Eastern Mission

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Eastern Mission
Apostolic Lutheran Church of America

June 2025

“Jesus said to His disciples: 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” -John 16:12–15

On Trinity Sunday, the Church gathers to confess the mystery of the Holy Trinity. That the one true God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three persons make up the Godhead. The father is not the son, nor the Holy Spirit, but there are not three God’s only one.
In John 16, Jesus prepares His disciples for what is to come. He is going to the cross to accomplish his great work of redemption. He’s going to rise and ascend into heaven and sit at the right hand of God. He promises to send the Holy Spirit, the Spirt of truth. The Spirit is sent to glorify Christ, to take what belongs to Jesus, His word, His righteousness, His victory over sin and death and reveal it to us.
The Spirit is not given to dazzle us with signs, but to draw us deeper into the gifts of Jesus. In the Athanasian Creed we confess the Holy Spirit as the one who “proceeds from the Father and the Son” and who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He is God, yet He is always pointing us to Christ and giving us what Christ has won for us.

And what does this mean for us? It means that even though it can seem like God is absent, we are not left to our own devices in this world. The Spirit of Truth dwells in us. He speaks the Word of Christ into our ears, which passes into our hearts, and into our lives. He leads us to repentance and comforts us with the Gospel.

The whole Christian life is participation in the life of the Trinity. We are baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father created us, the Son redeemed us, and the Spirit sanctifies us. Each Sunday, we gather to receive the gifts of the Triune God, gifts that come to us new every morning.
Many people struggle to grasp the trinity intellectually, and that’s okay. It’s not about making perfect logical sense. We stand in awe of the mystery of the trinity acknowledging that God’s ways our higher than ours. Instead of dwelling on that which we cannot understand we cling all the more tightly to that which God has revealed. We cling to the love that flows to us from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirt. This love is not abstract. It’s real, concrete, and active through the Word. The Father’s love for us is found in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, where he bore our sins to death, every day the Spirit is at work to strengthen our faith and lead us to the truth.

May we rejoice this month in the mystery and mercy of our Triune God. And may the Spirit of truth continue to glorify Christ among us.

God’s Peace,
Nicholas Kandoll

NEWSLETTER 2025 SCHEDULE
March - Ivan Niemela
April - Jon Salo
May - Bob Tumberg
June - Nick Kandoll
July - Mark Traffie
August - Chuck Bylkas
September - Mark Seppanen
October - TBD
November - Tyson Mattila
December - Ivan Niemela

2026 SCHEDULE
January - Jon Salo
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Contact us at:

Eastern Missionary Association
PO Box 69
Hancock, MI 49930

Chairman: Mark Traffie
Phone: (701) 580-0894
email: mtraffie@artekenterprise.com

Secretary: William Seppala
Phone: (603) 801-5103
Email: wmseppala@gmail.com

Treasurer: Pastor Ernest (Chuck) Bylkas III
Phone: (906) 281-4983
Email: cbylkas@pasty.com