BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260630T231548Z UID:48-366827@peaceotsego.org DTSTART:20260705T153000Z DTEND:20260705T163000Z CLASS:PUBLIC CREATED:20260630T154043 DESCRIPTION: \nDear friends of Peace\,\nNews Edition For Sunday of July\, 05 2026\nLessons this week:  Daniel 1: 3-21\, Romans 13: 1-7\,Matthew 22: 15-22\nSongs this week: "Eternal Father\, Strong to Save"\, “Glory to G od in the Highest”\, "Sing to LORD\, Ye Distant Lands "\, "God Bless Our Native Land"\nService Sunday 11:30 am\nWhat Makes Christians Different?\n The Bible says Christians are different. Christians are people who believe in Jesus as their Savior. But they often look the same as those who do no t believe in Jesus. How are Christians different? The answer is often some thing internal\, attitudes or perspectives that come only from the work of the Holy Spirit in Word and sacrament. Ultimately\, Christians are people who run to Christ for forgiveness because they have failed to live perfec t lives. As we receive the mercy of Christ\, it moves us to strive with al l our being to do all the things\nthat Jesus says Christians do\, things t hat make Christians different.\n \nChristians Live in Two Kingdoms\nThis weekend is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of the\ nIndependence of the United States of America. American citizens from many backgrounds are celebrating in many ways. What makes Christian citizens d ifferent? Christian citizenship is not connected to a particular political party. Christian citizenship is not connected to particular civic activit ies. Christians understand that they live in two kingdoms. God does not ne ed our good works\, but our neighbors do. God’s Word informs our choice of political activities as we seek to be faithful to our calling as Christ ian citizens.\n\n\n\nCall Meeting Update:  We had our first call meeting to call a new resident pastor. The meeting was held by Pastor Tim Gauger ( Circuit Pastor) \, on June 14th. Thank you to everyone who came\; voted an d asked questions.  Call meetings are the tools that Peace uses to ask a man to serve as our pastor. The attendees of the meeting were presented wi th 3 candidates . We received basic information about them (names\, locati ons\, families\, education). Attendees were able to discuss the candidates for a while\, then the voters were able to compare the 3 candidates. The council has informed the person that we have called to serve as our pastor .    \nUnlike hiring a political candidate\, this process will be fill ed with prayer\, the Word of God\, and mutual encouragement. We are follow ing the Scriptural example of Acts 2:13-26.  He will acknowledge the call in a letter back to the congregation. Then the congregation will talk wit h Pastor Fritz and he will determine if his gifts can best be used at Peac e at this time. As a congregation we should reach out to Pastor Fritz with words of encouragement and prayers as he makes a decision on how he may c ontinue to serve God at this time. Expression might include what makes the Otsego/ Peace community unique\, tell him our vision for the future\, ect …. Commit to praying for him and his family throughout the entire discer nment process. To help Pastor Fritz make his decision\, if you feel compel led\, reach out to him this week. \nPastor Paul Fritz  \ncell phone: 1- 902-659-9812 \nemail pastorpaulfritz@gmail.com \nHe is currently serving at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Woodville\, WI.\nPastor Fritz will most li kely be making a decision in the next 2 weeks.\nConnecting with People of Peace: Encouragement is something we all need to keep us motivated\, conne cted\, and feeling loved. Imagine how our shut-ins lives could be blessed with a little gospel message and encouragement from the people of Peace. J o Markwart would like to help us all do just that! We would like to kick t his off in the month of July. There will be a box with cards for the peopl e of Peace to write words of love to our shut-ins. If anyone would like to donate cards to this project please put them in Shelly or Jo’s mail box at church. \n \nFlower Sign: We will no longer use the breeze program t o sign up for flowers for Sunday services. There is a sign up sheet on the table in the Narthex. Please write what you would like to dedicate the fl owers for\, next to your name.\n \nA look ahead:     \nJuly 5th 11:30 am Sunday Service  with Cake and Ice Cream to follow \nJuly 5th 12:45pm Private Baptism\nJuly 6th 9:00am-12:00pm Maintenance Work Day  \nJuly 7 th 10:00am -11:00am Coffee &\; Crafts    \nJuly 12th 11:30am Sunday Service \n \n \nMay God be at work among the people of Peace and our go spel ministry as we listen to him and follow him!  Assistant Administrato r at Peace Lutheran Church\,  Shelly Wedge\n       Got this from a friend? Sign up here: https://peace.breezechms.com/form/news\nUnsubscribe ? Email church@peaceotsego.org\nWant to visit with pastor? Schedule a visi t/meeting reach out to our interim Pastor David Rau (ST.James Portage) at pastor@stjamesportage.org or 262-325-9355\nHave a suggestion or comment yo u’d like to share? Let us know!\nWould you like to donate to Peace? Plea se use the link for online giving\nPeace Lutheran Church 805 S Wilmott St Otsego\, MI 49078\n269-694-6104 https://peaceotsego.org LAST-MODIFIED:20260630T154043 LOCATION: SUMMARY:Coming up at Peace URL;VALUE=URI:https://peaceotsego.com/events/coming-up-at-peace--47/2026-07 -05 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR