"SHARING THE RISEN CHRIST TO ALL GENERATIONS"     

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                                    9:30am Sunday Worship          10:45am Bible Study following worship
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                        Pastoral Care: Pastor James Peter
​                        Lay Leader: Doug Taylor
                      Church Phone: 440.236.8900
                              Church Email: hosannalutheran1@windstream.net  

Psalm 90:1–17
Numbering Our Days
People who have been told they have a life-threatening illness or have narrowly missed death sometimes say that the event suddenly introduced a different perspective on life. When one can see the period at the end of the sentence, when pages of life’s calendar are ripped off, when time is measured in days or weeks instead of years, things that once seemed important fall away like so much wastepaper. An awareness of our mortality suddenly focuses a lens on what in our lives is valuable and what isn’t.
For most people it’s God that tops the list, his name written in red. Some bargain with him, some plead with him, some are angry with him, and some look forward to meeting him, but his name is always written on the last page of the datebook. Those who bowed their knees before him still do, and some who rarely thought of him suddenly are on their knees too. For everyone’s “secret sins,” a list of their iniquities, are laid out before God’s judgment (v. 8).
Moses, to whom this psalm is attributed, possessed a keen sense of his own mortality—and that of all humans. As life seems to do as one ages, it had telescoped together, giving him a clearer view of humankind’s accountability before God’s anger. No one knows exactly how angry God is, but only a fool would not learn to reckon with his mortality to gain wisdom. Wisdom counts the generations of God’s faithfulness (v. 1). It realizes how long ago God created the world (v. 2). In wisdom we learn to pray for God’s compassion, to ask for his mercy and to ask God to give us the joy we often have missed in the midst of life’s suffering (vv. 13–15). Wisdom comes in knowing who God is and what he has done so that we can see our life’s transitory nature in contrast. We ask God to favor us, to “establish the work of our hands,” to give meaning to the life we’ve lived. Our meaning, our mission, our work have lasting significance only in the light of God’s love to us:
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work (1Co 3:11–13).
That doesn’t mean we all are called to professional ministry, as Paul was, but that every aspect of our lives is offered to God. We go to work, bathe the kids, grow vegetables, create art, walk the dog and take care of our body’s needs, and we do all “to the glory of God.” We do everything while “connected to the vine” (see Jn 15:5–6). Sometimes it’s a mystery what those phrases mean to us personally—we each have to work it out—reading the Word, asking, listening and living in the presence of the One who escorts us beyond the last page of our datebook.
Think About It
• Have you ever experienced facing your own mortality? What was the circumstance?
• If you’re facing death, what seems important to you? What doesn’t?
• Other than facing death, how might you learn to “number your days”?
Pray About It
Lord, teach me to number my days so I can discover what is most important to you. Show me what kind of work I should be doing for you now. Show me how to steward effectively all your gifts to me.



​​Not Our Own (Romans 12:1)
We must regard our own bodies, then, as a sacred stewardship with which God has entrusted us. They are a part of the capital he has placed in our hands for investment. He expects us to make the most of them, to protect, preserve, develop, and use them, producing returns on this capital for the benefit of ourselves, our fellow men, and our divine master. Our bodies are not our own, to use as we please; to pamper, indulge, mistreat, neglect, overwork, destroy; they belong to God as a wise part of his creation, and are held by us in trust for his wise purposes.
—Luther E. Lovejoy (1864–1936)


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LINKS

HARP Mission www.facebook.com/harpmission
www.harpcaldwell.org

Lutheran Church Missouri Synod  http://www.lcms.org
Ohio District, LCMS http://oh.lcms.org/
Thrivent Financial  http://www.thrivent.com

LCMS Foundation  http://www.lcmsfoundation.org/

Our Daily Rest - Cultivating a lifestyle of restfulness and renewal    http://ourdailyrest.net/. 

Life Around the Coffee Cup - Encouragement to fuel the journey -
: http://www.leahheffner.com/ 
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Lutheran Hour Ministries  http://www.lhm.org

 DAILY BIBLE VERSE

HOSANNA BIBLE STUDIES

 SUNDAY WORSHIP BIBLE STUDY
  You're invited to join in on a weekly Bible study at 10:45 after morning worship. We are now in the book of Hebrews..


CHILDREN'S BIBLE CLASS
  10:45 am after worship
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 MEN’S SATURDAY MORNING
BIBLE STUDY 
Our Men's Bible Study will meet in January on Saturday the t 18th at 7:30am in
the upstairs conference room . We meet on the third Saturday of every month and will be studying God's message that he will be know by all people found in the book of Ezekiel. Bring your coffee - donuts or coffeecake usually find their way to the table! We look forward to seeing you -