Cross of Glory & West Freeborn Lutheran Churches July 2018 Sunday Morning Worship times: Cross of Glory: 9:00 a.m. – West Freeborn: 10:30 a.m. Blaspheme Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy! What is your decision?” All of them condemned him as deserving death. (Mark 14:63-64) Continuing our look at words a person may hear in church but is not likely to hear in other places we consider the word “blasphemy.” The word means to address with irreverence, particularly as one might address God in an irreverent manner. Perhaps the reason we may not encounter this word too often outside of churches is because outside of the church God is often treated with irreverence. God’s name is frequently taken in vain despite thousands of years of teaching people not to. What we learn in reading our Bibles is that blasphemy was considered to be a serious crime; serious enough that to be condemned of blasphemy was to deserve the death sentence. In Jesus’ case, when we hear the high priest make the pronouncement that we have as this month’s verse, it comes after Jesus has declared that he is indeed the Messiah. For the high priest to hear such a claim coming from a human being who grew up in the Galilee region seems the height of absurdity. Certainly God could do better than this man, they expected more from God. For a group to be able to pass judgment on this man and condemn him to die is certainly not what they have in mind as being “The Messiah.” Jesus’ claim to be from God and therefore blaspheming would not hold up to have him put to death by the Romans. Many of the Roman rulers claimed to be gods themselves. Still, the high priest’s question is a good one. “What is your decision?” Does this Jesus deserve to die for claiming to be the Messiah? Yours in Christ, Pastor Schwartz 1
Transcript
Cross of Glory & West Freeborn Lutheran Churches
July 2018
Sunday Morning Worship times:
Cross of Glory: 9:00 a.m. – West Freeborn: 10:30 a.m.
Blaspheme
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy! What is your decision?” All of them condemned him as
deserving death. (Mark 14:63-64)
Continuing our look at words a person may hear in church but is not likely to
hear in other places we consider the word “blasphemy.” The word means to address with irreverence, particularly as one might address God in an irreverent manner.
Perhaps the reason we may not encounter this word too often outside of churches is because outside of the church God is often treated with irreverence. God’s name is frequently taken in vain despite thousands of years of teaching people not to.
What we learn in reading our Bibles is that blasphemy was considered to be a serious crime; serious enough that to be condemned of blasphemy was to deserve the death sentence. In Jesus’ case, when we hear the high priest make the pronouncement that we have as this month’s verse, it comes after Jesus has declared that he is indeed the Messiah. For the high priest to hear such a claim coming from a human being who grew up in the Galilee region seems the height of absurdity. Certainly God could do better than this man, they expected more from God. For a group to be able to pass judgment on this man and condemn him to die is certainly not what they have in mind as being “The Messiah.”
Jesus’ claim to be from God and therefore blaspheming would not hold up to have him put to death by the Romans. Many of the Roman rulers claimed to be gods themselves. Still, the high priest’s question is a good one. “What is your decision?” Does this Jesus deserve to die for claiming to be the Messiah?
Yours in Christ, Pastor Schwartz 1
Joint Council Meeting – Tuesday, July 10, 7:00 p.m. at Cross of Glory – (note date change)
West Freeborn Lutheran Church Council Meeting – June 5, 2018 The West Freeborn Church Council met on June 5, 2018, following the joint council meeting at West Freeborn. Members present were: Mike Ehrich, Pat Ehrich, Dave Ausen, Glenn Ausen, Steve Ausen, and Becky Ausen. President, Dave Ausen, called the meeting to order. Becky read the secretaries report. Approved as read. Pat read the treasurer’s report. Steve made a motion to approve the report. Mike seconded it. Motion carried.
Old Business:
Windows: Matt is ready to put the stained glass back on the windows as soon as they are cleaned.
Air Conditioner for Social Hall: They are in and working. They are controlled by remote control.
Summer Tractor Ride: Will be on July 21st. The riders stopping at West Freeborn for lunch. The lunch will be provided by another organization. We need to have the church open so the men and/or women can come in and sit and eat their lunch.
New Business:
July 3rd Meeting: Was changed in the joint meeting to July 10th.
General Fund: People have not been donating as much lately. Will send a letter out with our financial needs.
Dept. of Health Inspection: Inspector came up earlier this week and gave a list of things that need to be addressed. The council will make the necessary updates.
Glenn made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Pat seconded it. Motion carried. Closed with the Lord’s Prayer.
Respectfully Submitted Becky Ausen, Secretary
Cross of Glory & West Freeborn Churches Joint Council Meeting June 05, 2018
The joint council meeting of Cross of Glory and West Freeborn Churches met on June 05, 2018, at 7:00 pm at West Freeborn. Cathy Crowe, Pat Ehrich, Jerry Morstad, Steve Ausen, Glenn Ausen, Dave Ausen, Mike Ehrich, Pastor Steve, Rachel Knudson, Martin Johnson, Kristi Thofson, Matt Hoelscher, Carol Riskedahl and Becky Ausen were present. West Freeborn President, Dave Ausen, called the meeting to order. Pastor Steve led us in prayer. Pastor’s Report:
Funerals: Linda Morgan, burial of cremains at West Freeborn, May 19.
Communions: Don Neubauer, May 22.
Hospital Visits: Sharon Hansen, Austin Hospital.
The synod assembly for the Southeast Minnesota Synod was held at the Verizon Center in Mankato on May 4 & 5. We had an international theme for this gathering with guest speakers from our partner churches in South Sudan, Tanzania, and Colombia. There was very little business to be conducted, but next year will be our election of a new bishop, which is always a big deal. A big thank you to Mark Langrud, Cathy Crowe, and Linda Brekke for serving as our representatives.
Cross of Glory’s church school teachers met on May 16 to do a review of the past year, talked about what went well and what needs to be improved, and we started making plans for Vacation Bible School. The plan is to have four evenings that will be similar to what we did during the past year, serving a meal first and then heading off to singing and crafts and Bible lessons. The theme is “Miracles” and we are meeting July 22-25. It would be great to get some West Freeborn folk involved so we can start the ball rolling toward church school of some sort out there.
It was another job well done at Cross of Glory hosting the community Memorial Day service.
On May 31, I led the worship services at the nursing homes in New Richland. Thanks again to Judy for playing the piano.
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Secretary’s Report: Rachel read it. It was approved as read. Open Issues:
1. History & Recipe Books for West Freeborn: Martin and Becky are still working on them. Taking some time with their busy schedules.
2. Shine Fest on July 21st: Will ask Corky for the time frames of when the tractor riders will arrive at Cross of Glory for morning coffee and at West for lunch.
3. Time Change for July and August meetings: Will change the July meeting to July 10th due to the Fourth of July holiday. The August meeting will be changed to August 07 because of the Freeborn County Fair.
4. Parsonage Basement: Jerry said there was 2 inches of water on the floor of the parsonage basement. He gave the scenario of what needs to be fixed. Matt made a motion to give Jerry the go ahead to fix the drainage problem in the basement. Glenn seconded it. Motion carried. Steve made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Martin seconded it. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted. Becky Ausen, Secretary
Cross of Glory Trustees and Deacons Meeting, June 5, 2018 (Not available at print time)
Cross of Glory’s church school teachers met on May 16th to do a review of the past year; talked about went well and what needs to be improved, and we started making plans for Vacation Bible School. The plan is to have four evenings that will be similar to what we did during the past year, serving a meal first and then heading off to singing and crafts and Bible lessons. The theme is “Miracles” and we are meeting July 22-25, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. The children will sing in church on Sunday, July 29th.
If you want to contribute to the cost of watering the flowers in the cemetery as done last year by Ginger Fonza, please designate your contribution that way. Checks can be made out to Cross of Glory Lutheran Church and written “For Watering Cemetery Flowers” in memo line; if you prefer to give cash write it on the envelope. The Hartland Evangelical Church Women have given $600 for this summer; it would be nice if we could match theirs. Thus far we have a $100 donation. The money given for Cemetery Up-Keep goes for mowing and that fund is always in need of donations, also.
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Statistics for West Freeborn Lutheran Church:
General Fund-May---$3155.00 - General Fund-June--$4460.00; Bldg. Fund -May- $175 – Bldg. Fund -June- $130
Year to date- $25,532.00 - June attendance at West Freeborn: June 3 – 38; June 10 – 34; June 17 – 27; June 24 – 41.
West Freeborn Ushers: *Omer Emstad, Bill Goette, Steve Ausen,
Mike Erlandson
Communion helper:
1
9:00 a.m. Worship at CG
10:30 a.m. Worship at WF
2 Staff meeting
9:00 a.m.
3
4
Happy 4th of July!
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6 7
8
9:00 a.m. Worship at CG
10:30 a.m. Worship at WF
**Farewell Party for Viola
Krogsgaard – 9:00 a.m. before
church
9
Staff meeting
9:00 a.m.
10
Joint Council
meeting @ CG
7:00 p.m.
11
Quilting @ WF
9:00 a.m.
12
13 14
15
9:00 a.m. Worship at CG
10:30 a.m. Worship at WF
**Birthday Party for LaVaun
Ausen @ WF after worship!
16
Staff meeting
9:00 a.m.
17
Rachel Circle
7:00 p.m. @ the
church, Ann
Lynne, hostess
18
Eunice Circle
1:30 p.m. @ WF
19 20 21
22
9:00 a.m. Worship at CG
10:30 a.m. Worship at WF
Vacation Bible School
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
23
Staff meeting
9:00 a.m.
Vacation Bible
School
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
24
Vacation Bible
School
5:30- 7:30 p.m.
25
Quilting @ WF
9:00 a.m.
Vacation Bible
School
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
26
27 28
29
9:00 a.m. Worship at CG
10:30 a.m. Worship at WF
Healing Service
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Do-It-Yourself Bible Study For our Bible study this month let’s look at the readings for July 15. If you find this intriguing I hope that you will join others to go deeper.
The image of a plumb line shows up several times in the Bible. Just as a carpenter or builder must test to see that the wall they are constructing is straight, God will judge to see how straight and true the people are.
Continuing the idea that God expects us to be holy and blameless, to measure up to God’s standards, the Apostle Paul declares that God chose us, adopted us, through Jesus Christ.
It may seem that our Gospel reading is taking us in another direction, but the way the Gospel writer Mark sees it, what happens to John the Baptist foreshadows what will happen to Jesus.
Read Amos 7:7-15. The vision that Amos describes shows God standing in judgment over the nation of Israel. God is not pleased and the nation must go into exile. The priest does not want such teachings to be heard and asks Amos to get out of town. Why does it make a difference that Amos claims to be just a herdsman and dresser of sycamores?
Read Ephesians 1:3-14. There is nothing in what Paul says that would indicate that failure to measure up to God’s standard will lead to some form of punishment. Reread verses 7-10. What would you say is God’s plan?
Read Mark 6:14-29. This reads as a sad and tragic account, and it is. The wealthy and powerful can act as they please, and in immoral ways. John becomes the victim and his story ends here. What makes the death of Jesus similar, but also different?
