Praise the Lord! Praise God in the sanctuary; Praise God with the sound of the trumpet; praise God with the lute and harp! Praise God with timbrel and dance; Praise God with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise God with loud cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

                                                                                                               —- Psalm 150

September 2010

Dear Partners in the Gospel, 

We enter a concert hall or sanctuary, find our seats, and listen with anticipation as the orchestra or music team tune their instruments. The sound is often discordant, not melodic. But the tuning is simply a prelude to either the concert or to worship.

C.S. Lewis suggested that’s how it is with our devotional practice and even our worship services. Sometimes they sound discordant, but God hears our prayers and praises with Fatherly delight. And each time we worship and praise we are really preparing for participation in the glorious symphony of heaven. Now we are making a minuscule contribution to the harmonies of angelic and redeemed hosts ,that wonderful cloud of witnesses who cheer us on in our race of faith. 

Our worship, praise and adoration, pleases the heart of God more than the finest renditions of earth’s greatest orchestras. And a child of God whose heart is  filled with praise and who lifts up their voice–harmonious, hoarse or harsh–brings great joy to our Creator God. 

Almost two months ago we declared that Peace Lutheran would be a House of Praise.  And we have been true to our word. I don’t know about each of you, but I leave worship each week with a song in my heart that carries me through the week until the next time we gather together to offer our prayers and our praises.

I sense that even our attitudes are transformed when we realize that our worship and praise as the people of Peace Lutheran brings such delight to God’s heart while at the same time filling our hearts with joy and peace. We are so blessed to be able to pray, praise and fellowship together in a church sanctuary that resounds with joy and singing. 

Can’t you just feel it in the air!  Grace and peace abound here!

Joyfully, heartily resounding,

Let every instrument and voice

Peal out the praise of grace abounding

Calling the whole world to rejoice and praise!

                               —-Routly

 

Peace Lutheran Church … A House of Praise.

In service to Christ,

Pastor Sue

My house shall be called a house of prayer, says the Lord; in it all who ask shall receive, all who seek shall find, and all who knock shall have the door opened to them.

Dear Partners in the Gospel,

We have been gathering as Peace Lutheran ELCA for a month now, and what a joy and delight it has been to worship together, pray, fellowship, learn and work toward a common goal together.

We’ve accomplished much for the furtherance of God’s kingdom in these short weeks. We’ve named ourselves Peace Lutheran, ELCA. We’ve described ourselves as a House of Prayer, a House of Praise, and a House of Peace!

We have our phone established, our webpage created, we have a summer contract with our brothers and sisters in Christ at First Congregational UCC, and we are negotiating for a longer term contract for the fall. In the very near future we will vote on a church logo so we can announce to the greater community that a vibrant worship community has formed among them which is committed to prayer, praise and peace.

In this month’s newletter article, I would like to focus briefly no our descriptive phrase: A House of Prayer. I belive the greates reputation of Peace Lutheran Church should be as a House of Prayer. Churches have reputation as a great singing church, a great preaching church, a great program church. But how long has it been since someone referred to a church as a praying church? It has been said, The church is dying on its feet because it is not living on its knees.

Someone asked Rev. Billy Graham why he should go to a church since he gets nothing out of it. Billy Graham responded that there are three reasons why we go to church.

First, we go to worship God. In other words, we should focus no God, not on ourselves or on other people. The Bible states in Psalms96:1 and 6, Come, let us sing for joy Lord–let us bow down in worship.  As we enther church on the Lord’s Day, we should ask God to help us focus our mind and heart on God.

Secondly, we go to learn from God’s Word. God wants to teach us about God’s unconditional love for us through the life, minstery, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the way Gods does that is through the preaching and teaching of the Bible. Our prayer shold be that of Samuel, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. (1 Sam. 3:9)

Thirdly, we go to encourage, help and support one another. It is unfortunate when people come to a church service and never speak to another person, because as Christians we need each other. We need a strong community willing to pray for the church, the world, and all in need, and to pray that God will use us to uplift someone who needs to hear of the saving grace of God in their life.

My fervent prayer is that nothing distract us from always giving God our heartfelt worship and that Peace will always strive to be that House of Prayer, Praise and Peace.

Blessings,

Pastor Sue