"Love and Respect" August 26th, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today I had the privilege of leading a service where God blessed the union of husband and wife in Holy Marriage. It always amazes me how God shows up to give his blessing and makes this simple service extraordinary! Today Jesse Yates and Katherine Peifer were knit together by God in the service. Please pray for this young couple. This was also our first wedding and reception with our new fellowship hall and kitchen finished. Thanks to Paul and his helpers for getting everything done in time for this awesome celebration!!

We also hear in our second lesson from Ephesians 5, in our continuing study of this letter to the churches, of what it looks like to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." We can join together in amazement on how St. Paul explains what "Love and Respect" mean to both men and women. How we are created differently. I have the series "Men are from Mars and Women from Venus" in my office. I know that trying to push all men or all women into a particular stereotype is not fair or accurate. There are always exceptions. But the reason these books sold so well is that they articulate what St. Paul is saying to the Ephesian Christians.

Women want love and men want respect. If men don't feel respected then they don't love and women don't feel loved they don't respect and on and on and on....

Today we will hear about the way we are to submit to one another. Wives to husbands and husbands to the Lord so that we love as Christ loved the church. Remember He died for it. I have don't think submitting to someone who loves you as much or more than themselves and loves like Christ loved is really that hard. The challenge and responsibility is much more on the husband then on the wife. We may do the series called "Love and Respect" by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs of East Lansing this year on the Wednesday evening Family Nights.

You have been receiving a nice update from Paul with the new software. I hope you enjoy it. I think it is awesome.

For those who are wondering: we are not new grandparents yet. Please pray for Sarah and Josh as they wait for Josiah to join us. We had hoped to Baptize him tomorrow while our nieces were here from Alberta, they are leaving on Monday. Josiah is not cooperating so I guess it will be later in September.

Please remember to reach out to the students who are joining us. We are going to work hard on making the service a little lower volume and length so as not to scare them. Please reach out to them especially if they think the service is over when we share the peace. We need to let them know more is coming. Also please honor the Elder when we ask for only a couple sharings, prophecy or God Sightings since we must end on time. Thanks so much!!

Paul and I are going to be in St. Louis for his orientation into the Specific Ministry Pastor Program. If you need to get in touch with us we will be checking email and you can call our cells.

God Bless You as we receive the free gift of grace and mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ and share his love, with respect as we "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ!"

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Bryan

Instead, be filled with the SPIRIT! August 19, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

"INSTEAD, BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT!" These are the words that will we look at in more depth this Sunday as we see how we are to be "imitators of God therefore as dearly loved children, living a life of love!" We continue our journey through the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians and find out that in chapter 5 he is inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about how we BELONG to GOD as members of the "kingdom of Christ and of God" (Eph 5:5). We are to live as children of the light and expose the darkness. We are to be sanctified and holy. We are to not get drunk with wine which leads to debauchery (how often do you use the word "debauchery") He is comparing the satisfaction of a world running after the desires of the flesh "eat, drink and be merry!" to being filled with the spirit. I guess we should not be surprised since the disciples were accused of being drunk at 9am on Pentecost! I guess Jesus must have been joyful and filled with the spirit when they accused him of being a drunkard and a glutton: "John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking, and you said, "He has a demon!" The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you said, "Look a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!" (Matthew 11:18-19, Luke 7:33-34) Some say it was because of who he associated with drunkard and sinners, this is a reasonable argument but I often wonder since we are to experience joy in the presence of our God, that maybe it was his attitude? St. Paul is contrasting Light and darkness, good and evil, wise and foolish, wine and Spirit. It is important to be sober but when we compare as we did last week Paul's letter to the Colossians chapter 3 we recognize the similarities in what he shares:


1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your^[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^{[b] 7} You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. ¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We will look at how St. Paul says we will act and experience being filled with the Spirit: Ephesians 5: again similar to Col 3...
¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹ Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

With Joanne leaving her position as my assistant to do our restructuring, we were moving pictures around in the narthex (lobby) this week. Because of this I had room to put my college and seminary degrees. I also found that my wife had framed my Confirmation Certificate. It was amazing to remember that day. I did the prayers in this large packed church and my leg never stopped shaking:) What I remembered most is how the reverence we had was devoid of outward enthusiasm. It was frowned upon to say "amen," never allowed to clap, even smiling after communion was suspect. And NEVER EVER raise your hands when you pray or sing so as to draw attention to yourself. Our church was a good pietistic, reverent, Norwegian Lutheran Church. It always struck me that the Pentecostals had way more fun! We prided ourselves on respect and tradition but I think it was lacking in zeal and enthusiasm. I am not judging the faith of my fellow believers. They were devout faithful believers in Jesus Christ but they would definitely not be accused of being drunkards or having fun with great enthusiasm especially at church. The rest of the week, well I don't know?
For this reason I love how Paul seems to contrast the actions that we are encouraged to participate in when filled with the spirit as up against being drunk with wine, which the world outside thinks is fun? May I suggest that once we know WE BELONG and know what it means to BELIEVE in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior who saves us by his grace through HIS BLOOD not by what we do but now we BECOME imitators of God and in our life being wise and finding out what pleases the Lord we would be enthusiastic in our worship and faith life! Both Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 help us to remember as we grow UP in our relationship with God and IN relationships with other believers we will not be able to help but go OUT with the joy and peace of the Word dwelling in us and being filled with the joy and power of Christ's Holy Spirit!


Please join me tomorrow at our EMU site at 9:30 to pray and ask the Lord to allow us to be filled with the Spirit and be filled with God (EN THEOS)! I think it is a great experience when the Holy Spirit fills those who worship the Lord and experience HIS REAL PRESENCE in WORD and SACRAMENT!

A few reminders. With the restructuring we are accepting names of people who are gifted in Administration for the new position of Administrator here at Cross and Res. Also please note with the restructuring and Johannes away this week, please call Paul and I on our cell phones since Angela is going to be having surgery on Tuesday and so Paul will be out of the office and I will be happy to take calls on my cell: 734-474-1626.

Please keep Paula Butler, Nancy Bowling, Tristan (Rosemary and Jim Fry's grandson) and Gary & Betty Masch and their family, especially his mother Norma, (as Gary's father passed away in his sleep last night) in your PRAYERS. Also on Wednesday night many joined Chris Kleimola, David and James to remember the one year anniversary of Rachael's entry in the Kingdom of Heaven! Please remember this family as James is moving to be here on Campus.


Join Paul Knickelbein at the Heritage Festival, he has been there yesterday and today and he will be there tomorrow. He drove the UPward float in the Parade this morning.

Cynthia Weipert has graciously offered to help with the bulletin and announcements, as a volunteer, while we restructure. She can be emailed at cweipert@crossandres.org

Please remember to keep praying for the students that will be coming and if you are here please volunteer to help over the September 1-3 weekend. We will have a table out front for move in day and we will be doing many things to interact with the students and their parents as they come to EMU as Freshmen.


Please keep Wednesday family nights on your calendar as they start in a month...

Please check out the announcements at: www.crossandres.org

May God richly bless you as you grow in your relationship UP, IN and OUT.

Love in Christ who wants us to be filled to overflowing with His Spirit each day,

Pastor Bryan

Ephesians 4b "Living a life worthy of our Calling in Christ" August 12, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

First, A HUGE "THANK YOU!" TO the many Cross and Res family members who helped with the UPward Basketball Camp. Thanks to Paul who wrote on Thursday about all those who helped: (This did not include those who were there on Friday to help with other things including: grilling and serving for the lunch! Chris, Meredith, Beth etc..)

Upward Camp is going very, very well this week!  Kids are hearing about Jesus, while having fun with the fundamentals of basketball.  There is one child in particular who really jumps out as to why we do this!  This little 2nd grader is in the foster system, whose case worker just happened upon our camp and asked if a little boy could participate in the camp.  This little boy has been in and out of a couple homes in the past year and had a pretty tough life.  He is being loved on by his coaches, hearing the love of Jesus and encourage through our camp theme "You are the children that God dearly loves - so be just like him!

This camp would not be possible without the help of the 40+ volunteer helpers.  I think of Kevin Gady, Bob Vargo and a couple of my kids who are setting up at WCA by 6:30 each morning.  I think of Don Hart, who came on Monday and helped solve a problem that really would have been HUGE if he were not here.  I think of Ellen Johnson, Jackie Ham and Annaliese Schindel loving on the kids and fixing the scraped knees and "boos boos" that incur from playing basketball outside on the pavement.  I think of Scott Guthre who is a station leader teaching the kids the specifics of the sport.  I think of Suzy, Paul Thomas, Angela and Jonathon Knickelbein, Paul and Randall Schliebe, Jessi Guthre, Emmaline and Caroline Ham, Bethany and Hannah Schindel, Angie Post and Patrick Tincher all coaches loving on these kids and sharing the devotions with them.  

I just wanted to again thank everyone who participated, helped and prayed for this important outreach opportunity that we sponsor!!

Second, tomorrow we continue our study on St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians especially the second half of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5. 

Ephesians 4:17-5:2
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the
Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding
and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the
hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over
to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of Him and
were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught,
with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted
by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on
the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore
each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all
members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while
you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing
must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that
he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk
come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to
their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of
God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness,
rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and
compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as
Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  

We will look at what St. Paul shares with us on how to live a life worthy of our CALLING in Christ. St. Paul speaks by the power of the Holy Spirit and shares how we should leave our old self and live as Kingdom people. He is letting us know, after sharing the office gifts that we receive as believers Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers to equip the saints for ministry. We see in this last section that we are to put off our old self and put on our new self! St. Paul says that this is to be made new in the attitude of your minds and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness! Is this not an amazing CALLING! He then continues with a description of what this means in action. The final 2 verses we are reminded to be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other and be imitators of God. We are so blessed to BELONG to God as dearly loved children and to BELIEVE in HIS forgiveness, love, grace and power. This is so that by the power of HIS Holy Spirit we BECOME more like HIM in true righteousness and holiness!

The Gospel lesson from John 6 records Jesus sharing that he is the bread of life and this is his flesh that he will give for the our salvation. May we experience the BREAD OF LIFE tomorrow as we worship our Lord and HIS TRUE PRESENCE in the midst of HIS Kingdom people!

Third, you will notice if you call into the church later this week that Joanne Zuellig will no longer be answering the phone as she has faithfully done for many years now. With Johannes going part time as our Worship and IT person, working with Superior Text the other half of his time, restructuring of our staff team became a necessity. Paul is going to be taking his courses with the Specific Ministry Pastor Program (SMP) starting in September and he will be taking on the role of FAMILY and COLLEGE Ministry as well as other pastoral care situations involved in his training. With these changes the Council has decided to add a staff person in the role of Administrator. This person will work to do what Joanne has done and what Paul has spent half of his time doing (although with renovations etc... I believe it has been more). We believe in order for us to be the best stewards of the resources the Lord has given us, HIS Body here at Cross and Res, we need to work efficiently and effectively with the right team, with the right gift mix to be the best team we can be. With this being said, the Council agreed to restructure the staff team and with the Elders and me we are going to prayerfully seek an administrator who will take Joanne and Paul's administrator work and keep myself, Paul, Johannes, Beth, Dave, and Norma Polk (Deaconess in Training) the many volunteer staff and other leaders organized so that everyone works within our gifts and to our full potential. We have given Joanne a severance commensurate with her many years of service and do so appreciate her faithfulness in serving as my assistant and our secretary. She is still an important member of family and we admire her 30 years of Deaconess service within Cross and Res and look forward to her and Paul, with their whole family, continuing to serve among us. THANK YOU JOANNE!

Please keep the search process in your prayers. This is very important to our future and we need the right person with the right gift mix to help us with Administration. For your information it was great to experience Paul's leadership at the College Ministry meeting on Thursday night. Jackie, Chris, Carol and Carol, Bruce, Brian and myself dreamed and planned on ways to impact the EMU campus and serve the students that we have been called to do.

Just as Paul shared with you last week we talked about having only the 10:15 Service with Lunch at noon. We will put a lot of energy into Wednesday Family Night and be looking for volunteers for move in on September 1 and Freshmen Orientation on Sept 2 and 3. Please let Paul know if you can help.

SAVE THE DATES!  Each Wednesday evening starting Sept 12th, we are planning to have our Cross and Res Family Night.  This is a night for everyone!  The schedule will look like this:

6:00 - 7:00   Meal  (Free will offering - suggested donation - $0 is ok...)

7:00 - 7:20   Worship and Prayer together in Sanctuary

7:25 - 8:15   Break out groups (small groups, children, teen, bible studies etc...)

8:20 - 8:30   Close with song and prayer.

There will be college student offerings after 9:00.  We would like this to be a time to fellowship, grow closer to our Lord and to each other - so please plan on attending

Finally I want to thank all who prayed for me and my family as we drove to Winnipeg Manitoba and back for my Uncle Merlin's funeral. My family was all there and this was the first Uncle to pass away after a fairly difficult time with multiple health issues. My family is sort of unique in that my dad's best friend growing up, Merlin, married my dad's oldest sister and lived 2 farms over from us. My dad's other sister married my mom's brother and therefore our family is really closely knit together. This funeral was hard on everyone and so I appreciated your prayers and the opportunity to go back to Winnipeg and be there. I took my car and Annaliese, Hannah and Jeremiah came with me. We left after work on Wednesday about 8:30pm and went straight through Chicago and Minneapolis during the night we stopped to visit friends in Pelican Rapids and arrived in Grand Forks N.D at 4 on Thursday. (Annaliese helped with the driving) We stayed overnight and drove the 2 hours on Friday. We visited with the family, celebrated eternal life for believers on Saturday and then Sunday morning we drove into Church (45 minutes) for a 10am Service, went directly to lunch with family and left directly from the restaurant at 2pm. We then drove straight through to be here at 8:30am so that they could attend, coach and help with the basketball camp. I was so proud of my children. They sat for 23 hours straight with only one hour of stops between church and home. I know that Lord was with us and we were thankful to be home.

We will see you in the morning! 9:30 for Prayer and 10:15 for an awesome Worship experience...

check out the announcements at http://www.crossandres.org/newsletter

Love in Christ,

Pastor Bryan