Sheyenne Oberon Area Ministry

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Sheyenne Oberon Area Ministry(SOAM) is a four point parish consisting of Calvary Lutheran Church in Oberon, ND... Grandfield Lutheran Church in rural Sheyenne, ND... Grace Lutheran Church and First Lutheran Church both in Sheyenne ND.

06/03/2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This week our selection from the lectionary is from the 4th Chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans. This is one of the more difficult of Paul’s letters to read. It is more theological in tone than most of his writings. He addresses the life-long battle of Law vs Grace. He uses Abraham’s relationship with God to make his point.
If we go back to the book of Genesis, we have God giving instructions to Abram (Abraham) He is to leave his homeland and go to a place he most likely had never heard of. God told him that he would become the father of great nations and that counting his offspring would be like trying to count the dust of the earth. So what does Abraham do? He packs up and goes. He has total and complete trust in God. He doesn’t question God. There is no “are you sure about this” or “ I don’t know, I’m pretty comfortable right now where I am” arguments. He trusts God. His faith is not based on human beliefs or wants and desires. His faith is not based on his own ability, but on what God says. Abraham puts his faith in God’s ability to fulfil his promise over his ability to do it on his own.
We should remember that Paul is writing to people who thought all behaviors should be in accordance with the law. The law ruled their lives. Everything that was right or wrong was spelled out for them. To have faith in something didn’t make much sense to them. They had pagan gods that they believed had to be pleased somehow in order to grant wishes and so forth. The thought of a god blessing them and not having to do something to earn it didn’t make any sense. It wouldn’t have made any sense to Abraham either when God told him he would become the father of many nations. After all, he was old and Sarah was long past her child bearing years. Yet, he didn’t scoff, didn’t think to himself how foolish or anything like that. He merely had faith, a faith strong enough to pick up and leave a comfortable life behind. He believed what God told him and followed his command.
We also, have commandments from God. Nothing as formidable as Abraham experienced, but we have been told that for us to spend all eternity in love and peace with the Father, we need to have faith in all that he says. Yes, we have to follow man’s law as well. A society without laws becomes chaos. But what is important or us to know is that we can’t earn God’s grace by following laws. We need to know that the Grace of God is a free gift, not to be earned; but it is given to us because he loves us. It might not always be easy to do so but he is there for us now and forever. Amen.

06/01/2026

Bonnie and Marcie will be playing for worship this Sunday 11am at Grace Lutheran.
SOAM meeting at 2pm.

05/27/2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This week on our church calendar is Holy Trinity Sunday. As Christian people we see, hear, and use the word trinity quite often. It is a popular name for churches. Oh so many years ago, I was confirmed in a Trinity Lutheran Church. It closed some years ago, but I still think of it as my home church. We speak of the three components of the Holy Trinity every Sunday morning at the beginning of our liturgy. We take it from Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth; “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Paul doesn’t mention the word trinity here. He doesn’t hint that this Holy Trinity is even a thing. Of course, even today it is a very difficult concept for us to understand. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, three separate entities yet they are all one.
In our lectionary selection this week, the end of the 28th chapter of Matthew, Jesus commissions his disciples to go all nations and baptize them and although he mentions all three components, he does not use the word trinity. In fact, we don’t find the word trinity or Triune God any place scripture. We do, however, find mention of it throughout the bible.
In Genesis’ first chapter, we are told the “spirit of God” moved over the waters. Unfortunately, current translations simply use the word wind. A few verses later God says, let “us” create mankind. He uses the plural here, not the word “me”. For more clarification, take the beginning of the Gospel of John. This is about the best description, or example given that refers to the oneness of the trinity. In the first chapter John says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. John continues with “All things came into being through him and without him, not one thing came into being. Then in verse 14, we are told the “Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory of a fathers only son, full of grace and truth. Once again, very hard for humans to understand but John tells us that Jesus was with God from the very beginning and took part in the creation. He eventually, was sent from heaven by the father to live among us as a human being. He is writing about Jesus, God’s son.
In this short piece of scripture there is also a most important command from Jesus. While the scripture doesn’t use the word “commission”, verses 19 and 20 are often called “The Great Commission”. Here, Jesus makes it very clear that this is not just a suggestion or a teaching session for his disciples. He tells them straight out that he has been authority in heaven and on earth so they better listen. He tells them to go and make disciples of all nations. They are to bring God’s words and commandments to everybody. What a shock this must have been. The people of Israel were God’s chosen people. They thought God was theirs and theirs alone. Now the they considered their private Rabbi, their own risen Messiah is telling them they have to share; and not just locally, but to all nations. He ends by giving them the reassurance that he will always be there for them.
Is this not our duty also? Are we to go to our own church, pray in the privacy of our own homes, and never share God’s word, his love and mercy with others? No, we all are to be His disciples. We should share our wonderful God with others every chance we get. Amen.

05/20/2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When I said I was going to take some time off after Easter, I was thinking a week. Well, it’s been a bit longer than a week. Of course, I hadn’t planned on having a heart attack and triple by-pass surgery. But, I’m back. Still weak and won’t be working full days quite yet but I’m getting better each day. Too slowly for my liking but it is what it is.
Our message this week is based on the 2nd Chapter of Acts. This week on our church calendar is Pentecost. The word Pentecost has Greek origins. Pente is the Greek word for the number five. As Christians, we celebrate Pentecost as the time when the Holy Spirit was given to Jesus’ disciples. The holiday has it’s beginning in Judaic history. The Jews would celebrate this day as the 50th day after Passover. It was one of their major festivals and Jews from all over would come to Jerusalem to worship and celebrate. For Christian denominations, it marks the 50th day after Easter Sunday.
I don’t think it is a coincidence at all that three major events happened when seemingly non-related happenings took place. The birth of Jesus. Caesar had decreed that a census was to be taken so everybody had to return to their home towns to be counted. Bethlehem was packed with people. The inns were full, not a bed to be found. Bethlehem would have been a quiet, boring town otherwise but Jesus was born there when it was packed with visitors, people who lived elsewhere were in town for the census. Unfortunately, only a few actually realized at the time the significance of Jesus birth. Fast forward 33 years and we have Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As Christians, we celebrate it as Palm Sunday. It was another major Jewish festival, Passover. There were Jews from every country known that had come to sacrifice and worship in the temple. Jesus entered and people were shouting Hosanna; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Many thousands saw him enter; many saw him beaten and eventually crucified. Their would be King was dead. Very few, however, saw him as our risen Lord. Now, 50 days later, the Festival of Weeks, also called Pentecost, the Jews are back in Jerusalem. It started out as a festival to celebrate the barley and wheat harvest but changed to celebrate 50 days after Passover. Once again, there are huge crowds in Jerusalem.
As pronounced by Jesus to his disciples, as prophesied in the Old Testament, God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is accomplished. The promise has been fulfilled. A sound like the rush of a violent wind came upon them and tongues like fire rested on each of them and all of them received the Holy Spirit. They began to speak and through the power of the Holy Spirit, everybody, no matter where they were from, no matter what language they spoke, all the crowd heard the disciples speaking in a language they could understand. They were amazed that these men from Galilee could speak all these foreign languages. Peter tells them it is a fulfillment of an Old Testament prophesy and he quotes Joel that it is the Spirit of God that has allowed this to happen. Luke tells us that 3,000 people became followers of Christ that day.
For us today, we can be so glad that the Holy Spirit is with us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we too can come to know Christ. It is through the Holy Spirit we can say no to Satan, to love one another with a Holy and Christian Love. Let us not forget to thank God for this wonderful gift. Amen.

05/18/2026

Update! Jeff is back at work!! We will continue to utilize the one service Sunday rotation until our next SOAM meeting mid June.
Communion returns at Calvary this Sunday at 9am with Jeff.

05/05/2026

Update
Jeff is back at home.

04/28/2026

Church is at Grandfield at 9am. Spring Clean up Sunday at First Lutheran is this Sunday, May 3rd. Bring your yard tools and have some fun outdoors or indoors as we try n shake off winter. Clean up starts at 1pm.

04/28/2026

Spring Clean up Sunday at First Lutheran is this Sunday, May 3rd. Bring your yard tools and have some fun outdoors or indoors as we try n shake off winter.

04/20/2026

Good news update!!
Jeff is on track with his recovery from surgery and if all goes according to plan, this Wednesday (22nd), he will be able to continue his recovery from home with home healthcare. Hooray!!!

Our adjusted church rotation schedule, that we posted earlier, will continue until he is cleared for work. Until then…

Prayers for continued healing are appreciated and if you’d like to send a card to him you can send it to the parsonage address which we will have printed in the bulletins.

(Steph)

04/17/2026

Join us for worship with Bishop Tessa at 11am First Lutheran this Sunday. (There will be communion)

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322 Pleasant Avenue
Sheyenne, ND
58374

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