Good morning:
What’s wrong with people?! Have you wondered that especially in light of all that’s been happening? Injustices, hatred, and violence keep growing. It is not a problem limited to the inner city or to other people besides us. The sin within which explodes into acts of hate and destruction lies in our hearts too. James writes, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” (James 4:1).
With tensions and ill will escalating daily, people wonder how much more can be endured? What is the answer? Is there one? A more important question is how much can God put up with? He is holy. Every sin is a terrible offense to Him. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). He would be completely justified in wiping out all humankind with one blow as He did with the flood at Noah’s time.
Instead, God does something entirely different. “He gives us more grace” (James 4:6). How incredible! Rather than losing patience with sinners like us and condemning all people to eternal death, He counters our sin with even more grace. “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Rom. 5:20).
Make no mistake. God never condones or excuses any sin. The Ten Commandments convict us all. But God doesn’t stop there. He calls us to repentance, to humbly confess our guilt so that He can give us His grace in the message of Christ crucified and risen for our forgiveness and life.
The more we see sin around us, let’s remember that we too are by nature dead in sin. May we then see our need all the more clearly and praise God for giving us even more of what we need the most—His wonderful, unconditional grace in Christ. May that grace encourages our hearts and inspire our lives today.
Yours in Him,
Pastor
Tomorrow’s schedule (Confirmation):
8:00 a.m: Family worship with Holy Communion. If you are planning to attend in-person, please pre-register at: Messiah Lutheran Church Service signup.
9:30 a.m: Examination of confirmands.
10:30 a.m: Rite of Confirmation with Holy Communion. Pre-register if you are planning to attend in-person. With limited seating, please consider attending first service if possible to leave room for the families and friends of our four confirmands.
The 10:30 a.m. service will be live-streamed tomorrow, rather than the 8:00 a.m. service. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCga_B5unzZ3PtyfheVxoobg/videos?view=2)
From the Messiah Tech Committee…
Sunday Live Stream
The Tech Committee is ending our service with Ustream at the end of June. This month, the service will continue to be available on both YouTube and Ustream. Beginning the first Sunday of July (July 5th), the online service will no longer be available on Ustream. We ask that those of you still using Ustream try out the service on YouTube to make sure it will work for you. If you encounter any issues viewing the service on YouTube, or have any questions/concerns about the switch, please contact the Board of Education. They will relay any concerns to the appropriate Tech Committee members.
Messiah’s YouTube channel can be found at the address listed below. You can also find it by clicking the red YouTube icon on the top right corner of Messiah’s website. In addition, if you are viewing the service on a smart TV or other non-computer device, you can search in the YouTube app for “Messiah Lutheran Hales Corners”, our channel name.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCga_B5unzZ3PtyfheVxoobg/videos?view=2
