In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church-Phoenix (LCMS)
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church-Phoenix (LCMS)
"where grace abounds"
traditional, liturgical, evangelical, catholic, reverent, welcoming..
At a glance --
| Divine Service with Holy Communion on Sunday @ 1018 |
| Sunday School for Adults and Children @ 0900 |
| Mid Week Bible Studies Wednesdays @ 0930 (Evening Study will resume in the Fall) |
Office Phone: 602.263.0402 FAX: 602.263.0403 5105 N. 7th Avenue, Phoenix 85013 (~1/2 block north of Camelback on the east side of 7th Avenue) Pastor: The Rev. Dr. David G. Poedel, STS (e-mail) |
Please join us as God meets us each week through His Word and Sacraments.
A Divine Service in Spanish is offered on Sunday evenings at 1800 (6:00) by The Rev. Dr. Cristiano Artigas
*Divine Service = God coming to us in His Holy Word and Sacraments, aka: The Mass, Communion Service, Liturgy of Word and Sacrament
The Season of Pentecost
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Valley Lutheran High School Find out more about our Lutheran High School on campus. |  |
Worship and Learning Opportunities. Information on times and styles of worship
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Newsletter with meeting minutes
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Some Pictures of Mt. Calvary and the staff of Mt. Calvary
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Pastor Poedel is a professed member of the Society of the Holy Trinity |
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Mt. Calvary's Community Page current pictures and articles of interest to the community at large. |
Mt. Calvary is a Lutheran Cursillo Congregation: I encourage our members to participate in this program of renewal and spiritual growth. For more information, click on the link below and check with me or someone who is a member of the Community to attend an upcoming 3 day Retreat.
Padre Dave Poedel , STS
What's new on the website:
We're back from Poland! Here are some pictures of our English Bible Camp, under the auspices of the old LCMS World Mission Ablaze! Program. We were centered in the parish of St. John the Baptist in Swietchlowice, Poland. We were one of 14 teams spread throughout the country and the Czech Republic this summer. We had up to 53 children during the week and they learned English through Bible stories, crafts, and games (our American ones we taught them, and many Polish ones they taught us). While we were exhausted every evening, the children energized our faith in Christ as we helped strengthen theirs. The entire trip was most worthwhile and one that we hope to repeat as God allows. See my Facebook page for more pictures.
The Baptism of Cathy Sheffield's grandsons Charlie, Davis and Ryan in March. Welcome to the family of Christ at Mt Calvary, boys!
The Sacrament of Baptism was given to 3 adults and 1 child on 31 January 2010. Welcome Coleen, Matt, Cassandra, and Ernest Robert "Bobby" to the Family of Christ Jesus our Lord!
10 Ways to Have a Happy Healthy Week
1. Spend Time Worshipping...in your home, church, personal devotions.
2. Smile...at busy shoppers, cranky sales clerks.
3. Take Care of Yourself...eat right, exercise regularly, rest well.
4. Find Quiet Time...for planning, thinking, praying, thanking.
5. Accept Mixed Feelings...happy, sad, frustrated, afraid, thankful.
6. Seek Help...from family, friends, neighbors, church family.
7. Sing Along...with the radio, with the children's choir, with carolers.
8. Give Gifts Within Your Budget...you are the best gift to people anyway!
9. Enjoy and Celebrate Each Day...alone, with family, friends and your faith-community!
10. In All of the Above...celebrate the JOY of Christ's presence. He is with us--Always! (And that's a Promise!)
Reprinted by Permission from Living Well: 100 Seeds to Grow Your Spirit
Copyright 2005 by Wheat Ridge Ministries
Lord, Be With Us
Lord, give us a tender heart.
Let us do loving things that surprise even ourselves.
Let us stop daily to talk to people who need a good word,
mend what is broken, and touch what needs to be loved.
Make us more aware of the tiny surprises
that are scattered like secrets all around us.
Let us notice such things as we have forgotten,
and those persons of whom we have grown weary.
May we see them in a new way
so that we have a new word for them.
As we busily set out to do the large tasks,
may we find more time for small celebrations.
O Christ, give us the grace
to live out each day as though it were a gift.
O Spirit, surprise us often.
Then let us show our great surprise.
Amen.
Reprinted by Permission from Living Well: 100 Seeds to Grow Your Spirit
Copyright 2005 by Wheat Ridge Ministries
The New Lutheran Study Bible has been published and is it AWESOME! You have GOT to see this Bible! It's the best ever and Padre Poedel recommends it without reservation. The Bible is available in regular and larger type, with hardcover or leather. I strongly urge you to go to Concordia Publishing House's website by clicking on the picture ad above and order it today.....one word of warning....it is BIG! Ask Padre Poedel to look at his copy.
Notes for Life: Our congregation and our National Church Body are staunchly pro-life. Click on this link to read our Synod's newsletter about our activities in protection of the preborn children of our nation.
A High School! One of the greatest joys of Mt Calvary is that we are the host and location of Valley Lutheran High School. Recently celebrating their 25th Anniversary, the school is highly respected and regarded Christian High School, sharing excellent academics with the precious Word of God. Our Pastor taught Theology for the 2009-2010 school year. Please visit our campus and see our pride and joy at the high school! GO FLAMES!!!
Midweek Bible Study Two Bible Studies on Wednesdays, @0930 studying Psalms and @ 1800 (6:00 pm) studying The Book of Hebrews, both in the Church Lounge, led by Pastor Poedel
-JC Playzone is a fun place for kids to play cool games and learn about the Bible too! Parents, check this out for your kids...and it's FREE!
-Do you want to know the basics of the Christian faith? Parents, looking for some guidance about what to teach your kids about right and wrong? Want to learn what a sacrament is? Here is a great guide for you, and it has quite a track record!
-Mt. Calvary is on the route for the new Valley Metro light rail system just a block north of Station 3. Check out the routes here
-Padre Poedel's Letter-Minutes of our Executive Committee, Ministry Council and Congregational Meetings (scroll down from Pastor's Letter)
Why do we do things the way we do?
We live in a time when many congregations have adopted "contemporary" forms for worship. While it may be argued that there is a place for that, we are unabashedly Scriptural, traditional and liturgical--and we are a growing, vibrant, alive congregation! Our worship is full of the simple dignity and richness of the almost 2000 year history of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. If you have never participated in traditional, liturgical worship, come join us for Divine Service any Sunday. You will find worship that is reverent, centered on our Triune God, evangelical and catholic. At every Sunday service we celebrate in Word and Sacrament--which means the Scriptures are read and preached, and the Sacrament of Holy Communion (the Eucharist) is administered to those baptized Christians who recognize their sinfulness, are repentant and confess the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the consecrated bread and wine.
You will find Mt. Calvary to be a warm, friendly community that is Christ-centered and Spirit-led. We are sincere and caring folks trying to learn what it means to be in the world, but not of the world, as Jesus taught His disciples. We try to be honest, genuine people who find joy in being a community of Christ in this place, and enjoy welcoming others into our midst.
Please join us this Sunday!
Padre Dave Poedel, STS
Check out my Facebook page
The Critical Event (our individual mission): “When one Lutheran Christian gives witness about Jesus, of the hope that is within him or her, to another person so that person may encounter Christ.”
A notice from Padre Poedel: Members of our community know of my passion for the Pastoral Ministry. Of the many careers I have been privileged to have served in the past 40 years, I have always had ONE vocation: that of a parish Pastor. In a search for ways to remain faithful to my sacred Call, I was lead to The Society of the Holy Trinity (Societas Trinitatis Sanctae): A Lutheran Ministerium or Order dedicated to the renewal of the Ministry and the Church. I have been blessed by the Society since I subscribed to the Rule in 2003, and my colleagues have assured me that I have been a blessing to them.
When I am asked why I found it necessary to go outside of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod to receive the fellowship, accountability, and discipline provided by the Society, I have always responded that I desire, above all, to be faithful to the Calling I have received from God through the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church to be one called to lead a congregation as a servant of the Word of God and the Holy Sacraments, consistent with the Great Tradition of the Church.
Recently the Society issued a statement regarding the charism, or grace of the Society of the Holy Trinity. The Statement is below:
The Society of the Holy Trinity
Its Gift and ServiceA Pastoral Statement
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone" (1 Corinthians 12:4-6, ESV).
1. Charism (plural: charismata, from the Greek, charis - grace) is the word used in the New Testament for "favor" or "gratuitous gift." Charisms are special gifts given to members of the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit to enable them to be powerful channels of God's love and presence in the world. A charism is a special Spirit-given gift that is not the same as natural endowment or talent.
2. Charisms are given to individual Christians to be used in the service or ministry of building up the Church, the body of Christ. Each individual gift is therefore a special blessing to the whole Church. The gifts that build up the body are to be distinguished from the gifts given for personal sanctification.
3. Charisms have also been given to founders of religious communities and their organizations which distinguish them from other organizations in the Church. Each religious community or order has a special gift which it uses in the service of the whole Church. Various religious communities have manifested the gifts of prayer, teaching, serving the poor, the sick, etc. Each religious community is therefore a special blessing to the whole Church.
4. Religious communities share much in common with each other, and yet each one has its own unique charism. There may be more than one religious community with the same charism, but each religious community develops its own form and style of service.
5. The charisms of the individual or the community might not be discerned until the individual or community begins exercising the gift. It is therefore appropriate for individuals and communities to engage in discernment so that all may come to recognize and give thanks for the gift received.
6. Members of the religious community are formed in such a way that they come to share in the special charism and service of that community.
7. The Society of the Holy Trinity is a religious community. It takes the form of a pastoral society, a ministerium, an oratory.
8. The Society of the Holy Trinity did not have one founder, but many. Under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, these founders were drawn toward forming the Society. In response to the crisis of faith experienced in the Lutheran Churches of North America in the latter part of the twentieth century, they drafted The Rule of the Society of the Holy Trinity.
9. The charism which we have discerned in the founders and continuing life of The Society is faithfulness -- faithfulness to one's calling to the Holy Office of the Ministry of the Word and the Sacraments, faithfulness to the vows spoken at one's ordination, and faithfulness to the Faith once delivered to the saints.
10. Members in The Society are formed into the charism of the Society by participating in chapter and general retreats and by living and acting according to The Rule, to which they subscribe at a general retreat.
11. The gift manifested in the Society is to build up its members in faithfulness, carrying out the call and office they have received. This in turn serves to renew the Church in which the members administer the divine means of grace and provide pastoral care and oversight (see The Rule chapter VII).
12. The special service of the Society is to support its members as each discerns how faithfully to exercise the pastoral office and ministry in its local and denominational setting. This is accomplished through the mutual conversation and consolation of the brothers and sisters, the practice of individual confession and absolution in chapter and general retreats, and in mutual visitation. These provisions in The Rule of The Society are especially critical during a time of crisis and struggle in the Church. The Senior of the Society and the deans of the chapters are to be faithful in carrying out these provisions in The Rule and the members of The Society are exhorted to avail themselves of these provisions for the sake of their calls as pastors of the Church.
By the STS Leadership Council, 10 February 2010
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The San Damiano Cross, as found in our sanctuary
(click on the Cross to learn more about the history of this icon)
