We are returning to normal . . . almost

Nearly fifteen months after we stopped gathering for indoor worship, there is light at the end of this COVID tunnel. Our council had scheduled a meeting to review the worship leaders’ suggestions for beginning indoor worship on June 6. However, our governor beat us to the punchline.

COVID-19 is not a joke. We take seriously the health of our members and staff as well as the community. Thank you for your support over the past year while we didn’t meet inside, but continued to be Messiah Lutheran Church, the body of Christ, in this world.

So here’s our plan.

Beginning Sunday, June 6, we will offer two worship services on a Sunday. As for our Saturday evening service, they will resume soon as we work on staffing for that service.

As we resume our services, we will follow CDC and state guidelines for indoor gatherings – masks, some distancing, etc. Also, there will be no congregational singing inside the sanctuary until the nation or local vaccination level is between 75-80%. This based on our music staff knowledge and the Center for Congregational Song (www.congregationalsong.org) data.

The 8:30 am service will be indoors and live-streamed. Our service will be led with the organ, and a vocalist will sing from the library. This setup worked well for us last August.

The second service, 10:00 am, will be led by 103Alive! This service will be outdoors unless there is inclement weather, then it will be indoors. Either way, it will be live-streamed. We are cautious with timing between the services since it can take almost an hour to set up the equipment. This fall, this service time will move to 11:00 am on Sunday, September 12 (this is the Sunday after Labor Day), as we look at how Growing God’s Way (GGW) will resume in the fall.

Volunteers are needed. Over the next few weeks, we will need to get our sanctuary cleaned after more than a year of unuse. We’ll also resume the use of readers for the lessons, ushers, acolytes, audio-video techs, worship assistants, etc. Watch the bulletin and weekly emails for updates on cleaning opportunities.

God’s peace,
Pastor Tim

No Foolin’!

April Fools’ Day! Maundy Thursday, which falls on April 1, signals the beginning of the Easter Triduum, a time that marks the transition between the seasons of Lent and Easter. These three days – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil – call us to reflect on God’s love through Jesus for all the world.

April Fools’ Day’s origin doesn’t go back to Biblical times (somewhere between the late 1300s and the early 1500s). However, the disciples responded to Jesus’ action of washing their feet after the Upper Room meal as if Jesus was playing a joke on them.

Jesus was not a jokester. This action, something a Gentile servant did for the guests of the household owner, a wife did for her husband, children did for their parents, or disciples did for their teacher, caught the disciples off guard. This decisive action by Jesus, the one who knew that the Father had put all things into his hands (John 13:3) “now takes his disciples’ feet into his hands to wash them.” (Augustine). Simon Peter didn’t get it even after questioning Jesus and then requesting his whole body to be washed. Jesus even washed Judas’ feet.

Jesus has set an example – to do as he has done. He gave us a new commandment to love one another. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another … everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” That was Jesus’ “mic drop.”

What would our world look like if we loved one another? We’ve seen so much hate and division among people in our country and worldwide, especially during this past year, let alone over the decades and centuries. Jesus wasn’t kidding when he gave us this new command – two millenniums ago!

The Triduum continues through Good Friday and then the Easter Vigil. We then celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ’s Resurrection as he conquered sin and death for you, me, and the world.

During the coming weeks in the Easter season, reflect on this command from Jesus. Look at your life and see where you fall short. Repent and hear the words of forgiveness in the resurrection of Christ. Have a Blessed Easter!

Pastor Tim

Here we are. One year later from when the ways we enjoyed our lives changed. We learned to live differently, a way in which we find ourselves very uncomfortable. Over the past year, we’ve experienced community in ways like never before. The Lenten invitation spoken on Ash Wednesday reminds us that we enter this season together “with the whole church.” We then hear that “we are created for communion with God, to love one another, and to live in harmony with creation.” Our Lenten practices invite us to individual acts of “repentance, prayer, and fasting, sacrificial given and works of love,” Lent is also a time for deepening of community.

Our Lenten focus this year is “Created for Community.” Using the Sunday Gospel readings as our guide, we’ll look at being “In Community” with creation, with all the saints, with our neighbor, with those on the margins, and with Christ. Our service format each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. will be “Holden Evening Prayer.”

Each Wednesday, we’ll engage the Gospel reading using a Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) process, which involves read/listen, meditate, pray, and contemplate. We’ll hear the lesson three times, listening to it differently each time. The first time, we’ll listen for a word or short phrase that stands out to you. Listening to it a second time, we’ll listen for a way in which God is speaking to you personally. And hearing it the third time, we’ll listen for a way in which God is speaking to the community/communities to which you belong.

For Ash Wednesday, we’ll offer a drive-thru opportunity for the imposition of ashes. From 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., we’ll be here in the parking lot to apply ashes to your forehead in a safe way. You may also pick-up some pre-filled communion chalices and wafers.

Continuing to use an abundance of caution, our services through the end of March will be online; this includes our two Sunday services, our Ash Wednesday service, and our mid-week Lenten services. www.MessiahEvents.com/Zoom or www.MessiahEvents.com/YouTubeLive

On Ash Wednesday, we will offer a drive-thru imposition of ashes at the church from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Our Ash Wednesday Holy Communion service will be online at 7:30 p.m.

May you have a blessed Lenten Season.

God’s peace,
Pastor Tim

News Year’s Eve 2020. We waited with great anticipation for the clock to strike midnight and the Ball in Time Square to drop hoping that with a flip of the calendar, 2021 will be a better year.

Last year was filled with much heartache. From the changes to daily-life that the Covid-19 virus brought upon us to the politically polarizing elections which divided us. 2020 saw us trying to understand the world through the eyes of others, especially those of our sisters and brothers whose skin is black or brown.

I reviewed my article from January 2020 to see what I wrote. I spoke of fine-tuning our lives by looking beyond ourselves and basing our lives and ministry on how Christ lived and acted.

I spoke of seeing the forgiveness and mercy Jesus brings to humanity. How he lifted people so that they saw themselves in a new light – freed from what was holding them down – allowing them to live anew.

This year (and I write this on January 7, the day after Epiphany and as well as the day after the bizarre events at the U.S. Capitol building), I would like us to draw our focus from the lessons of the Epiphany of our Lord. According to Matthew, the Magi follow the star until it stopped. And there, hardly able to contain themselves with the joy they felt, they entered the house and upon seeing the child with Mary, they knelt down and worshiped him presenting him with their gifts.

This new year will have much opportunity to share the gifts God has given us. Even though we continue to Zoom our worship services at this time and operate not from within the walls of our building, there is much opportunity to use the gifts that God has provided.

The Isaiah 60 text for Epiphany calls us to, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Yes, the light of Christ has come upon us. Let us live as beacons of hope in this world. Let us reach out to family, neighbors, those around us, and those around the world with forgiveness, strength, and love through Christ who forgives us, heals us and loves us no matter what.

May the year 2021 be one of great promise for this world in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior! Pastor Tim

Advent is upon us. It is the beginning of a new Church year. What are you looking forward to? What this new year us? Last year at this time, we spoke of the themes of Advent, but perhaps they did not sink into our beings. Now, standing at the threshold of the new year, listen again to the themes of Advent for our uncharted journey into the new year as Advent counts us down to Christmas – God’s inbreaking into this world through Christ Jesus’ birth. The themes will fill our lives and take on new meaning during this time – Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

We hear of the hope of a savior for this world. One who will free us the that which confines us – sin and death. We celebrate the peace he will establish on earth. Joy fills us as we hear of the angels’ announcement of his birth. And we celebrate Christ’s birth, the ultimate expression of God’s love for humanity.

Signs of God – hope, peace, joy, and love – give us strength for this time. God’s love is unshakeable. His joy lifts us up when we are down.

His peace passes all understanding. And knowing all this gives us hope. As Paul writes, “May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY and PEACE in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. (Romans 15:13–14, NRSV).

Let this Advent help us to see these qualities (Hope, Peace, Joy and Love) of God in not only our lives but those around us. May our lives and ministry reflect them in every season.

May you have a blessed Christmas!

Pastor Tim