Third Sunday in Lent, John 2:13-22
The holy gospel according to John. Glory to you, O Lord.
13The Passover of the Jewish people was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Judeans then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Judeans then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Jesus turning over the money changers’ tables in the temple in Jerusalem is certainly a dramatic moment, and perhaps quite unexpected from one whom we call Prince of Peace.
John records these words of Jesus: “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
John further reports that the disciples remembered this saying in connection with Jesus, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Why was Jesus so passionate about what was going on in the temple with those selling animals and with the money changers?
In Jesus’ view, according to John, the temple was not to be a marketplace. It may well have been the case that Jesus was not against marketplaces per se, but that the place of the market was not the temple. Marketplaces had their place, just not in the holy temple set aside for the worship of God.
Buying and selling and changing money may have had the quality of idolatry – of giving over to things of lesser importance a greater prominence than they deserved.
Making the temple of God into a marketplace reveals a disorientation, a disordered quality that Jesus in John could not abide.
Jesus as an observant Jewish person would have been steeped and grounded in the Ten Commandments which are the focus of today’s first reading. These commandments set the record straight about what is most important. The first table of the law focuses on our relationship with God and the second, our relationship with each other.
With the Ten Commandments, if they are kept, all is well and in the proper and good order. Again, making the temple into a marketplace may have broken the letter and spirit of some of the Commandments, particularly concerning idolatry.
But there is also more going on in the gospel reading for today. A lot more.
Dear members of God’s family at Resurrection Church,
Today’s readings set the record straight on what gives true life from God’s perspective. If you are able, join the congregation with your own worship at home at 10am EST on Sunday or otherwise engage our home worship resources in ways appropriate to your circumstances.
Worship Service
A pre-recorded worship service, complete with readings, Pastor Linman's sermon, prayers, and music will broadcast at 10am EST on Sunday, March 7, on our YouTube channel and will be available below:
Worship material for March 7, 2021
Home Worship Bulletin for March 7, 2021- Children's Bulletin for March 7, 2021
- The transcript of Pastor Linman's sermon
The following have been posted to YouTube; here is the YouTube Playlist for March 7, 2021:
- Trisagion, Marty Wheeler Burnett, with Carole Smith, flute, and Suzanne and Allison Tsitsibelis, bells
- Musical Meditation: "Be Thou My Vision", John Carter
- Psalm 19
- Pastor Linman's recorded sermon
- ELW Hymn #723, “Canticle of the Turning”
- ELW Hymn #727, “Lord Christ, When First You Came to Earth”
- Choir Anthem: "Create A Pure Heart in Me"
Outdoor Worship and AFAC Food Collection on Sunday, March 14
Weather permitting, join us outdoors (with facial covering and maintaining strict physical distance) on March 14 at 12:15 on the Potomac Street side of the church for a brief service of worship in conjunction of the food collection for AFAC. This service includes an order for confession and forgiveness, a reading and reflection, prayers of intercession, the Lord’s Prayer and a blessing.
Midweek Lenten Series
Join us via Zoom at 7:00 pm on the Wednesday evenings during Lent for a brief worship service followed by presentations by RELC members on how their faith informs their life’s work. Additionally, each week in Lent will also feature written reflections by members on the same topic which seeks to feature the vitality of lay ministry and leadership in our congregation. This series continues on Wednesday, March 10. Look for links to the written reflections, the Zoom invitations and the service bulletins in each Tuesday’s Midweek Message.
Resurrection Lutheran Weekday Preschool - Accepting Applications for 2021-2022 school year!
Resurrection Lutheran Weekday Preschool is currently accepting student applications for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year. If you would like more information on enrolling your 2-5 year old child in our half day programs please feel free to email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit us at https://resurrectionpreschoolarlington.org/. Registration deadline is Mon. April 12, 2021, so please don't delay!
We also have two upcoming virtual zoom sessions on Thursday, March 4 and Wednesday, March 10 from 7-8 pm. Please email Jenny Tigney at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to receive an invitation to attend and ask your questions about the upcoming school year.
Social Ministry Update
During Lent we will be collecting items for Personal Care Kits for Lutheran World Relief. Each kit needs the following items:
- one dark color light-weight bath-size towel (between 20"×40" & 52"×27")
- 2-3 bath-size (3-4 oz. for a total of 8-9 oz.) bars of soap, any brand in original wrapping
- one adult-size toothbrush in its original packaging
- one sturdy comb
- metal nail clippers.
You can either donate individual items or bring assembled kits. Wrap items in the towel and tie together with yarn or string. See a how-to assemble a Personal Care Kit video here OR here. Bring the items or assembled kits to Resurrection on a collection date before Sunday, April 18. We will accept your donations at any AFAC collection or outdoor service before April 18.
We will also accept monetary donations. Make checks to “RELC” and indicate “personal care kits” in the memo line or give online using the ‘Donate’ button on the RELC website. If you have any questions or want more information, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Any loose undesignated offerings received at in person outdoor services during Lent will be sent to A-SPAN.
Get Your 2021 Offering Envelopes
Weekly offering envelopes for 2021 are now available for you to pick up at Resurrection the at our next socially-distant outdoor service on March 14. If you’re unable to pick up your envelopes and would like them to be mailed to you, please send a request to Glen Mason (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Calling for Additional Worship Leaders
For those who have not yet had occasion to be a reader or prayer leader for our home worship videos, we encourage you to volunteer. It’s wonderful to see a variety of our members serve in this capacity on our worship videos, as this gives a sense of our togetherness as a congregation even when we cannot worship indoors in person yet. Consider yourself duly invited. If you are interested or want to learn more about this opportunity, kindly contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
In Christian Sympathy
We received word that long-time member Bettye Henck died on March 3. She was 99. A private graveside committal service for family members will be held.
For Your Prayers at Home
In addition to our usual prayers of intercession in our home worship, we encourage your prayers throughout the week for the following: Judy Jaquette; John Showman; Barb Jensen; Charlotte Boeck; Gretchen Zeltner; Lynn Kiewel; John Beston; Frank Fuelling; Phillip Swingler; Michael Chaffier and family; Maria Liwski; Grant Aldonis; Tucker Dean; Lisa; the family of Bettye Henck.
Prayer Requests
Should you desire to make prayer requests for persons you care about, or desire prayer for other concerns, please contact Pastor Linman with those requests: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 703-972-2076. Pastor will make certain that the names you provide will be included in the Prayers of Intercession for Sundays, and they will also be included in a listing of names in the midweek announcements to invite your prayers throughout the week. Making your requests known to Pastor Linman will allow him to follow up with you directly – as your requests for prayer help set the agenda for our Pastor’s ministry at Resurrection Church.
Youth Ministry
Provided is a Home Faith Formation Calendar, updated each week with the following week’s recorded content. For those who couldn’t tune in live, see those resources available to you now. Check out too suggestive home activities, lectionary readings, and resources for racial justice for all ages.
RELC Faith Formation Calendar for Lent 2021
Arlington County Covid-19 Response
For the latest updates on our county’s pandemic response as well as official and current information concerning vaccinations, go to: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/VAARLINGTON/bulletins/2c4a358
The best ways to contact Pastor Linman
Here are the best and most direct ways to contact Pastor Linman. The email address given for his professional and pastoral use is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Pastor Linman’s direct dial phone number in the church office is: 703-972-2076. Please leave a message there if Pastor does not answer. He monitors and responds to his messages throughout the day even when he's not in the office. Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you.
Other Announcements?
Should you have announcements that you wish to communicate in this weekly message as committee chairs or those responsible for other ministry initiatives at Resurrection, please contact Monika at the office (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by late Monday mornings for inclusion in the message for the coming Wednesday. Thanks!
Midweek Message: "It’s Been a Whole Year"
Week of the Second Sunday in Lent
Midweek Lenten Worship and Presentation, 7:00 pm on March 3:
A Zoom link for Wednesday's Midweek Lenten Worship and Presentation on Faith Informing Life's Work will be sent via Constant Contact. If you are not receiving our Constant Contact messages, please contact the church office.
“It’s Been a Whole Year”
Dear Friends in Christ:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
It’s been a whole year. On Sunday, March 1, 2020 you voted to call me as your Pastor. On that day, none us anticipated what would be before us. Though the coronavirus was making its way throughout the world, the pandemic had not yet been declared. But by the mid part of March, we all were in lock down. It’s almost been a full year of that unwanted series of events which turned the world upside down. Few at the time had awareness that this would go on for a year, and likely then some.
I’ve never run a marathon. Perhaps some of you have. The author of the letter to the Hebrews employs the image of the race to describe the journey of discipleship in Jesus’ name. Let us remember that we undertook this journey of pandemic deprivation in Jesus’ name. Yes, we were obedient to protocols established by government authorities, but we also began our fast from regular Christian assembly indoors, in person for Christ’s sake out of a commitment to love of neighbor, especially those most vulnerable among us in society, a central commitment of Lutheran social ethics.
Our fasting from central Christian things has been going on almost a year (I keep saying that, because it seems hard to believe). It’s been a marathon, a long race. Signs suggest that we may be entering the last phases of pandemic-related communal deprivation. The vaccination roll out is increasing in pace and extent. And that there are vaccines available at all this quickly is a wonder of contemporary medical science. But we still have a good bit of the race before us, with possible twists and turns and as yet unforeseen obstacles.
Again, I’ve never run a marathon, but I have some history with twenty-mile-long mountain hikes. I recall just how taxing and challenging it was during the last legs of these journeys when my body was on a kind of autopilot to reach the destination.
I need to confess to you that I am exhausted and often feel as though I am running on empty. The social isolation of pandemic discipline is taking its toll on my sense of well-being. Normal pleasures – like going out to dinner at restaurants with friends – are not consistently available. The richness of the DC area is closed off precisely when Nathan (when he visits) and I would love to go on adventures of discovery. Like many of you, working from home at the parsonage means there is little meaningful separation between personal and professional life. I am not at my best at this point in the season of pandemic. In short, I am running the race with quite the limp.
Perhaps you have your own tales of comparative woe at this point in the journey. I offer mine in honesty to invite your own honest, self-assessment of how you are doing.
That said, I also am drawn to offer words of encouragement. Responding to the exhortation of the author of the letter to the Hebrews, we look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Therefore, as your Pastor, I invite you to set your eyes on Christ if they are not already fixed there, for such focus can draw us forward. Now is not the time to let up, but to persevere in our discipline, continuing on, limps and all. We persevere in the power of the Holy Spirit whose energies we know in our admittedly truncated but nonetheless real encounters with the means of grace – in the reading and proclamation of the word, in our varied times of worship at home, in person outdoors, via Zoom, in words of forgiveness, in our holy conversations with each other.
In this past Sunday’s gospel reading we heard again Jesus’ instruction, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) Most of us have to date lived pretty cushy and easy Christian lives in which cross-bearing specifically for Jesus’ sake and the sake of the gospel has not much been asked of us, we who are privileged members of what has been known as the mainline church. But I believe it is true that our decision to refrain from regular Christian assembly has in fact been a very real expression of denying ourselves to take up the cross to follow Jesus. This past year of deprivation from central Christian things has been cruciform indeed. Awareness of this heartens me and renews a sense of purpose and meaning in what otherwise has seemed to be a year often lacking in meaningful, life-giving experiences. I pray that naming our cross-bearing self-denial which began in Lent 2020 and now continues into Lent 2021 edifies you as well.
I thus conclude by returning to the author of Hebrews who also writes this for our encouragement, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:12-13)
May it be so in Jesus’ name,
Pastor Jonathan Linman
Second Sunday in Lent, Mark 8:31-38
The holy gospel according to Mark. Glory to you, O Lord.
31Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32Jesus said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Listen again: “[Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” These words constitute one of the passion predictions in Mark’s Gospel, an occasion when Jesus tells the truth about what is before him, giving focus to the nature of his ministry and mission.
Quite importantly, Mark reports that Jesus “said all this quite openly.”
Recall other occasions in Mark when Jesus sternly ordered the followers and others not to say anything about things they had just experienced with Jesus. Just prior to this story in Mark, Peter makes his confession about Jesus, “You are the Messiah.” Jesus response was this: “he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.”
Following today’s story in Mark is the account of the Transfiguration, which liturgically we commemorated a couple of weeks ago on the Last Sunday after Epiphany. Of all the dramatic goings on high on the mountaintop, again Mark reported that “As they were coming down the mountain, [Jesus] ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” (Mark 9:9)
But about his suffering and death and promise of resurrection, Jesus was quite open.
Peter, who had just confessed Jesus as Messiah would have none of this. After Jesus spoke of his suffering and death, Peter “took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him.”
As if to say, Peter sought to censure, chide, reprove, admonish Jesus for predicting his suffering and death. Or more viscerally, Peter sought to repel or beat back on Jesus for his open prediction of the grave and mysterious things that would happen to him.
Clearly such perceived bad news was not part of Peter’s vision for what the Messiah should be about.
It’s as if Peter was ashamed of a Messiah that would have to suffer and die, as suggested by Jesus’ words that Mark reports at the conclusion of today’s passage: “Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)
Which is to say, Jesus rebuked, or pushed back on Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine thing but on human things,” Jesus says to Peter in Mark.
Satan is the one who makes false accusations. By addressing Peter in connection with Satan, Jesus concludes that Peter’s vision of the Messiah is false and sourced in human logic and human expectations, not divine wisdom.
That’s when Jesus then elaborates on the wisdom of God in the presence of Peter and the other disciples and the crowd whom he gathered around himself: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)
Here we have the grand paradox of Jesus’ mission and our discipleship in relation to it. Striving to save our lives, we end up losing our life. Losing our life by letting go is the way to save our life.
Dear members of God’s family at Resurrection Church,
Today’s readings invite us to engage the confounding logic of God’s ways ulti- mately focused on suffering, the cross and the resurrection, with the promise of our finding life in faith for Jesus’ sake, and the sake of the gospel. If you are able, join the congregation with your own worship at home at 10am EST on Sunday or otherwise engage our home worship resources in ways appropriate to your circumstances.
Worship Service
A pre-recorded worship service, complete with readings, Pastor Linman's sermon, prayers, and music will broadcast at 10am EST on Sunday, February 28, on our YouTube channel and will be available below:
Worship material for February 28, 2021
- Home Worship Bulletin for February 28, 2021
- Children's Bulletin for February 28, 2021
- The transcript of Pastor Linman's sermon
The following have been posted to YouTube; here is the YouTube Playlist for February 28, 2021:
- Trisagion, Marty Wheeler Burnett, with Carole Smith, flute, and Suzanne and Allison Tsitsibelis, bells
- Musical Meditation: "Shall We Gather at the River"
- Psalm 22:23-31
- Pastor Linman's recorded sermon
- ELW Hymn #667, “Take Up Your Cross, the Savior Said”
- ELW Hymn #808, “Lord Jesus, You Shall be My Song”
- Choir Anthem: "I'm So Glad"
The Events of January 6, 2021
Dear Friends in Christ:
On Wednesday morning, the day of Epiphany, I recorded and uploaded my sermon for this coming Sunday, the Baptism of Our Lord. Then Wednesday afternoon happened. What a difference a few hours can make in what I might address in a sermon! Nonetheless, my sermon for Baptism of Our Lord has a relevant and important gospel message for the particularities of our time in the life of the world. Thus, I offer this special message to you concerning the events that occurred on the afternoon of the festival of Epiphany. Consider this message an anticipatory addendum to my Sunday sermon, or even an additional sermon in and of itself.
A popular saying is actually from the prophet Hosea: “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7a) Words that form speech are carried on the winds from our lungs. Words matter. Words do things; they have enormous power. Words can generate storms. Here’s how the writer of the letter of James (the study of which is the focus of a new congregational Bible Study) says it: “5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.” (James 3:5-10)
Consider the power of a word, the N word, and the social taboo against uttering it. In that word is cruel power to degrade and dehumanize, so much so that people of good will guard against giving voice to this word.
Some might say words are just words. What’s the harm in speaking our minds without editing our speech and choosing our words carefully? Well, we saw the power of words and of speech and their ill effects in visceral, raw, violent display on Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill, when mobs of people, incited by speech from various leaders and on various media, stormed the Capitol building and put a temporary stop to other forms of speech that focused on the peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of democracy. It was an astonishing and dangerous display, the bitter fruit of months and years of forms of speech that glorified grievance, anger, fear, racism, and more, all forms of speech that serve to destroy, desecrate, to tear down, to end in the ways of chaos and death. Words that deal in desecration and death carry spirits, energies of powers and principalities that are sourced in darkness and evil, in diabolical spirits of deception and false accusation.
But, thanks be to God, that’s not the whole story. Words also serve to create, build up, to nurture life. The first reading for this coming Sunday consists of the first verses of the first creation story in the book of Genesis where “the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:2a). A “wind from God swept over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2b). This wind carried the voice of God, the word from God: “‘Let there be light;’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3) Once again, words made things happen. In this case, divine words brought light where there was only darkness, order where there was a void of chaos, and ultimately the beautiful created world we inhabit. Such words were full of the creative, life-giving energies of God, that is to say, the Spirit of God.
That same Spirit was active when Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan, the gospel reading for this Sunday from Mark. The Spirit there, “descending like a dove on [Jesus]” spoke a word from God: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:10b-11) As at the creation, this word from God served to proclaim and embody and give full expression to sacrality, love, relationship, good pleasure and ultimately the world’s salvation, its healing balm in Jesus Christ, the word of God made flesh.
Again, words matter. They have consequences. Words can serve to deal in death. They can serve to give and to nurture life. Words can tear down. They can build up. Spiritual energies are carried in words and in speech. Those spiritual energies can be demonic. They can be divine. Words resulting in ideas and policies ultimately give shape to realities all around us, realities that can degrade, and realities that make for well-being.
What are we to do in response to what unfolded on Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill? The forces of darkness at work there are not going away. Those forces have been around for centuries, but until more recently these energies inhabited more the fringes of society. Now, it’s as if these forces have been unleashed much more in the mainstream of public speech and popular media. Time will tell the extent to which the forces unleashed on Wednesday will persist and spread or retreat back into shadowy corners. So, again, what are we called upon to do and how are we to respond? As individuals? As disciples of Christ? As a congregation? As a nation? It may be too early to tell and to name concrete, specific actions. Let us be in conversation and communal discernment about the emergent particulars.
But in the meantime, there is some clarity. I believe that we are called upon to use our words and speech to name and call out language that emanates from dark and diabolical places, and to do so boldly and publicly. Too many people of good will have been passive and silent for too long, having the effect of appeasing those whose speech runs roughshod over norms of civility, giving the language of violence free reign that results in deeds of violence.
We can attend to our language and the speech of others at home, in the workplace, in places of commerce, at school, on social media, and yes, in church, nurturing in our own speech and in calling out the speech of others, language that makes for life and sacredness, words that are dimensions of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, namely, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22b-23a)
Vigilant attention to the words we choose is no small thing. It can be hard work, especially when the unseemly spirits in us are inclined to lash out in kind at others whose speech demeans, degrades and desacralizes. Moreover, holding others accountable for their speech also is profoundly difficult and requires a great deal of courage. But it is a sacred calling to take seriously the power of language and its effects for good and for ill. For again, speech results in behavior, in actions, in realities that make for life and for death.
Who knows what the coming days, weeks, months, and years will bring and require of us? Again, time will tell. But we are not left alone in these days and in the sacred work to which we are called. The Word and the Spirit that were present at creation and which were present at the Baptism of Our Lord are also present with us to this very day, at our own baptisms, in our own study of and engagement with sacred words of scripture, in words of forgiveness, in our holy conversations with each other. The Word from God, the Spirit of God, give shape and expression to the words we are beckoned to choose, and to the loving, life-giving speech we are compelled to offer for the sake of the world and its healing. In short, God in Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit is with us, leading us all the way in our holy calling for such a time as this, come what may.
God in Christ help us, our nation, and our world,
Pastor Jonathan Linman
Recognizing our high school seniors of the class of 2020!
Dear Friends in Christ:
I want to let you all know that we just received confirmation that my son's surgery is indeed scheduled to take place tomorrow, Good Friday. This will be major surgery to correct the vascular malformation in Nathan's brain that first caused his stroke. Thus, Nathan, his mother, and I covet your prayers for effective, uncomplicated outcomes to this procedure.
Needless to say, my observance of home worship during this Holy Week will focus on my keeping vigil at my son's side, even as I also intend to share with you in using our congregation's worship resources to mark these Three Days. With Nathan's surgery in mind, I created video files of all of my Holy Week and Easter sermons early, so they are all uploaded and ready to go.
I don't know how many days Nathan will be in the hospital—it all depends on how the surgery and his recovery go. While attending to my son is my first priority in the coming days, I also intend to engage in my pastoral responsibilities as well, keeping abreast of church-related emails and phone messages and also preparing sermons for the next Sundays in Easter.
Thanks in advance for your prayers for us, and may you all have blessed and holy Three Days during these most trying and unprecedented times in the life of our congregation and in the world.
Sent with my own prayer for all of you in our life together.....
In Jesus' name,
Pastor Jonathan Linman
Beginning March 22
- Consistent with State, county, and local closure of group events and activities, Resurrection Lutheran Church will cancel all worship services, Sunday School and other educational activities, and Coffee Hour indefinitely beginning Sunday, March 22.
The Stained Glass Windows in the Nave at Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church
Dr. Melvin S. Lange, pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church from 1958 to 1971, prepared the theological material for the artist, Roy Calligan, of the Hunt Stained Glass Studios in Pittsburgh, PA. The meaning of each of the seventeen windows is indicated by a Bible verse. The theme begins with the window to the left of the lectern (when facing the altar) and proceeds around the nave toward the back, and then forward on the opposite side toward the last window to the right of the pulpit.
Stained Glass Windows Information
We are a church that strives to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). We do justice by serving our community through our social outreach activities and through contributions of finances and member’s time to local programs, including, for example, Lutheran Social Services. We provide opportunities for a rich Christian education to our members and to the community. Many of our members are active in synod activities and in ecumenical activities with other Christians.
We love kindness in the Christian work we do, often quietly but resolutely, for our members and for the community. Benevolence has always been a priority for our church, and we are a significant donor both in our financial resources and, perhaps more importantly to us, our member’s time. We are active with food assistance programs in the Arlington area and to other social service organizations.
We strive to walk humbly with our God in our worship services. We take liturgy, prayer, and music very seriously in our church as a path through which our parishioners can experience the word and sacrament in their lives. Finally, we are excited about offering the sacrament of communion to our parishioners at every Sunday service and believe it is important that we continue to do so.