February 27, 2021 E-Newsletter
Dear Friends and Members of Holy Cross,
Pastor Mike Sheldon, the Senior Pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church, will preach at Holy Cross this Saturday and Sunday as Pastor Jon will be preaching St.Mark. Pastor Jon also put together an online sermon for those that will watch from home or those that attend live worship that want to hear another sermon based on the readings for this week. Pastor Jon’s topic is “What Side Are You On?” based on Mark 8:27-28. We live in a society where people are going in many directions. It is important to make sure we are going in the right direction and we will learn again from the example of Jesus the right path to be on in a challenging world.
Pastor Jon’s Sermon for February 27-28 ”What Side are You On?”
Abbreviated liturgy for February 27-28 with Scriptures and prayer
We have mid-week Lenten Services each Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. The sermon series is called, “Lord Teach Us How To Pray” as we look into and grow in our understanding of each petition of the Lord’s Prayer to learn how it is that Jesus wants us to pray. The sermons will be posted online each Wednesday morning for those who will cannot attend in person. I have linked the sermon for last Wednesday if you did not get the opportunity to watch it or would like to see it again.
Worship hymns and other singing resources:
If you click on the link below, it will take you to a free song library that has 162 worship songs. There is a search bar on the first page and you can type in songs like “Amazing Grace,” “Silent Night,” “Beautiful Savior,” etc. and it will take you directly to the song. The other option is to scroll through the songs and pick some you want. The search tool is quickest and easiest. You can use this any time you want to sing along with Christians hymns. It is a great resource that has been put out by the Michigan District for church and public use. Click on the link below and it will open up another way for you to worship the Lord.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/6931887
Thank you for supporting the mission and ministry of Holy Cross. Your sacrifice to God’s work is greatly appreciated and is an expression thankfulness to God for who He is and all He does for us. If you are unable to attend worship, please send your offerings to the church office or give through our secure online platform.
https://givetoholycross.churchcenter.com/giving
To watch an entire service, our partner congregation, St. Mark Lutheran, posts three services on their website each week at stmarkphx.org.
NEW CHURCH INITIATIVE
We are starting a new initiative this year. Our Church Council is working in three teams. One is focusing on the Spiritual Growth and care of our congregation, another is focusing in missions and outreach, and the third on the business and administration of our church. The team focusing on Spiritual Growth thought it would be good for us as a church to collectively read a book each quarter. The book we will focus on for the next three months is called, “You’ll Get Through This” by Max Lucado. If you want to be a part of this book club, you can pick up a copy of the book at church. We are encouraging a $5 donation to cover the cost of the book. There are 15 chapters. We will review the first five chapters on Wednesday, April 14 both at the 10:30 a.m. live Bible study at church (we will be spreading out in the sanctuary) or at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom (you can get the link from Pastor Jon). This is an opportunity for us to learn together from the same book. The dates for the other two sessions will be May 12 and June 9.
I encourage you to stay strong in faith, connected with others, and faithful in prayer and service. Thank you for all you do to support the mission and ministry of Holy Cross Lutheran.
In His Service,
Pastor Jon Bjorgaard
Partnership with Pastor Jon Bjorgaard and St. Mark Lutheran