We had our end of Sunday School celebration a couple weeks ago, our annual Spring congregational meeting was yesterday where we elected several new council members, we gave out 11 scholarships to graduating seniors and other college students, this coming weekend we begin our summer worship schedule (Saturday 6pm, Sunday 9:30am) and the roads in Vero Beach are pretty empty! All reminders that summer is about here.
In some ways that makes for a change of pace, but that doesn’t mean a lot isn’t happening! This first weekend of our summer schedule coming up is coincidentally also Pentecost Sunday. This is one of the major festival days of the church year, so we’ll be wearing red, have our children process with streamers and hear again that Pentecost story in several different languages. This will also be the first weekend for our new director of music, Ryan Hostler! So, be sure to be here to meet Ryan and give him a warm welcome. He was going to begin with us the first of June, but we felt that Pentecost Sunday, with the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit, breathing God’s Life into the church, would be a good first weekend to have Ryan with us as he begins his work with us and a new day dawns for our music ministry.
Among other things going on, mark your calendars and plan on joining us Wednesday, May 30, as Pastor Kevin Jacobson and Vicar Aretha will be our guests to tell us about the church in Suriname. A lasagna dinner will be a part of this evening. It all begins at 5pm in the church. Please email us or sign the sheet in the narthex to let us know if you’re coming so we can plan the dinner.
Finally, a little reflection on yesterday’s worship and sermon. We celebrated the Ascension of our Lord. After being with his disciples for those 3 or so years, Jesus was now about to leave them in the physical way he’d been with them. But that had to happen so that what He began (ushering in the Kingdom of God, breathing Resurrection Life into God’s world) could now spread throughout the world, like leaven in the loaf. And as he left, he was entrusting this Life Giving message to his disciples and all who would follow. But he didn’t send them (and doesn’t send us) out alone. He sent them with a promise that is still ours: he gives us the power from on high, the Holy Spirit; he comes to us in his Word; washes us clean in Baptism; feeds us with himself at his table; and he promises to be with us to the end of the age. Now what? That’s what the history of the church has been, God’s people just trying to figure it all out! What that all means. It’s an ongoing process. There are no simple or simplistic answers to the challenges and complex issues of the day. But we face them with hope, courage and faith, and not in fear, as we just try to figure it all out…together. And there’s something freeing about being in that place, and living with God’s promises, as we continue to try to figure it out together.
For the many other things going on at Our Savior, please visit our website at: www.oursaviorelca.com.
See you in church! Pastor Jack Diehl +
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