Read Matthew 6:25-34
We live in a world filled with expectations. Children are expected to do well in school. College graduates expect to embark on a high paying career. Investors expect their portfolio will pay huge dividends. Life is filled with expectations, some are met, many others are not. God also has expectations. He expects that humanity will obey His law. God expects His people will love Him and love their neighbor. And God expects us to share our faith and bear fruit for his kingdom.
It seems there is a wide gap between God’s expectations and ours. People tend to live for themselves more than for God. We strive to be self-sufficient, personally secure and financially independent. Yet, in the end, our sense of expectation is replaced with worry. Why? The answer is obvious. Our expectations don’t match God’s.
Jesus teaches us that God graciously provides everything we need to live a fruitful and abundant life. Even as God cares for the plants and animals, how much more will God care for those created in his image and likeness? The truth is God provides for all people, even sinners who do no believe in Him, everything that is needed to sustain life in this world. In return, God expects to be acknowledged for it. In our thankfulness, we realize the tremendous blessing it is to be called “Child of God. We are to give God our thanks and praise in all Circumstances, and in our times of want God expects that we will seek his kingdom first above all things.
Prayer: Holy God, help us live according to your expectations, and grant me forgiveness when I fall short. Amen.
Archive for January, 2023
Pastoral Devotion for February – Seek God’s Kingdom
Posted January 30, 2023 By adminLutheran Men Sausage Fundraiser
Posted January 30, 2023 By adminIt’s that time of year, time for our Lutheran Men to prepare their delicious homemade pork sausage. The men will be taking orders for bulk sausage available at $5.00 per pound. Just see one of the Lutheran Men to place your order. Orders may be made through Sunday, February 12th. Those who purchase sausage may pick their order up on Monday, February 20th from 3:00PM—5:00PM.
Council Briefs for January 2022
Posted January 30, 2023 By adminCouncil Briefs for January Meeting Good Things at St. Jacobs in December:
Good Food and Attendance at Christmas Dinner
Church was beautifully decorated for Advent and Christmas Season
• Worship and Music Team will purchase new paraments and/or altar cloths with contributions from holiday giving and memorial funds.
• Council agreed to move forward with Fresh Eyes for Summit meeting.
• Tommy Faulk elected as Vice Chairman and Brenda Smith will continue to serve as Secretary.
• Time and Talent Sheet responses are being compiled.
• Council agreed to discuss timing of Christmas Eve Service for next year, perhaps moving it to an earlier time.
• Council has agreed to pursue purchasing new pew cushions for the church. Before proceeding, Council will look into other property needs at the church and office building. A committee was assigned to address this. Any suggestions will be coordinated with Property Chairman as needed.
2023 Tithing Envelopes
Posted January 30, 2023 By adminTithing envelopes for 2023 will be available in the narthex until February 12. Please make plans to oick up your envelopes and those for any other family member or neighbor who may be unable to ger to he church.
After worship on February 12, envelopes will be removed from the narthex and you will need to contact Robin to make arrangements to get your envelopes.
If you didn’t see a box for you or your family, please contact Robin and a set will be assigned to you.
January Needs at WE CARE
Posted January 23, 2023 By adminThe following is a list of the most needed items for We Care of Chapin: Items needed for the month:
Laundry detergent,
Dish Detergent,
Bar Soap,
Shampoo,
Conditioner,
Razors,
Shaving Cream,
Toothbrushes/toothpaste,
Cleaning Supplies and paper products.
We Care ALWAYS needs plastic grocery bags.
Community Service
Posted January 20, 2023 By adminAs a service to our neighbors, St. Jacob’s offers the use of our Fellowship Hall, and occasionally the church office building to civic groups in our community. Currently we have two groups devoted to the care of those who struggle against affliction.
The Chapin area AA group meets in the Fellowship Hall every week on Monday and Friday at 7:30PM. They are very grateful for the use of St. Jacob’s facilities and have been a wonderful addition to our outreach into the community.
The Courage Center meets in our Fellowship Hall each week on Thursday evening at 7:00PM. The Courage Center supports families whose lives have been disrupted by substance misuse or addiction.
Please remember to consult the church calendar when scheduling events held in the Fellowship Hall. We want to be accommodating to our neighbors in needs, just as our Lord is compassionate and accommodating in our need.
Christmas in Congo
Posted January 18, 2023 By adminThanks to donations from St. Jacob’s Lutheran Church, and other congregations in North and South Carolina, Congo Mission International received $1,100 to provide Christmas meals for orphaned children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These meals are to be served to nearly 1,000 children between the dates of December 25th and January 1st. Three local congregations in three different provinces will serve as host congregations for these meals.
Though the need in Congo to feed hungry children is ongoing, these donations came at a time they were desperately needed. There were heavy rains on December 12 and 13 in Kinshasa. These rains caused flooding throughout the city. The flooding claimed more than one hundred human lives and a lot of other casualties including the loss of much of the food supply that usually comes to Kinshasa from Bas-Congo (another region we serve during our mission trips). The Christmas meals will bring much joy to many children and their families.
Thank you for your ongoing support of the Congo Mission. Through St. Jacob’s hundreds and hundreds of children are fed hot, nourishing meals that they otherwise would not receive. Below is a snapshot of some of the work St. Jacob’s has helped to accomplish in 2022.
Teaching: Approximately 1,000 individuals were reached including: Pastors, Women’s groups Youth groups, groups of pastors and lay leaders.
Freeing Babies: 46 babies were freed in three clinics in Mbuji-Mayi (Kasai-Oriental). The babies also received clothes, hats, diapers, blankets, etc.
Feeding Children: Approximately 600 children received nourishing meals each week for the four week duration of the mission trip.
Bibles: over 200 Bibles in various languages were distributed to congregations in Kinshasa and Kasai-Oriental.
Eyeglasses: More than 200 pairs of eyeglasses were distributed to persons in need.
From the Pastor’s Heart
Posted January 15, 2023 By adminSo who among our church family has made, or plans to make a New Year’s resolution? Resolutions are great if you keep them. But what happens so often
is that New Year’s resolutions last for about a week before they are broken. By the second week, most resolutions simply amount to wishful thinking. And finally, by the end of the first month, New Year’s resolutions in many cases are all but forgotten. Why is it that so many people have such difficulty keeping their
resolutions?
The reasons we make New Year’s resolutions are varied. There are those who make resolutions in order to live a healthier lifestyle. They resolve to lose weight, exercise more, quit smoking, eat healthier foods, and eat less junk food. You get the idea. Throughout my life I have made and broken more of these resolutions than I could shake a stick at. I have never been any good at keeping this sort of New Year
promise to myself.
Other people look past their physical lifestyle and make New Year’s resolutions that might help them in their spiritual journey. Through the years, I have also joined others in making such resolutions. Many folks resolve to develop better faith habits; attend worship each week, pray every day, read the Bible, or attend Sunday school. All of these are great resolutions but, just like the ones that pertain to physical lifestyle, resolutions regarding faith require discipline if one is truly going to keep them. Heading into the New Year, congregations are much like people in that they recognize that some changes might be needed in order to remain healthy.
Especially following the previous two years that were greatly impacted by the pandemic, it may be a good time for St. Jacob’s to make a congregational
resolution. Certainly, we can all look around and notice that we are not the same church we were heading into the pandemic. But by God’s grace, we have come
through the COVID crisis and have the opportunity to renew our ministry with enthusiasm. So, how can we accomplish this? Well, by following through on a few
commitments (I won’t call them resolutions) to grow in our relationship with Christ, and with one another.
Commitment #1 – I hope that St. Jacob’s would commit to becoming a congregation filled with people who are committed to daily prayer. So many churches have what they call their “Prayer Warriors.” We could do that. We could commit to daily prayer
either together as a group, or as individuals and families. In 2023, let’s be intentional in praying for our church. I will make sure the church is open each Monday from 12:00PM – 5:30PM, beginning on January 9th, for anyone who would like to come
in and pray for St. Jacob’s. Let’s pray in confidence for God’s blessing upon us, that we would become a congregation that invites and welcomes others into our midst. And once they are here, incorporate them into our daily life as beloved people of God.
Commitment #2 – I pray that, as a church family, we will experience a greater commitment to weekly worship. If you are reading this article but have not been regularly active in your worship here at St. Jacob’s, I invite you to begin developing
the healthy habit of worshiping God each week and receiving the life-giving Sacrament of Holy Communion. There truly is no better time than the beginning of a new year to renew or refresh your spiritual life through worship and prayer.
Commitment #3 – And finally, I pray that St. Jacob’s would become known to the community as a congregation that enjoys robust and vibrant fellowship with one another. Especially following the pandemic years, seeing the Fellowship Hall
filled with people is a joyous blessing. We have begun making some strides towards this commitment, and everyone I have spoken with about it agrees, we need to be a church family in fellowship with one another, enjoying our life together.
These are but a few items that I believe will help us to rekindle the flames of a dynamic faith following two difficult years. Yes, they were difficult, but they were not so difficult that we cannot grow more spiritually and faithfully healthy. Please make these commitments with me, and pray that God will bless us with His assurance as we grow together in faith, hope, and love.
Grace to you and peace,
Pastor David Nuottila
Pastoral Devotion for December – Faithful and True
Posted January 11, 2023 By adminRead Revelation 19:11-16
If you were asked to describe Jesus how would you? What physical attributes could you mention? John takes up the task in the nineteenth chapter of Revelation. I would imagine, however, that our descriptions of Jesus would likely fall seriously short of John’s. Who among us could capture the true essence of Christ better than John?
Christians are one week removed from celebrating the Nativity of Our Lord. This
celebration lends itself to peaceful images of shepherds, angels and a baby lying in a manger. Yet, the power and purpose of this child is more accurately captured in John’s vision of the one sitting atop of a white horse whose name is Faithful and True.
He commands armies of angels. From his mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword which cuts down evil and rules the nations with a rod of iron. His
name? The Word of the Lord.
Our Lord Jesus, God’s Word made flesh remains faithful and true. Christ is the same
yesterday, today and always. He is Lord and Savior. He came to save we who are neither faithful nor true. His mercy is revealed through the truth of his Word and his grace is sufficient in every circumstance.
Turn to the Lord. Call upon his name and receive the free gift of salvation through the one who is Faithful and True, for He is King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Prayer: Most holy God, keep us in faith, that we would be ever thankful for your mercy and grace.
Amen.
The NALC Fresh Eyes For Mission Summit
Posted January 11, 2023 By adminMany congregations struggle with decline in attendance and income, transitioning neighborhood and context, lack of coherent and appropriate vision for mission. Time and time again congregational leaders make efforts to re-tool and re-shape the congregation’s life and ministry, only to find resistance to change, lack of commitment and little positive result. One of the challenges to renewal and reformation is our closeness to our congregation’s history, culture and current practices. As with any family system, we can be so involved that we are blinded to the reality of our situation, unable to see clearly God’s will for new direction and transformation.
In ongoing reflection and conversation, leadership of the North American Lutheran Church have been seeking an integrative approach to congregational assessment, evaluation and renewal. Working together, several members of the NALC Executive staff have developed such an approach, appropriately titled, the “Fresh Eyes
for Mission Summit.
The goal of the summit is to involve appropriate leadership in the NALC, together with congregational pastor and leaders, praying first, “Lord, let our eyes be opened!” We then trust that the Lord will give participants fresh eyes to receive new insight and understanding, all aimed at new or renewed direction for mission and ministry as the congregation seeks to follow Jesus firmly and faithfully.
On Monday evening, November 21st, several members of St. Jacob’s met with Pastor David Wendel, NALC assistant to the bishop for ministry, to explore the prospects of our congregation participating in the “Fresh eyes for Mission Summit.”
One need only look around to see that St. Jacob’s is not the congregation we once were. In these days of declining church attendance and membership, the Fresh Eyes Summit is designed to help congregations such as ours take a critical look at how their ministry is going and what key factors should be addressed.
Congregations engaging in the summit look at the community’s growth and other factors, and weigh their giftedness to determine the capacity each church has for mission and ministry.
Several NALC congregations in the Carolinas (including local congregations such as Holy Trinity in Little Mountain) have participated and come away with renewed energy and excitement about their church’s Ministry.
Please contact Pastor David Nuottila or one of our 2023 Council members for more information.
