Hope E News

Hope E-News Week of Mar 20 – Mar 27, 2019

Saved by grace, sent to serve

Prayer

Have you ever noticed how things come full circle at times? That happened to me today as I contemplated throughout the day on what to write for the eNews article. I started with prayer as the original topic and then had several other ideas, but, in the end, I scrapped all of them for what I thought would be ‘something better.’ The problem is that the ‘something better’ I was seeking never came my way.

I am not sure why people count the number of times a word is used in the bible, but I’m happy someone decided to do the counting. For example, the word ‘prayer’ is used 292 times according to Bible Gateway. I think it is safe to say that since the word ‘prayer’ is used so often, it is something that God wants us to do often.

Someone once said that the most powerful thing a Christian can do is pray. Yet we have a tendency to make prayer a last resort or give up on it altogether if we haven’t received an immediate answer.

Jesus showed us that we need to be persistent or persevere in prayer. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock –all referring to prayer. 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8. In the Greek translation, the verbs ask, seek, and knock could be translated as “keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.” In other words don’t give up! Be persistent!

When we pray, we go to our heavenly Father as his child. We tell him what is going on in our lives and he hears us. Don’t be afraid to go to God and don’t think that he

doesn’t answer prayer. God promises that, in his time, we will be given an answer to what we seek, and walk through an open door. It is when we walk through the open door that we discover that our heavenly Father always gives us what is good, even if it doesn’t look exactly the way we were expecting or given to us at the very moment we asked for it.

Through the answers God gives us, we gain a greater faith in him and we are able to see what he deems as good. It is by praying that we come to see our heavenly Father and begin to know His will for our lives. Prayer is like anything else –the more we pray, the better we get at it.

In Christ+

Pr. Tom

Pastor Tom McGawley’s Contact Info: Cell: 386-627-6396 E-mail: [email protected]

Luke is often regarded as the most literary of the gospels, that is, the gospel written in the most educated sort of Greek. The beginning of Chapter 13, Sunday’s Gospel Lesson, is an example of how Luke utilizes events current in his time to introduce his favorite form of teaching, namely parables. Here the parable is a story of more chances, a story about the work needed to bring forth fruit from a fig tree. The story might apply to Jesus’s followers, or to God’s efforts to encourage us, or even a reminder of how important growing food can be. –Jeff Wedge

Mid-week Lenten Services We will be having Lent services each Wednesday evening. We’ll begin with soup supper at 6:00 pm, then the service at 6:30 pm. Some ELCA pastors in our area will be rotating among the churches, but our congregation will be here at Hope each week. Here’s the schedule:

March 20: Pastor Tom McGawley of Hope, Daytona Beach

March 27: Pastor Mark Winkler of Emmaus, Orange City

April 3: Pastor Andre Keeley of All Saints, Port Orange

April 10: Pastor Tom McGawley of Hope, Daytona Beach

We have a sign-up sheet in the Narthex to provide soup and/or sandwiches for these Wednesday evening services. For additional information, please contact Zetta Gillespie at 386-673-2940.

The “Change for Change” offering we collected during February was given to Luther Springs. We have received a thank you letter from them. It is on the bulletin board by Pr Tom’s office.

Reminder

March 31st is the last day for Thrivent Choice Dollars to be designated for the

year 2018

Happy Anniversary wishes

March 21st

Tom & Delores Opfer

Happy Birthday greetings

Diane Obergfell . . . March 20

Barb Cameron . . . March 23

Jada Agunbiade . . . March 25

Audrey Schirra . . . March 26

Alarm goes off and we get ready to attend the 9:00 a.m. worship service……oops……sometimes we forget something which we intended to take with us to the church.

This may apply to some of us who forgot to return our “Faith Goal” cards for 2019, but no worries, we will have the “wishing well” in the narthex for a few more weeks and encourage you to return your card (if you haven’t already done so) after prayerfully considering your goal.

Thanks to all of you who have taken time to return your cards. We have some information to share regarding those returned.

Of the 53 letters/cards distributed, 31 were generously returned. It is, once again evident that we have so many faithful members and friends who, to date, have stated total goals in excess of $129,000.

We continue to be truly blessed to be a blessing to others.

PRAYERS FOR OUR CHURCH FAMILY

Prayer List: Laura Bonner, Jack & Jean Boston, Nancy Capo, Erma Gilliam, Renee McLoud, Bill Miller, Tony Minner, Bill & Diane Obergfell, Delores Opfer, Gordy & Ursula Preston, Gisela Schafer, Sherry Timm

Please also remember these family and friends of Hope:

Ava Gibson-3 year old recovering from transplant surgery Jason Neuhardt-nephew of the Lesters Carol Prieur-friend of the Kellys Sandy & Jim Speicher (Serving God in Kabul)-daughter and son in law of the Schirras Pr Gerry VandeMark-friend of Hope Lutheran Members of the Armed Forces and Emergency First Responders

Please look on the bulletin board by Pastor Tom’s office for a thank you letter from the Florida-Bahamas Synod for Mission Support 2018. Hope gave over $7,000 for synodical & churchwide ministries.

Thanks to our generous Hope family, we have added a collection tub for donations to our Halifax Humane Society friends. Always needed are dog & cat foods, treats, kitty litter, and used linens for bedding.

69 people attended our worship service Sunday, March 17th

Volunteers for March 24, 2019

Assisting Minister: Barbie Overton

Accompanist: Erma Gilliam

Altar Guild: Nancy Abend & Zetta Gillespie

Greeters: Jack & Kathy Ottoson

Lector: Terry Stuhr

Communion Assistants: Jack & Kathy Ottoson

Usher: Ed Bonner & Nancy Capo

Sunday School Teacher: Ruth Kelly

Coffee Hour:

Counters: Barbara Krieger & Candy Riley

Readings for March 24, 2019 Third Sunday in Lent

Isaiah 55:1-9 Psalm 63:1-8

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Luke 13:1-9

Upcoming Activities

Mar 20, Wed 3-5:00 pm Halifax Humane staff training

6:00 pm Soup supper & Lent service Mar 21, Thu 5:30 pm Music Club

Mar 22, Fri 10:00 am HUM food distribution until 1:00 pm

Mar 24, Sun 9:00 am Worship followed by coffee fellowship

Mar 26, Tue 10:00 am Women of Hope Bible study

Mar 27, Wed 6:00 pm Soup supper & Lent service

Mar 28, Thu 12:00 pm Men of Hope (please bring your lunch with you)

5:30 pm Music Club

Mar 29, Fri 10:00 am HUM food distribution until 1:00 pm

4-5:00 pm Halifax Humane staff training

Mar 31, Sun 9:00 am Worship followed by coffee fellowship