Everyone is invited to join us for
Breakfast at Rothschilds
Saturday,
August 10th - at 8:30
then following breakfast
we'll be working together to
clean up in and around the church.
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Monday, August 5, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
In Boston, Lutherans offer comfort in wake of horror
on April 24, 2013 from Reporter Online
By Paula Schlueter Ross
The Rev. Ingo Dutzmann, pastor of First Lutheran Church in Boston, chokes up when he talks about those who were bloodied and maimed in the April 15 bombings, just four blocks from the church.
“To me, they’re all ‘we’ — we’re in this together,” he says. Exhausted after an emotionally draining week, he’s trying to live up to the “Boston Strong” motto, but points to the injured as the real heroes.
There’s the woman “who thought she would lose her leg,” the wounds
were so bad, but she didn’t. Dutzmann and two Lutheran Church Charities
“Comfort Dogs,” with their handlers, were in her hospital room when she
took “her first steps” since the horrific blasts.
The dog handlers — who often are called to scenes of pain and destruction — said seeing the young woman walk “was the best day of their lives,” according to the pastor. All were teary-eyed, he said, thankful to God for the woman’s good prognosis.
There’s the man who lost both legs, “who woke up [in the hospital] and he was so happy that he’d lost his legs because he’d thought that he’d died,” recalled Dutzmann. Even as a double amputee, that injured marathon runner is embracing life, the pastor notes.
Dutzmann also recalled the positive spirits of a young, newly married couple — each lost a leg and are recuperating in separate hospitals.
All in all, he’s ministered to probably a dozen or more bombing victims in four area hospitals.
The back-to-back homemade bombs killed three people and injured more than 170. With one suspect dead and the other in custody, Boston residents are relieved, but the pain is still there, notes the Rev. Dr. Carlos Hernandez, director of Church and Community Engagement with the LCMS Office of National Mission.
Two days after the bombings, Hernandez and LCMS New England District President Rev. Timothy Yeadon were there, talking and praying with people who stopped by First Lutheran Church, a church that “will never be the same again,” according to Hernandez. “It is now known nationally and internationally as a place of comfort in times of crisis.”
Still, “families, singles, students living around First will continue to struggle to understand the meaning of this evil and ask, ‘Are we safe here? Could this happen again? Why [is there] evil alongside a caring God?,’ ” Hernandez muses.
With four local pastors present, the LCMS church opened its doors within three hours of the 2:50 p.m. bombings and stayed open from 7 a.m. to midnight for five days afterward. Five Comfort Dogs arrived the evening after the blasts and stayed “on duty” — for bombing victims and Boston residents as well as emergency and healthcare personnel — at the church, on the street and in area hospitals through Sunday, April 21. During the stressful week, Dutzmann was often out on the sidewalk in front of the church, inviting strangers inside for free coffee and snacks, conversation and prayers.
On Wednesday, April 17, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, delivered to the church 240 copies of a special edition of Portals of Prayer that addresses the question “Where Is God Now?” The booklets include 60 “hope-inspired devotions” written especially for those affected by disasters, along with a list of resources. Almost all of the copies have been distributed to “very receptive” people, according to Elaine Laaser, parish administrator at First Lutheran.
Also in CPH’s package of grief-support materials were 20 copies of Strength for the Day,
a resource for pastors that’s designed to help them deal with life
challenges such as stress, illness, fatigue, loss and anxiety.
“Our hearts were broken by the news of the bombings and we immediately wanted to help,” said Amanda Christie, senior manager of Corporate Communications and Publicity for CPH. “We have the good fortune of sharing God’s Word with the world. But sometimes it’s our own member congregations who need His Word most.”
Located downtown, First Lutheran Church was well-placed to reach many people, noted Laaser. “On an average day, especially with the Comfort Dogs there, we saw anywhere from 300 to 400 people,” she told Reporter. The dogs were a real asset, she said, because people “didn’t want to talk about it”: They just wanted to pet the dogs and feel like everything was going to be OK.
Even on Friday, April 19, the day Boston authorities asked everyone to stay inside because the second suspect was still at-large, Laaser took a call from a student at Emerson College who wanted to know if the church was open and the dogs were there. The students — about 150 in all — walked more than a mile from the college to the church in groups of 20 beginning at about 10 a.m. They were away from home and scared, Laaser said, and “they would put their heads on these dogs and just cry.” Many also prayed with Dutzmann.
That ministry of First Lutheran Church — and other ways LCMS Lutherans have responded to the marathon bombings — were simply “a desire to share the love of Jesus,” explained New England District President Yeadon. In an interview with Reporter on Friday, April 19, Yeadon said, “I have personally seen the darkness this week, but I have personally seen the light of Jesus shine! The darkness cannot overcome that!”
Yeadon calls Dutzmann “a true saint” who “shows the love of Jesus to all — church member or not.” Even though the Boston pastor “is tired and worn and it may show … you will be amazed at his love of Christ and his zeal, even now.”
Although Yeadon was unable to attend a special marathon-memorial
worship service April 21 at First Lutheran Church, he sent a letter to
the congregation that was read by former New England District President
Rev. James Keurulainen. (An earlier service planned for Friday, April
19, was cancelled because of that day’s citywide lockdown.)
“With Jesus on the cross, we can ask of our heavenly Father, in light of last week’s events, ‘My God, My God … why?’ But with Jesus, we end that conversation with our heavenly Father with the words, ‘ Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit,’ ” Yeadon wrote.
“Even without total understanding, we can, with His help, place ourselves into His hands once nailed to the cross for us all. We remember that which connects it all, His words of ‘Father, forgive them,’ and we know that in this broken world with terror and unexplainable tragedies that the love of our God shines in the darkness — and the darkness will not overcome it.”
On Tuesday, April 16 — the day after the bombings — LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison released a prayer and a statement asking for “blessings for the injured and strength for the bereaved” as well as for doctors, emergency workers and city, state and federal officials “as they face this evil in dedicated service.”
Said Harrison: “Like the death of our Lord Christ Himself, we pray that, even in this dark hour, the sacrifice and pain of those affected will not be in vain, but redound in good as yet unseen.”
He also shared from 2 Cor. 1:3-5, “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too.”
According to Laaser, some 30 nonmembers — including about 18 college students — were among some 230 people who attended First Lutheran’s two services on April 21. The congregation is planning a second memorial service, she said, and wants people to know “We’re here to pray with you, we’re here to talk to you.”
Dutzmann is considering making one or two Comfort Dogs a permanent part of the congregation’s ministry.
One of Laaser’s lasting memories, she said, is of seeing her pastor out on the church sidewalk, encouraging passersby to “come on in.” Even though there are many Christian churches in the area, Dutzmann was “the only [pastor] I saw out there, actually standing on the sidewalk.”
Laaser said the whole week-long ordeal was wrenching and exhausting, but, at the same time, she added, “I was just so honored and proud to be a Lutheran.”
The Rev. Ingo Dutzmann, pastor of First Lutheran Church in Boston, chokes up when he talks about those who were bloodied and maimed in the April 15 bombings, just four blocks from the church.
“To me, they’re all ‘we’ — we’re in this together,” he says. Exhausted after an emotionally draining week, he’s trying to live up to the “Boston Strong” motto, but points to the injured as the real heroes.
 |
| The Rev. Ingo Dutzmann, left, pastor of First Lutheran Church in Boston, and Lutheran Church Charities (LCC) staff member Rich Martin return from a walk to the bombing scene on Boylston Street with LCC Comfort Dogs “Luther” and “Maggie.” (Lutheran Church Charities) |
The dog handlers — who often are called to scenes of pain and destruction — said seeing the young woman walk “was the best day of their lives,” according to the pastor. All were teary-eyed, he said, thankful to God for the woman’s good prognosis.
There’s the man who lost both legs, “who woke up [in the hospital] and he was so happy that he’d lost his legs because he’d thought that he’d died,” recalled Dutzmann. Even as a double amputee, that injured marathon runner is embracing life, the pastor notes.
Dutzmann also recalled the positive spirits of a young, newly married couple — each lost a leg and are recuperating in separate hospitals.
All in all, he’s ministered to probably a dozen or more bombing victims in four area hospitals.
The back-to-back homemade bombs killed three people and injured more than 170. With one suspect dead and the other in custody, Boston residents are relieved, but the pain is still there, notes the Rev. Dr. Carlos Hernandez, director of Church and Community Engagement with the LCMS Office of National Mission.
Two days after the bombings, Hernandez and LCMS New England District President Rev. Timothy Yeadon were there, talking and praying with people who stopped by First Lutheran Church, a church that “will never be the same again,” according to Hernandez. “It is now known nationally and internationally as a place of comfort in times of crisis.”
Still, “families, singles, students living around First will continue to struggle to understand the meaning of this evil and ask, ‘Are we safe here? Could this happen again? Why [is there] evil alongside a caring God?,’ ” Hernandez muses.
With four local pastors present, the LCMS church opened its doors within three hours of the 2:50 p.m. bombings and stayed open from 7 a.m. to midnight for five days afterward. Five Comfort Dogs arrived the evening after the blasts and stayed “on duty” — for bombing victims and Boston residents as well as emergency and healthcare personnel — at the church, on the street and in area hospitals through Sunday, April 21. During the stressful week, Dutzmann was often out on the sidewalk in front of the church, inviting strangers inside for free coffee and snacks, conversation and prayers.
On Wednesday, April 17, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, delivered to the church 240 copies of a special edition of Portals of Prayer that addresses the question “Where Is God Now?” The booklets include 60 “hope-inspired devotions” written especially for those affected by disasters, along with a list of resources. Almost all of the copies have been distributed to “very receptive” people, according to Elaine Laaser, parish administrator at First Lutheran.
 |
| A memorial on Boston’s Boylston Street honors the memory of those who were killed and injured in the April 15 marathon bombings. (Lutheran Church Charities) |
“Our hearts were broken by the news of the bombings and we immediately wanted to help,” said Amanda Christie, senior manager of Corporate Communications and Publicity for CPH. “We have the good fortune of sharing God’s Word with the world. But sometimes it’s our own member congregations who need His Word most.”
Located downtown, First Lutheran Church was well-placed to reach many people, noted Laaser. “On an average day, especially with the Comfort Dogs there, we saw anywhere from 300 to 400 people,” she told Reporter. The dogs were a real asset, she said, because people “didn’t want to talk about it”: They just wanted to pet the dogs and feel like everything was going to be OK.
Even on Friday, April 19, the day Boston authorities asked everyone to stay inside because the second suspect was still at-large, Laaser took a call from a student at Emerson College who wanted to know if the church was open and the dogs were there. The students — about 150 in all — walked more than a mile from the college to the church in groups of 20 beginning at about 10 a.m. They were away from home and scared, Laaser said, and “they would put their heads on these dogs and just cry.” Many also prayed with Dutzmann.
That ministry of First Lutheran Church — and other ways LCMS Lutherans have responded to the marathon bombings — were simply “a desire to share the love of Jesus,” explained New England District President Yeadon. In an interview with Reporter on Friday, April 19, Yeadon said, “I have personally seen the darkness this week, but I have personally seen the light of Jesus shine! The darkness cannot overcome that!”
Yeadon calls Dutzmann “a true saint” who “shows the love of Jesus to all — church member or not.” Even though the Boston pastor “is tired and worn and it may show … you will be amazed at his love of Christ and his zeal, even now.”
 |
| Students from Emerson College in Boston pet “Addie,” a Comfort Dog, in the courtyard of First Lutheran Church, Boston. The five dogs that spent a week at the church were a real asset, according to a spokesman, because people “didn’t want to talk about” the bombings: They just wanted to pet the dogs and feel like everything was going to be OK. (Lutheran Church Charities) |
“With Jesus on the cross, we can ask of our heavenly Father, in light of last week’s events, ‘My God, My God … why?’ But with Jesus, we end that conversation with our heavenly Father with the words, ‘ Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit,’ ” Yeadon wrote.
“Even without total understanding, we can, with His help, place ourselves into His hands once nailed to the cross for us all. We remember that which connects it all, His words of ‘Father, forgive them,’ and we know that in this broken world with terror and unexplainable tragedies that the love of our God shines in the darkness — and the darkness will not overcome it.”
On Tuesday, April 16 — the day after the bombings — LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison released a prayer and a statement asking for “blessings for the injured and strength for the bereaved” as well as for doctors, emergency workers and city, state and federal officials “as they face this evil in dedicated service.”
Said Harrison: “Like the death of our Lord Christ Himself, we pray that, even in this dark hour, the sacrifice and pain of those affected will not be in vain, but redound in good as yet unseen.”
He also shared from 2 Cor. 1:3-5, “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too.”
According to Laaser, some 30 nonmembers — including about 18 college students — were among some 230 people who attended First Lutheran’s two services on April 21. The congregation is planning a second memorial service, she said, and wants people to know “We’re here to pray with you, we’re here to talk to you.”
Dutzmann is considering making one or two Comfort Dogs a permanent part of the congregation’s ministry.
One of Laaser’s lasting memories, she said, is of seeing her pastor out on the church sidewalk, encouraging passersby to “come on in.” Even though there are many Christian churches in the area, Dutzmann was “the only [pastor] I saw out there, actually standing on the sidewalk.”
Laaser said the whole week-long ordeal was wrenching and exhausting, but, at the same time, she added, “I was just so honored and proud to be a Lutheran.”
Monday, July 25, 2011
Pastor Sell on the Radio: The Language of Christ's Church
 |
| Listen at any time. Go to issuesetc.org |
On the 3:30 segment, Pr. Sell was interviewed by Todd Wilken about the language of Christ's church. God purposley chooses to communicate with the world through words. His words are revealed to us in the Spirit empowered Scriptures. His words are holy. They have the power to do what they say they do.
God's Holy Word cuts across all of history and penetrates every culture in which they are spoken, regardless of what language is used. The holy Christian Church takes words very seriously because they are salvation, they are God's holy law and life-giving gospel. They are the only thing the church has and in them, they bring the very presence of God in baptism and the Lord's Supper. God's language creates a rhythm of life that brings us to repentance and forgives our sins. The rhythm of God's words are best experienced in the life of the church as she is gathered around God's Word and the Sacramental Life.
You can listen to Pr. Sell's interview here.
Issues, Etc. is a radio talk show hosted by LCMS Pastor Todd Wilken and produced by Lutheran Public Radio. You can listen to in-depth teachings on subjects like: New Atheism, Jesus’ Journey to Jerusalem, Lutheran Martyr Robert Barnes, Joseph of Arimathea and more. You can listen LIVE weekdays from 4-5 p.m. on KSIV, 1320 AM in St. Louis. You can also listen on-demand at http://www.issuesetc.org/.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Faith Installs Pastor Sell - Sunday May 15 - 10:30 a.m.
May 15, Faith will install Pastor Mark E. Sell as her called and ordained pastor. Pastor Sell has served as Faith's vacancy pastor since November of 2010. We are excited about the Lord's work through Faith's members and Pastor Sell.
The installation will take place during our regular service at 10:30 a.m.
Pastor Scot Kinnaman (Sr. Editor, CPH) will serve as the liturgist. Pastor Kinnaman served with Pastor Sell at CPH and St. Luke in Clinton Twp. MI.
Pastor Matthew Harrison (Assoc. Pastor of Village Lutheran Church and president of the LCMS) will preach. Pastors Harrison and Sell attended the seminary together in the 1980's.
We celebrate this event of Faith with a congregational meal immediately after the service.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Spaghetti Dinner - Benevolence in Mercy - $600+ Raised
Over $600 was raised to add to our Benevolence in Mercy fund.
"The one who does acts of mercy, does so with cheerfulness." |
| Acts of Mercy |
Our Benevolence in Mercy is governed by the Elders of our church. Faith uses our gifts to provide food, shelter, and other individual needs. Cash is NEVER given out.
"...so we, though many, are one body in Christ, ... Having gifts that differ according to the grace given us... if service, in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching;... the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness (Romans 12:5-8)."Suggested Donations
- Children 4 and under Free!
- 5-11 yrs. old $4
- 12 and up $7
A Story of Mercy $500 before Christmas
How the Lord Cares for People
It was a week before Christmas and there was a message left on the Church's phone. "I'd like to give $500 to Faith to help someone in need." Benevolence in Mercy went into action. The caller hoped that the gift would help someone in time for Christmas.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Faith's Organ Fund - Opus 220
Thank You! Thank You!
Money Raised in 2 Sundays!
Organ Fund
Money Raised in 2 Sundays!
Organ Fund
Johannus Opus 220
Former organist, Karen Rabe, is offering her personal organ to Faith for $500. Our current organ is broken (no foot pedals). The organ is currently in our neighborhood and would be easy to move to our church.
Good news! We are half way there already! Donations of $250 were committed last week.
We need $250 more.
$500 Price
-Over $700 Raised
$00 Needed.
$00 Needed.
Details on the organ, Johannus Opus 220
How to donate?
Make check out to:
Faith Lutheran Church
Memo: Organ Fund
Friday, January 7, 2011
An Epiphany Message from Pastor Harrison
Blessed Epiphany and New Year from President Harrison from VimeoLCMS on Vimeo.
LCMS President Rev. Matthew Harrison reminds us that no matter what challenges the new year brings, we can look ahead with one certainty – Jesus came for us!
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