Grace Lutheran Church

Pastor July-August Gleanings Newsletter Article “Summertime Fun”

Dear Saints of Grace,

The beautiful outdoors are wonderful in Western New York during the summer. Many people would like summer to start earlier for certain but what summer we do receive is gorgeous. But a challenge comes up during the summer, how do we squeeze everything we want to do into such a tight time frame? There are so many places and events to get out and enjoy.

Hanover, New Jersey has been asked by the Hanover Township Interreligious Council to not make available its fields for sports on Sundays. The officials praised the pastors for their proposal but questioned its feasibility, answering that they do not have enough fields or time to schedule all the games and practices without utilizing Sunday. One official suggested to not allow scheduling of games until after 12:30pm.

It is becoming clear throughout our country that many leagues do not even make the attempt to avoid scheduling games or practices on Sunday mornings. In some homes the message becomes “attending church is important unless it conflicts with…”

It is hard to “remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy” (the third commandment) when the mind and body are not in the house of the Lord. Though for all of us it is important that we do not bring the focus upon one day over any other day. The importance of the third commandment, Martin Luther explained is “We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”

Notice that Luther brings the focus not to the day but to the Word of God. Obedience to the righteousness of God is not about making sure our behinds are in the pews on a particular day. God has given us His Word to feed and nourish our bodies and souls with the good news of the forgiveness of sin. We should desire to be in the House of the Lord to be fed with the good news and not find ourselves legislated into attending worship services. It is interesting the pastors in Hanover wanted to make the Sabbath Day an issue of legislation rather than relying on their encouragement to choose the church service instead of the soccer pitch. Consider if instead of the pastors, it was all of the parents saying no to Sunday morning games. Would they still be scheduled?

What do we do until the day comes when Sunday morning sports no longer are scheduled? First I desire that there be some conversation in homes about the importance of regularly being present in the Divine Service. Some tough choices about worship or sports may need to happen in some families, if sports are consistently and always scheduled preventing the family from attending worship. On the other hand I understand the small summer season we have and the strain this puts into scheduling leisure for people. To help give options Grace Lutheran Church offers a Saturday night service at 5:00pm. This summer also we have started Sundays a 9:30am Morning Prayer service besides keeping the regular Sunday morning Divine Service at 10:30am. During the summer we continue to staff the nursery at the 10:30am Sunday service. Also at the 10:30am service during the summer we operate a Summer Sunday School program for children 3 years old to fourth grade.

No matter your summer plans do not neglect the preaching of God’s Word or despise it. Find the time to get into God’s Word and with a humble and contrite heart come to God trusting in his forgiveness secured for you by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Peace,

Check out Inside

- VBS Registration “Friendship Trek” July 21-25

- Information about Pastor Gaertner’s Divine Call to become
the Pastor of Pinnacle Lutheran Church, Henrietta, NY