Dear Members and Friends of Messiah Lutheran Church,
TODAY our Bishop Kevin Strickland sent a message to all congregations in the SE Synod of the ELCA requesting that we not have services of worship in the usual way. Messiah Lutheran is going to abide by the Bishop’s request. None of us like this, but for the sake of our neighbors we are asked to adapt. For a period of time, we can ‘be church’ without Sunday and Wednesday services of worship like we have done as MLC for over 30 years. None of our other routine activities at MLC will meet until further notice.
TOMORROW by 7:00 p.m. our Wednesday Lenten Service of Worship will be available to watch on MLC’s website: www.mlutheran.org Under our Lent theme How God Fixed What We Broke, this week’s episode is “We’ve Got to Get Out of This Place” which is based on the Exodus: Moses leading God’s chosen people out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land.
Since this is our first experience with producing a ‘video only’ service of worship it will not be a refined production. In the coming weeks, we will learn ways to technically improve what is being provided for services of worship on MLC’s website. Please be patient as we learn. If you have comments or suggestions to share with those of us leading these services, please do.
THIS SUNDAY, MARCH 22, a video service of worship for the 4th Sunday in Lent will be available for viewing on MLC’s website: www.mlutheran.org
HOW LONG WILL WE HAVE TO WAIT before being ready to gather in person to worship our Lord? I do not know. The CDC says we should not expect to gather until May. As you know, the story of this pandemic changes from day to day.
THIS WE DO KNOW: Our Lord goes with us wherever our journeys lead. We are not alone even when we are individually distant from others. Emmanuel (God with us) abides. Our Lord keeps saying, “Do not be afraid.”
WE WILL NEED TO BE CREATIVE in the ways we worship, continue our missions, and perceive God’s blessings even in the midst of crisis. You are invited to help as we make this journey together.
PLEASE REGULARLY VISIT WWW.MLUTHERAN.ORG to learn ways that God is still at work among us and how MLC is continuing to be ‘God’s People, Reaching Out’.
Grace and peace to you today and always,
Pastor Scott Peterson
Let us pray:
Lord God,
You have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending,
by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.
Give us faith to carry on with good courage, not knowing where we go,
but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. (LBW p. 153)