TO GOD BE THE GLORY July 2010

1711 Grant StreetHopewell, VA 23860 www.nazluthchurch.com

The Bible on Your Bookshelf

by Pastor Voss

The Hometown News isa publication of Nazareth EvangelicalLutheran Church.Member of theLutheran Church

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Missouri Synod.

Inside this issue:

Finance/Stewardship 2Elders/Deacons 4Nazareth Youth Missions/Outreach6Getting to Know Luther 9

Pastor’s Corner

The Hometown News

The Bible. You have one in yourhome. It’s likely you have a copy of the Bible that has been sittingaround for a while. When you look at it on the bookshelf or on the ta-ble, it brings back memories of when you read it regularly eitherby choice or requirement. Regard-less of why you read it, you neverregretted reading it, you just don’t ind time to read it anymore.

Maybe you think it’s too com-plex. Maybe you think it doesn’t ‘speak to your situation’. Maybeyou don’t have an excuse, yousimply have other things that youwant to do.

Our daily struggle with the HolyScriptures is not that we cannot un-derstand them, but that we choosenot to read them. These are, afterall,

the very Words of God

. Why is it,do you think, that we don’t want toread His Words daily? Sin? Yes,but a certain type of sin. A desirefor things from below (earth) overthe blessings from above (God).The Scriptures are not beyondour understanding, even if we readthem alone. We don’t have to havesomeone interpret them for us eve-ry time we read them. Martin Lu-ther believed that the Bible was un-derstandable and could be appre-hended by all. This ties in with hisinsistence that each of us must re-spond to the Bible by faith alone.The Holy Spirit gives us a power,beyond mere human knowledge,that allows us to interpret the Bibli-cal message when reading it.An example: A man who is des-perately meek and lowly and hum-ble reads from Matthew 5, “Blessedare the meek, for they will inherit the earth”, and he is comforted bysuch words. Same city, a few milesdown the road lives a man, full of pride over his accomplishments inlife, reads the same passage,“Blessed are the meek…” What happens? He probably would not ind comfort in such words, ratherhe would be chastised by them.Through the same passage, the Ho-ly Spirit is doing God’s work in dif-ferent ways.

The Holy Spirit provides the illu-mination for Scripture. The HolySpirit proclaims the Good News tous or the wrath of God’s Law at us.It could be the same passage, but God speaks to us individually.How does God speak to you inthe Scriptures on this day? Goahead, pick up that familiar Bibleon your bookshelf. Listen to God—He’s talking to you, individually!

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The Hometown NewsHappy Birthday!

July 5

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Zachery StewartJuly12

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Shirley KeiserJuly 13

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Vincent KnopJuly 19

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John Petik, Jr.July 20

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Al SchneiderJuly 20

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Kathy BeahmJuly 28

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John SoltezJuly 31

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Luther SodatJuly 31

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Kara Canada

The Board of Stewardship met on June 20. All board members were present. Thelma Klein also attendedthe meeting also. After an opening prayer, Al noted that Pastor Keith Loesch will serve as guest leader forthe Consecrated Stewards program, which we will launch in September. The Consecrated Stewards pro-gram began in 2007 and has proved to be very effective for enhancing stewardship in congregations thathave already completed it.This program will begin in mid September with the Preparation Phase. This phase, lasting about 4weeks, will consist of prayer, preparation and publicity on stewardship and will be followed by the Pro-gram Phase.The Program Phase involves 4 weeks of concentrated emphasis on stewardship education and

commitment which will culminate on ―Consecration Sunday‖ on November 14. Pastor Loesch will also

lead us in a Bible study during this phase.Lastly, the Fulfillment Phase will provide follow-up of offerings, evaluation of the program and on-going attention to stewardship education.Our next meeting will be held July 16 at 8:45 AM . Anyone wishing to attend is encouraged to doso and no reservations are required. We would like the Board of Finance and Pastor Voss to join us forthat meeting.

John 17-22-24Jesus Prays for Our Unity and Glory

“I have given them the glory that you gave me,

that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

“Father, I want those you have given me to be

with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me be-

fore the creation of the world.”

Board of Stewardship

ABLAZE

—Let’s Fill the Bucket!

The Hometown News

EDITOR: Susan SkallebergASSISTANT EDITOR: Pastor David VossPRODUCTION EDITOR: Karen Van WorthThank you to all who submitted articles and information to thisnewsletter.SUBMISSIONSWe encourage you to submit your articles and ideas electronicallyto: sueskalleberg@yahoo.com or call 731-6959Newsletter information is due in by the third Sunday of the month.CONTRIBUTORSWe are looking for regular contributors to the Hometown News.If there is a certain article you would like to write on a regularbasis, please let us know so we can discuss it with you. Young andold are encouraged to volunteer for this very important newslet-ter.SAVE MONEY AND PAPERThe Hometown News is posted online at the same time it ismailed. Please consider reading it online so we can save on post-age and paper. It can be found on the home page of our churchwebsite: nazluthchurch.com

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July 2010

We are half way through our 5 year commitment to financially support the work of Ablaze!However, our contributions have fallen way off with only $205 received for the year against ouryearly commitment of $2170. It is time to get those contributions back on track so we are bringingback the ABLAZE! BUCKET!Perhaps we should call it the

Amazing Ablaze! Bucket

because when that bucket was outfront where we could see it, contributions were very good. Remember, our contributions are sup-

porting the district’s mission work being planned, the work being implemented and the work ongo-

ing to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the unchurched in our district includ-ing our very own community of Hopewell. Envelopes in which to place your Ablaze! offerings are

Glory to God on the highest and praise to the lead-ers of each Committee who have provided updatesto the congregation this month. Our communica-tion with one another not only keeps us united in Mission, but engaged with each other and the op- portunities to serve in our church.