Greetings From Pastor Lyn
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
The first thing I’d like to do is to thank you for the lovely reception on August 7 honoring our 7th year of ministry together. Unfortunately, I had to celebrate from a distance due to testing positive for Covid. From what I heard later, everyone enjoyed the party, and the cake was delicious! Thank you for the many cards, the flowers and gifts, and the unexpected bonus! I was blown away, totally surprised and grateful beyond words. It has been a joy to be doing ministry with you and I look forward to all God has for us this next year.
Thank you also for the cards, emails, phone calls, and food while I was in quarantine during my bout of Covid. Some of you stopped by my house to say “hi” from the street – keeping a safe distance. Again, your prayer, sincere warmth and generous caring spirits sustained me and hastened my healing. I feel very blessed to have had a relatively mild case and in addition to all of you and your prayers, I’m thankful for good medicine! August 2022 will long be remembered for the challenges but mostly for the blessings! Thank you!
Exciting news for September is the start of Sunday School after a long hiatus. Rally Day will be September 11 at 10:45 in the Sanctuary. Everyone is welcome – no matter your age. There will be a place for you! There has been very good response from adults offering to help and from the kids who are excited to learn more about God and God’s world. Chris Paulsen has graciously agreed to be the Director and has already accomplished a lot of planning. The plan is to keep Sunday School safe, fun, and purposeful. Please keep the volunteers and the children in your prayers this school year!
I’d promised to provide an update from the tri-annual Churchwide Assembly that occurred the week of August 8-12 in Columbus, Ohio. The best way to find out all that happened would be to go to elca.org/cwa-2022 and look for “Legislative Update.” All plenary sessions can be found on You Tube. Below are a few of the highlights. A few Summary hard copies will be available on Sept. 11.
1) A new Vice President was elected to a 6-year term. The Vice President is the highest office a non-ordained or lay person can hold in the ELCA. Our new V.P. is Imran Siddiqui. His complete vitae may be found on the synod webpage.
2) An official public apology was offered to Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria Peregrina. This is the Latina congregation from Lodi at the center of the controversy surrounding the former bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod.
3) Several Memorials were brought before the Assembly. Of particular interest were three: a) Restructure the governance of the ELCA b) Land back proposal (encourage transfer or sale of real property back to native tribes – see synopsis for full explanation and c) salary equity in the ELCA.
4) The triannual budget was passed: 2023 - $68,814.00; 2024 - $70,191.00; 2025 - $71,594.00.
I encourage you to read the summary available at ELCA.org “Legislative update” particularly if you plan to attend the meeting with Bishop Burkat at Emanuel on November 5th. That meeting will be open to everyone in the conference. I hope Emanuel will have good representation at that gathering. Bring your questions for the Bishop. She is actually asking for them and wanting people to express their view points.
Now, back to the fun stuff – Sunday School! As mentioned earlier, everyone – no matter your age – is welcome to attend. It will be approximately 45 minutes each week with singing, sharing, stories, crafts, games, videos, etc. There’s this mysterious thing about Holy Scripture and that is, no matter how many times you’ve heard or read a story or a book of the Bible, it will speak to you differently every time you engaged it. In other words, there is something new for us to learn every time we open the book! And it’s a double blessing when we can do that with young people. I look forward to seeing you all there!
Also, put Oktoberfest on your calendar! It is being planned for October 23rd!
Let’s enter the fall with renewed energy and passion for our collaborative ministry!
In Joy and Thanksgiving!
Pastor Lyn
The first thing I’d like to do is to thank you for the lovely reception on August 7 honoring our 7th year of ministry together. Unfortunately, I had to celebrate from a distance due to testing positive for Covid. From what I heard later, everyone enjoyed the party, and the cake was delicious! Thank you for the many cards, the flowers and gifts, and the unexpected bonus! I was blown away, totally surprised and grateful beyond words. It has been a joy to be doing ministry with you and I look forward to all God has for us this next year.
Thank you also for the cards, emails, phone calls, and food while I was in quarantine during my bout of Covid. Some of you stopped by my house to say “hi” from the street – keeping a safe distance. Again, your prayer, sincere warmth and generous caring spirits sustained me and hastened my healing. I feel very blessed to have had a relatively mild case and in addition to all of you and your prayers, I’m thankful for good medicine! August 2022 will long be remembered for the challenges but mostly for the blessings! Thank you!
Exciting news for September is the start of Sunday School after a long hiatus. Rally Day will be September 11 at 10:45 in the Sanctuary. Everyone is welcome – no matter your age. There will be a place for you! There has been very good response from adults offering to help and from the kids who are excited to learn more about God and God’s world. Chris Paulsen has graciously agreed to be the Director and has already accomplished a lot of planning. The plan is to keep Sunday School safe, fun, and purposeful. Please keep the volunteers and the children in your prayers this school year!
I’d promised to provide an update from the tri-annual Churchwide Assembly that occurred the week of August 8-12 in Columbus, Ohio. The best way to find out all that happened would be to go to elca.org/cwa-2022 and look for “Legislative Update.” All plenary sessions can be found on You Tube. Below are a few of the highlights. A few Summary hard copies will be available on Sept. 11.
1) A new Vice President was elected to a 6-year term. The Vice President is the highest office a non-ordained or lay person can hold in the ELCA. Our new V.P. is Imran Siddiqui. His complete vitae may be found on the synod webpage.
2) An official public apology was offered to Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria Peregrina. This is the Latina congregation from Lodi at the center of the controversy surrounding the former bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod.
3) Several Memorials were brought before the Assembly. Of particular interest were three: a) Restructure the governance of the ELCA b) Land back proposal (encourage transfer or sale of real property back to native tribes – see synopsis for full explanation and c) salary equity in the ELCA.
4) The triannual budget was passed: 2023 - $68,814.00; 2024 - $70,191.00; 2025 - $71,594.00.
I encourage you to read the summary available at ELCA.org “Legislative update” particularly if you plan to attend the meeting with Bishop Burkat at Emanuel on November 5th. That meeting will be open to everyone in the conference. I hope Emanuel will have good representation at that gathering. Bring your questions for the Bishop. She is actually asking for them and wanting people to express their view points.
Now, back to the fun stuff – Sunday School! As mentioned earlier, everyone – no matter your age – is welcome to attend. It will be approximately 45 minutes each week with singing, sharing, stories, crafts, games, videos, etc. There’s this mysterious thing about Holy Scripture and that is, no matter how many times you’ve heard or read a story or a book of the Bible, it will speak to you differently every time you engaged it. In other words, there is something new for us to learn every time we open the book! And it’s a double blessing when we can do that with young people. I look forward to seeing you all there!
Also, put Oktoberfest on your calendar! It is being planned for October 23rd!
Let’s enter the fall with renewed energy and passion for our collaborative ministry!
In Joy and Thanksgiving!
Pastor Lyn