Readings and Announcements 11.29.2020

First Sunday of Advent

November 29, 2020

 We know this story well: Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey. However, the “colt of a donkey” is something commonly overlooked. In Old Testament times, royal figures rode on stronger mules, not donkeys, much less a young or wild one! What is the significance of this? 

IN OUR PRAYERS

Shirley Abbott, Sarah Ardoin, Bill Barron, Sara Bartleson, Pastor Bereuter, Elijah and Katie Bretscher, Cheryl Cassidy, JoAnne Harrison, Dorothy Levihn, Tee Lipsey, Christine Mueller, Ron Peters, Patti Russell, Pastor Scheiwe, Chris Scott, Joe Sisk, Paula Stiles, and Tom Weaver. For all who mourn especially the family of Carol and Drexel Hull. For our active military, including Corey Cook, Jr., Dominick Greci, Katelyn Harvey, Lucas Peck, Dylan Pliska-Lyndoe and Rex Rafferty.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MIDWEEK ADVENT SERVICES- Begin December 2 at 4:30 & 6:30. Be sure to arrive early for the weekly hymn sing, a favorite Advent tradition! Advent meals have been cancelled.

 ADVENT DEVOTIONS—are at the Communications Center. "Prepare Ye" adult devotions with Psalms and carols focus our hearts in anticipation of Christ's return. "Prince of Peace" family devotion booklets and table tents help children hear and see Jesus’ story this Advent season.

 ANGEL TREE—is an incredible way to give a Christmas gift to a child in need in our church, school, or community. Please prayerfully consider taking one or more angels from the tree to share Christ’s love with others. Each angel lists an appropriate gift to purchase, instructions for wrapping, and a return date. If you have questions, contact Rosemary Thomas at 317-241-7963.

 POINSETTIA ORDERS—The Altar Guild is ordering poinsettias to decorate both traditional and  contemporary worship spaces. Order forms and envelopes are by the Luther Room. Poinsettias are $12 each and payment may be placed in the offering plate. December 13 is the deadline for ordering. Thank you for helping to beautify our worship spaces! 

Mark your calendars—Church Christmas decorating is scheduled indoor for Friday, December 4 at 6pm and Saturday, December 5 at 10am for outdoor lighting placement. Many hands make the job easier and fun. Light refreshments will be provided. Men, women, and children of all ages are welcome. We especially need helpers ready to move supplies from storage and climb on ladders.

 HANDBELLS AND CHOIR-Handbells have resumed at Our Shepherd! We currently have 11 ringers-just enough to use our complete three-octave set of bells. With more ringers, we could have both a beginner and advanced bell choir. Choir is also resuming, but with some COVID precautions and temporary changes in place. If you are interested in playing handbells or singing in the choir, please contact the Director of Sanctuary Music, Steve Hohnstadt at  .

OSLS-ALL SAINTS’ FEST--A huge THANK YOU to all who contributed. We hit our $15,000 goal!

SCRIPTURE READINGS

OLD TESTAMENT READING   Isaiah 64:1-9

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—² as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! ³ When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. ⁴ From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. ⁵ You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? ⁶ We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. ⁷ There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. ⁸ But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. ⁹ Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.

EPISTLE READING        1 Corinthians 1:3-9

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—⁶ even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

GOSPEL READING    Mark 11:1-10

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples ² and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴ And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵ And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. ⁷ And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Weekly Announcements 10.16.2020

BEWARE OF YOURSELF!

October 18, 2020

LWML Sunday

 In today’s epistle from Saint Timothy, we hear him talk about the danger of following teachings that fit one’s own passions and desires. As God’s people, we have been called to test our own ways of thinking. This is for our benefit, for if we follow our own ways and passions, we risk hurting our faith and the faith of others around us!

IN OUR PRAYERS

Bob Abernathy, Nicole Cook, Beau Ford, Annie and Earnest Green, Dorothy Levihn, Tee Lipsey, Trinity  Meihak, Joanne Orebaugh, Emily and Evelyn  Presley, Seth Roundtree, Damaris Ruiz, Pastor Logan Scheiwe, Joe Sisk, Paula Stiles, Tom Weaver and John Widau. For all who mourn, especially the family of Dorothy Haggstrom. For all missionaries including Daniel Coffey, Chaplain, In. State  Police. For all who are imprisoned. For all persecuted Christians throughout the world. For our active military, including Corey Cook, Jr., Dominick Greci, Katelyn Harvey, Dylan Pliska-Lyndoe and Rex Rafferty.

UPCOMING EVENTS

LWML Sunday, Oct. 18

Fellowship Dinner & Movie Night, Oct 23, 6pm

Reformation Sunday, Oct. 25

Installation of Steve Hohnstadt, Oct. 25, 8a,  Reception following service

All Saints Day Nov. 1

Daylight-Saving Time Ends, Nov. 1

SHARE LIFE WITH OUR SHEPHERD

Since January, Our Shepherd has baptized twenty-four individuals. Two adults and twenty-two children have been joined to Jesus and received His blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

SCRIPTURE READINGS

OLD TESTAMENT READING, Isaiah 45:1-7

¹ Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: ² “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, ³ I will give you the treasures of darkness  and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. ⁴ For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name,  I name you, though you do not know me. ⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, ⁶ that people may know, from the    rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me;  I am the Lord, and there is no other. ⁷ I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.

 EPISTLE READING, 2 Timothy 4:1-8

¹I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his     appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. ⁵As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. ⁶ For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

 GOSPEL READING, Matthew 22:15-22

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. ¹⁶ And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. ¹⁷ Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. ²⁰ And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹ They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” ²² When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

INSTALLATION— The Installation of Steve Hohnstadt as Director of Sanctuary Music will be on Reformation Sunday, Oct. 25, at the 8:00 service. A reception for Steve will follow the service in the narthex. We welcome Steve, his wife Ann and their two children.

 Fall Family Dinner and  Movie Night— The Fellowship team invites you to this event on Friday, October 23. We will serve a boxed dinner from Firehouse subs with a 6” ham or turkey sandwich, chips, pickle, a cookie, and bottled water. We will be viewing Hotel Transylvania in the gym. Doors open at 6:00; dinner is served at 6:30; the movie starts at 7:00. Please RSVP by tomorrow, October 19, for your family through the link in the weekly email.

PRAYER GARDEN— The brick paver cross will be installed the first part of November. Our first order of bricks has been placed and scheduled for delivery. The landscape design plan includes four wood benches. Heavy duty, commercial-grade benches will be in the $1000-$1500 price range. If you are interested in ordering a bench please reach out to Donna Maloney. We are still accepting perennials if you have any you’d like to donate to help beautify the area.

 LWML—This weekend we are celebrating the work of Lutheran Women in Mission and collecting Mite offerings in the narthex. Please join us in making a joyful noise to the Lord! The power of God is evident in the dimes and quarters you place in the Mite Box. This is celebrated each fall on LWML Sunday. Because of your donations through mites, we are able to share the Gospel and bring others to Christ. Thank you for your support of LWML.

 SAVE THE DATE— The Ambassadors of Reconciliation, Phase Two kick-off virtual meeting will be Tuesday, October 27 at 7pm. This virtual meeting will explain the next steps for Our Shepherd in the reconciliation process.