Loving and Learning in Lodi March 22 2020

           I hope this finds all of you doing well and staying well! Amanda and I are fine. Her teaching with the dance community in Cleveland has been cancelled. She is still able to work her part-time job in Medina for a small manufacturing business, and she keeps working on refinishing some furniture she bought for her new home that we’ll close on March 31^st. I’ve been doing yard work when the weather permits and continue doing what I can for us in ministry.

           On Saturday, I’ll head to the church to record the message for Sunday…so watch your emails for it! I’ll picture you all in the pews and pray for each of you. This week we look at prayer and Jesus’ parable about the friend who comes knocking on the other friend’s door at midnight, needing help because he has unexpected guests…

                                                     Missing you all…but grateful to carry you all in my heart,

                                                                Pastor Diane

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Liturgist would have been:   Dee Heitkamp           Greeters would have been:    Ron & Faye Stewart

Hymns:         Open My Eyes, that I May See                     verses 1 – 4                         #454
                     Christ Beside Me                                        verse 1                      TFWS #2166

                     Great Is Thy Faithfulness                            verses 1 & 3                         #140

                     What a Friend We Have in Jesus                     verses 1 - 3                          #526

Scripture                                      Luke 11: 1 - 13                         Common English Version        

           Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Jesus told them, “When you pray, say:

‘Father, uphold the holiness of your name.

Bring in your kingdom.

Give us the bread we need for today.

Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who has wronged us.

And don’t lead us into temptation.’”

           He also said to them, “Imagine that one of you has a friend and you go to that friend in the middle of the night. Imagine saying, ‘Friend, loan me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine on a journey has arrived and I have nothing to set before him.’ Imagine further that he answers from within the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ I assure you, even if he wouldn’t get up and help because of his friendship, he will get up and give his friend whatever he needs because of his friend’s brashness. And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

           “Which father among you would give a snake to your child if the child asked for a fish? If a child asked for an egg, what father would give the child a scorpion? If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Leader: The Word of God for the people of God.                     People:  Thanks be to God.

THE CHURCH IN ACTION

Choir is not rehearsing this week.

Feed My Sheep is cancelled this month.  We want all of our helpers and guests to stay healthy!

Feeding Medina County food pick up for all county residents (no forms or income requirements) on Thursdays going forward at 7:30 a.m. at the County fairgrounds. www.feedingmedinacounty.org/

Cloverleaf Schools – food distributions for students on Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Elementary School.

Vacation Bible School (VBS) 2020: June 1 – 4, 2020 from 10:30am – 12:00pm with family lunch at 12pm for children in approaching grades K - 6. Marta Van Loon and Sue Whitfield are co-directors. One of our projects needs 43 2-liter bottles for a raft. Please bring any empty, 2-liter bottles and put them in the box downstairs.

Is it too early to be thinking about School My Sheep in August? Nope, as school supplies and winter clothing are on clearance at multiple locations. However, we want to make sure we are still wanting to do it. This would be year 13...quite a legacy already! If you have any comments or concerns or feel this isn’t the right thing for us to continue, we want to know that, listen and ponder. Please contact Larry Scott or Katrina Morgan in the next few weeks, so we know how, or if to proceed. Dollar General has clothing items at 90% off.

Please save your plastic caps & lids for a “buddy bench” at Sylvia Anderson’s great nephew, Braden’s school.