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From the Pastor
Dear friends in Christ,
Please see some new offerings in this February newsletter. We will once again be co-hosting soup lunch and book discussion on Wednesdays during Lent. Look below for more details. And we will be temporarily rerouting our Tuesday book study to look at the ELCA’s social statement on Faith & Civic Life, which was passed at the Churchwide Assembly in 2025. Please plan to join us on Tuesdays at 2 pm to become acquainted with this important work. I can’t think of a more timely topic.
This poem by Bishop Ken Untener is commonly known as “The Romero Prayer,” in honor of Archbishop Oscar Romero. May it bless you as we enter our Lenten journey.
It helps, now and then,
to step back and take the long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts;
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime
only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise
that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water the seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that.
This enables us to do something
and to do it well.
It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning,
a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace
to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between
the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders;
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Grace and peace to you,
Pastor Connie
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