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February 20, 2022 The 7th Sunday after Epiphany

God strengthens us Sunday by Sunday with His Word and the Means of Grace, including the Preaching of His Word, Holy Communion, and the Fellowship of Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

During this Season of Epiphany we have focused our attention on the unique Love that comes from God and is ours to share, even in this fallen world.

On this 7th Sunday after the Epiphany God’s Word takes us even more deeply into His Love and the Love that is ours to share. In the Gospel for this Sunday Jesus instructs us: “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. . . . for your heavenly Father is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:27-28, 35-36).

So we are led to confess with our Sermon Hymn that

“We fled God and in Losing God we lost each other too. Each singly sought and claimed his own, each man his brother slew. But Thy strong Love, it sought us still and sent Thine only Son That we might hear His Shepherd’s voice and, hearing Him, be one” (LSB #569).

Fellowship will follow the Service as usual, and at 10:30 we’ll continue our study of Isaiah 40-55. Bible Study will be available on the same Zoom link as used for Worship. The Sunday Bible Study Guide is posted with the Service Folder and can be accessed at this link or through the Worship tab on our website.

If you cannot be among God's people in person this Sunday, you can join us by Zoom.

To join Zoom by computer, go to our home page. On the home page, to the right of the photo slideshow, click on “Sunday Worship” and you will be taken directly to the Zoom link.

Here is the link for the Service Folder and for the Sunday Bible Study Guide.

When completed and received, the Zoom recording of the Worship Service and the Sermon Manuscript for 20 February will be posted also under the Service Folder link.

Many thanks to our Hospitality Committee for arranging our joyful Valentine’s Bingo Event last Sunday in our Christian Family Center. Many attended, great prizes were shared, and more than 1/4th of those present were invited guests.

More good news: Our Call Committee has mailed all members bios of candidates to be considered for a Call as our full time Pastor. A congregational meeting is planned for Sunday, 13 March, at 2pm. The sole agenda item will be to decide together on a Pastor to call into our Fellowship and Mission.

February 13, 2022 The 6th Sunday after Epiphany

God strengthens us Sunday by Sunday with His Word and the Means of Grace, including the Preaching of His Word, and the Fellowship of Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

During this Season of Epiphany we have been hearing Epistle Lessons from 1 Corinthians that have focused our attention on our Life together in the Body of Christ.

On this 6th Sunday after the Epiphany we have occasion to consider the “Tie that Binds our Hearts in Christian Love” (LSB Hymn #649). Our Women’s Choir will sing the Hymn, and Colossians 3:14 is the Scriptural basis for the Hymn text: “14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

So we are led to reflect this Sunday on how Love is the Tie and how our being Bound by Love brings free and joyous Life. 1 Corinthians 15 will guide us along with Colossians 3:14. And yes, we have the extra connection with there having actually been at least one St Valentine in the Christian Church, and for more than a thousand years he’s been remembered on 14 February.

Fellowship will follow the Service as usual, and at 10:30 we’ll continue our study of Isaiah 40-55. Bible Study will be available on the same Zoom link as used for Worship. The Sunday Bible Study Guide is posted with the Service Folder and can be accessed at this link or through the Worship tab on our website.

This Sunday afternoon at 2 pm is our Valentine’s Bingo Event in our Christian Family Center. Our Hospitality Committee says, “If you are able, please bring a snack to share. Drinks will be provided. There will be prizes for winning and door prizes for those bringing a friend (or 2). ‘Come & See’ how fun it will be!”May God make it possible for you to join us in person or on Zoom at 9am this Sunday for hearing God's Word and offering prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to God.

If you cannot be among God's people in person this Sunday, you can join us by Zoom.

To join Zoom by computer, go to our home page. On the home page, to the right of the photo slideshow, click on “Sunday Worship” and you will be taken directly to the Zoom link.

Here is the link for the Service Folder and for the Sunday Bible Study Guide.

When completed and received, the Zoom recording of the Worship Service and the Sermon Manuscript for 6 February will be posted also under the Service Folder link.

February 6, 2022 The 5th Sunday after the Epiphany

God strengthens us Sunday by Sunday with His Word and the Means of Grace, including the Preaching of His Word, Holy Communion, and the Fellowship of Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

The Lessons for 6 February, the 5th Sunday after the Epiphany, connect with our discussion of the Wise Men and Herod back on 9 January as we began the Season of Epiphany. We learned then from God’s Word that the Wise Men were wise especially because they had an appropriate fear of the Lord. By contrast clever King Herod was a fool because he had no fear of God. We pondered at that time how The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).

This Sunday the Old Testament lesson shows the Prophet Isaiah rightly fearing God and then the Gospel likewise shows Peter and the early disciples of Jesus rightly fearing their Lord. This Sunday we will consider how it is that, when people rightly fear the Lord, God’s grace leads them into productive discipleship.

Fellowship will follow the Service as usual, and at 10:30 we’ll continue our study of Isaiah 40-55. Bible Study will be available on the same Zoom link as used for Worship. The Sunday Bible Study Guide is posted with the Service Folder and can be accessed the same way you access the Service Folder.

May God make it possible for you to join us in person or on Zoom at 9am this Sunday for hearing God's Word and offering prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to God.

If you cannot be among God's people in person this Sunday, you can join us by Zoom.

To join Zoom by computer, go to our home page. On the home page, to the right of the photo slideshow, click on “Sunday Worship” and you will be taken directly to the Zoom link.

Here is the link for the Service Folder and for the Sunday Bible Study Guide.

When completed and received, the Zoom recording of the Worship Service and the Sermon Manuscript for 6 February will be posted also under the Service Folder link.

January 30, 2022 The 4th Sunday after the Epiphany

God strengthens us Sunday by Sunday with His Word and the Means of Grace, including the Preaching of His Word, Holy Communion, and the Fellowship of Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

We are now well into the Season of Epiphany. The Lessons for 30 January, the 4th Sunday after the Epiphany, range across many topics. We’ll continue focus on 1 Corinthians and God’s Gifts to each of us. The Epistle, 1 Corinthians 13, points us to the “more excellent way” of God’s Love. We’ll start from the ancient commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31).

Fellowship will follow the Service as usual, and at 10:30 we’ll resume our study of Isaiah 40-55. Bible Study will be available on the same Zoom link as used for Worship. The Sunday Bible Study Guide is posted with the Service Folder and can be accessed the same way you access the Service Folder.

May God make it possible for you to join us in person or on Zoom at 9am this Sunday for hearing God's Word and offering prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to God.

If you cannot be among God's people in person this Sunday, you can join us by Zoom.

To join Zoom by computer, go to our home page. On the home page, to the right of the photo slideshow, click on “Sunday Worship” and you will be taken directly to the Zoom link.

Here is the link for the Service Folder.

When completed and received, the Zoom recording of the Worship Service will be posted also under the Service Folder link.

January 23, 2022 The 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany

We are now well into the Season of Epiphany. Sunday’s Gospel Lesson on 23 January shows Jesus at the beginning of His ministry, at Worship in His home town Nazareth, connecting Himself with Isaiah’s prophesy that God’s unique Servant would come to save the world. 

And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

The listeners were both impressed and angered by Jesus’ words.

And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth” (Luke 4:22).

But the people of Nazareth had their own ideas about how Jesus should do His saving work. Their worship ended with them seeking to throw Jesus “down the cliff” just outside of town.

But passing through their midst, he went away (Luke 4:30).

Faithful Christians learn not to let our own ideas overrule Jesus’s own Words. In Mt Calvary congregation we know our task is always to witness to Jesus and His own account of Who He is and what He does. In our Epistle Lesson today St Paul is helping the congregation at Corinth understand how congregations assemble the resources needed for the witness to Jesus.

On this Sunday we are installing Mt Calvary’s new and ongoing elected leaders. Guided by St Paul’s advice in 1 Corinthians 12, we will be celebrating how each one of us, as a Baptized member of the Body of Christ, is gifted to play a part in how God is building up the Body. The sermon this Sunday will take a focused look at the Gifts God promises to give each and all of us for our common work. 

Fellowship will follow the Service as usual, and at 10:30 we’ll have our regularly scheduled Voters Meeting in the Christian Family Center.

May God make it possible for you to join us in person or on Zoom at 9am this Sunday for hearing God's Word and offering prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to God.

If you cannot be among God's people in person this Sunday, you can join us by Zoom.

To join Zoom by computer, go to our home page. On the home page, to the right of the photo slideshow, click on “Sunday Worship” and you will be taken directly to the Zoom link.

Here is the link for the Service Folder. 

When completed and received, the Zoom recording of the Worship Service will be posted also under the Service Folder link.

 

 

January16, 2022 The 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany

God strengthens us Sunday by Sunday with His Word and the Means of Grace, including the Preaching of His Word, Holy Communion, and the Fellowship of Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

The beginning of the Epiphany Season is crowded with rich Scripture. Last Sunday we focused on the Wise Men (Matthew 2:1-12). This week we begin with Jesus' own Baptism in the River Jordan, but the Gospel lesson takes us to Jesus and new and superior wine at a Wedding in Cana in Galilee. The sermon will take up "Jesus! Who Knew how New?"

Fellowship will follow the Service as usual, and at 10:30 we’ll continue our study of Isaiah in Bible Study.

May God make it possible for you to join us in person or on Zoom at 9am this Sunday for hearing God's Word and offering prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to God.

If you cannot be among God's people in person this Sunday, you can join us by Zoom.

To join Zoom by computer, go to our home page. On the home page, to the right of the photo slideshow, click on “Sunday Worship” and you will be taken directly to the Zoom link.

Here is the link for the Service Folder. The link also takes you to the Bible Study study guide.

After the Service, at 10:30 am, the regular Sunday Zoom link will reopen so people can participate remotely in our Bible Study of the Book of Isaiah.

The Zoom recording of the Service will also be posted under this “Worship” tab later in the day. The Bible Study will not be recorded.

January 9, 2022 The 1st Sunday after the Epiphany

Blessed Epiphany! Now that the Church’s Epiphany Season has begun (6 January), we thank God that His salvation in Jesus has been freely revealed also to non-Jewish people.

January 6th begins the Season of Epiphany, and we use that day for remembering the visit of the Magi/Wise Men to Jesus. Some Christians call January 6th “Old Christmas,” and Eastern Christians tend to celebrate Christmas on that day.

God strengthens us Sunday by Sunday with His Word and the Means of Grace, including the Preaching of His Word and the Fellowship of Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

We will celebrate the Wise Men and Epiphany at our regular Worship on 9 January. The Gospel is Matthew’s telling of the visit of the Wise Men to the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12). We will probe how God’s Word shows the difference between being “clever” and being “wise.”

Fellowship will follow the Service as usual, and at 10:30 we’ll resume our study of Isaiah in Bible Study.

May God make it possible for you to join us in person or on Zoom at 9am this Sunday for hearing God's Word and offering prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to God.

If you cannot be among God's people in person this Sunday, you can join us by Zoom.

To join Zoom by computer, go to our home page. On the home page, to the right of the photo slideshow, click on “Sunday Worship” and you will be taken directly to the Zoom link.

Here is the link for the Service Folder. The link also takes you to an explanation of the word "Epiphany."

After the Service, at 10:30 am, the regular Sunday Zoom link will reopen so people can participate remotely in our Bible Study of the Book of Isaiah. The Sunday Bible Study Guide is posted with the Service Folder and can be accessed the same way you access the Service Folder. Here is the link for the Study Guide. 

The Zoom recording of the Service will also be posted under this “Worship” tab later in the day. The Bible Study will not be recorded.

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