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Welcome to Trinity Lutheran Church
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod - Norman, Oklahoma
"In grateful response to God's grace and empowered by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments, the mission of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod is vigorously to make known the love of Christ by word and deed within our churches, communities, and the world." -LCMS Mission Statement
Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ!
From the Pastor
David Nehrenz
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ!
During these 40 days of Easter, the Church rejoices in the many "convincing proofs" (Acts chapter 1), which Jesus gave of his resurrection. Luke tells us that "over a period of 40 days" Jesus gave these proofs through various resurrection appearances. Then He was taken up into heaven as He ascended on high!
God's blessings on our Confirmands this month-confirmed on CONFIRMATION SUNDAY on May 6th. May we all continue "in the apostles doctrine, breaking of bread, fellowship and the prayers" (Acts chapter 2). We continue to rejoice in the gift of Luther's Small Catechism which summarizes for us the 6 Chief Parts of Christian doctrine!
We will also rejoice in the gift and vocation of Christian motherhood on MOTHERS' DAY - May 13th. God bless all the mothers and grandmothers in our families and congregation!
We will again celebrate "THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD" on Thursday evening May 17th (the culmination of the 40 days of Easter) at a 7:30 pm Divine Service of Holy Communion. There will also be special hymns and Scripture lessons. Come receive our Ascended Lord's gifts!
ARMED FORCES SUNDAY is May 20th when we thank the Lord for those who served so that we might be able to worship in the U.S.A. in freedom and liberty. Thanks to all who served and to those who died so that we can be free! Go the cemetery on MEMORIAL DAY - Monday May 28th - and place American flags on the grave plots of our veterans to honor their sacrifices on our behalf!
FRIENDSHIP SUNDAY is also May 20th. We will all invite friends to join us for this special Sunday and afterwards have lunch at 12:00 noon of favorite foods from your church recipe books!
THE DAY OF PENTECOST - is Sunday May 27th. The Holy Spirit is poured out on the church to be witnesses to the resurrection of our Lord (Acts chapter 2). This day celebrates the reversal of the Tower of Babel in Genesis when God confused the languages of the world and people were driven apart into many nations. Now in the one language of the Gospel, God gives the Holy Spirit to all people to bring the nations of the world back together again into the Church.
HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY - is June 3rd. The glorious revelation of our One God in Three Persons into whom we are baptized in Matthew 28:16-20. The great Athanasian Creed is confessed. The name of the only true God, into whom we are baptized, calls us to confession of the divine mystery of the Trinity.
In Holy Baptism we are incorporated into the Body of Christ, and in heaven we are the great multitude of every tribe, nation, race and language singing our Alleluias to the Lamb who sits upon the throne!
In our Lord,
Pastor Nehrenz
From the Vicar
Bill Willenbrock
If you go to any place on the entire globe, the first question you will either ask of be asked, is "What is your name?". Names are important to us but they were of even greater importance in biblical times. The common practice today is to give a child a particular name because it sounds nice but in ancient times, names were assigned primarily for meaning. Names were themselves a summary of your very existence. With this in mind we see what an honor our first father Adam had in Genesis Two, "Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name." God invites Adam to participate in the creation, assigning names to these creatures, encapsulating their existence in a word.
But the creatures are not the only beings with names, indeed our Lord himself has given himself a name, or rather names. "Heavenly Father", "Jesus", "Holy Spirit", "Yahweh", "Lord", these are just a few of the names which can be found in Holy Scripture. These names also encapsulate our Lord's existences. Take for instance the first one which I mentioned, "Heavenly Father", when he calls himself Father, he invites us to believe that we are his true children and that he will provide for us as an earthly father does. When Mary is instructed she is to call the babe Jesus, it is because Jesus encapsulates his existence. Jesus means, "The Lord Saves" and from the moment he is conceived by the Holy Spirit our Lord Jesus seeks to save sinners like you and I.
In our baptism, these many and various names of God are placed on us. We are marked as the people of that very God, and what a blessing that is. I have often made the illustration that when we were little we would put our names on toys or lunch boxes to mark them as ours. In baptism our God does the same thing, he marks us as HIS own. May you remain in that blessing for all time.
I leave you with the words of Psalm 113, "Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!"
Peace,
Vicar Bill Willenbrock
