ST PETER'S NEWS
June 11, 2020
A WORD FROM PASTOR V
Before I forget, a reminder that July-September Christ in Our Home devotions are available, July/August Gather Magazine is now out, and our June/July Living Lutheran is also in the bin outside the portico doors. May these resources feed and grow your faith this summer!

Presiding Bishop Eaton's sermon from last Sunday evoked a range of responses in our congregation. It is amazing how the words of a sermon (or scripture for that matter) can hit us all in a rainbow of ways. For some, this was a powerful reminder "to not be color-blinded, but color-amazed." For others, her message was "too political" and made it hard to hear Good News. Most people didn't email me at all about it...so maybe her message didn't evoke much of anything worth emailing or calling the pastor to wonder more about.

As one called into a vocation that includes preaching, I've often wondered to myself...what it preaching for? Why do this risky endeavor of pointing to where and how we see God at work in the world? So, this week, I wanted to offer a few reflections on preaching, and a few thoughts on ways to listen and respond to a sermon.

  • How does the sermon point us to Jesus? Martin Luther once said that "scripture is the cradle that holds Christ." The cross is not just a symbol, but a lens by which we see the world the way God sees the world. In paintings of John the Baptist across the centuries, he seems to always be pointing to something...yep...pointing to Jesus. So, central to a sermon is asking the question, "Where is Jesus in the text?" and then..."Where is Jesus in my context and world?" The sermon is more than a warm and fuzzy story or...gulp...a fascinating science experiment. Like a parable, the sermon at its best provokes our imagination and invites us to see what God is doing from a new perspective.
  • Law and Gospel. Lutherans have a distinctive way of reading the Scriptures, based on Lutherʼs insight that Godʼs word comes to us in two forms—law and gospel. The law as command tells people what they should do. The gospel as promise tells us what God in Christ has already done for us. Godʼs law functions in several ways: It structures human life by protecting and promoting good and limiting and punishing wrong. The law also functions theologically, as a mirror, or as a doctorʼs diagnosis, to show us our sinfulness and our need for Godʼs grace in Christ. Because we are sinners, Godʼs law always accuses us; only the gospel frees us. As Luther puts it: “The law says, ʻdo this,ʼ and it is never done. Grace says, ʻbelieve in this,ʼ and everything is already done.” How did the sermon impact you as law/gospel?

  • 2 ears, 1 mouth. My mom would say that God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason! I have come to see a sermon as less about the “mouth” giving it and more about the “ears” receiving it. I say this because you can have a room of people hearing a variety of different things from the same words…all valid and emotional and powerful and startling. Yet, I wonder if what God does in a message is give us the courage to turn to our neighbor and ask “what did you hear?” It’s often the way of parables that Jesus taught with…asking folks…what did you hear and using that to grow as a community. I find myself growing all the more when the other person has heard something different than myself…because it can lead to some rich and faithful conversations about what that scripture passage means for the present moment that includes us all. A congregation full of like-minded Harold's would be a very boring church. My preaching professor told us to never use "Amen" at the end of the sermon (a rule I break quite often). "Amen" is a word that means "so let it be." To not end with an Amen is to say the sermon continues in the hearts and minds of those who have heard it. The sermon is less monologue and more dialogue with God and God's people (which can get heated at times!...but you can get heated and still remain loving and faithful and grow)

  • Jesus was political. Thomas Jefferson is famously known for creating his own version of the gospel, cutting out things like miraculous events and the feeding of the 5000, basically removing everything "contrary to reason." Jefferson has me wondering, what would be left of the gospels if you took out everything Jesus said or did that was political? Jesus' very life is in contrast to Caesar's claim to divinity and Herod's claim to what a king of Israel looks like. Jesus lived an economic model that challenged the way things were. To be rich and blessed meant something very different to Jesus than it did to the authorities in Jerusalem. Jesus was killed because of his politics. I wonder if when we use "politics" today we think of division, difference of opinion, Democrat verses Republican...where "verses" is the key word. Jesus' politics was not about creating division for the sake of division. Jesus' politics was all about healing brokenness and closing the disparity between people and classes...those things of our world that separate us from each other...and in so doing also separate us from God. The word "politics" comes from the Greek word "polis"...which means "citizen" or "city." Politics in a biblical sense is about people. So, if a sermon does touch on something we deem "hot" or "political," a helpful question to ask of the sermon is, "Is this issue about people?" If it is...then we as the church are invited into the sacred space of wrestling together with how is God with the people who are dealing with this issue...and if God is WITH...then we can begin to wonder how we might also be WITH.

  • Transformation. A big question that has been with me over the years. Can you depart from a sermon and your life not be transformed by God in some way? So...I know from my own experience not all my sermons ever reach to level of "good," which is fine and ultimately not the point. Each week as I prepare to stand before the gathered body of Christ, I ask God to work through my meager words and person to offer everyone a place to stand...where we can all wrestle together with God, like Jacob and the angel (Genesis 32), as we seek to be God's people called to embody Christ's love for neighbor and world.

One of my preaching professors, Sam Giere, put together a website a few years ago...not for the preacher...but for the hearer. I have used it often as one who can find himself on both sides of a sermon. The website is called " With Ears to Hear," and I invite you to bookmark this page and refer to it when the sermon seems either too fluffy or too radioactive. CLICK HERE for a simple one pager on how to orient the ear to what God is up to in the meager and often bumbling words of us preachers.

God grace your ears and living.

Peace,
Pastor V
WORSHIP UPDATE
Live-stream debut on schedule.

We had our software training this week for our live-stream equipment. This week the sound board controls are being relocated to the A/V booth. We will be recruiting some leaders for the 6/21 live-stream worship, but to reduce complexity for this being our first time, we will not yet have the sanctuary open for in-person worship.

The re-gathering planning team met this week to look over draft guide documents we will use as the virus impacts the risk of gathering. Council will be receiving these for approval at their Monday council meeting, at which point they will be shared with the congregation.

While we are still "hoping" for our first in-person worship to be on 6/28, we are beginning to see a spike in new cases in our surrounding counties and across Texas. Our goal remains to steward the health and wellness of all who gather and worship here.

The current timeline:
6/14 - continue with pre-recorded worship
6/21 - debut of live-stream worship (only leaders)
6/28 - new "hoped for" date for our 1st in-person worship
JOIN THE NEW A/V TEAM!

Please contact Olivia Cheesman if you would like to learn more about helping run our live-stream equipment for worship.
ST. PETER'S MINISTRY UPDATES
ST. PETER'S BLESSINGS

St. Peters Blessings is a ministry of our congregation that provides weekend meals for students that are on free or reduced school lunches during the school year. Letters are sent to the families that are eligible and they respond if they want the meals or not.  

When the schools closed in March for this school year, the remaining two weeks of food we had packed on our shelves was provided to school volunteers who personally delivered them to the individual students’ homes.  At that time, we were providing between 150-155 meals per week.   It is the hope of St. Peter’s Blessings to be able to return to providing weekly food packages in the coming school year.  We all wait to see just what the 2020-2021 school year will look like in order to begin planning.

Our plans are to get with H-E-B in July and see if we can get back on schedule and special orders again. If all goes well and the schools open we plan to return to our regular system by delivering weekend meals every Thursday.

St. Peter’s Blessings relies on donations and volunteers from the body of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church as well as from the larger Highland Lakes community.  Donations are vital to the continued operation of this ministry going forward.  Members of St. Peter’s are needed for monetary donations as well as volunteer services in the pick-up of ordered food from HEB, packing the food, and delivering to the individual schools weekly.

It costs $150 to provide weekend meals for one student for the school year. This is about $3.75 per meal. Please join us in the ministry with your time, muscles, and donations. Consider transforming the life of a student and his or her family for one week, or maybe even for a whole year. CLICK HERE to make a special gift to St. Peter's Blessings.

Carol Leighton & Cal Clausen
YOUTH AND FAMILY NEWS
SUMMER VBS 2020

Good News!  A 4 day VBS will be emailed to families for July 6-9 (church, school, and previous year attendees will be emailed). Others can sign up, they just need to get their email information to Vonda Orton by .   The theme is RESCUE.  We will study the Fiery Furnace, Daniel and the Lion’s Den, Jonah and the Whale and Jesus.  Each family will pick up a supply bag for the activities the weekend before VBS begins.

Last day to register is June 27.
Bag pickup days will be July 1, 2, 3.

While this is an at-home VBS, your help and participation is still vital to our VBS this summer. A gift of $10 dollars will help pay for the craft supplies and snacks for one VBS camper.   

You can drop off the donation at the church office or you may use the on-line giving portal (choose seasonal and put "VBS" in description box).

Thank you for helping us pivot and offer VBS in a new way this summer! If you have any questions, please contact our our Youth and Family Coordinator, Vonda Orton (vorton@splcmf.org).
YOUTH AND FAMILY
ICE-CREAM SOCIAL

This is a reminder to let our Youth Minister, Craig Orton, know if you are coming to the OUTDOOR ice cream social next Wednesday on June 17 in the church parking lot beginning at 6:30pm.

We will be following physical distancing recommendations, and sanitizer / masks will be available. We will play some games, listen to music, eat ice cream and hang-out. It will be fun. We already have close to 40 attending.
BIBLE STUDY AT HOME
BOOK STUDY ON RACE

We begin our book study on June 24th. We currently have about 10 or 11 folks in the study. It's not too late to join. Send Pastor Vanicek an email so he can add you to the Zoom invite list.

For those interested, go ahead and order your copy of the book to and start reading PART 1.
BIBLE STUDY AT HOME
Faith is scripture is rarely a noun...but most often a verb...an active and alive thing. Faith is like muscles, requiring exercise to stay healthy and strong. While we are in Diaspora (separated...), use these short videos as a weekly way of growing in your faith and love.

As we enter the Pentecost Season, the excitement of Easter and Pentecost begin to fade in our rear view mirror, and it is easy to pass on worship as the summer Sundays blend together. YET, this is the season to be alert and not pass up opportunities to join into what God is doing around us through St. Peter's and in our community that bring life to the world.

This summer we encounter Jesus through a number of his parables. Now, parables are not to make everything clear. They rarely do. Instead, they are to provoke our imagination and invite us to see what God is doing from a new perspective. Good preaching also functions in this way, inviting us to see what God is doing from a new perspective, and this new perspective may be challenging to hear or offensive to us...but in these moments the faithful question to ask is, "How is this provoking my imagination of God in the world?"
DEVOTIONS AND MAGAZINES IN THE PORTICO BIN
ALL THREE ARE NEW EDITIONS!
CHRIST IN OUR HOME
WORSHIP & PRAYER RESOURCES
If you missed a recent online worship, want to read the text of sermon, are looking for daily prayer resources, or want to find something noted in our weekly emails, CLICK HERE for a one-stop page on our website.
GRATITUDE AND CONGREGATIONAL NOTES
Please send Tristan any notes that you would like to share with the congregation. Thank you.
OTHER RESOURCES