Yes! We are having our OSLC Easter Breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt this year!
Please invite your family and friends to our Easter Worship service Sunday, April 9th, 9:30 am. Then bring them down with you to the Fellowship Hall for our Easter Breakfast.
The Easter Egg Hunt for all children ages 1-11 will begin by the patio door at 11:30 am.
Rick Steves, guidebook author and travel TV host, the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the Rev. Shelley Bryan Wee, bishop of the Northwest Washington Synod of the ELCA, invite you to a virtual benefit – the first of its kind – for ELCA World Hunger. This Zoom virtual event will take place Thursday, September 24, 7 p.m. central time. Our goal is to raise $250,000 to confront hunger in the time of COVID-19.
We are called by God to share hope in this time of challenge. Join us to face this global hunger crisis head-on, and continue to move toward a just world where all are fed. Please spread the word about this extraordinary event among your congregations and communities. Register now.
Hello Everyone.
With Pastor Marty taking the week to recharge after an intense Holy Week, I am reaching out with some updates for the congregation from church council. Before I start on the update, I did want to celebrate our coming together as a community during this difficult time. Shelter in Place is not easy, and I know I have struggled during it. I miss the ability to give someone a hug, to give a high five, or to just smile while making actual eye contact with someone I care about. Zoom is a fantastic tool, but I am feeling the lack of actual physical presence sharply. Pastor described it during a council meeting as this unique thing where while your mind thinks you are being social, your spirit knows there is something missing.
As we are all stuck home, I hope that the activities at Our Savior’s have helped every one of you as much as they have helped me. This is a loving community where you can see God’s work actively happening. In my case, I even snuck into a choir zoom session alongside Emilee. For those of you who have sat near me during a service, do not worry. I didn’t sing!
I also wanted to provide an update regarding Council’s efforts over the past month or so. We have been meeting weekly, and we have much work to share. To that end, we put together the following YouTube video. You can think of this as the equivalent to an update after a Sunday service. Watch below!
In this video, I discuss:
Much love from me, and Council, to everyone in this community. We are connecting to God, and each other, in a powerful way right now.
Peace, Dan Baack
Hey All,
Happy Easter! Christ our Lord is Risen. He is Risen indeed—Alleluia! I hope everyone had the chance to hear the Easter Gospel of the Good News of Jesus in our lives as a Resurrected Lord! Peace to you as we engage this message in new ways in this strange time.
A Word about Next Sunday’s Worship Service. We are going LIVE!! We will try a new style of worship next Sunday as we gather together on a Zoom channel. I wanted to wait to try this until after Easter, so let’s give it a try! Please look for the link for worship later in the week with a copy of the bulletin. Also, get some bread and wine ready for next Sunday as we will be doing some digital Communion. I will bless you all with words, and we will be fed by the Christ who meets us behind locked doors and in small communities dispersed.
Finally, thanks to everybody for your flexibility during these times. Many of you have stepped up to provide digital material to help me put these services together. Let’s keep it up, especially as we move forward in some new ways after Easter!
Christ our Lord is Risen! He is Risen Indeed—Alleluia!!
Peace, Pastor Marty
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Bread for the World letter-writing campaign on Maundy Thursday afternoon via Zoom. We collectively wrote 33 letters to our congressional representatives asking them to support Senate Bill 1918 which would provide federal funding for lunches to be served at schools all summer since so many families have lost income in the pandemic. OSL participation will be reported to BFW. You can still write a letter. The information is posted on the OSL web site. Thanks again for your engagement in this mission of our congregation.
Care of Creation – How does the COVID-19 virus relate to the climate crisis? Scientists have speculated that climate change is melting permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years. As the soils melt they are releasing ancient viruses and bacteria that, having lain dormant, are springing back to life. Not that COVID-19 came from there, but it is creating the kind of scenario that scientists have been considering possible. COVID-19 is helping us prepare for what could lie ahead. Action: April 1 was officially national Census Day! Be sure to fill out your Census!
Save those toiletries, because Helping Hands will be back collecting items for the disadvantaged when we are up and running again.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Psalm 16
I Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31
This past week has been such a different experience as a church and a world. It is hard to believe things can change so quickly, and that our systems that seem so normal are actually so brittle and interconnected. Thanks be to God for our church during this time, to remind us that we are connected in important ways to a God that doesn’t change. God’s love is steadfast and true and is always with us in our crazy human journey.
This week was also a crash course in learning technology together as a congregation. Thanks to all of you who have joined us on zoom, and YouTube, and Facebook in new ways. It has been fun to put some of those videos together and bring the word in new ways.
Look for many new ways for us be meeting in the next days and weeks. This week there will be a link for Wednesday worship and Sunday worship as well as other events.
Finally, don’t be afraid to forward the links we send to your friends and family outside of OSLC. Let’s expand our reach and keep our ministry moving forward in new ways at this time! God is with us on this journey and we are called to be church during this time in new ways. We will be up to this challenge!
Thanks be to God for all of you and I hope you have a safe and positive week!
Peace, Pastor Marty
Let’s not allow the coronavirus to keep us from celebrating each other’s birthdays. Here is a list of those coming up through the end of March:
