Dear Friends, 

Pf. Elisabeth Preckel brought this new German Holy Week through
Easter gift to us which is now sharedthrough a photo.

First the hill and cross is displayed on Good Friday, then the tomb with the sandstone circle covering the opening are added on Holy Saturday, and finally the stone is rolled away and the candle lite on Easter morning and Easter’s ongoing Sundays.

A scene in wood and wax that anyone of us could make with poster board pieces and a candle and display on a table where it becomes a daily sight that stays in place for Easter’s weeks that will bring us to Pentecost. Or, simply cut out this photo and imagine your way through the movement of the pieces that – as pictured – celebrate God’s glorious, beyond words Easter morning when the light of the rising sun was surpassed with the Christ-light of His resurrected presence., The light that shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it; the light that is meant to shine on us and to be reflected by us.

But more than that, engage us, and especially our children, in experiencing the Story that brings us to Easter’s worship and the Sundays in the season.

Rejoicing to join you in Easter’s joy, “Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!”   

                                                Your Pastor, Martha B. Kriebel +  

Dear Friends,

Four big name observances on the calendar of the world are scheduled for the shortest month: Boy Scout Sunday, Race Relations Sunday, Valentine’s Day, and Presidents’ Day, and in 2014 two dates on the church’s calendar, Ash Wednesday and Lent wait until March to begin, giving us all of February for ongoing Epiphanies – God “shining” upon and through the moments observed in this short month.

• How does God shine through Scouting; how are lives molded to live with reverence for God? 
  
• How does God’s Valentine card with the words of John 3:16 shine though our struggles to relate to one another and set us to working at being who we are: all God’s children? 
  
• How does the name of George Washington take us beyond his chopping down a cherry tree to his unyielding commitment to form a nation for, of, and by the people? 
  
• How does Abraham Lincoln’s address to a nation about to drown in its own blood at Gettysburg become future generation’s determination to commit to the cry “never again!”?
  
• How will this short month with one Epiphany Sunday after another become an invitation for each of us to have a personal epiphany, a moment when God breaks through and bathes us in ongoing experiences of light beams of God’s grace?
  

February 2014, a whole month for epiphanies!                                                                      

Your Pastor, 
Martha B. Kriebel +  

The statistics can be very depressing for churches that are labeled “Mainline” now called “Sidelined” and for any worshiping Christian congregation that’s older than the memory of its members. It’s hard to face the reality that the public media headlines incidents of corruption or personal misconduct – all needing to be published, but rarely balanced their reporting with the overwhelming evidence of deep devotion that nurtures Christ-like character and service.

It’s discouraging to know our church is up against pressures and schedules and noble activities that cause our attendance totals to fall and our money gifts for mission-outreach to be diminished by other well-advertised appeals that compete for contributions.

It’s depressing and discouraging until we look at the first Christians living under the control of the Roman Empire. The impression may be the first congregations grew to out-number and over-power the Romans, but the reality is their head count never exceeded 20% and was closer to 10%. Yet they did not let their insignificance in numbers defeat them. Instead they gave themselves to being what Jesus taught, “The kingdom of God is like yeast (leaven) that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” (Matt. 13:33) and Paul turned around to use to scold Galatian Christians for letting a few be the corrupting leaven/yeast that turned them away from being God’s leavening minority that quietly infuses life with Christ-like qualities.

2014 is a new year for us to commit to that calling and not be depressed or discouraged by statistics that diminish us, but rather by faith that knows it only takes a pinch to be a church that leavens life with God’s Good News in Jesus Christ!

             

                                                 Your Pastor,   Martha B. Kriebel +