Dear Faithful friends,
On July 1st I began the pastorate here at Faith Lutheran. It’s been one month already! Busy. Fun. Challenging. And, celebratory! For me, this culminated in my ordination liturgy this past weekend, on the Feast Day of St. James. Together we are being the church, even in the midst of a pandemic. We worship, care for each other, administer the sacraments, hold an ordination, and continue being community together through hard times. I’ve been inspired and cared for and encouraged in my beginning so far, and I am looking forward to all our ministry together.
I am immediately grateful for a welcoming and very competent administrator in Cheryl; I can tell what a blessing Faith Lutheran has in her work. I am grateful for the thoughtfulness and efficiency I’ve encountered in working with our Choir Director/Council President, Pat. Cheryl and Pat have gotten me started and we are working in trusted partnership already. They’ve also continued serving as worship assistants on Sundays, and have assisted me in getting acquainted with our ways of Zoom worship and Drive-Thru communion. I have been watching and learning and we’ve kept tweaking our process to see what helps our people bond over Zoom worship.
It is, understandably, so strange to begin to serve by worshipping together online each Sunday. But I sense your graciousness and care, all for Faith Lutheran and for me and for one another. This is so encouraging and touching! Drive-Thru communion continues to be a highlight for me, as it’s such a gift to actually see our folks and give the sacrament and have very short conversations beside the cars. In this way, for at least some of us, I’m able to meet people and hear prayer requests and news and to give the blessing.
You can reach me there, if you have a need. And, I am generally working in the office on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons, and mostly from home on Fridays, getting ready for Sunday worship and preparing a sermon. Please be in touch, and I will be too.
One upcoming way of connection: the staff and I decided to offer “Brown Bag lunch with Pastor” coming up on a couple Fridays in August—the 14th and the 28th. We can share time while we have our own lunch on the porch in a small group together, and we can get to know each other even as we social-distance. We’ll continue to employ connective events, as we can, through all of this time. Join in!
From a worship team meeting to an upcoming communications team meeting, we continue to think about meaningful ways to engage in worship during “shutdown.” Your feedback is always welcome to me and to these teams. I am thankful for partners working to get me oriented the past month: Betty Thompson, Amy Zimmerman, Sarah Toney, Eileen way, and more. Thank you all!
More learning, more changes, more growth is to come, I am sure. It has simply been a blessing to begin my first call with you, and to be ordained into this ministry of word and sacrament. You have made my daughters and myself feel very welcome here! And I’m greatly encouraged about the future of our work together as Faith Lutheran Church. As our gospel this Sunday tells the story, Jesus sees the hungry people—like we do—and we’re all empowered to go and feed and serve in the power of our faith. We are blessed to be a blessing.
We go together. Thanks be to God!
Pr. Shaun
On July 1st I began the pastorate here at Faith Lutheran. It’s been one month already! Busy. Fun. Challenging. And, celebratory! For me, this culminated in my ordination liturgy this past weekend, on the Feast Day of St. James. Together we are being the church, even in the midst of a pandemic. We worship, care for each other, administer the sacraments, hold an ordination, and continue being community together through hard times. I’ve been inspired and cared for and encouraged in my beginning so far, and I am looking forward to all our ministry together.
I am immediately grateful for a welcoming and very competent administrator in Cheryl; I can tell what a blessing Faith Lutheran has in her work. I am grateful for the thoughtfulness and efficiency I’ve encountered in working with our Choir Director/Council President, Pat. Cheryl and Pat have gotten me started and we are working in trusted partnership already. They’ve also continued serving as worship assistants on Sundays, and have assisted me in getting acquainted with our ways of Zoom worship and Drive-Thru communion. I have been watching and learning and we’ve kept tweaking our process to see what helps our people bond over Zoom worship.
It is, understandably, so strange to begin to serve by worshipping together online each Sunday. But I sense your graciousness and care, all for Faith Lutheran and for me and for one another. This is so encouraging and touching! Drive-Thru communion continues to be a highlight for me, as it’s such a gift to actually see our folks and give the sacrament and have very short conversations beside the cars. In this way, for at least some of us, I’m able to meet people and hear prayer requests and news and to give the blessing.
You can reach me there, if you have a need. And, I am generally working in the office on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons, and mostly from home on Fridays, getting ready for Sunday worship and preparing a sermon. Please be in touch, and I will be too.
One upcoming way of connection: the staff and I decided to offer “Brown Bag lunch with Pastor” coming up on a couple Fridays in August—the 14th and the 28th. We can share time while we have our own lunch on the porch in a small group together, and we can get to know each other even as we social-distance. We’ll continue to employ connective events, as we can, through all of this time. Join in!
From a worship team meeting to an upcoming communications team meeting, we continue to think about meaningful ways to engage in worship during “shutdown.” Your feedback is always welcome to me and to these teams. I am thankful for partners working to get me oriented the past month: Betty Thompson, Amy Zimmerman, Sarah Toney, Eileen way, and more. Thank you all!
More learning, more changes, more growth is to come, I am sure. It has simply been a blessing to begin my first call with you, and to be ordained into this ministry of word and sacrament. You have made my daughters and myself feel very welcome here! And I’m greatly encouraged about the future of our work together as Faith Lutheran Church. As our gospel this Sunday tells the story, Jesus sees the hungry people—like we do—and we’re all empowered to go and feed and serve in the power of our faith. We are blessed to be a blessing.
We go together. Thanks be to God!
Pr. Shaun