Defense of Marriage Acts

We don’t need a law to defend marriage and family. As Christians, we always seek to defend family and do good. However, this month let’s make an intentional effort to do things that celebrate and support marriage and family. Below are some suggestions:

• When you see a child or children behaving well, compliment them. Better yet, compliment them to their parents.
• When visiting with someone find a way to compliment his/her spouse.
• When visiting with children find a way to compliment their parents.
• We look for ways to support all people who struggle with sin. We do this because we’re sinners, and we know that all people need support in battling sin. If you know of someone struggling with sins that affect family (like pornography or homosexuality), look for ways to develop a healthy relationship with them. Find positive things to do together.
• Give a gift or card to someone who is suffering from a divorce. Better yet, invite them to an activity like a game or a movie.
• Personally, recognize and commend couples who are not living together outside of marriage.
• Recognize and commend single celibate people.
• Give a couple who has suffered from miscarriage or still birth a remembrance of their child(ren). (Maybe a card, flowers, statue, picture)
• Offer free babysitting for a couple with young children.
• Always celebrate expecting mothers.
• Visit or write a note to people who have lost family members, especially to parents who have lost adult children.

Do you have suggestions??? Feel free to share. Also, we hope that you will anonymously share experiences wherein you or someone else defended family with an act of kindness. This is not to pat ourselves on the back. This is so that others might be able to rejoice in the good that was done. Maybe one act of kindness will spur someone else to do another act. You can leave suggestions or the description of what you did at the office, or in the box in the narthex, or in the comments section below.

Worship

I found the following words to be helpful, and commend them to anyone who might read this:

The reason we need the traditional worship forms and weekly Eucharist is because we are sinners. That has not changed since 1530. What has changed is that our culture is even more self-centered (living in a 24-7 entertainment culture) and less influenced by Christian doctrine and practice than in the days of the reformers. The solution is not to compromise either our doctrine or our practice. The solution is the opposite: to be faithful to our doctrine and practice - because our faith is not something that changes with every whim of the culture. We cling to traditional marriage and traditional liturgy - even though hipsters and celebrities tell us both are no longer relevant. 

They only lose their relevance when Christians reject them in order to be popular.

The entire post can be found from the link below:
http://www.gottesdienstonline.blogspot.com/2013/05/in-our-churches-mass-is-celebrated.html

No Midweek

There is no Midweek on Wednesday, March 27th. We will return to Midweek on April 3rd.

We hope you will be able to join us for worship Monday - Thursday at 7 pm; Good Friday at 7: 30 at Zion; Saturday Easter Vigil at 8pm, and Easter Sunday at 8:30 followed by a breakfast.

A blessed Holy Week to you all.