Tag Archive - Church Year

Upcoming Events

April 4, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

Spring is in the air. It is an exciting time of the year and we have some big events coming up at Lord of Life. In this email I wanted to share with you some of these happenings and extend an invitation for you to come and to be a part of it all.

The first event is this weekend. It is the Love and Respect Marriage Conference. The conference is less than a week away on Friday night and Saturday morning. I believe the message of this conference is so very important. There is no doubt that so many marriages are struggling these days. Whether your marriage is strong or struggling this conference will have something to offer. As I requested in a previous email, please join me in praying for this conference. Pray for people to come and pray for those who do come to come with open ears, minds, and hearts. Pray for marriages to be transformed. If you would like more information or to sign up, be sure to visit our website at www.lolchurch.net.

The second event is also next weekend. It is the Kairos Torch event. The Torch program is a volunteer intensive program. It involves holding a weekend retreat for the boys and then a 6 month one on one mentoring of each boy who attended the weekend.  The team of volunteers that conduct a weekend are made up of men and women and in fact, it is encouraged to get husband and wives together.  Torch is a structured program and very disciplined in terms of it’s operation.  It is intended to be an on-going ministry at the facility. Lord of Life will host a presentation on Saturday, April 9 at 8am and will be open to anyone who is interested in learning about this opportunity for missions work inside IYC-St Charles. What a great opportunity to learn how to make a difference in your community. If you are interested please contact Don Martens at donmartens@comcast.net or 630-232-7320.

The other upcoming events are part of our Holy Week observance. Holy Week kicks off with Palm Sunday, April 17. Palm Sunday Sunday celebrates the triumphal entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem where he would fulfill his mission to this world. We will worship on Sunday morning at our regularly scheduled times at 8:30 and 10am. But on that evening we will also observe a Passover Seder Dinner. Our goal is to replicate the dinner as Jesus would have celebrated it with his disciples in the upper room. This event is sure to deepen and enrich your faith and understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice. Tickets can be purchased next Sunday, April 10, after worship This will the final opportunity to sign up. No exceptions will be made after this date. If for some reason you are unable to attend worship next weekend and would still like to attend the Seder Dinner, please call the church office 630-513-5325 before Sunday.

Maundy Thursday is the following Thursday, April 21, with Good Friday the next day, April 22. Worship will be at 7pm each night. These some of the most unique and moving worship services of the year. During the Maundy Thursday worship we remember Jesus final meal with his disciples along with his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. During the Good Friday worship we remember Jesus final words upon the Cross of Calvary. We leave this service in silence and sorrow, yet with joy in our hearts. It is a contradiction of sorts that although our Savior died, we call this day “good.”

Of course all these events culminate with the celebration the resurrection on Easter Sunday. Death has been defeated! Jesus is alive. He has won the victory over the grave. What a joyful celebration this is! And what a great opportunity to invite others to come an join you for this celebration. On Easter we will begin an brand new message series called Radical. We will look at the Radical things which we have been called to believe and the radical things our Lord has called us to do.

It will be an exciting adventure. I pray you will come along for the ride.

Seder Dinner at Lord of Life

March 17, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

On Palm Sunday, April 17 at 5pm, Lord of Life will host a Seder Dinner. Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples was a Jewish Passover Seder. Seder is Hebrew for “order” as in “order of worship.” It is a solemn meal which continues to be observed by the Jewish people annually.

Our observance of the Seder will attempt to reconstruct the events of the Seder as it would have been observed by Jesus and his disciples in the upper room. Our hope is that this experience will help to deepen your faith and to grasp the tremendous sacrifice of Jesus in a whole new way. I would like to offer to you a few reasons why you should consider coming to this meal on April 17.

1. To Teach / Tell the Next Generation

An important thing to understand is this meal is a family meal. It is not a romantic dinner between a couple in love. It is a time to gather together as family in much the same way we gather together with our families for holidays. Jesus gathered together in the upper room with his family, the disciples to teach them.

As much as we are able, we want to encourage you to bring your family to come and participate in this meal. This meal is not just about nourishing the body, but it nourishes our souls. This meal was given to the Israelites to teach the next generation the story of the exodus and of God’s mighty deliverance. We have the same responsibility to the next generation in our day and time. There is deep significance in each portion of the meal to help bring the story of Moses and the people of God to life. The goal is for us to hear and participate in the story as if we were there. At one point in the Seder, the leader will say: “In every generation each one ought to regard himself as though he had personally come out of Egypt, as it is written “and you shall tell your son in that day, saying: This is what the Lord did to me when I came out of Egypt.” (Exodus 13:8)

2. To See Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Former Covenant

Participation in the Seder will also give greater insight into the events and significance of Holy Week. In the Passover Seder we not only experience a remembrance of God’s past goodness and deliverance, but we will also be led to anticipate a new exodus and future Messianic era. We will see how the original exodus from slavery in Egypt was a foreshadowing of the coming future deliverance from the slavery of sin. The Passover Seder is a prophecy of our future with the Lord. As he once lead his chosen people out of slavery in Egypt, God now leads us forward to a greater freedom.

After the Lord brought Moses and the people out of Egypt, he made a covenant with the people at Mt. Sinai. Now in the upper room Jesus says to us, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20) In the Seder we see the significance of the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday as they relate to what has gone before and what will yet be.

3. We Experience Community

In the past two years which we have hosted this Seder Dinner at Lord of Life, we have experienced a tremendous sense of unity in the community. We experience in an incredible way the bond that unites us. It is a special thing to share a meal together with someone. How much more special is it when we share this meal together where Jesus instituted the Sacrament known as Holy Communion? As we rehearse the events of the exodus and how that translates to the work of Jesus, we grasp ever more how we are on a journey through a desert place together. We are united in this desert place we are going through because we have one deliverer and savior. He is Jesus Christ who says, “I am the way!” Together we follow him just as the chosen people once followed the deliverer Moses.

Getting Your Tickets

If you plan to come to the Seder Dinner, tickets must be purchased in advance. They will be available on Sunday mornings after worship, starting Sunday, March 27. April 10 will be the last Sunday tickets will be available. You will not be able to sign up after that, so get your tickets sooner rather than later. Tickets are $10/person. Children under 12 will be $5/child. Childcare will be provided for the younger children. Free will donations will be accepted for childcare.

Praying for God to Move

March 10, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

God is at work. He is moving in mighty ways. We pray for him to move in our midst and to set our hearts ablaze for his will and his glory this Lenten season.

Lent is a period of 40 days. 40 days is a significant number often associated with a move of God. It was 40 days and 40 nights that it rained upon the earth in the days of Noah. It was for 40 days that Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan. Acts 1:3 tells us it was 40 days from the time of Jesus’ resurrection till his ascension into heaven. So 40 days is not without significance and we pray for a mighty move of God during these 40 days.

There is no better time for us to fast and to pray and to ask God to reveal himself in a greater way. There are several things I would ask you to pray about in anticipation and expectation.

The first is the Love and Respect Marriage Conference on April 8-9. As a pastor I know there are many marriage in our church and in our community that are struggling. Hope and healing are both desperately needed. As a church it is important for us to respond to and minister to this need and not to sit back quietly. Let’s pray for God to use this conference to touch many marriages. I am praying for at least 100 couples participate in this conference. I will pray for couples to come and participate whether they are looking to hold together a marriage that is badly fractured or making a great marriage even better. I would ask your prayers to make this happen and to join together in helping get the word out. You can find information at the following link: www.lolchurch.net/loveandrespect

The second big event this Lent is the Seder Dinner to be held on Palm Sunday. The Seder Dinner is the same meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the night he was betrayed when he instituted the Lord’s Supper. The Seder Dinner was part of the Passover Celebration of the Jewish people. My prayer for this event is that this will deepen our understanding of the Lord’s Supper and help us to better grasp the tremendous sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross. I pray for our Lord of Life family, young and old, to come together on this night that our unity as the body of Christ would be strengthened. This is an event about “coming together” so that we might “go out.”

Finally, pray for the observances of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday culminating the the celebration of Easter. Every Easter we have people who will come to Lord of Life who might not hear the gospel message at any other time of the year with the exception of Christmas Eve. Please pray for God to break into their hearts and the transform them by his love that they might know him and live for him. Pray for the gospel to take root in their lives and grow into an abundant harvest. My prayer is that hope might be found by individuals and families that have no hope and their lives would be changed forever.

All this is God’s work, but God uses us to make all this happen. It takes our prayers. It takes our willingness and courage to participate together with him in his work. God does it, but we can help make this all happen. It is exciting to take part in God’s work. Please join me! How great is our God!

Lent

February 23, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

The Church season of Lent is just around the corner. Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, is March 9. Lord of Life will host a special worship service on that night at 7pm. On that night we practice the imposition of ashes when the sign of the cross is made upon the forehead of the worshippers in ashes. The significance of this action goes back to the Old Testament when God’s people would put on sackcloth and ashes when they were confronted with the significance of their sins. It was a symbolic act of repentance and sorrow. On this night we also come humbly before our Lord asking for forgiveness for our sins and that he would change our hearts.

Lent is a tradition that has been observed from the earliest times of the church. It is a season of reflection and repentance. It is a time to contemplate the tremendous sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross. Many churches will avoid using the word Hallelujah during this time, until the celebration of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. Music in general tends to be more reflective and less celebratory. The color purple is often used which is a color of royalty. Jesus comes as our king, but he does not wear a crown of gold, rather a crown of thorns.

It is also a practice of many Christians to give something up during Lent. This practice is derived from the spiritual discipline of fasting. Fasting is not a discipline that is often practiced in our American culture. The thought of depriving ourselves of anything is not something that many find attractive. The message we hear is that you can have it all. You deserve it. Don’t miss out. Don’t settle for anything less than the best.

However, if truth be told, fasting is not as much about depriving ourselves of anything as much as it is about discovering true riches. It is making a choice to set aside earthly treasure for heavenly treasure. Fasting is not about giving up food for the sake of giving up food, but that you might concentrate more on feasting upon God’s daily bread, the Word of God.

We must guard against making fasting to be a self-serving and gratifying practice. It is not about showing myself or others how spiritual I am. Jesus warns against this in the Sermon on the Mount. The main purpose is not that I better understand or appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus. Giving up chocolate or television for 40 days is not going to help us to begin to come even close to grasping the cost he paid.

So why should I fast then?

  1. To remove any distraction that might get in the way of my relationship with Jesus. Jesus says, “if your hand causes you to sin, then cut it off.” Of course we know that Jesus is using hyperbole to make a point here, but the point is well received. What in your life is interfering with your intimacy with God? Is there anything that is potentially becoming your God and that you rely upon and trust more than him. Then you need to purge it from your life. By removing the distractions in your life, you are then able to hear him better.

  2. To cultivate generosity. The more you trust and rely upon him over and above the things of this world, the more room you will have for generosity. The reason we are not a more generous people is that we have convinced ourselves that we need our food, our money, and our time. We are convinced we “need” these things and cannot do without them. The tighter we hold on to them the harder it is for us to let go. Fasting works to challenge us not hold on too tightly to the things of this world. It challenges us to let them go, and hold tightly on the one from whom all those blessings flow.

Personally, during the season of Lent, it is my plan to fast on Wednesdays. I plan on taking the extra time during lunch to use it for prayer and study of the Bible. I can also take the money that I would have spent on lunch and contribute that to the work of God’s kingdom. If you also plan to give something up during Lent, I would encourage you to also consider how you can use that effort to better hear from God and to advance his kingdom. It’s not really about what you give up, but what you give away.

Happy Epiphany

January 6, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

Happy Epiphany everyone! Today is January 6. It is the day we commemorate the visit of the Wise Men to the Baby Jesus. This story is found in Matthew 2:1-12. January 5 completed the 12 days of Christmas and so we begin a new season in the church year today called Epiphany.

The word epiphany comes from a Greek word which means to “reveal.” The emphasis is that when the Wise Men visited the baby Jesus he was revealed as not just the Savior of the Jews, but as the Savior of the World. The season of Epiphany continues up until Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent which takes place on March 9 this year. During this season we focus on who Jesus reveals himself to be.

I will ask you the question: “who is Jesus to you?” A lot of people will answer this question in a lot of different ways. Some will say he was a great teacher. Some will say he is a great example to follow. Still others might say he is just a story and doesn’t hold much significance. Some will say he is the greatest man who ever lived in the history of the world.

As I think about the answer to that question I would say Jesus is my all in all. He is everything to me. He is the air I breathe. He is my Lord. He is my Savior. Without Jesus I am a lost and condemned sinner without any hope. He is the one who gave his life that I might live. He is the one in whom I will place my trust above all else. He is the one who is truly worthy of my worship and adoration.

There are many things in which we can place our hope. But there is only one who gives us true and lasting hope. Jesus is the healer. He gives me comfort in sorrow. He gives me direction when I am lost. He gives me confidence and courage in the midst of fear and worry.

To often in the difficult moments we trust our stuff rather than our Savior. We put our hope in our ability, in our wealth, in our creativity, and in our own hard work. Eventually we will discover that trusting in ourselves is a dead end. There is a limit to our ability and possibilities.

Jesus reveals himself as a greater answer and the best and only solution. There is no limit to what we can do when his power is at work in us. Happy Epiphany! Jesus has revealed himself as the Savior.

Happy Advent!

November 27, 2010 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. Isaiah 40:3-5

Happy New Year! Yes, you heard me right. Happy New Year! It may not be the beginning of a new calendar year yet, but it is the beginning of a new church year. Sunday begins the season of Advent. And with it we begin a new journey to celebrate the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus our Savior. For the next few months we will go through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter. Each one of these seasons of the church year reveal something new to us about who Jesus is and what he has done for us.

Advent kicks it all off. Advent is a season of preparation and of anticipation. The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus which means “coming”. It is a season of 4 weeks leading up to the coming celebration of Jesus’ birthday on December 25.

We come expectantly to worship, believing God for great things. Advent is a time of the year when we look to the prophecies of Scripture to behold the new thing God is doing. It is a time to be encouraged because we know the Savior is coming to intervene in history and in our lives. Because God intervenes we know that whatever challenges we are facing today, it is not the end of the story. The story is just beginning. God is coming. He is on his way. He is ready to show up and to show off. He is ready to overcome.

So prepare the way for the Lord! Make room for him so he can do his thing. Open your heart and open your mind. He desires to reveal himself to you.

For the next couple of weeks at Lord of Life I will be talking about how we prepare the way for the Lord in our lives and make ready for his return. It’s about how we make more room for him in our busy and complicated lives so that he would be reveal himself more clearly and that he would work more powerfully in our lives. We put up a lot of barriers to get in the way. But with God, nothing is impossible.

So let’s pray together – Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen