Confirmation Service
Many continued blessings to Shawn and Zach on your confirmation day and first communion.
Fourth Sunday in Easter
Fourth Sunday in Easter
Funeral Service for Irene Meyer
Irene Meyer
Funeral Service for Irene Meyer
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Isaiah 40:31 & John 10:1-20
Grace and mercy to you Don and to Rebecca, Diane, Michael, Jeff, and Tom; grandchildren, great-grandchildren, family, friends, and to Our Savior Lutheran Church. Grace and mercy to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
It is written, “I AM the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lay down His life for the sheep.” Thus far the text.
Let us pray: Creator Father, You love Jesus because He laid down His life to save unbelievers. We love Him for the same reason. Work in us faith in Jesus Christ. Keep Your promises to our sister in Christ, that though she die yet she will rise again with all who also believe in Jesus; we pray in the name of Jesus, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.
Truly, Truly I say to you, before the heavenly Father created anything, He had two things in mind.
He had in mind to create with His own hands and life giving breath all that is created and crowning His creation with man and woman with the strength and elegance of an eagle in flight.
Also, before the creation of the world, the heavenly Father had determined to save this race of men through His Word and Sacrament desiring none to be lost. The Lord God determined this.
And so it was, the Lord God knit together a baby in her mother’s womb and named her Irene. The Lord God had borne her from her mother’s whom on April 29, 1939 and already seeing her need for a Savior, a good and shepherding Savior, Irene was born anew by baptism into Jesus Christ on October 1, 1939.
Before she could stand, before she could walk, Irene had been blessed with eternal life in and with a good and shepherding Savior.
The Good Shepherd called Irene to listen to His life-nurturing Word and Irene recognized His voice. The Good Shepherd knows Irene by name and led her to a confirmation of faith in Christ on April 6, 1952. The Good Shepherd gifted her with marriage to Don on March 24, 1956 from which were born Rebecca, Diane, Jeff, Michael, and Tom. So many blessings and she received you as blessings.
Irene waited on the Shepherd, the Good One, Jesus Christ. Jesus renewed her strength. Even last week, Irene rallied and we thought she was going to be ok. Irene waited on the Lord and He gave her the strength to run and not be weary; to walk and not grow faint. She was the strong one which is all the more shocking that she passed so quickly Sunday morning.
Jesus Christ, knows Irene and knows what He is doing. Jesus Christ is her Shepherd and even though Irene, like all of us will one day, walked through the valley of the shadow of death, she has not fallen. The Shepherd keeps His promise and no one will take Irene from the palm of His hand. Irene fell asleep in her Savior’s arms. That’s what the Good Shepherd says. Irene is not dead. She will rise in this body. In the meantime, good angels came to the Simpson Nursing Home in West Liberty and gently carried Irene’s soul to her heavenly Father where there is no tears or sorrow and where she yet must patiently wait a little longer with all the saints for the day of resurrection from the dead. On the other hand, good men are here to gently carry Irene’s body to Moscow and we too must patiently wait a little longer with all the saints for the day of resurrection from the dead.
Today is a day of sweet sorrow for us. We miss her already. We may have had something to say to her and now time has run out, but it hasn’t. Today is the day the Lord has made. Today is the day to confess the hurts, confess the sins to one another and to the same Shepherd, the Good One, and listen to His voice. He will forgive you and lead you to a congregation where He speaks the truth in love. Wait upon the Lord. He will Shepherd you to a renewed life in Him.
Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you…my sheep know my voice and they listen to Me. I am the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, enter the sheep gate by my voice even by my baptism and my body and blood. I will save you and you will go in and find good pasture.”
Let us enter the sheep gate by faith in Jesus Christ the good shepherd. Finally, let us give thanks that He continues to shepherd Irene and will shepherd all who listen to His voice. Amen.
The Peace of God, which passes understanding, keep you in Christ, Our Savior.
Matins Service
Matins Service
The teaching of the Day from the Book of Concord:
Thus in Luke 7:47 Christ says: Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. For Christ interprets Himself [this very passage] when He adds: Thy faith hath saved thee. Christ, therefore, did not mean that the woman, by that work of love, had merited the remission of sins. For that is the reason He says: Thy faith hath saved thee. 32] But faith is that which freely apprehends God's mercy on account of God's Word [which relies upon God's mercy and Word, and not upon one's own work]. If any one denies that this is faith [if any one imagines that he can rely at the same time upon God and his own works], he does not understand at all 33] what faith is. [For the terrified conscience is not satisfied with its own works, but must cry after mercy, and is comforted and encouraged alone by God's Word.] And the narrative itself shows in this passage what that is which He calls love. The woman came with the opinion concerning Christ that with Him the remission of sins should be sought. This worship is the highest worship of Christ. Nothing greater could she ascribe to Christ. To seek from Him the remission of sins was truly to acknowledge the Messiah. Now, thus to think of Christ, thus to worship Him, thus to embrace Him, is truly to believe. Christ, moreover, employed the word "love" not towards the woman, but against the Pharisee, because He contrasted the entire worship of the Pharisee with the entire worship of the woman. He reproved the Pharisee because he did not acknowledge that He was the Messiah, although he rendered Him the outward offices due to a guest and a great and holy man. He points to the woman and praises her worship, ointment, tears, etc., all of which were signs of faith and a confession, namely, that with Christ she sought the remission of sins. It is indeed a great example, which, not without reason, moved Christ to reprove the Pharisee, who was a wise and honorable man, but not a believer. He charges him with impiety, and admonishes him by the example of the woman, showing thereby that it is disgraceful to him, that, while an unlearned woman believes God, he, a doctor of the Law, does not believe, does not acknowledge the Messiah, and does not seek from Him remission of sins and salvation.
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