St. Luke Lutheran Church

Abounding In Hope   Romans 15:8-13

The conflict between Israel and Palestine have generated countless pictures and videos of suffering and despair.  Too often the images are staged or taken out of context to advance one side of the other.  So, I don’t want to mention which side of the conflict is being portrayed, but one of the videos I saw several times was of a man sitting motionless in a pile of debris.  His tearless eyes were cast down, the weight of his loss had rendered him hopeless.  I doubt if any of us can related to the gut-wrenching trauma that people are experiencing in that conflict or the conflict in the Ukraine, or any other conflict; the sense of helplessness is overwhelming.  Yet, most, if not all of us, have experienced fear, grief, and powerlessness at one time or another.  Life can be difficult.  It can leave us feeling abused and hopeless.

I love how Paul ends his discussion about the seeming hopeless condition of his fellow Jews with a powerful affirmation of hope.  “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13. Notice that God is the God of hope.  That means that God is the source of hope and God is the power of hope.  As important, God wants to give you hope.  God wants you have hope so that you might also have peace and joy. God doesn’t expect us to conjure this hope from our own internal reserves; when we are feeling hopeless, we have not internal reserves.  Rather, God gives us hope through His Holy Spirit.  Paul’s prayer was that we might always overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We may face hard, challenging times, but we can always face them with joy and peace because we have hope. The source of our hope is not an optimistic spirit or easy-going nature. The source of our hope is the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”- Philippians 4:6-7

Please Continue to Pray for the Call Process
We give praise to our Father for leading Pastor Spaulding into His will even though it may sadden us. We take comfort in our desire to want what He wants for us, knowing He has a purpose and a plan, resting in His will.

Thank You Father God for caring for us.
 
Lord God we love You and worship You as You walk with us in this season.  Please give Pastor Todd an extra measure of stamina as he pastors us in the waiting.  The unwavering love and support You have instilled in him have been a stabilizing force and we are so thankful. We ask that You minister to his every need as well as Susan and David’s.  Jesus, as their loads are compounded may each of them experience Your easy yoke and light burden as they bond themselves to You. We ask Your hand to be upon Chad as he organizes work and move among us that we might offer help when a need arises. Hold our worship teams close to Your heart as they seek to praise You in song with voice and instrument.
 
Jesus help us to not feel adrift in these transitional days having our reassurance in You - our house built on solid ground for You our Rock are our foundation. Send the Holy Spirit from the Father, we pray, to keep us in perfect peace, uncompromising unity, binding us together in Your never ending love. Amen

Update on the Praise Service Music

St. Luke has not only been blessed with a robust worship band for most of its history, we have also come to expect a full band.  Unfortunately, the number of worship team members have declined over the past few years.  We were thankful that, in the tumult of recent changes, Amy brought a robust band from Brighton and from Concordia University.  While the music was amazing, it hid our underlying need to expand  our music program.  We have asked Dan Stauffer to assist us with this expansion process.  Dan, with help from Amy and the Michigan District’s Worship Arts facilitator, Peter Prochnow, will develop musicians and singers from within our membership, the student body at Concordia University, Ann Arbor, and the general community around us.  Those who are familiar with sports know that development processes take time. We will need to expect some bumps in the process.

We need your help.  First, please pray for Dan as he brings his skills and knowledge while learning the rhythm of worship here at St. Luke.  Please also pray for all the current worship arts team members, they are giving 110%. I am so thankful for their dedication to our worship here at St. Luke.  They have been part of the core of the worship team for many years. The transition has been difficult for them.  Second, volunteer to help.  Our urgent need is for musicians, particularly those who play percussion, strings, and keyboard.  However, we also need people to advance the slides in the service, manage the soundboard, and produce the livestream.  No experience is needed; we will provide the training. Third, be patient and encouraging.  Grumbling prevented most of the Israelites from entering God’s promised land. Grumbling is just as devastating to our community worship gatherings.  God is present, regardless of how many instruments strike a note in the service.  God renewed Elijah’s spirit with a whisper.   God is still active among us as we gather in worship and praise.

MOST Ministries - Quarterly Mission

St. Luke's quarterly mission for October through December is MOST Ministries. Please join us as we support their ministry in a variety of ways.

Prayer - Three teams are preparing to serve in Guatemala in the 1st quarter of 2024. Please pray for the team members, their families, and the MOST Ministries staff as get everything ready for the trip. Also pray for those they will encounter in Guatemala that the Holy Spirit will prepare them to hear God's Word and be open to it.

Sunglasses - If you have any non-prescription sunglasses lying around, MOST could use these to send with their eyeglass teams. Please consider donating them so that MOST can continue to send sunglasses with their teams.

Amazon Wish List - MOST has put together an amazon.com wish list (gift catalog) for the ministry and mission teams. Check it out here.

Contact Kelly if you have any questions.

Membership?
Have you been attending St. Luke Lutheran as a guest?  Now is a great time to contact us about joining the church.  In a few Sundays we will receive people into membership.  We would love to be able to include you into the event.  Recently I finished a membership class and one of the participants asked the question, “Why should I join? I’ve been attending for years, why should I join?

Certainly, there is no requirement for membership with the church.  However, by joining the church, you are giving a public witness of the faith that God has placed in your heart.  We are called to make public professions of our faith, whenever it is possible.  In joining the church, you are expressing a commitment of love to your St. Luke Lutheran Church family.  As important, your St. Luke Lutheran Church family will be able to make a commitment of love and care to you. I would like to invite you to start the membership process by contacting the church office by phone (insert phone number) or via email, .

Martin Luther's Evening Supper, Sunday, October 22
St. John’s Lutheran Church of Taylor, MI,  is inviting you to celebrate 14 years of Martin Luther’s Evening Prayer (their radio/podcast ministry) at a fund-raising dinner SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, from 5pm to 7pm at St. John’s, 13115 Telegraph Rd., Taylor MI 48180.  For more information, click here.

Meal Team Needed for First Fridays!

Grab your small group, your work colleagues, your ragtag bunch of revolutionaries and sign up for this once-a-month commitment. We’ve seen food insecurity rise over the past three years to become one of our area’s most pressing needs.

Where Hope Clinic served 2 meals/week in 2018, we now serve 6 meals/week.
Where we used to serve about 40 meals per night, we now serve around 150.

This is an intense upward trend in food need.  But time and time again we’ve seen people rise up to meet these needs.

What to expect: you’ll serve first Fridays from about 3/3:30-6pm. (You can split this into two shifts, a cooking team and a serving team if this makes more sense for your group.) We provide the food and tools, and we’ll train you!

Your team will need to nominate a Captain*—they’ll be the main contact person with Hope, and your team assumes the responsibility of ensuring a full complement of folks to cook and serve. It doesn’t have to be the same group of people every time! This should be considered a long-term commitment; our meal teams are integral to Hope’s mission and we rely heavily on folks showing up to help. People love serving on meal teams; it is rare that an opening becomes available! “Choose wisely”—drum up a motley crew and volunteer!

Contact Megg Geiger for more information.