St. Matthew Lutheran Church
113 1 Ave. SE T0K 1M0 Milk River, AB, Canada

Shrove Tuesday is a more churchly title, derived from the archaic verb to shrivethat is, to receive confession and absolution. It was customary for Christians to attend private confession before Lent and to receive God’s word of forgiveness. It is the day proceeding Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. As is so often the case, Martin Luther helps us to understand how so. Luther was writing to his friend and colleague, Philip Melanchthon. Melanchthon had a reputation for... being rather punctilious in his morality, and Luther may have had the sense that his old pal was starting to lean a little too heavily on his own spiritual performance. This is a temptation for any of us; focus too much on how much you’re not sinning, and the thought starts to creep into your mind that perhaps your own righteousness is the basis of your acceptance before God. And yet, this misses the essence of faith: not sin-avoidance, but Christ-reliance. And so Martin writes Philip with words that are as compelling as they are controversial: If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. Luther isn’t recommending that Philip rob a bank or insult his mother. His point is that we should always take Christ and his mercy much more seriously than we take ourselves and our sanctity. [Christ] became for us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’ (1 Cor 1.30-31).

DEVOTION February 14, 2021 "Going Back to His Roots" A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. (Isaiah 11:1) Years ago my grandmother on my mom's side gave me a special gift, a book that is a history and chronicle of the Murdock family. It begins with one of my great-great-grandfathers. In the book, among other treasures, is a very old confirmation certificate and a picture of our family's history.... Most of us take a great pride in our roots. They give us identity and show our unity. We are not alone in this world. As Christians we have the greatest roots of all. Our roots go way back. We are related to the Branch, the Savior from sin, which grew out of the Root of Jesse. We have a heavenly Father. We have brothers and sisters. We are one family under God. I have since shared this family chronicle with my family in Ontario. Dear friends too often we feel like dead branches that have been cut off and left to rot in the wild weather of our sinfulness. We need God's roots to grow. His roots given to us in Jesus provide an identity of who and whose we are. Our history is dominated by the tree of the cross, for that tree reaches down to us in Holy Baptism and grafts us into the Branch and body of Christ. Springing forth from the roots of Christ, we are living trees producing good fruit. O' Tree of Life, grant me roots to grow in Your grace and in love for all whose lives I touch. Amen. With all our prayers and Christian love, Rev. Richard Williams See more

DEVOTION February 7, 2021 "Thirst Quencher" "Come! " Whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22:17) Years ago when I was a boy on the farm in Ontario, dad was away driving transport for Kingsway when we had a leaky pipe in our house and had to turn off the water to fix it. It took all Saturday. I have never been so thirsty! Water is something I take for granted. Turn on the faucet, and out flows life-...sustaining water. While I don't always choose to drink it, I can't deny that the water necessary for life is just a flick of the wrist away. However, it is not until water is not available that I crave it. When there is no water, I am so thirsty for it. That night when we turned the water on, I no longer craved it. Too many times I notice my "thirst" for God in the same way. When I am desperate--in trouble, grieving, worried, scared or hurt--I crave spiritual "water" in the Word and Sacraments. Other times I seems easy to postpone Bible study or prayer "just for a day," I am too busy, distracted, or preoccupied to "drink"--or even notice how thirsty I am. Our sin and our sinful world dries us out. Just as my body needs water every day, so my soul daily needs the living water of the crucified Christ's forgiveness and renewal. Amen. Refresh my heart in Christ, dear Lord. Quench my thirst in Jesus' name. Amen. With all our prayers and Christian love, Rev. Richard Williams See more

It was cautiously decided with the rises of covid cases not to hold any church services for the month of November. This was not an easy decision, now more than ever we need to hear the assurance of His Word and have the comfort of our church family. We encourage you to lead by example, set aside regular times to listen to an online service or dust off and revisit an old book that you may not have read in a while. Stay safe, follow guidelines, respect each other and try not to judge the other’s personal level of health or mental security during this.

No church service tomorrow due to weather and driving conditions for Pastor Williams. We encourage you to listen to one of the online services: www.rockylutherans.com Pastor Amison or www.immanuellutheran.ca Pastor Lee The next scheduled Sunday service will be November 8th. Here is a little chuckle for the day _ stay warm

Communion Service today at 11:15 with Pastor Wzilliams. We welcome back our organist today! God grant that we follow His Word to praise and thank our dear Lord for His precious blood, which He so freely offered for us. And may God keep us from the terrible vice of ingratitude and the forgetfulness of His blessings. Amen. (What Luther Says, Concordia Publishing House, 1959, page 1354).

Communion Service this Thanksgiving Sunday October 11th at regular times 11:15 a.m.

Finally the day is here! I am happy to announce we are having our first Communion Service with Pastor Williams in a very long time. Tomorrow Sept 27/ at 10 A.M. (Note the time!! It has changed as well from regular times). Pastor Williams has requested masks be worn this first time while we all ease into this and in accordance with AHS rules there will be no singing, but feel free to hum along . Things might seem a bit strange at first and that’s ok. **Just as a reminder__ if you should choose to use etransfer for an offering the email to use is [email protected] and it is an automatic/ immediate transfer.. no security question, no delays; you are doing a direct deposit. Of course nothing changes with donation receipts.