Welcome to St. Jacob's Lutheran Church

I recently read the book, Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale by Ian Morgan Crone. The book tells the story of a man facing his crisis of faith by following in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi, and although fictional it raised a lot of thought-provoking ideas about faith and worship. One that stood out to me was the question of when worship begins. Crone suggests that worship begins when you get into your car to head to church. He says that worship starts when you begin to step away from the worldly thoughts and enter into God’s presence. This struck me because I’d never understood why the alarm goes off at 5 AM on Sunday mornings, I’m not a morning person, or why there isn’t much conversation over coffee before heading out to church. I was intrigued by this passage because I realized that this is when David begins to enter into worship, and I wondered, when do I? As I prepare to meet Jesus on my own personal road to Emmaus so that He can open the scriptures for me and explain all that has happened so far, when do I start to put aside all the worldly thoughts that will keep me from focusing on what He is about to share. Perhaps it is worry over children, or bills, or the to do list that seems to grow longer each week that distracts me. It may even be excitement about upcoming activities that need to be put aside.
When do you begin to step away from the world and prepare for worship? I would expect most of you are like me and that’s not at 5 AM. For several of you it begins in Sunday School when you start to study God’s word. For most, this probably happens as you step into worship. Our worship service begins with an opportunity to do this, the prelude. Although this is often a time when we catch up with people we haven’t seen all week, the prelude is there to give us a moment of quieting our mind. It’s a chance to put away all those thoughts that will keep us from hearing what Jesus has to tell us and to be fully present with our Lord. We are so fortunate to have it played so beautifully by an extremely talented musician, Sarah. I encourage you to take advantage of this moment to prepare for worship and to consid er this week, “when do I begin to enter into worship with my Lord?”
God bless you all,
Angela
We are beginning to prepare music for the Easter season. Please come join us. I’m still praying for you to hear God’s call to serve.