The Lectern First Evangelical Lutheran Church www.firstlutheranlorain.org May 2017 Installation Service May 20 The installation service for Pastor Rosy Rivera will be on Saturday, May 20 at 10:00am in the General Middle School cafeteria. We have chosen a time other than Sunday morning so that other clergy and community members can join our members for this celebration. Bishop Abraham Allende will preside. Pastor Rosy will preach and preside on Sunday, May 21. Birth from the Burning A Hymn Festival May 7, 3:00pm Nativity BVM, 418 W. 15th St., Lorain FIRST music Evensong at Trinity Cathedral Our choir will be leading Evensong at Trinity Cathedral at 6:00pm on Wednesday, May 3. This evening prayer service will be commemorating Athanasius, and Pastor Jimmy will be preaching. Join us for a beautiful service in a beautiful building! A meal is available at the conclusion of the service. The cathedral is at East 22nd and Euclid and the parking lot entrance is from Prospect Avenue. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 There it is! Right on the pages of God s Word we are told that we are being made new. We can choose to believe it and walk in that truth, or we can deny the power of God and Gods power to change even the deadest of hearts into hearts softened with love. In these words, are the echoes of our Easter hope! We, too, after a lengthy Lenten season of darkness, of discernment, of new ideas and changes, are also celebrating LOTS of new things- and I am too! I wanted to take this opportunity to first express my most humble appreciation for your positive vote to call me as your new Pastor and to express my deepest appreciation to your call committee who walked with me through every part of this process. I thought I d take just a moment to share some of my initial thoughts about my transition with you. I have lived here in Texas for 20 years, so making the move up to Ohio will be a welcome change, since I have never been a fan of all the heat down here! I am looking forward to the change and also being able to enjoy summers again! As I begin to transition into a new role as your Pastor, I want you all to know, as I said in the town hall meeting, I have no grand plan to change things immediately. Yes, I will do things differently than Pastor Jimmy, but I ask for your patience as I will be asking lots of questions and trying to make sure I honor, as best as possible, the traditions of First Lutheran that have made the church what it is. I also want to be very intentional about building relationships right away. Beginning my first month, I will be calling some of you to schedule a time to talk- just to get to know you. I strongly believe that in order for us to grow as a church, I need to hear your story. I need to hear about the old too. Why did you join First Lutheran? What is it that makes our church so different from others in town? Everyone has a story and I hope to hear as many of yours as possible. God is making all things new. For us, as a church community of faith, what has impressed me so much about all of you, has been the intentionality of learning to redefine yourselves as a church. I am positive that the rich history of First Lutheran is going to live on through this new building, but most importantly, by the grace of God active in all of us as we all work together in celebrating the new in our midst. I am confident that our new building and everything we do in preparation by the work of the Holy Spirit will continue to strengthen us and lead us forward as we walk together in the newness which awaits us this Easter season and always. I look forward to worshipping with you all soon. Happy Easter to you all! In Jesus gentle grip, Pastor Rosalina Rivera (a.k.a. Pastor Rosy, your new Pastor)
Pastor Jimmy systematically prays for our congregation. We invite you to join him each week. Please keep these members and their families in your prayers for May: Week of May 7: Week of May 14: Week of May 21: Week of May 28: Parish Personals Known to have been hospitalized or having procedures since the last Lectern: Michelle Greenberg, Cheryl Emery, Matt Kapalin, Elizabeth Pozega, Steve Mendiola and Edna Nelson. We grieve with the families of Chuck Geisel and Robin Kopronica at their deaths. We also grieve with the family of John Duplaga at the death of his brother-in-law, with the family of Eric Tillman at his death and with the family of Gunver Lodge at the death of her grandson Michael Penton. Thank you for the prayers, cards, flowers and food that uplifted my spirit after my surgery. Carolyn Anderson $305 in offering was received for the Lenten meals. Thank you! John Jr. & Audrey Otero, Leslie & Irene Ott, Jackie Parsons Tim & Shannon Partin, Denise Patino, Lucinda & David Patterson Janet Pavlic, Gloria Peck, Debbie Peck, Frank & Debra Phillips, Lauralee Pincura, Scott Pincura & Cherie Denman Eat This Bread Communion is one of the high points of each one of our worship services. As Martin Luther says in his Small Catechism, forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation are given to us in the sacrament. Lutheran theology holds many meanings for communion: we ingest Christ s body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine; we celebrate a foretaste of the feast to come; we commune with God and with each other; we remember a meal as we eat a meal. The ELCA recommends sharing loaves of bread and a common cup to more fully show the many facets of communion: A loaf of bread and a chalice are encouraged since they signify the unity which the sacrament bestows. (The Use of the Means of Grace, 44A). The Worship is going to try moving us closer to this ideal by starting to use freshly baked bread for communion instead of communion wafers. The committee has been getting tips from other churches that do this, and has been collecting recipes and taste-testing. Look for a change soon after Easter and let us know what you think. We have a few bakers already, but are looking for some more. Would you be willing to bake some communion bread each week for one month? A recipe will be provided. If you re interested, talk to Doug Freeman, Worship chairperson. As grain, once scattered on the hillsides, was in this broken bread made one, so from all lands your church be gathered into your kingdom by your Son. Hymn #478, based on a 2 nd -century text 5/05 Les & Irene Ott 33 years 5/10 Chuck & Nancy Farlow 37 years Kevin & Bev Ehlers 31 years 5/14 Jeff & Donna St. Aubin 23 years 5/18 Rob & Lisa Brown 5 years 5/19 Nick & Nikki Dertouzos 16 years 5/24 David & Peggy Sinibaldi 31 years 5/27 Michael & Barb Tomko 11 years 5/28 Amy & James Vasiloff 1 year Linda & Joe Lobertini 18 years 5/30 Steve & Linda Mendiola 48 years 5/31 William & Constance Koker 9 years The Congregation Council gives a Hats Off to all the folks who made the soup and salad dinners enjoyable. Bringing Pastor Ben and Julie Here Pastor Ben has been our missionary in Ghana since 1994 and it is appropriate that he be here for the dedication of our new building and to meet Pastor Rosy. The Ghana will be accepting gifts to fund the airfare and other expenses associated with the trip and living expenses while they are here. If you want to contribute, you may specify your gift on your regular envelope. Julie will be with him this time and we are excited to see both of them again.
A Day in the Life... May 2017 letter #83 Welcome Pastor Rosy Dear Friends, I'd like to send a very blessed post-easter greeting to all of you and prayers for blessings of a new life in the power of the Resurrection of Jesus. In Ghana, some churches celebrate Easter with what is known as 'Easter Conventions', where whole congregations move out of their chapels or worship places into large areas that can accommodate huge numbers most often in parks or stadiums for at least THREE DAYS. Some churches start such gatherings on Thursday and go through Easter Sunday, when a huge 'closing service' is done to bring the event to an end. The participating congregations of this event can come from other places, miles away from their usual places. The mainline churches (the Protestant Churches) normally would not do such a thing, though they may support an evangelical group to do an outreach/crusade. During such a crusade the Saturday is specifically set aside as 'Medical Evangelism' where the people in the community are invited to come for free screening and treatment of their ailments, or upon the diagnosis, refer them to hospitals for further investigations. This Medical Evangelism affords the people free treatment and medication, with Christian doctors and nurses coming with medications and other equipment to provide this free health care. I participated in one of such on Saturday, April 15, at a place some one-hundred and fifteen miles from Saltpond. This place is called Senchi, about forty-two miles from Peki, where the former Mission Administrator, Dr. Elike Takyi lived. It was such an exciting and fulfilling occasion for me. Now, I would very much like to take this opportunity to welcome PAS- TOR ROSY (Reverend Rosalina Rivera), who is joining First Lutheran Church on May 21 as the next Pastor, taking over from Pastor Jimmy (Reverend James Madsen), who is retiring later in the year. This welcome is also coming from the mission village, the people of Akrampa, and from the pupils of the school. I have been following the church news, and the process of calling a pastor for FLC, so I have also been waiting to hear who the next pastor will be. Waiting to find out who would be the one who will partner with me to continue the mission work going on in Ghana on behalf of the congregation. On April 9, I got the news (from the church e-mail announcement) that Pastor Rosy has been called and will become the next Pastor. The knowledge that she's coming from Texas fills my mind with remembering my time in Texas in 2013. A very exciting and memorable trip (for medicals sponsored by FLC) that brings good feeling and joy. Pastor Rosy, I am sure you will soon be getting your copy of this great Lectern, so let me say to you AKWAABA, which means 'Welcome' in the Akan dialect of the people of Akrampa, Ghana, our mission village. As excited as you are about working with this great congregation, I am also excited, indeed, filled with great anticipation that we will meet in the near future! I am excited to begin a working relationship with you, as I did with your two predecessors, Pastor Woody and (soon to retire) Pastor Jimmy, a relationship that I continue to cherish to this day. Our work together in Ghana started with them, and that gave each of them a real personal interest and passion in the goings on of the mission, apart from being the pastors of the church that sponsors the work of God in Ghana. Pastor Rosy, on behalf of myself, my family and the mission, it is my prayer that the Lord will bless your ministry such that you will not want to move anywhere else, but retire from First Lutheran just as Pastor Woody and Pastor Jimmy have done. The Lord bless and keep you. Blessings, Pastor Ben Wilson HOSPITALITY WORKSHOP Sunday afternoon, April 23 rd, saw some thirty church members gather for a workshop on hospitality. Most churches are friendly; far fewer are actually welcoming observed Eric Kretzmann, workshop leader. Drawing on forty years of church work experience, Eric helped the group explore what it really means to welcome all people as First Lutheran s mission statement says. Participants discussed ideas relating to: Unintended messages that churches often send Intentional actions that help churches be more welcoming Points of contact and connection in churches Understanding the church s context Participants were challenged to follow-up on at least one idea generated in smaller work groups. These actionable ideas will initially be coordinated through the Witness. Thank you from the Synod The Northeastern Ohio Synod sent a letter thanking us for our mission support to the synod and the wider church. Among a long list of things we helped fund is a small grant to help Tim Scholl with his seminary study. We are the synod and we are the ELCA along with 10,000 or so congregations all across the country. Twelve percent of our regular giving gets passed on to support the mission that we all do together in this country and around the world. Summer Solos Would you like to play your instrument or sing a solo in church one Sunday this summer? The choirs are off for the summer, and it would be great to fill the offering time each week with your musical gifts. Contact Brian if interested. Cooperative Ministry Fundraiser At Martino s The Lorain Cooperative Ministry will have an all day dine to donate fundraiser on Tuesday, May 2 at Martino s International Café in Vermilion. 20% of each dining check will be given to the Cooperative Ministry to fund the food pantries that we run at several locations around Lorain and Amherst. We have the required flyers on the bulletin board at worship or you can go on the Lorain Cooperative Ministry website and print one for yourself.
The Lectern is a monthly newsletter of First Lutheran Church of Lorain, Ohio. We welcome you to Worship and Holy Communion Sundays at 9:30am with Sunday School at 10:45am Gen. Middle School 2700 Washington Ave. 440.244.6286 www.firstlutheranlorain.org info@firstlutheranlorain.org Rev. Jimmy W. Madsen Brian Wentzel, Director of Music Rev. Bennett Wilson Missionary in Ghana Prayer Chain, Jane Cooper 440.988.1858 First Evangelical Lutheran Church 423 Washington Avenue Lorain, Ohio 44052-1497 Non Profit Org U.S. Postage Paid Lorain OH Permit No 109 Photo Directory Scheduled We will begin a new era in our congregation this fall and a new photo directory seems to be in order. We are letting you know ahead of time just in case you had already thought of getting family portraits this year. Lifetouch will be taking photos for the book on November 22, 24, 25. That is Thanksgiving week and we hope to capture the smiling faces of some family members who are home for the holiday. Please look for more information as we get closer to that time. JOIN the FRIDAY LUNCH BUNCH The Lunch Bunch is meeting at 11:45am on May 19 at Blue Sky Restaurant, 802 Cleveland Street, Elyria. Everyone is welcome to join in. Please sign up on the bulletin board at church. New Women s Small Group Are you interested in joining a new women s group at First Lutheran Church? The group would meet once a month for various wine tours, book studies, cooking classes, paint nights, etc. If you are interested, please contact Michelle Bremke at michelle.bremke@ gmail.com or 440-731-7848 so a meet and greet can be set up!
Grieving Loss (By Reverend Dan Wenger) We are all in an ongoing process of saying Hello and Good-bye to people, to events, to places and things. We all face loss, and there are all sorts and kinds of losses that people experience in life. But most of us do not know how to move beyond our losses. We also all have our well-intentioned ways of trying to be a comfort to those in grief, but most often what we say does not really help and may at times even be hurtful. We have all heard or said at one time or another, You need to let go, but do we really know how to do that? As individuals we can experience over 42 different kinds of loss. As a community of faith, First Evangelical Lutheran Church certainly has experienced loss in recent years. Pastor Woody Chamberlain went to part-time and then retired. Members have moved away, have died, have joined other congregations. The church building burned down, and now we are anticipating the dedication of a new worship/outreach facility, the retirement of Pastor Jimmy Madsen and the call and installation of Pastor Rosy Rivera. So each of us has our individual losses and feelings of grief that come whenever there is a change in a familiar pattern of behavior and as a community we have experienced and are experiencing the losses and changes that occur. These losses and feelings of grief are normal and natural. Some of the losses are developmental, people retire, people move to be near children, but other losses are jarring, like the fire, like the death of fellow members or the loss of fellow members who choose another way. How do we cope with the constant process of saying hello and good-bye to people, places and familiar things? People often tell each other, don t feel bad, don t cry, it will be alright. As a community we have tried to face our losses and allow ourselves to grieve, to acknowledge our loss. Yet we may sometimes be told, Well, the fire was three years ago, aren t you done with that? Or we, ourselves, think we ought to be over it by now. Other times we are told to replace the loss. Now certainly we are building a new facility but we need to remind ourselves that this doesn t replace the facility we had, the kind of architecture, the memories made there, the associations we had. What we build is an alternative with its own character and ability to build memories and inspire us. The same can be said of the change of pastors. We need to acknowledge that it hurts to say goodbye to one who shared intimately in our lives. Again we need to remind ourselves that replacement is impossible. You can t replace unique relationships and experiences. What we welcome are new relationships and experiences, a person with their own unique gifts and abilities. So we cannot replace the building we had or the pastors who have served us so faithfully. This is perhaps the hardest part of what we need to change in our reaction to our losses. Sanctuary Nearing Enclosure Our architectural firm, Groth Design Group, is preparing a press release for the near future that will announce the enclosure of the sanctuary. This is a great milestone for which we are grateful. As of this writing the floor of the sanctuary is being poured. Work is also progressing well on the social hall, offices and educational wing. The walls are being framed and it should not be too long before the trusses for the roof go up. At this point we are still being told that we can take occupancy in the early fall, but it is too early to say this for sure. Not all things will be ready when we first move in, so we will have a good excuse for several dedications. The large art glass window on the South wall will be arriving later, as will the copper art work for the main sanctuary doors that is being forged from the large pipes of our organ that survived the fire. The new organ will not arrive until the Fall of 2018.
Worship Services Worship 9:30am Sunday School 10:45am June 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 S U N M O N T U E W E D T H U F R I S A T 1 7:00p Worship 7:45p Hymn Selection 7:00p Witness Bob Evans fundraiser 2 Martino s Co-op Fundraiser 9:00a Coop Board @ Martino s 3 6:00p Evensong @ Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland 4 6:00p Bell Choir 7:00p First Choir 5 6 10:00a First Communion class @ First Congregational 7 First Communion 8 7:00p Support 9 10 9:00a Set up Food Pantry : 11 10:00a Food Pantry @Redeemer 12 13 3:00p Hymn Festival @ Nativity BVM : 14 15 7:00p Church Council 16 7:00p Ghana 17 7:00p Stewardship 18 6:00p Bell Choir 7:00p First Choir 19 11:45a Lunch Bunch @ Blue Sky, Elyria 20 10:00a Pastor Rosy s Installation @ General 21 22 7:00p Youth 23 24 5:00p New Building 25 7:00p Ascension Day Service @ Redeemer 26 27 28 29 Memorial Day 30