes, that’s the sacrifice which is the basis for our love of Christ. So what’s needed most is what’s attacked directly. Because of that “guilt is greater than pain and sin is worse than death” (LW 52:279). Our corruption is that bad.

     And there’s hell to pay for our corruption manifest in the wicked displacement of the sacrifice of Christ. “And what does God do about it? If the Gospel and the everlasting food are despised, then God must bring about famine, withdrawing physical food from us and ushering in pestilence, war, and every type of catastrophe. Thus he teaches us manners…. God cannot tolerate abuse of His Gospel by the selfish pursuit of our own interests and our greed, which we disguise in the cloak of the Gospel. God does not have His Gospel proclaimed for the sake of the belly, but for the welfare and the salvation of our souls” (LW 23:12). So Christ’s sacrifice must be lifted up above everything else. “He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). “He gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). And God made “peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20). Because this sacrifice is so essential, it’s a disaster when it’s either ignored or attacked. And yet churches go down this two-lane road and become “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18). Don’t they see that we need this sacrifice because we cannot save ourselves? We can’t save ourselves, “not by a long shot, my dear fellow” (LW 68:39). Again, Luther helps us see what the church denies. “As little as a natural sheep can feed, direct, guide itself, or guard and protect itself against danger and misfortune – for it is a weak and quite defenseless little animal – just so little can we poor, weak, miserable people feed and guide ourselves spiritually, walk and remain on the right path, or by our own power protect ourselves against all evil and gain help and comfort for ourselves in anxiety and distress” (LW 12:154). Indeed, apart from Christ “you can do nothing” (John 15:5). And yet Christians go on trusting in material well-being above Christ’s suffering and death for us. Not far off from this misstep is fierce self-reliance which stands on the conviction that “people rise to the level of their ambition, and there’s no such thing as luck” (Kate Bowler, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, 2013, p. 229).

     Against this we must always cling to the belief that Jesus “bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). To be saved, then, means nothing more than “to be made free, to get rid of sin and death, to be freed from God’s wrath, from evil’s power, from the Law, and an evil conscience” (Luther’s House Postils 2:172). This is a great message of hope. “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). So let us “rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). That’s because “all our good is outside of us, and this good is Christ…. Hence all the praise of the church… belongs to Christ, who dwells in His church through faith, just as the light of earth does not belong to the earth but to the sun which sheds its light upon it. [So] the saints… declare that all their good is outside of them, in Christ, who yet through faith is also in them” (LW 25:267). Oh, how difficult it is to see that the light never emanates from within us – especially when fame tells us that “it’s okay to seek greatness. That does not make me a black hole seeking attention. It makes me a supernova.” From this it quickly follows that we quit worrying that “abundance is forbidden fruit” (“The Rise of Amanda Gorman,” Vogue, May 2021, pp. 138, 104). Be forthright, then, and insist that Christ is our protector, our friend, and our good shepherd. But note carefully what Luther has Jesus say about this. “You did not make yourselves My friends; but you became My friends through Me. Before this you were enemies and the devil’s friends by nature. Now you shall be and remain My friends if only you keep this one commandment [to love others] for My sake and for your own good. I gave My life for you; and to Me you are dear friends acquired and bought with My blood. You shall have everything through Me and be free” (LW 24:255).

     So rest assured that you have been healed and that the new heavenly life has been opened up for you (Hebrews 9:20). For you, God’s wrath has been set aside (Romans 5:9). So peace in heaven awaits you after you die. But not now. No, now you’ll have tribulations (John 16:33). For some their childhood even has been “bookended by... 9/11 [and] this global pandemic” (Michael J. Fox, No Time Like the Future, 2020, p. 229). So be warned. “If you want to be a Christian and strive earnestly for the life to come, you will surely feel the devil pressing you…. He will terrify you, aggrieve you, he will choke you…. We have to suffer for that now; and we must not imagine that we will have happiness and peace here on earth” (LW 28:106). Enduring those troubles is one of our good works on earth – along with showing love for others and helping them bear their burdens (John 13:34, Galatians 6:2). And we can hold on in tough times because none of that suffering is worth comparing with the glory that will be ours in heaven (Romans 8:18). So don’t despair. Keep on loving others. God is on your side because of Christ’s sacrifice for you. That will make all of the difference for you when suffering comes your way. Ground your life in that sacrifice. Keep your eye on Jesus and his cross and suffering (2 Corinthians 2:2, Hebrews 12:2). Then you’ll prevail. Steadfastness will be yours (1 Corinthians 15:58). And then you’ll also be able to love Christ properly. Amen.

Hymn of the Day:  “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” (LBW 456)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cHWMltF9_8


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Sam & Nancy Lawson

The Tuomi Family

Holly Petersen

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Karen Granger

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Allen Bidne

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Lucy Shearer

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Paul Jensen

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

Hank Schmitt

Ron Combs

Mary Ford

Andrea Cantu

The Pritchard family

Liam Stein

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. Pray also for refugees throughout the world; and for the care and keeping of our planet.

 

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 




 



 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.




 



The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

Closing Hymn: “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us” (LBW 481)

 




 



 

 

All our good is outside of us, and this good is Christ…. Hence all the praise of the church… belongs to Christ, who dwells in His church through faith, just as all the light of the earth does not belong to the earth but to the sun which sheds its light upon it…. Always she seeks, always she desires, always she praises her Bridegroom. And thereby [the church] shows that she herself is empty and poor in herself, and that only outside of herself is her fullness and righteousness…. The saints… declare that all their good is outside of them, in Christ, who yet through faith is also in them.

 

Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans (1518)

Luther’s Works 25:267

 






 

 







Online Sunday Liturgy

April 18, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

If my people who are called by my name

humble themselves, and pray and seek my face,

and turn from their wicked ways,

then I will hear from heaven,

and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

 

(2 Chronicles 7:14)

 

The Christian is free by faith, but as far as the flesh is concerned, he is a slave of sin. Yet these things, though contraries, are nevertheless reconciled in the Christian because the same Christian is saint and sinner,

dead and alive, all sin and no sin;

hell and heaven are correlatives.

 

(Martin Luther, Disputations (1538)

Luther’s Works 73:185)

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

April 18, 2021

  

Third Sunday of Easter

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Heavenly Father, by the death and resurrection of your dear Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord, you have rescued us from the terrors of death. Bring us to repentance, that confessing our sins, we may share in his victory over death and damnation. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

  

First Lesson: Acts 4:8–12

Psalm 139:1-11

Second Lesson: 1 John 1:1–2:2

Gospel: Luke 24:36–49

 

Opening Hymn: “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today; Alleluia!” (LBW 128)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXRs4MuKKbc

 

 




 




 

Sermon: April 18, 2021


Keep Repenting
(Luke 24:47)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55) catches us off-guard. He tells us not to confess our sins. Isn’t that outlandish? Doesn’t it fly in the face of the Bible which tells us to confess our sins (1 John 1:9, Luke 24:47)? Doesn’t it even contradict Kierkegaard’s faith in Jesus (Luke 13:5)? Well, not quite. And that’s because of the reason he gives for not confessing our sins. Kierkegaard believes that going over the sinful details of our lives as a “petty arithmetician in the service of faintheartedness,” breeds dishonesty by way of a “perpetual enumerating” of sins. The result is that we never become sinners but only people who make mistakes now and then – and so by confessing our sins one after another we miss grasping “the essential magnitude” of the sin within us, which makes us sinners in and of ourselves. That’s critical because true confession of sin is “not merely a counting of all the particular sins but is a comprehending before God that sin has a coherence in itself” which makes us more than a collection of sins, but an actual sinner. Without that we’ll never be changed by our confession – having lost the “conception of the change that takes place in the knower when he is to use his knowledge” of sin correctly (Kierkegaard’s Writings 10:34, 29, 31, 32). So admitting that we’re sinners before God is better than listing sins one by one. For in the midst of our sins we easily lose sight of the fact that we’re sinners. We “can’t see the forest for the trees” (The Proverbs of John Heywood, 1546). Kierkegaard, being the “Danish Luther” that he was (R. F. Marshall, Kierkegaard in the Pulpit, 2016, p. 286), probably learned this from Martin Luther who was famous for saying that we should “sin boldly” – not meaning by that to sin all the more, but rather to admit being a “mighty sinner” or fortissimus peccator in the original Latin (Luther’s Works 48:282). And there’s nothing nice about that, for a fortissimus peccator means that we’re nothing but “damnable knaves” (LW 43:228). And that makes us “completely worthless” (LW 16:16–17). We are “all sin” because we are “saint and sinner” simultaneously (LW 73:185). No wonder Kierkegaard had to concentrate all of his earnestness if he was ever going to see himself as a simple, straightforward sinner (Journals, ed. Hongs, §4:4038).

     As you can imagine, many pooh-pooh this understanding of ourselves. Admitting that we’re sinners is too much for us – having “no soundness” in us from the “sole of the foot even to the head” (Isaiah 1:6). Having our sin magnified “beyond measure” like this – so that it completely engulfs us – is over the top (Romans 7:13). Being a sinner altogether devastates us – doing in our self-esteem and positive self-image. Luther knew this meant that we would “resent reproof” and not admit that we’re sinners (LW 22:389, 25:207). And so he also knew that repentance would be “rare” (LW 32:35). When preachers then defiantly fly in the face of these objections and “diligently… exhort” us to repent anyway, we “bear… a grudge” against them (LW 46:171, 22:396). That’s why many today believe that they have “outgrown” such a childish faith based on the “poison of scrupulous self-loathing,” insisting that “the intended faith of the Bible” is quite different (James Carroll, Christ Actually: Reimagining Faith in the Modern Age, 2014, pp. 36, 42). But against this criticism of sin and repentance, the Bible continues to insist that only repentance enables us to “come to know the truth… and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:25). This captivity is ghastly and it leads to the fires of hell that never go out (Mark 9:48). So hell is horrible and much to be feared. “It will not be a fire that roasts and singes... a little and then dies out.... No, [the damned] will remain in the fire forever and be burned to powder” (LW 24:238). But many today think this is funny. The deathcore band, Winds of Plague, however, have a short music video, Open the Gates of Hell (2013), which puts the lie to all of this frivolity. In it the demons scream out – “Follow me to the city of woe, follow me to where divinity dare not go. March among the damned through barren wastelands; follow me to fire and brimstone.” This surely isn’t Paradise Lost (1674), but it’s about the best we have today in popular culture to illustrate this major Biblical theme. And we need the help because Christians also should have “zero tolerance for... gravitas as dead weight, a millstone for the mind” (Mark Dery, Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey, 2018, p. 9).

    So don’t disparage repentance – for without it we are “worthy of death and hellfire” and “hell stands ajar” (LW 76:434, 22:405). Only repentance protects us from perishing (Luke 13:5). Only repentance opens up the way to forgiveness (1 John 1:9). Only repentance restores our life with God (Luke 15:21). And these time-honored promises aren’t crafted by people but come solely from God. Even though ancient scribes wrote them down they are “really” words from God (1 Thessalonians 2:13). So it’s wrong to interpret them “by the properties of human textual communication” (The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, April 2021, p. 310). That’ll only blind us from the truth about ourselves and God. For “by nature we are all palsied. The more we try to draw close to God and be reconciled with him through our works, the farther from him we get; and… the greater becomes our trepidation” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug,1996, 3:88). So rather than interpreting the Bible we need to fall down before it. That’s because “repentance… consists mostly in our acknowledging that God is right and… that we are all sinners and all condemned” (LW 51:318).

     So do not look to your own strength but to Jesus who is “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). We must decrease; Jesus must increase (John 3:30). Don’t be fooled into thinking that “it is possible to reject Christ as Lord without making Jesus superfluous to an ecclesial project” (Timothy Murphy, Counter-Imperial Churching for a Planetary Gospel, 2017, p. 170). Trust in the Lord Jesus and then everything is turned around for the better. “I will rebuke myself; then God will praise me. I will degrade myself; then God will honor me. I will accuse myself; then God will acquit me. I will speak against myself; then God will speak for me” (LW 14:150–51). But none of this happens because we’re sinless or holy. “No, you must learn to feel and recognize your sin…. A sinner is a person who feels his sin…. Thus only those sinners belong in the kingdom of Christ who recognize their sin, feel it, and then catch hold of the Word [of forgiveness]. He admits no saint; He blows them all away; He expels from the church all who lay claim to holiness. If sinners enter, they do not remain sinners. He spreads His cloak over their sins…. To be sure, sin is there. But the Lord in this kingdom closes His eyes to it, covers it, forgives it, and does not impute it to the sinner” (LW 23:318). That’s because on the cross Jesus bears our sins, suffers for them in our place, and cancels the legal bond that stood against us (Colossians 2:14). His blood saves us from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9). And so on the cross Jesus draws us to himself (John 12:32). Even though few are drawn (Matthew 7:14), and the redeemed as a container is getting smaller, its contents are graciously all the more concentrated as a result (Deseret.Magazine, January/February 2021, p. 66).

     So spread the good news that God will not despise “a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). Get the word out. Don’t give up on repenting. “Again and again we must proclaim that the grace of God cannot be attained unless we confess our sins” (LW 22:405). And don’t throw in the towel by praying “Please help me to hate White people. Or at least to want to hate them. At least, I want to stop caring about them.... Free me from this burden of calling them to confession and repentance” (A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal, 2021, pp. 69, 71). Don’t be fooled either by the culture of self-esteem. Learn what its practitioners have discovered of late that rather than grasping for self-worth we should aim for “learning, mastery, personal growth and communication with others” every day of our lives (David D. Burns, Feeling Good, Revised Edition, 2000, p. 343). So work at finding a positive, constructive place in your life for a “heavy heart” (LW 13:376). Beware of the “fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). Don’t cave into the urge to be “constantly stimulated” and entertained (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, 20th Anniversary Edition, 2005, p. x). Instead focus steadfastly on that “eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). And give thanks to God for all of these admonitions, for by their power we can keep on repenting. Amen.


Hymn of the Day: “With High Delight Let Us Unite” (LBW 140)


 



Litany on the Indianapolis Shooting,

April 15, 2021

 

First Lutheran Church of West Seattle

April 18, 2021

 

Let us pray for all those grieving for loved ones who were among the murdered in the mass shootings last Thursday night at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for those who came to the aid of those under attack. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for those killed in this shooting. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all those who survived, that they may be comforted and healed of their terrible memories. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the family and friends of the killer – in their sadness and shame. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the city of Indianapolis, and all the towns in Indiana and the entire USA – that they may be civilized and peaceful places to live and work. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us pray for the angry and unstable who all too quickly resort to violence as a means of solving their problems, that they may find peaceful ways to settle what’s troubling them. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, let us thank God for his goodness and mercy, for those kept safe during the shooting, and for the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus, when he comes again in judgment (John 5:26–29, 16:33), to rescue the righteous, condemn the wicked, and bring violence and evil to an end, once and for all.

 

GLORY BE TO JESUS, OUR MERCIFUL LORD AND SAVIOR! AMEN.

 




 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Sam & Nancy Lawson

The Tuomi Family

Holly Petersen

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Karen Granger

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Lucy Shearer

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Tery Merritt

Paul Jensen

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

Hank Schmitt

Ron Combs

Mary Ford

Andrea Cantu

The Pritchard family

Liam Stein

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. And pray for those suffering from the volcano eruptions in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent. Pray also for refugees throughout the world; and for the care and keeping of our planet.

 

Births

Yeonsco Melina Jo, daughter of Young Taek and Cynthia Jo (Granddaughter of Janice Lundbeck) March 25, 2021.

 

Isaac Tutuska (Earl & Carol Nelson's second grandchild).

 

Death

George Roney

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 




 



 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.




 



The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “Jesus Lives! The Victory’s Won!” (LBW 133)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHvpIcGI-_4

 




 



 

All God demands is that we… acknowledge and confess our sins so that He can remit them…. Merely say: “I have sinned.” Yet we are so unrepentant that we would rather perish than confess truthfully that we are sinners…. Again and again we must proclaim that the grace of God cannot be attained unless we confess our sin…. Whenever we… pretend that we have not sinned,… thereby implying that God is in error – hell stands ajar, and heaven is closed.

 

Martin Luther, Sermons of John 3 (1538)

Luther’s Works 22:405

 






 

 







Online Sunday Liturgy

April 11, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

Thomas seems to have been a gruff man…. [But] Thomas, who although crude and simpleminded, is not unfaithful and malicious…. He is thinking, “I would like to believe that Christ rose from the dead, if I only could”…. In this way Thomas had the old faith in Jesus who was crucified; but he cannot understand that he should be resurrected and would sincerely like to see that it is true. Christ seeks him faithfully, bears his obstinacy, and helps him to faith…. Christ… treats us neither sternly nor harshly, but

seeks us out and comforts us as

sheep gone astray.

 

Martin Luther, Sermon on John 20:19–31 (1534),

Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1996, 2:58–59.




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

April 11, 2021

  

Second Sunday of Easter

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, we have celebrated with joy our Lord’s resurrection on Easter Day. In your mercy bring us to the true font of wisdom. May we grow in grace to overcome the darkness of our minds with the twofold beam of your light and love. Turn our ignorance and doubts into obedience. Make us keen to understand, quick to learn, and able to recall all that you have taught us. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

  

First Lesson: Acts 3:13–26

Psalm 148

Second Lesson: 1 John 5:1–6

Gospel: John 20:19-31

 

Opening Hymn: “Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain” (LBW 132)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQ_5pzRllM

 

 




 




 

Sermon: April 11, 2021


Don't Doubt
(John 20:27)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Jesus never budges. Again and again he tells us not to doubt him (John 20:27, Matthew 14:13, 21:21). He doesn’t think doubt enriches our Christian lives. Doubt doesn’t make us sophisticated believers – building in us courage and insightfulness (contra Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, 1957, pp. 18–22). Neither is it the hallmark of our identity as followers of Christ Jesus. Our faith isn’t about dubito ergo sum– “I doubt, therefore I am” (Rene Descartes, The Philosophical Works, 1969–70, I:219, 324). It instead is about oro ergo sum – “I pray therefore I am.” For the goal isn’t investigation and discovery, but dependence and obedience. Becoming “slaves of God” is our rightful aspiration (Romans 6:22). Because of that, “answering back” to God has no place in Christian living (Romans 9:20). Hearing and keeping his word is enough (Luke 11:28). Doubt politicians all you want – for people aren’t trustworthy (Luther’s Works 45:123, Jeremiah 17:5; John R. Lott, Jr., “A River of Doubt Runs Through Mail Voting in Big Sky Country,” The Square Center, March 24, 2021). And be sure to check over your mathematical calculations, for you could have slipped up. But when it comes to the message of the church, it “must rest on certainty” (LW 13:140). “For faith is and must be a confidence of the heart which does not waver, reel, tremble, fidget, or doubt but remains constant and is sure of itself.” That’s because “the Word of our God… is steadfast, it is certain, it does not give way, it does not quiver, it does not sink, it does not fall, it does not leave you in the lurch. And where this Word enters the heart in true faith, it fashions the heart like unto itself, it makes it firm, certain, and assured. It becomes buoyed up, rigid, and adamant over against all temptation, devil, death,… that it defiantly and haughtily despises and mocks everything that inclines toward doubts, despair, anger, and wrath; for it knows that God’s Word cannot lie to it” (LW 15:272). Therefore we do “holy Scriptures the honor of believing firmly that none of their writers has ever erred” (LW 32:11). With this godly certainly we soar among the clouds – we’re “borne aloft above the clouds [where] everything is lofty and heavenly” (LW 8:165, 167). Glory be to God! So when it comes to his holy word, “don’t find fault with it, and dispute it. Just hear it. [Don’t] probe it, measure it, and twist the words to read as you want them to, brood over them, hesitate, doubt, and then judge them according to your reason. [Instead] tread your wisdom underfoot” (LW 23:229–30).

     This, of course, appalls the intellectually respectable. Certainty like that, they say, leads to extremism which can easily lead to physical violence. So the better part of wisdom calls Christians to hold their horses. Back off and become lukewarm again (contra Revelation 3:16). The Christian’s “imperialistic certainty” must give way to moderation. For “love of truth demands commitment to open-ended exchange” (Morson & Schapiro, Minds Wide Shut: How the New Fundamentalisms Divide Us, 2021, pp. 25, 56, 74). The irony in this critique, however, is that it’s a case of the “pot calling the kettle black.” So the moral alternative to Christianity isn’t free of the very indictment that it levels against devout Christians. It’s like complaining about complainers. Or being sure that it’s wrong to be sure. No advance here. Nothing morally superior at all. Just a standoff. So this critique of Christian certainty resolves nothing. All it does is show a conflict of convictions – the determined Christian against the cautious secularist. So Christians had better “stand fast like a wall” (LW 60:106). That’s because there’s nothing convincing calling them to the contrary. In fact, if they were to move toward moderation, conciliation and compromise, God no longer could help them (James 1:6–8). They would then lose their distinctive blessing – “the defiance and arrogance of the Holy Spirit” (LW 24:118, 15:275). For “a wavering heart… will certainly receive nothing. For our Lord God can give such a person nothing…. It is as if you have a vessel in your hand, but refuse to hold it still and keep waving it back and forth…. That’s the way it is with an unbelieving, wavering heart. God yearns to give us what we need, but we stand there like crazy beggars. We hold out our hat,… but keep on moving it around, refusing to hold it still” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1996, 2:423). This is serious business and it’s mostly laughed-off today. May we never forget, however, that “when the heart has doubts... it is also driven in a short moment to blasphemy and despair” (LW 4:144). Now if that goes un-rectified, we’ll have hell to pay for it, given the severe wretchedness of blasphemy. So doubters aren’t heroes. They’re “sheep gone astray” (LHP 2:59).

     To bring us back home and help us out of this jam, Christ sets another example for us. He remains still and keeps focused. His “steadfastness” marks him indelible (2 Thessalonians 3:5). “He set his face to go to Jerusalem” and never looked back (Luke 9:51, 13:33, 23:46). He dies on the cross rather than running from it. He sacrifices his life on it to save us from our sins (Hebrews 9:26). He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He follows God’s “definite plan” exactly (Acts 2:23). He knows that “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). The more we fiddle around, the less gets done. For “nothing can be so pointedly argued with reason which cannot also be refuted by reason” (LW 39:219). The debates are endless as we see today in what’s being disputed regarding sexual freedom (Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and the National Interest, ed. Berlant & Duggan, 2001, pp. 304311). This leaves us “hanging in doubt;” “fallen into doubt” (LW 79:81, 82). Christians, therefore, must cut this short and “confess and lament” their weakness of faith and hardness of heart, that they cannot bring the love for Christ into their hearts “with as strong a faith as they ought.” And so they have to “fight and contend against their weakness all their lives” (LW 77:46). So we also “must fight against doubt” (LW 73:392). And that’s because faith is “such a great and difficult matter!” (LW 6:10). But without Christ our battles get nowhere. He has to set the stage and send forth certainty “The Lamb of God is slain…. The true High Priest has completed His offering; the Son of God has… offered up His body and life as a payment for sin; sin has been blotted out; God’s wrath appeased; death overcome; the kingdom of heaven won and heaven opened” (LW 69:265). Those eight clear, straightforward and stunning victories give us breathing room to live for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:15). They make the impossible possible (Luke 18:27). Here, then, “is a great certainty. This certainty depends only on strong faith, which does not waver. Christ certainly will not waver. He is firm enough. We should, then, emphasize faith and exercise it with preaching, working, and suffering, so that it stands the test and becomes firm” (LW 75:203). When the church does just that, it rightly says to heretics: “Mine is the wisdom; to the Gentiles: Mine is righteousness; to the Jews: Mine is worship and piety; to death: Mine is life; to sin: Mine is peace and joy, not by myself or my own strength, but through Jesus Christ.... This is a most beautiful transformation, that the church, miserable in the eyes of men, should be so richly adorned in the eyes of God” (LW 12:261).

     Moving ahead, we in the church should then uphold that “what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). But we have to be careful here. While it’s true that “faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26), not just any works will do. We can’t forget “that there are two kinds of works: some are before and without faith; others are from and after faith. As little as nature outside of faith can be idle, and just as natural works do not make or precede nature but nature must first exist and the works be produced out of and from it, so also believing works do not make faith, but they follow and are made by faith. For this reason, the works must be present, but they do not merit or save; rather, all salvation and merit must first be present in faith” (LW 79:84). And when it is, then the work of this conviction about what’s exalted among us has its place in the Christian’s life. Much to our chagrin, the world exalts the lukewarm and moderate (Revelation 3:16). Christianity, however, calls us to fight against the evil in us and around us (1 Timothy 6:12, Ephesians 6:12).This is our constant state, for Christ, the Lord of the Church, is always “surrounded” by enemies. “In the very center, where He is, He will find the area full of enemies. There is no indication... that Christ will reign anywhere else, or that His churches will be found anywhere else, than in the midst of enemies. Who would expect such a kingdom or believe that it could endure?” (LW 13:273). No wonder, then, that were called to be godly “soldiers” (2 Timothy 2:3). And as soldiers, we wont be averse to running into danger and forgoing at least for a time our “petty little lives” (Jane Blair, Hesitation Kills: A Female Marine Officer’s Combat Experience in Iraq, 2011, pp. 133, 274). May God be with us when we do just that, as we wage this dangerous but good war (2 Corinthians 10:36) and pursue its goal which is not to doubt. Amen.


Hymn of the Day: “Thine Is the Glory” (LBW 145)

 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

The Tuomi Family

Bob Baker

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Mary Rowe

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Tery Merritt

Paul Jensen

Mira Frohnmayer

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

Hank Schmitt

Ron Combs

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. Pray for those killed and wounded in the mass shootings in Bryan, Texas, and Rock Hill, South Carolina.  And pray for those suffering from the volcano eruptions in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent. Pray also for refugees throughout the world; and for the care and keeping of our planet.

 

Birth

Averly LaRae Dike (Bonnie & Bruce Dike's sixteenth grandchild)

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “Savior, Again to Your Dear Name” (LBW 262)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lJ2RLFO7s

 




 



 

 

Professor William James

 

When I look at the religious question as it really puts itself to concrete men, and when I think of all the possibilities which both practically and theoretically it involves, then this command that we shall put a stopper on our heart, instincts, and courage, and wait – acting of course meanwhile more or less as if religion were not true – till doomsday, or till such time as our intellect and senses working together may have raked in evidence enough – this command, I say, seems to me the queerest idol ever manufactured in the philosophic cave.

 

(William James, The Will to Believe, 1896, from the Conclusion,

Volume 9 in The Works of William James, 19 Volumes,

Harvard University Press, 1975-1988.)






 







Online Easter Sunday Liturgy

April 4, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

Christ’s resurrection is certified, first of all, by the testimony of His adversaries [Matthew 28:11–15]; then, by the testimony of His friends [Luke 24:21–24]; third, by the testimony of the Lord Himself [Matthew 16:21], by revealing Himself to be alive and by showing Himself [John 20:25]; and fourth, by the testimony of the prophets and Holy Scripture [Hosea 6:2, Romans 4:25]…. Upon such testimony every Christian should joyfully and confidently rely and should believe certainly and without doubt that Christ rose from the dead on the third day.

 

Martin Luther, Sermons on John 20 (1529)

Luther’s Works 69:288




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

April 4, 2021

  

The Resurrection of Our Lord

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, you give us the joy of celebrating our Lord’s resurrection. Give us also the joys of serving you, and bring us at last to the full joy of life eternal. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. 

  

First Lesson: Isaiah 25:6–9

Psalm 118:1–24

Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 15:19–28

Gospel: Mark 16:1–8

 

Opening Hymn: “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” (LBW 151)

https://alcm.org/easter-virtual-hymn/

 




 




 

Sermon: April 4, 2021


Don't Flee
(Mark 16:8)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     The first Easter didn’t go very well. Those who found the empty tomb and heard that Jesus had risen from the dead, “fled,… for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8). That’s about it. We don’t know why they were afraid. In earlier times of trouble we’re told that they failed because “the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). If that’s the case here too, then they’d have a tough time with Easter also. For it would be hard to apprehend the eternal while dwelling on the weak flesh – on the transient and temporal (2 Corinthians 4:18). If your minds are set on earthly things, you won’t be able to appreciate what’s heavenly (Colossians 3:2, John 3:12). If death consumes you, then resurrection goes begging.

     Martin Luther understood this. Believing that we “rise from the dead after this life” is very difficult to fathom because “present appearances… belie this, with man lying under the ground, stinking like a rotting carcass” (Luther’s Works 28:98). “Death, which is the almighty empress of the entire world,… clashes against life with full force,… and what it attempts it accomplishes” (LW 26:281). “Right before our eyes... the entire world is being snatched away by death and is dying.... Great and small, young and old – in sum, all the children of men – are laid in the grave and covered one after the other. One is devoured by wild animals; another is [cut down] by the sword. This one leaves his bones [scattered along the road]; that one is burned up by fire. This one is consumed by worms in the earth; that one by [sharks] in the sea; another is eaten by the [vultures] of the air. It is indeed hard to believe.... that the human soul shall again dwell in the very same body where it had dwelt before; and that a human being shall have the very same eyes, ears, hands, and feet, except that the body with its members shall have a different substance” (LW 69:286). All of that stymies us – and Easter takes a back seat at best. Dead people just don’t live again – especially after being buried for three days. Because of that, the Easter report sounds like “a useless, inert, and powerless babbling” (LW 77:104). No wonder they fled. We would have too. “Hence the church will have this title:... Miss Hopeless. This is the way things are especially according to [our] feelings” (LW 17:242). Left only with those macabre feelings, “they rate the world as a gruesome place, where fair looks fade to a skull’s grimace” (Thomas Hardy: The Complete Poems, ed. J. Gibson, 2001, p. 208). And that squeezes Easter right out of the world.

     To rectify that, more is needed to open our eyes to the truth of Easter. Luther thought four compelling testimonies – first from the prophets of old, then the enemies of Jesus, then his friends, and finally from Jesus himself – all “certified” the truth of Christ’s resurrection (LW 69:288). But still “a greater power” is needed if we are going to take these testimonies to heart (LW 57:283). If we are going to “treasure [this] eternal blessing,” we’ll first have to despise this life so that we don’t “sink too deeply into it either with love and desire or suffering and boredom, but [instead] behave like guests on earth, using everything for a short time because of need and not for pleasure” (LW 28:52). Otherwise we will “choke” (Matthew 13:22) on the testimony in the Easter report, and flee like those wayward followers of Jesus did long ago. We need to learn to long for a “future and better life,” since this life is no life at all but only the “mortification and vexation of life” (LW 8:114–15). Much is twisted up – even the “inequality” between men and women in procreation rates (David Reich, Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past, 2018, p. 246). And nothing abides. Don’t forget Bill Hwang’s “$100 billion [that] evaporated in mere days” (K. Burton and T. Maloney, “One of the Greatest Hidden Fortunes is Wiped Out in Days,” The Seattle Times, April 1, 2021).

     But if we hold on to the testimonies of the resurrection, then we’ll be able to “strive for something other than [what] we find here on earth, something no king… can give and no scholar or doctor knows and understands” (LW 28:157). This begins when Christ transfers his “victory to us” with all of it attending power and might (LW 28:213). In that victory he bore “our sins and death, which we had justly deserved…. He stepped into our place, and… let the Law, sin, and death pounce on Him…. Now they are overcome for us…. In that way we have complete victory in Christ” (LW 28:210–11). Then we’re “made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). And that life comes to us when Christ “our Paschal Lamb” is sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7). In that sacrifice “a new covenant” is set up which redeems us from “the transgressions under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15). That’s the good news we’ve been waiting for. Now the curse is lifted, which was inflicted on us for our sins against God (Galatians 3:13). “Give up on yourself and your own powers and cling to… Christ” (LW 56:225). For “we benefit only from the precious payment… of Christ, purchased… out of His unfathomable… love, if we hold to it with firm faith” (LW 57:283). And “this is the very work of faith, to fight against sins and to slug it out with death. This is the security of the godly” (LW 17:389). Glory be to Jesus! even if this security is only held by a minority in America anymore (S. P. Bailey, “Less than Half in U. S. Say Religion is Very Important,” The Seattle Times, March 30, 2021).

     But that security must never be hoarded. We have been called to comfort others with the consolation we ourselves have received from God (2 Corinthians 1:4). And that will include more than commiseration. We must help others “take the benefit and fruit of the resurrection to heart [and] understand it rightly” (LW 56:135–36). Being imprecise and vague about this won’t work, as in – “Have you seen the gizmo with the adjustable thingamajig I use to tighten the doohickey on the whatchamacallit?” (Mike Baldwin, Cornered, January 17, 2021). So putting it correctly is important and no small task. So “boldly press forward like drunken men. [Be] full of the Holy Spirit [and] bold, that [you may] go… confidently,… rather than fearing danger” (LW 20:295). Begin with explaining that there is a desire in us “that cannot be satisfied through what is relative and perishable.” Then add that “our deepest longings will not be satisfied in this life.” That’s because “death and age [will] bring the realization of human possibilities to a screeching halt.” Herein lies the crisis that we all face. That’s because even though “we know that life is mortal, that life is fleeting,… we are loathe to acknowledge this fact.” But our aching incompleteness plagues us anyway. And that drives us to “the transformation of the present order” (Janis Rozentals, The Promise of Eternal Life, 1987, pp. 29–31).

     At that point Christ’s life matters. And it does by showing that “if the body did not decay in the earth, a new, living body would never come from it. Life must come out of death” (LW 58:123, John 12:24). And furthermore we remember that “if there was no sin, death would have no right or power over us…. Through sin, death slays us.” And it is precisely Christ’s death that shows how believers “no longer have sin” enslaving them, for even though sin still goes on, it isn’t counted against them any longer. Through faith in this miracle I then will have power to “snap my fingers at death straightaway” and be free of its torments (LW 58:156). That’s precisely where we should all want to be – defiantly snapping our fingers at death. With that defiance we’ll stand on the conviction that “the wrong shall fail, the right prevail” (Nicholas A. Basbanes, Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 2020, p. 343). Settle into that defiance by finding glory in Easter, and then thank the Lord for his goodness and mercy, so that you remain steadfast (1 Corinthians 15:57) and don’t flee. Amen.

Hymn of the Day: “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands” (LBW 134)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkmEmSksHv0


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

The Tuomi Family

Bob Baker

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Mary Rowe

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Tery Merritt

Paul Jensen

Mira Frohnmayer

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

Rick Rottman

Hank Schmitt

Ron Combs

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. Prayer for the police officer killed in Washington D. C. and his family, and the other man wounded.  Pray also for refugees throughout the world; and for the care and keeping of our planet.

 

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds” (LBW 143)




 



 

This life is horribly wretched, difficult, and troubled…. It is not life. No, it is a mortification and vexation of life. [But for those] who believe,… this life is a wandering in which they are sustained by the hope of a future and better life.

 

Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis 47 (1545)

Luther’s Works 8:114–15.






 

 







Online Good Friday Liturgy

April 2, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

 

 

We are free from the Law of God in a double way, and it ceases through Christ…. The first takes place imputatively since sins against the Law are not imputed to me and are pardoned on account of the most precious blood of the spotless Lamb, Jesus Christ, my Lord. Then it takes place by purgation since after the Holy Spirit is given to me, when I believe in Christ, He begins in me a new and eternal obedience, and I begin in earnest to hate everything that offends His name and to pursue good works. [For] Christ has taken our place [and] has once and for all paid and satisfied for us the whole debt by which we were obligated to the Law.

 

Martin Luther, Disputations (1538)

Luther’s Works 73:127

 




Online Abbreviated Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

April 2, 2021

  

Good Friday

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Lord Jesus, you carried our sins in your body on the tree so that we might have life. Grant us grace that we might find new life through your death now and in the life to come. In your name we pray. Amen.

 

  

First Lesson: Isaiah 52:13–53:12

Psalm 22:1–23

Second Lesson: Hebrews 9:15–26

Gospel: John 19:17–30

Opening Hymn: “Go to Dark Gethsemane” (LBW 109)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nzEcyItS_k

 




 




 

Sermon: April 2, 2021


Cross the Finish
(John 19:30)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Seconds before Jesus dies on the cross he tells us that it’s finished (John 19:30). But we already knew that. Nobody walks away from a crucifixion. So why are we told that it’s come to an end? Crucifixions aren’t like races that are done (2 Timothy 4:7). There could reasonably be other races or other laps coming up. And it’s the same with projects in general (Philippians 1:6). Questions remain when and if they’re really done. But not with crucifixions. So why does Jesus tell us what we already know? Well, because we actually don’t know what we think we know. For Jesus is not talking about the crucifixion itself – but what it’s about. And that had to do with more than what a passerby could see. So if we’re ever going to know, we’ll have to be told. A revelation will have to be made. And that’s exactly what we have – beginning at the cross with these cryptic words of Jesus “It is finished” and then extending throughout the rest of the Bible.

     When Jesus dies more is happening than his sheer dying – something invisible is going along with the visible crucifixion (2 Corinthians 4:18). When he dies more is accomplished than shutting him up. When he dies his life is still unfolding – like that grain of wheat, when planted, which bears “much fruit” after having been dead in the ground (John 12:24). What we have is what we can’t see. There is a fragrant offering made to God by Jesus when he dies (Ephesians 5:2). For when he dies he saves sinners from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9). Thats whats finished on the cross thats the finish line Jesus crosses when he dies. That’s the revelation we were waiting for – and yet it hides as much as it reveals. We still need to know why God was so angry. And we still need to know how the death of Jesus helps us escape from being hurt by that anger. Without those answers we really don’t know what Jesus is saying from the cross when cries out with a loud voice, “It is finished” (John 19:30). And so we’re on the search for what does not meet the eye. And thankfully it can be heard from various voices throughout the Bible.

     Of all who have lived on earth, God expected the most from us. Human beings alone were made to praise him (Isaiah 43:21). And like no other creatures, we were expected to “learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, and plead for widows” (Isaiah 1:17). God doesnt expect that from gold fish or carrots or from anything or anyone else but from us. Not even baboons and orangutans. He has these high expectations for only us, and we blew it – and we have been blowing ever since. So early on its no surprise that God even wished that wed never survived (Genesis 6:6). That’s because like sheep we all went astray (Isaiah 53:6). Good grapes were planted, but wild grapes were all that hung on the vine (Isaiah 5:2). This waywardness irreparably damaged us. And so we were helpless – there was “no balm in Gilead” (Jeremiah 8:22). The ransom for our lives was too costly (Psalm 49:7–9). And that was because our iniquity – our failures and wickedness – had created a separation from God that couldn’t be bridged (Isaiah 59:2). Being cut off from his mercies, we all languished. There is no good in us; and we don’t even want God back (Romans 7:18, 3:11). That leaves us delusory (Revelation 3:17) – and on good days, despairing (Romans 7:24).

     And there we all sat, stewing in the juices of original sin (Psalm 51:5). But when the time was right (Galatians 4:4), God had mercy on us and sent his only son, that by believing in him we might have new life now and in the life that comes after death (John 3:16, 1 Timothy 4:8). But how did God’s son, Christ Jesus our Lord, bring this about? It only could happen by the “sacrifice of himself” – then, and only then, could he be “the mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrews 9:15–26). Dying on the cross, Jesus is punished for our sins, so that they no longer separate us from God (1 Peter 2:24). Thats because God punishes Jesus instead of us. Its as if Jesus had been slapped by a giant hand” (J. M. Coetzee, The Death of Jesus, 2019, p. 50; Isaiah 53:4). So by dying on the cross, Jesus saves us from the wrath of God which our sins earned for us. This rescue was utterly necessary because for generations we had been troubled by the thought that if a man sins against God, who can intercede for him? (1 Samuel 2:25). But now the rescue has come. And by admitting our error and believing in Jesus, God freely gives us this new life. Indeed, Christ has taken our place [and] has once and for all paid and satisfied for us the whole debt by which we were obligated to the Law” (LW 73:127). But “if we do not repent but misuse his kindness and patience, his judgment will be all the more severe. We must, therefore, be careful not to be found among the calloused and unrepentant” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1996, 2:376). Then we are saved from the everlasting fires of hell (Mark 9:48, Luke 16:23, 28, 2 Thessalonians 1:9). For “even though I have been stung by the devil and his hellish poison, bitten by sin, troubled by my conscience, aware that by birth I am a child of wrath and condemned to death, nevertheless I believe and am convinced that my Lord Jesus Christ bore my sins on the cross, overcame death, and has reconciled me with my heavenly Father…. The promise of eternal life is mine. Therefore, I will joyfully put my whole trust in him” (LHP 2:221). And Christ deserves it having sacrificed Himself on the cross.... He hangs on the cross... and there dies a shameful death. He does that for the benefit of the whole human race, to redeem it from the eternal curse. Therefore, He is both the greatest and only sinner on earth, for He bears the sins of the whole world, and also the only righteous and holy One, since no one is made righteous and holy before God except through Him” (LW 58:45).

     Let us then fight to give up our selfish ways, and live for others through Christ our Lord – “for the love of Christ controls us” (Philippians 2:3, 2 Corinthians 5:14–15). And that control crushes our selfishness flat, making our will bent at God so that we are on our way to become upright, outright (The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Fourth Edition, 1970, p. 182). Then we have the goal clearly before us that Christians cannot “use their money and possessions only for themselves, for their own vain purposes, honor, sensuous desires, and pride, as we see burghers and peasants doing; it proves the axiom by which skinflints live: I have corn and bread for myself; if you want these things, then work for them” (LHP 2:361). May we give up that coarse disregard for the neighbor, may we repudiate those skinflints of old, and in honor of Christ and his sacrifice, and enriched by his death and the salvation it brings, remain through faith with Jesus until we too cross the finish. Amen

Hymn of the Day: “Ah, Holy Jesus” (LBW 123)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifRdosvMmb8


970,
 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

The Tuomi Family

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Mary Rowe

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Tery Merritt

Paul Jensen

Mira Frohnmayer

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

Rick Rottman

Hank Schmitt

Ron Combs

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed.  Pray also for refugees throughout the world; and for the care and keeping of our planet.

 

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” (LBW 117)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzoj_QrSwxc 



 


 

God found this remedy: He took the sins of all human beings and hung them all around the neck of Him who alone was without sin…. The Lord God has laid the sins of all men upon Him, so that He must bear them and make satisfaction for them…. Thus He… sacrifices Himself on the cross…. He hangs on the cross… and there dies a shameful death. He does that for the benefit of the whole human race, to redeem it from the eternal curse. Therefore, He is both the greatest and only sinner on earth, for He bears the sins of the whole world, and also the only righteous and holy One, since no one is made righteous and holy before God except through Him…. Whoever believes this possesses it.

 

Martin Luther, Sermon on Matthew 3:1–17 (1540)

Luther’s Works 58:45–46.

 






 

 







Online Holy Thursday Liturgy

April 1, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

This sacrament [trains us] to let go of all visible love, help, and comfort, and to trust in the invisible love, help, and support of Christ…. To meet it, we must, therefore, have the help of the things that are unseen and eternal…. Thus the sacrament is for us… a bridge, a door, a ship, and a stretcher, by which and in which we pass from one world into eternal life.

 

Martin Luther, The Blessed Sacrament of

the Holy and True Body of Christ (1519)

Luther’s Works 35:66




Online Abbreviated Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

April 1, 2021

  

Holy Thursday

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Lord’s Supper. May this Sacrament of your body and blood so work in us that we may be faithful witnesses to the redemption that it brings. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

  

First Lesson: Exodus 24:3–11

Psalm 116:10–17

Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 10:16–21

Gospel: Mark 14:12-26

 




 




 

Sermon: April 1, 2021


Eat & Drink Christ
(Mark 14:22-24)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     When the words are spoken over the bread and the wine that they are the body and blood of the risen Christ, they immediately become that (Mark 14:22–24). That’s why we eat and drink of them in order to “participate” in Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16). If they weren’t linked, then the consecrated bread and wine wouldn’t give us the body and blood of Jesus. But because they do, we have to be careful when we eat and drink of them. “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drink judgment upon himself” (1 Corinthians 11:29). That’s because Jesus isn’t one-dimensional, nor are his followers. Indeed, Christians are double because of Christ. They are both “the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, the other a fragrance from life to life” (2 Corinthians 4:15–16). Martin Luther was well aware of this problem – on how the sacrament can go south. And so he warned that “if you… do not feel sin, death, the world, the devil… and are not engaged in a fight or a struggle with them, [then] no need compels you to partake of the sacrament” (Luther’s Works 38:128). It’s best then to stay away from it (LW 76:443). That’s because such people “come without thinking, without decency and reverence, like a hog to the feeding trough…. They do not hunger and thirst for grace; they belittle sin, they show no improvement, they are smug and untroubled, with a clear and carefree mind. Such coarse and impenitent hearts will not find this food, even if they receive the Sacrament. It must [rather] be those who fear God, that is, those who fear His threats and His wrath and have a sorrowful and heavy heart” (LW 13:376). Those threats make us “truly... well prepared” for this sacrament (LW 35:109). This judgment “rebukes and reproves” us not to permanently defeat us, but to “make room for grace” in us (LW 25:326–27). When that happens then the bread and the wine become for us the veritable “medicine of immortality” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, 1999, §§ 1331, 1405, 1446). As such it is highly esteemed and deeply desired and longed for. But denigrating that blessing provokes God’s “anger” and brings out his “severity” against the smug and carefree (Psalm 78:58, Romans 11:22).

     The grandeur of this sacrament deserves more than our passing fancy. Luther took it very seriously – without also puffing up “the pretensions of reason” (David Pears, Motivated Irrationality, 1984, p. 257). He argues that its power hinges on those words of consecration “causing” the bread and wine to become the very body and blood of Jesus (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1996, 1:455). But that doesn’t make the consecrated bread and wine intrinsically holy or magical. We shouldn’t hoard it for medicinal reasons as mistaken and superstitious Christians have in the past (Dale B. Martin, Inventing Superstition: From the Hippocratics to the Christians, 2009). You should instead “turn your eyes away from the miracle and cling to the Word. Strive to have the benefit and fruit of the Sacrament, namely, that your sins are forgiven you” (LW 76:443). Therefore what makes the sacrament valuable is that it points to Christ wherein the power truly lies. Surely “it is a miraculous sign that Christ’s body and blood are present in the sacrament, yet they are not visibly there. It is enough for us, however, that we perceive through the Word and faith that he is there” (LW 37:337). Because we are to receive the sacrament in remembrance of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:24–25), “then surely it is instituted in his service and in his honor. [And this we do] by strengthening our faith and learning to know him” (LW 37:142).

     And what we learn is that when “the body of Christ is given and his blood poured out [then] God is reconciled” (LW 37:177). And we need that reconciliation because all of us “inherit the fall, guilt and sin [and thus we all] are born, live, and die together in sin, and would necessarily be guilty of eternal death if Jesus Christ had not come to our aid and taken upon himself this guilt and sin as an innocent lamb, paid for us by his sufferings, and if he did not intercede and plead for us as a faithful, merciful Mediator, Savior, and the only Priest and Bishop of our souls” (LW 37:362). Therefore this reconciliation grants us peace and saves us from “sin, death, God’s wrath, the devil, hell, and eternal damnation” (LW 23:404). Firmly embedded, then, in this sacrament is the crucifixion of our dear Lord Jesus that empowers it for our benefit. “Thus the sacrament is for us a ford, a bridge, a door, a ship, and a stretcher, by which and in which we pass from this world into eternal life” (LW 35:66). That shows us that “forgiveness of sin and everlasting life come from eating Christ’s flesh and drinking His blood rather than from the Law or from good works” (LW 23:171). Therefore the bread and the wine of this sacrament guide us “through death into eternal life” (LW 35:67). Rather than fixating on the bread and wine, this sacrament “reminds us... that after this life there follows another” (LHP 2:48). Indeed “the whole gospel” is nothing else than an “explanation” of this sacrament (LW 35:106). That makes this sacrament so much more than a community celebration of our life together on earth (Nigel Scotland, The New Passover: Rethinking the Lord’s Supper for Today, 2016). Luther therefore has us pray – and may this prayer on redemption indelibly mark our Holy Thursday – “O thou dear Lord God,… grant that we may so use this sacrament of thy body and blood that daily and richly we may be conscious of thy redemption. Amen” (LW 53:137). And what that redemption does is extend forgiveness to also overcome the fear of death – which is our last enemy, to which we all are in lifelong bondage (1 Corinthians 15:33, Hebrews 2:15). For “where sin is gone, death is also gone, and hell besides. Where these are gone, all misfortune is also gone, and all happiness” abides (LW 76:443). For Jesus “offers himself for us in heaven” (LW 35:99). So it must not be forgotten that “God wants to forgive our sins for the sake of His blood” (LW 76:406). This is the only joy to be found in the sacrament – a glory and a joy that come from the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (Galatians 6:14), which we “adore... as a great grace” (LW 79:93), but which “all others are ashamed of” (LW 76:321). Consequently Christians view their suffering “like a treasure and [wish] to bring it about” because it links them to the sufferings of Jesus (LW 25:291, 1 Peter 4:13).

     Because this joy and glory grant us such a powerful buoyancy (LW 4:158), we can now work in the Lord’s vineyard where many, many are needed because so few now exist (Luke 10:2). But for the renewed Christian, lethargy, moral paralysis and social apathy give way to love and service, as we “make use of [this sacrament] against lusts” (LW 29:214). And so we begin our labor with fasting to make sure that we do what we can so that our bodies are “tamed and subdued. For otherwise, when the body is full of strength, it serves as a hindrance [and] God’s Word cannot remain” (LW 56:26). Strengthened by this fasting, we then can move on to the neighbor. The Lord’s Supper in fact propels us forward into our neighborhoods. Just as Christ feeds us with himself for our salvation in this sacrament, so we must help our neighbors with their needs, by feeding them with ourselves, if you will, letting “ourselves be eaten and drunk” for their advantage. This goal is in the sacrament itself in order that “proof of love toward our neighbor may appear in us” (LW 76:444–45). You have gone to the sacrament “in a fruitful way [when it moves you] to be friendly to your enemy, to take an interest in your neighbor, and to help him bear his misery and pain” (LW 76:446). And our neighbors’ need remains considerable. Still Black Americans are kept from buying homes in white neighborhoods throughout America through a variety of illegal ways that are nearly undetectable (Dima Williams, “How to Recognize, Report Housing Discrimination,” The Seattle Times, March 28, 2021). So we’ll have to re-double our efforts that justice may “roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). Keep at this and don’t “grow weary in well-doing” (Galatians 6:9). Fight for the needy that they may receive just provisions. But how can we be sustained in this battle? Do you remember about having your will match what God wills (John 7:17)? If you do, then you’ll have “the bravery of a knight [being] aglow with the fire of love” (LW 21:192). For the poet has it right – “This faith each day deeper be my holding of, daily make me harder hope and dearer love” (The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Fourth Edition, 1970, p. 212). But be sure first to receive the sacrament, that “your faith becomes firm” (LW 79:227) and “simple hearts” prevail in the church (LW 77:55) as we all go about faithfully and simply eating and drinking Christ. Amen.


Hymn of the Day: “It Happened on That Fateful Night” (LBW 127)  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLFb-reQtdE 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

The Tuomi Family

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Mary Rowe

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Tery Merritt

Paul Jensen

Mira Frohnmayer

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

Rick Rottman

Hank Schmitt

Ron Combs

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed.  Pray also for refugees throughout the world; and for the care and keeping of our planet.

 

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 



 



 

 

Just as we have eaten and drunk the Lord Christ’s body and blood, we in turn let ourselves be eaten and drunk…. We must… speak… to our neighbors, not only with our mouths but also with our deeds, in this way: “Look, my dear brother, I have received my Lord. He is mine, and now I have enough of all fullness and to spare. So take what I have, and everything will be yours; I put it at your disposal. If it is necessary that I die for you, I will also do that.” This goal is placed before us in this Sacrament [of the Lord’s Supper], so that this proof of love toward our neighbor may appear in us.

 

Martin Luther, Sermon on Confession and the Sacrament (1524)

Luther’s Works 76:444–45.







 







Online Sunday Liturgy

March 28, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

During the Passion of Christ [the] curtain [in the temple] was torn in two from top to bottom; for the church appeared, and the synagogue came to an end.

 

(Martin Luther, Lectures on Hebrews (1518)

Luther’s Works 28:203.)

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

March 28, 2021

  

Passion Sunday

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take our flesh upon him and to suffer death on a cross. Strengthen our faith in Christ and his crucifixion that we might have eternal life. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

  

First Lesson: Zechariah 9:9–10

Psalm 31:1–16

Second Lesson: Philippians 2:5–11

Gospel: Mark 15:1-39

 

Opening Hymn: “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” (LBW 108)

 




 




 

Sermon: March 28, 2021


“Remember That Curtain”
(Mark 15:38)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     When Jesus dies on the cross the curtain in the temple is torn in two from top to bottom (Mark 15:38). What a loud ripping sound it must have been! Yet we usually pay little attention to it. That, however, is a mistake. That’s because the cross causes the tear – thereby illuminating the reasons behind it. Martin Luther drives this home. He proclaims that the cross brings Judaism “to an end” (Luther’s Works 29:203). That’s why the curtain in the temple is torn in two. That curtain in the temple stands for Judaism – the religion of the Jews that doesn’t depend on the divinity and sacrifice of Christ. So with Christ’s death, Judaism is made “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13). For Christ is “the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15). That’s important because the first covenant couldn’t save the Jews. And that’s because we are actually “justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28).

      But the first covenant thought works of the law were just fine (John 1:17). That’s why the Jews acted “abominably and foolishly” when Jesus called them to love him and follow him. And so God punished them for their unbelief. That’s why to this day “they have been wandering about in misery with hardened hearts and have lost their kingdom, priesthood, and everything…. This is what happens when someone despises God’s Word: God despises the despisers in return” (LW 69:246–47). And this opposing of the wayward isn’t vicious. Even “many animals set up actual barriers for walling off their microbial gardens [building] good fences for making good neighbors” (Ed Young, I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and the Grander View of Life, 2018, p. 86). Furthermore, we shouldn’t suppose that this punishment is just for the Jews. Luther firmly believed that when Christians are half-hearted about following Jesus (Revelation 3:16), the divine wrath inflicted on them for their smug defiance is “even worse” than what the Jews have had to suffer (LW 47:268).

     Still Luther concluded that it’s a good idea that “Judaism should die” (LW 19:104). Otherwise we might lose so great a salvation based on faith in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:3). For if Judaism were to remain viable, we could easily be enticed to become “righteous before God” through ourselves (LW 78:7). And if that were to happen we would end up making a “shipwreck” of our faith (1 Timothy 1:19). But many reject Luther’s idea and his critique of Judaism – and the Bible verses that buttress it – and think that the Jews are fine the way they are living at peace with the law. But Luther insists that “the substance of Christianity is a much nobler thing and altogether different” from what Judaism provides (LW 14:22). And he believes Judaism and Christianity cannot go together – forming some kind of a hybrid Jewish-Christian religion. “Believing and glorying in the grace of Christ and the forgiveness of sins cannot exist together with wanting to follow sin and remain in the old, former, unchristian way of life characterized by error and destructive desires” (LW 79:184). This strict view is the narrow way that brings life through Christ alone (Matthew 7:14). Even though it sounds bull-headed, it is still better than a life based on the law which doesn’t “cease manifesting our sin… and terrifying” us (LW 26:371).

     But Christ brings us a good and wholesome life with God. He sets us free from sin and brings us peace with God (Galatians 5:1, Colossians 1:20). And so we need Christ because our sin deadens us, leaving us spiritually “corpselike” (Romans 7:9, LW 3:152). But in Christ we have “abundant life” (John 10:10). When he lives in us through faith in him we become a “new creation” (Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 5:17). This is because of the power he brings from dying on the cross. When he’s crucified, he “stepped into our need and misery, Himself became a man, and took such dread, eternal wrath on Himself, and for it He offered His own body, life, and blood as an offering and payment for sin. He… made satisfaction, and paid for us” (LW 57:283). Doing so he extends power to us to “die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). Doing so he acquires that power from God to bless us by saving us from the divine wrath. “Eternal death and God’s wrath take us by the throat; we are never at peace but constantly plagued in body and soul here on earth, making it an enormous, woeful, fear-ridden kingdom of the devil” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1:111). Indeed this earth is a place where in some countries we’re allowed “to be foolish so often” (Chris Stirewalt, Every Man a King, 2018, p. 113). So when Jesus saves us from the wrath of God it’s a big deal (Romans 5:9, Galatians 6:14). That’s true for us even though “the cross… is the basest thing in the world’s eyes” (LW 67:117). Therefore Luther, in one of his Christmas sermons, puts these words into God’s mouth that “this child was not given only to the mother so that she might supply Him with milk, but for you, so that He might die and deliver you from My wrath” (LW 58:194). May that deliverance never look to us like the worst thing on earth. May we never fixate on Jesus “looking real Petered out” on the cross (Lawrence Ferlinghetti, A Coney Island of the Mind, 1958, p. 16). May his deliverance instead be our everlasting joy!

     Filled with that joy, may we also keep reminding the Jews about Jesus even when they mock our faith (LW 58:48). “Although few [be] moved,... still let us sound forth the voice of the Gospel and bear witness that the crucified and risen Jesus Christ,... truly is the Son of God and the Savior, and let us curse all the errors that conflict with the Gospel” (LW 60:291). Thats because we love not only Christ but also the Jews. And because we love Christ so earnestly we even favor the company of an honest infidel to that of a phony Christian (D. Applegate, The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, 2006, p. 214). We therefore dont hate the Jews because their religion failed and was part of a pernicious error (Roy H. Schoeman, Salvation is From the Jews, 2003, p. 353). We instead honor them for what we have received from God through them – the covenants, the law, the worship, the promises, the patriarchs, “and the Christ according to the flesh” (Romans 9:4–5). And so we must not stop inviting them to baptism and belief in the name of Jesus. For Gods call to them lasts until the end of the world. Its “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). We shouldn’t, however, reduce Christianity so that they’ll go for it. We have to be honest. So we must give them “the whole counsel” of God from Holy Scriptures (Acts 20:27).
      We have to tell the Jews that “nothing more is needed to be saved than faith in the Savior; circumcision adds nothing” (LW 56:49). We have to tell them that when Christ was hanging on the cross, he threatened “not only the Jews but also the entire world of all times for holding the Son of God in contempt” (LW 60:291). We have to tell them that if they believe in Christ they too can have eternal life, but if they don’t, then “the wrath of God” rests on them (John 3:36). We have to tell them the truth “for we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Corinthians 13:8). So if they denigrate Christ, Luther says, “I would have to say good-bye, for that would be an offense against the Gospel and faith and not to be tolerated. Whoever might wish to believe, let him believe; whoever might not, let him refrain. I would have done my part” (LW 56:49). May we then be sure to tell them about their sin, hoping that they, like some of their ancestors of old, would be “cut to the heart” and repent (Acts 2:37). And when you do tell our Jewish brothers and sisters all of these many things, may you ever remember that curtain from long ago, as you hear again the sound of it being torn completely in two. Amen.

Hymn of the Day:  “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” (LBW 482)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDkuxEIcpdI


 



Litany on the Boulder Shooting,

March 22, 2021

 

First Lutheran Church of West Seattle

March 28, 2021

 

Let us pray for all those grieving for loved ones who were among the murdered in the mass shootings last Monday at the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for those who came to the aid of those under attack. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for those killed in this shooting. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all those who survived, that they may be comforted and healed of their terrible memories. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the family and friends of the killer – in their sadness and shame. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the city of Boulder, and all the towns in Colorado and the entire USA – that they may be civilized and peaceful places to live and work. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us pray for the angry and unstable who all too quickly resort to violence as a means of solving their problems, that they may find peaceful ways to settle what’s troubling them. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, let us thank God for his goodness and mercy, for those kept safe during the shooting, and for the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus, when he comes again in judgment (John 5:26–29, 16:33), to rescue the righteous, condemn the wicked, and bring violence and evil to an end, once and for all.

 

GLORY BE TO JESUS, OUR MERCIFUL LORD AND SAVIOR! AMEN.

 




 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

The Tuomi Family

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Mary Rowe

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Savanna & Hank Todd

Tery Merritt

Karen Leidholm

Paul Jensen

Pat Hard

Mira Frohnmayer

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

Rick Rottman

Hank Schmitt

Ron Combs

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed.  Pray also for the southeastern states suffering from severe weather; for refugees throughout the world; and for the care and keeping of our planet.

 

Death

Sheila Feichtner

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn:  “Praise and Thanks and Adoration” (LBW 470)

 



 



 

When we say that God’s Son became man, of the same nature as we are, in order to redeem us from sin and death and bring us eternal life without any of our merit and cooperation, we give [the] Jews… reason to laugh. [For that] is a very absurd assertion according to human wisdom…. [It states that God] is gracious to the righteous and obedient, but punishes and condemns the disobedient…. [But] these are nothing but heathen thoughts taken from earthly, worldly life and affairs…. From God’s Word we [instead] have the wisdom that no one can be righteous before God through himself, but everything we live and do is under wrath and condemned, because we are born completely in sin and by nature are disobedient to God….What avails is hearing and knowing God’s counsel, will, and intention. No one can tell you this from his own head; no book on earth can teach this except the one Word and Scripture given by God Himself, which tells us that He sent His Son into the world to redeem it from sin and God’s wrath, so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.

 

(Luther’s Works 78:7–8.)

 







 

 







Online Sunday Liturgy

March 21, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

“Man is not commanded to love himself.”

 

(Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans (1518),

Luther’s Works 25:513.)

 

 

 

 

“In all the Bible there is no

command to love self.”

 

(James R. Edwards, Romans, 1992, p. 313)

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

March 21, 2021

  

 

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Our Creator and Redeemer, we have failed to witness to your kingdom. Renew us with your Holy Spirit that we may faithfully proclaim your forgiveness, love and hope. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. 

  

First Lesson: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Psalm 51:11–16

Second Lesson: Hebrews 5:7–9

Gospel: John 12:20-33

 

Opening Hymn: “Glory Be to Jesus” (LBW 95)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOTTBL5UQE8

 




 




 

Sermon: March 21, 2021


“Hate Yourself”
(John 12:25)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Listen to these three statements about love and hate from the Bible. We are to hate ourselves but not others (John 12:25, 1 John 4:20). God can love the world but we must not (John 3:16, 1 John 2:15). We are to “hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9).

     So what do you make of them? Are they all clear and sensible to you? Or are they confusing? Do you wonder why we don’t just love everyone and everything and leave it at that? Martin Luther thought that would be fine if it weren’t for sin. But sin ruins everything. Sin is rebellion against God and his law. So sin is defined as lawlessness (1 John 3:4). And that lawlessness leads to unbelief – making sin also “whatever does not proceed from faith” (Romans 14:23). That double definition of sin plagues us. It ruins us. No wonder God “abhors” us (Leviticus 26:30). No wonder God wants to “destroy… sinners” (Isaiah 14:9). Therefore Luther concludes that “there is nothing to hate but sin” (Luther’s Works 14:162). That’s why we are to hate ourselves – because when we sin we become sinners. This hate doesn’t mean sticking a needle in your eye. It instead means detesting your lawlessness and unbelief. So self-hatred for Christians has to do with “spiritual life and spiritual affairs,” focusing on our hearts – so it’s “in the presence of God… where you… deny yourself, and forsake all” (LW 21:90). Our hearts are “deceitful above all things and desperately corrupt” (Jeremiah 17:9). No wonder then we’re looking for “gigantic forepleasure lives” (James Dickey, Poems 1956-1967, 1967, p. 259). So if we think that we can make improvements by negotiating with contenders we betray “a profound ignorance of the human heart” (Robert Elder, Calhoun: American Heretic, 2021, p. 272).

     Acknowledging this deep corruption shows that “we are nothing” because of what sin has done to us (LW 4:55). Nothing good is in us (Romans 7:18). Self-hatred then isn’t such a problem because there isn’t anything to defend because we’re nothing. “I am nothing,” says the Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 12:11). And we should say the same in order to hate ourselves. Hating ourselves is for giving all the glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31). In fact, were no longer even alive – but only Christ is alive in us (Galatians 2:20). That’s our “new creation.” “The old has passed away, behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is our rebirth – being born again, after our physical births, this time being born “of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). It’s the birth of our transformed minds, you could say (Romans 12:2). It happens when Jesus chooses us “out of the world” (John 15:19). It’s what changes us from being happy earthly residents (Luke 12:19), to “aliens and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11). Then we’re “fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Corinthians 4:10). Which makes us in favor of “turning the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). That’s because we’re against people living “for themselves,” as worldly folks do (2 Corinthians 5:15).

     This transformation changes the way we love. Loving ourselves, pleasure, money and the world are out (John 12:25, 2 Timothy 3:4, 1 Timothy 6:10, 1 John 2:15). Loving God, our neighbors and our enemies are in (Matthew 22:37, 1 John 4:20, Matthew 5:44). Because we are defiled from within (Mark 7:20–21), our love is fouled-up. We don’t love correctly because were distorted inside. Weve been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). So our love is mixed-up and backwards. Luther thought it was marked by “hellish wickedness” (LW 77:379). That’s because left to ourselves we love what we shouldn’t. Luther thought we excelled at “making right wrong and wrong right by all sorts of clever artifices and queer tricks” (LW 21:115). So hating ourselves is in order because our love is wrong. And so we ought to be “displeasing… to ourselves” (LW 27:181). This fight with ourselves over right and wrong love shares traits with the most massive and vicious war on this planet: that between bacteria and the viruses known as bacteriophages” (Walter Isaacson, The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, 2021, p. 75).

     Luther also knew how difficult and massive this war was. He knew that when “the preacher declares we are nothing,” a great cry will go out that were “going too far” (LW 23:157). For we continue to believe that we are fine (Revelation 3:17). We deny sin, “justify it [and] reject all reproof.” We are that “steeped in darkness” (LW 22:399, 391). Opposing the challenge to hate ourselves, we even take up the life of the rich man who “feasted sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19). We desire “exquisite food and magnificent clothing.” We want them, we cling to them, we choose them. We get all our “joy, delight [and] pleasure” from them. We use them to serve ourselves (LW 78:56). These mistakes make us unsound “from the sole of the foot even to the head” (Isaiah 1:6). We are thereby “enveloped by darkness” and “shut up in... universal darkness” (LW 22:390, 30:226). That’s why those who reject God end up with “a thick mire” (The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1984, p. 12). So Saint Augustine’s great book, The City of God, from AD 427, argued long ago that “the earthly city is formed by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; [but] the heavenly city by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord” (The City of God, §14.28). These two ways are at war within us. Which way we go is left up to God and our own frightful struggle (Romans 9:18, Philippians 2:12). In the face of our corruption and resistance, we cry out – “Does this not break your heart?... Does this not make you weep?” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 2:191).

     But sadness isn’t all there is. Christ also enters our lives to fight for us, and by his suffering for us, becomes “the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9, 1 John 3:8). That’s because by the shedding of his blood on the cross he saves us from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9). This rescue is monumental. For Luther is right that it “cannot be any trifling wrath of God when we hear that no other sacrifice can stand up to this or compensate for sin except the only Son of God…. This sacrifice is presented to us so that we can have sure and true comfort against our sins, for in this you can see and comprehend that He does not want you to be lost because of your sin, because He gives you this sacrifice as the highest and most costly pledge of His grace and your salvation” (LW 77:19–20). And we need this grace desperately because our problems all boil down to this one – that “there is no greater sin in the world than that of unbelief. Other sins in the world are mere fleabites in comparison, like when [youngsters] go poop in the corner and we laugh at this as if it were something cute and okay” (LHP 2:192). But loving ourselves and opposing Jesus aren’t like little fleabites (Luke 2:34, Philippians 3:18). For “it is imperative to remain solely with the Person Christ. If you have that, you have all; but if you lose that, you have lost all…. In Christ you have the bread of life. He can give you eternal life, deliver you from death, and take the devil captive. You must trust that Christ is the Fountainhead of life, and that God has poured all His gifts, His will, and eternal life into Christ and has directed man to Him” (LW 23:55).

     So take this word about Christ to heart that it may regulate your life – in verbo esse debent, as Luther’s original Latin has it (LW 17:144). That means to go “where you do not wish to go” (John 21:19; Raymond E. Brown. John XIII-XXI, 1970, p. 1107). And may that debent, or regulation, include fasting during Lent, which is about depriving yourself of some of the foods you especially like. Now thats surely something we do not wish to do. But it is still important to do because our interior crookedness leaves us with “a taste for nothing but earthly things” (LW 16:34). So fast in order to upend that wicked constraint of “a closed immanent order” (Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, 2007, p. 774). The followers of Christ are supposed to look to things that are above” – and not be absorbed by the earthly (Colossians 3:2). And so they are to fast – but without making it more important than the Lord himself (Matthew 9:15). But fast nevertheless – being sure to keep the love of the Lord first while doing so (Matthew 6:33). Make sure that the visible, transient things of life dont deprive you from that eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:1718). So fast, and when you do, remember that this is one of the ways you have to love as you should and so learn properly how to hate yourself. Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day:  “My Song is Love Unknown” (LBW 94)

 


 



Litany on the Atlanta Shooting

March 16, 2021

 

First Lutheran Church of West Seattle

March 21, 2021

 

Let us pray for all those grieving for loved ones who were among the murdered in the mass shootings last Tuesday at three spas in and around Atlanta, Georgia. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for those who came to the aid of those attacked. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for those killed in this shooting. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all those who survived, that they may be comforted and healed of their terrible memories. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the family and friends of the killer – in their sadness and shame. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the city of Atlanta and its suburbs, and all the towns in Georgia and the entire USA – that they may be civilized and peaceful places to live and work. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us pray for the angry and unstable who all too quickly resort to violence as a means of solving their problems, that they may find peaceful ways to settle what’s troubling them. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, let us thank God for his goodness and mercy, for those kept safe during the shooting, and for the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus, when he comes again in judgment (John 5:26–29, 16:33), to rescue the righteous, condemn the wicked, and bring violence and evil to an end, once and for all.

 

GLORY BE TO JESUS, OUR MERCIFUL LORD AND SAVIOR! AMEN.

 




 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

The Tuomi Family

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Mary Rowe

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Savanna & Hank Todd

Tery Merritt

Karen Leidholm

Paul Jensen

Pat Hard

Mira Frohnmayer

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

Rick Rottman

Hank Schmitt

Ron Combs

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. 

 

Birth

Millie Alice Todd (Jane Collins' grand-niece)

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn:  “Praise and Thanks and Adoration” (LBW 470)

 



 



 

 

 

Men…. are alienated from the truth, they are of necessity filled with lying and with hatred of the truth…. And according to Scriptural usage, it is almost a reproach to be called a man…. For this reason Psalm 53:5 truthfully says: “God will scatter the bones of those who please men; they are confounded, because God has rejected them.” Why? Because, so long as they fear persecution, they deny God and His Word out of love for men. [But God guards] those who are displeasing to men…. But since we, too, are men, it is necessary that we be displeasing also to ourselves, in keeping with the Word of Christ: “He who loves his life will lose it” (John 12:25)…. Therefore… it is to be lamented whenever it happens that we human beings are praised as possessing reason, because of our free will, and, in short, because of all our works, since… it is impossible for one who pleases himself or men to be a servant of Christ [Galatians 1:10].

 

(Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians (1519)

Luther’s Works 27:181.)

 







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

March 14, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

Christ declares [in John 3:14] that He is the true serpent, typified by that serpent in the wilderness [Numbers 21:8], and that this serpent must be viewed with spiritual sight, namely, with faith. At that time the Israelites had to believe the Word from heaven; their faith did not pertain to the serpent but to Him who spoke…. That bronze serpent was the image of Christ. Here we are appraised of the terms and the purpose of our relationship to Christ. We are told that we must not merely hear Christ but that we must also believe in this serpent, Christ, who bestows eternal life on all those who believe in Him.

 

(Martin Luther, Sermons on John 3 (1538),

Luther’s Works 22:348–49.)

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

March 14, 2021

  

 

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Merciful Father, by your power to heal and to forgive, graciously cleanse us from all sin and make us strong. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

  

First Lesson: Numbers 21:4-9

Psalm 27:1–9

Second Lesson: Ephesians 2:4-10 

Gospel: John 3:14-21

 

Opening Hymn: “Christ, the Life of All the Living” (LBW 97)

 




 




 

Sermon: March 14, 2021


“Thank God for the Snake”
(Numbers 21:8)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Jesus thought he was a dead snake – for as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, “so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14). That led Martin Luther to say – “that bronze serpent was an image of Christ” (Luther’s Works 22:349). So Jesus takes us back to Moses interceding for Israel when God sent poisonous snakes to kill them for disobeying him. God answered Moses by saying to put a bronze snake on a pole and if a serpent “bit any man, he [could] look at the bronze serpent and live” (Numbers 21:9). So time collapses on the cross. What happened long before in the desert happens again at the crucifixion. It’s a time warp. But nobody was looking for a repetition of that. It was too “strange and odd” for that to come around again (LW 22:338). For how can a bronze snake save somebody from poisonous snake bites? Just think about it. “The poor people who had to lie among the fiery serpents were not helped at all, even though they tried all the medicine they could find, but only became worse the more they labored and struck the serpents” (LW 78:53). Furthermore, “you will never be able to stare those serpents away. Rather take a pair of tongs or other tools and use force to drive the serpents away. What a great idea to look at the serpent! Even a cow could stare at the serpent – but how could that help her? Looking or gazing at an object seems so silly. It is an easy task to perform…. But believing that this simple and superficial opening of the eyes and looking at the pole and the bronze serpent should have healing power against the snakes’ venom – this is difficult” (LW 22:349). But against this we know that “the healing lay not in looking at it but in the command from God that they should look at the serpent and in the promise of deliverance” (LW 1:227). Even so we still hope “if only you would, instead, give us a drink, a cooling plaster, a cooling drink, to take away the venom and fever! What good can mere words and looking do? How can that dead and lifeless object up there benefit us?” (LW 22:339). And so we’re left incredulous.

     But you better not stay that way because “sin is a hot, poisonous bite and sting, which attacks the conscience so that there is never any rest. Sin chases and propels death, and death chases the man, so that there is nothing except genuine hell” (LW 78:51). And you also better not stay incredulous because “it is characteristic of our God to perform great things through insignificant, humble, and odd means” (LW 22:349). So don’t be put off by the offense of it all (John 6:61). You wouldn’t want to miss out on the miracle – thinking we can get no more from God than the metaphysically acceptable and modest “patterned intensity of feeling arising from adjusted contrasts” (Stephen Lee Ely, The Religious Availability of Whitehead’s God, 1942, p. 25). No, we have more than that. God’s only son, Christ Jesus, “condemned sin with sin, drove away death with death, overcame Law with Law. How did he do this? He became a sinner on the cross with the title, ‘in the midst of the evildoers.’ As an archcriminal He suffered the judgment and punishment a sinner ought to suffer. He was innocent… and yet the… punishment actually fell on Him. So just in that way – that He loaded the sin onto Himself, which was not His, and let Himself be judged and condemned as an evildoer – He blotted out sin” (LW 78:52). Now that’s some miracle alright. So be humbled by it (Luke 18:14) – and “believe in the serpent, Christ, who bestows eternal life on all those who believe in Him” (LW 22:349). Without Christ and his sacrifice our lives will end poorly, and our funerals will leave much to be desired. The poet, Charles Causley (1917–2003), well describes such a paltry funeral (Collected Poems, Revised Edition, 2000, p. 144):

                  The parson boomed like a dockyard gun at a christening,

                  Somebody read from the bible. It seemed hours.

                  I got the feeling you were curled up inside the box, listening.

                  There was the thud of hymn-books, the stench of flowers.

True faith, however, brings much more consolation (2 Corinthians 1:3–7). It “does not doubt; it yields its whole heart to the conviction that the Son of God was given into death for us, that sin is remitted, that death is destroyed, and that evils have been done away with – but, more than this, that eternal life, salvation, and glory, yes, God Himself have been restored to us, and that through the Son, God has made us His children” (LW 22:369). “Through death Christ… destroys him who has the power of death [and] gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Hebrews 2:14, Ephesians 5:2). “Through this substitution Christ atones for my sins and takes away from me the wrath of the Father. The living, fiery serpent is within me, for I am a sinner, but in him is a dead serpent – provided I have faith in Christ” (Ronald F. Marshall, “Our Serpent of Salvation: The Offense of Jesus in John’s Gospel,” Word & World, Fall 2001, p. 388). Through this sacrificial gift we have life and death is no longer our worst enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). And we rejoice because we cannot handle death ourselves. For “being brave lets no one off the grave” (Philip Larkin, The Complete Poems, ed. Archie Burnett, 2012, p. 116).

     But watch out. That bronze serpent of old has a name – Nehushtan – and so it had to be destroyed (2 Kings 18:4). The reason was that it “degenerated into error and superstition” (LW 43:157). People decided to worship it but they “must not worship” it (LW 51:82). And yet they did it anyway thinking it was medicinal in and of itself. So they broke the commandment against graven images (Exodus 20:4). They side-stepped faith and fixated on the pole in the desert. But that didn’t help anyone. Today is no different, but for other reasons. Today we see it in those who are distracted by snake handling in Mark 16 and conclude that if you dont handle rattlesnakes in church then you’re “going to hell.” But this is to mistake risking snake bites for the “extreme dangers” imbedded in following the words of Holy Scripture about “opposing the devil, the world, the flesh, and all evil” (Ronald F. Marshall, “Taking Up Snakes in Worship,” The Bride of Christ, November 1996, pp. 20, 41). So let us learn from these foibles and steer clear of them (1 Corinthians 10:6). For we need this stricter view if the church is ever to become “half as large and twice as strong” (“Our Serpent of Salvation,” p. 393). May we then see Christ in the bronze serpent, and not the other way around. Then his death will be the only medicine to save us for eternity (2 Corinthians 4:10, Matthew 8:17). Then you’ll hanker after Christ crucified as well as preached above all else (1 Corinthians 2:2). Then you’ll share his death as worthy of all the glory, because it alone crucifies the world to you and then you to the world (Galatians 6:14). That frees you from yourself so that you can live for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:15). Then Christ’s words will guide your steps all the days of your life (Colossians 3:16, 1 Peter 2:21). Then the way that Christ is a snake will become clear to you that the offensive serpent is none other than “Christ crucified” (LW 30:253). “Concern yourself solely with the death of Christ and then you will find life” (LW 42:104). And then you will, with Luther, also “believe in this serpent, Christ” (LW 22:349). You indeed will, as you surely should, give thanks to God for your weird salvation and even for that snake. Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day:  “What Wondrous Love Is This” (LBW 385)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re1EtfbOcp4

 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

The Tuomi Family

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Savanna & Hank Todd

Tery Merritt

Karen Leidholm

Paul Jensen

Pat Hard

Mira Frohnmayer

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

Regina Waller

Dan Wiseman

Dan Kennedy

Robert Peters

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. Pray also for Texas and other southern states suffering from power outages and contaminated water supplies.

 

Deaths

Anelma Meeks

Ken Cesmat

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn:  “Salvation unto Us Has Come” (LBW 297)

 



 



 

What [inspires] snake handlers [to follow Mark 16:17–20 and] take up poisonous serpents with their hands in church? [They do so] to combat a hostile and spiritually dead culture. In order to guard their Christian faith, they threw up defenses. When their own resources failed, they called down the Holy Ghost. They put their hands through fire. They drank poison. They took up serpents…. Taking up poisonous snakes is like a new monasticism. It tries to overcome the damage done to Christianity through the [avoidance] of insecurity. But… there does not seem to be sufficient reason for pursuing such reckless endangerment [and saying] that if you don’t handle rattlesnakes, you [are] going to hell…. The paradox of Christianity… is that only in losing ourselves do we find ourselves, and perhaps that’s why photos of [snake] handlers so often seem to be portraits of loss…. These handlers depend on the testimony of Holy Scriptures, and yet… the germane verse… in Luke 10:19… is ignored: Do not rejoice in [treading on serpents] but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. [That should have led them] to quit making a big deal out of taking up poisonous snakes…. [They say they would] no more give up serpent handling than… praying for the sick. Such devotion seems beyond what Scripture requires. Yet [snake handlers] believe in [the] signs [regarding handling snakes in Mark 16:17–20]. [Yet] saying [that] these signs truly occur [does not mean that we should believe in them given Matthew 12:38–41]…. Martin Luther explains the… inconsistency between… Mark 16 and Matthew 12: “Those visible wonders in Mark 16 were only signs to the ignorant unbelievers…. Through Christ greater wonders are done…. In a great city a little flock of Christians is kept… in true faith, notwithstanding that more than a hundred thousand devils are turned loose upon them…. For the heathen, outward, tangible signs were necessary. Christians, however, behold spiritual signs.” For Luther, Mark 16 gives way to Matthew 12…. Another problem with this practice is its apparent violation of Matthew 4:17, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” [As Luther again says]: “You must use the things given… to you by God in His kindness. You must rule, work, and strive not to tempt God. You must not throw yourself headlong into danger”…. [Yet what’s] of durable importance here [is that] madness and religion are a hair’s breadth away. Feeling after God is dangerous business. And Christianity without passion, danger, and mystery may not really be Christianity at all. This idea is clearly there when snakes are handled in worship…. That these themes have been neglected among churches saturated with… middle-class respectability is a shame. Taking up this danger again will not be easy…. Short of [the] actual handling of poisonous snakes [would be taking] up the dramatic power of the challenges that are in the words of Holy Scriptures…. [So] Luther says that “whenever Holy Scriptures use words like ‘announce the praise of God’ or ‘His righteousness,’ you should remember that at the same time they imply extreme dangers, because speaking the praise of God means opposing the devil, the world, the flesh, and all evil. How will you praise God unless you have first accused and condemned the whole world with its righteousness? Whoever does this draws not only hate but open danger.” Inasmuch as snake-handling in church promotes this open danger Luther describes, then its witness has been edifying, and for it we must thank God.

 

(Ronald F. Marshall, “Taking Up Snakes in Worship,” The Bride of Christ,

November 1996, pp. 20–23, 41.)

 







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

March 7, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

On the Chamber Door to the United State Supreme Court

in Washington, D. C.

The Decalogue [or Ten Commandments] does not belong to the Law of Moses, nor was he the first to give it, but the Decalogue belongs to the whole world; it is inscribed and engraved on the minds of all human beings from the foundation of the world (Romans 2:15).

 

Martin Luther, Disputations (1539)

Luther’s Works 73:156.




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

March 7, 2021

  

 

The Third Sunday in Lent

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Eternal Lord, your kingdom has broken into our evil world through your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Help us to hear your Word and keep it, so that we may be your steadfast disciples. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. 

  

First Lesson: Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19:7–14

Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 1:22–25 

Gospel: John 2:13-22

 

Opening Hymn: “Sing Praise to God, the Highest Good” (LBW 542)

 




 




 

Sermon: March 7, 2021


“Keep the Commandments”
(Exodus 20:6)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     When we hear God’s law it sounds awful – screeching with an “unpleasant,… doleful and deadly voice,” like a raven cawing. Or so Martin Luther thought (Luther’s Works 2:160–61). “Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” (Five Man Electrical Band, “Signs,” 1970). The law is so pushy. It “deals with us very harshly” (LW 73:106). We grow weary with the world “continually urging… and saying, ‘Do, do, do’” (LW 56:44). Indeed, “the law is a word of death, a doctrine of wrath, a light of sadness” (LW 76:48). It’s “an unkind, inhumane doctrine that glowers at the people and appalls them” (LW 58:199).

     Why then should we keep the law (Exodus 20:6)? And how can we sing out – “Oh, how I love your law!” (Psalm 119:97)? How can the law give us “heartfelt pleasure” (LW 75:144)? For “the heart always remains hostile to the Law and strives against it with inward disobedience” (LW 77:230). What’s lovable about the law – that we should love it? Well, it’s what preserves life among us. That’s why we should love it. We’re “roused by the Law” in order to live properly (LW 73:223). Without the law corralling us in, we’d be devouring each other. There’d be only mayhem in our cities and families, in the air and on the seas. We need the law to “restrain the ungodly” (LW 73:171). And the “whole world” needs this – not just believers in God (LW 73:156). So it is God’s law that gives us life that we may “walk at liberty” (Psalm 119:93, 44). Otherwise all that we would have is chaos abounding.

     But for all of that godly order, and benefit provided, the law still wanes. We need more than it can give. For all of the good that the law does, it still “does not make me a better person; it does not make me loving or hopeful or obedient. Indeed, it cannot. For by itself it cannot do anything but afflict, ruin, and alarm consciences” (LW 73:134). This humbles us, and that’s good (LW 73:82). But humble people are not good people in the eyes of God. So the law knows when to refer to another. It knows when to ask for help. It knows its limits. It knows what it cannot do (Romans 8:3). And the only way that we can walk in newness of life is if we “die to sin and live to righteousness” – something which the law cannot provide. No, the only way that this can come about is if a pure sacrifice is made to God by bearing our sins and being punished in our place for them (1 Peter 1:19, 2:24). As the end of the law (Romans 10:4), this is precisely what Jesus does for us when he is crucified – putting away sin “by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). His death for our sins “cancels” the legal debt against us for violating God’s holy law through our rebellion and transgression of those sacred limits (Colossians 2:14). Having “confidence in the law [to make us better people] is vain and stupid” (LW 25:350). Only Jesus can do this (Acts 4:12, John 14:6). In him “I can... begin to love God and my neighbor. Where I still lack and fail, I have a precious umbrella in Christ who shades me.... [I used to think] that it was up to me to keep the Law; now I realize that’s impossible for me.... Under Christ, my umbrella, I am always covered; and so, I am as pure and innocent as the sun, but always on account of Christ in whom I believe” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1996, 1:186). So look to Jesus and believe in him (Hebrews 12:2). Because we are all “transgressors of the Law and under sin, [whoever wants] to be freed… should believe in Christ” (LW 73:104).

     What makes the law “noble” is not that it saves us from being punished in hell for our sins, but that it “drew down Christ from heaven” to die for us (LW 73:112). “We have been visited graciously and redeemed with a great price” (LHP 1:474). Indeed, “the Law’s glory… should only shine until you are humbled and driven to desire the sweet face of Christ” (LW 79:36). For when “Christ is present, the Law loses its power” (LW 73:78). Mercy and grace are then “lavished upon us” (John 1:17, Ephesians 1:8). “Christ has taken our place, and He makes good what we lack and by His blood erases the… decree that stood against us, until finally the Law has been satisfied by one in the place of us all” (LW 73:127). “His pain is my comfort; his wounds, my healing; his punishment, my redemption; his death, my life” (LHP 1:474). Therefore “Christ… makes the Law… delightful and sweet” (LW 73:90). But that’s not because the law now saves us through Christ. No, it’s rather because it will now “teach you [how to] be wise and not careless” in leading your Christian lives (LW 58:300). And we need that because when help wanes and withdraws, “the world resumes its old flaws, and things are again mismatched and misplaced and the cruelty of men is tempered only by laws” (Mark Strand, Dark Harbor: A Poem, 1993, 2012, p. 30).

     And so in our Christian lives, focused on believing in and following Jesus, we should “keep the Law, and yet not trust in it” (LW 77:387). For the law helps us “walk by the Spirit” – but not also gain salvation by so doing (Galatians 5:25). If you have no interest in making “every effort to supplement your faith with virtue” (2 Peter 1:5), then only “pure Law… is to be preached” to you in order to instill in you the “fear of God’s wrath” (LW 78:217). But if you’re geared in by the wonders of faith in Jesus to living a sober, upright, and godly life, being “zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:12–14), then the law is your “kind friend and companion” (LW 76:15). So take it to heart and learn from it about how to live righteously.

     “All the wisdom” from the Bible about living righteously follows from the first commandment (LW 51:140) – that we are to have no other gods than the one true God of Israel (Exodus 20:3). That first commandment is our north star. It tells us that we are to trust in God “and in no one else” (LW 44:30). That radical freedom gives us power to set aside ourselves and to care for others. Without it we are hopelessly selfish and ungrateful. That leads to the next commandment about not misusing God’s name (Exodus 20:7). That means not cursing or teaching falsely in his name (LW 51:144). This is important because by so doing we’ll be disabused from seeking a name for ourselves (LW 44:42). And that modesty leads to the third commandment about keeping the Sabbath day holy (Exodus 20:8). In it we’re trained to “give all glory to God alone” (LW 44:79). That comes about by “earnestly and reverently [hearing] God’s Word” as we worship weekly (LW 51:144). No room here for critical evaluations of Holy Scriptures. Instead we are to hear God’s word and to keep it (Luke 11:28). That’s because we are to accept it “not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

     The rest of the commandments are about helping each other. The first is about honoring our parents (Exodus 20:12). That’s not because they brought us into the world or because they are our elders. It’s rather because they are to instill in us God’s deep truths – that we are to “neither fear death nor love this life” (LW 44:85). Only those truths make them honorable – because they too are sinners like the rest of us (Romans 3:23). Next is the law about not killing others (Exodus 20:13). This command doesn’t prohibit stopping wrong doers (Romans 13:4). It’s rather against gratuitous murder and vengeance (Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30) – as well as mean-spiritedness (Matthew 5:22–26). Neither are we to break our marriage vows and be sexually promiscuous (Exodus 20:14, Matthew 5:27–30). Struggling against lust enjoys no “peace and quiet” (LW 44:106). It’s a life-long battle. The next commandment is also difficult to keep – don’t steal (Exodus 20:15). That’s because it’s about the larger concerns to “work faithfully and sell your things fairly” (LW 51:158). Most think it’s confined to petty larceny. Even so Luther thinks that this law still would have us sing – “Open thou wide thy kindly hand to the poor man in thy land” (LW 53:279). And the commandment against lying is broader than usually thought as well. It allows for deceiving enemies to protect the innocent (Joshua 2:4, Matthew 1:5). But it also covers treating others the way you would like to be treated (LW 44:110) – a law we call the golden rule (Matthew 7:12). Finally there’s the law against coveting – or wanting what others have (Exodus 20:17). This is wrong because life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions (Luke 12:15). So don’t labor for the food which perishes (John 6:27). Instead lay up for yourselves “treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). Luther believed that breaking this law had to do with “a more subtle kind of fraud.” Take your neighbor’s fine house, for example. The coveter doesn’t “steal it, of course; but he employs dodges and devises in order to get possession of it” (LW 51:160). So be warned of being “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin,” as well as being taken in by its “fleeting pleasures” (Hebrews 3:13, 11:25). All of these commandments are designed to help you do just that.

     And so keeping these laws will help you be Christian. That’s because being Christian means being “a different man than a reasonable heathen and an intelligent, worldly man” (LW 77:117). It means that you struggle to obey God and his laws. May his power fill you as you fight with all your might to keep the commandments. Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day: “O God of Earth and Altar” (LBW 428)

 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

The Tuomi Family

Anelma Meeks

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Savanna & Hank Todd

Tery Merritt

Karen Leidholm

Paul Jensen

Pat Hard

Mira Frohnmayer

Wendy Pegelow

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

Steve Arkle

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. Pray also for Texas and other southern states suffering from power outages and contaminated water supplies.

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “God of Grace and God of Glory” (LBW 415)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9rWrw3XBO8

 



 



It was impossible for the Law to accomplish that which they presumptuously thought, namely, the abolition of sin and the acquisition of righteousness. In this the Law is not at fault, but their opinion of and confidence in the Law is vain and stupid. To be sure, the Law in itself is very good. It is as with a sick man who wants to drink some wine because he foolishly thinks that his health will return if he does so. Now if the doctor, without any criticism of the wine, should say to him, “It is impossible for the wine to cure you, it will only make you sicker,” the doctor is not condemning the wine but only the foolish trust of the sick man in it. For he needs other medicine to get well, so that he then can drink his wine. Thus also our corrupt nature needs another kind of medicine than the Law, by which it can arrive at good health so that it can fulfill the Law.

 

Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans (1518)

Luther’s Works 25:350. 







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

February 28, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

It is easy to judge other people. But the command is: “Hans, take hold of your own nose, and reach into your own bosom. If you are looking for a villain on whom to pass judgment, you will find there the biggest villain on earth. You will just as soon forget about other people and gladly let them alone. You will never find as much sin in another person as you will in yourself. If you see a great deal of another person, you will see one year or two. But when you look at yourself, you see your whole life, especially the serious blemishes that nobody else knows about. And then you must be ashamed of yourself.”

 

[Martin Luther, Sermons on Matthew 7 (1532)

Luther’s Works 21:218.]

 

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

February 28, 2021

  

 

The Second Sunday in Lent

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Merciful Lord, bring back all who have erred and strayed from your ways; lead them again to embrace in the faith the truth of your Word and to hold it fast. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.  

  

First Lesson: Genesis 28:10-22

Psalm 115:1, 9–18

Second Lesson: Romans 5:1–11 

Gospel: Mark 8:31–38

 

Opening Hymn: “Only-Begotten, Word of God Eternal” (LBW 375)

 




 




 

Sermon: February 28, 2021


“Deny Yourself”
(Mark 8:34)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Jesus commands us to deny ourselves (Mark 8:34) and we skip it because of our ties to Laodicea. They were the people of old who said “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that [they were] wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). That’s right, we’re all just like them even though we all have different family backgrounds. That’s because we think and act like them. We’re chips off the ol’ block, as we say. And that makes us fools because while we may have earthly treasures, like them, we aren’t “rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). Only self-denial and faith in Jesus makes us rich in that way. We instead think we’re fine without any of that – but we’re wrong. So even though we need self-denial to improve ourselves, we don’t do it because of our lineage. We also don’t do it because, with Martin Luther, we know how tough it is on us. Luther defined “true denial [as being] dead in yourself” (Luther’s Work 67:292). Now that’ll kill self-denial if anything will. So we’re content to “look at ourselves through rose-colored glasses [so we can] pat ourselves on the back” (LW 21:216).

     How shall we then take up self-denial? What will help us deny ourselves and find the new life of faith that follows from it? Will examples of human wretchedness help? Will that do it – driving us to deny ourselves? Will that help us see how “sin is a very cruel tyrant who cannot be overthrown and expelled by the power of any creature” (LW 26:33)? Will that lead us to self-denial? I don’t know. “Seldom if ever,” Luther laments, “does a man want to be a sinner. For what is it to be a sinner if not to be worthy of all punishment and trouble?.... If you confess that you are a sinner, you must take punishment, injuries, and ignominy as your own and your rightful possessions…. God is proving and asserting that you are a sinner, because He brings to you the things that befit sinners” (LW 25:216). So admitting how bad off we are – so that we see the need to deny ourselves – is extremely difficult to do. For “to become a sinner is to destroy this way of thinking by which we believe tenaciously that we are living, speaking, and acting in a good, pious, and righteous way, and to adopt another mode of thought (which comes from God) whereby we believe from the heart that we are sinners, that we are acting, speaking, and living wickedly, that we are astray, and thus we come to blame ourselves, to judge, condemn, and hate ourselves” (LW 25:218). And when we do, then we’re ready to say that “we are so entirely inclined to evil that no portion which is inclined toward the good remains in us” (LW 25:222). And that leads inexorably to self-denial.

     Now that’s surely exhausting to follow. It takes the wind out of us. Maybe then we do need some terrible examples to get us to practice self-denial. Remember Kitty Genovese (1935–1964)? “For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab [her] in three separate attacks” (Kevin Cook, Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That Changed America, 2014, p. 78). That report was bone-chilling. It exposed our extreme callousness – how we’re homo urbanis (Cook, p. 166). Or how about the infamous Nazi doctors who conducted barbaric medical experiments on prisoners for Hitler? Those doctors were the best and brightest – well educated and cultured. But beneath the veneer of civilization they showed nothing but the “darkness and menace” running through us all (Robert Jay Lifton, The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, 1986, p. 3). And what about Rwanda during the spring of 1994 when “some 800,000 people were hacked to death, one by one, by their neighbors”? (Jean Hatzfeld, Machete Season: the Killers in Rwanda Speak, 2003, p. vii). Hard to miss the murderer lurking in us all when pondering Rwanda. Then there’s child pornography. Within these circles, “children are… assumed to have consented… or sought sex [and rather than being injured by it, find it] rewarding and educational” (Philip Jenkins, Beyond Tolerance: Child Pornography, 2003, p. 117). That this goes on at all shows how perverse we are as a people – to say nothing of its huge popularity.

     Shall we continue? Dare we go on? Yes, there are also the Native Americans. In the 1830s thousands of them living in the southeast United States – many of whom were Cherokee – were forced out of their fertile lands on terrible trails into arid land newly designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. The roads were “horrid in the extreme,” often walking under freezing conditions, and even burning up children sitting too close to camp fires to get warm (Claudio Saunt, Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory, 2020, pp. 132, 280). This expulsion shows how deep cruelty runs in us. So does the abuse inflicted on women by women in new leadership roles. The shame is seeing women acting like “Cinderella’s sisters and her step mother too” (Phyllis Chesler, Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman, 2009, p. 490). This shows how little solidarity matters to us. Note also the harm we’ve inflicted on each other over the last hundred years in America through drug production, use and neglected treatment (David Hertzberg, White Market Drugs, 2020). And there’s also the chemical contamination of our land and lives all in order to make more money. After decades of fighting and exposing these dangers, pending legislation designating these chemicals as hazardous substances “has not yet passed” (Robert Bilott, Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle Against Dupont, 2019, p. 371). This shows how our deep love for money blinds us in the extreme.

     These examples at least make us wonder if we are “nervously balanced between contradictory impulses” (Conversations with Dana Gioia, ed. John Zheng, 2021, p. 54). But maybe they go further and force us to say with Luther – “I belong in hell” (LW 56:334). Or do they? Are we still dodging the indictments? Or are we ready to say – “All people are by nature children of this fratricide Cain” (LW 78:78)? We all murder our brother as Cain did Abel (Genesis 4:8). I think not. Our Laodicean heritage still blinds us into thinking that none of those examples determine who we are. We can’t say that we “should trust no one [and] act as though [we’re] dealing with one who is ungrateful, and should expect persecution and the height of ingratitude in return for deeds of kindness” (LW 30:326). That’s just too much. In our world the truth is that the devil’s chapels are “much larger than God’s church” (LW 41:169). And so the truth goes begging and self-denial isn’t practiced.

     Will we then need more than horrendous examples shocking us if we’re ever going to deny ourselves? It surely looks like it. We’ll need a holy one who has already denied himself for us. And that is Jesus – “who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself” in order to be crucified for us (Philippians 2:6–7). In that divine self-denial – as odd as it sounds – we find hope . That’s because God’s kingdom is “a kingdom of faith in which God rules in a manner strange and different from what men are able to understand and conceive” (LW 13:253). He doesn’t address us with rational propositions for our consideration. Instead he knocks us flat as he did Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:4). He goes “against all the wisdom and power of the prince of this world.” Like a diving, cruel hawk, he attacks the devil in order to save us. And so he explains – “I will force My way through and bring it to pass that you rise and reign” (LW 5:225–27). That’s what his self-denial does for us to bring us to faith through our own self-denial. He dies for us and then we are to die to ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:14). We are to imitate Jesus and walk in his steps (1 Peter 2:21). Glory be to God for Christ’s salutary force and cruelty which brings us to new life! He “does not wait until we come and ask Him for these heavenly blessings, but He anticipates us and comes to us, wants to be near us and with us and to give us the greatest blessings He has” (LW 58:391). “I spread out my hands all the day,” says the Lord, “to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good” (Isaiah 65:2). “There they stand like a rock” (LW 47:175). So what else could our gracious Lord do given that a lost sheep, contrary to its best interests, “does not seek the shepherd” (LW 30:314)?

     In thanksgiving to God for his abounding and steadfast mercy, we find ourselves being “changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Note the gift in this transformation – being changed instead of changing ourselves. Note also the small increments – changing one degree at a time. So don’t look for a big blow-out happening all at once. None of us will become as holy as God is in heaven in one fell swoop (Matthew 5:48). Expect little steps instead. And expect the same when you fast during Lent. Jesus ate nothing for forty days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2). Don’t expect your fast to be on such a grand scale. Instead fast in secret (Matthew 6:18). There’s nothing to show off about. You don’t have to quit eating everything until Easter. No, just cut out some of your favorite foods. Remember the increments. And don’t be disappointed with your small fast. In this case a little is better. You’ll have nothing to brag about. And if you are insulted for fasting, never forget that youre on the side of the angels, even if your fast is puny. That’ll help you remember that insults “have not the force of insults when overbalanced by what is inviolable” (Marianne Moore, Selected Letters, ed. Bonnie Costello, 1997, p. 249). So living with less than the best during Lent is just right. You’re still obeying Christ’s command to fast – and that command remains inviolable (Matthew 6:9). So you don’t need to fast in the extreme as Jesus did in order to obey him. No spectacular fasting is needed. Just fasting by increments in secret is fine. And remember that this scaled-back fasting is all part of learning how best, with modesty and humility, to deny yourself. Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day: “‘Come, Follow Me,’ the Savior Spake” (LBW 455)

 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

The Tuomi Family

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Savanna & Hank Todd

Tery Merritt

Karen Leidholm

Paul Jensen

Pat Hard

Mira Frohnmayer

Tak On Wong & Chee Li Ma

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. Pray also for Texas and other southern states suffering from power outages and contaminated water supplies.

 

Deaths

Gene Merritt

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “Jesus, Refuge of the Weary” (LBW 93)

 

  



 



 

Issued April 7, 1940

 

Negro slavery [was] introduced into the New World…. to save from slavery the native Indians…. [They] were fast dying out under the cruel tasks put upon them by their Spanish conquerors. Unaccustomed to labor, they could not endure the hardships of working in the mines. The Negroes, on the contrary, had, in many cases, been slaves in their own country, and had been accustomed to labor…. It was said that one Negro could do the work of four Indians…. In the early days of the slave trade, the barter and sale of Negro slaves, so long as it was conducted in an honest and orderly way, according to the accepted customs and manners of trade, was not considered a wrong or wicked business. At first the slaves traders purchased slaves only from the native chiefs. These slaves were generally prisoners who had been taken in tribal wars… Very soon, however, the ordinary sources of supply of slaves was not sufficient to meet the demand of the American trade. The traders became less scrupulous. They began buying from any one who had a man or woman for sale. This encouraged kidnapping. Not infrequently the man who brought a gang of slaves to the coast to be sold would himself be kidnapped and sold by other men before he could return home. Sometimes the traders, after they had purchased a gang or a “coffle” of slaves, as they were called, would invite the traders on board ship in order to entertain them, Then, after they were under the influence of liquor, they would put chains upon them and carry them away with the very slaves the traders themselves a few hours before had sold. As time went on, and the demand for slave labor increased, the men engaged in this cruel traffic became hardened to its cruelty and the West Coast of Africa became one vast hunting ground. Men and women were tracked and hunted as if they were wild beasts. It grew so bad at length that the conscience of the civilized world was aroused. Then, one by one, the nations of the world began to prohibit the traffic…. The importation of slaves was prohibited in the United States in 1808, but that did not put an end to the importation of slaves…. Although it was no longer lawful to import slaves, they were smuggled into the country…. [By the 1860s] it had become the custom to gather great numbers of slaves at different points along the coast of Africa, in what were called barracoons. These were nothing more or less than strong stockades…. In these barracoons slaves captured in the interior were held until they were ready to be shipped…. When slavers were captured red-handed on the high seas by the United States or English navies, an effort was made to return the slaves to their homes in Africa. As this was not practical the English government established at Sierra Leone, on the west coast of Africa, a station to which they sent all liberated slaves.

 

               from The Story of Slavery (1913) by Booker T. Washington (1856–1915).

               Washington was the founder of Tuskegee College (1881) in Alabama,

               and its first president. He received an honorary doctorate

               from Dartmouth College in 1896. The famous Black scientist,

               George Washington Carver (1864–1943), taught with him at Tuskegee.

               Statues of Washington are in Tuskegee, AL, Charleston, WV, Hardy and Hampton, VA, and Cleveland, OH.

  

Issued April 5, 1956







 






Online Sunday Liturgy

February 21, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

If it becomes a matter of the Word, parents are to be set aside. But beyond such a case, parents are to be obeyed without qualification. This is, however, a scandalous teaching,… because children are of their own accord despisers and haters of their parents. How much more will they now, under the pretext of this teaching, hate their parents…. [Nevertheless Christ] subjects children to Himself, lest they love their parents more than Himself…. He Himself is the majesty on which all things depend and that those who are worthy of Him are blessed, as pitiable as He Himself might be and devoid of majesty as He might appear…. The cross, which is the basest thing in the world’s eyes, must become the greatest treasure…. [And] He subjects parents to Himself, lest they love children more than Himself for the same reasons given above concerning the children…. We cannot glory at all in our own virtues but only in the cross, that is, in our own destruction and annihilation which we undergo on His account.

 

[Martin Luther, Annotations on Matthew 10:37 (1538)

Luther’s Works 67:115–18.]

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

February 21, 2021

  

 

First Sunday in Lent

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Lord God, our strength, the battle of good and evil rages within and around us, and our ancient foe, the devil, tempts us with his deceits and empty promises. Keep us steadfast in your Word and, when we fall, raise us again and restore us through your Spirit. In the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen. 

  

First Lesson: Genesis 22:1-18

Psalm 6

Second Lesson: Romans 8:31–39 

Gospel: Mark 1:12–15

 

Opening Hymn: “The God of Abraham Praise” (LBW 544)

 




 




 

Sermon: February 21, 2021


“Endure the Test”
(Genesis 22:1)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     It’s probably the scariest place in the Bible – Genesis 22:1–12. That’s where Abraham, under a command from God, tries to kill his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah. Maybe that’s why some critics have insisted that it “doesn’t cut it” to say that “God is testing our faith” (Edward O. Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, 2014, p. 158). But Christians move ahead and say that there’s more up there than attempted homicide and cynicism. Christians also find on that mountain Matthew 10:37. There Jesus says whoever “loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” That’s our test on this mountain – regardless of what Abraham’s test was. Ours is not about killing our children. It’s about loving God properly. So for Christians Mount Moriah is the Mountain of Love – Mount Amore, if you will. On that mountain we begin our struggle to love in the way that God wants us to love. And there we stay for the rest of our lives – struggling and striving to love as we should. The test lasts as long as we’re alive. Martin Luther understood this well, noting that our whole life is “the year of probation” (Luther’s Works 44:386). So we never get off the treadmill. And we never come down from Mount Amore either. That’s because our love has to be tested until our life on earth is done.

     Why is that? Why is it an endurance race instead of an hour or two exam? It’s because it has to do with our love and life which keep on going. Therefore we always have to be tested to make sure we haven’t gone off the rails. For “a Christian’s life is in reality not immaculate” (LW 22:140). Glitches occur all the time. And they have to be smoothed out as we go along. Abraham may have spent only part of a day up on Mount Moriah – Christians, however, spend their whole life atop Mount Amore. That’s because we have a lot to sort out there. For one thing, “in the absence of an emergency,” our families must be attended to diligently (LW 23:202). Given the sorry state of families in our land, this is needed more than ever (Jeffrey S. Turner, American Families in Crisis, 2009). And yet we must never “neglect God’s Word for their sakes” (LW 56:356). So even though “obedience to father [and] mother… remain in the fourth commandment; the Word of God and obedience to God soar and prevail over” the family (LW 56:358). That’s because “we should love and revere God above all things” (LW 4:44). “Confidence [in] ourselves” is out of the question. God “abhors” it (LW 3:4). So “let the drop yield submission to the ocean” – that is, the family drop yielding to the ocean God (LW 26:107). This correction is also desperately needed given the demonic preoccupation with family that’s also part of our society (Janet Fishburn, Confronting the Idolatry of the Family, 1991). So when push comes to shove, “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). That’s because even though we are both commanded to obey God and honor our parents (Exodus 20:3, 12) – God matters more than our parents. So when there is a conflict between God and parents, between God and children, between the first commandment and the fourth, between the first table of the law and the second table, the second “yields and is nothing when it impinges” on the first. But in the event that “there is no conflict between” the two, then God does not abrogate the second in favor of the first (LW 5:114). This way of viewing God’s Ten Commandment in terms of two tables – the first table being the first three commands about God which matter more, and the second set of seven about our neighbor which matters less – this approach meant a great deal to Luther who thought it had “undoubtedly been pointed out by the Holy Spirit” (LW 2:59).

     But even with such heavenly authorization, what if we can’t keep these tables straight? What then? What if we only see things “dimly” now (1 Corinthians 13:12)? The old Latin Bible translates that impaired vision as videmus in enigmate. That makes it sound like the enigma it truly is. But how damaging is that confusion? Romans 7:24 says it’s so bad that we’re depleted to the point of spiritual decay and death, so that only deliverance by another can help. Left to ourselves we’re dead in the water. We flounder without aid. And so we would remain if left alone. Then “a certain diabolical dullness reigns in us, our praying is cold, and we are completely lukewarm in other exercises of godliness. Nor do we burn with zeal and love for Christ as we do for the things of this present world” (LW 7:255). Then the Bible is inverted, à la Reverend Ike (1935–2009), and we think that “the lack of money is the root of all evil” – contrary to what 1 Timothy 6:10 really says (Kate Bowler, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, p. 67).

     But listen – we have been helped. And the good news is that we aren’t left alone. God sent his only son to take on sinful human flesh, and died on the cross “to put away sins” (Romans 8:3, Hebrews 9:26). And he did that by taking “upon himself the full wrath… of our Lord God,… so that we would not have to suffer” it (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1996, 1:388). When that happened – when Christ dies like this for us – he draws us to himself (John 12:32). So “the cross, which is the basest thing in the world's eyes, must become the greatest treasure” (LW 67:117). And that miraculous pull from the cross is just what we need – being dead in the water as we are. And so what do we do? We believe in Jesus – as a gift received (Ephesians 2:8) – and then go on to regard him “with love undying” (Ephesians 6:24). Just think of it! We decrease; he increases (John 3:30). Hes primary; were secondary. We follow him; he commands us. This loving, obeying, and deferential “second-hand mind” on our part is what the creative and innovative disdain in Christians (George Santayana, Three Philosophical Poets: Lucretius, Dante, Goethe, 1910, p. 176). But unfazed, we continue to run on with our second-hand minds, deferring to Christ, obeying him, denying ourselves, and getting carried away with it all – so that our love is undying and not casual or half-hearted. And along the way dullness even starts diminishing (LW 7:255). For we don’t love anyone else in this way – with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Matthew 22:37). That surely is undying love! We love only the kingdom of God in this way – and seek it first (Matthew 6:33). “Love and revere God above all things” (LW 4:44)! Nothing else can be given this pride of place. Only the “words of eternal life” qualify as number one (John 6:68). And these eternal words are without temporal limits. They extend beyond the place of their initial manifestation “to the outer-most reaches of space and time,” since “the salvation effected here in this planet must... have cosmic dimensions” (Martin J. Heinecken, God in the Space Age, 1959, p. 144).

     But for all the greatness of this heavenly kingdom, we still have other lesser things to do. For instance, “bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Now that matters greatly even though it is secondary. So don’t think that believing in Christ crucified is enough. Don’t be “so confident of atonement that you add sin to sin” (LW 8:40). Instead, also be sure to instruct your children in the Christian faith. Luther even thought that if parents fulfilled this obligation they “could attain salvation… if they were to do nothing else” (LW 44:85)! Now that’s quite a theological whopper! Aren’t there all kinds of objections to it? Doesn’t it compromise the centrality of faith (John 3:16)? Well, maybe – but just listen to what the instructions are, following on the heels of that wild confidence in parents to earn their own salvation. Parents, Luther daringly argues, should train their children “to trust God, to believe in him, to fear him, and to set their whole hope upon him; to honor his name and never curse or swear; to mortify themselves by praying, fasting, watching, working; to go to church, wait on the word of God, and observe the sabbath;…. to despise temporal things, to bear misfortune without complaint, and neither fear death nor love this life.” What, no complaining? Mortifying ourselves? Despising our stuff? Neither fearing death nor loving life? Is that the right way to end this sermon? Are they approriate answers in the examination atop Mount Amore? Well, they must be if you’re going to endure the test. And may we all, by God’s grace, do just that – and endure the test. Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day: “If You But Trust in God to Guide You” (LBW 453)

 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

The Tuomi Family

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Savanna & Hank Todd

Gene & Tery Merritt

Karen Leidholm

Paul Jensen

Pat Hard

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. Pray also for Texas and other southern states suffering from power outages and contaminated water supplies.

 

Deaths

Yao-chu Chang

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “Jesus, Still Lead On” (LBW 341)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ttjKncnQw

  



 



 

My dear fellow, if you want to accept the gospel when it gives you power over your child and demands filial obedience to you, then you should also accept it when it commands you to treat your child in a paternal way.

 

[Martin Luther, On Marriage Matters (1530)

Luther’s Works 46:306.]







 

 






Online Ash Wednesday Liturgy

February 17, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

You must flee the world with your hearts and ‘keep them unstained by the world,’ as the Epistle of James 1:27 says; that is, do not adhere to this worldly way of life, but cling to Christ according to this doctrine of faith and wait for the eternal inheritance of heaven. From this faith and hope do the office and work committed to you,… nevertheless say, ‘This is not my treasure and the chief possession for which I live,… but I regard all this temporal stuff like an inn’…. Use this inn and take what is given you for the very purpose of getting closer to [heaven] where you intend to go…. [The Christian] has no lasting place here except as a stranger who comes among the other guests, lives to serve and please them, does what they do, and where there is danger or necessity joins with them and helps to rescue and protect…. [Furthermore he] admonishes them to live here as guests and to strive for a different, eternal kingdom, that is, to abstain from all kinds of fleshly or worldly desires and to lead a good life in all kinds of good works.

[Martin Luther, Sermon on 1 Peter 2:11–20 (1539)

Luther's Works 77:200-202.]

 




Online Abbreviated Wednesday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

February 17, 2021

  

 

Ash Wednesday

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Heavenly Father, you forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and honest hearts, so that we may obtain from you full pardon and forgiveness. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

Judge Yourself

An Ash Wednesday Self-Examination

 

What three things does Romans 7:24 tell you about yourself?

 

What’s most difficult for you about Philippians 2:3?

 

How can 1 Peter 2:11 change your life for the better?

 

In what ways does Mark 14:7 upset you?

 

What helps you most in Galatians 4:16?

 

Why do you need the motivation that’s in Luke 13:5?

 

What’s the best way for you to keep Luke 17:32, beyond the remembering?

 

How are you helped by the joy and sadness in John 3:36?

 

What do you care most about in Revelation 3:17?

 

What’s the best way for you to practice James 4:8?

 

How do Romans 7:18 & Luke 17:10 together help you out?

 

What’s the best thing 1 Timothy 6:10 tells you about yourself?

 

  

First Lesson: Joel 2:12-19

Psalm 51:1–13

Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 5:20–6:2  

Gospel: Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21

 

 




 




 

Sermon: February 17, 2021


“Fast With Joy”
(Matthew 6:16)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Jesus tells us to fast and be happy about it (Matthew 6:16). But most of us would rather take our “ease, eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19). Why is that? Why should we even care about this? Each Ash Wednesday we remember with ashes that we are “dust, and to dust we shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Ash Wednesday knocks us off our high horse. It put us in our place. As long as we’re fooling ourselves about our status, fasting will be done with. But when we’re humiliated, shamed and belittled on Ash Wednesday, Christ’s words about fasting come back to us to strengthen us in the truth about God (Job 23:13, Psalm 115:3) and ourselves (Psalm 22:6, Proverbs 6:6). That truth teaches us one more time to say – “I am of small account” (Job 40:4). That means we’re insubstantial and cannot call the shots. God is in charge and we aren’t worthy “to answer back” to him with our disapproval over how things are going (Romans 9:20). We’re too puny – being but a “breath” and a “mist” (Psalm 39:5, James 4:14). But we get carried away with the earlier Job (Job 23:6) and think we can contend with God over how the world should go. Ash Wednesday stands against those illusions (Isaiah 30:10). And Martin Luther stands with Ash Wednesday. He sees the point in setting us straight. We are “exceedingly depraved,” he warns, and we need to be told that over and over again (Luther’s Works 2:123). When fighting against this awful, personal depravity, we must never “surrender fierceness for a small gain in yardage” (William Souder, Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck, 2020, p. 351). No, Christians “must be tested, tried, and refined, all to the praise and honor of God in eternity” (LW 60:335).

     Siding with Luther on this will require us to deny ourselves – just as Jesus commands us to do on a daily basis (Luke 9:23). Some may see this command as a “tendentious, constrictive” word, out of touch with the “wider grain” of the New Testament message of love (The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, January 2021, p. 139). But Luther defends self-denial, saying that “Christ wants the entirety of what we are, what we can, and what we do to be denied.” We need to “hold onto nothing” in which we might place our confidence before God. We need to become “a sinner and a fool, ascribing righteousness and wisdom to Christ alone” (LW 67:291, 292). We’ll resist this with everything that’s in us, and so the forty days of Lent will be put to good use pushing us in the right direction week after week. We must not forget that this is needed because “in the churches,” as Luther wisely and regularly cautions us, there are “hard and impenitent people.” So “the entire Church... must continually repent” (LW 73:100, 58). Luther learned this from Holy Scriptures, that God even “contends” with his own people (Micah 6:2). Believers don’t get a free pass when it comes to contrition and repentance (Psalm 51:17, Matthew 4:17). “The entire life of believers [is] to be one of repentance” (LW 31:25). For self-esteem is “the current circumlocution for pride” (Gerhard O. Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross, 1997, p. 27). May we then fight diligently against all positive images of ourselves, floating around in our society, refusing to “follow blindly along like stupid blockheads” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1996, 1:43).

     But try though we may – even during Lent – we’ll fail repeatedly and grievously. That’s because “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:19). Indeed, “no one gives thanks; no one becomes better because of God’s great goodness. If anything, they become worse.... We have become foolish through our own wisdom.... Our nature is evil and corrupt” (LW 73:137). So in our poverty of failure and corruption, we need a rich one to rescue us and make us rich. Indeed, “God alone must help, otherwise our action and advice will never bring any end to the misery” (LW 59:126). And that rich one God sends to us is Christ Jesus. Though he was rich with the glories of heaven, he left heaven for earth and took on sinful human flesh (Romans 8:3), “so that by his poverty” we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He died on the cross, sacrificing his life for us, “to put away sin” (Hebrews 9:26). And so, even though I have been stung by the devil and his hellish poison, bitten by sin, troubled by my conscience, aware that by birth I am a child of wrath and condemned to death, nevertheless I believe and am convinced that my Lord Jesus Christ bore my sins on the cross, overcame death, and has reconciled me with my heavenly Father” (LHP 2:221). In thanksgiving Luther thought sermons should sing out about the wonders of salvation, and not just be prosaic (LW 14:81). “I will give ear to no other preacher,” he sings. “Nor will I accept any other thoughts. If such thoughts do enter my mind, I cast them out. I listen to what Christ tells me. Toward all others I stuff my ears and say: ‘It is all empty babble. Twaddle and drivel as you will, I am deaf to it. But bring me this Man’s thoughts and words, and I will listen to you. Let everyone else get out of here’” (LW 23:352). Indeed, even if its the last thing [you] ever do” (The Animals, Weve Gotta Get Out of This Place, 1965)!

     With that salvation buoying us up, we then are surely ready to sanctify a fast for Lent (Joel 2:15). That fast will fit in with our self-denial – enabling us to “divest [our] affection for temporal things” (LW 29:231). Fasting will help us set aside our favorite foods. If we don’t use Lent in this way, we’ll make Christ angry toward his church, “avenging Himself on that scarlet woman, that drunken whore and mother of fornications” (LW 59:52). But fasting will prepare us instead to receive “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Fasting will help renew the church. So “pray, read, study, and keep busy. Truly, at this evil, shameful time, it is no time for loafing, snoring, or sleeping” (LW 60:285). With this promise of renewal, we can fast and “be merry, happy, and cheerful, like a person on a holiday” (LW 21:156). What makes us happy is that God is drawing near to us because through fasting we have drawn closer to him (James 4:8). With this cheerful prospect we can fast as we should and not look dismal (Matthew 6:16). May we then pray that God “will mitigate the disasters impending on the world, and let us change our ways” for the better (LW 60:272). May we change by giving thanks to the Lord (Ephesians 5:20) – as we also go on to spend our days in Lent to fast with joy. Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day: “O Lord, throughout These Forty Days” (LBW 99)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYh8cf2Zv9o

 

If you want to join Pastor Marshalls five week Lenten Zoom Bible study on James, let him know. Hell send you the five worksheets for this study, as well as the Zoom invitations. Classes are on Wednesdays, February 24 to March 24, 7-9 pm.


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

Beyla Tuomi

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Savanna & Hank Todd

Gene & Tery Merritt

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. 

 

Deaths

Yao-chu Chang

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 



 



Jesus defines what ‘to come out of the mouth’ [Matthew 15:18] is,… namely, what proceeds from the heart…. [So] cultivate the heart’s righteousness, and afterward everything will be clean…. The question here is easy. Why does he say that these manifest sins - fornication, thefts, adulteries, false testimonies, blasphemies – come out of the heart, when all of them are outward works? Because no one would do such things unless he were thinking of them in his heart and willing to do them. Thus before the body performs the sin, it has already been performed in the heart…. Therefore, the defiled and evil heart defiles everything it says and does, even what is good in appearance.

 

[Martin Luther, Annotations on Matthew 15 (1538)

Luther’s Works 67:250–51.]







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

February 14, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

The Gospel does the very thing that happens when one is caught in a house in the middle of the night when it is pitch-dark. Then it would be necessary to provide a light until daybreak, so that he could see. Thus the Gospel is really in the midst of night and darkness. For  all human reason is sheer error and blindness. Thus the world, too, is nothing else than a realm of darkness. In the darkness God has now ignited a light, namely, the Gospel. In this light we can see and walk as long as we dwell on earth, until the dawn comes and the day breaks [in heaven].

 

[Martin Luther, Sermon on 2 Peter 1:19 (1523)

Luther’s Works 30:165.]

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

February 14, 2021

  

 

The Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  O Lord our God, on the mountain you showed your glory in the transfiguration of your Son. May we ever exalt in your wonder and power. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

 

  

First Lesson: 2 Kings 2:1-12

Psalm 50:1–6

Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 3:12–4:2  

Gospel: Mark 9:2–9

 

 

Opening Hymn: “Song of Thankfulness and Praise” (LBW 90)

 

  




 




 

Sermon: February 14, 2021


“See Christ's Divinity”
(Mark 9:2)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

    On the mountain Jesus burned brightly as the sun (Mark 9:2, Matthew 17:2). But we don’t know why. About as close as we get is at the end when we’re told not to say anything about it until Jesus is raised from the dead (Mark 9:9). So this transfiguration must have something to do with his death and resurrection. But we’re not told what. We also don’t know anything about how it all happened. Where did this blinding light come from? And why doesn’t its burning consume him – similarly to that bush of Moses (Exodus 3:2)? Furthermore, we don’t know what the point of it all is. Why was Jesus transfigured and in this way? Why on a mountain? Why with such bright light?

In the midst of our darkness and puzzlement and wish to understand the transfiguration of Jesus, 2 Corinthians 3:7–17 shines brightly. These verses offer an explanation. They say the transfiguration’s about competing splendors. It’s about the difference between the first and second dispensations or covenants. It’s about law and gospel. That’s why when Jesus was transfigured he wasn’t alone, but Moses and Elijah appeared with him, until Jesus outlasted them and stood there all by himself (Mark 9:4, 8). In this competition the second covenant “far exceeds” the first one – represented by Moses and Elijah – and even “surpasses” it (2 Corinthians 3:9–10). The gospel wins out over the law because it “gives life,” unlike the law which only kills (2 Corinthians 3:6). And since the gospel is all tied up with the crucifixion (1 Corinthians 2:2) and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:18), that’s why the transfiguration ends the way it does with its warning against saying anything about it until Jesus dies and is raised again (Mark 9:9).

     To make this point about the gospel surpassing the law, the divine gospel of God has to be tightly connected to Jesus. We have to see clearly and definitely that Jesus is God – that he’s “equal to God” (John 5:18). Up until the transfiguration, that isn’t clear at all. Gabriel had told Mary that Jesus would be “great and… called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32) – but you couldn’t tell by looking at him. He looked like the carpenter’s son (Matthew 13:55). Or, worse yet, even the devil (Matthew 10:25). So something more was needed beyond Gabriel’s words. Jesus needed to shine brightly as the sun. That’s because bright light is a divine marker (Revelation 21:23). And this shining has to happen on a mountain top, in order to push Moses off his mountain, where he received the law (Exodus 19:3). It isn’t that Jesus wasn’t divine and the best before his transfiguration. It isn’t that the transfiguration changed him into God triumphant. What happened instead is that the veil was pulled away and we could finally see Jesus for who he truly was. “He rules over all things,… all power belongs to Him, and… he who believes in Him also has all of this power” (Luther’s Works 30:163). After the transfiguration fades, ambiguity returns. The brightness of Christ’s glory disappears from sight. It cannot be preserved in some container or booth to show others (Mark 9:5). Then Matthew 16:13–17 returns with its lack of consensus on who Jesus is. No more glorious, spectacular shining – just the carpenter’s son again, or maybe now a prophet of some sort. Here’s a case where the genie is actually put back into the bottle. His radiant glory is again hidden away in large measure.

     Even so, Martin Luther learned deeply from the transfiguration, and so should we. “Such a sure and brilliant manifestation,” he writes, is “reserved for the Son of God alone, so that the certain promise of the hope of the life to come would be revealed to the world by Him alone in this unambiguous manifestation” of his divine glory in the transfiguration (LW 67:309). And we need that because all of our adversaries try to cover it up. They try to squeeze it out of life, telling us that all that matters is “kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love” (Salman Rushdie, Joseph Anton: A Memoir, 2012, p. 624). But believing in the transfiguration, “faith moves undaunted” through these troubles “like a fine, well-built wagon through deep water. Dirt, of course, clings to the wagon, and mud, to the wheels; but the wagon lumbers through and does not allow its progress to be impeded” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1996, 3:303). And so the whole purpose of preaching the gospel is “to make your conscience sure and to give your heart a firm footing from which it should not permit itself to be torn, in order that [we] may be certain that we have God’s Word. For the Gospel is a serious business. It must be grasped and retained in all purity, without any addition or false doctrine” (LW 30:164). For only the light of Christ “shines and lights our way out of sin, death, and hell to God and eternal life” (LW 79:36).

     Christ does this by manifesting the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:6). That happens when he dies on the cross for us (John 12:23). For “Christ became a sacrifice… for us… to reconcile God” (LW 76:384). That reconciliation is our glory because through it we received blessings from God. No longer does his wrath deprive us of his blessings. His sacrifice saves us from that wrath (Romans 5:9). And none of this would work for us if Jesus were only a man and not the bright, shining light of God (LW 24:108, 41:103). No wonder then that Christ also “tears us away from all other light” (LW 23:327). That’s because those lights can’t save us, and so to believe in them would hurt us (John 3:36). Those other lights leave us as we are – “potent with eyes that scold, tongues that scald” (Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor, 1996, p. 16). Many of those other lights trust in revolution where “you don’t do any singing; you’re too busy swinging [because] revolution is bloody [and] hostile [and] overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way” (Deborah Wiles, Revolution: A Novel, 2014, p. 3). So indeed “the world… is nothing else than a realm of darkness. [But] in the darkness God has now ignited a light, namely, the Gospel” (LW 30:165). And that we first clearly behold in the transfiguration.

     So take that glory with you by faith, for through it you are “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Through it Christ is living in you (Galatians 2:20). Through it Christ’s words are “dwelling in you richly” (Colossians 3:17). Through it those words are being “implanted” in you (James 1:21). So may they grow and flourish in you. Hear them and keep them (Luke 11:28). “Do not labor for the food which perishes” (John 6:27). Live like “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Don’t yearn for “what is exalted among men” (Luke 16:15). “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Treat as family those who do “the will of God” (Mark 3:35). Act like “unworthy servants” just doing your duty (Luke 17:10). Don’t doubt Jesus (Matthew 14:31). “Deny yourself daily” (Luke 9:23). “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). As these words grow up in you (1 Peter 2:3), see in them, and also thank God for Christ’s divinity. Amen.  

 

Hymn of the Day:  “Oh, Wondrous Type! Oh, Vision Fair” (LBW 80)

 

Prayers 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

Beyla Tuomi

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Chiou-Jin Chen

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Savanna & Hank Todd

Gene & Tery Merritt

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. Pray also for safety during our snowing, wintry weather.

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn:  “How Good, Lord, to Be Here!” (LBW 89)



 



 

 

I do not want a Christ in whom I am to believe and to whom I am to pray as my Savior who is only man. Otherwise I would go to the devil. For mere flesh and blood could not erase sin, reconcile God, remove His anger, overcome and destroy death and hell, and bestow eternal life…. Both God and man must dwell in this Person…. He who sees, hears, or finds Christ with the faith of the heart surely encounters not only the man Christ but also the true God. Thus we do not let God sit idly in heaven among the angels; but we find Him here below…. All of this makes it possible for us to withstand the devil and to vanquish him in the hour of death and at other times when he terrifies us with sin and hell. For if he were to succeed in persuading me to regard Christ as only a man who was crucified and died for me, I would be lost…. If He were only a man, as other saints are – He would be unable to deliver us from even one sin or to extinguish one little drop of hell’s fire with His holiness, His blood, and His death. This is the knowledge, the doctrine, and the consolation we have from Christ on the basis of Scripture, although the world and cunning reason regard this as sheer folly…. These are wearisome, obnoxious spirits who never engaged in a struggle or savored anything of spiritual matters. And yet they rashly presume to set themselves up as masters of Holy Writ with their reason and then pass judgment on such sublime questions.

 

[Martin Luther, Sermons on John 14 (1537)

Luther’s Works 24:107–109.]

 







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

February 7, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

If you earnestly do the will of God, gladly listen to and believe God’s Word, and live in obedience to Him in order to honor Him and benefit your neighbor – even if you sometimes stumble, but get up again, and not impenitently continue to defend your sins, oppose God’s Word, or shamefully persecute your neighbor – then you can boldly and cheerfully say before God: “Lord, Lord!” and take comfort in the kingdom of heaven given to you by God…. [For He] cares about the deed and fruit of him who does the will of God. Be guided by that…

 

[Martin Luther, Sermon on Matthew 7:15–23 (1525)

Luther’s Works 78:301.]

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

February 7, 2021

  

 

Fifth Sunday after the Holy Epiphany

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, you sent your only Son as the Word of life for us to receive through revelation. Help us to believe with joy what the Scriptures proclaim. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

 

  

First Lesson: Job 7:1-7

Psalm 147:1–13

Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 9:16–23

Gospel: Mark 1:29–39

 

 

Opening Hymn: “God Himself is Present” (LBW 249)

 

  




 




 

Sermon: February 7, 2021


“Be a Slave”
(Job 7:2)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

    Job knew he was a slave of God (Job 7:2). But how about you? Are you in his camp? Or do you think you’re some sort of a religious free agent, making a life for yourself, piecing together things as you go? Some even glorify this free pursuit with God’s very presence, supposing that we’re “like God’s near-equals” as we go on this journey together (Samuel E. Balentine, Job, 2006, p. 132, contra Romans 1:25). Sometimes we even boast in this freedom, saying that we never have been, nor will we ever be, “in bondage to any one” (John 8:33). We love this freedom and wrap our identity up in it. Without it we’d be robots – something none of us dream about nor long for.

     But what we know about twins calls all of this into question. Many studies have been done on identical twins, separated at birth and then rejoined as adults, only to find out how much they are alike even though they were raised very differently. The biological determinism revealed in these studies is shocking. Indeed, “if we are only living out our lives like actors reading our lines, then the nobility of life is cheapened. Our accomplishments are not really earned, they are simply arrived at…. Barring some accident of fate, our trajectory is predetermined – we’re just along for the ride” (Lawrence Wright, Twins and What They Tell Us About Who We Are, 1997, p. 144). After nearly a hundred years of published scientific research, “we now know that most measured traits have a genetic component” (Nancy L. Segal, Born Together – Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study, 2012, p. 321).

     For Christians, however, Romans 6:20–22 is even more devastating. It tells us that “when we were slaves of sin we were free in regard to righteousness…. But when we were set free from sin, we became slaves of God.” So the only variance is who the master is. Years later Martin Luther bought into this (Luther’s Works 33:65) as did Bob Dylan long after him, singing that “it may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you’re gonna have to serve somebody” (Bob Dylan, 100 Songs, 2017, p. 135). There isn’t any liberty option available. We either serve God or sin. We’re either bound to sin or bound to God. But we all begin as “slaves to evil” – Luther goes on to elaborate (LW 26:40). That’s because all of us were “brought forth in iniquity,” and conceived “in sin” (Psalm 51:5). Luther delves into this saying that the “human seed, this mass from which I was formed, is totally corrupt with faults and sins. The material itself is faulty. The clay, so to speak, out of which this vessel began to be formed is damnable…. This is how I am; this is how all men are. Our very conception, the very growth of the fetus in the womb, is sin, even before we are born and begin to be human beings” (LW 12:348). Being born in sin therefore means “to be born under God’s wrath and condemnation, so that by nature or birth we are unable to be God’s people or children” (LW 47:148). So when God works on us he is like “a wood-carver [who makes] statues out of rotten wood” (LW 33:175). This “outstanding” doctrine of original sin teaches us “that we are sinners, that all of our efforts are damnable in the sight of God, and that God alone is righteous” (LW 12:350–51). This is our predicament. Just “as little as a natural sheep can help itself in even the slightest degree but must simply depend on its shepherd for all benefits, just so little – and much less – can a man govern himself” (LW 12:154). God is the one in control; he determines everything; he does all things (LW 8:116, 15:121, 21:328). No wonder he’s the master and we’re the slaves. We’re not substantial enough to further his ways or contest them – being but a “breath;” being but a “mist” (Psalm 39:5, James 4:14). We are “nothing and... Christ is everything,” Luther adds (LW 21:66). Indeed, “all human and fleshly things are condemned by Scripture when it comes to relying on them.” And why is that? It has to do with what we truly are – “a bubble that quickly burst” (LW 16:270). That explains why we are not in the same league with God. For unlike us, God is “altogether sufficient to Himself” (LW 13:91, Isaiah 55:8–9). So we “should regard God as holy and [ourselves] as not holy” (LW 30:103).

     That startling revelation about Gods dominance and our servitude, sours us. As a result whatever God says or does finds countless judges, correctors, and critics” (LW 4:295). It even takes some Christians into other religions where they hope they can complete, correct, and enrich the Christian religion,” all for the better (Hans Küng, Theology for the Third Millennium, 1988, p. 254). But because of the binding inequality between God and people, who are we to answer back to God? (Romans 9:20). Luther responds by saying “remember your situation: God is such a great majesty in heaven, and you are a worm on earth. You cannot speak about the works of God on the basis of your own judgment. Let God rather do the speaking; do not dispute about the counsels of God and do not try to control things by your own counsels. It is God who can arrange things and perfect them, for He Himself is in heaven. We express all of this in German by saying: ‘Don’t use many words, but keep your mouth shut!’ You will not impose a rule on God” (LW 15:78).

     In our rebellion, how can we then move on with joy from being slaves of sin to slaves of God? Luther rightly says that “there is no help for the sinful nature unless it dies and is destroyed with all its sin. Therefore the life of a Christian, from baptism to the grave, is nothing else than the beginning of a blessed death” (LW 35:31). But how does that blessed death get started in the first place? 2 Corinthians 5:14 explains that because Christ “has died for all; therefore all have died.” So this blessed death of ours begins at the foot of the cross of Christ. Our death follows upon his death. That happens when we “share Christ’s sufferings” (1 Peter 4:13) – and in that sense alone are his co-workers (1 Corinthians 3:9, LW 3:270, 8:94–95, 33:242). And we share his sufferings when his death also crucifies the world to us, so that we can die to the world (Galatians 6:14). Therefore between the world and Christians there is mutual disdain. The Christian “does not do, or have a taste for, the things that please the world; nor does the world do, or have a taste for, the things that please [the Christian]. To the one the other is dead, crucified, despised, and detested” (LW 27:405). And note that “in the Holy Scriptures ‘world’ means not only the obviously wicked and infamous but the best, the wisest, and the holiest of men” (LW 27:136). This makes it all the more painful for Christians to die to the world – because its dying to the best in the world.

     But because Jesus suffered so much for us, we find ourselves transcending that pain, much to our surprise. Just think of it, Luther says. “You suffer, he explains, “on the earth, in the sea, and in all creatures. Everywhere and in all things you have no hope of help until by hope and faith you leap over everything and grasp Him who dwells in heaven. Then you also dwell in heaven, but through faith and hope. Here we must throw out the anchor of our heart in all tribulations. In this way the evils of the world will be not only light but even laughable” (LW 14:322). Such power comes only through Christ’s crucifixion (1 Corinthians 1:23–24). It alone can save us from God’s wrath (Romans 5:9). It alone makes peace with God (Colossians 1:20). So Luther has Jesus say while dying on the cross: “You are no longer a sinner, but I am. I am your substitute. You have not sinned, but I have. The entire world is in sin. However, you are not in sin; but I am. All your sins are to rest on me and not on you” (LW 22:167). Believe in this and it’s all yours. For “God himself cannot give heaven to him who does not believe” (LW 32:76). But if we believe, then God will surely transfer even “the unworthy and condemned from the power of death and hell into the kingdom of eternal grace and life” (LW 78:11). So be sure that you “do not think too lightly of faith, for it is the most excellent and difficult of all works” (LW 36:62). Just think of what faith is supposed to grasp! – that Christ is the one who “stepped into the place of our sinful nature, who loaded onto Himself all the wrath of God which we deserved with all our works, and who overcame it. He did not keep all that for Himself, but gave it to be our own, so that all who believe this in Him and about Him will certainly be redeemed through Him from that wrath of God and be received into His favor” (LW 76:19). Now just try that on for size and you’ll see how difficult faith in Jesus is. That has led other Christians to a different cross, construed “as an inspiring instance... of divine-human altruism that conducts the evolving human species through death to the possibility of an ever closer communion with the divine life” (Jack Mahoney, Christianity in Evolution, 2011, p. 146). Luther, for one, would probably say of that possible inspiration – “What newfangled rubbish!” (LW 44:276).

     Be that as it may, having the gift of faith in Christ, don’t stop there but also sing out – “set my people free” (Exodus 5:1). As slaves of God it follows that we shouldn’t be “slaves of men” (1 Corinthians 7:23). Being slaves of God isn’t supposed to set us up to be enslaved by other sinners. No, fearing God includes more than falling on your knees before him, it also includes fearing “no one and [trusting] no one except God” (LW 51:139). So work to end slavery on earth. But note the Christian qualification. “Whatever outwardly remains of… freedom is neither sin nor virtue but only outward tranquility or trouble, joy or suffering, as is all other bodily good or ill, in both of which we can live freely and without sin” (LW 28:45). So we won’t work against slavery on earth to promote salvation in heaven. That’s because salvation is based on the inward freedom faith gives, and not on the outward freedom social, political and economic liberation gives. In Christ “all things are common to all.... For this reason the Christian or believer is a man without a name, without outward appearance [Galatians 3:28], without a distinguishing mark, without status” (LW 27:280). “Christendom is a spiritual community which is to be numbered with the worldly community just as little as minds with bodies and faith with temporal works” (LW 39:68). “Faith knows nothing about... laymen or priests, cobblers or tailors,... owned and free.... In short, godliness and salvation depend on none of these,.... For faith can remain the same in all these ways of life” (LW 76:27, 22). So be a freedom-fighter, but don’t let it go to your head. Pursue it, by all means, but never by forgetting what matters more. That’s why the church has called us to sing, “make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free” (Service Book and Hymnal, 1958, hymn 508), and “firmly bound, forever free” (Lutheran Book of Worship, 1978, hymn 257). So befriend the enslaved and work to set them free – but in the process don’t forget what Job knew, that above all you may become slaves of God. Amen.

 

 

Hymn of the Day:  “Holy Spirit, Truth Divine” (LBW 257)

 

Prayers 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

Beyla Tuomi

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr & Mark

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Chiou-Jin Chen

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

Carol Estes

Savanna & Hank Todd

Gene & Tery Merritt

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. 

 

Births

Romy Roslyn Cook (Jeannine & Gregory Lingle's first great-grandchild)

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn:  “From God the Father, Virgin-Born” (LBW 83)



 



 

“Job returns [in Job 7:2] once more to the themes… of God as master and humans as slaves…. Life as a slave is characterized by time that is unbearable and pain that never heals…. To describe human existence as slavery is to call into question God’s design for creation. Israel’s creation theology affirms that human beings are created in the image of God. Their divine commission comprises two primary responsibilities: (1) to exercise dominion over earth’s resources; and (2) to till and keep the ground. These twin commissions underscore Israel’s belief that human beings have been given the noble assignment of acting like God’s near-equals.”

 

(Samuel E. Balentine, Job, 2006, pp. 130, 132.)

 

VS

 

“Faith makes us obedient and subject to Christ and His Word. Therefore to be submissive to the Word of God and Christ… is the same as believing. For it is difficult for nature to submit completely to Christ and to desist from all its doings, despise them, and regard them as sin; it struggles against this and tortures itself in the process. Yet it must surrender itself.”

 

(Luther’s Works 30:7)







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

January 31, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

God, who is the Author and Lord of the Law, sets bounds to it or breaks it and appoints Jacob and Isaac as the first-born after rejecting Esau and Ishmael…. For what is usually said – “Submit to the law which you have proposed” – is not valid. God is not subject to the law and often acts contrary to the law, in order that we may respect His works, wisdom, counsels, and wonderful judgments and thus walk in humility before Him. Though David was the youngest and most despised among his brothers, he was elevated to royal power in Israel. Accordingly, God knows how to set up and sanction a law in His own way. Yet He sometimes acts strangely, beyond and contrary to the rule…. And yet the Law must remain in its discipline, severity, and order. But grace makes an exception and is superior to the Law.

 

[Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis 48 (1545)

Luther’s Works 8:160–61.] 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

January 31, 2021

  

 

Fourth Sunday after the Holy Epiphany

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Heavenly Father, you know that we cannot withstand the dangers which surround us. Strengthen us in body and spirit so that, with your help, we may be able to overcome the weakness that our sin has brought upon us. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

 

  

First Lesson: Deuteronomy 18:15–20

Psalm 1

Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 8:1–13

Gospel: Mark 1:21–28

 

 

Opening Hymn: “God, Whose Almighty Word ” (LBW 400)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN7JV5qEmQY

  




 




 

Sermon: January 31, 2021


“Follow God's Commands”
(Deuteronomy 18:20)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

    God’s law has hands but no feet, Luther says. How weird is that? He says this because the hands of the law direct us to “the right road,” pointing us forward – but because it doesn’t have any feet, it can’t “conduct [our] steps along the way” of that right road (Luther’s Works 22:143). So it can show us what to do, but it can’t help us do it. Therefore “the law says, ‘do this,’ and it never gets done” (LW 31:41). Does that make it useless? Not at all. No, we still need to know where the road is and the law can show us that. We need God’s law to show us what the good is. Left to ourselves, we only mix up the good and the bad, confusing one for the other (Isaiah 5:20). Just look at how we’ve handled wealth and poverty, war and peace, freedom and slavery, sex and marriage, water, earth and air. So it’s no surprise that the law is “a sermon which points me to life, and it is essential to remember this instruction; but it must be borne in mind that the Law does not give me life” (LW 22:143). By implication we also need the law “to furnish knowledge [of sin] and how great a weakness” it is that plagues us (LW 33:127). The law shows us that “we are stunted human beings and utterly corrupted” by sin, so that “we are not the kind of people that the Law requires” (LW 73:181). That’s because “the desire of man is the opposite of the Law, [he] even hates it and flees from it” (LW 14:295). That’s devastating! But it’s exactly what we need to hear. And the law makes sure that we learn it. Its function is “to makes us guilty, to humble us, to kill us, to lead us down to hell, and to take everything away from us.” For this reason God’s law “cannot be measured by any price” (LW 26:345). It’s that valuable, because nothing else can do what it does for us. Luther even could sing about this (LW 53:279, Lutheran Service Book, 2006, Hymn 581):

                                      You have this Law to see therein

                                      That you have not been free from sin

                                      But also that you clearly see

                                      How pure toward God life should be.

     So God clearly wants us to keep his law – and also make it known throughout the whole world (Deuteronomy 18:20). We are not to tamper with it or reduce it in any way (Matthew 5:17–20). Jesus is emphatic about this. People are always trying to cut out parts of the law – so that it’s easier on us. But Jesus says keep it altogether and intact. We need it bearing down on us if we ever are going to become followers of Christ. And so “the teaching of the Law is necessary in the churches and must be retained in its entirety, for without it Christ cannot be retained” (LW 73:66). God’s law must attack us if we’re going to see the light of Christ (John 8:12). We are lazy rascals who need the “stone tablets [of the law to] beat that donkey with them so that he has to move” (LW 78:136). Without those attacks we wallow – unmoved – in secular security which “removes faith and the fear of the Lord” (LW 73:65). Those attacks are very difficult for us to put up with. We would rather flee from the law – and be left alone in our sin which we love (LW 22:390). “Nothing is easier than sinning,” and so “we sin and err constantly” (LW 30:273, 37:233). That’s because it is grounded in our presumption of righteousness which is a “huge and horrible monster” dwelling within us. “To break and crush it, God needs a large and powerful hammer, that is, the Law, which is the hammer of death, the thunder of hell, and the lightning of divine wrath” (LW 26:310). When that law strikes us, it “renders sin alert and strong and prompts it to cut and to pierce. If it depended on us, sin would very likely remain dormant forever. But God is able to awaken it effectively through the Law. When the hour comes for sin to sting and to strike, it grows unendurable in a moment…. Then one begins to lament and wail: ‘Alas! What did I do? What will become of me now?’” (LW 28:209).

     Well are you ready for a surprise? Do you want to hear something you thought you’d never hear? “God is not subject to the law and often acts contrary to the law, in order that we may respect His works, wisdom, counsels, and wonderful judgments and thus walk in humility before Him. [And so] grace makes an exception and is superior to the Law” (LW 8:160–61). And that grace is that while we were still sinners and deserved nothing but condemnation, “Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). That’s grace because it’s undeserved which is what it is by definition. For it says that “everything that you have not done He will forgive you, and all that you cannot do He will give to you” regardless (LW 57:76). For when Christ died for us he “fulfilled in us… the just requirement of the law” by condemning sin and offering up his life to God the Father as a sacrifice “for sin” (Romans 8:3–4). He then saves us from God’s wrath against us when we rejoice in his death for us (Romans 5:9, Galatians 6:14). And so we are not left speechless when our newly awakened sin terrifies us, assaults us, and gives us nightmares. No, when sin wants to slay us and thrust us into “the jaws of hell,” we sit up straight and say that it’s “unfortunately true that I am a sinner and that I have surely deserved death. So far you are right. But still you shall not condemn and slay me. Another, who is named my Lord Christ, shall stay your hand. You accused and you murdered Him innocently. But do you remember how you vainly dashed full tilt against Him and burned yourself and thereby forfeited all your rights to me and to all Christians? For He both bore and overcame sin and death not for Himself but for me. Therefore I concede you no rightful accusation against me. I can, rather, justly assert my rights against you for trying to attack me without cause and despite the fact that you were already condemned and overcome by Him, which deprived you of any right to assail and accuse me. And although you may now attack and devour me according to the flesh, you shall not accomplish or gain anything by this. You must eat your own sting and choke to death on it. For I am no longer the man you are looking for; I am no longer a child of man, but a child of God, for I am baptized in His blood and on His victory, and I am vested with all His possessions” (LW 28:211–12).

     With this great acclamation of faith and salvation in Christ Jesus, how shall we now live? What shall we do from here on out? Well, “if the Gospel is truly in the heart,” then we would not “wait a long time until the Law comes but [being] full of joy in Christ, and [having a] desire and love for what is good,” we would gladly help everyone “out of a free heart” before ever once thinking about the law (LW 78:136). Christians would be “showing love toward their neighbor, by helping him with words and deeds, teaching and example, and by taking an interest in what he needs. Specifically, they should be rebuking him when he sins, showing him where he errs, bearing with him when he is weak, comforting him when he is distressed, and serving and helping him when he is needy” (LW 78:369).  But what if “I can certainly preach, speak, write, sing, and read, but I cannot get into my heart such a strong, living faith and ardent love” for my neighbor (LW 78:368)? What then? What if we are not yet “fine Christians,” but still sinful and “addicted to greed, to wrath, to lust, [and] to reviling?” Then we’ll need to hear “that the destruction of Sodom by fire is to be set before all succeeding generations and indeed before the very church of God, in order that men may learn to fear God [so that] those who are frightened in this way by the judgment and wrath of God practice justice and discernment” (LW 3:223–24).


     Well this is exactly what’s needed. That’s because “the whole world is evil and that among thousands there is scarcely a single true Christian…. [So] take heed and first fill the world with real Christians before you attempt to rule it in a Christian and evangelical manner. [But] this you will never accomplish; for the world and the masses are and always will be un-Christian, even if they are all baptized and Christian in name. Christians are few and far between” (LW 45:91). So aspiring Christians have to “uphold the law” (Romans 3:31) – or legem statuimus, as it’s put in the old Latin Bible. Statuimus indeed! The law has to be upheld so that it may be used on us all, including those who say they’re Christians – “in the same way a savage wild beast is bound with chains and ropes so that it cannot bite and tear as it would normally do, even though it would like to” (LW 45:90). Legem statuimus – otherwise the whole world will be “reduced to chaos” (LW 45:91). For supposed Christians “have only the name and speech of true Christians [and] let the name float on their tongues like froth on beer” (LW 78:369). May this admonition with its built-in trenchant criticism of all would-be Christians – along with the aspirations to faith in Christ Jesus – inspire us now and always to cherish and follow God’s commands. Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day:  “O God, My Faithful God” (LBW 504)

Prayers 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah &Melissa Baker, and Felicia Wells

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

Beyla Tuomi

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Kari Meier

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr

Wayne Ducheneaux

Jene & Ray McNearney

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

Kurt Weigel

Chiou-Jin Chen

Ethan, Erin and Kevin Vodka

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. 

 

Deaths

Dr. Carl Schalk

Marie Magenta

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn:  “Your Kingdom Come!” (LBW 376)



 



 

California Avenue & Brandon Street

West Seattle

January 26, 2021

Blessed are the meek

for they shall inherit the earth.

 

(Matthew 5:5)

 

Psalm 37 is the right gloss on [Matthew 5:5

because it richly describes] how

the meek are to inherit the land.

 

(Luther’s Works 21:25).

 

It is settled that we should do only good and remain on our true course in the world, letting Him do the worrying and the working. [Therefore the righteous should] be still and… go right on with their duties,… entrusting their cause to God; letting the wicked bite, rage, scowl, slander, strike, draw their swords, bend their bows, and build up their mobs and their power…. For God will set it right, if only we wait for Him to do it, staying the course, and not letting [the wicked] make us quit or give up…. God’s blessing consists in this, that [the righteous] will have plenty both here and hereafter, suffering no shortage of either food for the body or salvation for the soul, even though they have no surplus. [Therefore] we do not permit the prosperity of the wicked to irk us or provoke us…. The righteous… must turn their gaze away from everything visible and tangible and trust God alone, [for they] have no salvation or refuge except that which comes from God…. If God does not give it, the righteous man is so acquiescent that he does not want God to give it to him and forbids God to give it to him. He is so at one with God that in the sight of God he both has and does not have, just as he pleases…. A God-pleasing way of life receives no support but only hindrance and rejection from the wicked. This is a vexation for human nature. Therefore one must find consolation in God’s approval and support of our way of life, regardless of the hindrance and rejection of the wicked.

 

[Martin Luther, Commentary on Psalm 37 (1526)

Luther’s Works 14:223, 222, 228, 225, 220.]  







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

January 24, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

He who will not obey God’s will willingly must, in the end, bow to His will unwillingly. God’s will must prevail. We see [in Jonah] that he who refuses to comply with God’s small demands must suffer even graver things because of this…. There is enough grave sin present, and yet Jonah is not condemned or forsaken. This is due to the fact that he does not despond and despair in his sin but clings firmly to God’s mercy and willingly submits to His punishment. If he had despaired, he would never have come forth from the whale’s belly. His strong faith in the midst of his sin makes it impossible for God to forget him; He must again deliver him.

 

[Martin Luther, Lectures on Jonah (1526)

Luther’s Works 19:46–47.]

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

January 24, 2021

  

 

Third Sunday after the Holy Epiphany

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, you sent your Son to proclaim your kingdom and to teach with authority. Anoint us with the power of your Spirit that we may faithfully bear witness to Jesus and his glory. In his name we pray.  

 

 

  

First Lesson: Jonah 3:1–5, 10

Psalm 62:6-14

Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 7:29–31

Gospel: Mark 1:14–20

 

 

Opening Hymn: “Hail the Lord’s Anointed” (LBW 87)

  




 




 

Sermon: January 24, 2021


“Learn from Jonah”
(Jonah 3:3)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

    “Certainly Jonah is a strange prophet” (Luther’s Works 19:30). O Luther, did you ever get that right! For Jonah’s the only prophet who runs away when God commands him to prophesy. Some prophet. And when he does refuse to prophesy, God doesn’t kill him like he did King Saul when he disobeyed God (1 Samuel 15:9–35, LW 19:6). As a rascal, it’s quite shocking that Jonah is the most successful of the prophets, converting the whole city of Nineveh – including the animals – with a teeny-tiny, and strikingly negative, sermon (Jonah 3:4–8). How weird that is. No wonder preachers shy away from Jonah and his “most sobering truth” about the “enormous quantity of pretentious romanticism in the pastoral vocation” (Eugene Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant, 1992, p. 10). Furthermore, as “a servant of the true God and a member of the holiest land and nation,” Jonah is “worse than the idolatrous heathen” on the ship he sails away on when trying to escape God’s command (LW 19:64). So this prophet is hardly on the side of righteousness – even when he complies! From this we learn that “no matter how God deals with us, we are obnoxious.” That’s Luther’s devastating judgment and it should be ours as well. For if God is lenient, Luther goes on to explain, we are “insolent, bold, arrogant, and saucy.” But if he punishes us, “we grow so dejected and despondent that no consolation, no kindness, no mercy is able to revive our courage and to strengthen us” (LW 19:73). So we’re dead in the water – rather than renewed in our faith. In addition, Luther finds it remarkable that “Jonah was able to count the days” he was in the whale when he “neither saw nor heard anything when he was shut up” in its belly (LW 19:16). And most peculiar, indeed, Jonah points us to Christ, in whom we learn, that “death has become the door to life for us; disgrace has become the elevation to glory; condemnation and hell, the door to salvation” (LW 19:31). How miraculous is that?

     And just how does Jonah pull that off? How does he put death, disgrace, condemnation and hell into such a good light? He does so by being a living illustration of Acts 14:22. In that verse we learn that we can only enter the kingdom of God “through many tribulations” – a verse that the early church thought was first spoken by Jesus himself (Jaroslav Pelikan, Acts, 2005, p. 167). What a chilling word! It says that if we don’t have plenty of trouble because of Jesus, then we’re phony even if we think and say that we are not (LW 51:112, 207, 52:119). And of course we are tempted to lie about this, in order to fashion an easier life for ourselves (Luke 12:19). But nothing else will work. Only troubles help. The Christian “must be tested, tried, and refined” (LW 60:335). That’s because, as Luther shows, “the heart is slippery and vacillating when taking hold” of the Gospel (LW 5:146). Without suffering, we would “bumble along with our early, incipient faith. We would become indolent, unfruitful and inexperienced Christians” (LW 24:150). That’s where Luther’s refinement comes in. Therefore we need the glue of suffering to keep us connected to God’s saving ways (Romans 8:17). Indeed, “we cannot grasp the Gospel unless the conscience is previously distressed and miserable” (LW 79:261). How does our distress and misery do that? It makes us ready for God. It prepares us. “The terrible judgment of God” makes us “quail” in order to “soften [us] up” so that we will “sigh and seek for the comfort” that God alone provides (LW 35:18). Without those troubles we would never despair of ourselves and look to God for help. That’s what it takes to point us in God’s direction. “The point of making death and wrath manifest [is that] you might flee to Christ,” that is, ad Christum confugias, in Luther’s original Latin (LW 73:207). Confugias! Of course! Why? Because only God can help us. “For it is His special work to make the dead alive, to render those who are completely confused peaceful and tranquil, and to make those who are wretched happy and those who are in despair joyful” (LW 6:104).

     But what if we keep running away? What then? What if our lives remain shaped by comparative pricing and commercial comforts (Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant, p. 27)? What if we set aside the content of Gods word, rejecting its power to change us into new and better disciples (2 Timothy 3:5, 2 Corinthians 5:17)? What then? The temptation will be to appease the discontented and celebrate the way things are. Giving in, we prefer what is easy and nice (LW 78:339). We settle for the course of least resistance and miss out on the aspiration that in testing times we become the best of beings (Amanda Gorman, The Miracle of Morning, April 2020). Lutherans have tried to head off that train wreck with their venerable confession that opposes “a nice, soft life without the cross and suffering” (The Book of Concord, ed. T. Tappert, 1959, p. 392). But standing up for the difficult way wont be easy (Matthew 7:14). Luther thought that if we Lutherans... were only dead, then the world would immediately cry Victory!’” (LW 79:351). But we have no choice in the matter the decision is made for us on high (2 Corinthians 13:8). At every moment the life of your body as well as of your soul is in the hand of God alone” (LW 67:106). He hurls us into the fray where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten, where black is the color, where none is the number” (Bob Dylan, 100 Songs, 2017, p. 7). That is the lot of the Christian. And so with Saint Joan of Arc “we must serve God first (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994, 1999, §223). And if we dont, we cant be accommodated. With Luther we must dig in and say if someone is so stiff-necked... that he will not accept directions, then let him go his own way” (LW 78:292). We must remember, after all, that only a few are struck by the Law... and obey the Gospel” (LW 73:105). How terrifying!

     But God doesn’t give up. He stays on the cross for us (LW 76:405). There his dear son offers up the fragrant offering of his death to him (Ephesians 5:2). And at that point we’re spared condemnation when we believe (Colossians 2:14, John 3:16). That’s because the “punishment” we had coming because of our disobedience, Jesus suffered “for us” instead (LW 26:284). That’s because “God cannot be... gracious to sin... unless sufficient payment is made for it” (LW 77:96). Indeed, “the only Son of God had to take our place and become a sacrifice for our sin, through which God’s wrath would be appeased and satisfaction would be made” (LW 78:50). Jonah shows us this connection between death and wellbeing, payment and salvation, punishment and satisfaction, when he calms God’s wrath by jumping overboard in the midst of the punishing storm against him (Jonah 1:15). “I must die or the sea will never again grow tranquil” (LW 19:65). And so, too, Christ must die or there will never be peace with God (Romans 5:1, Colossians 1:20).

     Even though this message is “clear and winsome,” it still is unacceptable to many because “it mows down and castigates whatever is not centered on Christ. In unadorned terms it states that there is no possible way to escape sin and death, to be saved, except by clinging to this man, the crucified Jesus of Nazareth” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 2:173). Because of this, “the would-be-wise [will try] to master and remake Christ” (LHP 1:163). But this is a fool’s errand and won’t work because God’s word won’t cooperate. We instead should pray that God increases our faith (Luke 17:5), because without that merciful gift, faith is impossible (Luke 18:27) and we lose him. For “faith.... consummates the Deity,... it is the creator of the Deity, not in the substance of God but in us” (LW 26:227).

     Having been rescued from our sin by faith in Christ, let us then live lives sharing in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:13). Let us supplement our faith with that virtue (2 Peter 1:5). Why? Because of what Luther thought Christ, in effect, says to us. I want to be, he says, the mediator between God and you, and represent you before him, so that he does not rebuke, judge, and condemn you on account of your sin. But when you are now reconciled with God and your sins are remitted, then set out on the way and begin to do what God has commanded” (LHP 2:420). How should we then go about sharing in Christs sufferings, as we are commanded to do? Well, “if one will make the afflictions of Christ and all Christians his own, defend the truth, oppose unrighteousness, and help bear the needs of the innocent and the sufferings of all Christians, then he will find affliction and adversity enough” (LW 35:56). And yet by this suffering faith we will also draw in other people, which is “the nature of faith” to do (LW 79:243). And all of this will come about from having amply learned from Jonah. Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day:  “Come Follow Me,’ the Savior Spake” (LBW 455)

Prayers 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah, Melissa, and Felicia Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

Marie Magenta

The Rev. Randy Olson

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Marv Morris 

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr

Wayne Ducheneaux

Jene & Ray McNearney

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Lucy Shearer

Carolyn & Marv Morris

Ramona King

Karen Berg

Donna & Grover Mullen

Patty Johnson

Christine Berg

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. 

 

Births

Gideon Marshall

 

Deaths

The Rev. Dave Monson

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “Rise Up, O Saints of God!” (LBW 383)

 



 



 

However baby man may brag of his science and skill,… the sea will insult and murder him, and pulverize the stateliest, stiffest frigate he can make; nevertheless, by the continual repetition of these very impressions, man has lost that sense of the full awfulness of the sea which aboriginally belongs to it…. Yes, foolish mortals, Noah’s flood is not yet subsided; two thirds of the fair world it yet covers.... Not only is the sea such a foe to man who is alien to it, but it is also a fiend to its own offspring…. The sea dashes even the mightiest whales against the rocks, and leaves them there side by side with the split wrecks of ships…. Panting and snorting like a mad battle steed that has lost its rider, the masterless ocean overruns the globe…. Consider… the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began…. Consider… the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!

 

[Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or The Whale (1851), Chapter 58.] 







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

January 17, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

One should be obedient to God, have patience in tribulation, suffer persecution for the sake of the truth, and do good works, and we urge these things with diligence. Yet we teach in addition that one should not commit idolatry with good works nor arrogantly presume that one is justified before God through them…. The works-righteous, however, turn things around, deny grace, and ascribe the righteousness that avails before God to works.

 

[Martin Luther, Sermons on John 19 (1529)

Luther’s Works 69:270.]

 




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

January 17, 2021

  

 

Second Sunday after the Holy Epiphany

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  O Lord our God, we thank you for bringing about believers in your Son, Christ Jesus. In your mercy strengthen all who love and follow him. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

 

  

First Lesson: 1 Samuel 3:1–10

Psalm 67

Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 6:12–20

Gospel: John 1:43–51

 

 

Opening Hymn: “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright” (LBW 76)

  




 




 

Sermon: January 17, 2021


“Divest Yourself”
(1 Corinthians 6:19)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

    The Bible says we are not in charge of our lives. We instead belong to God who bought us (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). This flips our lives upside down – putting the lie to the old conviction that, like the village blacksmith poem of 1840, we look “the whole world in the face [and owe] not any man” (Nicholas A. Basbanes, Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 2020, pp. 301, 308). No, the truth is we’re dependent creatures, not independent ones. But this point is hard to make since we think we struggle to take care of ourselves on our own. And so when Martin Luther tried to undergird this Biblical point he used the image of a beast of burden. That’s who we are. And as such our lives are made up of being ridden – as a beast of burden – by God or the devil. None of this has anything to do with the exercise of our own freedom or the exertion of our own will  (Romans 9:16). We are but clay in the hands of the divine potter (Jeremiah 18:6). As a beast of burden we cannot “choose to run to either of the two riders” – God or the devil (Luther’s Works 33:65). So we shouldn’t say we’re planning to “go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain.” No, we should instead say – “If the Lord wills [deo volente], we shall live and we shall do this or that” (James 4:13–15) – “whether we like it or not” (LW 45:254–55). By deferring to God, we will be divested of the illusion of all self-determination.

     But what kind of a life would that be? It surely isn’t one spent struggling over the best use of our individual freedom – as in George Orwell’s classic novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). No, it would be quite different from that. It would be to construe life as one of slavery. Yes, you heard that right – even though this spiritual slavery doesn’t mimic slavery on earth between masters and serfs (Catholic Biblical Quarterly, January 2021, p. 151). Romans 6:20–22 spells this out clearly. It says we’re either slaves to God or slaves to sin. No other outcomes are possible. When we’re slaves to sin we are free when it comes to righteousness and can live anyway we wish. But that leads to death. The only life that leads to salvation is slavery to God. Then we no longer live however we wish – “without hindrance or rebuke, without shame or fear, and with honor and glory” (LW 13:43). Instead of that we have to be on the straight and narrow. We have to hear the word and keep it (Luke 11:28). There’s no wiggle room. If there were, it wouldn’t be slavery to God. As slaves, obeying matters more than figuring things out on our own and being creative. As obedient slaves, we won’t “desert the battlefield but stick it out [and] commit the outcome to God” (LW 15:106, 153). This obeying will put an end to looking out for ourselves. And that’s what “pleases God.” For that springs forth from faith in God “as from a fountain” (LW 73:106, 291, 398).

    That generation is what makes it true. It comes from God. Our faith, our obedience, our slavery all come from God. We’re not making it up. These words that communicate it were written down by people but “inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16) – making them from God, then, rather than from us (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Some dispute this, arguing that the words, though inspired, are still unreliable (Morgan P. Noyes, Pastor Epistles, 1955, IB:11, pp. 506–507). Alas, it has always been the case that the ungodly “avoid Scripture like they avoid the devil” (LW 79:66). But not Luther. He believed that the Bible “is the vehicle of the Holy Spirit” and so is reliable – even when Moses writes about his own death in Deuteronomy by precognition (LW 30:3321, 9:310). He therefore encouraged us to always work with God’s word, “gladly hear it, be occupied with it, and remember it day and night” (LW 79:205). Lutherans – against the naysayers in the church – have taken a stand with Luther on this conviction, confessing that all Scripture is indeed inspired by God (Book of Concord, ed. T. Tappert, 1959, p. 618). And we do that knowing full well that “by Scripture we are led to believe things that are absurd, impossible, and contrary to our reason” (LW 16:183). It therefore “requires real mastery to avoid judging the Word according to human reason” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 1996, 2:87).

    With such a challenging and divinely inspired word, how can we take up this life of faith – even of slavery to God? We, after all, would rather be free to do whatever we like. How will we trade that wayward yearning for a life of slavery to God? It’ll take Christ changing our hearts by abiding in us through his word (Galatians 2:20, James 1:21). That’s what’s needed – having Christ “live and reign” in us (LW 42:40). By so doing, he shows us that the greatest freedom of all is to be free of God’s wrath – which comes when Jesus sheds his blood on the cross for us (Romans 5:9). That is the penalty Christ pays to divert God’s wrath from us. That’s how we are bought (1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Peter 2:1). Only then are we “absolutely free of God’s wrath and judgment.” And then God will say to us – “My dear son!” What a thrill it will be to hear those words. And then we are changed further so that we can say to God – “My dearly beloved Father!” (LHP 3:109).

    With that exchange, we’re reconciled to God – and we have peace with him by the blood of the Lamb (Colossians 1:20). Indeed, “Christ has stepped into the breach as the Mediator between two utterly different parties separated by an infinite and eternal division, and has reconciled them... So He is not the Mediator of one; He is the Mediator of two who were in the utmost disagreement” (LW 26:325). This freedom is deep and abiding which Christ earns for us, and so it doesn’t dissipate over time. That’s because it’s not freedom from “some human slavery or tyrannical authority but from the eternal wrath of God.” That makes it “greater than heaven and earth and all creation.” This “spiritual freedom” makes us free and joyful and “unafraid of the wrath to come” (LW 27:4). For on Judgment Day well pass through judgment as if we werent judged at all (Judges 5:24) – since by faith were miraculously “straightaway the kingdom of God” (LW 67:170). Straightaway? Yes – its that abrupt a leap into the kingdom. No wonder Luther sings out that Christ is “my help, my strength, my life, my joy” (LHP 1:474). Glory be to God!

    With that freedom, kingdom, and joy, we are never to “submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). So every yoke “of sin, death, the wrath of God, the devil, the flesh, the world, and all creatures,” is thrown out (LW 27:7). One of the worst of these is the yoke of creatures. It therefore is given special attention – noting that we cannot serve Christ if were trying to please people (Galatians 1:10). Luther underscores it by saying that although “truth and friends are dear to us, preference must be given to truth” (LW 1:122). Those famous words are chastening. They fly in the face of exalting friendships over everything else. They surprisingly give a place for loneliness in Christianity (Psalm 102:7, LW 14:181, 67:97–98). So Christians mustn’t blow friendship way out of proportion. Reining it in purges Christianity of any humanistic obsession. It puts faith in Christ above our social well-being which is risky because friendship for many is what melts all humanity into one cordial heart of hearts” (Nathaniel Hawthorne, 18041864, The Glorious American Essay, ed. Phillip Lopate, 2020, p. 110). Nevertheless, faith presses on and weans us from the things on earth (Colossians 3:2). It makes sure we live like heaven is our home (Philippians 3:20) without committing idolatry with good works,” by supposing that this adjustment will save us (LW 69:270). This focus moves us away from being lazy and careless, by helping us grasp... well the treasure of our faith (LW 79:226). By so doing we make sure to divest ourselves of all idols, including what’s most pervasive the transient (2 Corinthians 4:18). Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day:  “Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart” (LBW 486)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiQ_R-s6h00

Prayers 


 



Litany on the Washington, D. C.

Demonstration, January 6, 2021

 

Let us pray for all those grieving for loved ones who died or were wounded in the mass demonstration last Wednesday night, at the National Capitol in Washington, D. C. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all who came to the aid of our elected officials and others under assault during those protests. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all those who died in the mayhem. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all those who survived, that they may be comforted and healed of their wounds and terrible memories. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all those arrested and charged with crimes in this demonstration that justice may be done. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for America’s capitol – and all the cities throughout our country – that they may be civilized and peaceful places to live, work and hold lawful demonstrations. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our country that it may have a peaceful and just transfer of presidential leadership on January 20. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us pray for the angry who use violence to try to solve their problems, that they may pursue peace instead. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, let us thank God for his goodness and mercy, for those kept safe during the protests at our National Capitol, and for the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus, when he comes again in judgment (John 5:26–29, 16:33), to rescue the righteous, condemn the wicked, and bring violence and evil to an end, once and for all.

 

GLORY BE TO JESUS, OUR PEACEFUL KING AND SAVIOR! AMEN.




 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah, Melissa, and Felicia Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

Marie Magenta

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Dave Monson

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Marv Morris 

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr

Wayne Ducheneaux

Jene & Ray McNearney

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Haley Marshall

Lucy Shearer

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. 

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “As With Gladness Men of Old” (LBW 82)

 



 



 

 

This cursed life is nothing but a real vale of tears, in which the longer a man lives, the more sin, wickedness, torment, and sadness he sees and feels. Nor is there respite or cessation of all of this until we are buried [Romans 6:7]; then, of course, this sadness has to stop and let us sleep contentedly in Christ’s peace, until he comes again to wake us [1 Corinthians 15:52] with joy [John 16:33]. Amen.

 

(Martin Luther, Letter to Hans Luther (1530)

Luther’s Works 49:270.)







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

January 10, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

 

What wretched people we are!

To think that we are so cold

and slothful in our attitude toward

[the incarnation of Christ, our Savior]

which, after all, happened for us,

this great benefaction which is far,

far superior to all other works of creation!

And yet how hard it is for us to believe,

though the good news was preached

and sung for us by angels,

who are heavenly theologians

and have rejoiced in our behalf.

 

[Martin Luther, Table Talk, No. 4201 (1538)

Luther’s Works 54:326–27.]

  




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

January 10, 2021

  

First Sunday after the Holy Epiphany

The Baptism of Our Lord

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, at the baptism of Jesus you proclaimed him your beloved Son. May all who are baptized in his name celebrate his gift of eternal life. In his name we pray. Amen.

 

 

  

First Lesson: Isaiah 42:1–7

Psalm 29

Second Lesson: Acts 10:34–38

Gospel: Mark 1:4–11

 

 

Opening Hymn: “Oh, Love, How Deep” (LBW 88)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUtpWgXmRM

 




 




 

Sermon: January 10, 2021


“Honor Jesus”
(Mark 1:11)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

    At the baptism of Jesus we learn that God is pleased with him (Mark 1:11). And so should we. We learn that Jesus is good enough for God. And so he should also be for us. But we’re not told why. We’re told that God delights in Jesus but we’re not given any explanation for this. In John 10:17, however, there’s an explanation. There Jesus says that God loves him – is delighted in him – because he dies so that he might live again. What then is said at Christ’s baptism is explained with his crucifixion and resurrection. Some say we shouldn’t do this. We shouldn’t look to John’s Gospel to explain Mark’s Gospel (James D. G. Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, 3rd edition, 2006). They’re too different – Mark from John. But Martin Luther disagreed. ‘There is only one gospel,” he argued, even though it can be “described by many apostles” (Luther’s Works 35:117). So mixing and matching New Testament verses is fine – just as I have done with Mark 1:11 and John 10:17. Such cross-pollination is what brings “refinement,” or an overall reliable perspective on Holy Scriptures as God’s saving revelation to us (LW 41:219). Without that refinement they’re a mess – and in our hands “the Bible means nothing. It is Bible–Booble–Babel” (LW 40:50).

     But the baptized Jesus matters – only, however, because he was crucified and raised from the dead. That’s what makes him worthy of praise – not his being dunked in the Jordon River. “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5:12). That’s our song and it’s not about the Lamb who was baptized, mind you. No wonder Saint Paul wants to know nothing among us but Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). Never just Christ baptized. While Luther definitely stands with Saint Paul on this, he adds that the baptism of Jesus itself drives us to the crucifixion and resurrection. For baptism points to dying. In baptism “the old man and the sinful birth of flesh and blood are to be wholly drowned by the grace of God” (LW 35:29). This drowning points to a dying. So “by His suffering and death as our Priest,” Jesus gains for us “the state of being forever His elect children.” On the cross he frees us “from wrath” and finally shows us “a gracious God” (LW 57:174, 172).

     We need this witness especially now when Jesus is being spread out thin as some sort of christic principle. He’s construed as what’s behind the “sacred everything” – in “stars, galaxies, whales, soil, water [and] trees” (Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, 1988, p. 8). This is supposedly needed because “Christianity has become clannish.” So Christ has to expand beyond Jesus of Nazareth by becoming “much more immense, even cosmic, in significance” – beyond all distinctions “between the natural and the supernatural, between the holy and the profane” (Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ, 2019, pp. 19, 3, 15).

     But then the focus on the suffering of Jesus is lost (1 Corinthians 2:2). We lose his telling question in Mark 10:38 – “Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” That cup of suffering – that crucifixion – is the real baptism of Jesus. It’s what makes him indispensable for salvation. For if we have God without the crucified Christ, “we find no comfort but only righteous wrath and displeasure” (Luther’s House Postils, ed. E. Klug, 2:148). “For in the Son of God I behold the wrath of God in action” (LW 47:113). We see it in the fact that Jesus was “crucified for us, shed His blood and died, and thus paid for our sins and appeased and warded off God’s wrath.” This matters so much because by so doing Jesus shows us that we no longer have to doubt but can be certain that he is not angry with us sinners but is our “dear Savior” (LW 77:128). His sacrifice on the cross proclaims this loud and clear. That makes it “far, far superior to all other works of creation!” (LW 54:327). The birds and the bees, the rocks and the trees, cannot “carry you across…. into yonder life.” Neither can a christic principle. Only Christ, the sacrificed man, who is our bridge to yonder life – to heaven – can do that for all believers. And so “all that is necessary is that you unhesitatingly set your foot on [Jesus], wager boldly on [him], go cheerfully and happily, and die in [his] name” (LW 24:42). That’s what believers in Jesus do. And be duly warned about this. For God has given Jesus “dominion over all. His power is certain and endures. [And so] woe to him who does not accept this by grace. He will encounter this power coupled with wrath in all eternity” (LW 15:279).

     Luther doesn’t talk this way because he had an easy life. That’s not why he rejoices in Jesus and presses people to believe in him. No, his life was tough. He had many who hated him (Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Luther’s Last Battles, 1983). And he also had severe health problems – but still he trusted in Christ in spite of it all. There’s no doubt that he knew that “Christianity is surely a constant sobbing” (LW 16:20). Therefore “all those who do not trust God at all times and do not see God’s favor and grace and good will toward them in everything they do and everything they suffer, in their living or in their dying, but seek his favor in other things or even in themselves,... practice idolatry” (LW 44:30). So in his letters Luther says that “the Lord has afflicted me with painful constipation. The elimination is so hard,” he explains, “that I am forced to press with all my strength, even to the point of perspiration…. Soon I had some relief and elimination without blood or force, but the wound of the previous rupture isn’t healed yet, and I even had to suffer a good deal because some flesh extruded” (LW 48:217, 268– 69). No rose garden there. So suffering is part of every Christian life with untold variations on the theme.

     That suffering, however, isn’t just social and physical, but spiritual as well. And that’s in part why we have to be baptized along with believing if we’re going to heaven when we die. Belief needs to hold on to baptism to strengthen it. It’s a work of God in you. Those works are “firm, certain, unchangeable and eternal. Therefore, they stand and abide, firm and unfailing, and never become something else, even if they are completely misused” (LW 57:181). That durability makes baptism your ace-in-the-hole. It’s what baptism promises you. Baptism can sustain you even if you neglect it – and have forgotten when and where it happened. So be sure to hold onto it as you battle all of the spiritual temptations that come your way. It promises to stabilize your faith. Chief among those temptations will be “the repose, ease, and prosperity of this life…. For in the easy life no one learns to suffer, to die with gladness, to get rid of sin, and to live in harmony with baptism. Instead there grows only love of this life and horror of eternal life, fear of death and unwillingness to blot out sin” (LW 35:39).

     So dig in with your baptismal certificate clutched in hand, as it were. Fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12) – aided by your baptismal promises. And building upon all that it means that God was pleased with the sacrifice of his dear Son – which is his true baptism – may we also honor Jesus. May we too be pleased with him and his death for us. “But you must listen to God; it is He who must teach you [for] to proclaim the message and to impart faith depends on Him.... Without this all will fail. [So] do not give wing to your own ideas, and do not soar to God otherwise than through Jesus Christ. For Christ is the bridge and the way. Resolve not to teach a Christian anything beyond and above Christ” (LW 23:103). That admonition is also our song – but unfortunately not all Lutherans sing it. Very prominent ones down through the ages, like David Strau (1808–1874), argue that the Bible is too faulty to help Christians and so it should be replaced by a humanism based on “reason and experience” alone (Frederick C. Beiser, David Friederich Strau: Father of Unbelief, 2020, p. 215). May we not cave into that temptation. May we return to Luthers song about listening to God and not soaring to him otherwise than through Jesus Christ. May we take that song to heart in all that we say and do, as each one of us struggles to honor Jesus. Amen.

 

Hymn of the Day: “To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord” (LBW 79)

 

Prayers 


 



Litany on the Washington, D. C.

Demonstration, January 6, 2021

 

Let us pray for all those grieving for loved ones who died or were wounded in the mass demonstration last Wednesday night, at the National Capitol in Washington, D. C. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all who came to the aid of our elected officials and others under assault during those protests. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all those who died in the mayhem. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all those who survived, that they may be comforted and healed of their wounds and terrible memories. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for all those arrested and charged with crimes in this demonstration that justice may be done. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for America’s capitol – and all the cities throughout our country – that they may be civilized and peaceful places to live, work and hold lawful demonstrations. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our country that it may have a peaceful and just transfer of presidential leadership on January 20. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us pray for the angry who use violence to try to solve their problems, that they may pursue peace instead. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, let us thank God for his goodness and mercy, for those kept safe during the protests at our National Capitol, and for the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus, when he comes again in judgment (John 5:26–29, 16:33), to rescue the righteous, condemn the wicked, and bring violence and evil to an end, once and for all.

 

GLORY BE TO JESUS, OUR PEACEFUL KING AND SAVIOR! AMEN.




 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah, Melissa, and Felicia Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

Marie Magenta

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Dave Monson

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Marv Morris 

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr

Wayne Ducheneaux

Jene & Ray McNearney

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Haley Marshall

Lucy Shearer

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. 

 

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “All Who Believe and Are Baptized” (LBW 194)

 



 



 

 

See to it that you tread on Me, that is, cling to Me with strong faith and with all confidence of the heart. I will be the Bridge to carry you across. In one moment you will come out of death and the fear of hell into yonder life. For it is I who paved the way and the course. I walked and traversed it Myself, so that I might take you and all My followers across. All that is necessary is that you unhesitatingly set your foot on Me, wager boldly on Me, go cheerfully and happily, and die in My name.

 

[Martin Luther, Sermon on John 14:5–6 (1537)

Luther’s Works 24:42.]







 

 






Online Sunday Liturgy

January 3, 2021



 


Bulletin Cover

 

The ungrateful people of the world [do not] see or hear or consider or amend or repent. Therefore [God] will forsake them and refuse to help them. This is horrifying, terrifying. But what can we do about it? We must let it come and go, as it comes and goes. For even if we [were to lament over them] until we are sick, the world cares nothing about it. It goes on its way, being, as it is, mad and foolish and possessed by all devils. So go your way, you choice, tender fruit, and find what you are looking for, which you cannot do without or have otherwise. The separation is easy for us; we cannot keep you; you do not want to be kept; so we sing with the angels over Babylon: “We have long sought to heal Babylon, but there is no healing there. So we will let them go their way, and we will depart” (Jeremiah 51:9).

 

[Martin Luther, Preface to Adler, Sermon on Almsgiving (1533)

Luther’s Works 60:15.]

  




Online Abbreviated Sunday Liturgy

Pastor Marshall

January 3, 2021

  

Second Sunday After Christmas

The Tenth Day of Christmas

 

In the Name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, our Maker and Redeemer, you have given us the new light of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. May our faith in that light shine in all that we say and do. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

  

First Lesson: Isaiah 61:10–62: 3

Psalm 147:13–21

Second Lesson: Ephesians 1:3–6, 15–18

Gospel: John 1:1–18

 

 

Opening Hymn:  “Joy to the World” (LBW 39)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th4vXeuP6zo

 




 




 

Sermon: January 3, 2021


“Open Your Eyes”
(Ephesians 1:18)


Grace and peace to you in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

    Here’s the Christmas message, that “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light” (Matthew 4:16). And that great light is Jesus. So glory be to God for Jesus who comes into the world to save us from our sin (John 8:12, Matthew 1:21). But there’s also a second Christmas message that’s often overlooked. And it’s that “the darkness has not overcome the light” (John 1:5). So right on the heels of Christmas glory and light there’s Christmas gloom and darkness. “His own people received him not” (John 1:11) is the darkness that comes from rejecting him. Those sitting in darkness apparently preferred to stay there. Just think of it! “Men loved the darkness rather than the light” (John 3:19). And we also would rather “labor for the food which perishes” (John 6:27)! Rather than praising God for Jesus, we’d rather “mutter” about him (John 7:12). We’re all ready to settle for the darkness, in spite of the glory and light that has come to us at Christmas. We want to remain “of this world” and “judge according to the flesh” (John 8:23, 15, 15:19, 17:16, 18:36). We’re still trying to climb into heaven “by another way” (John 10:1). We still see nothing wrong with loving ourselves (John 12:25). We haven’t stopped working on ways to be greater than Jesus – enjoying a life better than what his suffering brings (John 13:16, 16:33, 18:11). We still can’t see how a man could be God (John 14:10). We still only want worldly peace (John 14:27). We like our independence (John 15:6). We like being free to doubt (John 20:27). So, as you can see, there’s plenty of Christmas darkness generated from that first Christmas day. In that darkness – living without God’s glory – there’s no “sovereign in heaven; the wide world [is] a playground for the wild pandemonium of life; there [is] no ear that [brings] the confusion together in harmony, no guiding hand that [intervenes]” (Kierkegaard’s Writings 5:94). “Nothing is right; only denial of instinct is wrong” (Patricia Bosworth, The Men in My Life, 2018, p. 34).

     So what’s up with Christmas? Why doesn’t its brightness dispel all of that darkness? Why isn’t it like the noonday sun that puts an end to the black midnight skies? It’s because “you are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires” (John 8:44). There’s your answer for you! There’s enough darkness in that verse to cover the whole world until the end of time. And that darkness strikes us by blinding us (2 Corinthians 4:4). So we don’t see the light that has come to dispel our darkness. Can you believe that? But note carefully – “The darkness has not overcome the light” (John 1:5). That means there’s still a chance to see the light. There’s still a chance to have eyes that see (John 9:30, 12:40). But get this – you’ll first have to poke out your eyes to get new eyes that see the Christmas light (John 9:39). Then the eyes of your heart will be “enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which God has called you” (Ephesians 1:18). So as surely as darkness follows the Christmas light, darkness also is needed before you can see that light.

     But how’s that possible? Doesn’t light beget light, and darkness, darkness? How does darkness enable the light to shine? What sense does that make? The sense is in Psalm 119:37 – “turn my eyes from looking at vanities.” There’s the darkness – turning our eyes from looking at vanities – that covering of our eyes, that darkening, goes before any of us can see the Christmas light and sing for joy because of it. There’s the deprivation – the darkness – that precedes fulfillment. But in an age saturated with immediate gratification, this prerequisite goes begging. It’s lost on us. That’s because it’s “apparently not known that desire must be dammed up to be self-renewing” (Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, 2000, p. 790). None of this, however, was lost on Luther. He knew that before we can see the light we must first be like those who are “wasting away from hunger and thirst in the desert after they have been cast out of their home and country, who sigh and cry to the Lord and are now at the point of despair” (Luther’s Works 4:49). Luther knew that this is the only way to stop us when we’re “intoxicated with [our] own ideas” which keeps us from celebrating the Christmas light (LW 16:242). So as long as we’re blind, “so great is the hardness of the human heart that it is moved by no signs and wonders, is affected by no words, and is shaken by no threats” (LW 9:272). In that state “we have soundly sleeping eyes,” and we despise the Christmas light “as something ordinary and paltry” (LW 3:155). No big deal. Take down the decorations. That’s what it’s like to be “a people contrary to the Word” (LW 17:91). We suffer from a “miserable admixture of the filth of our arrogance” (LW 13:150).

     So are we left hip-deep in that filth? Is this the last word for sinners? Not if the darkness hasn’t overcome the light (John 1:5)! Then, even though we’re sinners, help is still available (Romans 5:8). We’re not automatically disqualified. After all of this judgment against us and our rank sinfulness, there’s still hope. Even thirty years after the passionate and articulate argument in Michael Martin’s classic, The Case Against Christianity (1991) was published, a remnant of followers of Jesus are still around. And that remnant is enough to keep alive the testimony to the Christmas light. The darkness has not overcome it. And being small even – being just a remnant – has the advantage of being “much less likely to be seduced into the pursuit of worldly conquest” (The Emerging Christian Minority, ed. V. Austin & J. Daniels, 2019, p. 52). The same was the case in Biblical times. Even then the good wasn’t displaced by the bad. Good news could follow upon the bad – without any softening up of the bad beforehand (contra Karl Barth, The Faith of the Church, 1943, 1958, p. 70). Luther explains this. “The apostles first judged, rebuked the world, and proclaimed God’s wrath against it, and then preached the forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ [and] so must we also do” (LW 78:179). This rebuking sets up the forgiving. The bad news leads to the good news. That’s because after the rebuking, the big guns fire. There’s something greater than the Christmas light to save us.

      For Jesus, long after he was born in Bethlehem, tells us that when he is lifted up on the cross, then he will draws us to himself (John 12:32). Then the impossible happens and we finally rejoice in the Christmas light. This didn’t happen at Christmas. Don’t forget that darkness. This is the second glorification of Christ that happens only on the cross (John 12:28). For on the cross – unlike at Christmas – our faithful mediator (1 Timothy 2:5) removes “all of God’s wrath and hostility and makes hearts certain of His fatherly grace” (LW 77:363). Then we can believe and rejoice. And he does this by being punished for our sins (1 Peter 2:24). Could it be that this is why “his ribs stuck out” while hanging on the cross, because he was being filled up with the sins of the world (1 John 2:2, Sean Gandert, American Saint: A Novel, 2019, p. 175)? Be that as it may, Christ saves us by offering up his life on the cross as “a fragrant sacrifice” to his Father in heaven (Ephesians 5:2). This sacrifice clearly shows us God’s “glowing love toward all miserable, damned, and sorrowful sinners” (LW 12:207). When we have faith in this sacrifice we won’t be punished in hell for our sins (John 3:16, 15:16). When we “make a total commitment, commend [ourselves] to God’s governance, and not trust [our] own reason at all,” then our “Father’s hand” holds on to us tightly (LW 44:73, John 10:29). Then we can finally sing “of joy illimited” (Thomas Hardy, The Complete Poems, ed. J. Gibson, 2001, p. 150). Then “Christ tears us away from all other lights, teachers, and preachers, so that we may remain with Him alone and cling to Him, lest we perish and die in eternal darkness” (LW 23:327). Here we see our “frightening Christ” – tearing us away from what damns us (LW 77:85). But what if we don’t want this frightening, yet salutary ripping away? What if you refuse to sing with joy and instead still want that Christmas darkness? What then? “The separation is easy for us,” Luther again explains, for “we cannot keep you; [since] you do not want to be kept” (LW 60:15). For indeed “the world takes delight in remaining in darkness.... [It even labors] harder to earn hell than Christians work to gain heaven” (LW 23:327).

     How do we then live with this resounding faith that finally opens up our soundly sleeping eyes? Doubt will surely have no place in it (Matthew 14:31). But “our nature does not want to believe before it has the evidence in hand that the loft is full of grain and the cellar is full of wine only then does it believe that it has enough to eat and to drink.... But a Christian, provided that he wants to be a real Christian, must say truly that he has and believes in a God who can pay money out of an empty purse and give everyone enough to drink from an empty cup” (LW 56:353). Therefore awakened Christians will be “vigilant [and not say], ‘It seems to me,’ etc. Rather [they’ll say], ‘I know for a certain truth that it is so’” (LW 58:366). Christ is the light! Christ is the mediator! Christ saves us from our sins (1 Corinthians 15:23)! Where this steadfast, certain word “enters the heart in true faith, it fashions the heart like unto itself, it makes it firm, certain, and assured. It becomes buoyed up, rigid, and adamant over against all temptation, devil, death, and whatever its name may be, that it defiantly and haughtily despises and mocks everything that inclines toward doubt, despair, anger, and wrath; for it knows that God’s Word cannot lie to it” (LW 15:272). No wonder Luther believed that “the first, highest, and most precious of all good works is faith in Christ” (LW 44:23)! May that “boldness” and prominence of our faith mark us well these days of Christmas (Acts 4:31, 9:27, 19:8). And may Christ, and the certainty of faith that he gives us, awaken us and keep our eyes wide open. Amen.

  

Hymn of the Day:  “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” (LBW 42)

 

Prayers 

 


 



Litany on the

Coronavirus Disease 2020 (COVID-19)

 

 

Let us pray for all those worldwide who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us give thanks for the government agencies and other medical research teams who are diligently working to curb the spread of this virus. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are sick and suffering from this disease. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

And let us also pray for all those grieving the loss of loved ones who have died from COVID-19. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for the many who are caring for the infected and the sick, that full health and strength and peace may be granted. Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Let us pray for our world where we’re but sojourners (Psalm 119:19; Philippians 3:20), that we may not be punished by disease and pestilence (Ezekiel 14:21, Luke 13:5, John 5:14), and that health and peace may abound for all – for it is Christ who takes upon himself “our infirmities and diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Lord in your mercy,

 

HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

Finally, in our fear of disease and sickness – may we ever remember God’s power to heal (Jeremiah 17:14, James 5:14), those many kept safe from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and our Savior Jesus who, by his mercy and in his time, rekindles our faith by restoring health in this vulnerable and perilous life (2 Kings 5:14, Acts 3:6).

 

GLORY BE TO CHRIST OUR LORD & GREAT HEALER! AMEN.




 



LUTHER on epidemics

 

“Some people are of the firm opinion that one… should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God…. I cannot censure [this] excellent decision…. It takes more than a milk faith [1 Corinthians 3:2] to await a death before which most of the saints… are in dread…. [But since] it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone…. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt,… he sank and almost drowned [Matthew 14:30]…. Let him who has a strong faith wait for his death, but he should not condemn those who take flight…. [Even so, know that] all illnesses are punishments from God…. [These punishments] come upon us, not only to chastise us for our sins but also to test our faith and love…. [So] my dear friends,… use medicines… which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor… has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire?... You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison…. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall… administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.’”

 

[Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly

Plague (1527), Luther’s Works 43:120, 124, 127, 131–32.]



 


 

Intercessions:

 

We remember in prayer church members.

Leah, Melissa, and Felicia Baker

Marlis Ormiston

Eileen & Dave Nestoss

Connor Bisticas

Kyra Stromberg

Bob Schorn

Sam & Nancy Lawson

Melanie Johnson

Dorothy Ryder

Rollie

 

                                                                       

We also pray for friends of the parish

who stand in need of God’s care.

Angel Lynn

Tabitha Anderson

Marie Magenta

The Rev. Howard Fosser

The Rev. Dan Peterson

The Rev. Kari Reiten

The Rev. Alan Gardner

The Rev. Dave Monson

The Rev. Albin Fogelquist

Heather Tutuska

Sheila Feichtner

Yuriko Nishimura

Leslie Hicks

Eric Baxter

Evelyn, Emily & Gordon Wilhelm

Garrett Metzler

Lesa Christensen

Noel Curtis

Antonio Ortez

Garrison Radcliffe

Marv Morris 

Richard Patishnock

Jeff Hancock

Yao Chu Chang

Holly & Terence Finan

Wayne & Chris Korsmo

Ty Wick

Lori Aarstad

Anthony Brisbane

Dona Brost  

Susan Curry

Karin Weyer

Robert Shull family

Alan Morgan family

Geri Zerr

Wayne Ducheneaux

Jene & Ray McNearney

Julie Godinez

Joey DiJulio and family

Haley Marshall

Lucy Shearer

 

Pray for unbelievers, the addicted, the sexually abused and harassed, the homeless, the hungry and the unemployed. 

 

Death

Randy Lonborg

                                                                       

 

Professional Health Care Providers

Gina Allen

Jane Collins

Janine Douglass

David Juhl

Dana Kahn

Dean Riskedahl

 



 


 

Holy Communion in Spirit and Truth

Without the Consecrated Bread and Wine

 

[The ancient church doctrine of concomitantia teaches that the faithful can receive Christ’s Presence in Holy Communion by drinking the wine without eating any bread, or by eating the bread without drinking any wine (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross, 1958, 1966, pp. 320–21). By extension, in extreme cases, the faithful can also, then, receive Christ’s Presence without eating the bread or drinking the wine. Those would be cases of illness when nothing can be ingested through the mouth, or when lost in the wilderness – living off nothing but wild animals and berries. In those cases we keep the memory of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) – honoring our Savior “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). So pray the words below, all you baptized, who love the Lord Jesus, and “hunger and thirst for righteous,” that you may be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). This is not a substitute for Holy Communion, but rather a devout practice when receiving Holy Communion in times of pestilence and plague would recklessly endanger the church (Luther’s Works 43:132–33).]

 

Let us pray: O Lord, our God, we remember this day our savior Jesus, who “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24). May his Spirit “bring to remembrance” all that he did for us, and continues to do, to bless us (John 14:26). Fill us with the assurance that our sins are truly forgiven for his sake, and that the promise of eternal life will not be taken away. Amen.

 

Let us pray: On this day, heavenly Father, we also pray in the name of Jesus, that one day soon we will be able to gather together at the Altar of our church, and so eat of the flesh of our Lord and drink of his blood, that his very life may well up in us so that we may abide in him forever (John 6:53–56). Amen.



 


The Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Closing Hymn: “Angels We Have heard on High” (LBW 71)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHWqj6gKS9g

 



 



 

 

The desires are so many, so various, and besides, sometimes these desires appear in such an attractive, subtle, and desirable form through the suggestion of the evil one that it is not possible for a man to direct his own life. He must make a total commitment, commend himself to God’s governance, and not trust his own reason at all…. That is demonstrated when the children of Israel went out of Egypt through the wilderness, where there was no road, no food, no drink, no help. Therefore, God went before them, by day in a bright cloud, by night in a fiery pillar, fed them from heaven with heavenly bread, and preserved their garments and shoes that they did not wear out…. For this reason we pray,… thou rule and not we ourselves, for there is nothing more dangerous in us than our own reason and will. The highest and first work of God in us and the best training is that we let our own works go and let our reason and will lie dormant, resting and commending ourselves to God in all things.

 

(Luther’s Works 44:73–74.)