Worship In the Park Went Well
Our LIFT Christmas in July service at Birchard Park went well, with over 100 persons from St. John's, Grace, St. Mark, Emanuel, Trinity, Hayes UMC, and Camino da Vida in attendance. Pr. Paul did a phoenominal job of putting it all together and preaching the sermon in both English and Spanish. The pastries were tasty and the coffee was hot. Could be a regular thing on the last Sunday of July.
Fall Planning
Staff met for an extended session to discuss the plans for our fall Schedule. Many things will remain the same - Spirit will resume on Wednesday, September 13 with supper beginning at 5pm. Maureen and I will lead small group studies beginning at 6:00 pm. Full details will appear in the September Grace and Truth.
One thing that will change is Confirmation, which will return to a noon til 1:15 pm on Sunday schedule. The split schedule we used last year, teaching the same lesson twice, once at St. John's and once at Grace really didn't work out well.
God's Work Our Hands Planning Underway
For the past ten years, the first Sunday after Labor Day weekend has been designated as “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday. This year that date is Sunday, September 10, 2023. This from the ELCA God's Work Our Hands web page:
This day is an opportunity to celebrate who we are as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – one church, freed in Christ to serve and love our neighbor.
Service activities offer an opportunity for us to explore one of our most basic convictions as Lutherans: that all of life in Jesus Christ – every act of service, in every daily calling, in every corner of life – flows freely from a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.
We have begun to discuss ways that we can observe this day as a LIFT activity, and join thousands of other ELCA congregations in serving our neighbor on this day. Some ideas have included trimming an overgrown trail at Blue Heron Reserve. We discussed other activities that could take place at the church for those who need a project that is not overly physical. You can view and download a God's Work Our Hands Toolkit which has lots of ideas. We are open to more ideas. LIFT Leaders are meeting this Wednesday at noon to finalize some plans
Sympathy to Family of Pastor Mary Carmen
This week this message to the LIFT Board was received from Pr. Paul:
Dear LIFT Board,
Pastor Mary Carmen asked me to pass on a prayer request as she and Leo grieve the death of their brother-in-law, Ernesto De León. They are in Monterrey with family at this time. May God’s peace comfort them in the midst of mourning.
Ernesto was 61 years old at the time of his death.
Stewardship Team Meets with Jennie Wolf Smith
The Stewardship Team met for their monthly meeting on Wednesday, and most of our meeting was dedicated to a Zoom with Jennie Wolf Smith, who is the consultant from GSB Fundraising for our participation in the program Stewardship for All Seasons. Jennie reminded us of some of the process things that we should be doing, including telling as many stories as possible of the ministry that's happening at grace, and begin to plan for some new ministry and any additional funds that may be needed for ministry in 2024. Major elements of our program are outlined in this schedule:
- Saturday, September 23, 2023 Drafts of all written materials completed
- Saturday, September 30, 2023 Gift Tables Complete, Text and Graphics sent to Graphic Designer
- Saturday, October 7, 2023 graphic design complete and to printer
- Sunday, October 15, 2023 Announcement Sunday
- Monday, October 16, 2023 Letter #1 Mailed
- Sunday, October 22, 2023 Temple Talk #1, Bulletin insert #1
- Sunday, October 29, 2023 Temple Talk #2, bulletin insert #2
- Sunday, November 5, 2023 Temple Talk #3, bulletin insert #3
- Monday, November 6, 2023 Mail letter #2 with brochure and statement of intent
- Sunday, November 12, 2023 Appeal Sunday
- Monday, November 13, 2023 Begin tallying responses and preparing thank you notes
We have lots of work to do to create our written materials and graphics, but fortunately we will have lots of help from the Stewardship for All Seasons handbook, and excellent coaching from Jennie. We will also be sharing all of our ideas with our five other cohort congregations in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Indiana and Iowa through a collaboration website called Basecamp. We have two more Zoom meetings this month - one with our cohort led by Jennie, and another with all the congregations in several cohorts across the US.
Our goals include promoting the concepts of abundance and generosity.
Worship Committee Meets
Worship Committee met for their monthly meeting on Wednesday. We reviewed the Worship Planners for August and September. We decided to keep using ELW Setting 10 through Labor Day weekend, and then move to ELW Setting 3 for the fall until Advent.
We had quite a bit of discussion regarding the holiday schedule around Christmas and New Year's. We settled on doing a regular Saturday/Sunday schedule on December 23/24 for Fourth Sunday of Advent, and then hold Christmas Eve service in the afternoon/evening with services at 5:00 and 9:00. Then the following New Year's Eve weekend we'll plan on a LIFT series of services using Lessons and Carols, details TBD.
We agreed that we would recommend to council that we continue the Sunday service schedule of one service at 9:00 am.
LIFT Shows Up for Fremont Community Cookout
On Tuesday, the City of Fremont sponsored the second of two community cookouts focused on park cleanup and community awareness. Several groups set up information tables at the cookout, including LIFT and Noah's Ark Preschool. You can read more about the event HERE. Pastor Paul posted a photo of the LIFT Grace group that was present, which you can view HERE.
Evangelical Lutheran Worship Hymnal Campaign Update
Linda reports that to date the church office has received funding and pledges for 165 hymnals, towards our goal of 300. If you haven't pledged your support yet, won't you help us reach our goal? Sponsorship forms can be found on the tables at both entrances, or online HERE.
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