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Thank you to everyone who so generously helped with the Hearts For Jesus mission project, “Care of Widows/Cows for Kids: India.” At the time of publication, Saint John’s has raised over $1500 in gifts so far that will be sent to Wheat Ridge Ministries to buy as many as six cows for these Lutheran families who have no husband or father. Your generous giving will make such a big difference in these lives and serve as a huge witness of God’s love in their communities. Thank you for giving from the heart to help the children of Saint John’s share Jesus’ love in India.
The Children’s Lenten Art Show will be on display in the Large Fellowship Hall during March. The children of the Sunday School children along with the children of Open Arms Preschool will be presenting a display following this year’s Midweek Lenten Service theme, “The Sign of Jonah.”
The New Life Festival will be held Holy Saturday, April 3. Time to start thinking about who you would like to invite! If you are interested in helping with this awesome outreach event, please let me know! New Life Festival t-shirts are on sale from the Children’s Ministry office. We have sizes from youth small through adult 2XL. New colors are available! If your child has outgrown his/her old New Life Festival t-shirt, or you would like a new one with a new color, you can donate the old gently-used t-shirts and we will give them to those who don’t have funds to purchase t-shirts.
The Interpretative Liturgical Dancers are preparing to enrich our Easter worship. We thank these worship dancers and their parents for their willingness to bless our worship services. Thank you to Mrs. Lou Anne Yee for sharing her gifts of choreography to “stir our souls” as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.
In Sunday School, along with the Bible lessons, the children have been exploring the wonders of worship. We have learned that WORSHIP comes from an older word: worthship. God is “worth” our deep love and great respect because He …
- Made us and all things
- Protects us from danger and the devil
- Provides for us food, clothes, shelter, friends and family
- Keeps His promises
- Loves us so much that He sent Jesus to take our sins away
- Gives us His Word, forgiveness of sins and eternal life (heaven) etc.
We sing, praise, give thanks and honor Him. We worship on Sunday because it is the day of the week that Jesus rose from the dead. The very first Christians met on Sundays to hear God’s Word and celebrate Holy Communion.
The church is the assembly of all the believers where the Gospel is preached in its purity and the Holy Sacraments are administered. The church building or “sanctuary” is a place where God Himself is actually present in His Word and Sacraments. The altar, the cross, the pulpit, the baptismal font—everything is there to direct our attention toward Jesus. The imagery of the church being like a boat is biblical. Noah and his family and the animals were saved by means of a ship. Likewise, the place in church where everybody sits is called the nave. It is from the Latin word navis, which means “ship.” Christ saves those within the ship.
Learning the wonders of worship are so helpful for children to understand who they are as Christians, why we do what we do in worship and to whom we direct our worship. To worship God with other believers is a spiritual blessing and awesome experience for all Christians of every age. The benefits that we receive in worship are bountiful. Happy worshipping with your family!
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