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Thursday, July 17, 2025

Weekly Newsletter

Glimpses of Glendale
Glendale Lutheran Church Newsletter


July 17, 2025

Habits of Our Hearts and Other Body Parts - article by Joel Hempel

 

Part I

 

Habits! There are good ones, not-so-good ones, and ones that eventually get you into trouble. Habits like: 

 

  • Heartless distancing of self from others.
  • Feet that repeatedly lead you astray.
  • Hands that invest readily in oneself and too little in others.
  • Eyes fixated on that which should not be seen.
  • A belly that is dependently filled with too much food or drink. 
  • A mouth that gossips ruthlessly.
  • A tongue that deceives.
  • A mind that thinks too much or too little of itself.
  • A body looking for love in all the wrong places.
  • A gut that angers too easily. 

 

Unhealthy habits! Most of us have them. We’ve been broken by life, and then wander into harmful behavior or a way of thinking or feeling that eventually takes control of us.

 

But God did not leave us hopelessly impotent. Jesus admonishes us to defeat the source of destructive habits the way he defeated Satan in the Wilderness of Temptation. Use God’s Word, and use it relentlessly! 

 

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13.

 

God provides us with a way to overcome what constantly threatens our well-being.

 

New, healthy habits of the soul need to be anchored – so to speak – in our brain and mind, and then in our behavior, to change and escape unwanted habits. The path to freedom described below was inspired by a book our son, Aaron, gave me a year ago.1

 

The Path to Freedom: 

 

  1. Be aware of and confident about the truth that the Spirit of God is with you and in you. Talk to Him. Describe the battle you are facing.2
  2. Recruit a trusted friend or professional who will listen, offer support, and provide constructive challenges when needed. Disclose the crippling habit that needs to be overcome.3
  3. Identify any ongoing, controlling emotion, thought, or urge that sets the habit in motion.
  4. Research to identify and then record, for easy access, Bible passages that you will use to (a) disarm the emotion/ thought/urge and (b) replace the unwanted habit.4
  5. Then, whenever you realize you are toying with or are being tempted to enter ungodly or harmful behavior, counterattack it with God’s Word. This practice will become a soul habit. It is what Jesus used against Satan, and it works!5 It’s not magic. It is the power of the Word.
  6. Remember to give thanks for what God is doing in your life. It will reinforce the developing habit of the soul.

 

The way to freedom and faithfulness is not an easy path to follow. But, in addition to offering the aforementioned Jesus-endorsed approach for defeating temptations and harmful habits, God offers HIMSELF – his strength, courage, and help from the Holy Spirit:

 

Little children . . . he (Spirit of Christ) who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world. 1 John 4:4. 

 

[Part II will follow next week.]

 

1.    Winning the War in Your Mind, Graig Groeschel, 2021, Zondervan.

2.    The Word (in its many forms) is God’s response to our cries for help and freedom.

3.    Over the years, I have found Spiritual Directors (Companions) to be most helpful. Most people see their Companion once every month. The focus is on one’s spiritual life and challenges and is much less expensive than counseling (which has a different purpose).

4.    Ephesians 6:10-11, 17; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5.

5.    Matthew 4:1-11

Isaiah 35: The Burial of Sharon Gaal - 7/15/25


You may not know it, but Sharon is a Biblical name. It appears in the Bible as “The rose of Sharon.” The exact type of flower is debated: some say it’s a crocus, others say a lily, others say a tulip. It’s a rare, beautiful flower that grows in unexpected places.


Sharon Gaal fits that description. She is a beautiful person who was a delight even when life was barren and gloomy. I only knew Sharon for the last eight years, but I could see that God had given her bright colors. I told the congregation on Sunday that she died, and they were taken aback. People came up to me and shared Sharon stories. Terry and Marilyn Young remembered her singing voice. She used to sing on special occasions at church, and it lifted the whole sanctuary. They also recalled that she sang at Terry's father’s birthday party. Sharon told me how when she was young, she supplemented her teaching income with singing telegrams.


The Song of Solomon is a Love poem between a man and his wife. The man says, “As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women.” I can imagine a young Frank wooing Sharon with words like these. But Solomon’s poem is also about God’s love towards us. The closest we get to understanding His deep love for us is the love between a husband and a wife. Sharon was first and foremost God’s flower. He created her, loved her, redeemed her and gave her all of His gifts.


Psalm 148 says the creation praises the Lord which includes stars, planets, hills, trees and flowers. They praise their creator by doing what their creator ordained. Sharon praised God by being Sharon. She brought light, fragrance and color to all of those around her.


Sharon had a great sense of humor. She even could joke about her body failing. She didn’t want to dwell on her health. She wanted to know how I was doing, how her church was doing, how her church was doing. I’ll never forget her laugh.


Jesus used flowers to talk about trusting in the Lord saying, “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious,” Sharon trusted in Jesus and His provision.


The Bible also uses the image of a flower to talk about death. Psalm 103 says,

As for man, his days are like grass;

    he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

    and its place knows it no more.

17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

    and his righteousness to children's children,

18 to those who keep his covenant

    and remember to do his commandments.

19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

    and his kingdom rules over all.


We all have a season on this earth but God is forever. He promised Sharon that she will be resurrected one day. The Rose of Sharon will rise because of Jesus.

 

Isaiah describes what the new heaven and earth will be like,

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;

    the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus (A Rose of Sharon);

it shall blossom abundantly

    and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

    the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

    the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,

    and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who have an anxious heart,

    “Be strong; fear not!

Behold, your God

    will come with vengeance,

with the recompense of God.

    He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

    and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then shall the lame man leap like a deer,

    and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

For waters break forth in the wilderness,

    and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,

    and the thirsty ground springs of water;

in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,

    the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

And a highway shall be there,

    and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;

the unclean shall not pass over it.

    It shall belong to those who walk on the way;

    even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.[a]

No lion shall be there,

    nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

they shall not be found there,

    but the redeemed shall walk there.

10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return

    and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

    they shall obtain gladness and joy,

    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

 

Today we bury the flower, but someday Sharon will bloom again.

Discerning God's Will for GLC

 

Please enter the following dates in your schedules: The three consecutive Sundays we will be discerning God’s will for our church will be September 7, 14, and 21. As your pastor, I encourage you to participate in this Bible-based, discerning process. I believe you will find it both faith-building for your personal life and mission-revealing for our congregational life.

Pastor Scott

Summer Potlucks

 

Join us on Wednesday, August 13, for summer potluck! From 5:30 to whenever, join us in the Family Life Center for an evening of good food and fellowship! Please bring a dish to share.

Finance Update

Next Sunday's Bible Readings

Genesis 18:20-33; Colossians 2:6-15; Luke 11:1-13

Worship Leaders

This Sunday - 7/20

Lector: Miriam Lee

Children's Message: Jon Spagnuolo

Communion: N/A

Greeters: Terry & Marilyn Young

Sound/Video: Ken Clark

Ushers: Sandy Barbercheck, Judy George, Jeanne Lipinski, Becci Sasser

Next Sunday - 7/27

Lector: Steve Phelps

Children's Message: Janet Leet

Communion: Tony Petzoldt & Seminary Student

Greeters: Terry & Marilyn Young

Sound/Video: Mike Toney

Ushers: Ken Clark, Ron Froesel, Jack Hurley, Rodger Lubben

The Word Within the Word

Glendale Lutheran Church

Monday-Thursday 8:00 am-4:30 pm

(314) 966-3220

glendalelutheranchurch@gmail.com

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