This year of the Lectionary is the Year of Mark and most of the Gospel lessons in this season come from this Gospel. I want to share an outline of Mark with you so that you can refer to it from time to time during the coming year. The Gospel of Mark is arranged in an outline of three sections, and in each section there is a seeing miracle.
In the Gospel for this coming Sunday we go to church with Jesus. “Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught..”
Besides the usual group who assembled, with the scribes who were their teachers, there was also an unexpected guest who joined them for worship. “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.” Today we would say that the man was afflicted with a mental illness.
I have an “ecclesiastical daughter,” Gretchen, who is currently serving as a chaplain in a palliative care program in the state of Washington. I served as her mentor when she did her initial ministry field work in my parish more than 30 years ago. I am delighted she found her way into chaplaincy and we share this ministry experience.
On Saturday, January 27, you are invited to join the Sunday School Families for a trip to Feed my Starving Children at their Schaumburg Location to pack food products. Our time slot is 2-3:45 p.m.
During this week we will again celebrate the life and ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is especially relevant that we celebrate this modern-day prophet during the season of Epiphany. In his book, “Stride Toward Freedon,” Dr. King describes a key Epiphany of his life.
Open Arms Ministry has reached out to us for help. They have a large demand in the month of January to collect Winter Coats.
We are launching a Winter Coat Donation Drive to collect gently used or new winter coats for men, women, and children of all ages.
January 15, 2024 7:00 p.m. Our topic for January is “What Do You Treasure?” Meetings include reflecting on scripture and other readings. Come be with us at church for a time of spiritual rest and refreshment. Your spirit matters! All are welcome
In Matthew 2 we are given the story of three seekers on a spiritual journey. Outside our doors we are confronted with societal spiritual hunger as intense as it has ever been. They “bend the knee” here and there. In the mission field outside our door the American ethos is not secular, but personal. People are seeking answers to the anxiety of our time. Successful churches understand the holes in people’s lives and fill them. The American magi are pragmatic, personal. There is no natural fit between the complexities of Lutheran theology and popular American thought. How do we translate these complexities and chisel out space for justification by grace, high Christology, law\gospel tension? We are a church somewhere between an immigrant clan and the American experience.