| Trinity Lutheran ChurchVilla Park, IL |
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| The Lion’s RoarAmos 3:8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? |
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FREEDOM IS A GIFT, BUT IT MUST BE EXERCISED
The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?” If you spend any time reading newspapers and watching the news on television, you will find multiple conflicting views on almost everything. What is a person to believe? This expert says this and that expert says that! It seems as though one can find an expert for anything he wants to prove. My answer is simple. Freedom is of Jesus. Bondage is of Satan. Follow Jesus because freedom is preferable to bondage. Jesus made the religious leaders of his day very angry by telling them that they were not free. They had enslaved themselves to religious laws and societal laws. Not only were they not free, but they wanted everyone else to be in as much bondage as they were. Misery loves company and if one is living a life under the subjugation of the law, it makes him angry to see others walking around free. Jesus sets us free. While the religious leaders were working as hard as they could to keep all the rules, hundreds of rules, in fact, in order to be counted as righteous, Jesus was just giving righteousness away to any who wanted it. Forgiveness and so, life as a forgiven person, was free. That is not to say there were no risks in the life of a forgiven person. Everything in this life has risk attached to it because we live in a sin fallen world. One cannot avoid risk even if he walls himself up in his home and never sets foot into the world around him. He will suffer profoundly from such isolation because human beings were not created to be alone. We were created to be communal and to even celebrate our community as we gather together to receive Holy Communion. That is the reason it was so important for churches to remain open during the virus or at least to reopen as quickly as possible. Faith is a communal exercise, not an individual one. Is there risk to being communal? Absolutely. There always has been. There is risk every time we step outside our door, but the risk of being isolated is greater. We are now seeing the devastating effects of severe isolation. Among the religious, faith was unfed for so long that now, many people who were once faithful Christians no longer attend worship. Instead, they go on bike rides on Sunday morning, or garden or sleep in. Their faith was starved for so long that it is now either weakened unto the point of death or completely dead. This was the goal of Satan when he tried to use a pandemic to bind us and he has enjoyed some success. By allowing themselves to be bound by the law, many Christians have damaged or lost their faith. Now is the time for us to reclaim our losses. We did what we could do. We live-streamed worship and there were some who benefited. Their faith was fed by the Word. But you know how well that works in the long run. How many video-workout programs does the average American have in their home? We can work out in the comfort of our family rooms instead of driving to the gym or the pool, and yet, we are still number one in the world for obesity. While live streaming worship is a great help for a few, believing that it solves the problem of people being absent from worship is pure fantasy. Now is the time for Christians to rise up and exercise their freedom in Christ to make worship and Bible study our number one priority in life, not something we do when it is convenient or around holidays but the center point of our lives and our children’s lives. Jesus makes us free, but it is up to us to exercise that freedom. When less than 10% of Christians bother to go to church and Bible study on any given weekend, is it surprising that governmental authorities didn’t think it was all that important? Is it surprising that they never even considered Word and Sacrament ministry an essential service? If we treat our freedom to worship and study Christ as though it is secondary to our jobs, our leisure, our sports, our yard work, our bike rides, and our grocery shopping, why would anyone else think it is of primary importance? We have the opportunity, as the children of God, to rise up from this pandemic and make worship and study primary in our lives and the lives of our children. We have the opportunity to demonstrate to all the world that while we might have forgotten for a time, we now remember that worshipping God and receiving His body and blood, and studying His Word is the most important thing that happens in our week no matter what else is going on in the world around us: war, riots, pandemics, etc... We now should realize how quickly things can be taken from us if we are not paying attention. The line between the USA and Afghanistan may be far thinner than we once thought. Our freedom as Christians will only survive if we exercise it regularly and with great vigor. Pastor Rogers |
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Trinity's Seafood BoilSaturday, September 11, 2021 5:30 p.m. In the Prayer Garden $35 per person Make it a date night, childcare is available! |
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Trinity's Phone Tree is Back! (With Texting)After a long hiatus, Trinity now has a phone call system again. We will be able to contact our congregation via phone and/or text for big events and important announcements once again. This is especially important for our congregants who do not have access to email and rely on a phone call. If you know of anybody who needs to receive information via phone, please email Margaret at margaret@trinityvp.com or call her at 630-834-3440 to make sure that they are on our calling list. If you would like to receive text messages from Trinity for important information, text JOIN to 855-334-4704 to be added to our texting list. Be sure to save the following phone numbers to your phone to know messages are coming from us! Texts will come from: 855-334-4704 Phone calls will come from: 630-834-3440 |
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| Community Flea MarketOctober 2, 2021 (Rain Date Oct. 9)
8 am – 2 pm All proceeds benefit the 2022 National Youth Gathering (More Information Below)
Got stuff? Want to cash in on unloading you’re your goods? Are you a vendor with delightful wares to sell?
If the answer is yes to either of these questions, consider selling your wares at the Community Flea Market.
Spaces in Trinity's Parking Lot are available for $20. Bring your own table or use one of ours for an additional $10, $5 for a second table.
If you are not selling, you must be buying. Join us to purchase your new or new to you treasures.
*Are you an early riser? We mean, can you be available at 6:00 AM to help set up tables for the vendors? If so, we could use your help! *2:00 PM help put tables back. Again, we need some strong, energetic people to help us carry the tables. Contact Judy Bruschuk if you are willing to lend a hand. If you would like to acquire a space, contact Stacy Warpool at 630-277-3065. |
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Youth NewsThe Projects - October 5, 12, 29, 26 The junior high after-school ministry will be back for a new session! The Projects offers opportunities for middle school youth from the Villa Park community to spend after-school hours learning new, useful skills, and to build relationships with our adult mentors. We offer a variety of projects each week in the craft room, workshop, kitchen, and office (coding). The finished projects are donated to a chosen cause or sold to help offset The Projects expenses. For this session, we'll be partnering with the Flying Hooks & Needles knitting group to prepare items for hygiene kits for the homeless. If you like junior high kids and would like to be involved, please contact Judy Bruschuk. For more information check out our Facebook page: The Projects at Trinity. Postcards - The confirmation class joined the congregation in sending out postcards. They wrote notes to members of their class who weren't able to join them on the retreat. 2022 LCMS National Youth Gathering "In All Things" is the theme for the 2022 LCMS National Youth Gathering in Houston next July. In preparation for the event, the youth will be working on not only raising funds but preparing spiritually and building relationships with each other and the adults going on the trip. The youth are blessed that Trinity has a long tradition of being exceptionally supportive of their young people who participate in the Gatherings. In October the names of those who have chosen to participate will be revealed so that you can get to know their faces and pray for them. In the meantime, we'd like to share details for some of our fundraising events. Saturday, December 11: Breakfast with Santa Pastor Rogers is making his famous pancakes and Santa Dave will be taking visitors, both human and the 4 legged variety. Trinity groups are invited to set up a table to hand out promotional items or help the youth by selling items, perhaps baked goods or crafts. All the details will be available in the next newsletter. Saturday, January 29, 2022: Trivia Night Our hope was to bring back our favorite FUNdraiser after 2 years off. However, our trusty trivia host has retired from her job and no longer has the required tools for helping us out. If you know of anyone who would like to take over this role, let Judy Bruschuk know so that we can move forward with the always popular Trivia Night! |
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American Flag Pallets The youth are painting these amazing flags on wooden pallets to raise funds for NYG! Want one? Contact Gloria Marchewka to place your order: tgcm831@att.net. Suggested donations are $40 for a large flag and $25 for small. |
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| The youth would like to thank Lombard Ace Hardware for donating 3 gallons of paint for this project. If you need something from a hardware store consider shopping there to help us show appreciation. |
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Postcards The confirmation class joined the congregation in sending out postcards. They wrote notes to members of their class who weren't able to join them on the retreat. |
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Diner's Club Diner's Club Kick-Off Dinner is Sunday, September 26th at 4:00 pm. The dinner will be at Bert & Bonnie Dale’s house. For additional information call: 630-629-4253 or email bertnbonnie@gmail.com. |
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TCNS NEWS The teachers have returned to set up and Meet the Teacher was held in August. School starts on Sept. 7th...more news next month. |
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Stewardship Corner At the end of the first of his chapters on the virtue of faith in Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis provides a helpful reminder, by way of analogy, for the foundation of stewardship. He wrote: “Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already. So then, when we talk of a man doing anything for God or giving anything to God, I will tell you what it is really like. It is like a small child going to its father and saying, ‘Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.’ Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child’s present. It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction. When a man has made these two discoveries God can really get to work. It is after this that real life begins. (128–129).” This is the first thing we are given to confess about stewardship, and it has to do with ownership. God owns everything, and we are simply managers – stewards – acting on His behalf. This is true not only of all that we have in this life (Deut. 8:17–18) but also all that we are in this life (1 Cor. 6:20). The rest flows from here. Since we are stewards, or managers, of what belongs to God, entrusted to make use of it according to His will, there is an expectation of responsibility and accountability. For the Lord said, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48b). And from this comes blessing and reward: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21). We have everything we need to support this body and life from our God’s fatherly divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us. We have everything we need for our spiritual life also from His merciful hands. On account of the sacrifice of His Son, our Lord Jesus, through the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments, we have the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and everlasting salvation delivered to us with absolute certainty that it is ours – not as stewards but as sons (Gal. 4:1–7). Let us then, as His own sons press all that He gives to us into the service of His church and to His glory. |
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Postcards ARE BACK We are again encouraging our members to pray for one another. Please take one or more of the pre-addressed postcards in the Narthex, write a note, and say a prayer for that household. |
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Sponsor a Bill Stewardship is requesting your help in sponsoring some of Trinity's bills in an effort to keep from having a budget deficit at the end of the year. This quarter's highlighted bills are Fire Compliance Inspection ($350/mo), Elevator Maintenance ($25/mo), and Water Bill ($400/mo). Please consider helping by entirely or partially adopting payment towards one of these bills. You can note this on your property maintenance envelope or in your eOffering. |
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LWML Greater Zone RALLY Saturday, October 16th 8:30 AM TO 1:00 PM Trinity Lutheran Church |
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Save the DateSunday, September 12th Rally Day Worship ServicesSaturdays 4:30 pm Sundays 8 am & 10:30 am |
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Each month you will receive a newsletter from Trinity in your email. If you have any upcoming news, events, photos or other information to share, please email Marna Rundgren @ marnarundgren@gmail.com |
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