From the Pastor…
“LOVE” Is a Verb!
Of course, “love” is both a noun and a verb. As a noun, love is an emotion, a feeling. I feel loved, and I feel love toward those in my life. But emotions and feelings can change like the weather. Some days I don’t feel loved. Some days I don’t feel love toward those in my life.
It’s better for us who live on a roller coaster of emotions to view “love” as a verb. Recall from your schooling that the verb is the action word in the sentence. Joe kicked the ball. “Kicked” is the verb; “kicked” is an action word. God loved the world. “Loved” is an action word. Our God loves us and does concrete actions that both convey and support the love he has for us.
We don’t have to look hard and long in the Scriptures to find verses that tie love and action together. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” (John 3:16) “He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them.” (Matthew 9:35,36) “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood…” (Revelation 1:5)
And now we love because he first loved us and conveyed his giving and saving love through undeniable actions. In our homes, our church and our community, love, as we define it, is an action word!
- Pastor Bare
Voters’ Meeting and Church
Council
Below is a rundown of the January Voters’
Meeting and Church Council Meetings from both January and February.
The Treasurer presented the following report at
the February Church Council Meeting, it reflects five
service weeks and an early cutoff of expenses that will be incorporated in the
February Report.
General
Fund Report – January 2008
|
|
Month |
Y-T-D |
|
Offerings |
54,915.67 |
332,963.51 |
|
Tuition/FEF/Registration |
1,117.50 |
24,041.50 |
|
Other |
3,108.73 |
19,679.43 |
|
Line
of Credit |
0 |
0 |
|
Total
Receipts: |
59,141.90 |
376,684.44 |
|
|
|
|
|
Actual Expenses: |
45,182.77 |
353,915.14 |
|
|
|
|
|
Balance: |
13,959.12 |
22,769.30 |
|
|
|
|
|
Budget: |
51,546.75 |
360,827.25 |
|
|
|
|
|
Other
Details |
|
|
|
Thrivent |
3,000.00 |
9,000.00 |
|
Miscellaneous |
108.73 |
679.43 |
|
Debt
Retirement |
0 |
10,000.00 |
|
Other Total: |
3,108.73 |
19,679.43 |
Council and/or Voters approved the following
membership changes: Rescinded the recent cancellation and approved the Transfer
Out – Heath and Stacey Northrup with children Logan, Devan
and Kayla to Christ Our Savior Lutheran (WELS),
The Nominating Committee will be meeting this
week to determine who in the congregation might be available to run and serve
on various boards and committees starting in July in anticipation of vacancies that
will occur. The Board of Christian Education discussed the impact of a possible
new inspection fee being considered by the Shiawassee County Health Department,
the decision to join a new consortium of schools to purchase food commodities
and the BCE’s efforts towards accomplishing 100% collection of the Registration
Fees, which were to be paid in full as of January 2008 by the parents of
students currently enrolled at the school.
Pastors announced that they are considering offering
a “Question and Answer” study class in which questions would be solicited from
the congregation and be addressed in the classroom setting. Also announced is that April 6th
is the tentative date for this year’s Adult Confirmation Service.
The Board of Deacons is still looking to recruit
a new Usher Chairman, since Jim Burke recently resigned. The first reading of the proposed 2008-2009
Budget took place and its adoption is scheduled to be voted on in April. The purchase of a laptop computer was approved. This computer will be kept at the Church,
used for Bible Class presentations and other special projects.
The Radio Committee stated they are hoping the
recent cleaning of the Compact Disk (CD) recorder will eliminate recently
reported sections containing excessive background noise and possibly “dead
airtime” when two service broadcasts where played back on WJSZ 92.5.
–– Wayne Maybaugh, Recording Secretary
Lenten
Services:
We continue
having Wednesday Lenten services at noon and 7p.m. Before the evening services, you are invited
to attend the soup suppers (5-6:30pm).
These are wonderful times to sit, enjoy soup and visit with fellow
members. We thank the various groups
that host these evening meals.
7:30 Morning Matins Services will be held on March 17, 18, and 19 in church. It will be a short devotional service lasting about 15 minutes. Monday will focus on John 12:1-23, Tuesday on John 12:24-43, and Wednesday on Luke 22:1-23:43. Please join us for these days in Holy Week.
Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services will also be at noon and 7p.m. Communion will be offered in each
service. Please set aside time to attend
one service each day.
On Easter Sunday, we will have three
service opportunities: 7:30-9:00-10:30am.
Plan on attending the service time that fits your
schedule. An Easter breakfast
will be served by our Activities Committee from 8:30-10:30am.
Easter Lilies: If you would like to purchase
one of the Easter lilies, you may do so through the church office. The cost is $15 each.
Owosso-area church league basketball
continues this February with the Over 35 League. They play an eight-game
season with MHSAA rules, two MHSAA certified officials, web stat tracking, and
a double elimination tournament. Contact George Napier at 989-445-0347 if you
can participate.
Game
Nights:
On cold, winter
nights what’s better than getting together with friends and playing games? Salem will host three game
nights at the church: February 23rd, March 29th and
April 26th. The
starting time is 7p.m. Bring a snack to
share and your own beverage. If you have
a favorite game, bring that too!
SCHOOL
CLOSING ANNOUNCEMENTS: We are changing the way we announce school
closings and delays. We will follow
You are invited!
Pastor Luke Boehringer and Sarah Fritzler
will be united in marriage at
The Activities Committee will host a
congregational reception potluck and fellowship time on Sunday, June 29th
at the school.
Dear Christian friends,
As Sarah and I prepare for our wedding, the words of a fellow pastor hit home
with me. I hope they will comfort you as well as they point us to Christ and Him crucified.
-Pastor Boehringer
Marry Me, Bury Me
By Pastor Wade Johnston,
One of the benefits of church membership is belonging to a body of believers
with which you can share in the joy of Christ, of having a pastor to mark the
various highpoints of your life with God's Word and blessings, of having a
sacred space in which to gather at such times.
Two such highpoints are Christian marriage and a Christian funeral, as man and woman
are joined in holy matrimony, a picture of the relationship between Christ and
His Church, and as a man or woman's loved ones celebrate his or her call home
to the Lord who bought the Christian on the cross, adopted the Christian in
Baptism, taught the Christian in the Word, and fed the Christian in the Supper.
Unfortunately, however, since marriages and funerals are not unique to the
Church, that is, they are also observed in the secular world and non-Christian
faiths, misunderstanding abounds about what such services really are and should
be about.
Christian marriage and funeral services are Christian services, which mean
Christ must be at the center, that the focus must be
on the Savior and not on us, not even on the couple at the altar or the body in
the casket. When we gather for a Christian marriage or funeral, we are
gathering to hear what Christ has done and how great Christ is.
Perhaps the greatest temptation for a couple planning a Christian marriage is
to try to impress the guests and set the spotlight squarely on themselves. Even
the most pious Christian may feel such a desire. It never ceases to amaze me
how people who otherwise would complain about all the pomp and ceremony in
God's service become chancel prancing ceremony enthusiasts when it comes to
their nuptials. The more ceremony the better, the more pomp
the better, because, after it all, it is her wedding, his wedding. The
difference between the ceremonies of God's service and the ceremonies advocated
by many in the marriage service, however, rests in what they teach and to whom
they point. Do they teach the gospel and do they point us to Christ, or do they
teach a fairy-tale work-righteousness and point us to the hungry egos of the
couple? A wedding without Christ at the center is the perfect way to begin a
marriage without Christ at the center, which is to say that a marriage out of
balance from the beginning is in peril from the start.
Perhaps the greatest temptation for a funeral is to romanticize the departed,
to forget their sins (apart from the forgiveness of sins, for which there is
often little time to speak about between all the eulogizing) and hyperbolize
their good works, so that one would think that if the body fell out of the
casket and onto the pond across the street, the departed would walk right
across it. The problem is, however, that one's good works, or what one supposes
to be good works, never did anyone a lick of good on their death bed, and their
sins, so easily forgotten, promise a frightful afterlife if not forgiven. What
matters on the deathbed is faith in Christ and Him
crucified for our transgressions, and what matters on the deathbed ought to be
what matters at the funeral. It is hardly a Christian funeral if Christ gets
shoved in the casket while the departed is paraded before the grieving. It is
Christ's tomb that is empty, remember, and that is what those gathered need to
hear, because that is their hope and comfort, not only for the departed, but
for themselves.
The topic for our
Saturday Bible Seminar in March is: Resurrection
References in John’s
Gospel Saturday,
March 22 9:30-10:30am Note: This subject
matter was originally taught at a Monday evening Bible Class in late 2007. It is being repeated at Easter time as a
way for more members to be strengthened by all the clear and comforting
resurrection references found in John’s Gospel.