Readings, Devotion, Prayers and Announcements for the Holy Trinity, June 7, 2020, for both MLLC and Waldeck Evangelical Lutheran Church

We resumed in-person services on the weekend of June 6-7, following the normal schedule for both MLLC and Waldeck.  The Facebook Live services will be offered on Sundays at 8:00 a.m. from Waldeck, and at 10:00 a.m. from MLLC.

Below are the readings, prayers, and various announcements for this Sunday and this week.  The Sunday devotion is at the end of the readings.

 

Remember Your Regular Offerings

For both of our congregations, Waldeck and MLLC, please remember that our expenses continue even when we are unable to meet as usual.  Please make a point to give your offerings as you would on a typical week.  Here are some ideas of what to do:

For Waldeck Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ledbetter:

– send your offering by mail to the church office  – Waldeck Evangelical Lutheran Church; 6915 Waldeck Church Lane; Ledbetter, TX 78946

– set aside your offerings each week, and then bring these to church when you can be at worship again.

For MLLC in Carmine:

– send your offering by mail to the church office  – MLLC, P O BOX 362, Carmine, TX 78932-0362

– set aside your offerings each week, and then bring these to church when you can be at worship again.

– give offerings through the church web site:  mllccarmine.com/online-giving  This page has a link to our secure giving page.  Offerings can be made by bank draft, debit card, or credit card through this special web site.

YouTube Video Link

Here is the link for the YouTube video of this day’s service.

 

JUNE 7, 2020

THE HOLY TRINITY

 

First Reading: Genesis 1:1–2:4a

A reading from Genesis.

At the beginning of time, God the Creator, God the powerful Word, and God the life-giving Spirit form the earth and all its inhabitants. God sees that all this created work is good and then rests on the seventh day.

¹In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
⁶And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. ⁸God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
⁹And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. ¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. ¹²The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
²⁰And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” ²¹So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
²⁴And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. ²⁵God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
²⁶Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
²⁷So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
²⁸God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
^2:1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. ²And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. ³So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
^4aThese are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

The word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God.

 

Psalm: Psalm 8

¹O Lord our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!—
²you whose glory is chanted above the heavens out of the mouths of infants and children;
you have set up a fortress against your enemies, to silence the foe and avenger.
³When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,
⁴what are mere mortals that you should be mindful of them,
human beings that you should care for them?
⁵Yet you have made them little less than divine;
with glory and honor you crown them.
⁶You have made them rule over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet:
⁷all flocks and cattle,
even the wild beasts of the field,
⁸the birds of the air, the fish of the sea,
and whatever passes along the paths of the sea.
⁹O Lord our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

A reading from 2 Corinthians.

Paul closes a challenging letter to the Corinthians with an appeal to Christian fellowship grounded in the triune harmony of Christ’s grace, God’s love, and the Spirit’s partnership.

[Paul writes:] ¹¹Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹²Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.
¹³The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

The word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God.

 

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

The holy gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord.

After his resurrection, Jesus summons his remaining disciples and commissions them to baptize and teach all nations in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.

 

Devotion

“God Pile”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesu Christ.

Ice cream is a good thing to have piled up. The more the better, right? Many years ago my wife was serving ice cream in cones to my parents.  She asked my father how much he wanted on his cone.  His answer was, “Put as much as you can in the cone.”

Jennifer responded, “You may not want that much.”

She proceeded to pile on more ice cream on a single cake cone than I have ever seen.  He eventually stopped her from putting more on it, but it was still a giant amount.

There are many good things which can be piled up. Even so, nothing can compare to the love and presence and goodness of God. There is just so much to God and who he is. The fullness of God is more than we can adequately express. It is more than the theologians can express. It’s more than the Bible can fully explain to us.

The Bible is full and generous in how it communicates God’s relationship with us. One way a writer suggested is that we are to, “think of the Bible as a very long story of God’s attempted conversation with humanity. We keep on rejecting the Word of God, turning in another direction, worshiping false gods, attempting to hide, evade, or end of the conversation. But God keeps coming back to us. God comes to us in the lives of the Patriarchs, in the words of the prophets, in the gift of God’s law. Then, stopping at nothing, God comes to us as the Son, coming to us as Jesus. Then, even when we killed his only son, hung him on a cruel cross, thinking that he had probably ended relations between us and God, and three days, God came back to us as the risen Christ. God keeps coming back, again, and even again.”

For the church, this Sunday has been designated as a day to celebrate the Holy Trinity. Although the phrase, “Holy Trinity,” does not appear in the Bible, there are expressions of it throughout. What the phrase comes from is the Christian Church’s attempt to describe, based on the Holy Bible, what this amazing and overwhelming God is all about. A scholar notes, “When God came to us as the Son, Incarnate in Jesus, God did not have to say, “Call me by my proper name, Trinity.” And God didn’t have to. We did. That is, on the basis of our experience of God as complex, ubiquitous, and overflowing with love as the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, we just naturally started speaking of God as Trinity.”

What he saying is that God is bigger than our words can describe.  His goodness, his power, his love, his action, his fullness, his everything, is piled upon us in the most wonderful way. What we have done with the Holy Trinity is give expression, in our limited way, to the limitless God.

The Holy Trinity is a sort of handle on which to get a hold of our amazing God. I believe the Lord has provided this handle for us so we can have another connection with the Lord. In reality, it’s really God gets a hold of us and helps us understand his wonderful nature through the concept of the Holy Trinity.

This theological concept was agreed-upon by the Church at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. Although the Christians had been talking about God in this way since the earliest days of Christianity, this idea was formalized at this council. At this gathering they discuss the idea of the persons of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. In that council or meeting they spoke of God’s “three persons.” In our language, that sounds like we are talking about three different people. No, my Nicaea was building upon the Greek experience.  They took an idea from Greek drama of the way in which one actor could portray up to three characters.   The actor could simply move off stage and then put on the mask which was called a persona, and returning to the stage as another character. One actor could portray three different roles.

I am one person, but I live in the roles of husband, son and father. In a similar way, though there is one God, we experience God working in three different ways in the world. And yet, like most analogies my God, this analogy helped but is far from complete. To rely on this one exclusively does not get a full expression of God’s Word regarding the subject.

Even so as we seek to know God, this analogy gets us started. In his book, “Creeds, counselors, and Christ,” author Gerald Grey writes of the persons of the Holy Trinity:  “today we need to reassert that personhood does not mean individuality, but the capacity for relationship. …no person can find his or her for filling in isolation or selfishness. The members of the Trinity show us what being a person means – the Father gives himself by offering his Son and love for the world, the Son gives himself by being sacrifice and love to the Father and for the world, and Holy Spirit gives himself by presenting the Father and the Son to us in love. Self-sacrifice is the only way to perfect self-fulfillment and happiness and the peace of God.”

“The Trinity teaches us, moreover, that our existence as person is dependent on the inner being of God. It is because we are created in his image and likeness that we have a capacity for relationship, which means that our primary relationship must always be with him. In the Trinity we see the sacred tie of kinship (Father and Son) and perfectly balanced by the equally sacred Spirit.”

We celebrate the piles of being which is God: his love and creativity; his power and gentleness; his presence and universality; his sacrifice and resurrection; his judgment and mercy; his relational nature and other-ness. The list can go on and on and on. God goes on and on and on, yet he is right here with us as we gather in his name. God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit loves us more than we could ever imagine, and we rejoice in the truth today.

Let us pray — God of heaven and earth, before the foundation of the universe and the beginning of time you are the triune God: Author of creation, eternal Word of salvation, life-giving Spirit of wisdom. Guide us to all truth by your Spirit, that we may proclaim all that Christ has revealed and rejoice in the glory he shares with us. Glory and praise to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.  Amen

 

*Prayers of Intercession

A:  Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus, and for all people according to their needs.

A brief silence.

Lord God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we worship you in the glory of your majesty.  Receive our prayers and thanksgivings.  Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We pray for all who face health problems and other difficulties.  Bring each person healing, strength and hope.  We lift in prayer those who we now name aloud or in quiet prayer…. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Other petitions may be added here.

We give thanks for the service of emergency responders in our community.  Guide them in their service, and protect them as they come to the aid of those in distress.   Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

 

Bring comfort and support to those who grieve for a loved one or friend. (We especially remember…)   Help us as a congregation to offer your merciful care to those who mourn. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

You call us to be your disciples.  Help us to keep the discipline of weekly worship.  Guide us back to you and to your community of faith for praise of you and for fellowship with one another.  Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

P:  Into your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

 

LORD’S PRAYER 

 

Copyright © 2020 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #27061.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Waldeck Remember in Prayer:  Linda Brown, London Gaskins, Phillip Procell, Brian Shaffer, Sandra Gest, Barbara Spence, April Weyand, Fritz Schoenst, Alicia McQuaig, Diana Garik Poentisch, Sally Beettner, Carrie Oltmann, Robin Hardin, Beverly Drescher.

MLLC REMEMBER IN PRAYER: Susan Ray (knee replacement surgery); Brad & Patti (Hart) Eilers (both quarantined with COVID-19); Megan Hart Burch (daughter of Patti & Brad, chemotherapy); Ruby Renck (recovering from surgery); Angie Colpetzer (recovering from surgery); Carol Mertz Leitzel, Janet Schnell Beckworth (both friends of Praise Team leader Jolene Wickel, health concerns and in hospitals);  Ricky Eckert (brother of Ronnie Eckert, health concerns); Kalisa Pomykal (Paula Barrick’s sister, medical concerns); Kenny Lorenz (former member Robert Hinze’s relative, serious burns and numerous health concerns); Nancy Pietsch (former RT-C teacher, health concerns); Johnny Dunham (health concerns); Joyce Kelley (friend, health concerns); Jack Walsh (friend of Wade Eilers, chemotherapy); Robert Vaughn (at Texas Neurology, thankful for extended stay for rehab); Edna Mae Krivacka (friend of Ed Eargle and Carol Carmean, back home, health concerns)

Sympathy

 

The Ongoing Prayer Concerns may be found in the monthly newsletter.

CHRIST IN OUR HOME devotional booklets for July, August, and September are available in the narthex.

 

WORSHIP SERVICES are planned to be continued.  Detailed limitations are listed in the June newsletter.  Saturday service is at 6 and Sunday at 10.  Masks are optional.  Every other pew will be blocked.  Families are asked to sit together and leave space.  Offering plate will be at back of sanctuary.  Saturday service is asked to be reserved as much as possible for senior adults.  No Holy Communion.  No bulletins.

 

SERVING NEXT WEEKEND Assisting Minister-June 13, Shelby & June 14, Debby; Parament change-Jadon (green); Acolyte-Kalli; Reader-Tony; Flowers-Bobbie.  Usher team– Floyd Etzel, capt.  If you are uncomfortable serving, please let Pastor Tinker know.  It is an option to serve.

 

CAMPING ENVELOPES are in the June newsletter.  This goes to MLLC campers attending an ELCA Lutheran Camp.

 

QUILTING for Camp For All will be tomorrow morning beginning at 9 a.m.

 

CARMINE FIREMEN’S FEAST AND FUNDRAISER set for July 19 has been cancelled.  Their drill night (2^nd Thursday) and meeting night (4^th Thursday) will resume in June.  Annual meeting-June 25.

 

WELCA AND REBEKAH GROUP WELCA Unit general meeting will be at 1 p.m., before the 2 p.m.  Rebekah Group meeting on Thursday.

 

RECYCLING TRAILER is now back at the Carmine Hall on Thursdays from noon until 4 p.m.  They are in Ledbetter the same day from 8:30 – 11 a.m. behind the Ledbetter Hall.

 

OUTREACH/CARE COMMITTEE A person is needed to serve on the Church Council for the Outreach/Care Committee position.  You would only need to attend meetings and serve as a liaison, as someone has volunteered to serve as the chairman.  Please consider serving in this role.

 

OFFERING ENVELOPES may be mailed to the church at PO Box 362, Carmine, TX 78932.  You may also give online.  Check the http://mlllccarmine/online-giving/ website for more information.  Thanks to all who have continued to make contributions.

 

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL at MLLC has been postponed to August 2-6, 2020 from 5:30 – 7:45 p.m., with the theme Rocky Railway.  See the codes in the May newsletter to register your child and to volunteer.

Registration is also available at the church web site:  https://mllccarmine.com/vacation-bible-school-2020/

 

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL Bethlehem Lutheran in Round Top is postponing VBS indefinitely.  It may still be cancelled, but they are waiting to see how things go this summer.  For more information contact Stacy Eilers at 979-639-1897.