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Services for Lent 2024

February 12, 2024
by Pastor
in Articles, News, Uncategorized
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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

This Lent we will be diving into the Psalms for our midweek services. Specifically, the 7 Penitential Psalms. This season we will reflect on various themes in these Psalms, including sin, repentance, confession, the Law, faith, the Gospel, and especially Christ’s redemptive work to forgive your sins.

This season of Lent, we will be field-testing two midweeks, a 10 am and a 6 pm one for Ash Wednesday through Lent 5, for those who let me know they cannot drive at night. They will both be the same service/sermon. If these are well attended, I will consider doing this in future years.

Please join us at the following times:

February 14^th: Ash Wednesday (Psalm 51), Services @ 10AM & 6PM, NO Soup Supper

February 21^st: Lent 1 Midweek (Psalm 6), Services @ 10AM & 6PM, Soup Supper @ 5PM

February 28^th: Lent 2 Midweek (Psalm 38), Services @ 10AM & 6PM, Soup Supper @ 5PM

March 6^th: Lent 3 Midweek (Psalm 32), Services @ 10AM & 6PM, Soup Supper @ 5PM

March 13^th: Lent 4 Midweek (Psalm 130), Services @ 10AM & 6PM, Soup Supper @ 5PM

Marth 20^th: Lent 5 Midweek (Psalm 143), Services @ 10AM & 6PM, Soup Supper @ 5PM

March 28^th @ 6PM: Holy Thursday Service

March 29^th @ 6PM: Good Friday Service (Psalm 102)

March 30^th: Easter Vigil Service of Readings @ St. Paul’s in Grants Pass *CHECK BACK LATER FOR THE TIME*

March 31^st @ 10AM: Easter Sunday

The Lord bless and keep you all this Lenten season as we reflect upon our need for His redemptive work.

– Pastor Laws

Services for the Christmas Season and Epiphany

December 13, 2023
by Pastor
in Articles, News, Uncategorized
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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, greetings!

As we prepare for the Twelve Days of Christmas (Dec 25th-Jan 5th), I wanted to share with you all our special services which will take place beyond our normal Sunday morning Divine Service:

– Christmas Eve service: 6 pm on Sunday, 12/24.
– Christmas Day Divine Service: 10 am on Monday, 12/25.
– Matins service for the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs: 10 am on Thursday, 12/28.

and to start the season of Epiphany, which runs from Jan 6th to Ash Wednesday:

– Vespers service for Epiphany: 6 pm on Saturday, 1/6/24.

I pray you will be able to attend some or all of these services and hear of the gifts which Christ brings to us in His Incarnation and Nativity!

Peace in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Pastor Laws

CTSFW Presidential Search

December 4, 2023
by Pastor
in Articles, News, Uncategorized
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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As a member congregation of the LCMS, we have certain responsibilities toward our wider Church body. One of those is to nominate presidential candidates for the seminaries when a president retires or is removed from office. The current president at Concordia Theological Seminary, the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast Jr., announced this fall that he would be retiring from the presidency at the end of this academic year. He began his service as CTSFW’s president in May 2011.

We here at Faith, as a congregation of the LCMS, are entitled to put forward the name of qualified pastor for the office of seminary president. The candidate must be an LCMS pastor with an earned doctorate in theology who is an exemplary pastor and churchman (see the “Call for Nominations” for a full list of the qualifications). The nominations must be in by December 31^st, 2023. The nominations all come from congregations, the CTSFW regents, and CTSFW faculty members. The list of nominations is then the pool of candidates from which the leadership of the seminary and our Synod then choose to call a new president.

After speaking with the Council, I think it would be prudent for the following process to take place for our nomination. I invite any members to email or text suggestions to me, Dave (Council President), or Bryan (Council Secretary) before the next Council meeting on Dec 10^th. The council will then make a decision on the candidate, which will then be affirmed at the Voter’s Assembly on Dec 17^th. Our nomination will be sent off with the full approval of the congregation.

Click the link here for the Call for Nominations and for the Professor Biographies for my two suggestions for nominees. This list will be added to when and if we receive additional suggestions from our membership.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to send me an email or give me a call to clarify anything in this letter.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Laws

For more information, check out the CTSFW webpage for the nomination process.

The Temple: Its Ministry and Services

by Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889)

Edersheim was born in Vienna of Jewish parents of culture and wealth. English was spoken in their home, and he became fluent at an early age. He was educated at a local gymnasium and also in the Talmud and the Torah at a Hebrew school. He emigrated to Hungary and taught languages, before converting to Christianity.

Putting this book into an audio recording has been difficult book I’ve done. There were numerous errors when the physical book was put into an electronic digital format. Likewise I readily confess my own difficulty in the pronunciation of many names and places. The hearer will please pardon such errors. In addition, Edersheim’s writing style is unique.

Please read the note at the bottom of this page. It is most important. MLM

00 Title, Author and Preface
01 Chapter 1 – A View of Jerusalem and the Temple
02 Chapter 2 – Within the Holy Place
03 Chapter 3 – Temple Order, Revenues, Music
04 Chapter 4 – The Officiating Priesthood
05 Chapter 5 – Sacrifices – Their Order and Meaning
06 Chapter 6 – Burnt-Sin-Trespass, Peace Offerings
07 Chapter 7 – At Night in the Temple
08 Chapter 8 – The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice
09 Chapter 9 – Sabbath in the Temple
10 Chapter 10 – Festive Cycles and Arrangement of the Calendar
11 Chapter 11 – The Passover
12 Chapter 12 – The Paschal Feast and the Lord’s Supper
13 Chapter 13 – The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Day of Pentecost
14 Chapter 14 – The Feast of Tabernacles
15 Chapter 15 – New Moons – Feast of 7th New Moon, Trumpets, New Years Day
16 Chapter 16 – The Day of Atonement
17 Chapter 17 – Post-Mosaic Festivals – Fasting
18 Chapter 18 – On Purifications
19 Chapter 19 – On Vows

Caution to the listener regarding what Edersheim wrote on page 134:

“And then it was, after the regular Paschal meal, that the Lord instituted His own Supper, for the first time using the Aphikomen ‘when He had given thanks’ (after meat), to symbolise His body, and the third cup, or ‘cup of blessing which we bless’ (1 Cor 10:16) — being ‘the cup after supper’ (Luke 22:20) — to symbolise His blood.”
————
This seems so inconsistent for him. In both of his works (Temple and Jesus the Messiah) he has emphasized over and over how the Old Testament services, ministry and sacrifices were prophetic and typological, and always pointing ahead to the Messiah’s person and work. They were but a foreshadow of things to come, which is Christ, the substance of what and who was promised. I mean, ponder the Lamb at the Lord’s Passover. The faithful were commanded to eat of it. They ate the actual lamb. And now in the days of the New Testament, Edersheim imagines a symbolical partaking of the Lord’s Body and Blood in the Supper. Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Matthew 26:26-28 26And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My Body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink ye all of it; for this is My Blood of the new Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:26-28).

Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

by Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889)

Putting this book into an audio recording has been the most difficult book I’ve done. There were numerous errors when the physical book was put into an electronic digital format. Likewise I readily confess my own difficulty in the pronunciation of many names and places. The hearer will please pardon such errors. In addition, Edersheim’s writing style is characterized by, but not limited to (though former usages are more prevalent), language that is of older English type (not as in “font” or “type-setting” but in style) and language forms, which, not withstanding, yet must needs be recognized, though doing so always without criticism whatsoever by the present reader, as often having compound sentences (with or without parenthetical supplements) for … well, you get the idea. MLM

Thanks be to God for the life and times of Alfred Edersheim!
The audio files are provided:

Title and Author
Introductory Quotes on Messiah
Introduction to Introductory

Book 1 – The Introductory Chapters.

Chapter 1 – The Jewish World in Days of Christ
Chapter 2 – Hellenists, Greek Literature and the LXX
Chapter 3 – The Old Faith Preparing for New
Chapter 4 – Philo, Rabbis, the Word, the Gospels
Chapter 5 – Alexandria, Rome and Jewish Communities
Chapter 6 – Jewish Life and the Hope of the Messiah
Chapter 7 – The Land, the Jew, the Gentile
Chapter 8 – Traditionalism