Read the Pentecost devotion and join the Confirmation service

this Sunday June 5, 2022 at 11:00 am. Pastor Annika wrote a devotion, the choir has been practicing two songs (recorded, see below) and our Intern Nefeli Xiggos produced a great Instagram story (live, also below).

This year’s confirmands are: Olivia, Max, Evan, Frederica, Annalia and Maya.

After the summer holidays our new confirmation classes begin. The course lasts one year and ends with Confirmation on Pentecost 2023. It is aimed at young people who will be in grade 7 after the summer holidays or who are 12 to 15 years old. Come see what this year’s Confirmation sevice will be like this Sunday and then sign up!

Pentecost devotion
-Pastor Annika Klappert

We are celebrating Pentecost in the coming days: God sends us his Holy Spirit so that we can carry his word into the world and grow in following him. Jesus once said to his friends: You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world. What an immense encouragement and also what confidence lies in this one sentence!

You are the salt – I think it is great that this encouragement is promised to a whole group. Not only one person is salt of the earth and light of the world, but all those who hold on to God. No one can claim that he alone is sufficient to build the kingdom of God. We are to do this together with combined resources. Each in his or her own way.

You are the salt – we do not have it, the salt, but we are it. How quickly we can lose everything we have, money, health, power or popularity. But what we are, that remains before God forever, no one can take that away from us. We are all unique human beings, conceived by God Himself. We are the salt, and because of that it is our job to make a change in this world – for ourselves and for other people. Our life as Christians before God is a chance to do good. Here, in this earthly life, we are to use our talents and abilities, for each other and with each other. We are to season and salt the earth with his spirit. He has entrusted it to us humans to cultivate and preserve. Not sometime in the future, but here and now.

We as the Martin Luther Church congregation try to do exactly that in word and deed. And we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the help you have already given to us. And we would like to ask you to continue to add your salt to our soup, be it with financial help or your ideas, your time, your talents, and prayers. We need you to continue to shine as the Church by the Lakeshore!

It is a great task that Jesus has given us. We know that we cannot always live up to it, but he trusts us to try it nevertheless and he counts on us. Isn’t that great? God gives us the confidence to really be salt and light in this world. May his Holy Spirit give us courage and strength to do so!
Amen.

Intern Nefeli Xiggos’ Instagram reel on June 3, 2022

The Church Choir Sings
–Organist and choir director Linda Marcinkus

Komm, Gott Schӧpfer, Heilger Geist
Komm, Gott Schӧpfer Heil’ger Geist, besuch das Herz der Menschen dein, mit Gnaden sie füll, Denn du weisst, dass sie dein geschӧpfe sein. Text: Martin Luther (1524) nach dem Hymnus Veni creator spiritus. Musik: Marty Haugen (1987)

Öffne Uns die Ohren Herr

1. Öffne uns die Ohren, Herr, damit wir hoeren, was du uns zu sagen hast. Rede du zu uns, durch dein Wort, das die Wahrheit ist.
2. Öffne uns die Augen, Herr, damit wir sehen, welchem Weg zum Ziel und führt. Weise uns den Weg, durch dein Wort, das die Wahrheit ist.
3. Öffne uns die Lippen, Herr, damit wir sagen, was der Welt zum Besten dient. Schenke uns die Kraft, durch dein Wort, das die Wahrheit ist.
4. Öffne uns die Herzen, Herr, damit wir das tun, was dein Wille für uns ist. Halte uns bei dir und dein Wort das die Wahrheit ist. Text und Musik: Klaus Heizmann

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Lord, when you came to the Lakeshore
1. Lord, when you came to the Lakeshore You weren’t seeking the wise or the wealthy, But only asking that I might follow.
Refrain: O Lord, in my eyes you were gazing, Kindly smiling, my name you were saying: Here I stand Lord, willing always to follow; Close to you, I will seek to endure.
2. O Lord have you need of my labour, Hands for service, a heart made for loving, My arms for lifting the poor and broken? Refrain.
3. Lord, send me where you would have me, To a village, or heart of the city; I will remember that you are with me. Refrain.

Interlude: We are the dwelling of God, fragile and seeking his grace. Lord be our light and guide now, holding us strong in your love. -Quotation of a segment from an arrangement by Kevin Keil

Text (Prescador de Hombres) and Tune: Cesare Gabarain. Piano accompaniment arranged by Diana Kodner. English translation from Spanish by William Francis Jabusch. Adaptation to text and refrain harmonization by Linda Marcinkus

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Listen to our German radio devotions which air every Sunday at 9:30 am live on CHLO Radio station AM 530 (a multilingual radio station) and later archived as a podcast recording on our Radio Devotion webpage.

You can find further news at Church News-Blog: https://martinluther.ca/news-of-the-church/

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Martin Luther Evangelical Lutheran Church
2379 Lake Shore Blvd West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M8V 1B7
Tel.: (416) 251-8293 churchoffice@martinluther.ca

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