School Age Sunday School
Pre-K through 6th grade will meet in the Spirit Center following worship each week.
Confirmation Youth and Adult Christian Education
We will meet in the nave following worship each week. This series will cover Church history, Apostles creed and the Lord’s prayer.
Dear Spirit brothers and sisters,
A few of my favorite saints were born in November– Martin Luther, Martin of Tours, and Julian of Norwich. The woman we know as “Julian” was born on November 8, 1342. When she was thirty years old she suffered a traumatic, near-death event in which she received a series of revelations.
Following this time at the border between life and death, she composed the earliest known book to be published by a woman in the English language.
Her book’s most famous quote is, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
While this might sound like a “positive attitude” quote, it is not, because Julian’s medieval world was filled with wars, famines, plagues, terrorism, and thousands of people living in abject poverty. To Jesus she once protested, “Why didn’t God create us to be pure and holy to spare us all this trouble!” Then she received this insight from Jesus:
1. Sin is necessary for you to learn your limitations as human beings.
2. To learn your limitations means you will fail.
3. Failure means you will sin.
4. Sin reveals your need for God’s grace.
5. In order for you to relax and trust God amidst life’s many troubles and traumas, you must learn to rely upon God’s goodness instead of your own goodness.
6. When you discover this, by God’s grace, then you will realize: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
Last month, the Courier cover featured this Julian of Norwich quote, “God loved us because he made us. And this love has never diminished and never shall.”
One morning I was surprised to receive an email with this painted icon from one of your previous interim ministers, Pastor Julia Hart (who sends you her greetings.)
Holy Spirit church, you all have experienced the pandemic, a recent fire, the retirement of a faithful pastor, and you look forward to calling your next settled pastor. With the universal church, we will soon begin the season of Advent, the time when we practice faithful waiting, living in the knowledge that because of the God we know in Jesus Christ, “All shall be well!”
May we relax into the always arriving goodness of God in Christ,
Pastor Tim
A prerecorded message will be available on the Holy Spirit website and Facebook page. Join us in worship at your convenience.
Join us on November 28th after the church service for our annual Intergenerational Advent Fellowship. We will be completing Advent Logs for the season. If you have your log from the previous year, you are welcome to bring it along. If you need a log, they will be available for everyone.
Dear brothers and sisters and siblings in the Spirit,
You are a paraclete congregation. Not a parakeet congregation, a paraclete congregation. Paraclete is the word John’s Gospel uses to name the Holy Spirit, and it means “the One who comes beside us when we are vulnerable.”
Here’s what I’ve experienced during my brief time with you:
· The council is effective–both discerning what is wise and working to practice what is Christ-like.
· The liturgy is done well–you gather as Christ’s people, listening to Christ’s Word, receiving Christ’s body and blood, and then being sent as Christ into the world.
· The congregation values generosity–sending school kits and health care kits around the world through Lutheran World Relief.
· The people see generous giving as our response to God’s abundance.
· You give because you desire to be a sign of Divine Abundance in the world.
· You treasure and support Camp Kirchenwald, Camp Nawakwa, and the Wittel Farm.
· You pray for and support the Konde Diocese and the Uyole congregation in Tanzania.
· You are Spirit-filled people who are willing to walk beside the vulnerable, knowing that there is never a quick fix, but we can be signs of God’s endless love.
· You love one another well, especially when someone is in crisis.
· You see that the Gospel matters to a hurting world, and you are willing to become intentional in sharing the Gospel without strings attached.
Your name is Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, and you are indeed a paraclete congregation.
Let’s use this time of transition well, to keep focusing upon…
Keeping the Main Thing, the Main Thing.
Loved people+, love people,
Pastor Tim
