Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 23, 2018 Saint James Evangelical Lutheran Church 460 West Annapolis Street - West Saint Paul, MN 55118 Church Office: (651) 457-9232 Fax: (651) 457-1893 www.saintjameslutheran.com stjlc@saintjameslutheran.com facebook.com/stjwsp @stjwsp Pastor Michael Albrecht 651-457-6796 malbrecht@saintjameslutheran.com Pastor Dale Critchley 651-689-3253 dcritchley@saintjameslutheran.com Terese Thune Youth Director 651-336-2117 tthune@saintjameslutheran.com Pastor Tom Volker 612-860-2648 tvolker@saintjameslutheran.com Pastor Richard Stadler 651-338-8621 rstadler@saintjameslutheran.com Tom Rowland Organist & Choir Director 612-861-4503 trowland5726@comcast.net Shirley Hess Parish Nurse 651-210-3380 pnstjlc@saintjameslutheran.com
WELCOME TO WORSHIP! Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 23, 2018 Our Guest preacher today is the Reverend John Fehrmann, Director of the Confessional Lutheran Education Foundation (CLEF). For several years we have included the CLEF in our Missions Budget, and we look forward to hearing an update on recent CLEF activity between services this morning. GUESTS AND VISITORS, we are delighted that you are worshiping with us today! Please take a moment to fill out a Welcome, Guest card which is available in the pew racks and place it in the offering. For every guest who completes this form, Saint James will donate $5 to the Neighbor s Food Shelf. Also, stop by the Visitor Welcome Center as you leave and pick up a small gift. Thank you for coming, and please come back and visit again soon. You are always welcome here at Saint James. LARGE PRINT COPIES OF THE SERVICE ARE AVAILABLE IN THE NARTHEX. SPECIAL POCKET HEARING SYSTEMS are available from the ushers for anyone desiring an amplified broadcast of the service. PREPARING FOR WORSHIP You are invited to ponder Psalm 54, which can be in found in the pew Bible on page 431. THE NURSERY is not staffed but is available for parents who have young children who become noisy or restless during the service. We are thankful for families who teach their children to worship by bringing them to church. When your little ones become noisy, feel free to take them to the narthex or the nursery to settle them down. The service can be seen and heard on TV in the narthex. 2
THE ORDER OF SERVICE ORGAN PRELUDE: Toccata Percy Fletcher OPENING SENTENCE: (10:30) The Lord is in His Holy Temple Bolle GATHERING HYMN: Christian Worship #176 Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord for stanza 3 PASTORAL GREETING & INVOCATION: Pastor Albrecht SERVICE OF THE WORD: Christian Worship, pages 38-39 PRAYER OF THE DAY Please be seated PSALM OF THE DAY: Christian Worship, page 77 Psalm 31 OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Jeremiah 11:18-20 The LORD informed me, so I knew. Then you helped me to see their deeds, for I was like a docile lamb led to slaughter. I didn't know that they had devised plots against me: "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit; let's cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will no longer be remembered." But, LORD of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to you. Reading Response P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God! P: Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Alleluia! C: (sing) Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! The prophet Jeremiah was not popluar because people did not want to hear his message. The LORD warned Jeremiah of a plot against him, and Jeremiah responded with this testimony. 3
SAINT JAMES CHOIR: (10:30) The Least of These Lord, may our hearts, redeemed in mercy, have mercy on the least of these. Shackley/Stewart True wisdom is evident in a gentle spirit that cultivates peace. Every day we are tempted by greed and pride, but God humbles us in order to exalt us in due time. EPISTLE LESSON: James 3:13-4:10 Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct he should show that his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't boast and deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace. What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don't they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulterous people! Don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. Or do you think it's without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely? But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Reading Response P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God! VERSE OF THE DAY: Christian Worship, page 40 Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! These words are written that we may believe That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! 4
HOLY GOSPEL: Mark 9:30-37 Then they left that place and made their way through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know it. For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after he is killed, he will rise three days later." But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him. They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest. Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all." He took a child, had him stand among them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one little child such as this in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but him who sent me." Jesus wants His disciples to know that He is going to suffer and die and rise again, but they do not understand because they are arguing with each other about who was the greatest among them. Jesus explains that the way to become first is to serve others. Gospel Response P: This is the Gospel of the Lord. C: Praise to You, O Christ! NICENE CREED: Christian Worship, page 41 SERMON HYMN: Christian Worship #572 Send Forth, O Lord, to Every Place Please be seated SERMON: Text: Luke 17:1-10 Theme: What is the Purpose of Saint James Lutheran Congregation? RESPONSE TO THE SERMON: Christian Worship, page 20 OFFERING: We bring our firstfruits to God with gratitude and joy. Please be seated Give online at give.4gvn.us OFFERTORY: The Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve John Leavitt 5
HYMN OF REDEDICATION: Christian Worship #486 stanzas 1-2 Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us Please be seated PRAYER FOR OURSELVES AND OTHERS LORD S PRAYER BENEDICTION SENDING HYMN: Christian Worship #576 Spread, Oh, Spread the Mighty Word POSTLUDE: Good Christian Men, Rejoice Paul Manz 6
SERVING IN OUR WORSHIP TODAY Reverend John Fehrmann (preaching) Pastor Michael Albrecht Pastor Tom Volker Organist and Choir Director: Tom Rowland Harrison Lawrence, Organ Intern Saint James Choir Ushers: (8:00) Loren Bahls and Team #5 (10:30) Virginia Genz and Team #6 Audio Video Team: Hannah Critchley, Sharon Ferrara, Glenn & Wendy Gatzke, Jerry Hinz, Len & Diane Munson, Jerry Peterson, Becky Martinez, Lorna Redding, and Leif Thune Screen Slide Production: Ami Heesch PEOPLE TO PRAY FOR Let us remember to pray for some of our veteran members: Dennis Grover, Lee Hubler, LaJene Ihfe SAINT JAMES FOUNDATION Remember the Foundation in your will your gift can make a difference for generations to come. Suggested Wording: In thanks to God for the gift of His Son Jesus, and for all His blessings to me in my lifetime, I gift and bequeath to Saint James Lutheran Church Foundation at 460 West Annapolis Street, West Saint Paul, MN 55118 the amount of $ or (specify the asset.). MISSIONS TO PRAY FOR This week please pray for Bishop Bhanu and the pastors and people of the Bible Faith Lutheran Church of India, and for the staff and children at the Moriah Children s Home and the Moriah School, and for Dr. Raj Kumar and the seminary in Guntur in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. FLOWERS Stewardship Thought Trying times are not the time to stop trying. (Contributed by a Saint James member) The flowers in the chancel vases are provided by the Altar Guild. If you would like to order FLOWERS please contact Altar Guild Flower Chairwoman Kathy Stadler at 651-450-6452 or stadlerek@comcast.net. Living as a Local Missionary When you get on an elevator, don t be in a hurry to get the door shut. Take a good look to see whether someone else is coming, and hold the door for them. 7
The Rev. John R. Fehrmann was born in Ohio in the middle of the last century. When John was six years old, his father accepted a call to serve as an evangelistic missionary for the LCMS in Papua New Guinea, serving in the Western Highlands District (in the mountains) with the Enga language people. He attended Highland Lutheran School at Amapyaka for boarding grade school and then went on to Concordia College, Adelaide, South Australia, for the final year before the family returned to the USA (St. Louis, MO and then Evansville, IN). He graduated from Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska with a B.S.Ed. He then attended Concordia Seminary, Springfield, Illinois, graduating in February of 1976. He has done post MDiv (STM & DMin) work at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota and Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry on the 21 st of March 1976 at the Lutheran Church of the Triune God in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, the same congregation he served as a vicar. He served this congregation until he left in December of 1999. He was installed as Assistant Pastor Missions, at Glory of Christ Lutheran Church, Plymouth, MN on 1 October 2006 and continues in that Called position. For the last 19 years he has worked in Asia, Africa, Europe, North - Central South America and Australia (including many surroundings countries and islands) providing confessional translation services to more than 75 different Lutheran church bodies, mission societies, church-related organizations, not to mention countless congregations. Today he is representing The Confessional Lutheran Education Foundation (CLEF) as President and Chairman of the Board. He is also Board member and Program Director of the Association of Confessional Lutherans and he has represented Higher Things in Lithuania, Ghana, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He is also a Certified Senior Advisor. He is scheduled to have preached in 20+ different LCMS congregations this year at mission festivals and such events in addition to speaking at numerous conferences and teaching at our sister seminaries in Asia, Africa, North and South America. The remainder of his time he spends in overseas locations. He is married to his wife of 45 years, Carol (nee) Meyer of Clover, Idaho. They have five children, nine grand kids and a 3½ year old Golden Retriever named SIR. They presently live in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. 8