Matthew 6:25–34

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your

body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food,

and the body more than clothing? 26

Look at the birds

of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into

barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are

you not of more value than they? 27

And can any of

you by worrying add a single hour to your span of

life? 28

And why do you worry about clothing? Consid-

er the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither

toil nor spin, 29

yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his

glory was not clothed like one of these. 30

But if God

so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today

and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not

much more clothe you — you of little faith? 31

There-

fore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What

will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32

For it is the

Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed

your heavenly Father knows that you need all these

things. 33

But strive first for the kingdom of God and

his righteousness, and all these things will be given

to you as well. 34

"So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will

bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for

today.

The art of worrying is one that most of us are very good at and is an art that is on the rise. Our world appears to be in upheaval and just the act of watching the evening news can bring a person to a state of worry. However, Jesus gives us his take on the subject of worry in “The Sermon on the Mount,” or as its other name states “The Be-atitudes.”

Jesus tells us not to worry about our lives, what we will eat, or what will we drink, or what we will wear. Now to 21st century Americans this state-ment seems to just pass over our heads as a mere catch phrase from our Lord. Though, if we consider the original audience of Christ these words take on new meaning.

The first hearers of the “Beatitudes” lived in a place and a time where starvation, thirst and lack of clothing could well be a daily life and death struggle for them and their families. These peo-ple lived in a desert region where food and water were in short supply. Famine was a real threat as well as theft of resources from not only crimi-nals, but also the desperate and the occupying Roman soldiers. If any group of people had a reason to worry about their life and the resources necessary for sustaining them, it would be this group.

But here comes this teacher called Jesus; and He bursts their worrying bubble. He says don’t worry and then starts taking about birds. Birds, could you imagine telling this group to not worry and then use as your example birds? Again, we must not look at Jesus’ teaching through modern eyes, but through the eyes of those in the crowd

Pastor Carlin’s Page

PLEASE NOTE:

Office hours at First Lutheran Church are:

Monday—Friday, 8:30 am—3:30 pm

March 2020

Newsletter

Pastor Carlin’s Page (con’t)

that day on the mountain.

Birds are a great example of God’s love and care for his creation; and remember we are a most be-loved part of His Creation. He begins by telling the crowd that birds do not plant, reap, or sow and they most definitely don’t store up in barns. I must admit that these words fell flat on my ears the first hundred or so times I read them. I kept thinking this is so obvious and that is the genus of this teach-ing. It is so simple that anyone should be able to understand what Jesus is conveying. I can’t vouch for you, but I have never seen a bird on a tractor plowing a garden, or gathering a garden, or building a barn to put hay or any other items into. This is exactly the point, the birds still eat. They still sing regardless of drought or any circumstance. They sing because God has taken care of them and they did not have to worry one bit.

Another reason birds are a great example is the amount of food they eat. It doesn’t dawn on us, but to people in the first century it would have been obvious, most birds consume between half to six times their body weight in a day. That’s a lot of food. Yet, even though they have need of this exorbi-tant amount of nutrition they don’t worry and God sees to their needs.

What a wonderful lesson for us in our dog eat dog world. If God so cares for birds, and for flowers as Jesus explains in His sermon, how much more will He care for us. God is concerned for all of His creation, but it is only humanity that he took the time to form from the dust of the earth and to breath His breath of life into. It is only humanity that God sent His only Son Jesus Christ into the world to redeem with His life on the cross. And if God has done all this, and if He has taken care of birds and flowers, how much more will our Heavenly Father take care of our needs.

Many blessings

Pastor Carlin

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EASTER LILIES

We would again like to decorate the sanctuary with Easter Lilies for Easter

morning. If you would like to order a lily, please fill out this form and place it in

the offering plate or turn it in to the church office.

Easter Lilies - Cost: $15.00 per plant

Name _____________________________________

In Honor Of__________________________________

In Memory Of__________________________________

March at Noah’s Ark

Registration for the 2020-21 school year is taking place this month! Registra-

tion for members of the church will begin on Sunday, March 1st and end on

Sunday, April 5th. Children who turn 3 on or before September 1st are eligible to

enroll.

Beginning Sunday, March 1st church members may fill out a pre-registration

form obtained from Noah’s Ark, your child’s Sunday school teacher or the church office and return it with

your registration fee to the church office or Noah’s Ark by Sunday, April 5th.

The general public will pre-register on Thursday, April 2nd from 3-6 pm. The Lottery for Placement for the

public will be held on Monday, April 6th. Church members who turn in their forms on or before the deadline

of April 5th do not go through the Lottery. They receive their class choice at the time of pre-registration.

Church members who turn in their forms after the April 5th deadline will go through the Lottery with the

general public on April 6th.

Our four-year-old classes at Noah’s Ark will be stepping into shoe tying this month, along with learning

about th letters A, M and N. The three-year-olds will be talking about numbers 1-5, spring and St. Patrick’s

Day. Spring Break will begin on Friday, March 20th and run through Friday, March 27th. Classes resume

Joyful Women has started their new Bible study entitled “Building your Strengths” by Patsy Clairmont. This is a 12 week series, so there is plenty of time to join us. Each week is a new lesson so eve if you will miss a week or two, there is still benefit to the lessons you are able to attend. Books are available at each session. Joyful Wom-en is for all women and friends of First Lutheran, we meet on Sunday evenings at 6:30 pm in the Munson Room. Our schedule for this series will be to meet week-ly through 3/22. We will then take a three week break for Easter. We will resume on April 19 for the final three

JOYFUL WOMEN OF FIRST

With rising costs of food and necessities, the Livingston County Community

Pantry has had to make difficult choices in what they purchase. Staples such as

milk, eggs, and meat provide nutrition to families along with the many canned

goods received from various food banks. Unfortunately, the pantry can no longer

afford to buy some of the basics needed by every family. First Lutheran has been

collecting paper goods and soaps since summer, and our donations help to pro-

vide these items to the clients. During the month of March we will again collect

laundry soap, dish soap, bar soap, shampoo, toilet paper, “buyer’s choice”,

canned chicken, mushroom soup, complete pancake mix AND syrup. These

items can be purchased inexpensively at the Dollar Tree as suggested by the pan-

try. Finally, all donations are welcomed and appreciated!

E.P.I.C. Youth Group

Everything’s Possible in Christ

Purses and Prayers…Thank you for your generous donations of purses & personal items! We concluded our collection on January 31, 2020. Delivery to Chicago will be Spring 2020. Quake Event...Weekend of Feb 28-Mar 1, 2020 at Schaumburg. Any questions about any of these events, please contact Jessica Warren.

ALL 6TH GRADERS ARE INVITED TO JOIN OUR EPIC GROUP

& FRIENDS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!

We meet the 1st & 3rd weeks of each month.

Watch for details regarding upcoming events on our Facebook page @ First Lutheran E.P.I.C. Youth Group

or the Youth Group Remind app, as well as the church bulletin, First Notes, and text messages.

March Birthdays

Nancy Fienhold 3/3

Lyle Leach 3/4

Dee Dee Raube 3/5

Carl Schade 3/7

Debbie Follmier 3/7

Trina Whittle 3/9

Tina Barton 3/14

Andrew Adcock 3/15

Marlon Eilts 3/16

Caryl Barling 3/17

Taylor Harty 3/18

Deb Crull 3/20

Finley Lawrence 3/20

Kellin Ours 3/21

Michelle Janssen 3/22

Amanda Krueger 3/24

Blair Barton 3/24

Dave Morgan 3/26

Brooks Lawrence 3/26

Shirley Trainor 3/28

Trevor Brown 3/29

Lori Adams 3/29

Avis Schulz 3/30

Mary Ann Hill 3/31

“50-plus Club”

If you had the chance, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to get together with fellow First Lu-theran members monthly for fun and fellowship? Sounds wonderful, but where and how does that happen? The answer is a “50 -plus Club”.

A “50-plus Club” is a group of people who are 50 years of age or more. Pastor Hubert had

suggested we explore the formation of such a group who would meet monthly for fellow-

ship. The type of activities would be decided by the members and might include having

sack lunches at church with a local speaker or going out to dinner. If you feel that a group

like this would be something you would like, please sign your name on the sign-up sheet

outside of the office. The Mission/Social Committee continues to work on plans to start

this club.

The 50 + Club is still being considered, however, a chairperson is needed.

Let us pray for the following members who are homebound or nursing home residents:

Please Pray for our

Members & Friends:

Meetings in March

Sunday, Mar. 8 @ Noon—3 pm

Caring Ministry Training

Monday, Mar. 9 @ 6:30 pm Memorial Committee

Tuesday, Mar. 10 @ 7 pm

Church Council

Monday, Mar. 16 @ 7 pm Mission/Social Committee

Tuesday, Mar. 17 @ 7 pm

Worship Committee

Monday, Mar. 23 @ noon Newsletter Deadline

Friday, Mar. 27 @ 9 am Newsletter Assembly

.

HIPAA Laws...Because of the HIPAA Laws, if you would like the Pastor to visit you in the hospital, you must call the church of-fice (or have the Chaplain at the hospital call the office).

Accolade: Victor Schroeder Evenglow Lodge: Helen Rigg, Avis Schulz Evenglow Inn: Delores Schultz, Nancy Willke The Pointe: Judy L Sykes, Erma Bohm Homebound: Stephen Weber, Jim Jones & Francis Schott

Anna Circle

Anna Circle will meet on Thursday, March 5 at 1:00 pm in the Munson Room. We will continue our current Bible study, God is in the Laundry Room, in chapter 7—”Stocking Up on the Fruit of the Spirit” - (part 2). We will begin on page 86 with question #3. Erma Hesterberg will be our hostess. Visitors and new members are al-ways welcome.

REMINDER —Anna Circle, KnitWits & Com-forting Ladies groups will be providing the Len-ten meal on March 4. Thank you to those who have signed up to bring food and serve.

Linda Schneeman, Chris Coriell, Karol Hall, Cheryl Weber, Shirley Morgan, Rupert Rodriguez, Cindy Ro-driguez, Kerry Foster, Francis Schott, Robbie Becker, Donna Myer, Jim Jones, Harry Johnson, Doug Saxton, Katherine Harding, Steve Weber, Deb Follmer, Phyllis Bradley, Kim Slaton, David Robinson, Elliot Buchheit, Rochelle Nolan, Diane Tucker, Bill Eckel, Lisa Eckel (Cardona), Garry Fulk, Lonnie Garland, Pastor (Ret.) Dennis Meyer; Marsha Follet Pauly, Kris (Setterlund) Walker, Jean Harrison, Jan Hackman, Jalene Wool-ford, Jakob Miller, Jonathan Becker, Gail Shaffer and

THANK YOU NOTES

I would like to thank everybody for the cards and the many visits to the hospital and nursing home. Willy loved seeing all his church fam-ily. He always was sad when he wanted to go to Church with me and I had to tell him that he could not. A special thank you to Pastor Ours for all his loving care for Willy and me. Also a heartfelt thank you to my church family for being there for me and being by my side.

~ Marion Willhoite~

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Please Note:

If you have submitted a name for the

prayer list & would like them to received a

“Thinking of You” card, please provide the

church office with a good address so that the

volunteer coordinator can mail the card to

the proper address. Also, please update the

office if the name on the prayer list can be

removed. Thank you.

Thank you to the FLC Foundation Committee members for the grant we re-ceived from you. The donation is so appreciated. We feel blessed and hum-bled to receive your generous gift, which was even more than we requested! We will be using your gift to purchase a Dyson vacuum, bulletin board sets, craft supplies and toys. We are very grateful for a loving and supportive church home!!

Come join the fun very other Monday night

Good Samaritan Home – Pontiac

The Good Samaritan Home formerly, of Flanagan and now of Pontiac, was original-ly organized by several local Lutheran churches. For many years these same churches took a very active role in the operations of the home through activities and fundraising. Since then and until a few years ago one member of First Luther-an has always served as a liaison to the home and its residents. The activities of the liaison volunteer would be to work with the management of the home to de-fine their role.

The Mission/Social Committee is looking for some-one to fill this role and ask the members of First Lu-theran to prayerfully consider taking this position. If you feel that you can explore this opportunity and help extend our mission to residents of Good Samaritan Home, please talk to Pastor Ours or Vicki Day.

Come join us for some good fun, good fellowship and good euchre!!!! The first and third Monday of each month — registration begins @ 6 pm and play starts @ 6:30 pm.. Cost is $4 ($1/player will go to a charity TBD). Come and bring a friend or two.

March 2 & 16 April 6 & 20

LENTEN SERVICES & MEALS

First Lutheran will again be providing evening meals prior to the 7 pm Lenten services beginning on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 26). The meals will be served from 5:30-6:30 pm. The following groups are in charge of planning the meal, providing and serving the food, and cleaning up on the dates they are assigned. Anyone not already belonging to one of these groups is always welcome to come and help!!

Thank you to all who are willing to serve our Church family.

Ash Wednesday Feb 26 Church Council

March 4 Anna Circle/Quilters/Knitwits

March 11 Joyful Women

March 18 Youth

March 25 Men in Mission

April 1 Sunday School

Maundy Thursday April 9 Choir

WOMEN OF JOY

The Women of Joy conference date for Indianapolis 2020 is Friday evening, August 14 into the late afternoon of August 15. Last year five women of First Lutheran attended this conference of music and presentations with great joy and encouragement of our relationship with Christ.

I believe we all came away with a deeper spirt and renewal of faith. To say the least, it is a well attended event, and fills up quickly. Discounted registration is available until May 20, however, when looking over the website “WOMENOFJOY.ORG”, I noted that three of the downtown hotels are already sold out.

Registration is as low as $109 for entry into the two-day event and $99 if we have 10 or mor reg-istered as a group. The program for Indy lists Liz Curtis Higgs as one of the speakers!

Please consider attending this event and contact me before April 1 if you are interested.

Vicki Day 844-5420

The members of First Lutheran Church Youth Group invite all children, all ages through fifth grade, from our church, Noah’s Ark and the communi-ty to an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 11 at 10:00 a.m. Please bring your own basket.

We would greatly appreciate your help with dona-tions such as inexpensive prizes, or CASH

donations. Please have your donations at the church by Friday, April 10. Meet outside in the parking lot at 9:45.

Age groups will be: 0-3 years old 6-7 years old 4-5 years old 8 years old-5th grade

Don’t forget your cameras!!!

Good Friday Prayer

Vigil.....

Please sign up for the Good Fri-day Prayer Vigil starting at 9 p.m. on April 10. A sign up sheet will be passed in March .

March 8, 2020

Nonprofit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Pontiac ,IL Permit 108

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

www.firstlutheranpontiac.org

FIRS T LUTHERAN CHURCH

311 W GROVE

PONTIAC, IL 61764

“Worshiping Christ and Serving Our Neighbor”

Weekend Worship Schedule

Sat. 5:30 pm Sun. 8:00 am Sun. 10:30 am

Sunday School 9:15 am

Our Staff 2020 Congregational Council:

Pastor: Carlin Ours Kurt Lauritzen, President Kelly Viller

Office: Beth Ray Toby Coates, V. President Deb Crull

Acct: Angel Hall Joani Swenson, Secretary Stephen Hartke

Custodian: DeAnn Dennis Steve Ray, Treasurer Andy Torkelson

Vol. Coord: Beth Ray Marion Harding, Fin. Secretary Korri Mehrkens

Choir Dir: Joseph Durbin Brian Friedman Jane Yates

Phone: 815-844-3695

Fax: 815-844-7580

Email: info@firstlutheranchurch.org

Pastor Carlin: carlinours@ymail.com

704/775-9823