Interim Grace Notes for March 3, 2023

Kristen Will Provide Call Committee Update Sunday at 10am

Grace Call Committee Chair Kristen Lindsay will provide a brief update on the call process at the beginning of the 10:00 service.

Grace Choir is Growing and Rehearsing for a Cantata

You may have noticed that the Grace choir has a few new members, which, of course, is always good news. So far, new choir members are from outside the congregation, and there may be some movement on one or more to become members. The choir is currently rehearsing for a Lenten Cantata at all three weekend services for the 4th Sunday in Lent (Laetere Sunday or Rose Sunday), March 18-19.

First Wednesday Committees Meet

Our First Wednesday committee meetings (Stewardship, 11:00 am; Worship, 1:00 pm) came fast this month, with the first Wednesday on March 1. In Stewardship, we reviewed our need for new interviews for Grace Stories. I did an interview on Wednesday evening after worship, and it will appear in the April newsletter. In our Worship Committee, we spent a fair amount of our meeting discussing liturgical settings for Easter and the Summer months of Pentecost. We will use ELW Setting 4 (LBW 2) beginning Easter Sunday and continuing through the Easter Season, and then move the With One Voice Setting 5 beginning on Pentecost, with about three Sundays prior to hear and learn the several musical settings. We also discussed Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

Interim Pastors Zoom Meeting

On Thursday I joined a monthly Zoom meeting of interim pastors from across the US. It is always good to touch base with others who are involved in interim ministry. At this meeting was a pastor who was called to one of my interim congregations, and after about six years in that call went back to grad school and is also doing part time interim ministry in a congregation. The main topic of our meeting was "Shared Ministry," as so many of our congregations are looking to this model of ministry to be able to afford a full-time pastor.

Meeting with LSS Mission Advancement Coordinator

Following a suggestion by Grace member George Dupey, who is a case manager for Lutheran Social Services (LSS), the LSS Mission Advancement Coordinator for Lutheran Social Services of Northwest Ohio, Jeremy Schneider, has reached out for a meeting with pastoral staff at Grace to update us on what LSS has been doing in Fremont and NW Ohio currently. We have arranged a meeting at Grace on Tuesday, March 28, at 11:00 am. If any of you have questions about LSS, you can let us know, or even join the meeting. Grace has been contributing $4,500 per year from the Endowment Fund in recent years to Lutheran Social Services. It will be good to get some first hand information about how our Endowment gifts are being used for ministry outreach.

LIFT Lenten Devotional

Pastor Paul has put together a Lenten Devotional resource with the theme "Sing With All the Saints in Glory." Here is a description from the LIFT website:

Like our Advent booklet, it will again be a printed resource and content shared on social media. The theme, Sing with All the Saints in Glory, is taken from a midweek Lenten series from Sundays and Seasons. St. Mark Lutheran Church in Fremont will be using this theme for Wednesday night services. The series, and this devotional based on it, uses the lives of the saints commemorated on the church calendar during these weeks of Lent. We have included several first-hand accounts of faithful saints, written by members of LIFT congregations. These will mostly appear on Mondays. We are also including prayer themes, scripture texts, and other resources from the Lenten series.

You can view and read the devotional resource HERE.

Some Links for You

• Just Three Things - ICYMI, arrived in your email inbox this morning.
• ELCA Global Links - The latest ministry happening among our global partner churches.
• ELCA Seeds Monthly - A montly publication for ELCA Congregation leaders. February issue. Not sure why this always arrives at the end of the month of publication.

Midweek Lent Series "Amazing Grace" Continues Wednesday

Join us for our Amazing Grace Lenten series based on the beloved song that celebrates its 250th anniversary this year. In this week’s service, we will see God’s amazing grace at work in the life of the Prodigal Son. Supper is served beginning at 5:30 pm, and worship begins at 6:30 pm.