February 2012
From the Desk of Pastor Lassman
The Journey of Lent
Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ,
On Feb. 22 we begin the Season of Lent with our Ash Wednesday service of imposition of ashes and the Lord’s Supper. Just as the Season of Advent developed in relation to Christmas and the birth of Jesus, so likewise the Season of Lent developed in relation to the death of Jesus on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter. The basic idea of Lent is one of reflection on our sin and our mortality. So it is a time of repentance. This is reflected in our Sunday morning services by the adjustments made in hymns by excluding any hymns that contain the word “alleluia” as well as in the liturgy by omitting the “Hymn of Praise/Gloria in Excelsis” and the “Alleluia” response before the reading of the Gospel. In our last closing hymn for “Transfiguration Sunday”, Feb. 19, we will say “Farewell to Alleluia” and it will not be sung again until Easter as we express our joy in the resurrection of our Lord on April 8.
The Season of Lent begins 40 days before Easter. Forty is a symbolic number in the bible for testing and repentance. The Israelites spent 40 years in the desert as punishment by God for their unbelief and disobedience when they left Egypt. Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness when Satan tempted Him.
The Season of Lent has a long history in the Church. The idea of preparing for Easter through prayer and fasting goes back at least to around 180 AD when the custom is mention by the church father, Irenaeus. By 325 AD the 40 day fast was common. By 550 AD the Season of Lent began on Wednesday instead of Sunday and by 590 AD we have the first mention of “Ash Wednesday” and the beginning of the custom to place ashes on the forehead to remind worshippers of their mortality (“dust you are and to dust you shall return” Gen. 3:19) and their need for repentance and forgiveness. By the year 600 AD “Alleluias” are not used during the Season of Lent and the practice of omitting the “Gloria in Excelsis” (“Hymn of Praise”) started in 1090 AD. The last week of the Lenten Season is called “Holy Week” which begins with “Palm Sunday” (April 1) which was the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the cheers of the crowd and less than one week before his death. The first reference to “Palm Sunday” is 384 AD. The following Thursday is “Maundy Thursday” (April 5), first mentioned in 393 AD. “Maundy” comes from the Latin version of the bible as the Latin word “Mandatum” means “command” as Jesus says in John 13:34 “I give you a new command (mandatum) that you love one another as I have loved you.” On this night of His betrayal Jesus gave His Supper to us for the forgiveness of our sins and on Maundy Thursday we also receive His Supper then the Altar is “stripped” to symbolize the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. The next night is “Good Friday” (April 6), first mentioned in 392 AD, is the day of Jesus’ death for the sins of the world. On this night we have a Tenebrae Service, that is, a Service of Darkness.
This is the most somber and reverent service in the entire Christian Calendar, ending in darkness with all worshippers leaving in silence. What a contrast on “Easter” (April 8), first mentioned in 154 AD, as we celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection from the dead and joyfully sing as many “alleluias” as we can!
You see, then, how ancient these customs are. But they are meaningful only as we understand their purpose: to help us to reflect on our sin and mortality and how Jesus came to give us forgiveness and eternal life. Please join us on Sundays and Wednesdays as we begin this ancient Lenten journey together.
In Christ,
Pastor Lassman
PS. Please see the Wednesday midweek service schedule below and join us before the service at 6:00pm for dinner.
LENTEN SERVICES
6:00 p.m. DINNER
7:00 p.m. VESPERS (LUTHERAN SERVICE BOOK, p. 229)
“THE LORD’S PRAYER”
1) February 22 (Ash Wednesday: impositions of ashes and communion)
OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THY NAME.
2) February 29 THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS HEAVEN.
3) March 7 GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.
4) March 14 FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS
AGAINST US.
5) March 21 LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
6) March 28 FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY
FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN!
From the Office of Pastor Mankin
Greetings in Christ Jesus,
In our ongoing series about important figures of the Bible we are going to look at our
Great x 250 Grandfather.
Noah \NOH-uh\
Current Status: Noah is dry. Finally!
Profile > About
Work and Education: Ship-builder, Zoo-keeper, Vine-grower
Location: Previous: Surrounded by jerks. | Current: Watertown, PA (not really)
Relationship Status: Married to Noah’s Wife
Family: Shem, Ham, and Japheth
Likes: My Three Sons, The Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog, Boating
Dislikes: Soggy Wood, Waterlogged Clothing, Wet Animals, and Ravens
Favorite Quote: “But Dad, our neighbors are starting to look at us funny.” – Shem
There was Noah, just sitting there minding his own business, when God showed up and gave him a job to do. Noah’s reaction like that of almost all of the Biblical figures when God showed up, “You want me to do what?” God had had it with man, and wanted Noah to build an ark and put two of every animal on the face of the earth in it, and a few extra. Then Noah said, “Wait a minute God, this boat is way too big to build in my garage.” (Note to hobbyist: building instructions in Gen. 6:14-16.) So Noah built the ark, and gathered the animals, two by two – and the old kids’ song is wrong, it wasn’t gopher barky, barky, it was the whole tree. Then God sent a flood and it lasted for 40 days and covered all of the earth. This was a global catastrophe unlike the world had or would ever see again.
The account of Noah teaches us a number of things, including: (1) God is not always warm and cuddly, see Flood. (2) That same God can be merciful enough to promise never to do it again, see Rainbow. But the real lesson lies with Noah himself. At the beginning of the account we are told that God chose Noah because he was the only righteous one in his generation. But after the flood it was a different story. The waters had barely receded, and we’re told that Noah, “drank some wine and became drunk” and passed out naked in his tent. This behavior came from the “only one righteous in his generation.” It makes you wonder what his neighbors had been up to before the Flood. As it turns out Noah was a sinner just like us.
Still, despite Noah’s sin, God makes a covenant and offers a promise to Noah: no more, never again – no way, no how. Why does God make such a promise to Noah? Because God is gracious and merciful to sinners, just like he was to Adam and still is to us today.
In Christ,
Pastor Mankin
From the President -
I would like to begin by thanking the Messiah congregation for your support and for approving me as your President for the next two years. I take this as a true honor, and look forward to working with and for you during my term. We have a lot of good things happening at Messiah, and I hope and pray that our momentum will continue over the years to come. I plan to have regular messages in the Messiah newsletter to keep you informed on the happenings at the church.
With that out of the way, I want to say that if there is anything that I or the Executive Board can do to make your worship at Messiah better, please don't hesitate to ask. There are many avenues by which you can get in touch with us (i.e., Sunday worship services, telephone call, email, note in our mailboxes, etc.). For me personally, I can be reached via email at justinbourn@yahoo.com or by cell phone at 206.890.9947.
In Christ,
Justin Bourn
SOCIAL
MINISTRIES
UPDATE
DANKE, MERCI, BEAUCOUP AND GRACIAS These are several ways to say THANK YOU to all who supported the Military Christmas Project. We collected many items and also $615.00 to purchase items and pay for postage. We mailed 10 boxes to a specific person in Iraq. The name and address were provided by the LCMS World Mission Ministry to the Armed Forces. We were assured by the post office that the boxes would arrive by Christmas. God has provided such generous hearts here at Messiah and I know that the people who receive the gifts are most grateful. We do SHARE BECAUSE WE CARE, thanks be to our loving and caring God. -Sue Hewitson
For February, we will be collecting Shampoo, combs and deodorant for Immanuel Lutheran & Women’s Cascade Compass Center. Donations can be left in the upstairs lounge across from the cookie bar. Thank you to everyone who donates!
SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS FOR MARCH
Sunday School’s celebration of Christ’s birth was almost three months ago, and our celebration of His death and resurrection is still months away. Suddenly it is February, how can there be any news from Sunday School? Well, the answer can be found every Sunday beginning at about 9:20 a.m, when the students gather to learn more about the life, times, and love of Jesus.
God has given us dedicated and loving teachers who share all of these things about Jesus, even when it snows. God provides enough teachers to teach the children who come. Please keep these dedicated servants in your prayers.
Most of the time it is so easy for us to get to Sunday school, it takes a little snow to remind us of our mission project, LAMP, the Lutheran Association of Missionary Pilots. They bring the word of God to native children, who live in remote villages in Washington, Canada, and Alaska. It is difficult for us to imagine the joy in the parent’s heart when the plane or ship arrives at the village with the word of God for their children. Our students offerings help pay for this wonderful gift and gives us an opportunity to teach them about missions.
INFORMATION FROM HERE & THERE…….
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. For more information, please read the article posted upstairs next to the Flower Chart.
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.
March Messenger Deadline is February 19 .
All Prayer Tree members (and interested others) are invited to the annual Prayer Tree Luncheon. Join us for a delicious meal, devotions and a brief business meeting.
When: Sunday, February 26 at noon
Where: The Fellowship Hall
Please bring your Prayer Tree Ministry notebook.
RSVP to Stephanie Colbert:
Men's Night Out – Heading north to Scott’s Bar & Grill on February 6 at 6:00 p.m. Please RSVP to Brian Danforth.
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.
Mary Martha will be meeting on February 6, 7:00 p.m. in the choir room. Topic is the Study of John led by Kathy Lassman. Please join us!
Have you seen the new artwork in the Sanctuary? The new Peace Dove stained glass in the front window on the baptismal side was crafted by Bev Edmon.
The Altar Guild will be having their next meeting on Monday, February 13 at 7:00 p.m.
Ensemble becomes an "Orchestra"
Twenty instrumentalists participated in the Christmas Eve worship service. For most of the congregation, it was the first time they saw the musicians playing as a "pit orchestra". Before the service, the Brass Quartet played Salvation Army Band style at the front entrance to church. This is a great way to announce to the community that we are celebrating our Savior's birth and a nice welcome to anyone arriving for the service. Guest ensemble members and the brass quartet joined our current ensemble members to play pre-service Christmas carols and the processional hymn "O Come, All Ye Faithful". During the Offering, the current ensemble members played a lively version of "Jeanette, Isabella". Guest members joined us for the candlelight congregational singing of "Silent Night". The addition of the brass quartet to the ensemble added a kick to the recessional "Joy to the World".
Thank you for adding beauty and joy to our Christmas Eve celebration!
2011-2012 Ensemble members-
Violins: Delores Cohrs, Heidi Witt, Eric Brod, Rebecca Cohrs, Elizabeth Cohrs
Flutes: Pat Rodeman and Jill Cohrs
Cellos: Ann Melvin, Grace Brod, Stephanie Colbert
Tenor Sax: John Viets
Piano and director: Bev Edmon
Guests-
Michael Cohrs- cello
Briannan Mandrell- flute
Laura Estergreen- violin
Rachelle Byarlay- violin
Brass Quartet-
Paul Edmon- tuba
Andrea Neubert- trombone
Tim Edmon- baritone
Andrew Melvin- trumpet
Messiah's Ensemble plays once a month and practices one evening per week. The winter/spring schedule is a little different due to Lent and Easter services. Contact Bev Edmon if you would like more information. We would love to have you join us.
CONCORDIA
LUTHERAN SCHOOL
Save the Date
Concordia Lutheran School’s
Annual Auction Saturday,
March 31, 2012
Basket theme for February: “Pasta Mania”
Continuing this month we have a monthly auction basket. We are asking our school families and friends to help fill it with donations! We depend on donations from our school and church families to make our auction successful.
Let’s get started! The first week in February, our basket theme is “Pasta Mania.” This week we would like to collect pasta bowls, spaghetti forks and colanders. Please take a tag from the display, complete the requested info on the tag, purchase the suggested item (or anything that fits with the theme), and then return the item to the school with the completed tag attached. Please donate NEW items. Donations may be left at the auction display in downstairs outside the Fellowship Hall.
Ticket reservation forms can now be found on the display board. Get your tickets soon!
Be Creative this Valentine’s Day
Stressed? Yikes! It is almost Valentine’s Day already.
Looking for a new and different way to show your spouse the depth of your love and devotion? What better than the gift of yourself – a weekend away where you can discover anew just how much your love means to each other. Inside your card, include a weekend reservation to a Marriage Encounter weekend. You will have plenty of time together in private to explore your feelings for each other and also to reminisce, dream, and plan your future together.
For more information or to apply for weekend attendance, visit the Lutheran Marriage Encounter web site www.GodLovesMarriage.org or contact:
Carl & Dallas Anne Presley,
206-522-6840, carl.presley@comcast.net
Lutheran Marriage Encounter
Winter - Spring 2012 dates
March 2-4 in Federal Way, WA
May 4-6 in Federal Way, WA
Dear Friends at Messiah,
Many greetings from the other side of the world, from Azerbaijan, and blessings to all for the New Year. I have now completed my training, and received my permanent assignment at the Mingechavir University branch of the Azerbaijan Teacher's Training Institute. It is a wonderful assignment, and I am happily situated in a pleasant town, built following WWII by Germans, and located approximately in the middle of this small country in the Caucasus Mountains. I have been very well-received by everyone here, and that is one of the blessings to me of serving in the Peace Corps--these human connections. But there are disadvantages as well, among them frequent power-outages, loss of heat and electricity--things we take so much for granted. I follow the example of the resourceful people around me and manage well. Of course, a major disadvantage personally is that this is not a Christian country, having been traditionally Muslim and also having been part of the former Communist Soviet Union. There is, however, the Church of Our Savior, a German Lutheran congregation in Baku, the capital of the country.
On the morning of Christmas Eve, I got up early and took the cramped five-hour marshrutka ride into Baku, in order to be there in time for the four o'clock service. I have heard missionaries in other parts of the world describe those Christians who would travel great distances to worship--something we also perhaps take for granted. I know now what they mean! The service was splendid, with the singing of many favorite Christmas hymns in German (and Russian, the language frequently spoken in Baku), and the sermon delivered by a visiting pastor from Germany. An interesting part of the service was the children's Christmas pageant, complete with costumes, but performed (in Russian, with songs in German) by school-children from a local school, where one of the members of the congregation teaches. I sat next to a woman whose son was a shepherd. None of these parents nor their children performing in the pageant are Christian, so I thought this was a unique outreach of this congregation.
After the service, the congregation gathered for a German/Russian Christmas Eve party, complete with many good things to eat and drink, plus door-prizes! (I won a bar of soap) Everyone was also given a calendar for the New Year. I made friends with a woman who is a German teacher in Baku. She is also in charge of the congregation's participation in World Day of Prayer in March, and she would like for me to return to Baku for that. That may not be possible, but I do have plans to return for Easter, and a Peace Corps friend who is serving with me in Mingechavir plans to accompany me then. I feel very blessed to have made these connections, and I will try to send along some photos of the church and the Christmas pageant.
Many good wishes and blessings to all in the New Year.
Mary Branom, fellow member of Messiah
United States Peace Corps, Azerbaijan
ORGAN FUND
Our current electronic organ is over 45 year old. Although the electronics in it were rebuilt in 1989, the organ is 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 last November. 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.
A Valentine Gathering
Sunday February 12, 2012
1:30- 3:30 PM
Join friends of LMSN for a time of celebration,
fellowship, fun, and a potluck!
Pilgrim Lutheran Church
10420 SE 11th Street Bellevue
Bring a hot dish, dessert, or salad to share.
Coffee, tea, & punch will be provided.
As we gather...
A Short Business Meeting
*Chaplain Arthur Werzner will update us on the chaplaincy ministry within our local hospitals.
*Deaconess Charlene Rhoades-Koenigs will share the gifts of our Care Center ministry.
*Carol Bonomini will provide us with news of our devoted LMSN volunteers.
A Trivia Game-with prizes.
Everyone is welcome!
Lutheran Women’s Missionary League
(LWML) News
Ladies’ Guild - “Valentine’s Day”
• Wednesday, February 8, 2012
• Noon
• “Anything Goes” Bring a casserole, salad or?? to share
• Dessert & beverage provide
Remember! Bring your Mite money for Missions!
Project Day
• February 22, 2012
• 9:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Bring a sack lunch
• Need more information? Call Irma Guthrie
Olympic Zone LWML
• Shrove Tuesday Prayer Service
• February 18, 2012
• 11:00 a.m.
• Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 22nd & Union, Seattle
• No Registration Fee
• The “sandwich Smorgasbord” Luncheon to follow the service.
• Bring 1 sandwich to share
• Theme: P.R.A.Y.E.R. (Praise, Remember, Ask, Yield, Excitement, Rejoice)
Please see the article below about the service and the author.
LWML District News
• The Convention is COMING!
• Mark your calendars! June 22-24, 2012
• Olympic, WA
• More information will follow in the Messenger next month.
P.R.A.Y.E.R.
LWML Prayer Service 2012
Based on the acronym P.R.A.Y.E.R. –Praise, Remember, Ask, Yield, Excitement, Rejoice – the 2012 LWML Prayer Service prompts the participants to remember that God does not speak to His children in prayer. Rather, His children speak to God, assured that He readily speaks to them in His Word and in the Sacraments, as the Holy Spirit gives His divine counsel through very clear direction or sometimes His “nudging.”
This service, filled with responsive reading and joyful hymn suggestions, is authored by Rev. Barrie E. Henke, President of the Oklahoma District of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, who also serves as Senior Pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. He has served congregations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma, and also served as the Oklahoma District LWML Pastoral Counselor from 2004-2010.
The 2012 LWML Prayer Service is available online at no charge. Download it now at the LWML website at www.lwml.org or contact the LWML Office at 800.252.LWML (5965).
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