What's going on?
- Here's a sample of what's in the September newsletter. Read the message from Pastor on "The Joy of Being a Child in the Midst of a Pandemic". Get updated on our finances. Learn more about how we're going to pack shoeboxes for children this year. Click Here
- Join us for our worship service in the sanctuary at either 8 or 10:30 am. Facial coverings and social distancing are required.
- Join us for our 10:30 AM worship service in our virtual worship space where the service and singing will be "live." Enjoy the opportunity to interact with the congregation from the comfort of your couch.
- Recent sermons are now available in the Sermon Archive. /sermon-archive
- Learn more by looking at the calendar. /calendar
Finding Our Services Online
We offer two options for joining us. You can watch a recording of the sermon on Facebook or participate live in our virtual worship space using Zoom.
To watch the sermon on Facebook click here. https://www.facebook.com/SJLCFarmville/
To join us in our virtual worship space click here. Zoom Password: 005369
The Season after Pentecost (The Long Green Season)
The Sundays during the Pentecost cycle develop three great themes. The first is Baptism and its graces. We are baptized and grounded in the graces of Baptism. Every Sunday is a reminder of Baptism and a small Easter. The second theme is preparation for the second advent of the Lord. It is treated in detail on the final Sundays of the season. The remaining theme, the burden of the Sunday midway after Pentecost, may be summarized as the conflict between the two camps. Although we are placed in the kingdom of God, we remain surrounded by the kingdom of the world. Our souls are laboring under Adam's wretched legacy and waver continually to and fro between two allegiances.
By these three great themes the liturgy covers the whole range of Christian life. In Baptism the precious treasure of the Spirit was conferred. Through it we are God's children and may call God Father. Through it we have become temples of the Holy Spirit, heirs and brothers of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, Baptism has not translated us to a paradise without toil or trouble. Rather we are sent out into a troubled world to work and struggle. We must guard the holy land of our souls against hostile attack. We must learn to know and conquer the enemy, and such is the task that will continue until we have taken our final breaths.
The Church serves as both the heroine, who teaches us the art of warfare, and our strong fortress and shield in the conflict. Through Holy Communion, she bestows aid that repeatedly frees the soul from the entanglements of temptation. How does she do this? Courage and strength and perseverance flow from the Word of God in the Service of the Word, and they flow in even fuller measure from Holy Communion. Of ourselves we are helpless creatures, wholly unable to withstand the attack, but in Holy Communion another battles for us. The Mightier, Christ vanquishes the mighty. By means of Holy Communion, we are enrolled in our Captain's forces. And thus Christ's battle becomes our battle and His triumph our triumph, and His wondrous strength renders us invincible.
-Rev. Pius Parsch (1884-1954)
"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:11-12