Holy Week 2023
Notes from Grace
I hope everyone is doing well on this snowy beginning to this year's Holy Week. Today we had our Little Lambs' Holy Week Program, and as usual the kids did a wonderful job of singing the praises of their Good Shepherd who laid down His life for their salvation and rose again so that they might live forever. God grant that they may always be faithful to their King and greet Him with palm branches waving in His heavenly Kingdom.
What's Happening This Week?
Holy Week
During Lent we have heard our Lord's call to intensify our struggle against sin, death, and the devil--all that prevents us from loving God and loving each other. In this week, our Lord won those battles for us: He paid for our sin by dying on the cross, by paying the wages for sin He conquered death for us and by rising again on the third day He opened the way to everlasting life, and in remaining faithful to the Father loving us to the end He crushes the serpents head under His foot. In these services, He puts sin to death in us, and raises up new men and women who confess with all our hearts, minds, and strength "I know that my Redeemer lives!"
Maundy Thursday, April 6th-6pm
Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. He became man to fulfill the whole will and law of God and took the punishment that we deserve. To strengthen our faith, He gave His body to us under the bread to eat, and says "I became man, and all that I do and suffer is for your good. As a pledge of this, I give you My body to eat." He washes our sins away and says "I give Myself into death, shedding My blood to obtain grace and forgiveness of sins, and to comfort and establish the New Testament, which gives forgiveness of sins. As a pledge of this, I give you My blood to drink." Our Lord deals with the sin in us, and then makes us part of His one body, that we may be strengthened to love each other in all that we do. We begin this service with a fuller confession of sins than normal and we share the peace of the Lord with each other, because we are surrounded by those redeemed by Christ the crucified. We receive the Sacrament. At the end of the service, the altar is stripped, and we hear the Lord's cries from Psalm 22.) (Quotes from LSB Altar Book "Holy (Maundy) Thursday")
Good Friday, April 7th, 6pm
"The One made flesh in a virgin, Who was hanged on a tree, Who was buried in the earth, Who was raised from the dead, Who was exalted to the heights of heaven" (Melito of Sardis). The sky turned black, the earth shooks, the rocks split, the curtain was torn, when our Lord yielded up His Spirit. It is finished. Your whole life, eternity is given to you in that sentence. On this night, we hear how our Lord died for us, we watch the darkness grow as the light is extinguished. But sorrow does not overwhelm us. The victory is ours in the cross, in the pouring out of His blood. We know His light will scatter the darkness again.
Easter Vigil, April 8th, 6pm
"This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from bondage to sin and are restored to life and immortality. This is the night when Christ, the Life, arose from the dead. The seal of the grave is broken and the morning of the new creation breaks forth out of night. Oh how wonderful and beyond all telling is Your mercy toward us, O God, that to redeem a slave You gave Your Son. How holy is this night when all wickedness is put to flight and sin is washed away. How holy is this night when innocence is restored to the fallen and joy is given to those downcast. How blessed is the night when man is reconciled to God in Christ....Let Christ the true light and morning star, shine in our hearts, He who gives light to all creation, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever" (LSB Altar Book "Vigil of Easter"). We will receive a new member and renew our baptismal vows. We begin out front with a fire to show that the light has conquered the darkness and shines for us in Christ. It is the fullest service of the year. We hear many of God's good deeds in history, from creation and the fall, to Noah and the Flood, to Abraham and Isaac, to Moses crossing the Red Sea, to Ezekiel in the valley of Dry Bones, to the three men in the Fiery Furnace, ending with our Lord's Victory over death as the light breaks on the first Easter morning.
Easter Sunday, April 9th 8am
I know that my Redeemer lives! We gather to celebrate the victory and the new life that we have through Jesus dying and rising again! Come and receive this salvation and begin your life with Him. In Baptism you are buried with Him through Christ, and so just as He is risen from the dead, so too He raises you to new life here in time and there in eternity. Lay your sins down at the cross, and begin your new life in Christ this Easter!
Looking Ahead
Our Youth Banquet will be Sunday, April 23 at 5pm. The speaker will be Pastor Rockhill from Bethlehem Lutheran in Crawford. Plan on joining us as we celebrate our graduates and confirmands!
Devotional Life
Salt, Light, & Signs of the Times
At that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image; 1and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” - Daniel 3:8-18
That's it for now.
In Christ,
Pastor Sherman