A Word from the Pastors | 09-01-22
Back to School.
I am writing on the first day of September. This morning I happened to look out the window and saw a young father walking his little daughter to school. He was holding her hand. She was holding a little school bag. He was leaning forward, his steps strong and focused on getting to the destination. She was leaning back, her steps more slow and hesitant, as if not quite sure or not quite ready or even not quite awake. But onward they went, the two of them, toward school, approaching autumn, and into the future.
It’s school time again. Let’s pray for students, for teachers, for staff, and for families. Let’s pray for safety traveling to and from school, for safety in the schools, for safety at home. Let’s pray for sincere efforts to learn and to teach, for knowledge to be shared, for dreams to be stirred. Let’s pray that – in the midst of a world of many conflicting voices – both student and teacher will especially hear the Lord’s voice, the one that tells them that they matter… the one that tells them that God loves them… the one that will forgive, inspire, guide, and assure them through the ups and downs of their life.
You might not be a student. You might not be a teacher. Never miss an opportunity to show every child of God – no matter their weeks, months, days, or decades on this earth – some concern and compassion. That’s something we can all learn from and teach to one another!
Labor Day Weekend.
This weekend is a time when Christians might celebrate the dignity, passion, and purpose of work and remember the achievements and rights of all workers… take the opportunity to reflect on what we have done and plan to do with our own precious lives here on earth to experience deeper meaning and satisfaction beyond just making a living or storing up treasures… and grasp onto the challenge to act on behalf of the most vulnerable, including migrant workers, enslaved laborers, those who seek employment to supply basic needs, and all who live in poverty.
Gracious God, we thank you on this Labor Day for the blessing of work. Help us to realize how interdependent we are in our living and our laboring. Help us to understand that, job or no job, we all have worth as human beings. We ask for strength to complete each day. We ask for rest when we are too weary. We ask for your guidance for all who are seeking employment. We pray for those who are overworked and underpaid, for those who are paid far too much and have become too proud and arrogant, and for those who have dangerous jobs or poor health care. Whether we are being compensated by paycheck or just by the satisfaction of an unpaid job well done, help us to labor for your goodness and glory in our daily living. Amen.
God wants each of us, not just to have a job, but to have a vocation – a calling – through which we can serve the world and help create God’s beloved community. Let’s offer who we are and what we have been blessed with to the almighty Creator and Employer of us all.
Back to Church.
Several months into “hybrid worship” — with worshipers present in the sanctuary on a Sunday and also with worshipers present online through Zoom and Facebook – we are still rejoicing, renewing, adjusting, and looking forward. We’re grateful to still have a congregation that is able to gather for worship, for learning, for fellowship, and for service. If and as COVID dangers subside… and as this hot summer ends… we anticipate that there might be more worshipers physically present on a Sunday morning and that there might be some renewal and growth in other activities and events. But we’ll have to see. Life is changing. So many individuals are “immunocompromised” (Such big words and fancy phrases we learn to use when big things happen in our lives… another popular COVID phrase one is “out of an abundance of caution”) and might not be able to return because of health. And, to be honest, for some it’s mighty comfortable and less demanding to stay home, stay in my nightclothes and looking like I just got up, eat my breakfast or do other tasks, and “tune in” during worship or even later in the day or week. (A Pastor is writing this, and he confesses that sometimes he also misses the simplicity of those two years of “Zoom worship”. These past few months of “hybrid” have been an adjustment.)
Here are some “Back to Church” events and activities:
- September 10, Women’s Ministry “Gathering”, 11:00AM, in Rhoda Hall (and also on Zoom).
- September 11, Pentecost 14 “Hybrid Worship”, 10:00AM.
Grandparents Day with Timyk Hillsman (member, teacher, grandparent) preaching.
- September 12, Church Council meeting, 7:00PM, in Rhoda Hall (and also Zoom?).
- September 16, Girl Scouts, 6:30PM, in Rhoda Hall and classroom.
- September 18, Pentecost 15 “Hybrid Worship”, 10:00AM.
“Rally Day”.
- September 25, Pentecost 16 “Hybrid Worship”, 10:00AM.
Baptisms, new members.
Join our family, share God’s love.
Share in our new life together, which is being shaped by the good news of Jesus Christ
crucified and now risen among us. Several persons have recently expressed an interest in being baptized or in affirming the faith into which they have already been baptized… and in either case becoming a member of our St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church family. Please speak to our Pastors if the Holy Spirit is leading you into this place and into this people.
- October 2, Pentecost 17 “Hybrid Worship”, 10:00AM.
World Communion Sunday.
- October 8-9, 37th Annual Women’s Day: “Looking Backward as We Move Forward”
“Prayer Breakfast” on Saturday, 10:00AM, with meal in Rhoda Hall (also on Zoom).
“Hybrid Worship” on Sunday, 10:00AM, with meal in Rhoda Hall.
Keep the faith… but not to yourself.
Pastor Neil & Pastor Gwen