Spirit of Hope Weekly Newsletter

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CONTACT INFORMATION

Phone: 480-396-8300

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.spiritofhopelutheran.com

Office Hours are Tuesday 9:00 to 1:00 pm

"IN CAR" SERVICES TO BE HELD IN THE FAR BACK PARKING LOT:

ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE TODAY AT 4:00 PM

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21 AT 9:30 AM

MASKS ARE REQUIRED

IT IS HERE - The season of Lent

ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE – TODAY at 4:00 pm in the Spirit of Hope Parking Lot. This is an “in car” service.

We are quickly coming to the season of Lent which is a period of preparation, leading to the remembrance of our Lord’s passion, death, and the celebration of the resurrection. Lent traditionally is a time for reflection on God’s gift of mercy, love and salvation in Jesus. We focus on the disciplines of Lent. For some, it is greater attention to prayer while for others, it is fasting and a renewed focus on worship and growing in our relationship with God, as we journey with him to and through Jerusalem. But most of all this is a time for worship and renewal.

We believe this will be a very rich Lenten season. In the darkness of life, let God shine through you this season as we are drawn closer to Christ, in love and humble gratitude for all that Jesus has done for us. After all, Christ took on our, pain and brokenness, accepted and encountered the cross in order to redeem us and the world form the evils of sin and death. Through Christ’s sacrifice we are free to love and serve God and each other! Come and follow me. See you in worship!

Lent is a time for all Christians to reflect on our blessings. The Lenten season is also a time where we can challenge ourselves to simple Lenten Disciplines. It is a time where we can grow in our spirituality.

Lent is traditionally a period to remember Christ's forty days in the wilderness. Many people discipline themselves during this church season by giving something up as a sacrifice as Jesus sacrificed himself. The primary focus for Lent , however, should not simply be giving up one of our pleasures in life, but to rededicate our very lives to Christ as God's faithful Children

LENT is meant for us to slow down and think seriously about our blessings and our relationship with God not only by giving something up, but by adding a few simple Lenten disciplines to our weekly spiritual lives.

Yuld address 3 key questions: Who am I writing for? (e "for a limited Welcome to iour friends and family at the Summit.

Our Spirit of Hope weekly newsletter is being distributed at the Summit each week to help share the love of Christ with all who read our articles. Messages come from our Seniro's Rock Group and Women's Afternoon Bible Study.

We Invite those of you to attend any event you might be interested in here at Spirit of Hope.

We look forward to meeting more of you.

No Wednesday Bible Studies

until March 3rd

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Coffee with the Pastor ONLINE

Every Wednesday

at 9:00 am

You are invited to join me on a ZOOM call… this is how you do this. Open your internet browser, Copy and paste the link below into the address line. We will go live starting at 9:00 am.

https://zoom.us/j/6401061099?pwd=L1luVWlPcnRreDYzeTdMRks1ZEp1UT09

or call into the meeting, using your phone to one of the following numbers:

Please add – phone numbers = 1-346-248-7799

When prompted add the following information:

Meeting ID: 640 106 1099

EVENING BIBLE STUDY - Every Wednesday Night at 6:00 pm

Meet at the church and we will be also be on line through the ZOOM application using the same log-in address as we use for the Coffee time with Pastor.

Pastor Tony will lead this Bible study and we will be studying the scriptures that will be read at the next Sunday worship service.

Everyone who is to be present at the church MUST be wearing a mask for everyone’s protection. Masks are available if needed.

If you are not able to join us here at church, please log on to this ZOOM video call on your computer or phone at 6:00 pm.

Join us anytime! https://zoom.us/j/6401061099?pwd=L1luVWlPcnRreDYzeTdMRks1ZEp1UT09 or call into the meeting, using your phone to one of the following numbers: Please add – phone numbers = 1-346-248-7799 When prompted add the following information Meeting ID: 640 106 1099 See you there!

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Morning Bible Study

When: Thursday mornings

Time: 6:30 a.m.

Where: Church

What: Bring your Bible and your coffee

A Word from the Women's Bible Study

By Dar Stucke

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians 15:56-57

Do you remember the pictures from the last few summers of the raging wildfires in Arizona, California, Australia and other places? Whole towns and neighborhoods were so completely incinerated that there was very little visual evidence that they had ever existed. A few years ago, our dear friends, lost their home in a raging fire in the Black Hills of South Dakota. They were at the point of retirement and about to move to their long anticipated dream location. With them we surveyed the ruins of their dream. All that remained was a melted rivulet of steel from their barbecue grill and ash so fine it made a dusting over the concrete foundation and all the land. This past summer, our son in San Mateo told us that in the mornings their lawn and cars were totally covered with fine ash from wild fires miles away.

As sobering as these scenes are, it is even more sobering to know that our sins have been annihilated, burned-up, incinerated into a fine layer of ash that has been totally blown away by the breath of Jesus and His mercy.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. Lent is a time when we prepare our hearts for Easter. It is a time of spiritual discipline, thought, meditation and reflection. Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are mortal and that we are sinful human beings. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust are meaningful symbols of our sinfulness. But we also know that our sin and mortality have been defeated and conquered by Jesus death and resurrection.

It has long been the custom in Christian churches to burn the branches from a Palm Sunday service one year and use the ashes to place a small cross on the forehead of congregants as a sign of repentance on Ash Wednesday the next year. The hosannas and the “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” of Palm Sunday so quickly turn into “Crucify Him” a few days later. As Christians we know this would lead to His death on the cross but ultimately and triumphantly to His conquering of death and His resurrection to new life. This little cross of ashes on the forehead is a tiny symbol steeped with deep faceted meaning as we walk with Jesus through the forty days of Lent and forward to the reason for our hope—HE IS RISEN.

Dear Jesus, Thank you for being triumphant over the grave, for we know that You have conquered our sinfulness and our humanity and we are set free. Dust to life! Ashes to joy! Help us to live victoriously. In your name, Amen🙏

My thanks to Cynthia Ruchti and her comments in the book, MORNINGS WITH JESUS, for some of the thoughts included in this devotional.

Prayers –

We pray for those church members who are struggling with many health issues this week.

We pray for the health of Linda Vandenberg, Lynell Schleicher, Diane Reinhardt, Tom Snodgrass, Jim Sanford, Marie Renda. Diane Thompson, Linda Basler, Ethel Robbins, Frieda Pyles, Vicky Kuehl, Kevin Hicks, Marilyn Flood.

Prayers for Bonnie Gunderson's brother, Dwight MacMonagle.

Diane and Allen Thompson’s grand-daughter, Keli, had her baby Nolan Raine Vincent . He is going to be in the Neonatal ICU for at least 2 weeks . Pray for healing for Keli and strength for Nolan to strengthen his lungs..

We continue to pray for our friend Mike Johnson as he is in rehab to heal a broken shoulder. He found out this week that his wife, Marsha ,was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a “failing heart.” Let us pray for strength for both of them and the Lord heal their bodies so they can resume normal life activities.

Let’s pray for our whole congregational family as we enter the season of Lent.

Prayers for Carl McCoy's neighbor , Monte Lange,.

Prayers for Rosemary Brant's friend, Anita.

We pray for the spouses and families of those church members who have passed into the church triumphant this past month:

Alan Gursky who lost his mother, Pat Gursky

Sylvia Humleker who lost her husband Finn

Linda Wilcox who lost her husband Larry.

Herb Rauworth on the loss of his wife Sharon.

Debbie Krikorian on the loss of her mother Alice Lundquist.

May the God of good health and happiness restore all who are struggling this week with the many situations people in our lives are struggling. Thank you for your presence and give us the joys of everyday life!

AMEN.

Grocery cards Needed!!

People in our community are still in need for the basics to get through every day. If you are able, please pick up a few cash cards and bring them to Pastor Tony to distribute as needed.

Fry's Community Rewards

Did you know you can support nonprofit organizations in your community just by shopping at Fry's? It's easy when you enroll in Fry's Community Rewards. To get started, sign up with your V.I.P. Card and select Spirit of Hope as the local organization you wish to support. Once you're enrolled, you'll earn rewards for your church every time you shop and use your V.I.P. card.

www.fryscommunityrewards.com

SOH Organization number is 80606

Amazon Smile

A quick and easy way to support SOH when you shop at Amazon is to shop Smile.Amazon.com. Look for SOH and Amazon will make a donation to Spirit of Hope Church every time you shop. When everyone does this, it helps give a little extra money to our church.