Wow....and baseball caps.

First, the baseball caps.   Next week 2 of our own, Barbara Russell and Ben Smith are both going off on 2 different mission trips. 

 

Ben is going to Suriname to help at an orphanage for 3 months, which will include, when he first arrives, helping shop for the backpacks you all helped provide ($2500 worth, which includes school uniforms and school supplies!), then delivering them to the orphanage as he begins his work there.  

 

Barbara is going on a shorter trip to Cuba.  This is where the baseball caps come in.  One of the things folks often do on mission trips is bring gifts for the people they will be visiting.  Along with some fishing hooks and line, Barbara would like to bring baseball caps, with names/logos of professional baseball teams.  Those kinds of caps are very popular in Cuba.  If you have one or more baseball caps with a baseball team’s name or logo that you could part with, please bring it to church this weekend and Barbara will bring it with her on her Cuba trip.  Just one more little way of spreading good will and peace in a world where there is a great need for both.  Thanks!

 

OK, now the Wow part!   This past Monday I sent out an email with a “work in progress” possible “Welcome” greeting for our church brochures and website.  What a wonderful response we’ve had!   But before that, let me give some background.  A form of this “Welcome” has been floating around for some years now in various Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches (maybe others…but those are the ones I’ve heard of).   There is no “copyright” on it, as it has been adapted for the various settings where it’s been used.  I talked to a Lutheran pastor in Colorado who has used this for several years.  He said they have had very positive responses to it.  The statement that was in the last email was an adaptation to our setting, which your council has been working on.   

 

First, here are a couple of really touching responses from two of our young members who grew up here at Our Savior, who are on our email list, and who are off to college doing post graduate work.  

 

“Pastor Jack, I read this email because I needed a pick me up right before bed.  I started reading the welcome statement and just started crying.  I think it is perfect.   In a world where so much is messed up it reminded me that all that truly matters is Jesus’ love for each and every single person that has ever been or will ever be on this earth. It’s an honor to call OSLC my church home with a statement like that.   L.A. “   

 

  “I really like the welcome statement. I’ve always felt that OSCL was very welcoming to people and it took a few years after leaving Vero to learn that other churches aren’t.  I was surprised to learn that some churches try to influence the political decision making of their congregation and I’m still infuriated to know that some churches tell groups of people that God hates them.  Keep up the good work.   A.B.” 

 

Along with these responses, we have received many really kind words and helpful suggestions and ideas.  So, this work in progress will continue, and there will be an official “Welcome” statement coming soon.   A sincere thanks for all of your thoughts, comments and suggestions.   It’s so wonderful to have so many involved in something like this.   And that is so good, because the statement does begin….”WE welcome you….”.  And that “WE” includes all of you!

 

Gratefully,       Pastor Jack Diehl +              www.oursaviorelca.com

OSE-news: 9/10/12

 

We're back to our regular schedule with worship at 6pm Saturday and 8:30 and 11am Sunday with Sunday School at 9:45.  And you could tell, by the buzz of activity and kids everywhere!  In fact, it looks like we might be moving the one adult class from room 4 into one end of the Fellowship Hall, since both that adult class and the next door kid's class were both so crowded.  Just watch for signs and announcements next week.  In any case, it was a great start to the Sunday School year.

 

 In worship this past weekend we heard about "Insiders" and "Outsiders", and how the world likes to make those distinctions.   But we also saw how God's mercy is big enough to break down those kind of barriers and make insiders out of outsiders....insiders of God's New Day, the Kingdom of God unfolding around and among us.   In addition to that, our reading from James was about not showing favoritism or making distinctions among ourselves.    In that light, the staff and church council are working on a "Welcome statement” to be used in our church brochures, which are placed in local Motels and on our website.  This "Welcome statement” is what I shared at the conclusion of yesterday's sermon.  We received many favorable comments about it and requests to see it in writing.  And we do invite your thoughts and input...be it grammatical or content wise.  After all, if this is put in our brochures and on our website, it will be something that comes from YOU, the people of Our Savior, for it begins, "WE welcome you....".    So, here it is:

 

We welcome you to Our Savior Lutheran Church.  We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, black, brown or white.  We extend a special welcome to those who are crying newborns, squirming children, and frazzled moms and dads.  We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like some of us, who can't carry a note in a bucket.  You're welcome here if you're "just browsing", just woke up or just got out of jail.  We don't care if you're more Lutheran than Martin Luther, or haven't been in church since little Joey's Baptism.  We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast.  We welcome starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians and junk-food eaters.  We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted.  We welcome you if you're having problems or you're down in the the dumps or if you don't like "organized religion", we've been there too.  We offer a special welcome to those who are left-wing, right-wing, or middle of the road.  If you are only here because you are visiting grandma and she wanted you to go to church with her, we welcome you.  We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both.  We welcome those in flip flops or three piece suits.  We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now.  We welcome vacationers, snow-birds, year-rounders, seekers, doubters....and you!  We welcome you to Our Savior Lutheran Church, because we are a place of saints and sinners of all kinds who are here by the grace of God.

 

And speaking of being a place of saints and sinners of all kinds, we're calling all musical saints and sinners to gather this Wednesday evening.  Handbell practice begins at 5:30pm and choir practice at 7pm.  At both gatherings there will be conversation as to the best meeting times, so come with your thoughts and your musical gift, however big or small it may be.  Or, if you have a musical gift that might not fit into a handbell or other choir, give Ryan, our minister of music a call, and see how your gift might be shared.  He has a wonderful way of putting all of our musical gifts to use!  

 

On Thursday at 6:30pm our Health Ministry Team will be meeting.   If you have any medical background, or would be interested in what that team is about and what they do, please join them.  They are always open to new members and ideas. 

 

And speaking of open to ideas, the new adult Sunday School class on Ethics wanted me to ask the question, “How do you live ethically every day?”  They would love to have you join them (in the Quiet Room off of the narthex during the Sunday School hour, beginning at 9:45am) or reply to this email and we’ll pass your reply along to the class.   Thanks.

 

For more information about life at Our Savior, please visit our website at www.oursaviorelca.com  (and watch for a new website that is presently in the works....coming within the next several weeks.)

 

Have a blessed week, and be a blessing to someone!       Pastor A.C. 'Jack' Diehl III  + 

 

Labor Day 2012

 

What a wonderful weekend in worship, as so many wore their ‘work clothes’ and put their business cards on the bulletin board in the chancel.  It was a great celebration of who we are and what we do during the week.  The bulletin board will be hanging in on the north wall in church for the rest of September, if you’d like to add your business card, or just go see who does what.  After that we hang that board in the church office until next Labor Day.  That way, if someone calls and asks about a plumber, or lawyer, or fishing captain, we can go to our board and see who does those things.   Many thanks to all who were a part of that today.   The whole day gives special meaning to “God’s work; our hands” out in the world. 

 

As the week unfolds, the church office will be closed on Labor Day Monday.  Hope everyone has a good first holiday of the school year/ending holiday of “summer”….even though it will still feel like summer here in Florida for several more weeks. 

 

On Tuesday evening at 6:30pm in the new ‘Quiet Room’ off of the narthex, a new group, “Run for God” begins.  This group will include Bible study and actual running (or walking) depending on one’s capabilities.   

 

On Wednesday, a ‘Prayer and Meditation’ group meets at noon in that same “Quiet Room”.   (The time had ‘fallen off’ the page in this past weekend’s bulletin.)

 

Next weekend we return to our regular worship schedule (6pm Saturday, 8:30 and 11am Sunday) and Sunday School resumes with classes for all ages (including 2 adult classes) at 9:45. 

 

For more information about life at Our Savior, please visit our website at:  www.oursaviorelca.com.

 

May you all have a safe and blessed Labor Day and first week of September.    See you in church!     Pastor Jack Diehl +

 

OSE-news: stormy morning 8/27

 

 

From: Our Savior Lutheran Church
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2012 10:18 AM
To: Our Savior Lutheran Church
Subject: OSE-news: stormy morning 8/27

 

On this early Monday morning, it is only a bit blustery with some dark gray skies, and not even any rain at the moment.  It looks like Tropical Storm Isaac (or Hurricane Isaac) won’t be much of an issue for us. We hope the same for others in the Gulf coast.  I found it a bit interesting that officially the tropical storm warning for Vero Beach ended at 1am this morning, but about 3am the wind and rain were more powerful than anything out of this whole event!  Go figure.    

 

So, another week begins.  And as we are now in about the peak of the Hurricane season, and we hear about evacuation plans, the statement Peter made in our Gospel yesterday seems fitting:  “Lord to whom shall we go?”  When we find our self in a dark or stormy place in our lives, or lost, or worried, or angry or frightened and wonder,  “Lord to whom shall we go?”  we then hear Peter also say, “You have the words of eternal Life.”   It’s in those difficult places where we often are reminded that what we really need is to be more open to what God is trying to tell us, and open to where God would lead us.  As I look back on my life, it seems those difficult or scary times were also the faith building times…if we look to the one to whom we should always go…in good times and in bad.  If stormy times help us do that, bring ‘em on!  Then hold us close to you, O Lord.

 

 

Sunday School Registration Night! This Wednesday, August 29th, 6:00pm in the Fellowship Hall. There will be pizza, salad, banana Splits, craft activities for the kids, and registration for the upcoming Sunday School year. Also, at 6:15pm there will be a meeting for all Confirmation Students (7th-9th grade) in Rooms 4-5, and Youth Group at the usual time at 6:30pm. If you have never been to Youth Group before this is a great night to try it out!  

 

This coming weekend, Labor Day weekend, will be the last of our summer schedule, with worship on Saturday at 6pm (as it is all year long), but this will be the last Sunday with worship at 9:30am.   Also, on this Labor Day weekend, we will be celebrating the work we do all week long!   So, we are inviting our folks to wear what they would normally wear for work, or what you wear when you volunteer in the community.  We’re also asking everyone to bring business cards to post on a bulletin board that we will have in church.  Or if you don’t have a card we’ll have sticky notes  to write on.  This is becoming a special tradition in our congregation and a way to get to know and celebrate what everyone does during the week with the gifts God has given them.  Hope you can join us.  The following weekend, Sept. 8-9, we return to our regular schedule of worship at 6pm on Saturday and 8:30 and 11am on Sunday, with Sunday School at 9:45am. 

 

 Calling all runners, would-be runners, might-be runners . . . on the Tuesday, Sept. 4th at 6:30pm we will kick off our Run for God program. This first night will be a chance to learn about the program and to get started, we won't do any running together this first night, so no need to dress in workout clothes, just come to learn more. This program is a great way to spend some intentional time on physical and spiritual health all together! Reply to this email, let Pastor Shelly know, or call Jim Tardi (772-321-9820) if you are interested so we can order enough participant workout guides ($19each).  

 

For more information about life at Our Savior, please visit our website at:   www.oursaviorelca.com. 

 

Thanks, see you in church, and have a blessed week!       Pastor Jack Diehl +

 

 

O.S.E-news: 8/20/12

What a great way to start the school year!   The chancel was filled this weekend during worship at the time of the creed and prayers as children, teachers, and support staff for our schools gathered for the "Blessing of the Backpacks" and to be prayed for as another school year begins.  How great it was to see everyone again after a lot of vacations and traveling has kept us scattered throughout the summer.  

 

Along with that blessing, Bonnie Lanyi, in her sermon gave us a particular image to carry with us into this week and into another school year.   That is, in communion, as we receive Christ himself in the bread and wine, He becomes a part of us on a cellular level.   Not in the "cell phone" sense of "cellular" but in the physiological sense, as that bread and wine, the Living Bread, Jesus Himself permeates our bodies and becomes a part of our very cells.   Think about that.  How can it be business as usual knowing that Christ is a part of who we are and what we do, and that we are connected with God on a deep level like that?  Thanks for that image, Bonnie, as another school year begins.

 

This coming week our Church Council meets on Tuesday at 7pm.  For this meeting we will open with a 20 minute video of Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, from this past summer's ELCA Youth Gathering.  That will be followed by developing a welcoming statement for our congregation.  If anyone is interested in being a part of this, as always, council meetings are open and you'd be welcome to attend.   We will probably be meeting in the sanctuary this Tuesday to be able to best view the video.  

 

Youth Group continues meeting on Wednesday at 6:30pm.  This week the Youth Group will also meet in the sanctuary and watch that video, followed by a musical jam session, along with finalizing plans for Rock the Universe coming up in September.   All kids, middle school through high school are welcome.  In this sometimes crazy world, a time and place like this for our kids is a good way for them to be grounded and centered in a relationship with God and each other.  What better place to be?

 

As this new school year begins, be watching for updates and activities in these emails, and also check our website at:   www.oursaviorelca.com.      

 

Have a blessed week, and we'll see you in church!     Pastor Jack Diehl +  

 

PS....Yay!  Pastor Shelly returns from vacation this week!

O.S.E-news; August 13, 2012

 

“Whoever eats this Bread will live forever.”    These are words we’ve been hearing in worship during these “Bread Sundays” in this year’s lectionary.  In yesterday’s sermon I quoted Joe Sittler, a pastor and professor emeritus of theology in Chicago, who had gone nearly blind in his old age and, before he died, shared these thoughts about life after death.  By request, here is that quotation:

 

“Intellectually, I cannot put any content into the word “live” with regard to the time after I die.  Because the only life I know is the finite one that I love before dying.  I certainly don’t want to do this all over again.  I definitely do not want to continue to love the present carcass into all eternity.  That is an absurd and not at all pleasant idea.  But what life beyond death might be, I have no notion.  If all life is engendered and created by God, then that relationship will not be destroyed by the periodic appearance and disappearance of this particular person with my name.  Something continues, but what that will be I’m perfectly willing to leave in the hands of the Originator.”

 

And, in the hands of the Originator is a pretty good place to be, both for eternity and for every day until then!

 

This coming weekend, Sept. 18-19, we will be putting in the hands of “the Originator” our students and teachers on our annual “Blessing of the Backpacks” weekend!   With school around the corner, what better way to begin, than asking God’s blessings on our children and their teachers.   Our children are asked to bring their backpacks and our teachers to bring their lesson plans books, all of which we will lay under the altar as we come into church.  At the time of the prayers during worship, we’ll invite the children and teachers to come forward for a blessing.      In addition to this we will also be gathering an offering for “Backpacks for Suriname” this weekend.  This year the Lutheran Church in Suriname is one of the places we will be helping students, in an orphanage there, with school supplies.   Our offering (of any amount) will be going toward purchasing backpacks which will be supplied with a school uniform, shoes, and gym clothes along with pencils, paper and other school supplies.  The cost of each fully stocked backpack is $50.   Any amount you’re able to give will go toward this project, and we’ve already had an offer from someone to purchase a number of these backpacks and “even out” whatever amount is gathered to fill more backpacks.   As an added bonus, one of our own college students, Ben Smith is making plans to go to Suriname to volunteer at that orphanage.  If we can arrange the timing of it all, Ben can actually bring the gift and present it in person, as well as work with the children at the orphanage.  So, plan on joining us for worship this weekend as we come to receive the Bread of Life, send our children and teachers into a new school year with that blessing, and also share that Bread in a tangible way with some children in Suriname. 

 

On a “for your information” note, tomorrow, Tuesday Aug. 14 will be “Glue Day” at Our Savior as our property guys, headed up by Mark Davia, will be securing the pews to the tile floor.  If you haven’t yet seen the completed tile project, you will be impressed.  It’s really beautiful, and all the tile contributes to a great, bright sound and wonderful singing. 

 

For other information about life at Our Savior, be sure to visit our website at:  www.oursaviorelca.com, which will, by the way, receive some major updates in the not too distant future….so keep posted.

 

May you all have a blessed week.       Pastor Jack Diehl +

 

 

OSE-news: August 6, 2012

 

One day at a time….that’s the way God provided manna from heaven to the wilderness bound Israelites.  And that’s the way God provides for us.   What that is, is a call to faith on our part.  But we can trust in God to provide, because God is faithful, and has proven to be that over the ages, in good times and bad, in wilderness times and in times of plenty. 

 

As this week now unfolds, here are some ways and settings in which we can live out that trusting relationship with God. 

 

Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 7, at 6pm, there will be an “Interfaith Drumming Event” at Temple Beth Shalom, with just our two congregations, as we see what it’s like “being in rhythm together”.   This is for children and adults alike. 

 

On Wednesday our Youth Group will be meeting at its regular time (6:30pm).  We are inviting all members of the Youth Group and their parents to be a part of this gathering as we look ahead to this new school year, share what has been the best part about Youth Group, what we can do better perhaps, or what new things we might want to try.  We also realize that this is “Band Camp” week, so a number of our regulars will be making music elsewhere.  But we will be open to any thoughts or ideas that they or any others would like to email or bring in at another time.   Special thanks to Ed and Kelly Elsebough for being a couple of the key people in our ongoing Youth Ministry. 

 

Looking ahead, the week of August 18-19 will be the “Blessing of the Backpacks”, along with an opportunity to give a monetary donation to provide backpacks for students in Suriname.  Watch for more info as we get closer to that weekend. 

 

And looking a little farther ahead, do you like to run?  “Run for God” is a 3 month program that will start Tuesday Sept. 4 which will connect your physical and spiritual well being in a program that combines Bible Study and running!  How cool does that sound?!   Our thanks to Jim Tardi for spearheading this program. 

 

Finally, in the “Lost and Found” department, a nice camera, with a telephoto lens, has shown up in the lobby in church.  If you are missing this camera or know of someone who is, let us know. 

 

For more information about life at Our Savior, please visit our website at:  www.oursaviorelca.com.

 

May you have a blessed week, experiencing, and sharing, God’s grace one day at a time.    Pastor Jack +