For today, we provide you with the Prayer of the Day from our hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, for Thanksgiving Day.
Almighty God our Father, your generous goodness comes to us new every day. By the work of your Spirit lead us to acknowledge your goodness, give thanks for your benefits, and serve you in willing obedience, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
We give thanks for you and for your partnership and generosity every day.
Pastors Seth and Jenn
Remember that if you (or someone you know) has no place to be today, join us on Thursday for our free community meal, 11-2. We begin Advent in worship next Sunday at 8:30 and 11.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Lenten Devotional Being Prepared
Hi all.
Your help is needed.
Do you ever read these daily devotionals and think, "I've got something to say too?"
Do you ever wonder why Pastor Seth and Pastor Jenn get to have all the fun of writing these messages?
Do you have something to share?
I'm sure that you do, whether you know it or not.
So, we are again this year preparing a Lenten devotional booklet for All Saints written by the people of All Saints.
If you should decide to put your name on the writer's list, you will get:
Your help is needed.
Do you ever read these daily devotionals and think, "I've got something to say too?"
Do you ever wonder why Pastor Seth and Pastor Jenn get to have all the fun of writing these messages?
Do you have something to share?
I'm sure that you do, whether you know it or not.
So, we are again this year preparing a Lenten devotional booklet for All Saints written by the people of All Saints.
If you should decide to put your name on the writer's list, you will get:
- an assigned biblical text (usually 6-10 verses)
- a deadline (in mid-January)
- instructions and guidance, as much as you'd like.
Write your thoughts about what these passages are saying to you. What do they make you think of? What do you learn about God from them? What do you learn about yourself from them? Use the booklets "Christ in our Home" or the daily email devotionals as inspiration. But make it your own. Share your thoughts with your sisters and brothers.
Finally submit the following via email: your key verses, 250-350 word reflection, and how you would like your name to be printed.
These will be printed together in a booklet for our congregation, the booklet will be made into a pdf and put on our congregation's website, and the devotions will be emailed as part of our daily email devotional plan for the season of Lent 2011.
If you would be willing to share your thoughts and to help us create this project, please respond via email to pastorseth@allsaintspalatine.org
ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday
Psalm 24:7 Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
This passage comes from that great poetic tradition of personifying inanimate objects. The psalmist calls on the gates and the doors of all of Jerusalem to open because the King of glory is coming. I picture a cartoon-setting where the psalmist cries out "Lift up your heads, O gates!" and the gate wakes up quickly from a long slumber. The gate shakes off the last bits of sleep and opens up just in time to let the Lord pass through.
But what if we play with the personification in the other direction? What if we are the gates? What if we are the doors? Lift up your heads, O people! and be lifted up, O saints! that the King of glory may come in. This week, lift up your head and prepare yourself to be a vessel through which the King of glory can enter the world. Because you are a gate and a door. Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Join us for Thanksgiving worship tonight at 7. Bring a bag of groceries for the Palatine Food Pantry. Then join us on Thursday for our free community meal, 11-2. We begin Advent in worship next Sunday at 8:30 and 11.
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
This passage comes from that great poetic tradition of personifying inanimate objects. The psalmist calls on the gates and the doors of all of Jerusalem to open because the King of glory is coming. I picture a cartoon-setting where the psalmist cries out "Lift up your heads, O gates!" and the gate wakes up quickly from a long slumber. The gate shakes off the last bits of sleep and opens up just in time to let the Lord pass through.
But what if we play with the personification in the other direction? What if we are the gates? What if we are the doors? Lift up your heads, O people! and be lifted up, O saints! that the King of glory may come in. This week, lift up your head and prepare yourself to be a vessel through which the King of glory can enter the world. Because you are a gate and a door. Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Join us for Thanksgiving worship tonight at 7. Bring a bag of groceries for the Palatine Food Pantry. Then join us on Thursday for our free community meal, 11-2. We begin Advent in worship next Sunday at 8:30 and 11.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
ASLC Devotions - Tuesday
Isaiah 33:22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler,
the Lord is our king; he will save us.
Sometimes the church/liturgical calendar plays around with our national/secular calendar in interesting ways. Of course it's Thanksgiving week and we're all thinking about turkey and dressing and football and giving thanks. For some of us (especially those of us with young children who remind us) we're thinking about pilgrims and voyages across the ocean and being afraid of not surviving. And we remember that those pilgrims came because of a fear of a king, a ruler, a judge. They came because of a conflict with the ruler and the ruling class where they lived. They needed to go somewhere else to worship as they wanted.
In this way, Christ the King (which is the liturgical holiday just past and that we're still thinking about with this lesson) reminds us that we have a righteous and a just king. No matter where we live, no matter if we like the government or the politics or the system... we have a ruler who will save us. The Lord is our king. Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Join us for Thanksgiving worship Wednesday evening at 7. Bring a bag of groceries for the Palatine Food Pantry. Then join us on Thursday for our free community meal, 11-2. We begin Advent in worship next Sunday at 8:30 and 11.
the Lord is our king; he will save us.
Sometimes the church/liturgical calendar plays around with our national/secular calendar in interesting ways. Of course it's Thanksgiving week and we're all thinking about turkey and dressing and football and giving thanks. For some of us (especially those of us with young children who remind us) we're thinking about pilgrims and voyages across the ocean and being afraid of not surviving. And we remember that those pilgrims came because of a fear of a king, a ruler, a judge. They came because of a conflict with the ruler and the ruling class where they lived. They needed to go somewhere else to worship as they wanted.
In this way, Christ the King (which is the liturgical holiday just past and that we're still thinking about with this lesson) reminds us that we have a righteous and a just king. No matter where we live, no matter if we like the government or the politics or the system... we have a ruler who will save us. The Lord is our king. Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Join us for Thanksgiving worship Wednesday evening at 7. Bring a bag of groceries for the Palatine Food Pantry. Then join us on Thursday for our free community meal, 11-2. We begin Advent in worship next Sunday at 8:30 and 11.
Monday, November 22, 2010
All Saints Devotions -- Monday
Jeremiah 46:27 But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,
and do not be dismayed, O Israel;
for I am going to save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and no one shall make him afraid.
This is the time of year for the weepy "homecoming" commercials. You know the ones I mean. Somebody sneaks into the house early on Christmas morning or pops in just as the turkey is set on the Thanksgiving table. Nobody expected them to be able to make it home. Maybe there were weather problems. Maybe they lived too far away. Maybe they were in the military. Nonetheless, they make it home. Everybody cries. The viewers cry. And then I guess we go buy the coffee or batteries or cellphone plan or whatever it is that made it all possible.
I'm not selling you anything this morning. God's not selling you anything. But God promises a return more profound than any family get-together. God promises that one day we will return to God's house. One day we will be welcomed home and the feast will be set before us and nobody will be able to make us afraid ever again.
So this season as you are surrounded by love and hope, either at All Saints' Thanksgiving dinner, at your family's gathering(s) or wherever it is... look at those things as signs. They are signs of the great feast that God promises us. Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Join us for Thanksgiving worship Wednesday evening at 7. Bring a bag of groceries for the Palatine Food Pantry. Then join us on Thursday for our free community meal, 11-2. We begin Advent in worship next Sunday at 8:30 and 11.
and do not be dismayed, O Israel;
for I am going to save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and no one shall make him afraid.
This is the time of year for the weepy "homecoming" commercials. You know the ones I mean. Somebody sneaks into the house early on Christmas morning or pops in just as the turkey is set on the Thanksgiving table. Nobody expected them to be able to make it home. Maybe there were weather problems. Maybe they lived too far away. Maybe they were in the military. Nonetheless, they make it home. Everybody cries. The viewers cry. And then I guess we go buy the coffee or batteries or cellphone plan or whatever it is that made it all possible.
I'm not selling you anything this morning. God's not selling you anything. But God promises a return more profound than any family get-together. God promises that one day we will return to God's house. One day we will be welcomed home and the feast will be set before us and nobody will be able to make us afraid ever again.
So this season as you are surrounded by love and hope, either at All Saints' Thanksgiving dinner, at your family's gathering(s) or wherever it is... look at those things as signs. They are signs of the great feast that God promises us. Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Join us for Thanksgiving worship Wednesday evening at 7. Bring a bag of groceries for the Palatine Food Pantry. Then join us on Thursday for our free community meal, 11-2. We begin Advent in worship next Sunday at 8:30 and 11.
Friday, November 12, 2010
ASLC Devotions - Friday
2 Thessalonians 1:3 We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
I am by nature a cynical person. I tend to see the glass as half-empty. That's my natural way of looking at the world. I am a cynic by nature, but I'm an optimist by experience.
It's good for me to see people working together and serving together and loving one another and sacrificing for one another. And it happens all the time. I see it in the ministries of All Saints and I see it in the life of All Saints on a regular basis. I see people serving and helping and giving and sharing. I see people stepping in to offer a new idea or new excitement and energy. I see it every day. And it challenges my cynicism.
I must always give thanks to God for you, All Saints, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
This week it's back to 8:30 and 11:00 worship with Education Hour at 9:45. See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more information.
I am by nature a cynical person. I tend to see the glass as half-empty. That's my natural way of looking at the world. I am a cynic by nature, but I'm an optimist by experience.
It's good for me to see people working together and serving together and loving one another and sacrificing for one another. And it happens all the time. I see it in the ministries of All Saints and I see it in the life of All Saints on a regular basis. I see people serving and helping and giving and sharing. I see people stepping in to offer a new idea or new excitement and energy. I see it every day. And it challenges my cynicism.
I must always give thanks to God for you, All Saints, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
This week it's back to 8:30 and 11:00 worship with Education Hour at 9:45. See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more information.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
ASLC Devotions - Thursday
Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.
Paul is writing about those who worship statues and idols. They could be worshiping the true God, but instead they've chosen to worship a statue of a cow or a statue of a man or what-have-you. They've had the truth about God and they've chosen a lie instead. They're serving a creature rather than climbing right to the top of the supply chain to worship the Creator. How sad for them!
I'm so glad we don't worship statues anymore. I'm glad we don't serve statues and idols anymore.
Instead, we've exchanged the truth about God for lies and serve lots of other false gods. The more things change the more they stay the same.
What false gods or idols have you been serving lately? What has taken first place in your life lately?
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
This week it's back to 8:30 and 11:00 worship with Education Hour at 9:45. See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more information.
Paul is writing about those who worship statues and idols. They could be worshiping the true God, but instead they've chosen to worship a statue of a cow or a statue of a man or what-have-you. They've had the truth about God and they've chosen a lie instead. They're serving a creature rather than climbing right to the top of the supply chain to worship the Creator. How sad for them!
I'm so glad we don't worship statues anymore. I'm glad we don't serve statues and idols anymore.
Instead, we've exchanged the truth about God for lies and serve lots of other false gods. The more things change the more they stay the same.
What false gods or idols have you been serving lately? What has taken first place in your life lately?
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
This week it's back to 8:30 and 11:00 worship with Education Hour at 9:45. See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more information.
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