Greetings!

Just thought I would let you know that I made it back safe and sound from Israel.  My sister and I had a great time.

The Behnke’s picked me up at the airport in Tucson on Friday night and I will be in church on Sunday morning.  However, I might fall asleep.  Ha!  It took us 32 hours to fly from Tel Aviv to Orlando, FL and then another 6 hours for me to fly from Orlando to Tucson… but I am here.

The picture below is of my sister Claudia and I taken in front of the Western Wall of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.

God bless you all!

Pastor Ron

Lord and Savior, Worker of Miracles, I humbly pray for courage to share my faith with those who do not know You.  There are many stories to tell about You–stories of unconditional love and forgiveness, of mercy and healing, of life with You.  Thank you for these lessons.  After your resurrection, disciples Peter and John healed a crippled man and courageously witnessed to the unbelieving rulers.  “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.”  These two disciples were ready to witness.  They trusted the Holy Spirit to give them the strength and the words, even though their earthly lives were in danger.  In spite of their threatening circumstances, they proclaimed, “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  Please give me the courage of Peter and John to share what I have heard and seen about Jesus’ love for me.  Help me reach out to friends, family, co-workers and acquaintances to connect them with You, one person at a time.  Help my heart burn within me, as did the hearts of the two travelers on the road to Emmaus who, after meeting the resurrected Jesus, declared, “It is true! The Lord has risen!” 

In Your name, Jesus,

Amen

Greetings!

This is just a reminder that on Wednesday February 6th Lent begins.

We are holding a special Ash Wednesday Service at 7 PM.

At this service there will be:

–    imposition of ashes (so ladies you might not want to wear a white blouse to church Wednesday evening, as when I make the sign of the cross on your forehead in ashes… some of the ashes might fall upon your blouse)

–    holy communion.

The custom of imposing ashes goes back to the 900’s AD of years in the history of the  church.  The sign of the Cross is made on our foreheads to remind us of the words of our Lord from Genesis 3:19,  “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 

The sign of the Cross in ashes is to remind us of our humanity…

and it is shaped in the sign of the Cross to remind us of our salvation through Jesus Christ.

Ash Wednesday is one of the most solemn nights in the Lutheran tradition of Christianity.  It is the night when we being our 40 day journey of Lent.  Because of the nature of Ash Wednesday the LWML is not hosting a Soup supper that evening.    They will host Soup Suppers prior to the other Midweek Wednesday Lent Services.

In church last Sunday, just prior to my accidentially blowing out one of the candles on the Altar during the announcements, I shared that this year, the theme for the Midweek Lent Services is: 

Christ on Trial.

As I have done in the past… I will be using one of the High School Youth to “dialog” with me. 

Again, I pray that my using a Youth will not offend anyone.  Following up on my sermon from last Sunday, this is my opportunity to “challenge” the Youth to grow in their service to the church. 

You can and should be proud of your Youth. 

They have always been willing to assist in our worship services.  This Wednesday, Anthony Hu will be “dialoging” with me.  Charles you might want to raise the volume of the microphone from the Lectern as Anthony focuses so intently upon the message, that his voice becomes quiet in spiritual reflection.

I pray that this series will prove to be a blessing for your Lenten journey.

For me, Ash Wednesday and Lent is a very special time of the church year.  Not only for the Spiritual nature of Lent… but also because it takes me back to the Lent’s of my Youth.  The Lutheran churches my parents attended were very - traditional and liturgical - churches.  As that is my heritage… it tends to come out.  I pray that I am not offending anyone with my traditional and liturgical nature.  For that is not my intent. 

I did have one member who asked me why I am now wearing communion “chasubles” on holy days and festival days in the church.  Why haven’t I worn them before?

I wear the communion chasuble because I grew up with our pastor’s wearing them.  They are an outer vestment.  That is… the chasuble is worn over all the other vestments.  The chasuble can be very elaborate vestment. 

They are not elaborate to focus upon the pastor… but rather to focus upon the fact that our Lord shed his body and blood on the Cross… and when we celebrate His meal… the pastor should wear his very best vestment… to show honor and thanks to Christ for our Lord giving His life freely for us.  It is meant as a matter of respect for Christ.

Why have I waited 5 years to start wearing chasubles at Immanuel?

Well… when I arrived at Immanuel over 5 years ago, it was not part of Immanuel’s tradition to have her pastor’s wear chasubles.  When I first came to Immanuel, I did not want to do anything that you were not used to doing.  I didn’t want to create waves.

I have started wearing chasubles now, because I feel that you have had 5 years to get to know me… and with your learning me… prayerfully you will realize that I am not wearing these vestments to show honor to myself… but rather to show honor to Christ.  I would appreciate your feelings… as I would never want to do anything to offend anyone at Immanuel. 

For me… it is very important that I show as much honor and respect to Christ as I am able.

As Larry Hu is chairman of the Board of Elders, I would invite Larry to make the sign of the Cross with ashes on my forehead at this service.

Blessings,

Pastor Ron

The exact age of is not known, but the oldest recorded pictures of a blue cloth with a yellow cross date from the 16th century. As decreed in a royal warrant of 1569, the yellow cross was always to be borne on Swedish battle standards and banners, as the Swedish Coat of Arms was blue divided quarterly by a cross of gold. The design of the Swedish flag is probably taken from the Danish flag, and its blue and yellow colours possibly come from the Coat of Arms. Not until the 1620s, i.e., during the reign of Gustav II Adolf. do we find any reliable evidence of the blue flag with a yellow cross being carried by Swedish vessels. According to our oldest existing flag warrant, from 1663, a triple-tailed flag was to be used except by merchant ships, whose flag was square-cut