Church guide

Welcome to Lent! As we enter this season, I would like to invite you into a couple practices that may help keep your hearts and minds focused on the message of the season. The first practice comes from Rev. Becky Senner who has asked her confirmation kids to be on the lookout for crosses in their midst. More specifically, to look not for actual crosses that you have hanging on your wall or the like, but instead for crosses in nature, in the world, in things that may not actually be crosses but look like crosses and remind us of the love of God shown in the cross. Look for crosses around you as you go through your day, say a quick prayer thanking God for all the ways God's love is revealed to you, take a picture of the cross, and, if you feel so moved, post a picture of it to this group. Second, start a practice of blessing your loved ones at least once a day and telling them that Jesus loves them. In our family, when we are saying goodnight, we make the sign of the cross on each other's foreheads and say, "Jesus loves you." This is a great way to reinforce the message of the cross in our daily lives. God bless you on your Lenten journey! Pastor Josh

Reminder: Church is at 9 tomorrow!!! (Not 9:30)

The Parish Unity Service will be this Sunday, August 26th at Trinity Lutheran this year. The service will be at 9:30 am with a brunch following. There will be a guest preacher, Rev. Doug Rokke, who will join us for the service and Jensina Knudsen will be baptized. There will be practice for the Unity Choir at 9:00 am Sunday morning, prior to the service, to run through the hymn a few times. If you have not been to any of the practices you are still welcome to join in!!

Upcoming worship schedule for First Lutheran: August 19 - 9:30 August 26 - Parish Unity Service in Carthage @ 9:30 Sept. 2 - 8:00 Sept. 9 - 9:30 Sept. 16 - 11:00 Sept. 23 - 8:00 Sept. 30 - 9:30 Hope to see you in church!

Worship schedule for May: 6th - 9:30 13th - 11:00 20th - 8:00 (Pentecost Sunday: wear RED if you have some!) 27th - 9:30

Muffin Morning Canceled Unfortunately, Marti needs to cancel today's Muffin Morning Bible Study because she has a migraine headache. This final session may be rescheduled for another day but at this point no date has been set. We hope you have a wonderful Saturday!

First Lutheran Church will be having services this Holy Week at the following times: Maundy Thursday @ 8:30 PM Good Friday @ 8:30 PM Easter Sunday @ 9:00 AM God be with you as you witness all that Jesus Christ does for you in these Three Days!

Services for tonight have been canceled so that people may attend Dorothy Weinberger's visitation in Mitchell at Bittner funeral home from 6 to 8.

Don't forget to change your clocks! Church is at 9:00 A.M. on Sunday.

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER The World Day of Prayer event scheduled for Friday has been postponed and rescheduled. It will now take place at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 10, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Carthage.

“O Holy Spirit, wipe the tears away from my eyes so that I can see the Savior, see Him so clearly that I can speak of Him to my people in these fateful times. Do your great work in our hearts in this degraded age so that Jesus may be a light to us. Then nothing can subdue us and our eyes are blessed. With the spring of joy bubbling from the heart, each one in the church and those among our people who have eyes with which to see, shall learn of the calm and noble Jesus, where to say no and where to say yes, and how we are to live our lives and do our work so that it may help our neighbor and our country. Amen” Sisters and brothers in Christ, This prayer was composed by the Danish playwright and Lutheran Pastor, Kaj Munk (1898-1944), who was martyred during the Nazi’s Occupation of Denmark during the Second World War. It is not a political prayer but one that is centered in God’s Holy Word to which Munk was bound and by which he was formed and transformed. He listened to scripture, he received from God forgiveness, acceptance, and love, and then he sought to share that gift through his prayers, his work, and the way he lived. This prayer, and the kind of man he was, sounds innocuous to us, but to the Nazi’s, his words and his life were blasphemous, traitorous, and dangerous. The Nazi’s banned him from preaching, the Gestapo arrested him when he broke that ban, and he was found dead in a ditch with a note calling him a pig. I was reminded of Kaj Munk because of the challenging and divisive times in which we live. I am not trying to make a comparison between the Third Reich and what we are experiencing but only that just as Munk’s earnest prayer was interpreted as undermining the Nazi regime, it seems like everything these days is being interpreted as politically motivated and as (negative) commentary on President Trump and his Executive Orders: science, the facts, Super Bowl commercials, and even the prayers, scripture, and sermons we hear when we gather for worship. I have political opinions and thoughts about what our government, both locally and nationally, are up to. But you don’t care about that. According to the State of Pastors survey released by the Barna Group on January 26th, “Only eight percent of adults say they are interested in hearing pastors’ views on issues such as same-sex marriage, LGBT rights, abortion, guns, tax policy, climate change, drug policy or religious freedom.” I have thoughts and opinions but you won’t hear them from me from the pulpit. What you will hear from me is God’s Word. God’s Word is not innocuous. It is not safe. It is not comfortable. It challenges all of us. It challenges those in positions of authority, power, and elected office. It challenges us to bless those who our society would have us cast off. It challenges us to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. It challenges us to do to the least of these as we would to Christ. It challenges us to support through prayer our elected officials. And it challenges us to critique the work of our elected officials and hold them accountable to the needs of those who need most. As Bishop Smith of the North Carolina Synod recently wrote, “Should the Church BE political? Certainly not. Does the message of the scriptures, which form our core and conscience, have political implications? Of course it does and should! All of our views and actions, as baptized Christians called to be Christ-like, flow from that deep identity as God’s beloved children and our calling, as we promise in our affirmation of baptism, ‘to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.’” God’s word is not safe to the ways of the world just as God’s Word (Jesus) was not safe in this world. It undermines our assumptions, changes our priorities, and unites us with those the world labels undesirable. But it does call us to a new vision and a new way of living; to be transformed by the Gospel and conformed to Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Pastor Josh

Due to the extreme weather conditions forecasted, First Lutheran Church will not be holding its Sunday Service tomorrow (Dec. 18th). Stay safe and warm during this lovely South Dakota weather that always keeps us on our toes! Reminder of Christmas carol/sing at 6:30 on Wednesday night in Carthage. Be ready with your requests for your favorite carols and please bring cookies/treats to share. If you play an instrument you are welcome to share your musical talent as well. Our Christmas Eve service will be at 5:00 p.m. No church services on Christmas Day.

Good morning! Church is at 11:00 a.m. today and will be followed by the Harvest Festival. Church schedule this month is as follows: Oct. 9th - 8:00 a.m. Oct. 16th - 9:30 a.m. Oct. 23rd - 11:00 a.m. Oct 30th - 8:00 a.m. Oct 30th is also Reformation Sunday, a good Sunday to wear red! See you at worship!!!

Friendly reminder (hopefully not too late) - Church on the 18th is at 8:00 a.m.

Free food for families in need!!! On Wednesday, September 7th, 2016, Sanborn County Food Pantry, in partnership with Feeding South Dakota, will be hosting a truckload food giveaway in Woonsocket, SD. Food will be distributed from the Woonsocket Community Center from 5-7 p.m. No questions asked. Only one box of food will be distributed per family in need. Disturbing facts: * South Dakota has 105,000 individuals who are food insecure. * Beadle County – 2,270 people * Kingsbury County – 530 people * Miner County – 250 people * Sanborn County – 260 people

Junior Dean's funeral will be Wednesday, August 24th, at 10:30am at St. Charles Catholic Church in Artesian. There will be a visitation on Tuesday evening from 6-8pm at the Will Funeral Chapel in Mitchell, SD. There will be a prayer service at 7. The address for the Will Funeral Chapel is Will Funeral Chapel is 210 E Green Drive, Mitchell, SD 57301.