Our Mission Statement:
We are a Gospel-centered community of people blessed by God to be a blessing to others.
The Sunday morning service at 10:30 will be live-streamed through the church's Facebook page. Limited in-person attendance is allowed with mask-wearing
and social distancing. Joe Nolte is in charge of setting this up. You can contact him with any questions, at jtnolte22@gmail.com.
Get involved!
Highlights of our upcoming events:
The Coming Back Together Committee
-A new committee has been formed to make decisions about worship as we deal with COVID-19.
Want to spotlight your event? Email the webmaster at popdsm@gmail.com and we'll put it here!
This month's letter from Pastor Roger Osbeck
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
With the arrival of a so-called "Delta Variance" to add to our COVID virus frustration, we find our hopes for a return to normalcy
are detained and uncertainty remains. I am reminded of a scene from the 1965 movie, The Agony and the Ecstacy, with Charlton
Heston and Rex Harrison. Based on the Irving Stone novel of the same name, the film portrays the struggling Italian artist
Michelangelo (Heston), to finish the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling under the watchful eye of Pope Julius (Harrison) in
the years 1508-1512. At some points in the movie, Pope Julius, impatiently waiting for Michelangelo to complete his work, asks,
"When will you make an end?" to which he hears the answer, "When I'm finished." We have no answers regarding the end
of this pandemic. In the meantime, we are trying to make the best of it.
I offer this month, for you to consider, some excerpted words from an article by Dr. Paul David Tripp of Westminster Theological
Seminary, entitled 5 Ways the COVID-19 Pandemic Points Us to the Gospel:
1. It is good to be confronted with the delusion of human independence and self-sufficiency. The move of grace in our hearts
and lives is not from dependence to independence but from independence to greater dependence on God. The more you grow in grace,
the more you understand the wisdom of the word; the more you understand your own heart; the more you understand the folly of this
world; the more you run in joyful, submissive dependency on God.
2. God's sovereign power and glory shine brighter when we are weak and life seems out of control. We don't always comprehend
what that means, but there is one who rules the world, who is not afraid at this moment, who is not weak, who is not confused, who
has no mystery, and who never experiences surprises. We don't always know why God does what God does, but we know who God is and we
know what God has promised his children.
3. The greater global pandemic is not COVID-19. It's sin. The cure is found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, through
his amazing grace. Celebrate grace. Celebrate that something more dangerous and deadly than this pandemic will ever be has been cured
by the power of the grace of Jesus. What a good thing!
4.Though we are separated from others, nothing can separate us from the love of God. God doesn't separate from us. God doesn't
turn from us, but God draws near. God draws near to the weak. God draws near to the brokenhearted. God draws near in love and grace,
empowering us to face what we could not face on our own. Your greatest friend, your deepest lover, your sweetest companion has no distance
between God and you. What a beautiful thing that is.
5. We are not alone. When we are weary and we are distraught, we have a place to go. Jesus welcomes us when we're weary to come
to him and cast our cares on him. He will shoulder our burdens because he really does care for us.
Dr. Tripp concludes his article with advice to combat any fear: One of the most powerful defenses against fear is gratitude. The more
your heart is directed toward gratitude, the more you're counting your blessings; the less, at those moments, your mind is running to
fear and rehearsing the what-ifs. How about intentionally looking around at all the things for which, today, you can give thanks--all
the evidences of God's provision, all the evidences of his care, all the people that love you, all those things that you would take for
granted--how about counting your blessings? How about letting praise overwhelm complaint and gratitude silence grumbling?
I couldn't say it any better.
Peace to you. See you in church, hopefully, very soon.
Pastor Roger
Outreach links:
Meals from the Heartland
Habitat for Humanity
Lutheran Services in Iowa
Lutheran World Relief
Make Malaria History
|
