Don’t you just love “aha!” moments? When your mind is opened and you can see something you never knew before?
I wonder how many “aha!” moments the disciples had after Easter. For three years Jesus had been teaching them. And, for three years they mostly didn’t get it.
Here in Luke 24 Jesus opened their minds. Think of that aha moment for the disciples. They realized that everything in the Bible is absolutely true, and they were living in the fulfilment of prophecy. They realized that Jesus conquered death, that he beat Satan, even though they missed it! They realized that God was right there, right then, talking to them.
Don’t you just love “aha!” moments? When God opens your mind to see him, right there, right then? To feel him walking us through this chaos, right at our side. To see him controlling the world, over disease and conflict and disappointment.
And he doesn’t stop there. After Jesus opened the disciples’ minds, he blessed them. And he kept blessing them all the while he was going into heaven. And they were filled with joy.
The disciples responded by going to church. They needed to praise God. What better place than the temple?
Now we get to do that. God is opening up the church again. What better place to praise him?
And we don’t want to stop there. We want to change the world. We want to bring light into darkness and God’s love into a world that is divided. We want to show people Jesus.
Jesus promised his disciples that he would fill them with his power. The disciples were people like us and Jesus used them to turn the world upside down. They wouldn’t hide behind locked doors anymore. They were clothed with power. They wouldn’t be afraid of anything, because Jesus ruled from heaven.
He still does. He will do the same with us.
Luke 24:44–53 (EHV)
44He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”
45Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46He said to them, “This is what is written and so it must be: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49Look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
50He led them out as far as the vicinity of Bethany. He lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51And while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up into heaven. 52So they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53They were continually in the temple courts, praising and blessing God. Amen.
God bless you,
Pastor Tesch
Worship on Pentecost – May 31/June 1
We have exciting news from the council. Now that the restrictions have been lifted, we can come to worship again! We want to be wise and we don’t want to rush into things, so the council discussed this. Here’s the plan.
Our first Worship will be on May 31. Service times – 8am, 10am, and 1pm, and Monday at 6pm. With social distancing, we can have at least 60 people in the sanctuary at the same time if we include the balcony.
Click here to sign up for one of the services, or you can respond to this email or call Pastor or call the church office to let us know which service you prefer. Pastor and Lynn will also be calling people to sign up. We will not have Communion yet. We will offer it in June. Thank you to everybody who has already signed up!
We’ll post information on the website trinitymarinette.com/events, Facebook, twitter and Instagram, it will also be included it in our bulletin, and Pastor will announce it online after services.
To keep our worshipers safe, we will:
- Remove hymnals from pews
- Remove children’s bags
- Remove pens
- We’re not going to pass plates – put offerings into boxes in entry on the way in or out
- Pews, door handles, rails wiped down after each service
- People sit in every other pew
- Bulletins will be on a table for pick up
- Worship folders
- Announcement sheets
- No connection cards
- Hearing aids will be disinfected after each service
- Recommend wearing a mask, although it won’t be required
- If you’re not feeling well or have any flu symptoms, please wait until next week.
- If you’re at risk, we recommend you wait until the pandemic trends down
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran School Graduation is on May 28 at 6:00pm. The service will be held in church. We’re limiting the service to immediate family. But you can watch the closing service on Saturday, May 30. It will include the distribution of diplomas, a message from the Pastor and the Principal and a couple of songs by the faculty!
If you know of someone who would like the service on DVD or the audio on CD, please let us know.
If you would like to support the Lord’s work at Trinity, you may contribute at trinitymarinette.com/contribute or you can mail it to
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
1501 Thomas St.
Marinette, WI 54143