In PDF format: 04-2019-Newsletter w
Dear Peace family,
What are you?
I can imagine someone answering that question by adding together all their parts. The average human body consists of 8 pounds of skin—this is enough to cover about 22 square feet. Humans are born with around 270 bones. Humans have vital organs—brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and liver that are essential to their survival. Let’s include all the nerve cells—there are apparently 100 billion nerve cells in the brain alone. Add in the blood in our system—1.5 gallons per person. And then there is the hair—they say the average person has 100,000 pieces of hair on the top of their head (some of us are well below this number 😊). By putting it all together you have an answer to the question, “What are you?”
I have good news for you. There is more to you than flesh and bones, organ and nerve cells, blood and hair and skin tissue! The Bible says that you are a spiritual person. And as a spiritual person, you must be nurtured and fed spiritually. It won’t work to fill yourself with cheeseburgers and salad—as a spiritual person you will still be hungry. It won’t work to fill yourself with coffee and milk—as a spiritual person you will still be thirsty.
Jesus instituted a special meal to make sure that you are fed spiritually—the Lord’s Supper. Jesus once took the bread and said, “this is my body.” What Jesus was saying with those words was that he would be the one to sustain and strengthen his people. Jesus then took the cup and said, “this is my blood.” Jesus was communicating that his blood would pay the price for sin and thereby, open eternal life for his people. When God looks at you, He sees far more than flesh, bones, organs, blood and hair. God sees a spiritual person worthy of immortality because of Jesus’ sacrifice.
Peace Lutheran Church deeply cherishes the Lord’s Supper and believes the Lord’s Supper offers what so many are yearning to have in life. For this reason, we will be reviewing the Lord’s Supper and its significance in our worship services in the months of April and May.
On a different note, there will also be a few changes in the way we distribute the Lord’s Supper beginning in April. The pastor will welcome each table and then distribute the bread. The elders will then follow with the individual cups and common cup. The dismissal for each table will be the simple words, “Depart in peace.” After everyone has communed (including the elders, communion assistants and ushers), a final communion blessing will be spoken to everyone. The hope is that these minor adjustments will allow for distribution to flow more smoothly.
I hope that you deeply appreciate our Lord’s sacrifice this Holy Week and Easter. Jesus loves you very much. You are God’s special spiritual creation worthy of his forgiveness, life and salvation.
It is a joy to share Jesus and his gifts with you as your pastor!
Blessed Easter! Pastor J
Peace by the Numbers
Easter Prep & Celebration
The Lent season is upon us and there are many things to plan for in order to make this season a meaningful and beautiful experience for everyone. Please consider helping to make this a wonderful season!
Church Cleanup Day!! This important day comes the Saturday before Palm Sunday, April 6. We will be cleaning the church inside and out, and you can choose where you would like to work and what you would like to do. Many hands make light work.
Palm Sunday is April 14, which is the first day of Holy Week. Everyone will receive a palm so they can place it in a vase at the front of the church during the first hymn. This tradition commemorates the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his suffering and death on the cross.
Maundy Thursday will be celebrated on April18 at 7:00 PM.
Good Friday service is another opportunity to observe and be involved in Christ’s suffering. We will celebrate on April 19 at our 7:00 PM service. This is a somber occasion but one not to miss.
HE HAS RISEN!! Easter Service is April 21 beginning at 10 AM., followed by Easter Fellowship (No Sunday School). Please bring finger foods only so that we can have an easy cleanup.
Every year a wooden cross is placed at the entrance to the church, and it is decorated with cut flowers. Please bring cut flowers to help decorate the cross anytime on Good Friday up until Saturday afternoon when the cross will be decorated. Flowers can be placed in the buckets of water in front of the church. Be looking in your yard and think about contributing flowers.
The altar and the area in front of the altar are also decorated with Easter Lilies. If you have an Easter Lily, please bring it to help fill the front of the church with spring beauty.
Plastic eggs will be available for people to take home and fill with goodies for the Easter egg hunt. Candy stickers, money, anything fun that can fit in an egg will be appreciated by our youth.
Men’s Breakfast
Mark your calendar for April 6, time for the Peace Men’s First Saturday breakfast. The discussion this month is the state of the city of Philomath. Mayor Eric Niemann and City Manager Chris Workman will be presenting. Remember coffee on at 8:00, breakfast served at 8:30 and discussion 9 – 10. As the official egg counter please let me know whether you Can or Cannot attend. Thanks – Hope to see you there – Oscar Gutbrod 541-231-3954.
Sunday School – New Study Coming
Peace is embarking on a new and exciting journey in April (first discussion is on April 7) during the adult Bible Study class. We will be unpacking Greg Finke’s second book “Joining Jesus–Show Me How.” Copies of the book are available for $5–see Oscar if you want a copy. Here is a synopsis of what we’ll be discovering:
“Go and make disciples.” These words of Jesus are as scary as they are inspiring. Somehow a myth has grown up around discipling. We have come to believe that discipling is so complex, so scholarly, so beyond the ability of simple Christians that only biblical scholars and spiritual superheroes should attempt it.
But this myth stands in sharp contrast to what we see Jesus doing in the gospels.
The way Jesus disciples people is simple and results in unschooled, ordinary followers participating in the mission of the Father and discipling others to do the same. Joining Jesus–Show Me How will help you regain the clarity and simplicity of how Jesus disciples people in the gospels so that you can disciple your children, grandchildren, friends, neighbors or fellow church members to get up, follow Jesus and join him on his mission, too.
How Children Perceive their Grandparents
Submitted by Margaret Phillpott
- She was in the bathroom, putting on her makeup under the watchful eyes of her young granddaughter, as she’d done many times before. After she applied her lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, “But Gramma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!” I’ll probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye.
- My young grandson called the other day to wish me happy birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 80. My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, “Did you start at 1?”
- After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, “Who was THAT?”
- A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like. “We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods.”
The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in. At last she said, “I sure wish I’d gotten to know you sooner!”
- My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, “Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?” I mentally polished my halo and I said, “No, how are we alike?” “You’re both real old,” he replied.
- I didn’t know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was. She would tell me, and she was always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued. At last, she headed for the door, saying, “Grandma, I think you should try figuring out some of this stuff for yourself!”
- When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, “It’s no use, Grandpa. Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights.”
- When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, “I’m not sure.” “Look in your underwear, Grandpa,” he advised. “Mine says I’m 4 to 6.”
- “Give me a sentence about a public servant,” instructed the teacher during a lesson. One small boy wrote: “The fireman came down the ladder pregnant.” The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. “Don’t you know what pregnant means?” she asked.
- A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. “Oh,” he said, “she lives at the airport, and when we want her, we just go get her. Then, when we’re done having her visit, we take her back to the airport.”
- Grandpa is the smartest man on earth! He teaches me good things, but I don’t get to see him enough to get as smart as him!
- My Grandparents are funny. When they bend over, you hear gas leaks, and they blame their dog
