As We Gather
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit reaches to all who belong to Christ, granting a renewed and eternal life. In his Letter to Titus, Paul writes of the salvation of God our Savior and the renewal of the Holy Spirit that is for all God’s people. Assuring us that we are God’s children, the Spirit enables us to address God as our Father with all boldness and confidence—as Martin Luther affirms in his explanation of the Lord’s Prayer. When we are directed by the Spirit, our daily lives are ordered in such a way that we continually walk in a heavenly direction. The Spirit shapes our lives of prayer and of worship, interceding for us—and with us—as we worship in spirit and truth.
Communion
HOLY COMMUNION is celebrated today at the 8:00 AM Worship Service in the confession and confidence that we receive into our mouths not only bread and wine but Christ’s very body and blood to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins and to strengthen our union with Him and with one another. For more information concerning practice and belief, please read the back of the attendance card.
Communion Practice
The ministry of Good Shepherd belongs to the congregation with whom God gave the Office of the Keys. Our called ministers use our Keys publicly on our behalf. In the Sacrament of the Altar, it is God who is doing the work for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, and to strengthen faith, not the person saying the Words of Institution. “We also believe, teach, and confess unanimously that in the use of the Holy Supper the words of the institution of Christ should in no way be omitted, but should be publicly recited…” (Book of Concord, Epitome, Article VII, 9). In proper order, our Family Life Minister, who is a called minister and meets Scriptural requirements (1Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9; 1Corinthians 14:34; 1Timothy 2:12), is serving in Word and Sacrament ministry during our pastoral vacancy.
Stewardship
Acts 2:1 – “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.”
Pentecost was the Old Testament harvest festival: a time of thanksgiving, bounty, and the giving of gifts. How appropriate that in the New Testament it takes on the meaning of a new harvest: the ripe fields of the nations, bringing in the elect of every tribe and tongue to sing the Lord’s praise. Every farmer knows that it is God who gives the increase and that the harvest calls for thanksgiving.
Lutherans For Life
“[W]e demand an end to the injustice of abortion. We demand an end to the injustice of human trafficking, pornography, slavery, and the separation of children from their parents. But we do so as confessors. We confess that we are sinners, great sinners, with the culture of death flowing in our veins and pulsing through our corrupted brains. And we confess that only in Jesus is the life we need.” Rev. Christopher Esget, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Alexandria, Virginia – A Life Quote from Lutherans For Life • lutheransforlife.org
Benevolence
Benevolence fund exists to aid those seeking temporary, but immediate financial help. Please consider contributing toward our benevolence fund. The fund needs contributors to support this ministry. Please consider contributing to our benevolence fund. (Online to donate: https://www.shalimar.church/human-care)
Altar Flowers
The Altar Flower Chart is posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex by the drinking fountains. Check chart for donation opportunities and availability.
Children Sunday School
The Bible lesson for this week is “Standing Trial.” Jesus faces a farce of a trial before the high priest and the Council. Despite a parade of accusers, no two witnesses can manage to make their testimonies agree. Frustrated, the high priest asks, “Are you the Christ?” (Mark 14:61). Jesus’ response, “I am” (v. 62), enrages the high priest, who tears his clothing. Meanwhile, Peter faces his challengers in the courtyard. When bystanders accuse Peter of being a follower of the Nazarene, he denies Jesus three times, just as was foretold.
Call Committee Meeting
Please continue in your prayers for guidance from the Holy Spirit to bring and choose a suitable pastor for us. The Southern District is currently working on 16 pastoral vacancies and there was a setback in the Synod’s system used to send out the candidate lists to other Districts (who work together on screening candidates). In the meantime, the Call Committee is reviewing candidates through their public Live Streams to get a feel of their worship preferences and sermon style. Furthermore, we are reviewing our Pastor Position Description and writing a Congregational narrative that we forward to prospective candidates. God will bring us a suitable pastor on His schedule.
Youth Group
Council Meeting
Let us do everything with love. The Church Council is a gathering of elected advisers who serve and guide the ministries of the congregation toward our given mission. (Matthew 28:19-20). We meet in the library.
Updated Schedules
Thank you for your willingness to serve the Lord through the congregation. Updated schedules for the next quarter are available at www.shalimar.church/volunteers.
Mite Boxes
Lutheran Women in Mission use the Mite Box to gather loose change throughout the month to support national, district, and local ministries. Lutheran Women all over, raise funds through this voluntary offering. The first Sunday of the month is when we receive your collected mites in the LWML Mite Box.
Commemoration of Emperor Constantine, Ruler and Helena, Mother
The Church honors saints for showing us tangible demonstrations of how living out faith can be done.
Constantine I served as Roman Emperor from A.D. 306 to 337. During his reign the persecution of Christians was forbidden by the Edict of Milan in 312, and ultimately the faith gained full imperial support. Constantine took an active interest in the life and teachings of the church and called the Council of Nicaea in 325 at which orthodox Christianity was defined and defended. His mother, Helena (ca. 255-329), strongly influenced Constantine. Her great interest in locating the holy sites of the Christian faith led her to become one of the first Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Her research led to the identification of Biblical locations in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and beyond, which are still maintained as places of worship today.
Source: Lutheran Calendar of Saints
Anniversary of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (67)
‘Unless the Lord Builds the House, Those Who Build It Labor in Vain’ (Psalms 127:1)
May 24, 1956 Good Shepherd (GSLC) was received into membership of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS)
The Lord will dwell where He wishes. Even Solomon had to acknowledge that his magnificent temple was not the Lord’s dwelling as if He could be contained by it (1Kings 8:27). David planned the temple, but the Lord planned to “make [him] a house” (2Samuel 7:11). From David’s line came Jesus, the Son of Man with “nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). The Church isn’t our building but His (Matthew 16:18). He doesn’t wait for our invitation. Rather, as with Zacchaeus, He “must stay at your house today,” for He seeks and saves the lost (Luke 19:5-10). Come in our flesh, now “the dwelling place of God is with men.” He speaks His Word, creates faith and forgives sins. He makes “all things new,” for by His sacrificial blood He prepares a Church for Himself, a “holy city” and “bride.” At the last, we will behold new Jerusalem with tear-free eyes (Revelation 21:2-5), although now we sojourn in the world, unwelcome as He was. But wherever the Lord’s name is, there He is to bless (Numbers 6:27), to hear and to forgive (1Kings 8:29-30). “Today salvation has come to this house” also (Luke 19:9).
Commemoration of Esther
The Church honors saints for showing us tangible demonstrations of how living out faith can be done.
Esther is the heroine of the biblical book that bears her name. Her Jewish name was Hadassah, which means "myrtle." Her beauty, charm, and courage served her well as queen to King Ahasuerus. In that role she was able to save her people from the mass extermination that Haman, the king's chief advisor, had planned (Esther 2:19-4:17). Esther's efforts to uncover the plot resulted in the hanging of Haman on the very same gallows that he had built for Mordecai, her uncle and guardian. Then the king named Mordecai minister of state in Haman's place. This story is an example of how God intervenes on behalf of his people to deliver them from evil, as here through Esther he preserved the Old Testament people through whom the Messiah would come.
Source: Lutheran Calendar of Saints
Commemoration of Bede the Venerable, Theologian
The Church honor's saints for showing us how living out faith can be done.
Bede the Venerable (673-735) was born near the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. Orphaned as a child, at the age of seven his relatives gave him to Abbot Benedict (Biscop) and afterward to Ceolfrid, to be educated. In his nineteenth year he was admitted to the diaconate; in his thirtieth, to the priesthood, both by the hands of Bishop John of Beverley and at the bidding of Abbot Ceolfrid. Bede, the scholar, grammarian, philosopher, poet, biographer, and historian spent the greater part of his life at Jarrow, hardly leaving the monastery. There he died May 26, 735.Bede was above all a student of history and theology, and a teacher whose aim it was to teach his pupils the knowledge necessary both to salvation and to the understanding of Christian theology and history. To this end he wrote a series of textbooks and treatises that were used in western Europe’s schools for many centuries. The work that contributed most to his fame is the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a well-arranged and straightforward account of the establishment and growth of the Christian Church in England. In this work he mentions that he is the author of a Liber hymnorum diverso metro sive rhythmo, a book containing both metrical and rhythmical hymns. Unfortunately this book has not survived, but Blume and Dreves in their Analecta hymnica, vol. 50, include no less than sixteen hymns considered to be genuine Bede hymns.
Source: LCMS Calendar of Commemorations.