Sunday’s Gospel reading is a stark call to repentance: Jesus shows up: do we care? Jesus wept over Jerusalem because that was God’s own special people, chosen through the line of Abraham for generations. Yet they were so eager to ignore Him when he showed up in the flesh! If church is about anything, it’s about Jesus showing up among His people to give us His gifts. We are here for the Divine Service because Jesus is here. He’s among us. He loves us. He’s here to give us forgiveness and life and salvation. He’s here to send the Spirit to work in our hearts, love and care for our neighbor. It’s easy for our sinful flesh to roll our eyes and think church is no big deal. That it’s just another thing to cram into our schedule or mark off our To Do list. But the Lord’s house is where He comes to His people with Good News: forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus will be at church this week, as He always is. Let’s welcome Him with joy and gladness because He’s bringing His good gifts for all of us! That’s this week, the Tenth Sunday after Trinity.

MASKS IN WORSHIP
We are following the state guidelines and mandates for use of masks in group settings. Currently, there is not a requirement that masks be worn. The CDC recommends everyone wear a mask when indoors and I would encourage everyone to do so, even for worship. However, we are not requiring masks to be worn. As always, consider the welfare of your neighbor as you make your decision. And by all means: stay home if you are not feeling well or have any symptoms! 

WORK DAY THIS SUNDAY
Wear your cleaning clothes to church and offer a few hours of your time to help us clean in and around the church! We’ve got some good cleaning projects to take care of all around the building. We’ll be ordering some pizzas for lunch. It will be a time of fun, fellowship, and feather dusting! (And vacuuming, and washing, and…etc!)

Remember there is NO LEARNING THE FAITH Sunday as we’ll all be working on cleaning!

PROCESSIONAL CRUCIFIX UPDATE
To date, we have received $3280 toward the $6000 needed in offerings toward our Processional Crucifix. Thank you to all who have contributed to this gift for beautifying God’s house and reminding us what is central to our worship and faith!

FISH MCHENRY FOOD PANTRY
Make sure to bring donations this week for the F.I.S.H of McHenry Food Pantry. Remember that every dollar you give buys $8 worth of food to stock the shelves!

LIVE STREAM INFORMATION
We will continue to Live Stream and Record the service each week:

You can watch live and find recorded services here:
We stream live on our FACEBOOK PAGE HERE.

Our videos are also live and recorded on YOUTUBE HERE.

The simplest way to watch online (not live) is probably through our church’s website HERE.

Ironically, for our cleaning day, the Gospel is Jesus cleaning the moneychangers out of the temple! As we wash and polish and clean this Sunday, I’m grateful the Lord has given us a “house of prayer,” a place to behold the beauty of the Lord and to worship Him with praise and thanksgiving as we receive His gifts. See you in the Divine Service!

In Christ,
Pastor Buetow