This Week at Mt. Olive

Good evening, fellow redeemed!

From where I'm sitting, across the music room and the living room, I can see the television. I'm watching the NHL semifinals. Phoenix is playing Nashville. After moving to Corpus, I had kind of lost touch with big league hockey. Up and down the ice, pass followed by pass, shot on goal followed by a frenzy around "the crease." Phoenix is ahead by two goals in the final period, a sizable lead, but not completely insurmountable. Who will win, we simply don't know. The only thing we know for sure is that Boston won't repeat as champions, having lost in the quarter finals.

Praise God our relationship with the Father is not like that. Brought into fellowship with the Father through the Son, the Father gives us life through the same Son. Our Lord Jesus is the one who laid down His life in order that He might take it up again. Thus, there is no doubt about fellowship with the Father through the Son. It's a gift. In today's Epistle, (1 John 3:16-24), the apostle tells us that our Lord Christ has laid down His life on our behalf, we also ought to lay down our lives for one another. Yet, we're not able to die on crosses for the sake of others. No, it is through the sharing of the goods of this world that we lay down our lives for the sake of our neighbor.

Our fellowship with the Father through the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who laid down His life for the sheep, is a certainty. Christ has died and risen, never to die again. With that in mind, a life in fellowship with the Father moves us to lay down our lives for our neighbor - even the person with whom we don't get along, even our enemy - by sharing the goods of this world.

This Week at Mt. Olive:
Next Sunday is the LWML Spring Rally at Trinity Lutheran Church here in Corpus. Registration begins at 2 p.m. and the program begins at 2:30. You can reserve your place by contacting Lois White at Trinity (Plata123@aol.com).

Our brothers and sisters in the faith at Lord of Life have been vacant for well over a year. They have been faithfully served by Pastor Kirk as vacancy pastor. Earlier this year, Lord of Life submitted the paperwork to call a candidate from one of our seminaries. This week, Tuesday and Wednesday, call services will be held at both seminaries, St. Louis and Fort Wayne. We pray that one of those candidates will hear the words, "Texas District, Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas".

Also this week, Wednesday Morning Bible Class will break into Revelation 20!

Looking ahead, Mt. Olive will host this year's Ascension Service on May 17 at 7:15 p.m. Sharing in the service will be St. Paul (Bishop) and Trinity (Corpus Christi). The festival of Ascension ranks with Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost in the major festivals of the Church Year.

Finally, I'll be hosting this month's circuit conference for pastors on Tuesday, May 1.

Prayer Concerns:
Pastor Alston Kirk, recovering from surgery
Ann Cleveland, Burt and Doris Nelson, Ruby Rieder, Bud Bird, Walter and Pearly Theiss (Houston)
Those who serve in our armed forces and their families: Rob Vadney, John Sorenson
Our brothers and sisters in the faith at Lord of Life as they await news of a new pastor
The candidates for calls and vicarage assignments who will be receiving their calls and assignments this week.
The Council of Presidents and placement directors from the seminaries who are working both today and Monday to match men to those assignments.

God bless!
PKJ