Greetings in Christ,
This weekend Pastor Troup will be preaching on our Gospel text from Mark 7. It’s a beautiful thing that Christ comes to us as poor sinners, broken by this world and invites us in to receive His good gifts of forgiveness and life.
As you prepare for the Divine Service this weekend, you can take a look at the Service Folder to find the readings, prayers, and other parts of the service that will help to guide your reflection and prayer.
You can dig deeper into the parts of this weekend’s service with this segment from Issues, Etc.
Here’s the Lectionary Summary for the upcoming weekend that ties the themes of the weekend together:
Our Merciful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Does All Things Well
The Lord proclaims the Gospel “to those who have an anxious heart” to comfort and encourage them with His presence. He comes not only with threats of “vengeance” and “recompense,” but with His gracious salvation (Is. 35:4). He opens “the eyes of the blind” and “the ears of the deaf,” and He loosens “the tongue of the mute” to “sing for joy” (Is. 35:5–6). Like water on thirsty ground, He speaks His life-giving Word to people of all nations. With His Word and the touch of His hand, He does “all things well,” so that you may now speak “plainly” (Mark 7:31–37). You confess the truth of God in Christ to the glory of His holy name, and you call upon His name in every trouble, confident that He will hear and answer. As you pray and confess with your tongue, so also “love your neighbor as yourself” (James 2:8). Show your faith “in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,” by loving without partiality. For God has “chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom” (James 2:1–5).
If you weren’t able to join us for service last week, you can catch up now.
I look forward to seeing you this weekend!
Blessings on your day!
In Christ,
Pastor Demski