faithlutheranbv.org

Tag: Church

  • God’s Service

    God’s Service

    “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” (Mark 10:45a)

    A lot of things have changed recently. We have seen pandemic, rioting, and peaceful protest. Some of us are not able to gather together in church to be served by God, so God serves them online. We have seen changes. However God’s Service does not change. Whether we gather together online or in person God serves us through His word and Sacraments. Every week that we gather together is a great banquet offered up by God. Never forget that.

    Some do forget. I wonder if that is the reason that church attendance is in a decline throughout our nation. Many churches have forgotten this fundamental truth. We do not go to church to serve God. He doesn’t need our service. We go to church to be served by God. 

    Listen to His word, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) God left His throne in heaven and took on our sinful flesh so that God could serve us. Truly God loves us, or he would not have gone to such lengths to save sinners. That is what we are. Sinners. Sinners loved by God. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” What incredible service! When viewed through God’s service to us, church is not a burden. 

    Compare this to how some churches only call you to serve. After a difficult work week the alarm goes off on Sunday morning and off you go to serve.  You get up, dress, and go to church to give your best to God. At the beginning of the service, a worship leader comes out and asks you to stand and make a joyful noise to the Lord.  After a couple of songs, even though your coffee has not kicked in, the worship leader is crying out, “Now this time, really sing it!  Everyone get your hands up!”  Then, just when you think you can take a break, a pastor comes out, and you are given a list of ways in which you can work harder to be a better Christian and better serve God. After church is complete; you finish your errands, go home, and go to bed, to start all over again.It sounds exhausting, because it is exhausting.

    Now compare a service where God serves us. We go to church burdened with a week’s worth of sin. God meets us. We confess to God, and lo and behold, we hear His promise of forgiveness. We eagerly wait for more. We hear God’s word and are strengthened by the Holy Spirit working in it. We rejoice that God has saved us in a message that emphasizes God’s work for us. We begin to recover from our stressful work week. We are feeling better. Next we are invited to a feast that God has put on for us. He invites us to take and eat His very body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine. We receive forgiveness, life, and strength, through this holy food. God serves us and we respond to His gifts. No wonder we break into song. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!” We receive God’s blessing as His saints on earth, and strengthened by God’s service to us we respond. Then back home ready to face another week.

    Which would I rather take part in? I want to be served by God. I need His strength and His blessings. God’s service is returned with my joy and song. Then I can face another week. Strengthened by God and I can be ready to serve Him in my life and vocation. But first I need His service. 

  • A Grand Reopening

    A Grand Reopening

    What a joyous occasion! We have once again been given permission to meet together at church! June 7th at 10:00 AM will be our first chance to celebrate Divine Service together as a Christian family in many weeks! I look forward to seeing many faces once again, but feel that I should remind those of you at high risk from respiratory disease that you might want to stay home. We promise that we won’t leave you out of life at Faith. We will still be broadcasting our service on the internet. We will still offer communion by appointment as we have been throughout this crisis. If you need anything at all we will be here for you! 

    For those of you who can come to corporate service, things will be a little different. We will have to continue to observe social distancing, and the wearing of face masks to keep each other safe. We won’t be passing the offering plates, instead they will be placed in the back of the church so that you can drop your offering in them as you enter or exit the church. Seating will be different. Ushers will direct you to a spot that might not be “your pew.” They don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. They will be looking to keep people a safe distance from each other while maximizing the space we have in the sanctuary. There will be no passing of the peace. Handshaking will be replaced with a wave. Communion will be different for the same reason, to keep you safe. We will have a separate entrance and exit for many. Ushers will once again direct you where to go, and when to go for your safety. This is all from a desire to keep each of God’s children at Faith safe and well.

    Some things will not change, nor should they ever. God’s Word will be preached in all its fullness. We will hear our Savior’s voice in the Gospel. The font will be present reminding us all that we are baptized children of God. Holy Communion will be observed, because we need the strength of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of Jesus our Lord. Our family will celebrate coming together in person and online. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses to God’s faithfulness, God is good. I look forward to seeing all of you! Whether at home or in the church! 

  • Sunday March 29th, The Fifth Sunday in Lent

    Sunday March 29th, The Fifth Sunday in Lent

    Here is a link to Service for The Fifth Sunday in Lent. Hope you are all keeping safe and remembering that God is with you. Go in peace!

    https://us.bbcollab.com/recording/25110d37157e49c48d71a5d0cb900d50

  • We Did It!

    We Did It!

    Service for Sunday March 22nd The 4th Sunday in Lent

    Our first online Service wasn’t perfect, but it is done. We will learn from this and move forward, until such a time as we can meet again. I look forward to seeing you all in person, once again, but for now we will learn and grow through God’s Word online. If you missed Service this morning, here is a recorded version.

    Witte Meeting Room – recording_1

    God bless you and keep you safe! Love your neighbor!

    Pastor Becker

  • Don't Miss Church

    Don't Miss Church

    Faith will hold Service tomorrow at 10:00 AM. It’ll be online, so you can come in you pajamas if you want!

    For those with computers and internet access use this link:

    https://webconferencing.cuchicago.edu/witte

    For those without computers or internet access call:

    1-571-392-7650

    And use conference number:

    468 843 8423#

    Please check in 15 to 30 minutes early. Remember that we are all learning this first week, so be patient. God bless and keep you. Pastor Becker

  • Blackboard Collaborate Service at Faith Lutheran Church 10:00 AM

    Blackboard Collaborate Service at Faith Lutheran Church 10:00 AM

    Thank you Dennis Witte and Concordia University Chicago for the tech and tools to make this switch! In the face of the Governor’s ban on meeting in groups greater than 10, we are moving Sunday Morning Divine Service online. Denny is our point and technology guy and deserves our thanks. Make sure that everyone knows that we are making this move. Don’t have a computer, that’s okay. A phone will work. Ready for instructions, here we go…

    For those with computers and internet access use this link:

    https://webconferencing.cuchicago.edu/witte

    For those without computers or internet access call:

    1-571-392-7650

    And use conference number:

    468 843 8423#

    Please check in 15 to 30 minutes early. Remember that we are all learning this first week, so be patient. God bless and keep you. Pastor Becker

  • Focus

    Focus

    There is never a time that your Pastor’s attention wavers from its laser beam-like focus on God’s Word. Well, except for basketball season. Oh yeah, and when driving cool cars. Or when something comes up with his wife or kids. Or friends. But other than that, laser beam focus. Yeah. 

    In seminary, I was taught that your first vocation, or calling, is always to God, then your family, then your work. But it is sometimes really hard to keep things in order. Your eyes and mind get distracted, pulled away, by the things of the world. I know the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me”, (Exodus 20:3) but it is so easy to let other gods slip in. 

    I know, I know, we aren’t building golden calves in our backyard and saying, “this is my god” but anything that displaces God from the center of your life can become an idol so quickly. People bow at the altars of sports, and money, and sleep, and popularity, and so many other things, quickly losing their focus on God. People try to change God from the God revealed to us in His Word into something more to their tastes, making their own God in this way, as well. Idols are so easily built. But what can you do? 

    First things first. Make God’s Word a priority. A recent survey showed that only about 20% of those identifying as Christian read their Bible regularly. I don’t know about you, but I have to read books in order to ingest the material in them. Sleeping on them doesn’t really help. And the Word of God is more important than any other book. The Word of God comes with a promise, “so shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I purpose, And shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 5:11) So get into God’s Word regularly and with joy knowing that, through it, He is doing wonderful things, like giving you strength and faith to make it through whatever would distract you, and bringing you back to God.

    Also, remember to gather together. God has given you a wonderful gift, a Church. You have a family forged in the water of baptism. It is a place of refuge, a place of strength. So be in it. “Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25) God meets you in Church with Word and Sacrament. He meets you there with loving arms in His people and body and blood in His Sacrament. 

    There we gather and are strengthened, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1) Our focus may waver, but Jesus’ does not. He is there waiting for you, ready to strengthen you. Ready to help you focus as you run your race.

  • On Any Sunday

    On Any Sunday

    There was an old documentary called, “On Any Sunday.” It was over motorcycle sports. I think it even won an academy award a long time ago. However, motorcycles aren’t my topic today. My topic is the title “On Any Sunday.” On any Sunday people sleep in. On any Sunday people enjoy time with their family. On any Sunday people go to church. I know, churches may not have as many people attending as they once did, but it is still true. Jesus’ Church still exists. Wherever God’s Word is faithfully taught, and the sacraments, instituted by Jesus, are faithfully observed, there Jesus’ Church meets, and will continue to meet until our Lord returns.

    The world is in a constant state of turmoil. Society changes and ideas change. God does not change. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17 ESV) There is comfort in God, who never changes and whose word does not come and go like the shadows around us. There is peace in the constant presence of God’s Law and God’s Gospel, God’s commands that never change and God’s constant promise of forgiveness in Jesus. The world may debate what is right and what is wrong. We see wars and rumors of war, calamity, and disaster. Jesus warned us this would be the case. (Matthew 24:6, Mark 13:7) We need a place of stability and sanity. While we debate such trivial matters as, “is there a chicken sandwich place that is closer to God?” Jesus waits. Culture turns on a dime. On any Sunday Jesus’ Church waits with His unchanging Word.

    Are we sinners in need of hearing God’s law and being called to repentance. Yes. And in church god’s law waits. Are we sinners weighed down with sin and needing God’s forgiving Gospel, the good news of Jesus forgiveness? Yes. And in church that Gospel waits. In Church Jesus waits in His Word, and in the water and Word of Baptism, and the bread and wine that He tells us is His body and blood. In Church God waits to give you His gifts of eternal life and salvation. In Church God waits to strengthen you with words that do not change, and comfort you with promises that do not change. No matter how wild or scary the world looks, Jesus Word is stronger, and it waits for you, any given Sunday.