10
Apr 2019
Beth Ford, 2019 Council President It took Samuel three times, but he finally knew that it was the voice of God calling him. Samuel loved and obeyed God, but the first thing that he had to do was listen and hear. The story of the little boy Samuel has been persistently in my mind as we move through our interim time together. The most important question that we pray to be able to answer is “What is God calling us to do?” Like Samuel, we love God, and we want to be......
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09
Apr 2019
Reverend Larry K. Richardson We enter the month of April deep in Lent and exit with the celebration of Easter. A significant spiritual transition, not unlike our daily transition from sleep of night to a new day. We are not, however, asleep during Lent; it is rather a time to consider our Baptism into Christ and our new life in Christ. In fact, the quality of our Lenten journey determines the joy of our Easter. We are called to contemplate our mortality on Ash Wednesday and continue to contemplate our life journey......
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09
Apr 2019
Joan McGinnis, Director of Music Throughout the centuries, people have worshipped in many different places. These include deserts, along side rivers, in the catacombs and prisons of Rome and in great cathedrals. Each space brings something special to those who are there, whether it be the grandeur of the open sky, the quiet singing in a cave or the booming organ of a large church. At Messiah, we continue the practice of using our worship spaces in ways that share the gospel, allow for meditation and lift our hearts and minds in......
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05
Feb 2019
By Jenny Adams As I was contemplating our proposed new mission statement I decided to break it down, look up definitions of each word, and see if I could find something on the ELCA website that would support it. I was pleased to find not only validation for each section of the statement but also explanations that enhanced my understanding of it. I have provided the definitions and the corresponding support below. Each definition is from Google dictionary and the corresponding paragraphs are from the ELCA website. Proclaim – announce officially or......
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03
Feb 2019
By Pastor Larry Richardson As I sit writing this column, it’s 46 degrees and sunny outside. Tomorrow we are due for 17 degrees and 2.5 inches of snow. Of course, that may not happen, but I have grown more confident in weather forecasts in the past few years. Radar and constant ground station information has made forecasting future weather events much more precise. It brings to mind a famous story about a Minnesota snow storm that happened to occur on a Sunday morning. The snow was deep, the winds were high, and......
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31
Jan 2019
By Beth Ford It is that time of year again. Did we not just finish 2017? How did 2018 pass so quickly? It is a logical time to consider all the gifts that we were given in 2018 and how we shared those gifts. It is, also, the time to think about how we can better serve God in 2019. In 2018, our Messiah family grew. When it could have been a temptation to sit back and feel sorry for ourselves, no one gave in to that as a possibility. We became......
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31
Jan 2019
A call committee was elected at the Annual Congregational Meeting Part 1 on Sunday, Dec. 2. Elected were: Mike Driskill, Doris Featherston, Jaclyn Levy, Jane Mason, Craig Stewart. In addition to the elected members of the committee, the Congregation Council is to appoint two additional members to serve – which they did at their meeting of Dec. 18, 2018. Appointed members to the Call Committee are Kelsey West and Roger Miller....
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12
Aug 2018
By: Beth Ford, 2018 Council President Sometimes I wait late in the year before I do what many people do at the first of the year when it is resolution time. I just do not always have time to spend in self examination in the middle of the holidays, the end of the semester, regular work, and the general busyness of December and January. This year that self reflection did not happen until June. Better late than never. During my week at the beach without the company of grandchildren, I did a......
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05
Aug 2018
By: Reverend Larry K Richardson, Interim Co-Pastor I just returned from about three weeks of travel and I am now convinced that I never want to leave home again. I expect I’ll get over that aversion to being “on the road” after a while, but not anytime soon. I did, however, get to travel with my granddaughters whose company I enjoyed almost all the time. (I really sound like a grumpy old man, don’t I? Which is exactly the term my wife used.) It is truly extraordinary to see the world through......
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02
Aug 2018
On July 17, Messiah’s Congregation Council tabled a vote on a proposed alcohol policy until August 21. The proposed policy is included below so that comments might be collected. If you have a comment, you may either place a written comment in the president’s mail slot or share your comment with a member of the Council....
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