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Author: Rae Barker
The pastors and church council are excited to offer the option of worship in the St. Philip sanctuary, beginning on May 2 at 9:30am! This worship will also be streamed live on Facebook at www.facebook.com/StPhilipLutheran as well as being available via conference call.
As we enter into the new phase of worshipping together, we are filled with many emotions; joy, relief, excitement, and so much more. We, as your pastors, cannot tell you how wonderful, and moving, it will be to see all of your faces as we lead worship together.
For some of you this day back in our sanctuary has been a long time coming, for others, the choice to be in the sanctuary is still down the line a bit. The reality of a year of pandemic living has certainly taught us that people have a wide variety of perspectives – which of course is the case for the St. Philip community as well.
As we return to the sanctuary, please remember to offer patience and grace for all those perspectives, as well as for a worship experience that is not quite like the one from a year ago. Remember that you may not be able to sit in your regular spot and we might all have a bit of trouble getting everyone’s name correct. Remember to ask someone if it’s okay to hug them and be okay with some people not being ready for that just yet. Remember that it has been a year since many have seen each other and stories and lives have changed in that time. Mostly, remember that we are a community of faith where the constancy of God’s love is promised and present. Thanks be to God for abiding with us through this season and guiding us into the next!
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Welcome to Indoor Worship!
As the congregation prepares to attend worship indoors again, please watch this video by Pastor David and Pastor Laura about what worship will look like in the coming Sundays.
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Proposed Endowment Policy
A letter from Bishop Eaton
Dear friends in Christ,
Grace and peace to you during this season of Lent. It is a time when we, as Christians, reflect on our life together in Christ and the ways in which our identity in Christ is reflected in the world. Being able to articulate that identity can help guide us to a better understanding of ourselves and each other as God continues to call us to respond to the needs of the world.
There are many ways to reflect on our identity as Christians and Lutherans, one of which is by engaging each other across our global Lutheran family. As part of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), we seek to contribute our North American Lutheran perspectives to the larger Lutheran tapestry, made up of 77 million members across 99 countries! And like the ELCA, the LWF has a rich history of theological study processes that can help us better understand ourselves and what it means to be church.
In 2019, the LWF launched a study process to explore the ways our global Lutheran identities are lived out through biblical interpretation, worship and the work of justice, peace and reconciliation. As a member of the LWF, the ELCA is taking part in this unique study process in a number of ways as we examine our Lutheran identity in our own context here in North America. We hope this process will allow us to experience the diverse ways our Lutheran tradition is being lived out. This is an opportunity to discern the ways in which we, in our own contexts, express law and gospel, faith and works, nature and grace, justification and sanctification, freedom and vocation – all parts of our common theological identity.
This Lent, I invite you to reflect on your Christian and Lutheran identities by participating in the Global Survey on Being Lutheran/Encuesta Mundial Sobre lo Que Significa Ser Luteran. We also ask that you invite others in your churches to participate. The survey will be open through March 31, and responses gathered will help to shape the 13th LWF Assembly in 2023.
In addition, between now and June you are invited to take part in a larger conversation that will transpire across the LWF communion. The LWF has produced a discussion guide titled We Believe in the Holy Spirit: Welcome to a Global Conversation on Being Lutheran/Creemos en el Espíritu Santo: Bienvenido/a a una Encuesta Mundial Sobre lo Que Significa Ser Luterano/a. This guide will help lead your congregation’s Christian education and/or youth group on a journey of mutual discovery and learning.
Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences. They will contribute to furthering our understanding of what being Lutheran means in this time and place as we continue to journey together in Christ through these next 500 years of reformation.
With peace and gratitude,
Elizabeth A. Eaton
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
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Holy Week 2021 Schedule
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St. Philip Invitation – March 2021
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St. Philip Invitation – February 2021
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