The Dove |
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THE PASTOR:
May brings more
spring and warmer weather.
It also brings one of the larger feast days of
the
church year
- Mother’s
Day. Things
have changed for families and mothers in the past fifty
years. Actually
motherhood has fallen on harder times.
It is my impressions (not a scientific
survey, by any means) that mothers don’t rate
very high on prime time TV.
Few main
characters appear to be married women and
mothers. What
is a bit more scientific are the
studies that tell us that in America and western
Europe each woman has between 1.6 and 1.9 children.
Yes, I know there are days when we are sure that
one of our children is only .6 present and accounted
for. But on
a more serious level those numbers mean that western
women are not having enough children to replace
themselves or make a new generation to come after them.
Now compare that with the simple fact that each
Moslem woman has an average of five children in her life
time. You
don’t have to be an upper level math scholar to know
what these numbers will mean in one century.
This says a lot about families and religion.
Lutherans should be concerned about both families
and faith. With the picture of the numbers in mind, I’d like to connect some other pictures. I remember a young man of fourteen years of age. I remember him standing alone outside of church after everyone else had gone. He had read his confirmation essay along with others from a fairly large class. Parents and friends and church leaders attended the reading and the reception. His parents were not there. They were not there when all others were gone. All he could say was that they had to be with the bowling team that night. His father left his mother and was living with his parents who in turn brought him to church on occasion. His mother was working two jobs. She also had a boyfriend who had two children with a wife he was separated from. These two children were known to pick on the boy. The boy was alone. Sometimes, over twenty years later I wonder where he is. I hope he met some good and wise people along the way to help him hang on to God’s presence and direction in life. I have seen hundreds of family structures like this young boy lived in. I came from one that had its’ own set of problems. We all have some such problems in our immediate, if not in our extended families. What makes me angry is to hear some people - some very educated people - say that family structure or shape makes no difference and that we shouldn’t discriminate because people will feel bad. When I think of that boy alone on that Missouri hilltop outside of an empty church, I know family structure makes a difference. Blessed is the child who has married parents who love each other and are committed to each other and to the children. The core of the family structure is then the strong trinity of husband, wife, and marriage. This trinity runs on the rhythm or dance of all creation: leave-die, grieve, cleave-rise, rejoice. This is reflected in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper in the Christian Church and leads to faith and life. Yes, Christian married couples have troubles and tragedy too. There are no guarantees of perfection or success in family life. A death or illness can come and upset the whole balance.
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+ Salem Lutheran
Church 10
McClellan Circle - Buffalo, New York 14220
Rev. David F. C.
Wurster, Ph. D. - Pastor
Rev.
Richard E. Blemaster, Pastor Emeritus
e-mail:
salemoncircle@yahoo.com
website: www.salembuffalo.com = = = Misson: SALEM/Peace -
As the Father sent me I send you.
= = = Vision:
Preach – Teach – Heal – doing what Jesus
does (Continued “From the Pastor”) – But structure
does make a difference.
Centuries of observation and now scientific
research tells us that children in crooked and distorted
family structures are at much higher risk (3 to 10 times
depending on the different factors) for depression,
violence, physical abuse, sex abuse, suicide, bad grades,
marital failure, diseases and health probrlems and many
other problems. Cell
structure in a body makes a difference.
Cancer cells in a body, the cells that can’t say
no or respect limits, can make a body sick or even kill
it. We can’t change nature by voting on some new laws. Living together is not marriage. At the present time we are in a political uproar over family and marriage. Many desire to say gays can be married; courts and voters will decide. But God and nature have already decided that marriage is made for man and woman because they were made or structured to fit one another biologically, emotionally, and spiritually. In a political argument Abraham Lincoln once asked his opponents how many legs a sheep would have if they called the tail a leg. The opponents said, “five.” Lincoln then said, “No, there are still only four legs on a sheep. Calling a tail a leg does not make it one.” Calling a gay relationship marriage does not make it marriage. The consequences to youth and community will not be annulled with a cover of words. If we go in that direction a brother and sister could decide to be married; that would still be incest, would it not? At
this point we Christians are not called upon to go out and
attack gay people or people living together.
We are called to take our faith seriously and think
about these things from the base of our faith.
Our faith is summed up in the catechism.
The center of the catechism is the same center as
the Scripture: The
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit focused in Jesus Christ our
Lord. This is
the center of our worship and teaching at Salem.
I would like to add another picture to the boy
standing alone – congregational worship during the
Easter season. In
the past forty years I have seen attendance at worship
during holy week become deplorable – that means bad.
People seem to want to come to Easter and skip
Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. People seem to want to rise but not die, to be upbeat without
grief, and have faith without repentance. I
think this is connected to some figures we talked about in
staff meeting. In
our church body only half of all kids baptized are
confirmed and only one quarter of those confirmed stay on
in church today. These
figures come from denominational bean counters..
This means that if we baptize 100 babies we confirm
50 and 12/13 stay with the congregations.
Like all statistics these are generalities, but
show a clear trend. Repentance
is not for “the other guy.”
If we in this generation want to change the trend,
it begins with us --
with me. Only
adults and leaders who are growing in faith will inspire
another generation to grow. Inspiring
people in a chaotic world is a challenge.
I remember when Dr. Wicher and I were teaching
confirmation together, we called divorce a sin – a hard
word. We
asked the class if dumbing down the word would be an act
of love like dumbing down the word cancer so a patient
wouldn’t feel bad. One kid said no because then the treatment would be dumbed
down too and the patient could die without hope.
We then said there is a treatment for sin – it is
forgiveness in cross and Easter.
We also told them that the class should know that
both the pastors teaching them came from homes with
divorce and broken lives. We
Christians cannot ignore biology and the structure of the
human body for the future of the family, our culture, and
the faith; Moslem biology will change things in this
century. We
cannot ignore family structure.
Mothers need to love husbands more than kids to
love kids well. We
cannot ignore faith and worship.
With no Good Friday crosses Easters are thin soup.
I wonder about the kid all alone on the hilltop as
darkness fell that night. I
hope he has seen some light somewhere by God’s grace.
Peace,
Pastor Wurster + + +
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+ + C H U R C H R E C O R D S FUNERALS: Dorothy M. Metzler, died March 26, 2004 at the age of 90 years 6
months and 20 days;
Funeral: March 30, 2004 in Salem Lutheran Church by
Pastor Wurster;
Burial: Trinity Church Cemetery, West Seneca, NY.
14224
Doris Verna Smith, died March 28, 2004 at the age of 83 years 1
month 4 days;
Funeral: March
31, 2004 in Salem Lutheran Church by Pastor Wurster;
Burial: Sardinia
Cemetery, Sardinia, N. Y. BAPTISMS: Malachi
Maximus Reese
– Sunday, April 25, 2004 – son of Carrie Schreier and
Rashawn Reese;
Sponsors: Joseph
Wrobel and Bonnie Wrobel.
Celeste Valentine
Kosman – Sunday, April 25, 2004 – daughter
of Carrie Schreier;
Sponsors: Joseph
Wrobel and Bonnie Wrobel.
CONFIRMATION: Sunday, April 4, 2004 -
Jeremy Samuel Calzone
Jennifer
Alison Carr
Olivia
Rae Miller
Molly
Janine Webster MEMBERSHIP
CHANGES: Neil
Guda – student membership at Salem; student at Concordia Seminary >
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> OUR SYMPATHY TO: The family of Dorothy Metzler
and The family of Doris Smith >
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Sunday, June 6, 2004 Come join Salem
members in this fun event.
As last year, Salem will participate
in the third annual Parade of Circles There will be an old
fashioned family picnic following the parade
with live music, refreshments (hot dogs, pop
& water - $1.00 each) and a special
celebration by Mercy Hospital honoring the
Sisters of Mercy.
SEE
YOU AT THE PARADE!!!!!
U
P C O M I N G
E V E N T S . . . South
Buffalo Theatre, 2219 South Park Ave.,
Buffalo, NY presents “The Diaries of Adam and Eve” by Mark Twain
(edited & adapted for stage by David
Birney); April 30, May 1, 2, 7, 8, 14, 15,
16 – Friday & Saturday – 8:00 p.m.
Sunday – 2:00 p.m. Tickets - $7.00 adults;
$5.00 students and Seniors.
Call 826-6967
Women’s Auxiliary of L.S.S. will be
held on Tuesday, May 4, 2004 at 12 noon at
Greenfield Manor, 5953 Broadway, Lancaster,
N. Y. 14086. For directions, call 651-9687
H
E A L I N G S E R V I C E
- The Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 23, 2004 Responding to requests from members and the Worship Committee, Salem will have a healing service again this spring. Let’s begin by saying healing is part of our mission, and one of the meanings of Peace/Salem is wholeness in the sense of health and healing. Our mission as a congregation is Peace/Salem and our vision is to do what Jesus does: preach/worship, teach and heal (Matthew 4:23 & 9:35). The church has medicines for healing as do doctors, nurses and others. Our medicines are baptism, communion, words spoken, fellowship, prayer and presence in the Holy Spirit. A sign of health in the body of Christ is a tongue that says, “Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.” (Psalm 118:1) Healing in the church is basically a restoration of our Trinitarian Vision – to see all of our life in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So how will the service fit together? It will be a service of the Word with the following parts:
GATHERING:
In this part of the service we begin with a hymn
and the invocation of the Holy Trinity. Then we have a dialog of psalm verses and we say the Apostles’ Creed and the Prayer or
Collect for the Day. WORD:
In the Word part of the service, we will read the
lessons for the day, have the sermon, and
sing a hymn of the Trinity, and then pass the
greeting of peace to each other.
After the offering,
we will have a congregational prayer for all people
involved in the healing work of God –
physicians and nurses, people suffering from
physical, emotional and spiritual pain, and then name
those who have sorrows, thanks and praises as we
always do in our prayers. After the prayer of the church those who wish to come forward may come forward just as we do atCommunion, and kneel at the communion rail. There the pastor and some of the servant ministers
of Salem will make the sign of the Cross with a
little bit of oil on a person’s forehead, and say the
words: O
God the Father and the Giver of health and salvation:
as the apostles of our Lord Jesus
Christ, at His command, anointed many that were
sick, send now Your Holy Spirit, that Your
servant, anointed with this oil, may in repentance
and faith be made whole; through the same Jesus
Christ, our Lord.
Amen. What kinds of things do some people desire healing for? Some have serious diseases like cancer and ask for relief and remission. For some others healing means a peaceful death. Others ask for healing from bitterness, worry, nagging envy or jealousy – or just plain impatience that gets in the way of relationships. Those
who do not desire to come forward for the oil and blessing
may remain in the pew and listen to the music, sing the
hymns, and pray and meditate about those things in their
own life about which they know need the Lord’s healing
touch. SENDING:
In this part of the service we praise the name of
Christ Jesus, say a prayer and the Lord’s Prayer, say the benediction and send people out into their lives and callings with a hymn. This worship service will have little difference from a regular worship service besides the opportunity for those who desire to come forward for the individual prayer and anointing. Perhaps it should make us wonder about the fact that every worship service is really a healing service because where the medicines of baptism, communion, the Word, fellowship and the peace are passed out the healing of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit take place. Another
additional part of this service this year will be the
renewal of marriage vows requested by Ken and Joanne
Kushka. For
this we will use the form from Martin Luther’s Order of
Marriage. MEMORIALS
AND GIFTS HANDICAP ACCESS -
- -
In memory
of Kenneth
Matson by Wilson & Doris Baker;
L.A.D.D.; Mr. & Mrs.
Ronald Rhode; Paul Thomas Jr.; Elmer & Sara
Sheppard; Earl & Lois Gibbons;
FUND
Walter Lexow;
Mr. & Mrs. Roy Sheppard; Violet Kelm; Margaret
Logan;
Shirley & Melissa Banas; Mr. & Mrs. Mark
Thomas; Mr. & Mrs. William Boland;
Martha Haas; Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Hope; Mr. &
Mrs. Harold Ulrich; John Pfeiffer;
Roy & Joan Krueger; Mr. & Mrs. William
Roth; Ethel Berkhoudt; Tom & Kimberly
Berkhoudt; Grace Belter; Rev. & Mrs. Richard
Blemaster; Elinor Jentsch; Mr. & Mrs.
John McAlpine; Mr. & Mrs. Ray Yox; Maria Eitler;
Mary Eitler; Mr. & Mrs. Robert
Wiedemann; Mr. & Mrs. Robert Wolf; The 7 Ups;
Lorraine Horn; Ruth Carr;
Mr. & Mrs. Michael Mulvaney; Dorothy &
Gretchen Putzman; Mr. & Mrs. Fred
Harbart; Mr. & Mrs. George Poniwas; Sallie
Langner; Lois Doll; Mr. & Mrs. Richard
Landseadel.
In memory of Doris
Smith by Wilson & Doris Baker; Mr. & Mrs. Michael
Mulvaney;
L.A.D.D.; Russell Jr. & Kim Alessi; Fred Bartz
Jr.; Lois Doll; Norrine, Catherine, and
Marjorie Nagel; Ethel Berkhoudt; Robert Schmidt
Sr.; Elinor Jentsch.
In memory of Dorothy
Metzler by Wilson & Doris Baker; Fred Bartz Jr.;
Paul Thomas Jr.; Norrine, Catherine, and Marjorie
Nagel; Ethel Berkhoudt; Salem
Women’s Guild; Mr. & Mrs. Ray Yox; Lois Doll;
Robert Schmidt Sr.; Elinor Jentsch.
In memory of Mr.
& Mrs. Ralph Ball by Arlene Ball.
In memory of Eleanor
Schmidt by Mr. & Mrs. Walter Forbach.
Gifts:
Allen Feltz; Lois Doll; Paul & Stephanie
Swierczynski; Mary Bartz; Sallie Langner;
Donna Brady; Marilyn Krentz; Sally Krentz; George
& Jean Poniwas; David Sylvia;
Mr. & Mrs. Mark Thomas; Nancy Thomas; D. J.
Wiese; Mr. & Mrs. Allen Feltz;
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Wiedemann; Lorraine McGill;
Marjorie Schermerhorn; Jarmusz
Family; Mr. & Mrs. Charles Harvey; Mr. &
Mrs. William Wilke. FRIENDS
OF CULTURE - - Gift:
Catherine & Donald Guilford. and
MUSIC MISCELLANEOUS
FUND - -
Gifts:
Melissa Banas (S.L.Y.); Salem Choir (Music Fund); * * *
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* S U N D A Y S C H O O L After a three-month hiatus, the Board of Christian Education reinstated B. David Sylvia as Sunday School Superintendent on March 1, 2004. Our
appreciation is extended to Janet Guda for volunteering to
assist with Jr. Dept. Sunday School music. B.
David Sylvia boxed and shipped Operation Christmas Child
items to Samaritan’s Purse. On
Palm Sunday, we collected dry and canned goods for our
2004 Lenten project.
These items will be delivered to the Buffalo City
Mission later this month.
We also applaud the Sunday School children for
their efforts to share their faith through music, making
Palm Sunday and confirmation a memorable experience. Money
from this year’s dime folders has been designated for
Harvest House. The
Sunday School will provide special presentations during
our 10:30 a.m. worship services on both Mother’s Day,
May 9, 2004 and Father’s Day, June 20, 2004.
Father’s Day also marks the conclusion of another
Sunday School season.
B. David Sylvia
Sunday School Superintendent Reminder
to Sunday School teachers: Next
meeting is Thursday, May 13, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. ===============================================================================
We invite people of all ages to Salem Lutheran
Church in Buffalo for an
inspiring program of Christian music, puppetry,
drama and personal
testimony! Captive
Free, sponsored by Minneapolis-based Youth
Encounter, will be performing on Thursday, May 6,
at 7:00 p.m. The
concert will focus on this year’s theme –
“New Creation.” This faith-
encouraging program offers something for all ages
and tastes. Hosts needed! Captive
Free needs beds for 6 college-age students on Thursday night, May 6, following the concert.
We also need volunteers to help with feeding them at the church
that evening at 5:00 p.m. Hosts
are asked to provide a bed, breakfast, and a sack lunch for the road on Friday.
If you are able to host or help with the meal, please contact Stephanie Pittock. W O R S H I P The
Worship Committee has developed a page for the DOVE that
will communicate to the congregation the themes,
liturgies, sermon texts and titles and other points of
worship. (LW
= Lutheran Worship
TLH = The Lutheran Hymnal
WOV = With One Voice) Hymns
and liturgy are being chosen by Pastor, the Music
Director, and the Worship Committee.
Comments invited for future growth. SUNDAY
LITURGY
lst Hymn
Sermon
Communion
Last
Text & Title
Hymn
Hymns
Hymn
Sunday Morning Adult Bible Class – Spring 2004 Faith,
Stories and Prayers Making
peace with head, heart, tongue and both hands Mission: Peace/Salem – As the Father sent me, I send youVision:
Preach, Teach, Heal/Care – doing what Jesus does
Lutherans are people with One Lord and 3 books
(Bible, Catechism, Hymnal) Date
Bible
Catechism
Hymns/Prayers May 2 - Baptism – Study Sheet Commandments 1 & 2 “I Bind Unto Myself Today” LW 172 May 9 - Baptism – Study Sheet Commandments 3 & 4 “Dearest Jesus, We Are Here” LW 226 May 16 - Baptism – Study Sheet Commandments 5 & 6 “Baptised Into Your Name Most Holy” LW 224 May 23 - Baptism – Study Sheet Commandments 7 & 8 “Borning Cry” WOV 770 May 30 - Baptism – Study Sheet Commandments 9 & 10 “We Were Baptized” WOV 698 |
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