Author: Claire Cassell

Mission Statement 

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church connects people to God and Each Other.  We embody this mission through Word and Sacrament Worship, Music, Faith Formation, Service, and Authentic Community.

Here is a link to this past Sunday’s Worship: Digital Sunday Worship 5-10-20

Highlights from the Congregational Meeting and Council Update 

• We approved the roof repair at a cost of $15,800                                                                                     
• Our parking spots are being rented (please don’t park there)
• We’re moving forward on a plan to implement small groups. If you’re interested in leading a group contact Kristin (with my contact info)
• Council is moving to meeting for 1.5 hours the first and third Tuesday of every month. The first meeting will be focused on operations and our mission (finances, Pastor update, operations, etc.) while the second will be a deeper dive into a larger issue related to our mission (small group meetings, staff goals, etc.).
• We’re in need of volunteers to serve in several different capacities. Please email admin@oslchurchdenver.org with the area you want to serve in the reference line if you are interested.
  ·       Virtual Ushers. As part of our new way of worshiping, we’re in need of folks to serve as virtual ushers for our Sunday Zoom services. Virtual ushers will help launch and manage Zoom worship on Sunday morning. Training will be provided.
  ·       Virtual Coffee Hour Hosts. Similarly, we’re looking for virtual coffee hour hosts. Good news is you don’t need to provide refreshments. Virtual coffee hour hosts will help launch and manage coffee hour on Sunday morning. Training will be provided.
  ·       Congregational Care/Outreach. We’re putting together a team of folks to reach out to fellow members of our congregation. This will involve identifying those whom we’ve not seen recently, and reaching out to them to see how they’re doing and how we can best engage with them (and them with us) during this time. The more the merrier!
  –        Digital Readers are needed for sections of the Sunday Worship.

Calendar

• Wednesday, May 13th 1:00pm ——Zoom BIBLE STUDY!!                                                                 
• Thursday, May 14th 7:00pm ———-Choir Rehearsal 
• Sunday May 17th 9:00—————-Digital Sunday Worship Service                         
• Sunday, May 17th 10:30————–Zoom Coffee Hour 

This Weeks Readings

Acts 17: 22-31

Psalms 66: 8-20

1 Peter 3:13-22

John 14:15-21

Meet Violet, the newest addition to OSLC Staff 

We’re excited to introduce you to Our Savior’s Lutheran Church’s new communications administrator, Violet Breeden. Below is a short conversation between council co-president Kristin Stork and Violet. In this conversation you’ll learn:

• about Violet’s background, both personally and professionally; 
• how she sees communications as a means to help OSLC fulfill its mission of connecting people to each other and to God; 
• something about her that might surprise you (it surprised Kristin!); 
• how best to reach out to her (as well as other staff/council members); and 
• what her philosophy is on communications, which is summed up by a single verse of scripture

From the Desk of Pastor Marty

Hey All,

    I wanted to thank all of you for the past week or so where we are getting better at understanding the style and manner that we are going to try to be, as we begin taking new steps towards redevelopment during this already unique time.  After listening to many of you, as well as the discernment I have been able to do with the council and the process of bringing Violet onboard, I am hearing some very positive support for where we are.  It’s maybe not how we would like to make these major transitions, but while we are going through this time of Coronavirus, we are not going to slow down as church.  We are just going to shift paths.  We are going digital, and we are going full steam ahead.  I am excited and empowered by the keen focus we are putting towards these efforts.
    As you are able to get to know Violet through today’s video and some new connections that we will continue to work on, specifically around the development of our worship service.  As we are now worshiping digitally and will be for some time, I am asking you all to help in some new ways.  Many of you have already done this, but I am thinking we need even more folks to step into this work.  As we prepare for Pentecost season I want to empower YOU to be church in a way that will enrich, engage, and empower us all to be better connected.  
    You will probably be asked to make a short video and send it by email to Violet.  We will keep it short.  In fact, you might just get asked to do one verse of a prayer.  But if we can begin to show our faces, AND have a project to make our worship happen, we will be much more engaged with the service, but more importantly EACH OTHER.  You can have your family or neighbors engage with you if you want, but PLEASE social distance and be safe about it.  
    So this is your invitation, or notice depending how this news  is received.  As people who are woven by the Spirit, let us use this Pentecost season to show ourselves to the world in a new way!   Thanks for your willingness to participate and know that we are glad to see you.  Sometimes it feels embarrassing to see your self on camera, but be sure that nobody else thinks that!  It is a common thing for people to feel like they don’t like their voice or face or whatever, but that is something that we won’t worry about in this forgiving community.   Blessings on this project, your participation, figuring out how to do it, and being part of this madness.  I promise you will be glad you did!  I am excited where God is taking us these days.

Thanks be to God for opportunities in ministry!!

–Pastor Marty 

This Weeks Calendar of Events: 

• Tuesday, May 5th 7:00pm ———-Women’s Evening Virtual Bible Study.  If you are interested in attending, please contact Bonita B or Dorothy O by e-mail, and they will send you the link to join in the Zoom meeting.  
• Wednesday, May 6th 1:00pm ——Zoom BIBLE STUDY!! Please email admin@oslchurchdenver.org if you would like to be added to this email list
• Wednesday May 6th 6:oopm ——-OSLC Congregational Zoom Meeting   (link and dial-in information provided below)
• Thursday, May 7th 7:00pm ———-Choir Rehearsal, Zoom link will be sent out by Erica
• Sunday May 10th 9:30—————-LIVE Zoom Worship Service  10:30————–Zoom Coffee Hour

A Word of Hope and Balance From the Desk of Pastor Marty

Hey All,

I just wanted to add a little piece to the e-blast for this week.  We will be meeting this Wednesday to discuss the roof and some of our goals as a congregation. We are continuing to sojourn together in this difficult time in new ways.

At our Synod Assembly on Saturday, we met with at least 400 people digitally ranging from Synod officials to members, but most of our 158 churches within the Rocky Mountain Synod ELCA. I wanted to let you know that our growing pains are being shared by many, but we as a unique part of the Body of Christ are adapting and going to survive.  Change will cause us all to grow and shift during this time, but the willingness to follow the call to share the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ continues to be needed and wanted by the ever hurting world.

We were reminded yesterday in the 1st Peter text, that one of the marks of Christianity is found in our willingness to take on the suffering of others.  Let us be reminded of this piece of our call, to be in prayer, support, and help to our neighbors during this time.

This means that each baptized member of the church bears the responsibility to serve their neighbor and to think of their neighbors needs and safety.  It is in this way that we are being faithful witnesses when we practice social distancing, wear masks in public, and keep informed of what is going on in our neighborhoods. 

Thank you all for your diligence in keeping this mindset as we engage our community.  Let us continue to be a leader and example in our community while the pressure to get back to normal begins to outweigh the logic and science that are trying to keep folks safe.

Thanks be to God for faith, which helps with the suffering, which creates endurance, and endurance creates the character, and virtue, and value in our lives.  May Christ’s example and spirit continue to guide the love in our lives.

Peace,

Pastor Marty  

Monday Email Announcements From Council

Congregational Meeting Wednesday Evening

Wednesday, May 6 | 6:00pm

Via Zoom (link and dial-in information provided below)

Please join us for a congregational meeting via Zoom on Wednesday evening. The agenda includes important conversations about repairing our roof (which we’ll vote on) as well as a mission update and conversation about how we can best continue to fulfill our mission of connecting people to each other and God in this new era of virtual gathering.

Here is a video update on the roof from Jon Tisdel:

Please don’t park in the church parking lots until May 18. We’ve rented our parking lots for the coming weeks and need to ensure the parking spaces are available to those who’ve paid for them. Likely, you’re not parking there as the church building remains closed, but we wanted to make everyone aware.

Volunteer Opportunities

We’re in need of volunteers to serve in several different capacities. Check out the opportunities below and if you feel called to participate in any/all of these opportunities, contact Kristin Stork.

• Virtual Ushers. As part of our new way of worshiping, we’re in need of folks to serve as virtual ushers for our Sunday Zoom services. Virtual ushers will help launch and manage Zoom worship on Sunday morning. Training will be provided.
• Virtual Coffee Hour Hosts. Similarly, we’re looking for virtual coffee hour hosts. Good news is you don’t need to provide refreshments. Virtual coffee hour hosts will help launch and manage coffee hour on Sunday morning. Training will be provided.
• Congregational Care/Outreach. We’re putting together a team of folks to reach out to fellow members of our congregation. This will involve identifying those whom we’ve not seen recently, and reaching out to them to see how they’re doing and how we can best engage with them (and them with us) during this time. The more the merrier!

OSLC Congregational Zoom Meeting

May 6, 2020 06:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85963422099

Meeting ID: 859 6342 2099

Password: 020638

One tap mobile

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Dial by your location

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Meeting ID: 859 6342 2099

Password: 020638

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kb6YwpQLx9

This ‘n’ That

The YouTube video for yesterday’s worship is now available.

Please forward this to the congregation and invite folks to participate whenever and wherever they are!

Here’s a video for Parents to help offer some words of support and prayer during this time. The words are applicable to everyone, not just parents, but I want to begin to market this towards parents with kids.  I think that is a open avenue right now to just be supportive generally.  Let’s also keep looking for ways to gather digital support groups this spring.  Inside the congregation, and outside.

Care of Creation

On this upcoming Mother’s Day weekend, let us honor Mother Earth.  ” The Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice social statement, adopted in 1993, explains the ELCA’s teachings on ecology and the environment, grounded in a biblical vision of God’s intention for the healing and wholeness of creation.” You can access the statement going to ELCA.org and putting ‘environment’ in the search bar for a full understanding. 

Action: Join other ELCA members in a discussion of the statement on Saturday, May 9, at 10am. It will be lead by Pastor Alena Lamirato on our Rocky Mountain Synod Creation Care Team. This is a first attempt at reconstituting efforts that were active some years ago. If all goes as planned, we’ll have a Facebook discussion and share with one another. Find the page on Facebook searching the same name: Rocky Mountain Synod Creation Care Team. Please join us.

Readings for Sunday, May 10, 2020 5th Sunday of Easter

Acts 7:55-60

Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

I Peter 2:2-10

John 14:1-14

Mission Statement

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church connects people to God and Each Other.  We embody this mission through Word and Sacrament Worship, Music, Faith Formation, Service, and Authentic Community.

OSLC Blast for April 27, 2020

Calendar of this weeks events:

Wed, 4/29 @ 1:00 pm —– Bible Study

Thurs, 4/30 @7:00pm—–Choir Meeting

Sat, 5/2 —– Synod Assembly, digitally

Sun, 5/3 @ 9:30am —– Worship Service

Sun, 5/3 @10:30——Coffee Hour

Message from Pastor Marty

Hey All,

I just wanted to let folks know that council voted to call a congregational meeting on May 6th at 6:00 pm. We need to take a vote on the fixing of our roof, and have a discussion about our worship and community goals and boundaries. Council will be sending a more formal description of the issue and why we need a congregational vote next week. The roof was damaged by a hail storm a year ago, and we received some money to fix it, but will need to pay our deductible to begin the process. Basically, the amount of money we need to approve this project is larger than council is able to approve without a congregational vote. Folks can discuss this further at the meeting if they have questions.

Also to be discussed at this meeting is a general discourse about how we are going to be in contact and connection with each other, and some specific boundaries about our mission and how we can best work together for the foreseeable future. Bishop Gonia recommends we don’t meet until June at the earliest now, and I think that trend may continue. So, what are we/ how are we moving forward together? This general discussion will hopefully be helpful in our service together.

Thanks be to God for the worship we have been having online in YouTube and zoom. Yesterday in our coffee hour discussion we began to ask if we were leaving people out with our zoom services. The simple answer is yes. We are about half of the digital worshiping community when we are live streaming zoom. More people are accessing YouTube than zoom. With this reality, I wonder about doing an every-other-week zoom worship or something like that. We are all just trying to make our way during these days, so thanks for bearing with us and being part of the conversation on May 6th.

I will be focusing on Synod Assembly this week as we are gathering digitally on Saturday in the most unprecedented assembly ever! Please keep Linda Carlson, Dan Baack, and myself in your prayers as we engage this year’s Assembly as representatives of OSLC. I will see some of you on Wednesday at Bible study too.

Have a blessed week everybody! And may the Peace of Easter be with you. Christ our Lord is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

Peace, Pastor Marty

This ‘n’ That

Congregation Meeting. Mark your calendars for a special Congregation Meeting of Wednesday, May 6, at 6:00pm. Agenda items include roof repairs and worship/community goals.

Care of Creation. From Pastor Kent Mueller, Asst to the Bishop for Leadership Support

The 50th anniversary of Earth Day this week provides me the opportunity to share ten things I do to try and live more sustainably by reducing waste, reusing, and recycling. Quite honestly, none of these, alone, will make a dent in the world’s problems without nations, coalitions, governments, and businesses making changes on a systemic and foundational level. For that, advocacy and policy change are essential. Nevertheless, I try to make choices that match my values. (FYI, I am including a few links, but I’m not endorsing products here.)

• My favorite summer beverage is peach iced tea. I make my own without buying it in plastic bottles. Brew 2 or 3 quarts of iced tea using 3 or 4 family size tea bags, add a 12 oz can of peach “nectar” juice and stevia (I like Sweet Drops liquid stevia and use 1 tsp for 3 quarts of tea) or sugar to taste. Recycle the aluminum can.
• Recycle cereal boxes, but keep the plastic bags inside that held the cereal and use it again.
• To reduce plastic waste, purchase yogurt in a 32 oz glass jar and add fruit jam from a glass jar or fresh fruit to it.
• Use cloth cleaning rags rather than paper towels.
• Use washing machine detergent in sheet form rather than those huge plastic bottles of laundry detergent.
• Use reusable straws rather than plastic. I’m a fan of glass straws and like the wide ones best.
• I’ve opted into the City of Denver’s composting program, keeping yard waste, kitchen scraps, and discarded tissues and paper towels out of the landfill.
• Shampoo is now readily available in bar form. Opt for that rather than plastic bottles. For that matter, use bar soap whenever possible.
• Liquid hand soap and other cleaning formulas are available in tablet form that dissolve in water. I’m using all four of the Blueland products and they work well. I am using my own old plastic spray bottles for the cleaning solutions rather than purchase theirs. Their liquid hand soap bottles are glass.
• Finally: Bike more. Drive less

Readings for Sunday, May 3 – 4th Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:42-47

Psalm 23

I Peter 2:19-25

John 10:1-10

Mission Statement

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church connects people to God and Each Other. We embody this mission through Word and Sacrament Worship, Music, Faith Formation, Service, and Authentic Community.