CAMPUS NEWS FOR VICTORY LUTHERAN CHURCH

5946 E. University Drive Mesa, AZ 85205 480-830-5024

Office Hours: Mon-Thurs, 8am-4pm

Larry Kassebaum, Senior Pastor Steve Lien,

Pastor of Growth Ministries Floyd Anderson, Visitation Pastor

Jeremy Walloch, Crismon Campus Pastor

HOW TO KEEP IN TOUCH

CALL 480-588-2980 to hear a short daily devotion and any

scheduling updates (OR)

Sign up for our DAILY TEXT MESSAGE Text the word “VICTORY”

to 888-897-5573

Sign up for our WEEKLY NEWS &

SERMON LINK on our website or call the office and we can help.

Worship with us online VictoryLutheran.com

JULY 2020

We are members of:

WORSHIP WITH US! SATURDAYS 4pm | SUNDAYS 8 & 9:30am

DRIVE IN WORSHIP ‣We are reserving our shaded parking spaces for worshippers who will remain

in their cars. ‣We continue to broadcast on 105.3FM, but all worship leaders will be

indoors.

MODIFIED INDOOR WORSHIP OPTION As a result of some changes to guidelines for group gatherings in the state of Arizona, we offer a modified indoor worship option for our 4pm, 8am and 9:30am services. The preparation and guidelines for these services are as follows: ‣ The worship areas will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before each

worship service. There will be no social interaction and we encourage worshipers to use the hand-sanitizing stations and minimize touching of door handles, etc. ‣ All ushers and greeters will be wearing face masks and gloves. ‣ The offering will be “touchless” with buckets available prior to and after the

worship service.

‣ Chairs have been rearranged to maintain physical distancing of at least six feet between worshipers. ‣Worshipers will be required to wear a mask during their time indoors. This is

not optional. If you don’t have a mask, one will be provided. ‣While the worship leaders/pastors will not be wearing masks during the

service, they will be positioned at a safe distance from worshipers.

ONLINE at VictoryLutheran.com New website coming in July!

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3) As we prepare to celebrate the 4th of July, I was thinking about the verbs we use in connection to this holiday. On the one hand we “celebrate” the 4th of July because it has some characteristics of a birthday and we do celebrate birthdays. But from another perspective, we should probably consider that not long after the Continental Congress declared independence from England, they had to back up their words and decision with the turmoil, sacrifice and death that accompanies war. The past two hundred and forty-four years have also been filled with wars, additional sacrifices and yes, even taxes. But the focus can’t be primarily on the costs associated with freedom and independence. On a regular basis we need to be reminded that these sacrifices have not been in vain and more will be required to ensure that future generations will be able to experience what we are tempted to take for granted. I wonder if this isn’t comparable to what the author of Hebrews was talking about when he asked early Christians

to put their suffering in perspective by comparing it to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Only from that perspective can we face not only the everyday challenges of life but also the demands of Christian life without growing weary and losing heart. Let’s be perfectly honest. Much of life is hard. I don’t have to tell any of you about that, you’re living it. But on top of those challenges we have the added responsibility of following a Jesus who is bent on redeeming the world from sin, death and self-interest. If you remember, that’s what got Him killed. So it must be a difficult task. In fact, as tough as our nation’s past battles and wars have been, our challenge is even harder, and the enemy is even more ruthless and committed. But I want to remind you this is a battle worth fighting. I commend all of you for how well you have adapted to the challenges of this current pandemic. You are finding new ways to worship, grow and serve in very trying times. Freedom and grace are both gifts we have been given but there is a price involved in offering them to future generations. I hope we never grow too weary or discouraged to answer that call. Grace & Peace —

2

A Letter from Larry Kassebaum, Senior Pastor “Nothing Worth Doing is Easy”

Ordination Anniversary Celebration!Given the current emphasis of the world on “social distancing” it is not a great time to celebrate much of anything. Graduation ceremonies have been cancelled, as have weddings, sporting events and nearly everything else that might involve ten or more people. But even with the necessity of those precautions, we wanted to inform you that there are a couple of milestones we could and probably would celebrate under other circumstances. On June 29th Pastor Kassebaum will celebrate his 45th anniversary of ordination. A day later, on June 30th, Pastor Lien will celebrate his 40th anniversary of ordination. The Psalmist said it well in Psalm 133:1, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.” Their 85 combined years of ministry is a tribute to caring congregations and willing servants who started early. We give thanks for both!

Larry Kassebaum Ordination June 29, 1975 - 45 Years

Steve Lien Ordination June 30, 1980 - 40 Years

3

Chances are you are not receiving much joy from the news or from the internet, so after we celebrate our nation’s birthday, our next sermon series (July and August) is going to focus on the “Joy of the Lord.” Psalm 19:8 says, “The precepts of the Lord are right. They give joy to the heart.” This is another way of saying joy comes from God’s Word. Jesus came to

give us joy, but we can lose our joy. Over the next two months we are going to look at what has often been called the Epistle of Joy — Philippians. Hopefully over these weeks you will experience new joy, get your old joy back and/or be reminded that the joy God intends for us is not dependent on our circumstances. Here is our July schedule:

Sermon Series: “Joy in July . . . and the rest of the year too!”

We are continually striving to offer meaningful worship in new and safe ways (online, drive-in and scattered indoor seating). Now we are working out details on how to provide a communion option that provides both safety for servers and worshipers as well maintains the spiritual integrity of our communion service. Our plan is to take the first step toward offering communion on July 4 & 5. This is both the first weekend of the month as well as our nation’s birthday. We know there are a lot of issues to address, so we are going to start small and slow. We will err on the side of caution in our earliest efforts. The plan will be to provide a communion option after each of the three indoor services the first weekend. Here is the current plan: • Those who desire to commune this first weekend

will need to CALL THE CHURCH OFFICE (480-830-5024) no later than noon on Thursday, July 2nd and inform us which service they would like to attend and how many are in their group.

• At the conclusion of that call, they will receive a chair number. Chair numbers will be assigned based on the size of the group. (This will allow us to seat and commune groups and/or individuals according to the number in their party.)

• On the weekend of July 4th/5th. those who have announced for communion will leave their worship service of choice as they have been doing and move from the Fellowship Hall to our Worship Center (Sanctuary). Those who have not announced for communion will head for their cars.

• Those who have a chair number will proceed to the Worship Center (Sanctuary) and proceed to the

chair/chairs with the number they received when they called the church office.

• The communion service will start promptly after the Fellowship Hall service has ended.

• Communion worshipers will always remain seated with their masks still on.

• One of the pastors will review how communion will be offered/received.

• There will be a short confessional component to the service followed by the blessing of the communion elements.

• The elements will be brought by the servers to the participants (who will remain seated).

• We will be using our regular communion wafers and individual glasses.

• There will be no physical contact between the servers and the recipients. Since there will no human to human touching, neither the servers nor the recipients will need to wear gloves. (The process for this will be explained in the pre-worship announcements.)

• The servers will leave their masks on during distribution and recipients will only take their masks off briefly for the eating and drinking of the communion elements.

• When all have communed, there will be a closing blessing and dismissal.

• Anyone with special physical needs (gluten-free, etc) are asked to communicate that during their initial call to the church office. This information is critical for helping us plan seating and any special procedures for distribution.

• After the weekend, we will evaluate our procedures and make additional decisions regarding frequency and distribution options

“Celebrate/Cultivate Freedom” John 8:31-36 “Joy in Thanksgiving” Philippians 1:3-10 “Joy in “Chains” Philippians 1:12-18 “Joy in Humility” Philippians 2:5-11

HOLY COMMUNION MODIFIED SERVICE | July 4 & 5 1st Weekend of the Month

Each week our Worship & Music Coordinator, Kristin Holton Prouty, researches, plans and practices music to help accentuate the scripture and sermon theme of the day, striving to create a cohesive service that leads the worshiper closer to God. And just like a book has a front and a back cover that tells a little bit about the content and keeps the pages safe, so our sacred services are framed by music, the prelude and postlude. Often these pieces become a time of visiting or moving in and out of the worship space, but they are intended to set the tone for worship (prelude) or remind you of what you just learned as you prepare to leave worship and go out into the world (postlude.) During these unusual times, Dr. Prouty has taken the opportunity to share with you a little bit about why she chooses certain pieces for worship. Each week you can watch a video that will be shared on Victory Lutheran’s Facebook page, where she will give details about the piece of music, composer or instrument and why it is relevant in the context of weekly worship. Be sure to LIKE our facebook page for this and other inspirational posts from Victory.

BEHIND THE MUSIC

CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE

VictoryLutheran.com The COVID-19 virus has not only changed how we live, it has also changed how we do ministry. In many respects, we are actually reaching more people now through our internet ministry than we were when our primary focus was “in person” activities. Because of that reality, we have created a whole new look for our website. The new site is much friendlier for people who use their cell phones to access our website. This is particularly important because cell phones are now the primary way people choose to access our site. Plus, the new website is much more “user friendly” for accessing the most frequently used features of our website. One final advantage of the new site is the fact that we have eliminated a bunch of old “stuff” that is no longer relevant, especially during the pandemic. We encourage you go to www.victorylutheran.com, check it out and then use it regularly.

GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP Helping cope with the loss of a loved one!

The GriefShare team has decided to delay the start of the Program. We are hoping to start again Monday, August 3.  If you have questions or concerns about someone’s grief, or our Victory program, feel free to call Pastor Floyd at

480-830-5024 (OR)

Blair Revak at 480-227-5157 GriefShare and its programs can be found on line at:

GriefShare.org Some churches are providing the program

on line with Zoom.