GOODNEWSletter MARCH 2009 ******************************************************************************* Daily, we are reminded that we aren't as young as we used to be. The stiff knee from an old sports injury, sore muscles from an overzealous workout, or the emergence of yet another patch of gray hair remind us of the brevity of life. Certainly a healthy lifestyle and cosmetic procedures can slow the aging process, but they can never stop the inevitable. We will die. All people will eventually die and the failings of our human body only draw us to that inevitable conclusion. Not only are we helpless to stop our bodies from growing old, we are helpless to stop the sin that has invaded our bodies since birth, made us enemies of God and eternal partners with the devil in hell. Left to our own devices, our futures are grim - certain physical and spiritual death. The course has been set and we are helpless to alter it. But thanks be to God, who is not helpless to save. Instead, he saw our lost condition and acted on our behalf. "But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). Our future is now drastically changed. We are not doomed to eternal destruction, but by his grace, are credited with eternal salvation. Now, although our physical bodies continue to decline, we know that we await a glorious resurrection. "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." (Philippians 3:20-21) This Lenten season, as we focus on the passion of Christ, may we ponder just how life-changing his death and resurrection are for us. Because he lived a perfect life, we are perfect in God's eyes. Because he suffered hell on the cross for us, we no longer have to suffer that same separation from God. Because he lives, we too will live eternally in heaven! As we look to the cross this Lent, we cannot forget that it was our sins that put the nails in Jesus' hands and feet. It was our lost, sinful condition that moved our Lord to act on our behalf. Because of this great love that caused God to sentence his own Son to die, we fall on our knees in repentance for our sinful ways and in thanksgiving for our changed condition. As we see our bodies and the world around us crumble, may it no longer remind us of impending doom, but of our imminent and glorious future with Christ in heaven. May each new gray hair fill us with anticipation of our coming glory! ******************************************************************************* March Schedule Northwood, England - Northwood Methodist Church March 1, April 5 - Worship at 13:00, Bible Class at 14:00 with fellowship following Savior of the Nations Lutheran Church Wicker, Germany (Frankfurt Area) - At the Evangelische Gemeindehaus March 8 and March 22 - Worship at 11:00, Fellowship, Bible Class and Sunday school following the service Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany - At the Southside Chapel March 8 and March 22 - Worship at 16:00 with Bible Study, Sunday school and fellowship to follow Vilseck, Germany - Main Chapel on Vilseck Army Base Saturday, March 14 - Worship at 10:00, Bible study at 11:00, potluck meal to follow Switzerland - The Home of Christian and Jill Geissendoerfer Sunday, March 15 - Worship at 11:00, Bible study, Sunday school and fellowship to follow ******************************************************************************* Drop Us a Line! If you have need of pastoral assistance or just want to talk, please contact us. Your e-mails, phone calls, & letters are welcomed. Pastor Joshua and Katie Martin Im Holzweg 4a 55288 Spiesheim Telephone: (+49) 6732-965-9813 Email: WELSChaplain@gmail.com www.welseurope.net ******************************************************************************* Prayer Chain Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened unto you. (Matthew 7:7) God in His Word encourages Christians to pray continually. It is an important gift that our loving God has given us in which we can communicate with him and he blesses us. As a Christian congregation that is spread out across an entire continent, we may often find it difficult to know what is going on in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. In an effort to keep us united in prayer to our loving God, we are beginning a prayer chain. Melinda Gribble has volunteered to help put this together on a weekly basis. At the beginning of each week, you will be sent an email asking if you have any special prayer requests for yourself or a loved one. At the end of the week, the prayer will be sent out to all members with email addresses. Please feel free to submit all prayer requests to Pastor Martin or directly to Melinda Gribble at rmgribble@aol.com. If you do not have an email address but would like to add a prayer request, please don't hesitate to call Pastor Martin directly. ******************************************************************************* March Fellowship On Saturday, March 21st, we will have an opportunity for fellowship. We plan to host a chili supper and game night at the parsonage from 5-9 p.m. If you would like to bring a pot of chili to share, please contact Pastor Martin. Perhaps if enough people want to bring chili, we can have a chili cook-off competition as well! If chili is not your specialty, please bring a snack, bread or dessert to share. Drinks will be provided. Don't forget to bring your favorite game! We look forward to the chance for fun and Christian fellowship. ******************************************************************************* Save the Date! There will be no additional fellowship in the month of April due to the Easter retreat. In May, we will be having our annual Mother's Day worship service and potluck on Sunday, May 10th. More details will follow in next month's newsletter. ******************************************************************************* Our Gift of Thanks "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above ... Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (Colossians 3:1 - 2) What "heavenly things" are there to think about? The list is long - eternal peace, forgiveness, freedom from trying to earn salvation, freedom from worry. Setting our minds on heavenly things doesn't mean we do it to the neglect of our responsibilities. We still go about our work, care for our family, and pay our bills. Setting our minds on heavenly things reminds us what is most important for our lives - that is our salvation. Setting our minds on heavenly things means reflecting the high calling that God has given us through faith in his Son. We do that by the way we use the blessings he has given us. One way is with our thank offerings to him. The amount of offerings gathered in Europe in the month of February was the equivalent of EUR 3,752. Since the beginning of 2009, we have collected the equivalent of EUR 7,194. Thanks for supporting the Lord's work in Europe! ******************************************************************************* Easter Retreat 2009 The Easter retreat has been set! The retreat will be held from Thursday, April 9- Sunday, April 12. The location is Wiehl, Germany which about 30 minutes east of Cologne. Wiehl is a smaller town, but has an ice rink, a swimming pool, a cave to explore and other sites of interest. We plan to offer a tour of Cologne on Saturday as well. The hostel itself is modern and every room is ensuite. The website for the hostel is www.wiehl.jugendherberge.de The prices will range between 25-35 Euros per person per night based on your age (over 27 years old must add 3,00) and what type of room you would like. Children aged 3-5 are 30% off and children 2 and under are free. These prices include lodging, bed linens and all meals except dinner on Saturday. If the cost would prevent you from attending, please contact Pastor Martin as assistance is available. If you have never attended a retreat before, this may be something to consider. It is a wonderful opportunity to come together with Christian friends from all over Europe to study the word, have joint worship services for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, and have time to make new friendships and renew old ones. There are plenty of activities for kids, families, and singles. It is also a wonderful opportunity to see a new part of Germany as well! THE DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION IS MARCH 1ST! It is possible to register after the 1st, but we need to get the numbers to the hostel by the first week in March. Please fill out the attached registration form and email or send to Pastor Martin as soon as possible. We are also looking for any and all volunteers for music and choir, Sunday school, and help with different aspects of organizing things at the hostel. Please let us know if you would like to serve in any way. We look forward to celebrating our Savior's resurrection with you! ******************************************************************************* England Retreat We are in the preliminary stages of planning a retreat in the British Isles. Although an exact location has not yet been determined, it is being tentatively planned for the first weekend of September, 2009. If you live in mainland Europe and would consider attending a retreat, please contact Pastor Martin so we can assess what kind of facility would best accommodate our group. ******************************************************************************* February Fellowship On Saturday, February 7, we had a bowling and pizza outing. We had about 18 people present for this fun night of fellowship. Congratulations to Matthias Hahnfeldt who was our bowling champion! ******************************************************************************* MARCH 2009 BIBLE READINGS Attached to this newsletter, you will find a calendar that contains Bible readings for each day of March as well as questions for each text. Please give Pastor Martin any feedback that you have on such a Bible study program or offer any suggestions on how the church can offer you more spiritual growth resources throughout the year. 1. Mt 7:1-6 Questions: This is about the sins of others not about judging false prophets. Why is that important? 2. Mt 7:7-12 Questions: What are we encouraged to do? Why? 3. Mt. 7:13-14 Questions: Why is the gate to destruction broad? Why is the gate to life narrow and small? 4. Mt 7:15-23 Questions: What is the fruit of false prophets? What do you think is "the will of my Father"? 5. Mt 7:24-29 Questions: How have you built your life on the rock? Why do the storms bring down the foolish? 6. Dt 26:5-10 Questions: What were the people supposed to do? Why? What encour-agement do you find here? 7. Ro 10:8-13 Questions: How will you be saved? What is the relationship between faith and confession? 8. Jer 26:8-15 Questions: Why do you think there was such a violent rejection of Jeremiah? What is the lesson for us? 9. Mt 8:1-4 Questions: How does Jesus heal this man? What's important about that? 10. Mt 8:5-13 Questions: Jesus heals the same way here. What is so amazing about the faith of the centurion? 11. Php 3:17-4:1 Questions: What does it mean in your life that your citizenship is in heaven? Of what must we be careful? 12. Ps 1 Questions: How do we stay planted by the streams of water? What warning does the psalmist give us? 13. Mk 2:1-12 Questions: What is of first importance to Jesus? What authority does Jesus claim with this miracle? 14. Mk 2:13-17 Questions: How did Jesus find you? What makes you sick and in need of Jesus? 15. Mk 2:18-22 Questions: Should we celebrate or fast? Why? When do we put the new on the old? 16. Mk2:23-3:6; Questions: Why did God command the OT Sabbath rest? How does this miracle illustrate yesterday's reading? 17. Mk 3:7-12 Questions: Why do you think Jesus told the evil spirits not to tell who he was? What assurance do these miracles give us? 18. Mk 3:13-19 Questions: Name the 12 Apostles. What did Jesus appoint them to do? Why are these men still important to us? 19. Ex 3:1-8 Questions: Why did God call Moses? When we experience misery, how does God assure us in this reading? 20. Ex. 3:10-15 Questions: How does God overcome the objections of Moses? What does I AM mean for you? 21. 1 Co 10:1-13 Questions: What are the warnings in this reading? What direction does God give us here? 22. Is 12:1-6 Questions: According to this reading, list the reasons you should praise the Lord. How can you praise him? 23. 1 Co:1:18-25 Questions: Why is the cross still foolishness to people today? Why do you still cling to it in spite of what others think? 24. Lk 7:11-17 Questions: Why was this woman's situation so difficult? What comfort can you draw from the miracle? 25. Lk 7:18-35 Questions: Why do you think people rejected John and also rejected Jesus but for different reasons? 26. Lk 7:36-50 Questions: What is the lesson Jesus teaches about love? Why is faith important? 27. Mt 11:20-24 Questions: What lessons does the rebuke of these cities by Jesus teach you? What does Jesus say is coming? 28. Mt 11:25-30 Questions: When has v. 28 become important to you? Why do you find comfort in it? 29. Is 43:16-25 Questions: Underline v. 25 in your Bible. How does it emphasize God's grace? Why is that so important? 30. Php 3:8-14 Questions: Why do you strain toward what lies ahead? What does straining and looking ahead mean for you each day? 31. Ps 73 Questions: What do the wicked always seem to have here on earth? Yet why does the psalmist cling to God? ******************************************************************************* Easter Retreat 2009 April 9-12 Name:_____________________________ Phone:_____________________________ E-mail:_____________________________ Number Attending: _____ Names of all attending (including infants): Please also include the ages of children. _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ Room preference: ____ Four-bedded ____ Three-bedded (EUR 2,55 extra per person per night) ____ Two-bedded (EUR 5,10 extra per person per night) ____ Single bed (EUR 10,20 extra per night) ____ Other - Please specify: _________________________________ Please check the days for which you will be present: Thursday:____ Friday:____ Saturday: ____ Sunday:____ Please indicate if there is an area in which you would be willing to serve. I would be willing to: Teach older kids' Sunday School: ____ Teach younger kids' Sunday School: ____ Help with Music. I play the following instrument(s): ______________________ Other: __________________________________________ __________________________________________ DUE DATE IS MARCH 1ST! *******************************************************************************