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We continue to do well fiscally for our mission at St. Timothy. We have missed Cathy and look forward to her tax free return in May. We felt blessed as we met to pray for Ernie Rippe for surgery the next day after our meeting. All committees have been busy and would love to have any member willing to volunteer to help.
The Synod business meeting is May 19th and will be at Gethsemane. We have two representative positions and have one volunteer, Greta Christensen. If interested, please let me know. Blessings to all
Sherry Willmschen, President

    With the councils blessing we are proceeding to provide ½ of costs for camp to member children or those close to members. We may have as many as 6 young people attending. They are in middle school or high school. All of those attending are busy doing fundraising. Planned fundraising assistance at St. Timothy include:
1. Quilt Raffle of two beautiful quilts by Christine Lutz.

               Tickets will be on sale until June 30th when the drawing will be                  held.
2. On June 30th there is a plan for a music afternoon. See                                   information in bulletin as well as newsletters.
3. We continue to collect bottles/cans. You can bring any                                     redeemable items to St. Timothy.

    Thanks to all for your support and prayers for these young people.

     What is the big deal about Pentecost? It’s just another church day, right? There are arguments that Pentecost is more important than Christmas. The pecking order being: Easter, Pentecost, Christmas. The rationale being that without Pentecost there would be no church. Without Pentecost, the message of God’s immense love and the sacrifice Jesus made would not have been spread to the far reaches of the world. Pentecost is extremely important because that is the day the disciples put aside their fears and anxieties and started to live into their calling: to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
Pentecost is derived from the Greek word, pentekostos, meaning fifty and began long before the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples. Pentecost (also known as the Festival of Weeks or Shavuot) was actually the second most important Jewish holiday. Originally it was a harvest festival but after the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and people could not bring their harvest offerings, Pentecost turned into a day to commemorate the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai. The disciples were gathered in Jerusalem with Jews from all over to celebrate the Jewish holiday Pentecost. At this time, there was no church. They had not begun to tell anyone about Jesus. As promised, though, the Holy Spirit descended upon them. The prophet Joel prophesied: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28).
The Holy Spirit came down, the disciples finally broke their silence, the crowds understand them in their own language, and thousands believed and chose to follow Jesus. The church was born! On Pentecost we celebrate the birth of the church, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, and the church living out its calling in the world. We decorate the church and ourselves in red to symbolize the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. We will turn out the lights and light a fire to symbolize the power of the Holy Spirit. We will celebrate together over red desserts the power and might of the Holy Spirit in guiding us and our church in the world. Is Pentecost just another day of worship? Absolutely not. It is a day to remember that the spirit has led us and continues to lead us out into the world
to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

By Pastor Jennifer Biel

    “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love eachother as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you my friends, for everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit —  fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever  you will ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:9-17

    Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

     This is the one who came by water and blood — Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit is the truth.

1 John 1-6

     Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

     The Lord has made salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

     He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

      Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

     make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harpand the sound of singing,

     with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn– shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

     Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

     Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;

     let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

Psalm 98

     While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

     Then Peter said, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the neame of Jesus Christ. Then they  asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

Acts 10:44-48

MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE TO THE LORD, ALL THE EARTH; BREAK FORTH INTO JOYOUS SONG AND SING PRAISES.

PSALM 98:4

THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Fathers glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

John 15:1-8

God’s Love and Ours

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in GOd, and God God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1  JOHN 7-21