Oh, how good it feels to be living into the freedom to plan vacations or enjoy each other’s company in person a bit more. Thanks be to God! What are your plans this summer?
We do have plans to be together more, so note some of these great opportunities:
Contemplative worship, the last Thursday of every month, 5:30pm.
Lunch Bunch – First Wednesdays at 12pm
Outdoor Worship on the Patio, the last Sunday of every month — So, this will begin June 27th and happen each month as long as weather cooperates.
A “Welcome” class to new folks that have come to Faith Lutheran in the past year, leading toward an affirmation of baptism. We’ll meet for class at 10:30am on Sundays in June.
And “Thank You” party for interim pastor Stan and another “Welcome” party with me, things we’ve been waiting to conduct in person.
I hope you are encountering the hope and energy of this summer coming on!
One deeply encouraging aspect of all this activity, for me, is that I am a collaborator. I love to work with folks in thinking of ideas, in praying prayers, and in the action of mercy and justice among us and in our community. Understandably, this has been so much more difficult during the pandemic and while we were mostly distanced. With that easing comes hope and determination. So let me spark your dreams with the Holy Spirit:
In Faith Lutheran’s “profile” — the call documents that I was able to see as a candidate for ministry here last summer — there was a question of: “Where does your congregation hope to put their energy” or “What is driving your community these days?”
And as we embrace energy and work and hope these days, let’s see what it said:
Faith Lutheran community is excited to establish and discover new possibilities for service… Blessed with a large church facility with spacious parking and green lawns, Faith offers a tremendous venue for community gatherings and our various missions. We are excited about empowering others within the congregation to step forward into leadership roles in hopes of discovering all that we can be.
2021 NEWSLETTER
Wow! This was exciting to me then, and it’s very exciting now! This church, and it’s call team,
were speaking the language of the Spirit among us and saying: Blow, wind of God! Renew us!
And I loved that this community could acknowledge its assets: place, facilities, willing hearts—
and to point these toward blessing our community and to calling each other to live into lives of
service.
We each live our service in different ways, and blessedly! Yet, all of these extensions are part of
the WHOLE of the PEACE of God.
“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one
body, so also Christ. . . . Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it” (see 1 Corinthians
12:12, 27).
And here is the energy I’m sensing this summer: As we get to see and hear each other together
more, we can move in confidence toward that “empowering” of one another. We know there is
much work to do, and we know we have been given specific gifts for ministry in our time and
place. And we know the Spirit is a feisty lover that wants to let the proclamation of mercy abound!
And we know we have each other, our various gifts and personalities (and quirks!).
More than all that, we know the promise of God is Life and Freedom. We won’t climb the ladder of
good works into our heavenly rest at last, leaning on all we were able to accomplish. But Mercy
has made us so free that we would love nothing more than to give and proclaim, to spread this
love around town!
Body of Christ with you,
+Pastor Shaun
We do have plans to be together more, so note some of these great opportunities:
Contemplative worship, the last Thursday of every month, 5:30pm.
Lunch Bunch – First Wednesdays at 12pm
Outdoor Worship on the Patio, the last Sunday of every month — So, this will begin June 27th and happen each month as long as weather cooperates.
A “Welcome” class to new folks that have come to Faith Lutheran in the past year, leading toward an affirmation of baptism. We’ll meet for class at 10:30am on Sundays in June.
And “Thank You” party for interim pastor Stan and another “Welcome” party with me, things we’ve been waiting to conduct in person.
I hope you are encountering the hope and energy of this summer coming on!
One deeply encouraging aspect of all this activity, for me, is that I am a collaborator. I love to work with folks in thinking of ideas, in praying prayers, and in the action of mercy and justice among us and in our community. Understandably, this has been so much more difficult during the pandemic and while we were mostly distanced. With that easing comes hope and determination. So let me spark your dreams with the Holy Spirit:
In Faith Lutheran’s “profile” — the call documents that I was able to see as a candidate for ministry here last summer — there was a question of: “Where does your congregation hope to put their energy” or “What is driving your community these days?”
And as we embrace energy and work and hope these days, let’s see what it said:
Faith Lutheran community is excited to establish and discover new possibilities for service… Blessed with a large church facility with spacious parking and green lawns, Faith offers a tremendous venue for community gatherings and our various missions. We are excited about empowering others within the congregation to step forward into leadership roles in hopes of discovering all that we can be.
2021 NEWSLETTER
Wow! This was exciting to me then, and it’s very exciting now! This church, and it’s call team,
were speaking the language of the Spirit among us and saying: Blow, wind of God! Renew us!
And I loved that this community could acknowledge its assets: place, facilities, willing hearts—
and to point these toward blessing our community and to calling each other to live into lives of
service.
We each live our service in different ways, and blessedly! Yet, all of these extensions are part of
the WHOLE of the PEACE of God.
“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one
body, so also Christ. . . . Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it” (see 1 Corinthians
12:12, 27).
And here is the energy I’m sensing this summer: As we get to see and hear each other together
more, we can move in confidence toward that “empowering” of one another. We know there is
much work to do, and we know we have been given specific gifts for ministry in our time and
place. And we know the Spirit is a feisty lover that wants to let the proclamation of mercy abound!
And we know we have each other, our various gifts and personalities (and quirks!).
More than all that, we know the promise of God is Life and Freedom. We won’t climb the ladder of
good works into our heavenly rest at last, leaning on all we were able to accomplish. But Mercy
has made us so free that we would love nothing more than to give and proclaim, to spread this
love around town!
Body of Christ with you,
+Pastor Shaun