Newsletter ~ August

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1.Sing to the LORD of harvest, sing songs of love and praise; sing songs of love and praise; with joyful hearts and voices Your al-le-lu-ies raise. By Him the rolling seasons in fruitful order move. Sing to the LORD of harvest a joyous song of love.

2. God makes the clouds rain goodness, the deserts bloom and spring, the hills leap up in gladness, The valleys laugh and sing. God fills them with his fullness, all things with large increase. He crowns the year with blessing, With plenty and with peace.

3. Bring to this sacred altar, the gifts his goodness gave. The golden sheaves of harvest. The souls Christ died to save, your hearts lay down before him when at his feet you fall, and with your lives adore him, who gave his life for all.

 

CHRISTAIN WOMENS GUILD, AND LUTHERAN WOMENS GUILD-July 1, 2026

CALL TO ORDER: President Carol Fuhrman called the meeting to order with “this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!”

Carol also did the devotions. 

Secretary Barb Huebner took roll call, with July 4 memories. 7 were present.

Carol Lehman, treasurer gave the financial report.

Loah Horton gave the birthday cards for congregation members 80 and older, this quarter, there were 4.

Leah reported on the Thrift store work days; she worked 3 extra days in June. The next work day is August 3, Leah plans to go, sometimes Kathy Polley comes with me.

Leah reported on Sunshine, get well cards sent to Connie Fuhrman, Keith Alft, Jim Retzlaff, and Bruce Brady. Sympathy cards to Jerry and Larry Wolff, also to Jim Retzlaff’s daughter and husband.

Discussed were new coffee servers, 13 were ordered and they have arrived.

The LWML Rally was reported on.

Carol Lehman and Barb Huebner reported on the district. Convention they attended in Marquette, MI. both of them enjoyed the convention, the music, Bible Study, and the speakers.

Twelve Mission Grants were selected with a $155,000 Mission Grant Goal, in the next two years. The money is collected in local LWML groups, like the one we have at St John, Tigerton.

New officers were also elected, Rev Dean Suehring was elected as JR Counselor, Lynnette Roshell, recording Secretary; Laura Anderson, District President, Pam Pfankuch, Treasurer, and Diane Simon, 2nd Vice President.

Our meeting closed with the Lord’s Prayer. Our next meeting is planned for October. Watch for more info.

 

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 

It’s August already? When I was a kid, the months of June, July and August seemed to last forever, but now they seem to fly by as fast as all the other months. Did time move slower years ago? No, it still takes 365 days to make the yearly trip around the sun, and there’s still 24 hours in a day. So, what changes as we get older? How we perceive time is what changes. A week of vacation versus being sick for a week does not feel like the same length of time. The week of vacation, assuming it’s a pleasant vacation and most everything goes according to plan, seems to fly by quickly, whereas a week of blowing your nose and feeling congested, alternating between being hot then cold then hot again tends to feel like it’s going to last forever.
 

Like the weather and our usual complaints about it either “It’s too hot” or “It’s too cold,” so also our complaints about time tend towards two extremes, “This is taking too long” or “Where has the time gone?” Each of these extremes has a corresponding virtue: patience and contentment.
 

Patience is learned by being made to wait. But we tend to not like to wait. In a world of instant communication and same day delivery being made to wait can get frustrating pretty fast. At the heart of most impatience is the idolatry or worship of self. Frustrated that traffic isn’t moving fast enough for you? It is probably messing up a lot of peoples’ day, but your mind isn’t concerned about them, is it? Grocery store checkout line too long? Pharmacy taking too long to fill your prescription? Thank God for it! None of us is the center of the universe, nor the most important person in the world, and it is actually good for all of us to be reminded of this from time to time. Being taught patience often comes with a free side order of humility. Loving your neighbor includes learning to endure and forgive their faults and weaknesses, their frailties and shortcomings. St. Peter reminds us, “Love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). And the Apostle Paul has written, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned…Let your love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:3, 10-12).
 

Contentment might be thought of as simply being satisfied with whatever you have, and while that definition works at a certain level especially in terms of worldly goods, in the context of this discussion I would argue that contentment also involves having a right perspective on things and trusting in the will and timing of God. The saying of Job, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21), is a confession of contentment. Sometimes the Lord gives and sometimes the Lord takes away. Sometimes he lengthens and sometimes, at least according to our viewpoint, he cuts short. St. Paul famously wrote while in prison, “I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Philippians 4:11-12). May we also have that same perspective, contentment and patience, in any and every circumstance, believing and trusting that whether our days be long or short, whether the Lord gives or takes away, he is good and his mercy endures forever. 

 

Yours in Christ, 

Pastor Suehring