Hurricane Announcement July 30th 2020

No In-Person Service August 2nd

Online Service released at 10:15am

There they were, placing another Christian friend in the catacombs under the roads of Rome. They were facing persecution from all sides, and things looked bl...

Here's what you need to know about the City's stormwater system

Heads up, Port St. Lucie: Our area could see some wet weather this weekend, so here’s what you should know about the city’s stormwater system and how to maintain the swale on your property.

Learn more about the City's stormwater system at www.cityofpsl.com/swale

#GospelResistance [From MBird.com]

From: https://mbird.com/2020/07/gospelresistance/

Thankful for this post by our good friend, Jason Micheli:

On Twitter today, the hashtag resist trended in dizzying directions, linking causes as disparate as police brutality, cancelling Tucker Carlson, and even cancelling cancel culture. #Resist was also linked to standing up against “oppressive” mask orders in localities hit by surges in the coronavirus. Given the ubiquitous yet ambiguous nature of the word, it would behoove us as Christians, I believe, to ask what it means to resist, biblically-speaking.

The Apostle Peter uses the word to exhort the elect community, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your Enemy, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion … Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” Peter puts it in the imperative, antistete — “Stand against him!”

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commands those whom he has called to love their enemies. That Jesus orders his disciples to love our enemies suggests that Jesus expects us, like him, to make enemies. The problem, though, is that too often — at least in a liberal denomination like my own, United Methodism — the enemies the Church stands up to resist are everybody’s enemies: racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia. It’s not that those issues are not urgent. It’s that the distinctive form of our Christian witness becomes unclear if we’re simply resisting what you need not be a Christian to resist.

The negative frame of the word makes it all the more critical we understand, in Gospel terms. It’s riskier to be against something because the very act of resistance, drawing lines between good and evil, righteous and unrighteous, risks obscuring the offensive, counter-intuitive Gospel that God has elected us to proclaim. How do we practice Christian resistance without resisting the radical inclusiveness of the Christian kergyma?

Done, not Do — that is the Gospel.

The Gospel is not Become a Better You. The Gospel is Christ has Died for Unrighteous You. Christ was cancelled for the sake of every last deplorable. While we were yet his enemies, Paul announces, Christ Jesus was crucified for the justification not of the good but of the ungodly.  And notice, the apostolic Gospel is not that Christ Jesus was crucified for the repentance of the ungodly. No, on account of Jesus Christ and his shed blood alone, God declares even the ungodly to be in the right — righteous — before God.

The Gospel is more inclusive than anyone who does not know scripture could imagine.

God is not just a God on the side of the poor and oppressed, the righteous and the peacemakers. The Gospel makes the offensive claim that God is also on the side of the irreligious, the immoral, and the unjust. The Gospel is Good News for victims, yes, but also for the victimizers; for the oppressed, of course, but for their oppressors, too. How many churches have you seen with signs out front that say “Crooks, Adulterers, Liars, and Xenophobes, Welcome!”

The Gospel proclaims the exasperating news that the Living God is for us to such an excessively prodigal degree it’s difficult to know how we are to be against in a manner that does not shroud our message. It’s tricky business, knowing how to be against when God in Jesus Christ has not left us anyone, not a single soul, he is not for — to hell and back. As Karl Barth says, there is not one “No!” we can say to someone to whom God has not already uttered a final and decisive “Yes!” How do we resist the sin of racism, for example, without also resisting the uncomfortable news that every last racist in every one of those viral videos we’ve seen in the news this summer is a sinner whom Christ has not only died for but justified?

Will Campbell was a Baptist preacher and a civil rights activist, who died a few years ago. He’s the author of Brother to a Dragonfly and Up to Our Steeples in Politics. He won the National Book Award for the former. Campbell grew up in Amite County, Mississippi, where his family’s Baptist church had Bibles in the pews whose covers were emblazoned with Ku Klux Klan insignia. Ordained at the age of seventeen, Campbell went on to study at Yale and, upon graduation, he took a position as the campus chaplain at the University of Mississippi in 1954. He resigned two years later in the face of death threats over his support for Civil Rights and school integration.

During the Civil Rights movement, Will Campbell was acclaimed by many and accursed by many for the radically inclusive nature of his ministry. He simply refused to resist racism in the terms of Us vs. Them given to him by the culture. On more than one occasion, he counter-intuitively pastored the families of those victimized by Klan violence but also the victimizers, murderous Klansmen and their families. In his 1962 book, Race and the Renewal of the Church, Campbell was critical of how he and his peers had initially entered the resistance movement. “There were no innocent people involved in the civil rights movement,” Campbell wrote.

All of us — black and white — were guilty in that all of us were sinners. We all stood in desperate need of the message of judgment and redemption. […] Even those engaged in the new and dramatic protest movements, even we must also hear the Gospel of the Lord who burns and heals. We have moved into Christian social action from the wrong point of departure.

Campbell goes on to lament how he and his activist peers initiated their resistance efforts from the wrong starting point, solidarity with the suffering of the victims, “which is no different from the secular view of social action and carries with it a superficial sentimental understanding of the depth of humanity’s depravity.”

Critiquing his own form of resistance early on, Campbell writes that he and his peers should’ve taken as their point of departure, not right and wrong, good and evil, righteous and unrighteous, but the one reality we all share.

Sin.

“We’re all the ungodly,” Campbell said.

All of us are captive to the Power of Sin, Campbell meant. The chains of bondage just appear different depending on our color or creed, our station or situation. Thus, solidarity with victims is not enough. We must see one another, but most of all ourselves, as potential victimizers.

We’re all captive to the Power of Sin.

In Jesus Christ, God has not left us anyone — not a single person — whom God is not for because every single one of us is yet in bondage to an Enemy from whom Almighty God is determined to set us free.

Christian resistance is intelligible only as it relates to the Power of Sin and Death. The Apostle Peter exhorts the elect community to resist not our neighbors or our fellow citizens, not political parties or social policies per se but God’s Enemy. Even the baptismal liturgy presupposes the entrenched opposition of an occupying Enemy, the Devil, against which the human race is powerless without aid from another realm.

Of course, a neighbor’s racism, a fellow citizen’s violence, or a callous social policy can all be ways our collective bondage to the Enemy manifests. But — this is important — they do not make our neighbor the enemy. The enemy is the Enemy. And in one way or another, we are all in its grip. As the Apostle Paul puts it, “Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against … the cosmic powers of this present darkness” (Eph 6:12).

Your neighbor is not the enemy.

The Enemy is the enemy.

We’re all prisoners of the same Pharaoh. The Devil’s laid different chains on me than on you maybe, but we’re all in the same situation, waiting on the final redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ. But just because we’re all prisoners waiting on our Rescuer to come back in final victory does not mean that we don’t try to knock down some walls, bust some chains, and dig a tunnel to freedom from behind Rita Hayworth.

Just as we acknowledge at our baptisms, Christ has elected us to resist the spiritual forces of wickedness in our world. But our Christian resistance should never be tinged with self-righteousness or hate but tempered by the knowledge of our own captivity and therefore by humility and pity and compassion.

Priest and author Fleming Rutledge tells the story of how when she was young and newly in the throes of the social justice movement, she complained to Will Campbell about racists. After listening to her rant, Campbell laughed and replied, “Fleming, we’re all racists!”

We’re all racists, or something.

We’re all captive to the Power of Sin.

Will Campbell could laugh at our common affliction because he was convinced that in Jesus Christ God had not only justified the ungodly, he would one day return to redeem the ungodly and, in rescuing us, remake us.

Crosstown traffic signals Changes [PSA]

PORT ST. LUCIE – Drivers on Crosstown Parkway should see improved traffic flow and fewer delays because of a new system that uses real-time data to coordinate traffic signals.

The City’s Public Works Department worked with consultant Rhythm Engineering to upgrade to the Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) on Crosstown Parkway that is expected to optimize traffic patterns along this corridor.

“With the completion and opening of the new Crosstown Parkway bridge, the City Council agreed this new signal coordination system should be a priority as we make every effort to keep traffic moving as efficiently as possible on this important corridor,” City Manager Russ Blackburn said.

The new system will utilize “adaptive signal control” at intersections from Fairgreen Road to and including Floresta Drive along Crosstown Parkway. This technology incorporates real-time traffic volumes into the signal coordination plans. It captures current traffic demand data and uses it to adjust signal timing for both the main corridor and side streets. A video about the new system can be found at: https://youtu.be/A4WoR1ya2DY.

Because this system works differently than a typical traffic signal, drivers can expect to see patterns that may not be familiar. For example, the system prioritizes east/west traffic on Crosstown Parkway over side street traffic. This could result in side street traffic waiting at a red light when it appears there is no opposing traffic. Staff will continue to monitor and adjust the system to continue to minimize side street wait times. Signal phasing may also be different than what motorists are expecting. For example, the left turn arrow may come up first or last or both and through traffic could get a green light at varying times during the signal phasing cycles or perhaps even twice. The system is operating as it should and is still “learning” the traffic flows in order to be as efficient as possible.

The same system was installed on St. Lucie West Boulevard in 2017. Studies in both 2018 and 2019 concluded the adaptive signal system effectively lowered travel time and delay within the study corridor overall during most of the year. The result of this improvement has also reduced the number of crashes, thus enhancing the safety and quality of life for the residents and visitors. Reduction in travel times and delays also have the benefit of reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

The Crosstown adaptive signal equipment, which cost about $800,000, originally was not planned to be installed until 2028 and paid for with half-cent sales tax revenue. However, the City Council approved moving up the project timetable following the construction of the Crosstown bridge using funding from the Crosstown Parkway Extension Project.

Winn Dixie Bags benefiting community care building

GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH chosen by Winn Dixie to benefit from the Community Care Building Recyclable Bag Program – for the month of July 2020 for our Grace / Alzheimers Community Care Building!

Grace Lutheran Church / Alzheimer’s Community Care Building Project has been selected by Winn Dixie as part of their Community Bag Program that benefits non-profits!

For the month of JULY 2020, we will receive $1.00 for each purchase of the $2.50 reusable Community Bag at the Winn Dixie store located at 281 SW Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

The Community Bag Program makes it easy for shoppers to support our project.

Be sure to shop at this local Winn Dixie and look for the display,

Usually near the checkout counters!  All proceeds for this event will go to help us furnish our new building – the church body voted to not include furnishings in the mortgage but to raise them separately.  So, we need your help, and this is one of the ways to do it!

Back Packs for Children in Haiti

• Last Pickup August 9th

• BIG NEED: Backpacks

  • See pictures of possible (simple/basic) bags ideas. 

• Normal school supplies are needed. 

• I have been told Dollar General has a great selection.

The PO Box is incorrect on the handout.
Send Money to the Church with the proper note and we will make sure it gets to Them.

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Zoom to Scripture - Romans 11 - July 9

Does Wearing a Mask Work? [Video]

Happy Independence Day

Zoom to Scripture - Romans 10 - July 2nd

Sticking Our Necks Out: Judgement in the Age of COVID Phases

“by SAM BUSH on Jun 25, 2020
https://mbird.com/2020/06/sticking-our-necks-out-judgement-in-the-age-of-phases/”

Life is judged with all the blindness of life itself.

– Santayana

My friend recently admitted that he and his wife had invited people over for dinner. Plenty of qualifiers were set in place—not only did everyone eat outside on their porch, but their guests were mindful enough to bring their own food, their own drinks, their own chairs, and their own face masks. Every box for Phase 2 in the State of Virginia was checked and yet my friend’s story still sounded like a confession. After expressing his litany of quarantine sins, he said, “These days, it sounds like we’re all Christian virgins who are dating. We’re all just trying to figure out what we can get away with.” He’s not wrong!

Days later, my wife and I invited some friends over for a patio picnic of our own. To our horror, it started to rain mid-meal. My wife and I quickly exchanged glances to confirm our mutual decision. We cautiously invited our friends to consider moving inside so we could eat without getting drenched. “Don’t worry! We just cleaned the house. We pretty much wiped down every surface. We can open windows, too.” Our friends, in turn, cautiously accepted our invitation. The words, “Are you sure? We don’t want to pressure you,” were probably mentioned ten times between the four of us. An hour later, as they were getting ready to leave, my wife said it felt like heaven just to have people inside our home. Paranoia returned a moment later when our guests walked out the front door as some of our neighbors were walking by. It was as if we had just hosted a key party.

Oh, the shame!

As all of us enter various phases of reentry, it feels like we are sticking our necks out into a heightened sense of fear, judgement, and uncertainty. The feeling is valid. After all, our actions affect those around us and any carelessness could potentially lead to someone contracting the coronavirus. If you live in New York you are much more aware of the real-life consequences than if you live in Kansas, but there is plenty of reason for everyone to be cautious and to care for others. And yet, now that we’re dipping our toes back in the water of normality, I find myself simultaneously assuming the role of the lifeguard and the two-year-old running around the pool.

Hypocrisy abounds these days when a desire to cut quarantine corners conflicts with the fear that others are doing the exact same thing. With so much still left unknown, every situation is relative—I can hug this friend because he’s a responsible person who has been quarantining, but is that decision solely based on reason? Thanks to asymptomatic transmission, everyone around me is a potential threat to manage, but I still want to be able to go get carry-out ice cream with my family (I’ve earned it, haven’t I?). Now that we are seemingly more free to make our own decisions, all roads point to our own self-justification while mistrusting others who act likewise.

The beginning stages of quarantine felt like we were all part of a bigger cause, but these phases of reentry feel like certain kids are getting out of school early. David Foster Wallace famously said, “We are kings and queens of our skull-sized kingdoms,” and it feels as hard as ever to regulate those beyond the borders of our jurisdiction. In that sense, it feels like our penchant for capricious egotism has been given a boost these days. And with it has come a tendency to loosen my own leash while tightening the leashes of those around me.

For instance, why do I insist that when my family visits from out of town they meet a standard of hygiene that I’m not even meeting myself? Yes, one is more susceptible to being exposed to the virus while traveling, but I don’t think my safety know-how qualifies me to scold my mother when she fails to use enough hand sanitizer. I can imagine Jesus giving the modern version of the speck and the log parable: “Why do you scold your mother for not washing her hands when you took your toddler to the playground yesterday?” Hypocrite, indeed. Despite my excuses—we were the only ones on the monkey bars, we used an entire bottle of sanitizer before and after going down the slide, etc.—all of my attempts to self-justify add up to a guilty verdict.

Last week, CNN published an op-ed about Steve Murray, the headmaster of Lawrenceville School, a prep school in New Jersey, who gave a webinar to anxious parents about the school’s plans to reopen in the fall. During his presentation, Murray made clear that the school was unlikely to be Covid-free, saying things like, “Zero risk tolerance is not realistic,” and, “Coming to school will not be 100% risk free any more than driving a car is risk free.” He didn’t try to sound like a health expert, but, instead, someone who deeply cared about his students.

With profound humility, he assured the parents that the school was doing everything it possibly could do (including pre-arrival protocols, testing and touchless toilets), but Murray didn’t promise perfection. Even when emphasizing the importance of a shared sense of responsibility, he accepted the reality that each bit of protocol was a little bit like Swiss cheese, each slice having its holes. With grace and meekness, Steve Murray helped remind me that, while we live cautiously during these times in order to love our neighbor, our hope and trust is not in sanitation alone.

It is a worthy effort to try to control the coronavirus as a disease, but I am completely unable to control another person any more than I can control myself. As ever before, I am in constant need of the Serenity Prayer to remind me the difference between what is under and what is far beyond my earthly powers. A line in the BCP Evening Prayer service says it best: “Give peace, O Lord, in all the world; for only in thee can we live in safety.” It’s true. While cleanliness may be next to godliness, it is a far cry from the holiness of a sovereign God who is worthy of all our trust.

Zoom to Scripture - Romans 9 - June 25

Barbara Young Memorial

Live Stream on Wednesday at 11am
from church website/YouTube
https://youtu.be/g3KlqYK83Yc

Because of the COVID-19 spread in Florida, the in-person gathering will be limited to family only.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations to a few places Barbara cared about:

1)  Grace Lutheran Church Alzheimer’s Daycare Building Fund

     772-871-6599                
www.GraceLutheranPSL.com/Give

If you would like to give to Grace’s new Alzheimer’s daycare, just indicate “ALZ Daycare” .   

  OR

2)  Sarah’s Kitchen – 772-834-2818

     OR

3)  Treasure Coast Hospice www.TreasureHealth.org

Obituary

Barbara “Babs” Katherine Young (Brandner)  was born in Ruthven, Ontario CANADA on September 7, 1934. She entered Heaven’s gates on June 16, 2020.

She was united in holy matrimony to Anton Young on November 7, 1953. The union was blessed with four children, A loving mother and homemaker, she treasured her family and embraced every moment with them. Barbara had a way of making everyone feel like they were a part of her family. Those who came to know her loved her. To anyone who needed her she was always there with love, acceptance, wisdom and kindness. She was a remarkable cook who enjoyed preparing meals, baking and always welcomed others to her table.  When she wasn’t in the kitchen she was a dedicated water aerobics participant who enjoyed socializing with ladies in her class. In her spare time she could be found reading a book or playing on her computer.

Barbara has always been a woman of faith. While living in Flint, Michigan she was actively involved in St. Paul Lutheran Church and when she settled in Florida, she became a very active member of Grace Lutheran in Port St. Lucie. It’s no surprise that she also donated a lot of her time at “Sarah’s Kitchen” helping feed the less fortunate.

The best wife and mother imaginable, nothing came before her family or her faith. Her beautiful life will forever be cherished in the lives of her children and grandchildren. Barbara will be remembered most for her kind loving nature and the way she lived her life to the fullest with simple pleasures.

Barbara was preceded in death by her son Ronald M. Young, by her brother William and by two infant brothers-Fredrich and Jacob.   She is survived by her husband Anton Young, her Son Richard (Theresa) Young, and her daughters Linda (Jacques) Lamothe and Lori (Tim) McAlear and  two grandchildren, Jaques Jordan Lamothe and Lauren Lamothe. She is also survived by her brother Walter (Ilene) and many cousins, nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews.

A “virtual” funeral service celebrating her life will be held on Wednesday June 24th at 11:00 am.  You can view the service at www.GraceLutheranPSL.com/BarbaraYoung 

Zoom to Scripture Recording - June 18-20

Live Stream Change - June 20 Announcement

Live Stream is now moving to 10:15AM

Sunday Morning Worship Rules

• Wear a mask.

• All best practices for coming into Grace building still apply.

  • Keep the distance (6ft ).

  • Limit touching (people or things).

  • Wash hands (bathrooms, kitchen, or hand sanitizer).

  • Limit projecting when singing and talking.

    • Use your inside voice like your mother taught you.

Big Windows installed!

Opening Up Announcement June 5th

We are opening up on June 7th.

Sunday service will be at 9AM, both on the live stream and in person.

• Our goal for worship services for the near future is to provide an excellent experience at home so those who are high-risk may feel comfortable staying home.

• We also want to have a safe place for the body of Christ to begin gathering together in person again.

• Important Understanding

  • Many people do not feel the same as you about the severity of the virus.

    • There are those who worry about being anywhere near people right now.

    • There are those who think all this is blown out of proportion.

    • And all sorts of views in between

  • A hallmark of the Christian church is that we love and take care of one another. No matter how you feel, it is an act of love and devotion to keep the distance from everyone at church. Please, no hugging or shaking of hands, and do not get close to someone to speak.

  • Romans 14 is at the bottom

Expectations for Coming to In-Person Worship:

• Wear a mask.

• All best practices for coming into Grace building still apply.

  • Keep the distance (6ft ).

  • Limit touching (people or things).

  • Wash hands (bathrooms, kitchen, or hand sanitizer).

• Limit projecting when singing and talking.

  • Use your inside voice like your mother taught you.

• 1 family group per seating section

• Limit 40ish in sanctuary

  • overflow for 10 in fellowship hall

Communion

• End of 9:00 Worship

  • Individual family groups will be called up to a certain side of the altar area.

  • Pastor will give communion to you.

  • When you are dismissed, you should leave the sanctuary.

  • if you would like to talk with anyone after service, please meet them outside (6ft apart).

• Small Communion Services

  • Available for those who did not feel comfortable coming to worship

  • Communion for 5 family groups (or less) at a time

  • 10:30 and 11:00 AM on Sunday

Zoom to Coffee and Zoom into Scripture

• Coli will continue to hold Zoom to Coffee from the church at 10:30 AM for those who would like to join in the fun online from home.

• Online Bible studies will still continue on Thursdays at 11:00 AM

One final note:
We are watching the heath statistics, and if we deem it unsafe to meet in the future, we will make that call.

Romans 14

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b]

12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

Bible Study Recording from May 27 - Romans 7

Tom Roksvold's Graveside Service

Table Talk: Apologetics [Video]