Author: Claire Cassell

OSLC Blast for April 20, 2020

OSLC Blast for April 20, 2020

Posted on by Claire Cassell

OSLC Email Blast for April 20, 2020

Tuesday, April 21, 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, April 22, 1:00pm —– BIBLE STUDY!! 

Sunday, April 26 —– LIVE Zoom Worship Service at 9:30. 

Message from Pastor Marty

Hey All,

I hope you are well as we head into this week!  The weather is shifting to being more sunny, and no matter what happens in our society, Spring is underway!  May the light of Christ shine in our hearts, and may the light outside brighten our moods.  

Yesterday we had our first ever online worship service with communion!  About 40 of us gathered over zoom for a liturgy of Word and Sacrament.  It was a rich experience and many people have mentioned to me about how powerful it was for them to receive the body of Christ in their home.  Adaptation is part of this time, and I want to thank everybody for your efforts and grace in this first experience.  I will be posting the service to our youtube page later today (Here is the link for the previous digital worship service) so folks can participate whenever and wherever they can.  I believe that the words spoken and the faith in our hearts makes this a very real means of grace.  I hope you feel included and share in the serving (even to your self) done in the refrain of The Body of Christ broken/shed FOR YOU.  God wants us to hear the FOR YOU through this meal.  May your heart be emboldened as we hear and receive these powerful words.

I think we will continue to do a live worship for a while, with Communion.  Next Sunday we will figure out how to do the audio a bit better, and Caleb will lead us in some music too!  We thank God for being with all of our members who have been enduring this coronavirus over the past weeks.  It sounds like all are on the mend and doing much better, and I haven’t heard of any new cases in our community.  

If you didn’t participate last week because you didn’t have communion elements ready, please know that you can make this communion happen with the simplest of elements.  If you have wine that is best, but juice will suffice.  Virtually any bread or starch will do, as we realize we are making ceremonial sacrifices of our normal behavior to adapt to this time.  We will reflect and grow from our conversations about this experience too.  Please don’t hesitate to write me a note if you have strong feelings about how this is affecting you.  I expect it will.

We are also very excited that Violet is joining our staff this week!  As she gets started, we are going to take this first week to help her begin in some foundational ways.  In the next couple of weeks we will be introducing her to the congregation and building a new infrastructure for communications within our congregation.  This is an interesting time to begin with us, but our communication is so essential right now, that I can’t wait to have a new partner in ministry who will help us specifically with this during this time.  Thanks to all of you for your patience and support during this massive transition in our front office.  Now we are laying a new foundation for how we will be in the new reality.  Please pray for Violet and all of us during this time as we get this new role going in a positive way!

See you all on Wednesday this week for Bible study at 1:00pm.  Also see you Sunday at 9:30 for worship, and 10:30 for Coffee Hour!  

Peace be with you all and have a great week!

Pastor Marty

This ‘n’ That

Care of Creation.  I used to think that if we threw enough good science at the environmental problems, we could solve them. I was wrong. The main threats to the environment are not biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change, as I once thought. They are selfishness and greed and pride. And for that we need a spiritual and cultural transformation.  (James ‘Gus’ Speth, Yale.edu)  Action:   Ponder how the Covid19 pandemic has heightened your awareness as to what kind of world you want post-crisis. Share your thoughts with someone now.

Readings for Sunday, April 26 – 3rd Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19

I Peter 1:17-23

Luke 24:13-35

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.

Maundy Thursday Letter Writing Campaign - Bread for the World

Maundy Thursday Letter Writing Campaign – Bread for the World

Posted on by Claire Cassell
Please break bread with us on Maundy Thursday, April 9, 2020, as we have our annual letter writing campaign for the charity Bread for the World, which works to end global hunger, and is currently working to address hunger issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Bonita Bock will be leading by Zoom.
 

You can follow along by downloading this Power Point presentation:

BFW Presentation

Where and When?

 
Join us at 4pm, on Thursday by Zoom at the following link:
 
Join Zoom Meeting
 
Meeting ID: 242 594 910
Password: 002458
 
If you can help me know what glitches you experience, or hopefully how smoothly it goes(!!), that will better prepare me for my work coming up a couple weeks from now. 
 

What is the need and what are we doing?

 
For those who are unfamiliar with this practice, BFW makes an annual request to congregations to write congress to lift up either specific legislation or an issue in relationship to hunger issues, either domestic or international. OSL has participated in this practice for many years. Kristi Olson started the practice in honor of her Mom who was a charter member of BFW. Now is a good time for us to join together and participate in this request again this year and we can thank Kristi as we do so. One pastor friend of mine said, “you don’t get the physical nourishment you need from virtual soup”. So we are asking congress on behalf of hungry people that they get what they need. We at OSL have long seen God calling us to lift up concern for those who hunger as part of mission. This letter writing is another way of responding to that holy call. Thank you again.
 

How can I prepare for this ahead of time?

 
There will be a powerpoint with instructions we will walk through together during the zoom session. Thank you to Mary Fulton for helping me with the powerpoint.  We will still be able to see each other too. 
Please prepare ahead of our zoom time by getting yourself paper and envelopes, depending on how many letters you want to write. You will be given a sample ‘ask’ and addresses for our two federal senators. We have different representatives depending on where we live, but you will be given the mailing address for them too, so please know who your representative is in the federal House of Representatives if you would like to write to them too. 
 
You all are helping me too as I need practice doing this before I get before a large group of people in one of the many Denver retirement communities to present a lecture. So thank you for that too. 
I appreciate our faith community so much, and it is so helpful to do this together during these times.
 
With love in Christ,
Stay safe, stay well,
Bonita Bock
 
Emerita, Director of Urban Studies 
Wartburg College West 
Denver, Co.
wartburg.edu/west
cell: 303-887-9147
 
 
Bonita Bock is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
 
Topic: Bread for the World zoom letter writing
Time: Apr 9, 2020 04:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
 
Join Zoom Meeting
 
Meeting ID: 242 594 910
Password: 002458
 
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Meeting ID: 242 594 910
Password: 002458
OSLC Blast for Monday, April 6, 2020

OSLC Blast for Monday, April 6, 2020

Posted on by Claire Cassell

Holy Week Happenings

Thurs, April 9 —– Maundy Thursday

          4:00pm Bread for the World letter-writing (info below—more details to come)

          7:00pm Worship

Fri, April 10 —– Good Friday

          Worship

Sun, April 12 —– Easter !!!

          Christ has arisen, alleluia!

A Message from Pastor Marty

Hey All,

Blessed Holy Week to you!  As spring brings our time for Easter upon us, we are all welcome to be part of this wonderful season of Good News.  I know that we are deep in the heart of the Shelter in Place order, and that trouble surrounds us every turn it seems, but isn’t that why Easter is so great?  God comes into our experience to be with us in our trouble, pain, fear, and dis-ease.  Christ’s ministry is a gift of example and support for us as we live fully human lives while being children of the most high God.

So, this week we will have our Maundy Thursday Service at 7:00pm.  We will also gather at 4:00pm on Thursday via Zoom to participate in a letter writing campaign for Bread For the World to support their efforts in advocacy for food and nutrition programs.  

On Good Friday there will be a digital worship as well, and that will come online in the evening, probably around 6:00pm.

Easter morning will be a digital worship in the early morning with a gathering to follow on Zoom at 10:30.  Please join us in your Easter best to see shining faces and share in some stories together.  Yesterday we had about 35 folks join us online together.  

Thanks be to all of you for your prayers and support to me and each other during these times.  We are all going through this together, and alone, and this is part of what is hard.  There won’t be a unifying worship to be part of this week, we will each have to prepare our hearts and homes for an Easter service.  

On Thursday, we are going to work through a service of remembrance, and a stripping of the altar.  I will have to be creative in doing this.  On Good Friday maybe you could light 7 candles with me to help put them out, together, in our own space.  And on Easter, can we gather with each other to livestream the worship together?  Gather with family members from a distance?  Be creative in new ways of being together?  This is our current challenge, opportunity, and situation. 

I asked Grace to send me a few words about how she is making this transition.  She offered these words:

“As the church year calendar moves along from Lent towards Easter, we are contemplating a new way to celebrate Easter 2020.  Our usual preparations include changing the paraments or hangings in the sanctuary, as well the pastor’s vestments, to a new color:  from Lent’s penitential purple to celebratory white.  White reminds us first of the newborn Christ, and our joy in Him (Christmas), and then again in the great joy of the resurrection at Easter.  We don’t always think of white as celebratory, but we do use it often for graduations, confirmations, and of course, weddings. All joyous occasions!

“The task of putting up a new color is something I look forward to as it means a new season, but there is also peaceful satisfaction in the mundane process of taking down one color, pressing and hanging the new color, an essential part of the preparation of our worship space.  This year I will create my own worship space by moving my laptop from my office to the dining room table, where I can set up candles, some flowers and my hymnal, and celebrate Easter remotely with Pr. Marty, Caleb and all of you in the Our Savior’s family.  Happy Easter!”

However you make arrangements for this worship-filled week, I want you to feel free to do it your way, and be ready to share photos of your experience.  This is one for the record books!  Have a great week!

Peace,   Pastor Marty

This ‘n’ That

  • Bread for the World. Maundy Thursday letter writing at 4pm via Zoom: Bread for the World makes an annual request to congregations to write Congress to lift up either specific legislation or an issue in relationship to hunger issues, either domestic or international. OSLC has participated in this practice for many years. Now is a good time for us to join together and participate in this request again this year in lieu of foot washing during this Holy Week. Please watch for an email inviting you to join the Zoom gathering. 
  • Care of Creation. April 22, 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.  Since 1970, Earth Day has increased awareness of the planet we live on, pollution, climate change, endangered species, and many other environmental issues.  The current pandemic has slowed human activity to the point that pollution is clearing in many places around the globe.  It is a kind of resurrection to celebrate on Easter!  Action:   Visit www.thealliancecenter.org/earthweek for daily virtual activities in which you can participate hosted by people in our community. (from the AllianceCenter.org)
  • Save those toiletries, because Helping Hands will be back collecting items for the disadvantaged when we’re up and running again.

Readings for Sunday, April 12 – Easter Sunday

Acts 10:34-43 OR Jeremiah 31:1-6

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

Colossians 3:1-4 OR Acts 10:34-43

Matthew 28:1-10 OR John 20:1-18

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.

Yoga With Allison Lowrie

Yoga With Allison Lowrie

Posted on by Claire Cassell

Allison has very kindly put together a yoga sequence that you can follow along with at home. Reconnecting with yourself through breath and movement can be a great gift – You deserve it! Come and reinvigorate yourself! Fun fact: The word spirit comes from the Latin word for breath.

If you have any gifts, we would love if you shared them with us!