June 28, 2020 4th Sunday after Pentecost

www.livingfaithracine.org www.facebook.com/livingfaithracine

Church by Phone

Exciting news! We have a new way to access our sermons! It’s called “Church by Phone” and it is very

easy to use.

1. Dial 1-262-475-1237

2. Listen to the short greeting: it will instruct you to

3. Press 1 to listen to last Sunday’s sermon OR Press 2 to listen to the prior week’s sermon

4. There will be a short pause before the sermon begins, so don’t give up, the sermon will start!

Now we can listen to our sermon no matter where we are – even if we don’t have access to a computer.

Isn’t technology amazing?! Sermons can also be found on our website: www.livingfaithracine.org/news/

sermons as well as our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/livingfaithracine (you do not need a Face-

book account to view them.)

This week, I’d like to thank the committee that’s

working on finding people to be Living Faith’s Ad-

ministrative Secretary and Bookkeeper for when Jill

and Kim retire. I am amazed at the amount of work

that goes into hiring someone for a church-related

position. It’s not like handing out job applications to

teenagers for work at a fast food place. This group

has met several times asking some tough ques-

tions about what to include for personal and com-

puter skills necessary to fill such a job. It involves

multi-tasking, having the patience necessary for

dealing with many interruptions each day, personal

communication skills, knowing how to run comput-

er programs like Word, Excel, a membership data-

base, Publisher, Email, messaging, and more.

The committee has recently published recruiting

ads in congregation publications like the Journey,

in Synod-wide locations such as our Synod listserv,

shared them with local congregations as well as

posting the job openings in different places. That’s

just the beginning of the process. They set a dead-

line of July 3 for responses. If they don’t receive

enough applications, they may need to extend the

deadline. Regardless of the specific date, they’ll be

sorting through and evaluating the applicants to

see if there are any they would like to interview for

the position. Then come the actual interviews, per-

haps even more than one per person. Finally, they

will be judging the potential candidates for recom-

mendation to the Church Council, which has the

final say in offering the jobs to the candidates rec-

ommended.

Even though Jill and Kim won’t be retiring until Au-

gust, I’m glad the committee is already hard at

work seeking candidates. That will give us time to

make what we hope is a good decision, offer the

position and then have time for Jill and Kim to train

the candidates for the specific jobs they’re as-

signed.

When you have a moment, give a word of thanks

to Dawn, Jill, Nancy, Barb and Karin for their work

toward finding new office staff. Also, a word of

thanks would be appropriate for Jill and Kim, not

just for their years of faithful service, but also for

coming up with job descriptions for their respective

positions to help the committee understand what’s

needed for doing their work.

Yours in Christ’s Service,

Pastor Bill

Living Faith is Hiring!

Living Faith Lutheran Church is

currently accepting resumes for

Bookkeeper and Administrative

Secretary positions.

If you or someone you know are

interested in either position,

please submit your resume by

mailing/emailing it to the church office. The deadline to

submit resumes is Friday, July 10, 2020.

Outreach for Hope Ride/Run/Walk

The 2020 Outreach for Hope Ride/Run/

Walk is going virtual!

What does that mean, exactly? Outreach for

Hope is inviting bikers, runners and walkers

to remotely participate in 25 fitness and

fundraising challenges in honor of Outreach

for Hope's 25th anniversary. You decide the

time and place of each activity, as long as

it's between now and September 30th.

They’ve created a blog with helpful re-

sources, and a Facebook group for partici-

pants to share their progress and photos --

so that even though we're physically dis-

tanced, we're still connected as a communi-

ty.

With your help, they want to register a mini-

mum of 625 participants, log 25,000 miles,

and raise $150,000! Your financial support is

more important than ever before in our 25

year history. For more information, go to:

https://outreachforhope.salsalabs.org/

ofhwalkride2020/index.html.

FaithWorks Food Pantry

Tuesday from 1-3:00 pm Food “To Go”

Thursday from 5-7:00 pm Food “To Go”

ELCA Cluster Community Meal

Sunday at 4:30pm

Meals served “To Go”

(Located at the East Campus)

Administrative Secretary

To perform administrative clerical duties and staff support

for the church office of Living Faith Lutheran Church. Part-

time 30 hours/week, Monday - Friday; 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM.

Qualified candidate should have Administrative Secretarial

experience, proficient in Word, Excel, Outlook and Pub-

lisher. Bookkeeping experience, PowerPoint (2016) and

Shepherd's Staff helpful, but not required. Ability to listen

and to manage multiple tasks with interruptions.

________________________

Bookkeeper

To perform responsible bookkeeping duties for the church

office of Living Faith Lutheran Church. Part-time 20 hours/

week with a flexible work schedule.

Qualified candidate should have Bookkeeping experience,

proficient in Word, Excel and Outlook. Administrative ex-

perience, PowerPoint (2016) and Shepherd's Staff helpful,

but not required. During slow times, absence and sched-

uled time off, answer phone and perform limited clerical

duties as back up for Administrative Secretary.

________________________

Interested applicants submit resume to Living Faith

Lutheran Church, 2915 Wright Avenue, Racine, WI 53403

or office@livingfaithracine.org. Deadline to submit resume

is Friday, July 10, 2020.

Readings for the Week of June 28

Sunday, June 28 Jeremiah 28:5-9 Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18 Romans 6:12-23

Matthew 10:40-42

Monday, June 29 1 Kings 21:1-16 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 Psalm 119:161-168

Tuesday, June 30 1 Kings 21:17-29 1 John 4:1-6 Psalm 119:161-168

Wednesday, July 1 Jeremiah 18:1-11 Matthew 11:20-24 Psalm 119:161-168

Thursday, July 2 Zechariah 1:1-6 Romans 7:1-6 Psalm 145:8-14

Friday, July 3 Zechariah 2:6-13 Romans 7:7-20 Psalm 145:8-14

Saturday, July 4 Zechariah 28:1-4 Luke 10:21-24 Psalm 145:8-14

Read Romans 6:12-23

This week’s lectionary text begins with the concluding word, “therefore”. Clearly, the author of Romans, the Apostle Paul, is presenting a closing argument or the-sis. But what is the argument? To understand Romans 6:12-23, it is critical to go back and read the preceding verses. In doing so, we find an explanation of baptism as the means for the Christian to be united with Christ—both in his death and his resurrection. The old self and sin has died; a new self, alive in Christ, has come into being. Thus, and in conclusion, Paul writes, “Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their pas-sions.” (Romans 6:12 NRSV)

1. How does sin still exercise dominion in our mortal bodies?

2. Is it possible for Christians to no longer sin? Ex-plain your answer.

Because of God’s grace extended through Christ, lives are changed. “For sin will have no dominion over you,

since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14 NRSV) Paul is so definitive in his writing. He leaves no doubt about his own person-al conviction concerning sin. And yet, a human only needs to live a single day to realize sin is still in the world and manifested in the lives of Christians. As much as we welcome the passionate plea from Paul to NOT let sin have dominion over our lives and to NOT present our bodies for instruments of wickedness, the question has to be asked: Is Paul simply being opti-mistic about a human’s ability and will to overcome the powers of sin?

3. What evidence is there to support that sin has do-minion over the Christian?

4. What evidence is there to support that Christians are no longer controlled by sin?

A key to this passage can be found in the doxological refrain, “But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were en-

ELCA Daily Faith Practices - 4th Sunday after Pentecost

Focus: Sanctification

Word of life

“But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctifica-

tion. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ

Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:22-23 NRSV)

Ways to Give to the Church

Electronic giving:

• Through your bank or credit union’s on-line bill pay

• Living Faith Website - Open the Give tab (Checking, Savings, or Credit

Card may be used)

• Give Plus Mobile - Download the free App to your i-phone or Android de-

vice (Checking, Savings, or Credit Card may be used)

• Simply Giving - Monthly automated withdrawal from your checking/savings account through Thrivent &

Vanco. Download form at: thefellowship.com/downloadssimplygiving.pdf

Via U.S. mail:

• Checks payable to: Living Faith Lutheran Church, 2915 Wright Ave., Racine, WI 53405

trusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:17 NRSV)

Not only are Christians set free from something—the power of sin and the power of death. Christians are also set free by the grace of God for something. We dare present ourselves before God as instruments of righteousness. It is God who empowers us to live a right and holy life. This process of living daily in re-sponse to God’s grace is sometimes referred to as sanctification.

Paul writes, “But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:22-23 NRSV) Eternal life vs. death! Sin vs. righteousness! Paul presents clear choices.

5. Whom do you serve? (sin or God)

6. What enslaves you? (sin or righteousness)

7. Are these questions as simple as they sound? Explain your answer.

Word among us

“Amen!” “Go to the sanctuary!” “The bulletins can be

found in the narthex!”

The church is often accused of using a foreign lan-

guage! Some preachers spice their sermons with the-

ological words such as ecclesiology, soteriology,

Christology and others.

One such word often reserved for the church is sanc-

tification. But what does that word really mean? The

Greek root word is associated with holy, set aside for

God’s purpose. Thus, we connect holy with the bible,

baptism and communion. We reference the Holy Bi-

ble, Holy Baptism, and Holy Communion. And yet the

word sanctification is usually reserved to describe

what happens to people as they (and we) are trans-

formed into God’s holy followers.

1. When have you heard that word sanctification?

2. What does the word sanctification mean to you?

Sanctification follows justification. In other words, first

we experience God’s grace in the crucified and risen

Jesus Christ. Our baptism unites us to Christ. As we

live in God’s grace and claim our baptism in daily liv-

ing, we turn to God to empower us to live a changed

life as a new creation in Christ. We pray for God to be

manifested in our lives—hourly and daily. It is God’s

own Spirit at work sanctifying us, making us holy, and

creating new hearts.

3. Give an example (if any) when someone de-

scribed you as “holy”. How did that feel?

4. How does it make you feel to know God is in the

process of making you holy?

5. How and why might you resist God at work in your

life?

We are to love God with our whole being. Imagine

what God might do with our lives if we fully presented

ourselves to God. Imagine our lives without the dis-

traction of the power of sin pulling at us. Imagine!

6. Once we are freed from the power of sin and the

fear of death, what does God envision our lives to

be?

7. How might we claim that vision?

Faith Practice in daily life

Live among God’s faithful people

In baptism we die to sin and rise to new life. This is

staggering good news. It easily can take a lifetime for

us to grasp the varied ways God is at work to bring

this new life into being. We are not to let sin have do-

minion, but instead we are to present ourselves to

God and become instruments of righteousness. We

have the incredible opportunity to become enslaved

to God and to be blessed by grace in Christ. God has

given us the free and priceless gift of eternal life.

8. What excites you about these gifts from God?

9. How might you partner with God in the process of

sanctification?

Prayer

O mighty God, here we are. Create in us a master-

piece which gives you glory. Amen

Last word

Open your arms wide and pray for God’s holy presence.

Daily Faith Practices

Written by John and Robin McCullough-Bade,

Copyright © 2014 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

www.elca.org/dailyfaithpractices

Weekly Journey deadline: Tuesdays at Noon.

August Journey deadline: July 20.

Send articles & photos to:

diane@livingfaithracine.org