Good day siblings in Christ,
Merry Christmas! The pastor has not lost his mind, but this week we are celebrating Christmas in July! The readings will be Christmas readings, the songs will be Christmas song (no Silent Night, we saved that one for Christmas), and I heard the coffee hour is even Christmas themed, but that is just a rumor. This is just for a little bit of fun for the summer and because December last year had another Covid surge at Christmas, so we couldn’t go all out. It should be a fun time.
We are getting ready to start planning our 90th anniversary celebration on October 14 and 15 in 2023 (notice the year). While it seems far away, we will need to start planning and creating special events leading up to that weekend. We have a small oversight planning team who are coming up with ideas who met this week. Here is what we will be looking for:
- A dinner team: 2-3 people- this team will decide a dinner for Saturday or Sunday, catered or un catered, in a restaurant or not in a restaurant, pot luck or 9 course meal, and the program for that evening. This may involve feeding a large number of people anywhere from 50-150. This team should be in place by December/January
- A promotion team: 3-5 people- this team will look at creating flyers, ads, invites, and a special booklet around the history of the congregation. This is a bigger team because it may involve a bit more work, especially if we create a booklet or giveaway (a commemorative plate or ornament or other idea). This team, we will want to get into place by September/October of this year.
- A Worship Team: more than likely, this will be the worship team, but if there are others who would like to get involved to create special music, get people in place, and ensure we have speakers, we would love your help.
- A Special Gifts Team: 2-3 people This may be the finance team or another team who are not afraid of asking for donations, keeping the books for our fundraising, and helping keep track of income and expenses related to this anniversary. For example, we have already received some special gifts as we get ready, so keeping track of who has donated for this event, so we can acknowledge them.
This is a big event and we want to treat it that way. It should be a great weekend. It seems so far away, but it will be here in no time.
Throughout the year, I get questions from members that I think a larger group would like to hear answered. I am doing a small video series on some of those questions. The first two videos are now on our Facebook and YouTube channels. The questions I will be addressing so far are:
- Are we Evangelicals if we are part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)?
- Why do we not have Jesus on the cross in Lutheran churches, while many Catholic churches do?
- Why do we pass the peace before communion?
- What makes us different from other Lutheran denominations?
If you have a question you would like addressed in one of these videos, feel free to email me or text or ask me in person. Learning about who we are as a church and as disciples is so important.
Pastor Johnson