A Word from the Pastors | 08-04-22
We pray that your summer has been safe and full of blessing as we begin August! Pastor Gwen enjoyed a wonderful and restful week of vacation with the Johnsons (her siblings) in Jamaica but arrived back home suddenly feeling ill and tired and anxious that she might have COVID… home tests seemed to indicate that she didn’t have it, though some in the travel group tested positive. Disregarding this particular trip’s illness, don’t you sometimes feel like you need a vacation after your vacation? Pastor Neil had his prostate surgery one entire week late (postponed after several hours in pre-op by important missing test results) and also several hours later that second time (a delay in the doctor’s arrival from another surgery in another hospital) and has been recuperating well. He feels blessed both by the opportunity to have medical care and by the prayers of so many. The cost of medical care in America is astounding, and we ought to pray for those in our nation and our world who can’t afford and receive proper medical care. In less than two weeks our last “child”, nephew Matt, leaves for his first days as a college student at Widener University, probably both eager and a little anxious as many of us are whenever we begin new chapters in our life. For Pastor Gwen and Pastor Neil, it will be a new chapter as “empty nesters” (although we remember that there was a period long ago when Amanda was in college and before Matt returned to live with us). Of course, we have an entire church family and neighborhood and world community to interact with, so we won’t be alone and lonely.
It was a great joy to have Pastor David Maddox II as our guest preacher on July 24! Frustrated by the systemic racism in our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (we are the “whitest” church denomination in the United States) and too many years without a call to pastor a congregation, David resigned as an ordained pastor of the ELCA. But we personally still think of him as a “pastor” who embodies and preaches the great good news of the liberating love and the new life that is offered in Jesus Christ.
It was a great joy to have the Rite of Confirmation for some of our young people on July 31! On that morning Jaimee, Tyler, Kyle, Riana, and Kaela publicly confirmed that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior; and they were confirmed by the Holy Spirit as followers of Christ. In the eyes of our ELCA denomination, confirmation is like a “rite of passage” into Christian adulthood. It has been a joy to watch each of them over the years, to experience their faith journeys and their service to the Lord, and to imagine their future days of continued maturity and faithful servanthood.
It will be a great joy to have others as “guest preachers” the next few Sundays:
Linda and Herbert Crawford on August 7
Herbert Crawford on August 14
Sister Ramona Cecille Daily on August 21
We have now experienced almost two months of “hybrid worship”, with worshipers present in the sanctuary and also with worshipers present online through Zoom and Facebook. Each Sunday has been its own unique experience of remembering, renewing, adjusting, and rejoicing. Most Sundays have included video or sound issues. We’re so very grateful for Veronica Britto, who has strapped on the seatbelt, sat at the cockpit, and enabled our video flight through each storm on each Sunday! We’re grateful for those who have ventured out on mostly very hot Sundays to gather with sisters and brothers here in our sanctuary in Philadelphia. And we’re grateful for those who continue to gather with us online from locations near and far. This is a work in process. We’re not “there” yet because we don’t know where “there” is. We’re asking for patience and for some supportive feedback. Some have already noted that, with the transition to “hybrid worship”, we are missing some of the fellowship and intimacy of the “Zoom worship”. nd Don’t have the exact figures – maybe an average of 40 persons physically present, 30 Zoom households, 3 or 4 on Facebook (but, as Veronica noted, the Facebook figures represent “during worship”, 48 people were “reached” by Monday morning, with 18 “clicking” onto the worship video… so who knows the extended effect?). We’re still learning, still working through some video and sound issues.” We ought to thank God for the blessing of still being alive… for the blessing of still being a congregation… and for the blessing of gathering the resources and having the opportunity to move forward into a new experience of worship that is both in but also beyond the sanctuary.
The “Youth and Family Community Dinner” on July 24, probably our first post-COVID meal and fellowship gathering, was a welcome new beginning.
Our “Vacation Bible School”, scheduled to happen each day this first week in August from 9AM to 1PM, was cancelled after the first two days due to low attendance. Like other congregations and organizations, we are realizing the challenge of renewal and revival after the two years of “COVID wilderness” we’ve all been through. We must continue to pray for, encourage, and engage our youth and children… we must continue to offer them life, hope, and direction through the good news of Jesus Christ!
What will the autumn months be like in terms of pandemic variations and other health issues, the economy, our nation’s politics, gun violence, and this congregation’s and the entire Church’s faithful living and fervent loving?
We pray that you August is safe and blessed.
Keep the faith… but not to yourself.
We love you and pray for you!
Pastor Neil & Pastor Gwen