DEVOTION from Lutheran Hour Ministries. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Revelation 6:9-10
"Shadenfreude." (SHOD-n- froy-duh) Shadenfreude is a German word which doesn't have a really good translation. The best I can come up with is rejoicing over someone else's misfortune.
While I can't translate shadenfreude well, I can give you a couple of examples.
* If you've ever watched a slapstick Keystone Kops film and found yourself laughing after someone got a pie in the face or slipped on a banana peel, that was shadenfreude.
* In the Passion narrative of the Savior, we see many of the people gathered around the cross laughing and mocking the Savior. That, too, was shadenfreude.
* Ten years ago, when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were brought down, there were reports of people in some Islamic countries who were rejoicing. Although it made us mad to hear about such a thing, that was shadenfreude.
Last night we heard how a ten-year-manhunt had come to a conclusion during a bloody battle in Pakistan. The final score was Navy Seals 1, bin Laden 0. As a citizen of the U.S., I felt justice had been done, some of my countrymen had been avenged and a terrorist had been stopped.
Shadenfreude.
Then, as a Christian I remembered how those folks from another faith had rejoiced when our people were killed. I remembered how I hadn't liked what they did back then and I figured they wouldn't like what I was doing now.
More importantly, I remembered that bin Laden was a fellow for whom Jesus had died, a fellow who had been and will remain spiritually lost. There was no more shadenfreude.
Am I glad bin Laden is gone? Absolutely. Bringing him to justice was something our nation had to do. But I fear, like the Hydra of Greek mythology, when you cut off one head of the heads of bin Laden's organization of hate, two heads will grow back.
All of this is why my prayer today asks that the Savior who died to destroy sin and Satan will also destroy the escalating violence which is sure to come. May the Prince of Peace grant us peace so the Word may be preached and the lost may meet the Savior.
THE PRAYER: Father in heaven there are times when a nation must take action and do things that are unpleasant. Ten years ago an attack was made against this country and today the individual who masterminded that attack has been brought to justice. Now I pray that even though Islam and Christianity can never agree, our faith will be used by the Holy Spirit to share the Savior with those who are still in the dark. May they come to know that Jesus is their Savior. In His Name. Amen. _________________________________________________________________________________________________YESTERDAY'S QUIZ: What does the word "hallelujah" mean? (We'll keep this up one more day.) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________CATECHISM: (Today we begin anew with question #1 of the question and answer section of the Small Catechism.
Question: Where is God's truth about our Savior Jesus Christ made known?Answer: This truth is made known in the Bible: the Old Tesament, which promises the coming Savior, and the New Testament, which tell is the Savior who has come. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________BIRTHDAYS: Sun- Gus Klaustermeier
Tues- Don Panhorst, Donna Sherman
Thurs- Steve Mauch, Lynn Russell
Fri- Steve McDowell, Linda Neely, Rich Talbert
Sun- Siera Jaeger, Lauren Jones, Robyn McNew, Amber Vossen
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ANNIVERSARIES: none this week
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________CALENDAR:Tues- Quilting 9-2; Bible study 11:30-12:15Wed- nothing (no choir or bell practice)Thurs- Prayer breakfast and service 6:30am breakfast; 7am prayer and worship for the whole community; worship @Joneburg NH 10:30; Alzheimer's Caregiver's support group 1pmFri- nothingSat- worship 5pmSun- MOTHER'S DAY; worship 9am; Sunday school and Bible class 10:30am_______________________________________________________________________________________________________WORSHIP WORKERSProjector- Sat- ?; Sun- SchlesselmannElder- Sat- Linke, Sun- RahnUshers- Heitgerd, Linke, Linke, ?Acolyte- BerrymanLay reader- Sat- Sevier; Sun- BoegerGreeters- SchirrAltar- Setup- Weigle; Clean Up- TurnureOrganist- SieboldTellers- Team #2 ______________________________________________________________________________________NEWS: Still need a projector person for Saturday worship. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ LES SHERMAN PASSED FROM DEATH TO LIFE ETERNAL YESTERDAY (Sunday) MORNINGLes was a wonderful Christian man who, for many years, labored and praised the Lord at St. John's. His memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, May 14. Visitation 11am-12noon; service- noon; luncheon immediately following. Memorial gifts are to be made to St. John's Lutheran Church for the general fund. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER SERVICE "A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD" WILL TAKE PLACE AT ST. JOHN'S on MAY 5!!!
It begins with a wonderful DELUXE continental breakfast at 6:30am.
The Prayer service begins at 7am. It will take about 30-45 minutes.
Bring your whole family before school and work! What a great way to start your day! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________QUESTIONAIRES MAILED TODAYAs most of you know our church is going through a time that we call the CARE process. CARE stands for Congregational Assessment and Renewal. It is a time that we can take a step back and look at things that are going on in our church, assess what is good and bad, work on fixing the bad, reconcile and restore broken relationships, emphasize the good, and grow together as a congregation. We took the first step last night with the congregational meeting, at which Pastor Gene Wyssmann and Ken Wesemann led us through the process and introduced different ways of thinking about our church and also how the process will work. This coming week each communicant member of the church will get a questionnaire/survey in the mail (If there are four communicant members in yoru household you will get four surveys) that is two pages in length and will require your thought and input. It will come with a self addresses and stamped envelope that will get mailed directly to Pastor Wyssmann who will collate all of the information he recieves, discuss it with Pastor Wesemann and President Mirly and then come back to St. John's to give us recommendations on how to move forward. I urge you to complete the survey and send it in. It is vital to the health and growth of the church that you do so. God bless you as you contemplate the questions and answer them thoroughly. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
YOUTH CHOIR TO SING THIS SUNDAY FOR MOTHER"S DAY There will be one more practice this Saturday, May 7 at a time yet to be determined
__________________________________________________________________________________________________YOUTH GROUP TO CLEAN UP HIGHWAY 47 ON MAY 15 DURING AND AFTER SUNDAY SCHOOL TIME.We are planning for all Youth to do Hwy 47 clean-up on Sunday, May 15 (weather permitting). We will meet in the Youth room after the service to have a devotion and then head out. Afterwards we will go to Binkley park and have a picnic lunch. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________OUR MISSION FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL ARE THE RELIEF EFFORTS UNDERWAY IN JAPAN with LCMS World ReliefThe folks in Japan have been dealing with the effects of a very severe earthquake that caused a lot of destruction. We truly need to continue to help them in any way we can. Go to LCMS.org/help to see how you can help. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________PRAYER REQUESTS: (Please reply to this email to have prayer requests posted.) For THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS of LES SHERMAN who are mourning his passing today.
For ROBYN MCNEW'S BROTHER, KEN MEYER, who is somehow, by a miracle, becoming more responsive and even talking.
For VINCE KETTERER'S FATHER who had a massive stroke last night and isn't doing well.
For MARVIN RAHN, Jim Rahn's father, who had brain surgery last week and is still awaiting test results, but is improving.
For LISA RAUSCH'S DAD who continues to recover after falling and breaking a vertebrae. It was a miracle he wasn't paralyzed.
For NORBERT HEITGERD whose cancer has returned and who is going to be starting treatments soon.
For PAT MANNESS, former member of St. John's who is going to have to have hip replacement surgery this Wednesday.
For GERTIE BESSERT, sister of Gene Hilgendorf, who is nearing the end of her life after a long, hard battle against cancer.
For ALAN HOFELDT'S MOTHER who is recovering from digestion problems and is unable to eat.
For MARY SUE TOEDEBUSCH who is having serious problems and pain due to reumatoid arthritis.
For RUTH CANTRELL who is still having problems with her eye and with headaches. THe cause has yet to be identified.
For OUR CHURCH as we begin to deal with our many conflicts and how to best resolve them and reconcile with one another.
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