We are living in a world that is constantly changing and often not for the best. We are experiencing inflation with higher prices, increases in crime, world conflicts and wars, chaos at all turns and uncertainty about how it’s all going to end. The only thing not changing is God and His unlimited love and tolerance for us. It seems like when things are going well we think we can improve on it with our own thoughts and programs. The only problem is that each time we do this we scrap God’s word and create our own. The original (God’s Word) can never be equaled or improved on and we only create more problems for ourselves. This has happened time and time again as we saw with the Reformation. The church fell away to habit and tradition and Luther helped us return to Scripture, God’s Word.

When was the last time you reviewed your confirmation promises and what you learned about the basics of the Christian faith. All we need for life is included in these but we often don’t review what we believe and why we believe it. The devil has many ways to lure us away from Scripture and con us into thinking there’s a better way to live life.

On November 5 we will remember the faithful who lived their life for God and returned home to join Him for all eternity, through faith in Jesus Christ. We are encouraged to grieve with hope—hope being the certainty of eternal life and a reunion with our heavenly Father. All Saints’ Day is a day when we miss our loved ones who have gone before us but are joyful that they are with God and we’ll join them in the future.

When we come to Thanksgiving at the end of November, we have many things to be thankful for. These things include earthly blessings but more than that, they include our faith, trust, comfort and strength in God. Let us truly meditate on things other than this earth and look for the peace that passes all understanding.

May God bless you and watch over you as you cling to your faith in Jesus as your Lord and your Savior. Let us work even harder during these Holy Days and let us share our faith  with them and invite them to come and see who God is.

Peace and happiness be to all of you.

In Christ our Lord,

Pastor Weikart

Lutheran Church of Providence

March, 2020 Newsletter

Pastor’s Corner

As we approach the end of February we anticipate many changes. March gives us the hope of spring, especially as we change our clocks once again to give us more daylight to enjoy. (What a way to deceive ourselves.) The weather in March is warmer as plants bloom, swimming pools are uncovered, St Patrick’s Day is celebrated and storms seem to ease up.

One very important item happens that much of the world ignores ― Lent begins. On February 26^th Ash Wednesday is observed when we admit our sinfulness and our disobedience to God. Because of our sinful lifestyle we are estranged from God and are condemned to die ― physically and eternally. God, however, out of loving us so much, devises a plan to pay the price for our sin and to bring us back to a restored relationship with Him.

God’s plan is to pay the price of sin for us since we don’t have any way of making up for our sin. God’s plan was to make His Son to be a human like us but without ever sinning at all. And so Jesus was born of a human mother but with God as His Father. Being perfect in every way, Jesus didn’t have to die but He chose to die, in our place, to pay for the sins we (you and I) have committed. His death was very painful and cruel as He suffered for all of our sins. His death (and our death to sin) wasn’t the end. The Father raised Him on the third day and declared that His new life (Resurrection) was our new life also.

On Ash Wednesday we will gather for a light supper at 5:30 PM before we enter God’s house at 7:00 PM to worship Him. Ashes, made from burning last years’ palms from Palm Sunday will be imposed on our foreheads in the sign of the cross. These ashes remind us that God created us out of the dust of the ground and that because of sin when our bodies die, they will return to the dust of the ground. Since we have a soul as well as a body, our souls will return to God in heaven when we believe and have faith that Jesus paid the price for us when He died on the cross.

Weekly, during Lent, we will worship not only on Sunday but also on Wednesday evenings. We will be considering how the Passion of Jesus looks through the eyes of various people. We will see various aspects of our faith in a new light.

This will be an excellent time to invite others to attend church with you being that the service will be shorter and Holy Communion will not be offered. Many people don’t understand about the Church and this will be one way to begin to reeducate them and break down the barriers.

Let’s be diligent in our preparation during Lent both in our private devotions as well as in our corporate worship. Many people will plan on attending on Easter Sunday, however, unless you understand about the how and why of Easter through our pilgrimage of Lent, Easter loses much of its impact and meaning.

I hope to see you weekly as we grow into the new life that God gives us as a free gift.

Pastor Weikart

Our Lenten Focus by Roy Armstrong

Lent, the church-year season that begins on Ash Wednesday, is a time of penitence and spiritual renewal. Some people give up a luxury or a vice during Lent as a form of self-denial; others undertake a project that benefits others. The point isn’t to denigrate ourselves or to see how much we can do without. Instead, Lent helps us reflect on Jesus’ death. As Timothy Keller writes in The Reason for God: “The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

This Lenten season please invite your friends and neighbors to one of our mid-week Lenten services to share a light meal and worship. Our recent Sunday Service attendance has been right around the 100 person mark. When I think back six years ago when we joined Lutheran Church of Providence and our numbers were in the twenties, I was worried and there was talk of the church closing. How relieved I am that we had a strong Church Council and President who followed the right road and fought on to keep our beautiful Church open and we were sent a Pastor who saw our potential and kept us growing! With God’s Blessing we will continue to grow and prosper! In the next 30 days please watch for some new security enhancements here at the Church to keep all of us safe during and after worship service!

Lent is based off of Jesus’ time in the desert, in which for 40 days He fasted and prayed and was tempted by the devil before angels came and tended to Him.

Here are seven Bible verses commonly associated with Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season.

Joel 2:12-14
“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing — grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.

Matthew 6:16-18
When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Mark 1:13
And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.

Ecclesiastes 3:20
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Then the devil took Him to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”

Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Just a Child of God, Roy Armstrong, Council Vice President

Lutheran Church of Providence

February, 2020 Newsletter

Pastor’s Corner

Driving home the other day I saw Christmas lights glowing at many houses. I don’t know if they were left over from last year or if people were getting a jump on this year. When I got home, in the mail were several brochures aimed at the upcoming Lenten season. How fast time flies when we finish one Holy Day (Christmas) and enter another somber group of Holy days, Lent, leading to a grand celebration of Easter.

Christmas seems to get most of the emphasis due to the fact that stores make most of their profit during Christmas. They are attempting to make Easter like Christmas for their own gain but it hasn’t taken hold like Christmas has. Part of the reason is that Lent and Easter have the topic of death in it. We don’t like to think about death even though all of us will entertain it with our bodies one day.

Ash Wednesday reminds us of our death when we receive ashes on our foreheads and are reminded “you are dust and to dust you shall return.”  Not a whole lot of joy in that. During Lent we look critically at ourselves and admit how much we have sinned against God, been disobedient and deserve to be punished. We don’t deserve anything good – but God looks at us, loves us, and devises a plan to bring us back to Him. Lent is a time to reflect on that plan and to look to God for His gift of eternal life through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

This year we will have our mid-week Lenten services every Wednesday at 7:00 PM beginning with Ash Wednesday on February 26. In the following weeks we will consider parts of Jesus’ life and death as seen through the eyes of certain people at that time. In each of these cases we will be able to identify with these people even when they do things that we consider shameful. However, that’s the person we present to God every week when we approach His table to receive Jesus’ body and blood in Holy Communion. As we contemplate who we really are, beneath the façade that we like to present to others, we plead with God to have mercy on us.

God does have mercy on us but then we go out and do the very things that we promised God we wouldn’t do. What great love God has for us that he repeatedly forgives us again and again even when we don’t follow through on what we promised to do.

The good news of Easter is built on a stern look at who we really are and how undeserving we are of God’s love. Our task is to take this message out to the world and invite them to get to know God in a personal way. People in the world don’t want to die forever but may have never been taught the way to eternal life. I ask you this year to choose at least one person that during this Lenten season you will pray for, invite, spend time with and reach out to with the Gospel message. Let them know that as a church we are here to serve them with no strings attached. Please, I beg you, get involved in at least one program in the church and make it a priority to bring someone along with you. The joy of doing so will bring you happiness beyond any material gift that you received at Christmas.

Pastor Weikart

MESSAGE FROM VICE-PRESIDENT ROY ARMSTRONG

I remember growing up and watching some very silly—but delightfully entertaining for a child—movies on TV that centered on Genies and the magical mysteries of the mysterious east! “The thief of Baghdad,” “The Flying Carpet” or the “The 7 voyages of Sinbad” all would equally entertain us as we sat mesmerized by the fantasy that unfolded before our eyes. Now I can’t be certain, but I think the magical phrase from “Arabian Nights” is featured in at least one of these films: Open Sesame! Do you remember that phrase? It would be the magical password you would need to use in order to enter the secret cave where a genie and his/her bottle were waiting for their new master to find them. Open Sesame! To be opened was to reveal the secrets that lay within. To be opened was to allow the story to continue in a new and marvelous way. To be opened was the first step in a new relationship that was about to unfold.

In the Gospel of Mark, there is a man who cannot hear or speak and his friends ask for him to be healed and we are told that Jesus looking up to heaven, sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly (Mark 7.33-35). The season of Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday is a time for us to be open. It is not always by intention, but we can often find ourselves feeling closed off to God and the spiritual realities of our life. We become so busy and overwhelmed with the fast pace of our world, and the pulls on our time and energy that we become the classic “Human Doing” versus the “Human Being” that we were made to be! So, I have some suggestions for where our lives might benefit from being ‘Open” to God, neighbor and ourselves during these days of Lent. Open Our Eyes, Lord! Paul saw the light of Christ shining around him on the road to Damascus. As individuals and communities, what do we have difficulty seeing? How does our perspective change when we view the world through the eyes of Christ? Consider praying for God to help you ‘see’ as God sees the world!

Open Our Hands, Lord! We use our hands to pick up a child, to serve a meal, to play an instrument, to wipe away a tear. Jesus used his hands for healing and for deeds of great power, and the psalmist reminds us that we are always held fast in God’s hands. In Deuteronomy, Moses encourages us to open our hands in service to others. What would it mean for you to open your hands to serve God? One place to start would be to use our hands to serve one another as opposed to insisting on being served!

Open Our Ears, Lord! Ancient Greek philosophy notes that we have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. Jesus reminds us that we sometimes hear but don’t listen, listen but don’t understand. Opening our ears isn’t as easy as it sounds. Why not use this time of Lent to set aside an extended time of silence, listening, prayer, and meditation? Or perhaps you can try a whole day to work on listening. Don’t be worried about trying to share your opinions as much as you are about making sure you completely understand the opinions and perspectives of others!

Open Our Heart, Lord! Listening to Paul’s teaching, Lydia opened her heart to God and was baptized. Her willing, trusting faith echoes down through the centuries as we witness her “open heart procedure.” Why not join in with others to respond to a need either locally or globally. Well I don’t know how this little exercise might change you or your life; but if those old movies were any indication, ‘to be open’ is the beginning of a whole new adventure!

As we enter this Easter season let everyone know “Gods’ Church is Open.” ur Church,” Lutheran Church of Providence is Open” invite a friend, a relative or a stranger to attend Church this Lenten/Easter season make a difference in someone's life!

Just a Child of God,

Roy Armstrong

MEMORIALS

A memorial was received from Myrtle Wells in memory of Donna Boslau for the air conditioner fund.