The Festival of Pentecost – The Gift of the Holy Spirit – Confirmation

May 31st, 2020 1550 S. Osborne Avenue Janesville, Wis. 53546 Phone: 608-752-0258

www.peacejanesville.com

Worshipping Together:Thursdays – 7:00 p.m. Sundays – 9:00 a.m. Studying God’s Word Together:

Sunday School and Sun./Thurs. Adult Bible Class will resume in September. Midweek weekly morning Bible study: Wednesdays – 9:00 a.m.

Various non-weekly study groups are listed the weeks they meet.

Richard Wm. Lehmann, pastor rwlehmann@sbcglobal.net

Peace Ev. Lutheran is a member of theWisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and of the world-wide

Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC)

“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit! – Acts 2:3-4

The PEACE of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. --- Philippians 4:7

Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church – Janesville, Wisconsin Pentecost Sunday May 31st, 2020 Volume 62 No. 43

Theme of Pentecost: The Holy Spirit Gives Life (“Quickens” Us—Makes us “Alive” in Jesus) Pentecost is derived from the Greek pente—costa (50th). It was a Jewish term used to refer to the Jewish festival of “The Feast of Weeks” (Hebrew: Shavaot—a spring harvest thanks-giving festival—especially of barley harvest; read Deuteronomy 16). Pentecost was held on the 50 th day after “ Firstfruits Day” of the Passover celebration—which was celebrated on the first day of the week (Sunday) immediately following Passover Day. Firstfruits Day was the day on which God had planned, from of old, for the resurrection of the Messiah to occur—namely, Easter Sunday—since Jesus was the “first-fruits” to rise from the dead to demonstrate He will raise us as the “latter-fruits.”1 Corinthians 15:20

Being a long-time Jewish festival, many Jews came to Jerusalem from around the Roman Empire to celebrate it, as well as to do other annual sacrificing that the Old Covenant required. That’s why Jerusalem was filled with so many out-of-towners. And the Holy Spirit—using that day to convert 3000 Jews to Jesus as their Savior—immediately turned those “out-of-towners” into instant foreign missionaries who took back home the news that the Messiah had come in Jesus of Nazareth. Because of the massive conversion that happened on that first Christian Pentecost, it has been nicknamed the “birthday of the New Testament Christian Church.”

Our annual observances of Pentecost give us a time to reflect on the Holy Spirit’s power-ful work in the Church in converting, sustaining, and building up—breathing “life” into our souls that are actually born “dead-to-God.” Born “dead-to-God,” we naturally have sinful Old Adams that the Devil tempts to take the eternal things of God lightly and make the stuff of this passing world more important in our priorities. By God’s grace, the power of the Holy Spirit changes us through Baptism and the Word—further strengthening us in the Lord’s Supper—to become spiritually alive. We actually turn to God in repentance and a life of loving thanks, worship, and service for His unearnable love for us. In the confirmation of Samuel Schmidt today we see such evidence.

Welcome to our guests and visitors in our Lord’s saving name! May your worship among us prove uplifting and instructional for your faith and understanding of Jesus Christ as our only Savior and Lord. Please introduce yourself to the Pastor. Our restrooms are located in the narthex hallway to your right as you exit the sanctuary proper; each has a diaper changing station. Large print bulletins are available at the entryway to the sanctuary. If you have hearing problems, please speak with an usher about our portable hearing devices that enable you to hear the service comfortably.If the Lord has blessed you with children, we’re glad that you brought them to His house to train them in faithful worship habits! Please make sure you get a “Children’s Bulletin” (ages 3-10) from an usher; they highlight the Gospel reading of the day. You will also notice that, near the downstairs stairwell, there is a hook tree with activity bags; please make use of the materials inside of them, but return the bag after the worship service so that we can continue to use them for future children’s materials. If any of your children are getting restless and you need a moment alone with them, please make use of the room near the bathroom (room with double doors); you will be able to continue to hear the service on the closed circuit TV located there.

Thank you for coming, and please join us again.

Pentecost “Birthday” of the New Testament Church

Confirmation Sunday May 31st, 2020

Coming Before the Lord in HumilityOpening Versicles and Trinitarian Invocation (from Joel 2:28/Acts 2:16; 1st Corinthians 2:12-13)In the Last Days I will pour out My Spirit on all people—even on My servants, both

men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days…and everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God,so that we may understand what God has freely given us, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit.Come Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love!

We worship in the name of the Living God:God the Father, Creator and Preserver of all, God the Son (†), our Redeemer and Lord of lords, and God the Holy Spirit, Lifegiver and Sanctifier. C: Amen.

Opening Hymn ♫ CW#190 We Now Implore God the Holy Ghost 1 We now implore God the Holy Ghost for the true faith, which we need the most,That in our last moments He may befriend us, and, as homeward we journey, attend us.Lord, have mercy! 2 Shine in our hearts, O most precious Light, that we Jesus Christ may know aright,clinging to our Savior, whose blood has bought us, who again to our homeland has brought us. Lord, have mercy!3 O sacred Love, grace on us bestow; set our hearts with heav'nly fire aglowthat with hearts united we love each other, of one mind, in peace with ev'ry brother.Lord, have mercy! 4 O highest Comfort in ev'ry need, grant that neither shame nor death we heed,that e'en then our courage may never fail us when the foe shall accuse and assail us.Lord, have mercy!

Please stand.

Coming Before God in Humility — Public Confession and Absolution Dear friends, let us approach God with a true heart and confess our sins to God

our Father, asking Him, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to forgive usand to send the Holy Spirit to us to change us from within to desire God’s will.

Lord of Life, I confess that I am by nature dead in sin.For faithless worrying and selfish pride, for sins of habit and sins of choice,for the evil I have done and the good I have failed to do,

You should cast me away from Your holy presence forever. O Lord, I am truly sorry for my sins and for my indifference to Your holy will and love. Forgive me for Jesus’ sake! He paid the price for my sins that would take me an eternity to pay. Give me the Holy Spirit to set my heart aright to live in faithful love and humility towards You.“You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of

Adoption! By Him we cry, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit, Himself, testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” -- (Romans 8:16-17)

Therefore, receive the full and free forgiveness of our Lord with thanks and praise: By the authority of God and of my office as a called and ordained servant of the Word,

I assure you of the forgiveness of your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayer of the Day: Let us pray. Holy Spirit, come to us this joyful day with Your sevenfold gift of grace!—the spirit

1) of the LORD, 2) of wisdom, and 3) of understanding; the spirit 4) of counsel and 5) of power; the spirit 6) of knowledge and 7) of the fear of the Lord. Isaiah

11:2-3 Exhume out of us the deadness of our sinful self-centeredness and, instead, breathe into us genuine life in and with the Living God. Rekindle in our hearts the holy fire of Your love that, in a true and living faith, we may tell others about the full glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Father as one God, now and forever. Amen.

Be seated.

The WORD of our GOD Today’s Appointed Scripture Readings

(ILCW Series A)

Epistle Lesson — The Pentecost Account Acts 2:1-21 While God caused multiple languages at Babel, some 2500 years earlier, as a judgment upon defiant mankind,

He wouldn’t allow language differences to hinder preaching the saving Gospel to the world. Thus, He “reversed” the curse of Babel, giving the apostles the sudden gift of knowing foreign languages. And how absolutely foolish, even dia-bolical, for some to suggest that wine-drinking was at the basis for these “unschooled” apostles to be speaking in foreign languages!! Who ever learns an actual foreign language by getting drunk?! In doing this miracle, and in using the power of the Word, the Holy Spirit not only converted many, but those, who were from different countries, He used as His first foreign missionaries when they went home and shared this news with others.

1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to

rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [“languages”] as the Spirit enabled them.

5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under hea-ven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native lan-guage? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism) Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" 13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They’ve had too much wine." 14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the pro-phet Joel: [chapter 2:28-32] 17"In the last days [the New Testament Era], God says: ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, [i.e profess the Gospel] your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18Even on my servants, both men and wo- men, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!’ ” In place of the Psalm of the Day : ♫ Be Thou My Vision….traditional Irish sacred folksong

1.Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; naught be all else to me, save that Thou art -Thou my best thought, by day or by night; waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.2.Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise; Thou mine inheritance, now and always; Thou and thou only first in my heart, High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.3.High King of heaven, my victory won, may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun!Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

The Announcement of the GospelThe Holy Gospel is recorded in the 7th chapter of the Gospel of John, reading verses 37-39.Glory be to You, O Lord! (spoken)I invite you to read it along with me:

The Holy Gospel John 7:37-39 On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (a Fall Festival in early October that commemorated the forty years of

Wilderness Wandering as well as a time of Autumn Thanksgiving), Jesus promised the Holy Spirit, as well as the faith and “gifts” that would flow forth (like “rivers”) from those who believed. If you read John 7, you will notice that there is swirling controversy among the people as to whether Jesus is or isn’t the Messiah. It is about ½ year away from His cruci-fixion and resurrection when He proclaims these words to a “divided” crowd.

37On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood[in the Temple courts] and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. 38Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that

time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

This is the Gospel of our Lord.Praise be to You, O Christ!

The Sermon Hymn (“Class” hymn) ♫ CW#402 My Faith Looks Up To Thee1 My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine.Now hear me while I pray; take all my guilt away, oh, let me from this day be wholly Thine.2 May Thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart; my zeal inspire! As Thou hast died for me, oh may my love to Thee pure, warm, and changeless be, a living fire!3 While life's dark maze I tread, and griefs around me spread, be Thou my guide;Bid darkness turn to day, wipe sorrow's tears away, nor let me ever stray from Thee aside.4 When ends life's transient dream, when death's cold, sullen stream shall o'er me roll,blest Savior, then, in love, fear and distrust remove. O bear me safe above, a ransomed soul!

The Sermon Deuteronomy 31:8 Follow the Faithful Lord — Sam’s chosen confirmation passage 1. He is the epitome of “Faithful” 2. He is the Invincible Protector. 3. He is the consummate EncouragerThe LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged.

We Respond to the WORD of our God We respond by professing our conviction to God, offering Him our sacrificial firstfruits, and coming to Him in prayer.

The Profession of our Faith The Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed and Luther’s Explanation I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy Christian church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen!

What does this mean?

I believe that I cannot, by my own thinking or choosing, believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and fully forgives all sins to me and all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and He will give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true!

The Offering of our “firstfruits” Normally we give you the opportunity to give Jesus your firstfruits at this time, but to keep everyone from touching the plates, we will have them in the back of the church as you leave to place your sacrificial offering in, as we do during mid-week services in Advent and Lent. As you leave at that time, we will start dismissing you from the back.

The Rite of Confirmation To the congregation: Please refrain from taking flash pictures during this sacred rite.

Reenactments can be done following the service. Thank you. 1. The Solemn Vows 2. Prayer and Lord’s Prayer (traditional)

3. Presentation at the Altar 4. The Invitation and Welcome

Candidate is Samuel Robert Schmidt

The Sacrament of Holy CommunionBecause of the earnest blessings, but also warnings, which God’s Word gives about this powerful meal that Jesus established, and because of the unity in doctrine from Scripture, and the moral-spiritual “life” that our communing confesses, Peace Lutheran practices member communion. It is important to know what you are confessing and how you are living as you eat this sacred meal “with” and “of” Jesus Himself. Please contact Pastor Lehmann to discuss this practice and God’s Word, as well as the love for Christ and our fellowman that motivates such an understanding and practice of Holy Communion.

The Lord be with you. And also with you.Lift Up your hearts. We lift them up to the LordLet us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give Him thanks and praise!

Prayer of ThanksgivingBlessed are You, O Lord God of heaven and earth. We praise and thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, and we remember the great acts of love through which he has ransomed us from sin, death, and the devil’s power.

By His incarnation, He became one with us.By His perfect life, He fulfilled Your holy will.By His innocent death, He overcame hell.By His rising from the grave, He opened heaven,

Invited by Your grace and instructed by Your Word, we approach Your table with repentant and joyful hearts. Strengthen us through Christ’s body and blood, and preserve us in the rue faith until we feast with Him and all His ransomed people in glory everlasting. Amen.

The Words of Institution Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; this is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

The “Pax Domini”The peace of the Lord be with you always. Amen.

O Christ, Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) ♫ -- from Christian Worship-Suppl., DS 1, pg. 25 Music by Kermit Moldenhauer ©2002 Reprinted under OneLicense.net A-716625

The Distribution1. Please wait for the ushers to give you direction on when to approach the altar.2. The immediate Schmidt family will attend first in honor of Sam’s first communing. 3. Approach the altar with approximately six feet between individuals. Families living

together may stand more closely together.4. Cup your hands in order to receive the wafer without touching the distributor’s hand5. When the communion cup is given you, grab it from the bottom and avoid touching the

distributor’s hand.6. If any children come forward for a blessing, pastor will not be touching their heads with

his hand.7. The hymn texts have been printed in the bulletin so that you need not touch any hymnals.

Communion Distribution Hymns: ♫ CW#181 Come, O Come, Life-Giving SpiritCW#419 If God Himself Be for Me

CW#181 Come, O Come, Life-Giving Spirit 1Come, O come, life-giving Spirit, God from all eternity!May Your power never fail us; dwell within us constantly.Then shall truth and life and light banish all the gloom of night.2 Show us, Lord, the path of blessing. When we trespass on our way,cast, O Lord, our sins behind You and be with us day by day.Should we stray, O Lord, recall; work repentance when we fall.3With our spirit, Lord, bear witness that we are the saints of God who rely upon Him solely when we’re chastened by the rod. For we know, as children should, that the cross is for our good.4 Prompt us, Lord, to come before Him with a childlike heart to pray;Sigh for us, O Holy Spirit when we know not what to say.Then our prayer is not in vain, and our faith new strength shall gain.5Grant our hearts in fullest measure wisdom, counsel, purity,that we always strive to please You, working for You willingly.Let the Gospel spread and grow, bringing Satan's overthrow.

CW#419 If God Himself Be for Me 1If God Himself be for me, I may a host defy; For when I pray, before me my foes, confounded, fly.If Christ, my head and master, befriend me from above,what foe or what disaster can drive me from His love?

2This I believe, yea, rather, of this I make my boast,that God is my dear Father, my Friend who loves me most,and that, whate’er betide me, my Savior is at handThro’ stormy seas to guide me and bring me safe to land.3I build on this foundation, that Jesus and His bloodalone are my salvation, my true, eternal good.Without Him all that pleases is valueless on earth;The gifts I have from Jesus alone have priceless worth.4He canceled my offenses, delivered me from death;He is the Lord who cleanses my soul from sin through faith.In Him I can be cheerful, courageous on my way;In Him I am not fearful of God’s great Judgment Day.5No sin can now condemn me or set my hope aside;Now hell no more can claim me; its fury I deride.No sentence now reproves me, no ill destroys my peace;For Christ, my Savior, loves me and shields me with His grace.6No danger, thirst, or hunger, no pain or poverty, no earthly tyrant’s anger shall ever vanquish me. Though earth should break asunder, You are my Savior true; no fire or sword or thunder shall sever me from You.7My heart for joy is springing and can no more be sad,’Tis full of joy and singing, sees only sunshine glad.The Sun that cheers my spirit is Jesus Christ, my King;The heaven I shall inherit makes me rejoice and sing.

After the Distribution:

The ThanksgivingO give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.And His mercy endures forever.

Prayer of ThanksgivingWe give You thanks, O Lord, for the foretaste of the heavenly banquet that You have given us to eat and to drink in this sacrament. Through this gift You have fed our faith, nourished our hope, and strengthened our love. By Your Spirit help us to live as Your people until that day when You will receive us as Your heavenly guests at the wedding supper of the Lamb, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Aaronic Benediction The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace. Amen.

Closing Hymn-Prayer ♫ CW#449 Children of the Heavenly Father1Children of the heav’nly Father safely in His bosom gatherNestling bird nor star in Heaven such a refuge e’er was given.2God, His own doth tend and nourish; In His holy courts they flourish.From all evil things He spares them; in His mighty arms He bears them3Neither life nor death shall ever from the Lord, His children sever.Unto them His grace He showeth and their sorrows all He knoweth.4Though He giveth or He taketh God His children ne’er forsaketh.His, the loving purpose solely to preserve them, pure and holy

Announcements======================================================================== Following the service, Pastor Lehmann and Samuel Schmidt will proceed to the narthex together. Sam’s parents are invited, also, to proceed with Sam. If it is not raining, they will stand by steps-and-ramp area outside the wooden doors. At this point, do not feel compelled to shake his hand, but you can express your congratulations. Also, as you leave today, the ushers will usher you out from the back towards the front in order to provide appropriate social distancing. Please DO NOT STAND AROUND AND TALK IN THE NARTHEX.You are invited to do as much visiting as you want outdoors. Lastly, we want to give you a special remembrance of this return to “in house” worship on Pentecost. So as you leave, a council member will be offering you a special, useful, little memento.

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Announcements and InformationKnown to be hospitalized this week: Charlotte Birkholz (St. Mary-Janesville—5th floor)

Adult Bible Class : The Thursday and Sunday classes will not meet until September, as also the Sunday School will not meet until then. The midweek Bible Readers will resume our gatherings this week, Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall on the Lower Level. We’ll have coffee but won’t plan on “treats” unless someone wants to bring something packaged.

Vacation Bible School All our families have received the special flyer of the Virtual VBS we’ll be offering (on your local computer) from Georgia. Please remember that, if you want to participate, you must sign up on the Abiding Grace Website by Monday, June 8th. Pastor or Deb will then get you the appointed materials by that Friday. Jonathan Lehmann will be conducting it from Abiding Grace in Covington, Georgia.

Communion: While we have communion in today’s Pentecost service, we will also offer it next Sunday, Trinity Sunday, as it is a “normal” Sunday to offer it. But on June 21st—Father’s Day (and a normal time to offer Communion) Pastor Krueger will be subbing for Pastor Lehmann, who will be returning from Covington, Georgia with Deb and Daniel. Not to make it too difficult for Pastor Krueger, we will postpone that communion until the following Sunday, June 28th. So our first three communings together, in “re-opening” are May 31st (Pentecost), June 7th (Trinity Sunday), and June 28th. At the time of writing this bulletin, we will likely have a Thursday service, too, starting this week (June 4th), and that, too, would have the Lord’s Supper offered, in accordance with June 7th.

Our Summer blood drive is slated for Wednesday, July 1st, Noon-6 p.m. Mark it on your calendar. You can sign up, now, to give blood either by calling 1-800-RedCross or by signing up online at http://www.redcrossblood.org/

Electronic giving We’ve explained this in the June newsletter as well as in the recent worship bulletins. You may find this method a very handy way to faithfully give your firstfruits to the Lord! Any questions? Ask Mike Thoftne, Steve Schmidt, or Doug Baron.

Publications in back: The June issue of Forward in Christ includes an editorial by Pastor Peter Prange, a son of our congregation. There are also copies of past issues as well as the current issues of Meditations and Portals of Prayer and some “hard copies” of our June church newsletter Peace to You.

Peace on YouTube: This service was videoed and will be uploaded to YouTube today or tomorrow. We will send out the code by which you can gain access to it.

Church Calendar Since there aren’t any groups or committees meeting at this time, aside from the Wed. Bible Readers, the need for a weekly calendar in the bulletin may be unneces-sary. We will have in the “Information/Announcement” section the reminders of anything up-and-coming for you. There is a full-month calendar in the newsletter for the month of June. As our groups, classes, and committees start meeting again, we‘ll be able to provide “The Lord’s Week at Peace” page in our bulletin once again

Taking the Lord’s Supper

As we celebrate Holy Communion, we take it with humility and awe. It clearly is a special meal—chiefly for our souls—to which Jesus invites His followers to actually partake of His own body and blood in a miraculous way. We take it, fully confident that in, with, and under the bread and wine we are truly receiving the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ (as He said it is)—the real Passover Lamb of the world—given and poured out for our sins on the cross. We come penitently, confessing and repenting of our many offenses against God, as He and His Word (not our society) shows us what sin is. In this heavenly fellowship meal with our God, Christ reassures us of our forgiveness—sealing to us the promise of the New Testament—so that we leave the Table with determination to amend our lives and live thankfully in God’s righteous ways outlined in Scripture. To take the Lord’s Supper while consciously and impenitently living in a sinful manner is guilty of sinning against the body of Christ and brings divine judgment on an individual.1st Corinthians 11:27-29 Because Holy Communion expresses our desire for loving unity with God as well as with our congregational/Synod members in doctrine and belief, Peace Lutheran follows the historical-confessional practice of “close communion.” Confirmed members of Peace Lutheran or any of our sister WELS congregations are welcome to partake with us, though we ask you to register on the friendship register in the pews. For those not of our confessional Lutheran faith: Since we would want any participant to understand and readily support our regard for, and practice of, this sacrament, we ask that you wait until you can talk with Pastor Lehmann about our Communion observance or, better yet, request to take a “basics” course with him where we study God’s Word about the blessed significance of the sacraments as His tools—His “Means of Grace.”

With that said, may God bless and strengthen each of us as we “feast” our souls on the mes-sage of our Savior in the readings and sermon, whether you participate in the Lord’s Supper or not.Through His Word may He build up your faith and love with the Gospel message of salvation. Then, through His sacrament, may you enjoy the tangible proof that all your sins are paid for in Him and that you leave the table determined to live lovingly in the ways that God has decreed.

A more extensive explanation of the Lord’s Supper can be found in the large-pocket tract rack in our narthex. Feel free to take a copy.

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Our Christian Stewardship in giving of ourselves for our Savior Those serving us in our worship this week:Organ/piano: Today – Riley Schmidt

Scheduled Ushers GreetersSunday (31st) Church Council & Terry Meehan VolunteersThursday(4th) Michael Thoftne VolunteersSunday (7th) Duane Hoague & Michael Thoftne VolunteersThursday (11th) Michael Thoftne Volunteers

DVD Ministry to Shut-ins:Currently Delivering: Gene Johnson (deliveries currently suspended-services on YouTube)

Communion set-up this month: Communion Assistant: Sunday, May 31st - Terry Meehan Michael Thoftne Thursday, June 4th - Dee Meehan Michael Thoftne Sunday, June 7th - Terry Meehan Terry Meehan

+ + + + + + + Christian Education:

No formal Classes will meet except Wednesday Morning Bible Study

Our Financial Support of Christ’s Kingdom Work on EarthEach one should give what he has decided [pre-planned] in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver! -- 2nd Corinthians 9:7

2020 Budget Plan $2,974 2020 Budget Y.T.D. $62,455 (10 of 52 Sundays)

Received last week See below(5-26-2020) Budget Received Y.T.D. $55,074 Behind budget-$7,381

Special Gifts: $40 for Lutheran Military Support Group Memorials: None this week.

Offering Counters: May 26th – Hoague and Drake (and many others weeks before)

Building Maintenance:Cleaning

Upstairs DownstairsJune 7th – Roger & Fern Streich and Mike Jacobson(C.K.) June 7th – No Cleaning during summer months

June 14th – Volunteers June 14th – No Cleaning during summer months

Indoor Maintenance: Outdoor Maintenance:June: Duane Hoague Mowing-Tractor: Landon Lederman

DATE OF SERVICE

ENVELOPES YEAR TO DATECONTRIBUTIONS

YEAR TO DATEBUDGET

+OVER-UNDER BUDGET

05/03/20 $2,045.00 $48,974.32 $53,533.25 -$4,558.9305/10/20 $1,771.67 $51,007.66 $56,507.32 -$5,499.6605/17/20 $1,771.67 $53,041.00 $59,481.39 -$6,440.3905/24/20 $1,771.67 $55,074.34* $62,455.46 -$7,381.12

*Includes $785.00 of Electronic Giving