January 2012
From the Desk of Pastor Lassman
CHRISTIANITY IS THE ONLY TRUE RELIGION
My Fellow Redeemed in Christ,
Christianity is the only true religion? Wow. I could get into a lot of trouble in some places by saying (or writing) that. People of “other religions” could certainly be offended and even angered. In our political correct society such views are not encouraged or appreciated. Indeed, they are deemed arrogant, insensitive and misguided. But of course in some parts of the world it could be even worse—I could be killed. But truth is truth. If someone asked me for directions to some place and I told them to go a particular street and then make a right turn, they’d better not make a left turn or they’re not going to get to their destination. Or if I give them wrong directions they won’t reach their destination. It won’t matter that I think I was giving the right directions. I was wrong. The truth is the truth. And so it is with Jesus Christ. And after all “Christianity” gets its name for Him. Why is Christianity the only true religion?
Well, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). If this is not true then forget all about people honoring Jesus as a good man. For if what Jesus says is not true then He might be a con artist or a lunatic, but He can’t be a good man. What kind of good man would go around saying such absolute, intolerant, exclusive words unless what He said was true? But He told the truth. He is the only way to God. There is no other way. Christianity is the only true religion.
Jesus said what He did because the one, true, living God (the only God there is) sent Him into this world as He says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world He gave His only Son.” Here are the options about God: 1) There is no god, 2) There are many gods, 3) There is only one God. And if there is only one God, He either sent Jesus or He didn’t. But Jesus said that out of love the one, true, living God, sent Him into the world to be its Savior. If this is not true, then Jesus is not only unworthy of being the founder of a religion, but such a nut/liar could not be considered a good man. But God, out of love, did send Him. Christianity is the only true religion.
And finally, Christianity is the only true religion because only Jesus Christ has restored humanity’s broken relationship with God. He did this by dying and being punished for the sins of the world (your sin and mine) as He says in Matthew’s Gospel: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). Good men don’t say such things unless they are true. If what Jesus said is not true, then He is not a good man; He is not worthy to be believed or followed. But it is the truth. Christianity is the only true religion. The apostle Paul writes: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15: 3, ESV). Jesus is the only way to God because only He has restored mankind’s relationship with God by dying for the sins of the world.
And with sin paid for death itself has been defeated as His resurrection proves. Jesus predicted both His death and His resurrection as the angel told the women at the tomb: “He is not here; He is risen, just as He said” (Matt. 28:6). Either Jesus has been raised from the dead or He has not been raised. If He has not been raised then He is not a good man; He is not worthy to be believed in or followed—because He said He would be raised. Christianity would be a lie, a hoax. But, of course, He has been raised…..and one day will come again. Christianity is the only true religion.
And finally, Christianity is the only true religion because one day Jesus Christ will return visibly to judge the living and the dead as Peter says in the Book of Acts: “And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10: 42, ESV). If this is true, and time will tell, Christianity is the only true religion. But on that day it will be too late to believe in Jesus. Now, is the time to believe in Jesus as Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians: “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” 6: 2, ESV).
If someone is given wrong directions so that they do not end up where they are supposed to be, it’s little consolation that the person who gave them the wrong directions did so out of malice or ignorance. There is an old saying that applies here: “The Road to hell is paved with good intentions”. It is not enough to be sincere if you do not have the truth. People can sincerely believe something and be wrong. And so it is with God. Whether people know it or not, whether they like it or not, the truth is the truth. If it’s important to give truthful directions to human destinations, then how can we not give truthful directions to the way to God in Jesus Christ? Christianity is the only true religion.
In Christ
Pastor Lassman
PS. Thank you for your kindness and generosity this past year and especially during the Christmas Season.
LITURGICAL NOTES
A Guide to the Divine Service: The Offering and Offertory
“What shall I render to the Lord?’ Truth is, we have nothing to render to Him. We brought nothing into this world, and we will take nothing with us when we depart it. There is, however, an offering we do make, both now in our worship and one day in heaven itself. It is the sacrifice of thanksgiving for all His benefits to us.
In the Liturgy the Offering is just that—an offering. It is our voluntary response created by the Holy Spirit to God’s love in Jesus Christ. An offering is not a legalistic charge or fee, like membership dues. This monetary offering is a symbol for our whole life which is given in service to Him as Paul says in Romans 12: 1—“I urge you brothers in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.”
In the Old Testament God requited 10% as an offering. That is no longer true…..now you can give more than 10% if you want! God’s people have been freed from this legalistic requirement. But 10% still remains a guideline for us. In other words, we are not motivated by a legalistic requirement but we are motivated by love, God’s love for us and our love for Him. But we should always think of our offering in terms of percentage and not the amount. Two people could give the same amount of money but not the same percentage of their income. It is not the amount of money that we give that shows our love for God but the percentage of our income we give. That shows our love for God. Do you know what percentage of your income your offering is?
In the singing of the offertory (either “What Shall I Render to the Lord, DS I and II, or “Create in Me a Clean Heart O God”, DS III) we acknowledge all of God’s blessings to us and give Him thanks and praise. The giving of our first fruits, whether it is money or possessions, time or talents, is also a part of this sacrifice of thanksgiving. Our mouths cannot remain separated from the rest of our bodies. If the thanksgiving is flowing from our lips, then it will also find expression in the giving of our very selves for the sake of Christ and our neighbor.
From the Office of Pastor Mankin
Greetings in Christ Jesus,
With the New Year upon us, I have decided to start a new Messenger series looking at the important people in the Bible. Since this is the first article, we will start with the first person:
Adam \AD-uhm\
Current Status: Adam is homesick.
Profile > About
Work and Education: Assistant Groundskeeper, Slave to Sin
Location: Previous: Garden of Eden | Current: Sin Fallen World
Relationship Status: Married to Eve
Family: Cain, Abel, Seth, You, Me, Everybody
Likes: The Name Game, The Blame Game, Reminiscing, and Long-range Planning
Dislikes: Snakes and Fig Leaves (they chafe!)
Favorite Quote: “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Adam was the original man, created by God in His own image. He was also the original sinner, buck-passer, and one of the original liars. Not to only list the negative, he was also the first husband and father – in whose image we are now all made. Adam was also the only man that ever gave “birth” to a woman. Of course I mean Eve, made by God form Adam’s side. Talk about, “Love[ing] your wife in the same way you love your body and your life.”(Ephesians 5:28-33)
The common scholarship considers that the name Adam comes from the Hebrew word for ‘ground’ or ‘dirt’ (adamah). Adam was given the responsibility of watching over God’s garden – tilling and keeping it and naming all of the animals. Adam was also given free will, immortality as well as free reign of the garden. He could do and eat just about whatever he wanted. God gave Adam and his wife Eve one rule: don’t eat from one – just one – of the trees in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course what happens when you tell somebody not to do something? It’s all they want to do.
I’m sure most of you know the rest of the story – the talking snake, temptation, sin, nakedness, deceit, blaming others and then death. Long story short, Adam got himself, and Eve a one-way ticket out of Eden. (If you don’t know the story you can read up on it in Genesis 3.)
The story of Adam is that of the first sin and the result of making mistakes. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—(Romans 5:12) The key to understanding Adam’s story is understanding it is actually our story. Because we are all in the image of Adam, his sin and the result of that sin, death, have reign over us all. (See, Romans 3:23) But thankfully God sent us a new Adam, Adam 2.0 if you will – Jesus of Nazareth. (See, 1 Corinthians 15:44-47) As where the first Adam failed to keep one law, Jesus kept them all. It is in Jesus image we are being remade, so that when God sees us it won’t be our sin but Jesus’ righteousness.
Pastor Mankin
SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS FOR OCTOBER
Sunday December 18, 2011, one hundred and ten members and friends of Messiah celebrated “Christmas Past and Present” with our Sunday School students. This wonderful gift of God is so amazing that our human mind can scarcely understand His love for those of us that He created. The youngest of us is barely three and there are some past eighty, and all of us did our very best to share the love of Jesus using scripture, signs songs and symbols with the congregation.
We enjoyed the day and it is clearly the second most important celebration in our life, but it just one Sunday and we ask for your prayers for both students and teachers for the other fifty one Sundays of the year.
God is great and with Him all things are possible. Some of his helpers for the Sunday school service included Barbara Sackett, Vicki Bartlett, Kim Strege, Jeri Schy, Sara Zimmerman, Joanne Estergreen, Brian Reed, Ken Deaver, John, Cole & Louise Daigneault, Eric Brod, Ron Redmond, Peter & Andrew Boomhower, Rebecca, Elizabeth & Jill Cohrs, Alex & Kelly Knudson, Steve & Joan Miller, Sharon Weiss, Dorothy Bellin, Carter & Cameron Petro, and of coarse Martha Weiss and Bob Guthrie.
FLOWER FUND SUNDAY
Coupled with the current financial restraints many of our members are experiencing and the desire to provide sanctuary flowers for as many Sunday services as possible, the Altar Guild has been inspired to launch a new program. Named the "Flower Fund", there is now an opportunity for individual members to contribute nominal amounts of funds toward providing flowers on the FIRST Sunday of each month.
Q: WHAT IS THE FLOWER FUND? A: A modest bouquet will be purchased by the Altar Guild for sanctuary flowers the first Sunday of each month.
Q: HOW DOES IT WORK? A: Members wishing to contribute send $10.00 to $25.00 to the church office. Designate "flower fund" on your check and include the information form you will find posted next to the flower chart.
Q: WHO BUYS THE FLOWERS? A: The Altar Guild members on duty the first Sunday will purchase a bouquet at a local retail store on Saturday.
Q: WHAT WILL BE POSTED IN THE BULLETIN? A: Contributing members' names and/or message (anniversary, memorial, etc.)
Q: WHO TAKES HOME THE FLOWERS? A: Those contributing should indicate if they want the flowers and/or decide amongst fellow contributors who will claim the bouquet.
Q: WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW? A: Next to the flower chart there will be forms to fill out as to date, name, and any message you wish to have printed in the bulletin. Include the completed form w/ your check made payable to the church.
Q: QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS: Contact Kathee McAlpine in the church office or any Altar Guild member, especially Cheryl Gagne.
We hope this new program will bless us two fold: more families able to participate and more frequent flowers to adorn our sanctuary as we worship each Sunday.
INFORMATION FROM HERE & THERE…….
February Messenger Deadline is January 15 .
Men's Night Out - Men's Night Out Goes Greek, Monday January 9th at 6:00 p.m. at Taverna Mazi 3426 NE 55th Street. Please RSVP to Brian Danforth.
Ladies Night Out - January 16 is the date for a taste of Latin America at Tropicos Breeze, a Salvadorian restaurant, located at 9710 Aurora Ave N. www.tropicosbreeze.com RSVP to Bev Edmon,.
The Choir for Concordia University in Portland will be on Spring Tour in March of 2012. They will be singing at Messiah on March 25 (Sunday) at 7:00 p.m. There will be around 48/49 people. Please put this on your calendar and attend if you can. As in the past we will be asking members of Messiah to open their homes to these students to spend that night and prepare a sack lunch for Monday. We will also need to provide a meal for early Sunday night in the Fellowship Hall. If you are available to help out, please sign up on the upstairs bulletin board.
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Do you crochet? When we have a baptism here at Messiah, the babies are given a beautiful little 4 inch cross made out of crochet cotton. This is a wonderful keepsake but we are running low. If you might be interested, stop by the office to look at the instructions or call for more information, 206.524.0024.
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Mary Martha will be meeting on January 9, 7:00 p.m in the choir room. Please join us!
Pillowcase Dress Project
90 pillowcase dresses were boxed and shipped to Deaconess Gail Ludvigson who is serving at Lutheran Bible Translators in Aurora, IL. Gail will be traveling to Liberia in mi-January and will distribute the dresses to the girls while she is working there. In May, we mailed 34 dresses to Rev. Ted & Rebecca Krey in the Dominican Republic. In July, we mailed 44 dresses to Rev. Dennis & Deaconess Lorna Meeker in Kenya, Africa. That’s 158 dresses in less than a year and more are in the works!
We ask for your continued support of this project through donations of pillowcases, trims, seam binding, elastic, etc. Time and money are also a great way to support us. If you have time to sew, there are patterns available in the Narthex. You can also be involved by financially supporting this project. The money would be used to purchase sewing supplies and to pay for mailing the dresses to the missionaries who distribute them. You may make a financial donation to the church office and mark it “pillowcase dresses”.
Many thanks to the ladies who are cutting and sewing the dresses. It’s such fun to watch the pile of dresses grow each week and see how creative you are. Each dress is unique- truly one of a kind. I would be proud to have my daughter wear any of them. (OK, Andrea’s a little old for them but she likes to donate fun pillowcases for me to sew).
If you would like to get involved in this project and need a few pointers, contact Kathy Lassman or me and we will get you started.
Blessings, Bev Edmon
CONCORDIA LUTHERAN SCHOOL
Save the Date
Concordia Lutheran School’s
Annual Auction Saturday,
March 31, 2012
Starting in January we will have monthly auction basket which we are asking our church families and friends to donate to. We depend on donations from our school and church families to make our auction successful.
In January, we will be collecting items for “readers”. The first week in January, we will be collecting books. Watch each week as we ask for different items such as bookmarks, bookplates, book store certificates or anything you can think of for a reader! Donations may be left at the auction display in narthex.
ORGAN FUND
Our current electronic organ is over 45 year old. Although the electronics in it were rebuilt in 1989, the organ at a point where it needs to be replaced. The stops on the organ are switching on and off without the organist touching them. You may have even noticed this happening during services. It is only a matter of time before there is a more serious failure.
The Council created an organ committee earlier in the year, and our organist Noel Channon has been investigating replacements for our organ. Given the weight limitations of our balcony and the space available, it appears that a pipe organ is not feasible. A new electronic organ will cost over $100,000.
It takes 6-9 months after an new organ is ordered before it can be delivered and installed. Thus we soon need to decide on a new organ and get it ordered.
The congregation voted to start an Organ Fund at our meeting on November 20th. The congregation also voted to designate $47,636 that we received from Margaret Sylwester's estate for the Organ Fund. This gives us a good start. Given the importance of the organ to our services, we hope members will prayerfully
consider contributing to the fund. If you wish to contribute, please designate "Organ Fund" on your envelope or check.
DEACONESS DIARY
Do you ever make New Year’s resolutions? Consider making one in 2012 to practice “receptive spirituality.” John Kleinig uses the term in his wonderful book, Grace Upon Grace. It is “receptive” because “in our spiritual journey we rely on Christ from first to last and borrow everything from Him” (p. 19). It is “spirituality” because it is “done in us and by us through the Spirit and faith” (p. 24, quoting Luther). Resolve to join the author of Ps. 119 and meditate on God’s Word. How? Not through an inward mental act (“spiritual introversion”) but as an outward physical activity (“spiritual extroversion”) (Kleinig, p. 19). Don’t limit your meditation to what you do at home but include what you do in worship. Just as Scripture is read, the psalms are sung, and God’s Word is preached in the Divine Service, so we read, sing and preach it to ourselves. When God speaks in the liturgy, we hear it addressed personally to ourselves. Devotion to God’s Word is a “both/and”—both at church and at home—so that we may receive the Holy Spirit and grow in faith thereby.
Next month, if I have access to the Internet, my article will be written and sent from Liberia. As soon as I can, I’ll send pictures, including updates on the distribution of the pillowcase dresses I’m taking along. Many thanks to all the ladies who worked on them. Please pray that my time in Africa will be a blessing to those I serve as well as a fulfilling learning experience.
A holiday highlight this year was sharing Christmas Eve day with the Zickler family. I was even able to attend a special afternoon German service (Deutscher Gottesdienst zum Weihnachtsfest) on December 18 at St. Paul Lutheran Church where Pastor Zickler preached his sermon in German, and everyone spoke the liturgy and sang the hymns in German. And, of course, I also got to sing lovely sacred music with the Bethany Lutheran Church choir on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Epiphany.
O Lord, our hearts awaken to know and love You more, in faith to stand unshaken, in spirit to adore, that we, through this world moving, each glimpse of heaven proving, may reap its fullness there. (LSB 402:3)
Your sister in Christ,
Gail Ludvigson
Lutheran Women’s Missionary League
(LWML) News
Ladies’ Guild - “Anything Goes”
• Wednesday, January 11, 2012
• Noon
• Bring a casserole, salad or? to share
Dessert & beverage provide
Remember! Bring your Mite money for Missions!
Project Day
• January 25, 2012
• 9:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Bring a sack lunch
SOCIAL MINISTRY
For the month of January, we will be collecting bath towels for Immanuel Community Services and Compass Cascade Women's Shelter. Please place these items in the lounge basket. They will be very thankful to receive these necessary items.
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