Worship Service at the Church of the Cross

 

We celebrate a worship service

German language every Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

English language Sundays at 11:00 a.m.

 

Holy Communion

In the early service at the second Sunday of the month

In the later service on the second and forth Sunday of the month

For the German service we use the order of the Ohio Synod

In the English service we use Evangelical Lutheran Worship

 

What is Liturgy?

The word has its roots in the culture of the Greek-Roman Antiquity and describes what in a city's assembly free men

contribute to the common good.

The Apostle Paul has employed this term to describe his ministry, also translated as "service of faith" (Philippians 2:17).

So liturgy is what each member of God's people contributes to the common worship, offering thanksgiving and praise in consonance with the angels

(cf. Isaiah 6 and Luke 2:14) and all creation (cf. Psalm 150 and many other places).

Worship / Devotions

Pastor’s Sermon

 

Gnade sei mit euch und Friede von Gott, unserem Vater, und dem Herrn Jesus Christus!

 

Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a seed planted in the ground.

You plant a little seed, and surprise, it doesn’t take long and you have a leaf coming out of the ground.

Soon you have a stem and more leaves, and finally a flower.

Sometimes when we plant seeds we get tired of waiting. It takes too long.

We may even get impatient because it takes so long.

But in God’s time it grows and we have a surprise.

 

Today I have a surprise for you. I have these little seeds that will grow.

Take them home. Plant and water them, and soon you will have a surprise.

 

What kind of seeds do you plant in your life?

Do you get angry? What makes you angry? Do you worry? What makes you worry?

People worry and get angry about many things. Do you feel sorry about someone or something?

If you worry or get angry a lot, your stomach will turn up-side-down and in-side-out.

And you will get sick and tired and can’t sleep.

 

Today we hear that God was sorry for making Saul king of Israel.

God was upset and angry because Saul was not a very good king.

Saul was to be like a father to the people, but did not take care of them.

Saul did not do what God wanted him to do.

 

So God repented. God just refused to be upset by Saul and did a new thing.

God sent Samuel to anoint a new king who would do what God wants when Saul dies.

God loves doing new things. God loves to surprise us.

 

God was sorry for making Saul king over Israel.

Other translations say that God repented for making Saul King.

Another translation says the mind of God was changed about making Saul king.

 

There are four stories in the Bible about God repenting, God being sorry, God having a change of mind.

In Genesis after the creation and Cain killing Able, the people are multiplying and filling the earth.

But God notices that the people are becoming wicked, competitive, argumentative, combative.

The thoughts and imagination of people turn to doing all sorts of evil.

So God is sorry for making people and decides to flush them down the drain.

God will spare only Noah, his family, pets and livestock.

 

The next story is Moses on the mountain receiving the Law from God.

Meanwhile, the people have convinced Aaron to mould a golden calf to worship.

Baal worship was fertility worship involving drunken orgies.

Caught up in drunken orgies the people cannot hear God speaking to Moses,

“Go down to your people that you brought out of Egypt.

Those perverts are worshipping the golden calf, Baal. They are a stubborn people.

So leave me along so my anger may burn against them and destroy them.”

 

Moses speaks, “Excuse me, God. Are you forgetting something? (Can God indeed forget?)

These are your people that you called me to bring out of Egypt with your strong hand?

What will the Egyptians say when they hear that you brought your people

out in the desert just to consume them with your anger.

Remember (does God need reminding) the promise you made to Abraham and Issac and Jacob,

your promises about making them a great people outnumbering the stars in the sky.

Remember your promise to give them this land forever.”

And God was sorry for wanting to destroy the people with burning and consuming anger.

 

The third story is one we heard read. God is sorry for making Saul king over Israel.

 

In the last story King David decides to take a census of the people

so he will know how many subjects there are in his kingdom.

Kings and governments do that. Congregations and pastors do it too.

We like to tell how large our congregations are.

I remember Roy Oswald saying when pastors get together, it’s bitching and bragging.

 

Well, God is angry with King David since it is out of pride that he counts the people.

To punish King David God lets a plague spread over the land and many people die.

Does God let people die to just punish a proud king? Is this a just divine action?

An interesting question. Depends on your view of God.

Is God absolutely in control? Does God rule with an iron fist like Nebuchadnezzar?

We saw that kind of image last Sunday when we heard the story of the call of Isaiah.

The are some very good reflections on this in The Shack, a book by William Young.

 

Now King David has a much smaller kingdom and has lost his bragging rights.

Just as the plague is about to strike Jerusalem, God stops the plague and says, “Enough.”

God is sorry for letting the people die to punish the King.

 

God is sorry. God repents. God’s mind is changed. God is comforted. God is consoled. God is relieved.

It is all the same word. To be relieved has many meanings and are all included in being sorry and repenting.

To be sorry and to repent is being comforted and relieved.

You are no longer letting it get to you, upset you, get you up tight.

You are letting go, releasing its control over you. It is confession and forgiveness.

 

Notice in the stories that confession and forgiveness are blurred together in the Bible.

They blend from one into the other. Confession and forgiveness go together and are one.

 

In the book, Getting Bitter or Getting Better, David Schell tells how confession and forgiveness go together.

It is very important to forgive, even if the one who has hurt you has not confessed and said sorry.

You need to forgive just to be released from the resentment, anger and hatred

that continues to hurt, destroy and kill even more than the original offence.

You need to forgive just to let it go, so you can be released from the anger and pain.

You need to forgive so you are no longer victimized by the offence and the offender.

 

This is at the heart of The Shack. Mack carries resentment toward God.

Like Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress he carries a burden, a great sadness, that is destroying him.

His eight year old daughter is abducted and murdered. He had an abusive father.

 

In Winnipeg Tim McLean’s family feels they are getting no satisfaction, no justice, from the justice system.

Crystal Tanman’s family is still tending to the memorial on High59 and the Perimeter.

There were horrific and tragic events. But, these families continue to be victimised by their anger.

 

In Lutheran Church of the Cross we carry resentments from long bygone days.

Last week I talked to a family that left. They would like to come back. They have not found a church home.

They are afraid to come back lest they are again drawn into the battles.

We are invited to put it away, to forgive, to move on,

even if those who we feel have offended us have not said Sorry.

 

Anger, hurt, hatred and resentment are like little seeds. Like faith, hope and love, they also grow.

The longer you carry around the seeds of resentment in you,

the larger they get and you get more and more bitter, instead of better.

The longer you nurse the seeds of anger the larger they grow

and take over your life and give you ulcers and upset stomach.

The longer you harbour the seeds of hatred the larger they grow

and other monsters come to roost in your branches, anxiety, despair, depression, doubt, fear.

 

So let it go. Be relieved of resentment and worry. Be released from hatred and anger.

Let the seeds of love and forgiveness grow. Healing and hope will come to rest in your branches.

Faith, hope and peace will find a place in your heart and being.

You will be surprised how happy and peaceful life can be.

 

Der Friede Gottes, welcher höher ist denn alle Vernunft, bewahre eure Herzen und Sinne in Christo Jesu!

 

 

*Communion Bread Recipe *

 

Sift together 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt

 

Add 1 cup water, 1/3 cup honey, 3 tablespoons cooking oil (add a little more, if needed)

 

Mix until all ingredients are moistened; kneed until smooth.

 

On a lightly floured board, roll out dough to  inch thickness.

 

Cut into 5 inch circles (the size of a 2 pound coffee can) and score a cross + deeply, but not through.

 

Bake on cookie sheet for 10 - 12 minutes at 350°.

 

Brush with oil after baking. Cool 5 minutes.

 

Place warm bread in a plastic bag and close securely.

 

When completely cool, the bread may be frozen.

 

Allow 4-6 hours thawing time at room temperature before using.