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July 4^th has come and gone, and it reminds us of our liberties and how thankful to God we should be for them. But some of those liberties seem to be up for debate. You may have heard of Coach Joe Kennedy. But then again, maybe not. Perhaps the good news of his religious liberty victory was lost amidst our (rightful) jubilation of overturning Roe v. Wade.

Joe Kennedy was a football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington State. Initially, he lead his team in prayers after games. When the public school asked him to stop because they thought it could violate religious convictions (or lack thereof) of students, he changed to praying briefly and quietly on his own instead. The school fired him and he decided to take it to court. This case went all the way to the Supreme Court where the decision was reached that his termination was wrongful and Joe Kennedy could, indeed pray after games.

This should put to rest the idea of neutrality. In apparently trying to reach religious neutrality, the school stepped all over the liberties of Coach Kennedy. Their worldview shaped what they did and what actions they took. Our values and even our ideas of liberty come from our own worldviews. The real question is, what worldview is employed in the shaping of public and private values. May we turn to Christ and the scriptures for such answers.

This past Wednesday evening at the prayer meeting, we read Psalm 85, which is very relevant to us as we consider the victory God granted in overturning Roe v. Wade. Here are verses 1-4:

Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!

That God is abundant in mercy has been made clear to us anew. Many in our nation are drunk on the blood they’ve shed and we justly deserve God’s wrath. God instead answered our prayers by beating back the powers of darkness. This is the way He operates. And He did promise in Matthew 16:18b, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

In the wake of this victory, let us not forget that our call to life was not first issued in 1973. Christians have always been called to the issues of life: to care for the poor, the helpless, and the unwanted. We are to press on. Pray for and support crisis pregnancy centers, encourage those who do this work. And continue to seek to meet the needs of mothers in distress who would rather turn to abortion. We now have all new opportunities for ministry. Praise be to God!

The Supreme Court released the leaked opinion from May, overturning Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood. When the leak happened, Politico.com called it, “a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights.” To hear many on the left tell it, the court just banned abortion in all 50 states but that is untrue. This ruling is but one step in the battle, but an important one to be sure. This ruling removes the federal requirement to allow abortion. States now determine their own laws and punishments and how they deal with it — just as they already do for other instances of murder.

While some states allow for abortion, many states, including our own, have banned abortion. So this is a victory in a battle of a larger war. That is why we celebrate today! We must, of course, continue to pray and to work to shape hearts and minds that abortion might not even be thought of and that it continues to remain illegal in our state.

We can be encouraged by all that the Lord is doing. As Dr. George Grant said in response to the ruling, “Aslan is on the move!” Our good God has granted us this victory and called us to appear before him today. And that is why we lift our thunderous refrain, Thanks be to God!

As announced last week, nominations for elder and deacon were received by the session. Jeff Kernodle and Randy Sadler accepted their nominations, were examined by the session and are heartily recommended to you for election to office. The election for these officers will be held on July 17.

The installation of additional officers is a needed step considering the growth with which the Lord has blessed us. As we grow, so does the officer workload.

To that end, Jeff is recommended as a ruling elder to come alongside Joe as minister, and Abe as a ruling elder, who constitute the session. Ruling elders differ from ministers of the word and sacraments, though their duties overlap when it comes to shepherding and oversight of the congregation.

Randy is recommended as deacon to come alongside Brian and TJ. Deacons act as assistants to the session, operating under their oversight. Deacons lead in service to the church, care of the poor, and encourage and engage in hospitality (among many other things).

In this past week’s email, Pastor Joe linked to the portion of our website that describes the various officer roles. We hope you’ll take a moment to prayerfully read through those in preparation to vote for these officers on the 17th of July.

As we sing psalms and historic hymns today, both in our hymn sing and worship service, it is helpful to reflect on what many in the modern western church might consider our “odd” choice in musical style. Can we not simply “get with the times?”

Music and musical style reflects very much our view of worship and the God whom we serve. What does our music say about our worship? What does it say about God? Who is the music for? While worship music can certainly be a benefit to us and lift our spirits or console us in times of sorrow, it is primarily music for God — it is something which we offer to Him. How we feel about it apart from that line of thinking is not very relevant. And this is but one of the reasons we don’t croon modern worship lyrics.

The hymns and psalms we sing are robust, designed for congregations, connect us to the history of our faith, and have permanence to last the ages. We also emphasize singing the psalms — God’s song book. The psalms were written by those who came before us in the faith like David, Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and more. We worship the unchanging God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we worship robustly, and we worship as a congregation, lifting up our voices as many parts, but one voice. As you sing with your brothers and sisters today, do so as an offering of worship to God, recognizing you sing with the saints through the ages.

The shooting at Uvalde elementary school is a tragedy. We grieve with those who grieve. We mourn with those who mourn. For many of us, it is almost impossible to contemplate what fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters of those who lost their lives are facing. As we try to understand this tragedy, one of the most important things we can do is pray for them and our nation in general. Many who are not of our persuasions nor believe in prayer will tell you that prayer is a futile, even undesired effort. But as those who believe the word of God, we have a very different picture. The Psalms give us language for our grief and uncertainty. Certainly, verses from Psalm 44:13-16 come to mind as the Psalmist dwells on the reproach of a people.

While our nation looks for answers in the aftermath of a shooting, the clamor for the limitation of weapons reaches a fever pitch. But few ask the questions about what formed and shaped the thinking of the one responsible for pulling the trigger. Few want to face the fact that as society becomes more and more unmoored from the moral framework provided by the creator for His creation, the more the uptick in such serious crimes. The real solution is not one they want to hear: repent and return to Christ! He is the only solution to these problems.

Here’s an exercise in contrasts: Elizabeth Amy Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA (the liberal Lutherans) Tweeted this past week, “While the leaked court draft does not represent the Supreme Court’s ruling in its final form; nevertheless, it contradicts this church’s teaching. This church teaches that abortion and reproductive health care, including contraception, must be legal and accessible.”

This past Lord’s day, we at St. Mark had the privilege of welcoming the Godinhos into membership, and baptizing their 4 precious little children. One of those little children, Eli, had a few warning signs during pregnancy and the doctor asked them if they were considering terminating the pregnancy. Of course, as you know, they chose instead to trust and obey God instead and the Godinhos, as well as our congregation, are so much richer for it.

While the false church of the liberal Lutherans teaches that the right to murder babies must be legal and accessible, we instead follow the ways of the Lord of life and are blessed beyond measure.

Proverbs 1:15–16 seems applicable, “My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path; for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.” While they make haste to shed blood for their own comforts, we uphold the law of the Lord!

Fifteen years ago, in the spring of 2007, Pastor Rich Lusk presided over a Lord’s Day service, during which six charter families took vows and were received into membership of the newly formed St. Mark Reformed Church. In God’s providence, for various reasons having to do with jobs, moving to new areas, etc. we have one remaining family of those founders: The Goolsbys.

Of course, the Goolsbys are a great blessing to our congregation, and Abe has now been ordained as an Elder at St. Mark. And if you’ve spent any time around Abe, you know what a great blessing this also is to our congregation.

And from the vantage point of 15 years, it’s also now wonderful to see the hand of providence in placing us in the CREC; a denomination now poised to hold the course as many churches and denominations look to compromise. We have the privilege of helping to strengthen this community of churches as we stand fast in the faith together against the advances of worldliness.

It wasn’t long after the initial forming that Pastor Thacker received and accepted the call to ministry at St. Mark the same year. His commitment to liturgy, sacrament, and preaching has been a great blessing these 15 years. Praise be to God for his goodness!

This past week, as you must surely now be aware, an opinion draft leaked from the Supreme Court of these United States. The topic: The overturning of Roe v. Wade. Leaving aside questions about the integrity of the court and the trust of the clerks and aids who serve there (or even the Justices themselves?), we’ll focus instead on the response.

The internet practically exploded. On the right, shouts of joy, praise, jubilation. On the left, despair, anger, franticness, threats. And you’re a Google search away from seeing videos of Elizabeth Warren yelling and screaming, visible shaking with anger as she calls for insurrection to ensure the rights of women, as defined by her, remain secure. The accusation against those on the “right” on is that we’ve been plotting and scheming for years and slowly working against, “the will of the people” to put things in motion leading to this as if the murder of children has until now, never been a questionable “right.” Why yes, senator, we have been “plotting and scheming” to make the murder of babies illegal again.

And, make no mistake, this hasn’t happened yet. The leak was confirmed to be genuine, but it is a draft. The decision has not been handed down yet. Still, praise God, in His mercy, he might allow this to come to pass and we must pray to that end. And we need God’s mercy now more than ever.

For May, our Hymn of the Month is All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night written by Thomas Ken (set to music by Thomas Tallis). Ken lived from 1637 to 1711 and throughout that time he was a pastor, chaplain at Winchester College, chaplain to Princess (later to be queen) Mary, and bishop of Bath and Wells. He was a faithful man who stood his ground to King Charles II, refusing to provide him lodging because the king had a mistress with him. He was also imprisoned for a time for his religious beliefs.

Bishop Ken contributed to English hymnody with the Morning, Evening, and Midnight Hymns which are often still found in English hymnals.

The hymn we’re focusing on this month is an evening hymn. Psalm 4:8 says, “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety,” and this hymn builds upon that theme. It orients us toward being thankful for that which God has done for us throughout the day. In the second verse, it reminds us to confess our sins from the day. And then in the third verse, we are reminded that our rest is found in the Lord. And the song goes on in that manner and spirit. It is one which should encourage and strengthen you and a tool you can use to aid in your spiritual walk and orienting your soul for sleep.

Praise God for this hymn and the message of peace and rest it brings us!

You may or may not have heard of the Twitter account “LibsOfTikTok” depending upon how “extremely online” you are or aren’t. This account, run by a previously anonymous person, would repost crazy and/or weird things liberals posted, often from the short video service TikTok (hence the name of the account). Of late, “LibsOfTikTok” has been shining a light on the liberal agenda of grooming young children by insisting on sexually explicit content in schools and other inappropriate venues.

This past week, Taylor Lorenz, “journalist” for The Washington Post, known for, among other things, her stance against “doxxing” (the publishing or private and identifying information with malicious intent), having been a victim herself, doxxed the owner of the “LibsOfTikTok” account, posting a whole lot of private and revealing information and slamming her as having a hateful agenda against LGBTQ+ people for, get this, simply reposting and amplifying their content. You see, it turns out, darkness does not like having a light shined upon it. They want to fully control the narrative and just how much of their wickedness they let out, and when and where. And you can tell a nerve was struck by how hard they lash out. Continue to pray for the exposition of wickedness in our culture.

Christ is Risen!

While we celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection every Lord’s Day, on this another glorious Easter Sunday we celebrate in a particular way Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Easter is a modern English word which derives from what English speakers used to call the month of April, which was named after the goddess of spring, Ēostre in old English. It is fitting that now, this term is almost entirely associated with the resurrection of our Lord (except for a few well meaning curmudgeons who do more than any atheist to re-associate Easter with the goddess of spring).

Of course, in submitting himself to death on the cross, and rising again from the dead, Christ conquered all the gods sinful men could devise. It is right and proper that what was once a device of pagans is now a device made to serve our Lord.

Today, lift up your praise for Christ’s glorious victory over your sin, over death, and over false gods. And as you celebrate this day, someone will, no doubt, say to you, “Christ is risen!” And having now considered Christ’s victory over pagan gods and what victory is made yours through Him, your hearty reply in light of that is one of affirmation, “He is risen indeed!”