Sunday On-line Worship
10:30 a.m.
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
The link for Zoom worship:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/599020207?pwd=eUc3SHBSZ0RHNjRPbkwrUWhKS1Rldz09 Meeting ID: 599 020 207 Password: 026198
One tap mobile +16465588656,,599020207#,,1#,026198# US (New York)
From our Pastor
June 4th
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I continue to hold you in my daily prayers. I think of you often, and I miss seeing you in person. Every day at 10:30, some of us gather on Zoom for prayer (you are invited!). We use a devotion from the Moravian Daily Texts. Today’s devotion is:
My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’ Psalm 42:3
My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
A prayer is included:
Gracious Lord, thank you for being with me in seasons of sorrow. I can rest assured that you are there loving me still and gathering broken remnants of my smile. I am comforted by the power and provision of your love. Let me bring to others that cry in the darkness the grace you give me. Amen.
As we pray this text, it seems fitting. I’ve spoken with many of you over the past few weeks, and we have lamented the aloneness we feel, the sorrow at losing loved ones, the fear for families and friends, the grief over the brokenness of this world. I’ve heard a wide, wide, wide range of opinions on everything from covid to racism, and I’m reminded again what a family of disciples we are. We may not always agree on everything that is happening in our world, but we still share in the love of our Lord and the love we have for each other.
And this makes St. John’s a special place. While we have such varying views within our congregation, we also take the time to listen to each other and pray together. It doesn’t mean that we suddenly agree, but we find a common ground-the love of our Lord and the importance of working as disciples. And so we do our best to live out our mission statement, “A family of disciples, faithfully making Christ known.” Thank you for doing this so faithfully!
So we find joy in knowing that even now (perhaps especially now) our Lord Jesus comes to us and brings us healing and hope. People are still reaching out in love as the Spirit works through us—working in the Giving Garden, churchyard, and doing yard work for some of our members; spending additional time in prayer; doing the business of the church with counting, writing thank yous, having meetings; planning new and creative ways to worship; listening to voices we may otherwise ignore because they seem too different from ours; buying groceries and delivering them; caring for those who are ill; praying for each other; working on moving forward with reopening; staying home as necessary to care for our neighbors. Thank you for letting the Spirit move through you!
Through prayer and listening, we are making steps forward toward re-opening in person worship. They may be steps you cheer, or they may be ones you heartily disagree with. And as the steps change over the weeks and months ahead, your opinion may go back and forth. That’s ok. We won’t all agree all of the time, but we will listen, pray, and love. We will love each other and care for each other, being that “family of disciples, faithfully making Christ known.” And your opinion matters. So as we progress forward, please know that I am here to listen to anything you would like to share, and I would love to pray together.
So far, the majority of the surveys returned prefer Zoom and parking lot worship. Trying to live out our mission statement of making Christ known, we will begin parking lot worship at 9 AM on June 14th. This will allow us to reach far more people than if we limited our sanctuary with social distancing, and we can see some of our friends who won’t come out otherwise because of personal risk factors. We want to share the good news of Christ with as many people as we can! Zoom worship will continue each Sunday at 10:30.
Beginning June 14th and for the month of June, there are three worship opportunities each week as we share the good news of Jesus. 9 AM in the parking lot (instructions will be mailed and emailed next week), 10:30 on Zoom, and at your own time with a recording of the Zoom worship.
I hope you will join us for worship! Please also keep the reopening team in your prayers as we continue to move forward. If you haven’t already turned in your survey, please get that back to us.
See you in worship!
Walking with you in Christ,
Pastor Stacy
Vacation Bible School
Posted: June 4th
It’s almost time for VBS!! Join us June 15th for a week of fun. Every family that signs up will receive VBS in a bag. The instructions are easy.
Each day, do the activity and reading for that day. You can do this alone, with someone on the phone, or with the people in your house. You are invited to post pictures and videos to our church facebook page, but you don’t have to. You are also invited to join us each day on Zoom at 5 to talk about the readings together and sign a silly song, but this isn’t required.
Isn’t this easy? Everything is at your own pace, at the time of day that fits your schedule. You can have as much togetherness or aloneness as works for you!
Please let me know if you would like a VBS in a bag and I will put it on the church steps for you!
a poem from Pastor Jerry Bauer
Posted: June 1st
Tallgrass Sermon
Gently rolling hills, sea of green,
prairie grasses blow in the wind
like waves on the sea.
See for miles from top of hills.
Open expanse suggests new
possibilities
beginnings
opportunities.
Invigorate, inspire, motivate me
to try new ventures in life,
possibilities endless as
the rolling prairie.
Silence except for
wind on the grass,
whistling in my ears.
Whistle a word from God;
become who I created
you to be.
Vacation Bible School in Our Homes
Posted: May 28
Pastor Stacy
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
We have the opportunity this year to do something different, and it could end up being pretty amazing! For Martin Luther, the home was the foundation of all instruction as it was the primary training ground for Christian character. Now we are going to be quite Lutheran and have Vacation Bible School in our homes.
The format this year is FAITH5. While this is geared toward houses with more than one individual, FAITH5 can easily be done by people alone in their homes. All you need is a telephone where you can call and check in with someone else!
We will also join together every day at 5 PM on Zoom to talk about what the scripture we’ve read and how we are doing.
VBS will be the week of June 15th, Monday-Friday.
Every day, we will do 5 steps.
STEP 1: SHARE your highs and lows
- What was the best part of your day? What was the worst?
- We can share around the dinner table, at breakfast, or give a friend a call and ask them. They’re likely waiting for someone to ask who actually cares!
STEP 2: READ a Bible verse or story
- If you need a Bible, we have amazing study Bibles available at the church on the pew by the glass door. Everyday, we will study scripture with whomever we shared our highs and our lows.
STEP 3: TALK about how the Bible reading might relate to your highs and lows
- We will have an activity to do each day related to the text. But that shouldn’t stop us from talking about what happened in what we just read! God’s word is most definitely still relevant.
- Did God create something? What can God create out of your high or low?
- Did someone get into trouble? How would that relate?
- Was someone in today’s scripture feeling lonely? Or sad? Or called to go in a new direction?
- What resonates with you in today’s reading? What gives you hope or challenges you?
STEP 4: PRAY for one another’s highs and lows
- Many of us have been praying for each other already during this time. Now, we get to pray out loud and include the highs and lows that were just shared. This is holy time.
STEP 5: BLESS one another
- Each day’s activity instructions will include a blessing. If the person is in our home, we will make the cross on their foreheads. If they are on the phone, we speak the blessing.
Every day, God creates something new within us. The Spirit stirs, and Jesus gives us love and forgiveness. We will take time during the week of Vacation Bible school to do activities, read scripture, listen, and pray. This is time set aside to be present with our God who is already present with us.
Would you like to join us? Please let us know and we will prepare you a special goody bag with everything you need for VBS in the home.
You can email me a reply, send me a text, or give me a call.
I hope you’ll join us.
Walking with you in Christ,
Pastor Stacy
Book Club
Posted: May 27th
Sandy
Anyone interested in ordering a book for the Book Club read, click on the following link and you can buy it for $9.99 right now.
https://www.christianbook.com/liturgy-ordinary-sacred-practices-everyday-life/tish-warren/9780830846788/pd/846788
Procedures to return to In-Person Worship
Posted: May 26th
Congregational Council President
Grace and peace to you all. Attached are two important items for your review.
The reopening team would like to hear your concerns as we undertake the process to safely return to worship at St. John's.
Scholarship Fund
Posted: May 25th
Scholarship Committee
St John's Scholarship Fund offers grants to members ending post-secondary education. This faith-based fund, established in 1978, holds the prayerful hope that the students’ lives will reflect their faith.
Applications are to be returned to Sue Lucht, 529 Adams Ave., Huron, OH 44839 by June 30th.
From our Pastor
“I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes we are the church together!”
This kids’ song has been in my head all week as I have been praying almost constantly for each of you, our community, and our world. We may not be physically together at the moment, and we lament that, but we are still the church together. And we pray with our sisters and brothers here, those across the country, and those around the world for an end to this pandemic, for answers to all of our questions, and for safety and peace. As we pray, we trust that our God hears our prayers, meets us where we are, and surrounds us in love. We also trust that we are still the church caring for others where we find ourselves---making those phone calls, sending cards, dropping off donuts or meals, delivering groceries, and doing everything we can for each other.
The re-opening team is meeting for a second time this week and we look for ways to have meaningful worship that can reach the most people, getting back together in some format. As you are aware, there are many questions related to this and we are working diligently to be as safe as possible and find as many solutions as we can. We still have more questions than answers, but we are chipping away at them. Please hold this team in your prayers.
In the meantime, there is an exciting new thing happening:
- June 7th Bishop Eaton, our presiding Bishop of the entire ELCA, will be providing a sermon. We will likely still have worship on Zoom for this time.
So what will I be doing if I don’t have to write sermons? I will be working on Vacation Bible School, Bible studies, book club, and praying for each of you! Please give me a call if there’s any way I can pray for you specifically.
Vacation Bible School will be in our own homes this year! Martin Luther said that the family unit is where catechism and instruction needs to take place, and we are working for that this summer in a variety of ways. VBS will be for all ages and family sizes, even individuals alone in their homes. You won’t need a computer to participate, but we will have Zoom check-ins. VBS will be the week of June 15th. The week before that, VBS packets will be available to pick up at the church.
Women’s Bible Study:
Will resume, only on Zoom for awhile. We will use the WELCA magazine that we began before the pandemic. To order a subscription to this magazine go to
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89031970716?pwd=dGI3bGxFNzVCVlV5dkIzU1lzdzFndz09
Meeting ID: 890 3197 0716
Password: 865729
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,89031970716#,,1#,865729# US (Germantown)
Zoom Code for Book Club:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87597823292?pwd=aUc2Nitac1RDaWNXWE03M05pSi9uUT09
Meeting ID: 875 9782 3292
Password: 745493
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,87597823292#,,1#,745493# US (Chicago)
Zoom Code for Youth Time:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82183601919?pwd=TDg2R1NnNDJQNmZkbTJLeFpCL2hWdz09
Meeting ID: 821 8360 1919
Password: 754585
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,82183601919#,,1#,754585# US (Germantown)
Zoom code for Daily Prayer
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/599020207?pwd=eUc3SHBSZ0RHNjRPbkwrUWhKS1Rldz09
Meeting ID: 599 020 207
Password: 026198
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,599020207#,,1#,026198# US (New York)
I hope you are able to find a way to join us! You are an important part of the St. John’s family. Please let me know if there is anything you would like to talk about or pray about together. (419-680-0358).
Walking with you in Christ,
Pastor Stacy
“A Family of Disciples Faithfully Making Christ Known”
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