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10:00 a.m. -Sunday School
11:00 a.m. Worship Service
Pastor John Stoudemayer
email address: silverstreetlutheranchurch@gmail.com
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PLEASE NOTE THAT SUNDAY SCHOOL HAS BEEN SUSPENDED THROUGH JANUARY.
FACE MASKS ARE NOW MANDATORY IN THE CHURCH SANCTUARY.
PLEASE RETURN TO SITTING TOGETHER AS A FAMILY WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING ON PEWS.
IF YOU SHOW ANY SYMTOMS OF COVID, PLEASE REMAIN AT HOME.
These guidelines are an effort to keep the congregation safe and our church open.
THANK YOU!
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ONLINE BULLETIN FOR VIEWING....................................
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******************************* Scriptures Readings for: January 23, 2022 Third Sunday after the Epiphany First Reading: Nehemiah 8:1-3,8-10 Psalm 19 Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Gospel: Luke 4:14-21 ******************************* 
WEEKLY
DEVOTIONS MESSAGE FROM PASTOR JOHN:
Now Concerning food sacrificed to idols.............(1 Corinthians 8:1 NRSV) Therefore, if food is a cause of their failing, I will eat no meat, so that I may not cause them to rail. (1 Corinthians 8:13 NRSV) In between today's opening scripture citation and the closing citation is a discussion by Paul on Christian freedom, and that discussion centers on the eating of meat that has been sacrificed to idols. So, what exactly is the problem which Paul addresses? In Paul's world, temples to Greek and Roman gods and goddesses were, if not everywhere, very common. There were temples to Zeus and Hera and Apollo and Aphrodite. Those are some of the more well-known. There were also Egyptian, Persian, and local deities - a truly dazzling array. Behind each of those temples was a butcher shop. People would come into the front of the temple with an animal to offer as sacrifice. The choicest part would be burned on the altar, and the rest of the animal would be butchered and sold out of the back of the temple's butcher shop. The question, then became this: If I go to some deity's butcher shop and buy meat, am I participating in the worship of that deity? This dilemma was especially acute for new converts who had recently given up the worship of this pantheon of gods and goddesses. Paul's answer is two-fold. On the one hand, he says we all know that all the deities for which these temples were built don't actually exist. There is only the one God. Therefore, if you want meat, you can go to any temple's butcher shop, buy meat, and consume it with good conscience. On the other hand, Paul says, the issue isn't really knowledge and the freedom that seems to come with that knowledge. I may know, Paul argues, that all their deities are false, but for those new to faith, whose knowledge isn't as deep and secure as mine, their faith is more important than my freedom. If it means that to help preserve and nurture those new to Christianity, I should not eat meat, then so be it. For Paul, responsibility and care for others takes precedence over "freedom." Personal freedom, Paul argues, is always subject to the discipline of responsible care for others. Do we have freedom? Paul would say yes. He would also say that personal freedom comes second to doing what is best for others. So, then, for us today that same standard holds true. We are required to look at our behavior and beliefs and ask the very uncomfortable question: Does what I believe and what I do benefit the faithful, my neighbors, my community, the whole of humankind or not? I suspect that from time to time our answers to that question may not be what we know they should be. Amen. . |
Youth Sunday September 12, 2021. God wraps us with His love through His words of scriptures like His children wrap the May Pole.
Blessing of the Book Bags!
Drive through Nativity 2021!
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