Redeemer Lutheran and St. Theodore Canterbury

On Sunday, Sept. 6, the congregations of Redeemer Lutheran Church and St. Theodore of Canterbury Episcopal Church will celebrate the 15th Sunday after Pentecost at 10:30 a.m. Rev. Murray D. Finck will lead the Holy Communion service at 13564 St. Andrews Drive in Leisure World.

Rhoda Finck will be this month’s reader, and Kathy Strople will be the prayer leader.

Join the congregation after service for coffee, tea, cookies and snacks in the Fellowship Hall. The church is still collecting food for those in need.

The congregation will participate in “God’s Works. Our Hands” on Sept. 13. This is an annual event guided by the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The congregation will collect dry goods and canned goods to be donated to Lutheran Social Services that day. The Bible study will meet on Sept. 9 and 16 only to continue the series titled “The Life, Ministry, and Mission of Jesus.” It will focus on the story from all four of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In addition to the lessons, the group will watch episodes from the made-fortelevision series “The Chosen.”

People meet on the first and third Mondays of the month to help the congregation prepare crafts for the next holiday bazaar. The next meeting is Monday, Sept. 14, downstairs in the Fellowship Hall at 10 a.m. There will be planned projects with directions, and all materials will be provided.

The gospel lesson for this week is from Matthew 18:15-20. In this message, Jesus addresses how Christians are to live in community. Jesus says that when two or more are gathered in his name, he is present.

Jesus is present in word and sacrament. Jesus is present in the church and in each individual believer. Together, believers are the body of Christ. A body cannot work well if it is fighting against itself: Jesus has given believers, individually and as a community, the grace necessary to live in community.

This communal living is counter-cultural. Believers are asked to do the extraordinary within their ordinary lives: to love one another, forgive, care for the least of people, welcome the outcast, heal the broken, and pray together. Jesus provides concrete ways to solve conflict within the community.

This Sunday, believers are encouraged to be aware of the connection through Jesus to one another as the body of Christ.