For Your Sake, We Work for Christ

Dear Friends,

As I’m typing away, the minutes are counting down to our first summer Club 56 gathering. What is Club 56 you may ask? It is a ministry that is designed especially for our youth who are in 5th and 6th grades. It has been a long road to launch a new ministry, then press the pause button for a year, and then reach out to a new group that is already 50% different than a year ago. There are about 35 students in this combo group! So, my heart is full with anticipation on what could happen in the lives of our youth as they will hear about a loving God, a forgiving Savior, and an inspiring Spirit. How will they look at the world and the issues that we face today and tomorrow?

Over the summer months, the Lancasters will have 5 out of 6 adult children move or continue to live out-of-the-area; 4 of them live out of the state. I did this same thing at their same age! What were my parents thinking as we packed up with enthusiasm and moved on and out? I wonder now, do my own children fully comprehend just how proud I am to be their mother at the same time my heart hurts with their absence? I am thankful, deeply thankful, for the summers after summers that our family vacation was decorating the church for VBS at all hours of the night. Or the years after years our family life included an active and engaged life with God and with the church in worship and family ministry.

I did not say perfect attendance! I said, we were active and engaged. The church wasn’t a building; rather, it felt like our second home with the bumps and hiccups of any household.

As my adult children have entered into this amazing season of life and the life of our growing family, I find myself leaning into the Hebrew passage, known as the Shema, that guided my heart and maybe it will provide you comfort as well as motivation from Deuteronomy Chapter 6:4-9.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Plan to gather this weekend for worship in several different ways:

• Meet in-person at either 8:30 or 9:45 a.m.

• Meet on Facebook Live at 8:30 a.m.

• Watch on our webpage a recorded version of the 8:30 in-person service.

We welcome Pastor Ron Schardt as our special guest pastor this Sunday. Pastor Schardt is a thoughtful colleague, former seminary professor, as well as a missionary and resource leader for the ELCA. He is also a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and we are glad to share our time together. He will begin a new Men’s Small Group on Thursday evenings, beginning June 17 at 7:00 p.m. at The Patio at Holy Trinity.

Blessings to you and your household,

Pastor Katie

For Your Sake, We Live by Faith

Dear Friends,

Many of us are connecting with friends and family we haven’t seen in a long time. It has been amazing to catch up and listen to one another. Recently, I connected with a friend who has known me since I was 5 years old and another friend who has known me since we were in the same 1st grade class. We all still live in the same home town and our families were farm families who shared a lot of similarities and differences along the way. Within minutes of our conversation, I felt genuinely safe that the person who sat across from me. My heart gave way to the compassion I was receiving. I felt honored to hear stories of her health fears as well as the heartbreak of the death of a parent. We talked about our careers, the careers of our children, and of course, the news and media.

In our passage this weekend, we hear in 2 Corinthians 5:6-17, that we are loved genuinely by Christ. It is this gift of truth that we are loved first and forever that we trust. We find that, in trusting in the promise that that we are deeply loved by Christ, we are invited to lean fully into our own challenges. We can hear the message not just that we are one big failure, but that, in our hurt, we are provided the opportunity for healing and in healing we are transformed; and in being transformed, we are whole again. Our healing is a work in progress called grace.

We are called upon to make the best decisions we can for ourselves, our children, our co-workers, students, members and friends with the most and best information we have at the time we need to make the decision. For me as a leader, pastor, spouse, parent, grandparent, daughter, sister and friend, I know I have, and maybe you have, longed for national guidelines to help give us direction.

I think we would also agree that each of us, in some way, has been exhausted by ongoing and changing responses to the ever-changing guidelines. But that is exactly how we come out of a crisis and enter into a season of healing…one step, one change at a time - forward. Each step ahead is different than the one behind because we must have perspective to see it.

So as a continuation of our on-going COVID response, we will continue to follow the CDC guidelines with an abundance of caution.

• We will invite all individuals to be part of the solution by being vaccinated as they are able to do so. We are mindful that children under 12 years of age and those with some health concerns may not be able to be vaccinated.

• We will celebrate with a gracious response that the CDC states that individuals who have been fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks.

• We will continue to check-in, limit movement in the sanctuary, and continue to arrange seating for safe-distancing as desired by individuals in attendance.

• We will meet outdoors for Fellowship so all may be able to join in.

• We will not yet provide child care.

We pray, God of all creation, stir within us compassion and care for one another that reflects our humbled walk as your children whose lives are always made new and whole through your gift of love and grace. We pray all things in your name, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen

Pastor Katie

For Your Sake

Dear Friends,

This weekend we begin our new summer sermon series from the 2nd readings from the Lectionary, called the Epistles or the letters to the early church. These letters carry a great deal of meaning as they are written like a wise mentor, coach, parent, or grandparent would speak. We are mindful that they are letters that are now years away from the witnessed teachings of Jesus; but they are the early church learning the joys and the challenges of being the early church.

In this season of the summer of 2021, we long to hear wisdom from those who have provided us a foundation of wholeness. Listening to the words of a teacher or a rabbi to a student pouring into our daily lives.

From the Book of 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 we read, “It is written: “I believed; there for I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, _____(let’s wait for the real wisdom in a minute!)

Let’s say I walked up to you and said, “I have coffee; therefore, I am awake.” Yes, there is some truth to this; but, as I am writing and as I am finishing my second venti cup of coffee, the truth is that I needed more rest yesterday to get through my today so that I can wake up tomorrow with less of a mush brain! For those who just read that, I am not saying coffee (caffeine) is bad. I’m saying that it doesn’t replace a good night of rest. What is truth and what is what I want to hear to affirm my own monolog of truth?

Let’s add a bit more from the author of this letter, to the people of Corinth.

“It is written: “I believed; therefore, I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.”

Read the passage out loud to yourself more than one time.

The early church and the church of today are longing to hear truth as if we haven’t heard it before. Jesus spoke to us during his ministry on earth. He said that we are to love one another. We are to love the fullness of someone so that their understanding of who made them and who loves them makes way for the truth that they/we/us are loved for eternity.

What wise mentor speaks truth, words of God’s grace-filled gracious gift of truth, into your head right now? And how does it inform your ideas, thoughts, and action?

How are your conversations, gatherings, and behavior influenced by the wise and informed thoughts of others? Who are you influencing knowing that in your words are to witness God’s promise of compassion, mercy, and grace for all people?

So many things to think through and listen to one another. This week, come to in-person worship, check us out on Facebook Live, or watch the recorded service at a later time. Go to our website and sign up for Vacation Bible School/Day Camp. Come gather safely and listen to one another and in listening, we pray.

Blessings to you all,

Pastor Katie