Sunday Bulletin, Weekly eNews
Peace in Christ Lutheran Church
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IMPORTANT NOTE: Any announcements regarding inclement weather plans will be emailed to this group, posted on the church website and on Facebook, and detailed in an updated voicemail message at the church office number.
FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK - February 19, 2021
Lent is a 40-day season (not including Sundays) where we engage in practices or disciplines which prepare us for or help us re-commit to living out our baptisms. Examples of such practices include Wednesday worship, personal devotions, seeking peace via reading the Bible, providing rent forgiveness, food baskets for the community and personal fasting. The purpose of each of these is a centering in what it means to be baptized, and how we live in light of our baptism. In the baptismal liturgy we say, “God, who is rich in mercy and love, gives us a new birth into a living hope through the sacrament of baptism.” The promises made to us in our baptism are new birth as a child of God, adoption into God’s family, cleansing from sin, and eternal life.
In turn, we promise to follow Christ as the Light of life. Together we participate in God’s mission in and for the world; together we “bear God’s creative and redeeming Word to all the world.” This is what our baptism means. Lent is the season when we are invited to reflect on what baptism means in our lives today, and to recommit ourselves to God’s mission. I invite you to join with us in this Lenten season, and to center yourself in your baptism.
Lent is a quiet season of reflection, not only about Christ’s journey to the cross, but about how that shapes our own faith journey. As we examine our habitude through worship, contemplating Jesus’ suffering on the cross, we will also encounter the sufferings of the world as well.
Please set aside time to take this journey with us, each Wednesday during Lent, as we look for God in suffering. Remember that this is not a God who causes suffering, but is a God who bears suffering for (and with) us. One who has cancelled your appointment with death and hell. He does not initiate suffering, but He can (and does) transform it.
In this week’s Epistle reading, James calls believers to categorize hard times as joyful things. Why? Because our faith only grows stronger when tested by trials. Trusting God through our trials pushes us toward Christ-like maturity: trusting God more, and more deeply, and with greater endurance. That choice to keep trusting God in the midst of the trial brings His blessing. Our circumstances may be hard, but we have His approval, through “Alien Righteousness.”
Friends, share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Tell others that God holds them in the palm of His hand. You need to take action, call them, write them, visit them, pray for them. Just “thinking about” someone won’t bless them.
Be a blessing. Go out and give ’em Heaven. Remember to practice your Social Witnessing.
~ Rev. Dr. John Jakupciak
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IN OUR PRAYERS
Your prayers are solicited. . .
Health needs
Kathy & David (friends of L. Battaglia) ~ she is hospitalized for testing masses on lung and liver; pray for successful treatment/recovery for her, and strength for him and the rest of the family (2/2)
Katherine & Ron Gilbert ~ tested positive for COVID-19 (1/17)
Mike (friend of Carseys) ~ undergoing chemo for colon cancer (updated 2/13)
Other needs
Travel safety for Susan R’s brother, Dean Becker (2/11)
Missy and Cody ~ for better relationship between son and mother (12/13)
Bereavements
Patti Adamson and family, on the loss of her uncle Johnny Catron (2/7)
Amanda Weber and family, on the loss of her younger sister Abigail (1/25)
Peace in Christ shut-in members/families:
Mary Jane Wagstaff
Ed Schlesinger
Bob and Lori Carsey
Roger Johnson
Our congregation and the call process
Pastor Vance and Linda Becker
Please email any corrections or changes to off...@peaceinchrist.org.
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SYNOD CONVENTION UPDATE
The congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) have approved, by over 90%, a proposal to extend the current 2019–2022 triennium, pushing the Synod’s previously scheduled 2022 national convention to 2023 and extending the timeline for districts that wish to delay their conventions from 2021 into 2022. The measure comes as the impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt in both the church and the world.
Noting, among other concerns, that a number of districts would not be able to hold their conventions due to COVID restrictions, LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison informed the LCMS Council of Presidents (COP) of his willingness to put the proposal before the Synod’s congregations, per LCMS Constitution Article XI B 8, provided there was strong support for such action within the COP. The COP voted unanimously (with one abstention) in favor of the move. Harrison also consulted with the Synod Board of Directors (BOD) in accordance with Article XI B 8.
In a Dec. 7 letter to the entire Synod, Harrison posed the question: “Shall the Synod add a year to the current 2019–2022 triennium, allowing districts to hold their conventions in either 2021 or 2022, and moving the upcoming national Synod Convention from 2022 to 2023? [Thereafter, the triennium cycle will continue forward from 2023 in three-year increments, as before (i.e., with district conventions held in 2025, 2028, etc., and Synod Conventions held in 2026, 2029, etc.).] Vote: Yes or No.”
The vote, held electronically, commenced on Jan. 1 and closed at 11:59 p.m. CST on Feb. 15. It was conducted by the LCMS Office of the Secretary and assisted by the LCMS Department of Rosters, Statistics and Research Services and the LCMS Technology Application Group. To be effective, the vote required participation of at least one-quarter of the Synod’s 5,872 congregations. The final percentage of congregations responding was 63.32%, or 3,718 votes. Of those, 90.67% — a number of votes also representing the majority of all member congregations — favored lengthening the triennium.
In total:
3,718 (63.32%) of the Synod’s congregations participated in the vote;
3,371 (90.67%) of these congregations voted “Yes”; and
347 (9.33%) voted “No.”
Effects of the delay
The delay of the Synod convention shifts some timelines for prior events. The national Synod office is working to make arrangements for the next regular convention of the Synod to convene in the summer of 2023 and will keep the Synod apprised as plans are finalized. The vote to delay the Synod’s national convention does not mandate that individual districts also delay their conventions; each district may decide for itself whether to proceed with its convention as scheduled in 2021 or postpone it until 2022. Congregations are advised to watch closely for communications from their districts regarding their plans to meet, either in 2021 or 2022, and to pay attention to pre-convention schedules that may be in flux.
The delay also affects other aspects of the convention timeline. The period for submission of officer, board and commission nominations for consideration by the Committee for Convention Nominations has already opened and will be held open until nine months prior to the rescheduled 2023 convention. Task forces formed by the 2019 convention are being urged to issue reports on their original schedules for the sake of districts meeting in 2021, while being free to continue to develop, revise and extend their work in the “extra” year of this triennium. Overture and report due dates, as well as dates for other registration, nomination and election processes related to the convention, will be announced when the 2023 date is finalized.
High congregational participation
LCMS Secretary Rev. Dr. John W. Sias said he was “ delighted” at the high participation rate of member congregations in the voting process.
“In the last constitutional amendment ballot, concluded after six months of voting in March 2020,” Sias noted, “only 23% of congregations participated. In this 45-day vote, the congregations in each district of the Synod more than doubled that typical rate.”
Sias also expressed appreciation to “district offices that encouraged” participation in the voting process and to Rosters, Statistics and Research Services and the Technology Application Group for developing a new electronic system that allowed “efficient, secure, and verifiable voting, with instant tabulation and the ability to identify congregations that had not yet, at any given point, registered a vote.” The same system will be used for future constitutional amendment ballots and for voter registration for Synod president.
Sias concluded, “Beyond helping districts best to accommodate full-fledged and well-attended conventions under otherwise difficult circumstances, I hope and pray this pause in our usual triennial cycle will allow precious time for renovation of some key processes and fundamental reflection on the purposes for which we come together and on how we do it. If so, this extra year might also come to bear fruit in theologically and practically richer conventions across the districts and at the national level.”
Sias also encouraged congregations that are now in the process of submitting their annual statistical reports and lay leader information to supply the requested administrative and lay leader email addresses, which will be used for official purposes such as this one to ensure congregations have timely notice and helpful information on how to participate in the governance of the Synod.
Harrison said, “This is certainly not an ideal situation. There will be extra costs. I thank the Synod’s BOD, Chairman Rev. Dr. Michael Kumm, the COP and all who have had to try to weigh this situation in the best interest of all involved. Secretary Sias, CAO Frank Simek, Senior Director of Event Planning and Procurement Lynne Marvin and others have been invaluable. Most of all, I thank the pastors and people of the LCMS for their strong response. It is decisive.
“But I also want to state clearly my thanks for those congregations who registered their vote against adding a year to the triennium. Your voice is important, and it needed to be heard. God continue to grant us all faith, hope and love in these challenging days. The Lord bless you with a clear confession of Jesus Christ and His cross and continue to make you a great blessing to many.”
~ Cheryl Magness
For more information and links mentioned in this article, click here
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FAMILY NEWS
Weekly online devotions (Wednesdays @ 7:00 PM) will feature a special Lenten series
Watch the church bulletin board for a signup for Easter flowers and dates following.
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CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Young or old, small or large, rural or urban, your congregation is vital — it has life.
There is vitality wherever God’s Word is proclaimed in purity and the Lord’s Sacraments are rightly administered. This Christ-centered vitality is the focus of re:Vitality, a suite of resources developed by the Office of National Mission to help you equip your congregation for carrying out God’s mission in your context.
The re:Vitality suite of resources includes practical and productive workshops that address serving your inactive members (Shepherding Our Strays), consensus-based strategic planning for your congregation (Serving in God’s Mission), and how to share the Gospel with your community through effective outreach (Connect To Disciple).
Re:Vitality resources are available to LCMS congregations at no cost from the Office of National Mission. The recommended starting point for re:Vitality is the no-cost, no-obligation congregational self-assessment (CADDS).
For more information, visit https://www.lcms.org/church-revitalization, or contact Susan Riddles if you’d like to watch any of the workshop videos.