May

As we navigate our way through the current COVID-19 pandemic we have been following mandates Gov. Holcomb has issued. His stay-at-home order, in response to the corona virus is in effect through May 1. This order could be extended if the outbreak warrants it. 

In response to this directive we have been broadcasting our Sunday service live on radio station WZBD and live-streaming the service on social media. We will continue this format through Sunday, May 3 to secure the health and safety of our community. I would encourage you to join us remotely to hear God’s Word and to pray with your sisters and brother in Christ. Home based distance learning continues at our Wyneken School through the remainder of the current school year.

Our parish leadership is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, May 5 at which time we will attempt to address how we will move forward. We will seek to the best practices available to serve you. We are navigating unchartered waters. Yet our Captain Christ our Savior has promised to direct us. I am confident we will see this through together.      

A perspective from our own history might be helpful. Pastor Jesse Hoover was transferred into the Kingdom of Glory on May 24, 1838. He was just twenty-eight year old at the time of his passing. He’s buried at the old Concordia Cemetery in downtown Ft. Wayne.  

Pastor Hoover is credited for organizing the first church in Ft. Wayne (known as “the city of churches”) and our parish on February 28, 1838. He died – just three months into his pastorate. The Lord was with this young fledgling congregation then. He is certainly with us now. 

Under his pastoral guidance fifty-six persons gathered to sign our congregation’s charter becoming the first Christian congregation in Adams County. It was Pr. Hoover which gave us the name Friedheim. Through the years the Lord had directed us to remain a house of peace, a safe haven and a harbor of hope in this world. May the Lord continue to bless our Friedheim family to remain this house of peace.

This epidemic, this virulent disease reminds us that we are living in a fallen world – outside of Eden. We’ve weathered storms of crisis before – a Civil War, Two World Wars, a Great Depression, extreme weather related storms and droughts, an influenza outbreak one hundred years ago which claimed the lives of members young and old alike.

We are not given to panic but to confidently listen to our Shepherd’s voice as He orders our days and direct our path. My encouragement for you is continue; continue in the faith given you. Continue to listen to and read God’s Word. Continue to pray for your family members, friends and especially those who are in harm’s way of this virus. Pray for our leaders and medical experts who make decisions and give guidance for the public’s welfare.  As you are able, care for each other especially those who are vulnerable, the unemployed and the sorrowful.  This is your time – to be a sermon in shoes!    

I’ll close with the following Evening Prayer -  

"Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give Thine angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for Thy love's sake. Amen."

May

As we approach the month of May, we find ourselves in the midst of the season of Easter. A season, which lasts for seven consecutive Sundays. The Easter greeting heard in churches over the world is found in a first person testimony, “I have seen the Lord” and a third person confession of faith, “Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!”

The message of Easter, both simple and profound, promises- that Jesus has, indeed, broken through the barrier of death to new life.  Where He has gone, we will follow. Each of us will go through death to new life. Just as He did. This is the great joy of Easter, the great promise of Easter, that each of us, when we die, will be like the seed that breaks forth into new life.  The Savior has promised, "Truly I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit." – John 12:24

This promise of new life is what the Apostles came to understand through their post-resurrection encounters with Christ and through the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  Their lives were not over. They were just beginning.—A gift given from the One who makes all things new.

And this is what we must also come to believe. After traveling with the Lord through Lent and His Passion and Death, we have arrived at new life—both during the remaining days of our life on earth and in fullness on the day of the Resurrection of our bodies when they will be reunited with our souls as the completion of time.

As we celebrate the glorious Resurrection of the Lord this Easter season, resolve to humbly walk with the Lord; join your life to His, dying as crucified with Him, and rising to new life with Him. May this Easter season be a turning point in our lives, freely and joyfully receiving everything that is good from Him. May you be blessed and filled with joy and new life in this Easter season.

May

During this busy month of May, there will be much for us to do.  After a long winter and a spring that is attempting to arrive, the busy task of planting will soon commence. Field and garden will soon receive added attention.  Many a day will be extended into the night as we anticipate the germination of a new crop.

For our students there is plenty to do in May! This year four young people will be confirmed in the faith  on Sunday May 6.  There are projects, assignments, and end of term exams. There are also field trips that need to be completed, Little League and t-ball games to be played, and 4-H projects that need to be planned.

During this month of May we will close out the Festival portion of the Church calendar. Easter gladness…Easter joy.  That is our theme during this month of May.  The message of the angel still rings in our ear, "He is not here.   He is risen indeed!" As the events of Holy Week began to unfold, there was no turning back for Jesus.  The cross drew near. Yet, willingly Jesus endured the cross.  He withstood the agony, the horrors and the terrors of death.  He suffered that we might have life eternal in His name.

As Jesus rose victoriously from the dead, He has now granted life and immortality to us by His victory over the grave.  With St. Paul we can say, "0 death where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?"  Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ who has gotten us the victory over sin, over death, over Satan and his host!

From the preamble of our parish Mission and Vision statement we remember – “The birthday of Mission occurred on the day of Pentecost circa AD 30 in the city of Jerusalem. On February 25, 1838, Zion-Friedheim Lutheran Church was chartered to be a House of Peace, a Haven of Hope for those who suffer and a Harbor of Light in this sin-darkened world. As followers of Jesus, we are Christ’s ambassadors – commissioned by Him who has reconciled the world to Himself to be salt and light.”

One busy month is upon us. In all that we do, the cross and empty tomb is what motivates us. The hope of eternal life is our vision which gives value to our lives. The fact that we are Easter people is what gives us a passion for living!  Celebrate God's gift of life for this world.  Share and live for Christ in all that you do.  May the Lord direct you during this busy yet life fulfilling Easter season!

May

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia! 

With these words we greet each other in this Easter Season!  Christ has been risen from death! Life is yours through Christ’s work. The last enemy death has been defeated. There is for you the promise of life restored. In the Gospel of John we are told, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”   

This is the source of eternal life. The knowledge of God and of His Son Jesus Christ is itself a source of unspeakable and eternal joy. The salvation purchased by Christ on Good Friday, and given to those who believe, is called life. In this Easter season, we celebrate the gift of life. Jesus completed the work the Father sent Him to do. Our life is now expressed in learning of Jesus and sharing His life with others.   

Planting season is once again upon us. We pray for seasonable weather as area farmers enter their fields. We petition the Lord of the living harvest for an abundant harvest which will feed a hungry world. 

We pray for our service men and women overseas who stand in harm’s way. We pray for police and fire personnel who are first responders when trouble arrives. 

We pray for all who travel that they may return from their journeys safe and unharmed and that their homecomings may be joyful. 

We pray that in all things begun continued and ended our Lord would direct and sustain us. May we be a a haven of peace, a harbor of hope, a  house of prayer coming boldly to the throne room of grace with our petitions and our needs.   

May

May 1    6^th Sunday after Easter – Confirmation Sunday – Special Communion Service

                Isaiah 40:31 “But those who wait upon the Lord”

May 5    Ascension – Special Order of Service with Communion

Luke 24:44-53 “An Ascension Message of Joy”

May 8    7^th Sunday after Easter – Prayer and Preaching

John 17:20-26 “A model of unity”

May 15 Pentecost – Divine Service Setting 3

Seminarian Joshua Rolston guest speaker

May 22 Trinity Sunday – Divine Service Setting 3 w/o communion

John 8:48-59 – “The Trinity in Your life”

May 29 Pentecost 2 –   Divine Service Setting 1

Proper 4 Luke 7:1-10 “For statements concerning great faith”

In the month of May we witness a transition. We close out the Festival Season of the Church year as we move into the Pentecost Season, often referred to as the Non-Festival portion of the Church year the last Sunday of May.

May is a critical time of the year. As fields are prepared in spring, we anticipate a harvest in fall. Seeds sown in May produce a harvest in October and November. In the church, the seed of faith planted in baptism is confessed at confirmation, and then is given opportunity to bear witness throughout a persons’ life. This same Jesus who is risen has ascended. He has given His church His Spirit and rules in the hearts of His followers to this day. 

As we anticipate gathering for worship, read through the readings and prayers appointed for each Sunday. Come, anticipating God affirming to you the very life that He offers through the appearing of His resurrected Son Jesus. As He works in the lives of His people remember that He continues to shape and mold your life. He gives structure to your day. He orders your path and directs your life.

Easter – 6 - O God, the giver of all that is good, by Hour holy inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by Your merciful guiding accomplish them;

Christians pray in Jesus’ name.  “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus has opened the way to the Father, so that “whatever you ask of the Father” in Jesus’ name, “he will give it to you” (John 16:23).

We pray, therefore, in the confidence that we will be heard and answered, that our “joy may be full” (John 16:24). We pray because the Gospel has been preached to us, and the Lord has opened our hearts to believe the Gospel (Acts 16:10, 14).

We pray in the name of Jesus because we have been baptized into Him, as Lydia and her household were baptized (Acts 16:15). We have been healed, and we live and walk and pray in newness of life (John 5:8–9).

Ascension – Almighty God, as Your only-begotten Son, our lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also asce4nd in heart and mind and continually dwell there with Him,

Christ Ascended Is with You Always

In His resurrection, the Lord Jesus presented Himself alive to the apostles, “appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). Then He ascended to the right hand of the Father, not orphaning His Church, but filling all things in heaven and on earth, and giving gifts to His disciples. So today, He continues to preach “repentance and forgiveness of sins” (Luke 24:47) through “the apostles whom he had chosen” (Acts 1:2), even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Jesus comes among us today by His Word and Spirit, whom He pours out upon “the church, which is his body” (Eph. 1:23). In His Church, He blesses us with forgiveness, lifts us up in His hands, and seats us with Himself “in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:20).

Easter 7 – O King of glory, Lord of hosts, uplifted in triumph far above the heavens, leave us not without consolation but send us the Spirit of truth whom You promised from the Father,

Jesus Is with Us in His Holy Christian Church - On the night when He was betrayed, Jesus interceded for His Church — for His apostles and all who believe in Him through their word — that all of His disciples “may become perfectly one” in the Father and the Son (John 17:21–23). For Jesus became flesh and dwells among us in order to reveal the Father and His name, to share with us the glory of His righteousness, and to bring us to the Father in Himself. As the Father loved the Son from “before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24), so He loves the whole world (John 17:23, 26). Through the apostolic witness to the baptism, cross and resurrection of Jesus (Acts 1:21–22), the Lord gathers His disciples throughout the world “with one accord,” as one body in Christ (Acts 1:14). And so with one voice and by one Spirit, His Bride prays, “Come!” (Rev. 22:17). And He comes to us. He gives us “the water of life without price” to wash our robes and quench our thirst (Rev. 22:17); and He feeds us from “the tree of life.”

Pentecost – O God, on this day You once taught the hearts of Your faithful people by sending them the light of Your Holy Spirit. Grant us in our day by the same Spirit to have a right understanding in all things and evermore to rejoice in His holy consolation;

The Holy Spirit Gives Peace - Following the flood, Noah’s descendants failed to spread out and fill the earth as God had spoken. Rather, they exalted themselves; with “one language and the same words” (Gen. 11:1) they spoke proudly and arrogantly. The Lord humbled them by confusing “the language of all the earth,” dividing and dispersing the people.” (Gen. 11:9). That dispersal was reversed on Pentecost Day (the fiftieth day of Easter), when God caused the one Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to be preached in a multitude of languages. “At this sound the multitude came together” (Acts 2:6), for the preaching of Christ is the primary work of the Holy Spirit, whereby He gathers people from all nations into one Church.

The Holy Spirit teaches and brings to our remembrance the words of Jesus, which are the words of the Father who sent Him. These words bestow forgiveness and peace to those who keep and hold on to them in love for Jesus. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27).

Trinity –  Almighty and everlasting God, You have given us grace to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity by the confession of a true faith and to worship the Unity in the power of the Divine Majesty. Keep us steadfast in this faith and def3nd us from all adversities;

The Triune God Reveals Himself in Christ Jesus -The divine Word of the Father is also the holy Wisdom who “was beside him, like a master workman,” who “was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always” (Prov. 8:30). This Word became flesh and suffered death, in order to bestow life by the preaching of His Gospel “to the children of man” (Prov. 8:4). He honors the Father, and the Father glorifies Him by raising Him from the dead, so that all who keep His Word “will never see death” (John 8:51).

Long ago, “father Abraham rejoiced” in the day of Christ, for “he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Though Christ was “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men,” “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death” (Acts 2:23, 24). As He “received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:33), so it is by and through the Son that God the Father pours out the Holy Spirit upon His Church.

Proper 4 -   O God, by Your almighty Word You set in order all things in heaven and on earth. Put away from us all things hurtful, and give us those things that are beneficial for us;

Faith Receives Good Gifts from God in the flesh - There is only one source of life, revealed in only one saving Gospel. Corrupting that Gospel is serious business. Thus, St. Paul is amazed when the Galatians “are turning to a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6–7). He insists that he is not trying to “please man” but be a true “servant of Christ” as he calls down a curse on any “gospel contrary to the one you received” (Gal. 1:9–10), for that Gospel alone saves. It saves as it reveals God, whose kindness is manifested in Christ and who reckons among His people all who share the miraculous faith of the centurion in God’s Son: “Lord … I am not worthy to have you come under my roof … but say the word and let my servant be healed” (Luke 7:1-10). For indeed, though as Solomon admits “the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?” (1 Kings 8:27), nevertheless in our Lord Jesus’ flesh and blood, He whose mighty word is faithful to what He promises, comes to us even today in His Eucharist to dwell in us and bring to all who trust His promise the gift of everlasting life.