Announcements
Spirit of Joy on Facebook
Visit our new SOJ FACEBOOK page; also, visit our new SOJ YOUTH FACEBOOK PAGE.
Church Calendar
- Monday, February 10, 2014, 5:30 PM
- SPIRITS OF GRACE serve Open Door meals
SPIRITS OF GRACE serve Open Door meals at the Grange , 6:00 P.M. Please sign up on the kiosk to bring food and/or serve. Click Here for more information.
Do You Know Magdalena?
She's a 7-year-old girl in Tanzania, and our Sunday School Missions Mile of Pennies has been supporting her since 2009. We need your pennies. Click Here to see how easy it is to help.
Junior Choir
We want to get the word out that our children from Kindergarten thru 8th grade are welcome. Please mention this to your son, daughter, grandchildren.
We meet every Tuesday between Kid's club and Jr. High Confirmation so the timing is very convenient. We kick off our new year on SEPTEMBER 17th, 6PM.
Click here to see a mini-slideshow featuring Junior Choir in action (must be logged in to view it).
2013 Spirits of Grace Tea
The Spirits of Grace Tea on June 2, 2013 was the premier social event of the summer season at Spirit of Joy. It catered to a sold-out crowd of lovely ladies and many daughters and grandaughters and beyond. Click here to check out this fun slideshow.
Welcome to the Internet site of
Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church in Ramona, California
You'll find our worship services expressive, open to all, and full of the presence of the LORD.
Our goal is to glorify God in our meetings and meet your needs with his Word. Spirit of Joy is diverse in age and ethnic and social origin, but we are united by love for Jesus Christ our Savior.
There is no better life than one based on the Word of God and lived in relationship with Him.
We're located in Ramona, California, on the edge of the "back country" in northern San Diego County... Click here for directions.
Luke 4: 16-2116 And Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." |
Isaiah 61: 1-3
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First Fruits
First Fruits: December, 2013
Good News yields Loving Stewardship
Stewardship is about managing the abundance that God has made ours…and not just “ours” but everyone’s. This abundance is no less than life itself, the gift of God in which we all share. How do we understand this gift…that abundance? In Christian understanding, this is expressed in terms of the Advent or the coming of our Savior, the Christ. The expectation that in everything we know and face, goodness and mercy are waiting to be born anew, made real again in and for us.
This is the light that was in the world but which the world knew not, says John. (1:10) Amid the deepest shadows of evil and suffering, we expect that God’s light shall pierce the gloom, revealing love and justice to which we had been “blind.”
Is this what we really expect? The quality of our expectations determines the quality of our action. So do we fear the worst or expect the best? The quality of Christian giving hangs in the balance, awaiting our answer to the question of Advent. Do we believe that in the spirit of the coming Christ, even amid the most challenging circumstances, hope and assurance, power and possibility are on the way…waiting to happen again? Nothing squelches good stewardship more than misgiving about what we face. Nothing blocks our generosity as much as our anxiety about what lies before us. Nothing checks the discernment of abundance better than the fear of not having enough.
During the season of Advent, what is sown is anticipation of goodness and mercy. What is reaped is great joy and trust: the “blessed assurance” that our First Fruits Offering will overcome the ever-present fear of scarcity. We are all “Gifted by God” with the expectation of abundance, “we offer ourselves in praise,” living out this expectation in our own First Fruits giving.
Jim Turnbull
Gospel Reading for
Sunday, December 8
Matthew 3:1-12 - In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: …
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“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
—John 14:6