“In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.”   Isaiah 11:10

The use of the passage above is a bit of a stretch given my Pondering this week.  It is a great passage speaking of a future hope for Israel and the nations of the world - a “day of the Lord” passage that foretells of that day when the Lord will reconcile all peoples to himself through “a shoot from the stump of Jesse”.  For Christians that means a descendant of David … and for us that means Jesus.  But I confess I’m not writing about that.

I’m using Isaiah 11:10 because it’s the only passage in the Bible I could find that contains the word “rally” – translated from a Hebrew word “da rash” which means to ‘care about’, ‘seek’, or ‘examine’.   

From that I (shamelessly) hope you ‘care about’, ‘seek’ and “examine” what’s happening on our upcoming “Rally Sunday” at Calvary this weekend.  Sunday School, Confirmation and High School Bible study will resume for starters.  Next, our Music Director Nicole Moritz has scheduled a special musical event – billed as an “At the Zoo” concert.  We invite everyone to stay for this. It will take place in the Sanctuary from 10:45 to 11:15 a.m.  It will be a fun, interactive concert for all ages, for which we ask parents of small kids who’ll be attending to bring to church a stuffed animal so the kids can make this a memorable ‘at the zoo experience’ through music.

This past summer there were several youth events that took place and we want to tell you about them. Faith Formation Director Kyle Jones will be our preacher this weekend.  He’ll highlight all those youth activities, and give students that participated in them a chance to speak about their experiences. 

There is apparently a football game this weekend that might be of interest to various segments of our congregation – I’m only hoping a certain team from around here does not once again “rally” to defeat one that I’m particularly fond of! 😊  

This weekend I will say more about our fall Adult Education option – which I will facilitate.  Because of my departure on September 17^th to accompany other CLC members on a trip to Germany for the Oberammergau Passion Play, I’ll be gone the weekends of September 17^th and 24^th, so I’ve decided to push back the start of our adult class until Sunday, October 2^nd.  I will have a sample copy of study materials available in the entry of the church this weekend, and a sign-up sheet for the course called “Lutheran Next Steps.”  It’s an eight-week course that will meet in the Sanctuary at 10:30 a.m. and was created a few years ago when I was engaged in the “Life to Life Discipleship” initiative of the Navigators and the NALC.   

The course is a solid, basic overview of the Christian faith. It encourages participants to increase their Bible reading, some memorization of key passages and will culminate in the opportunity to create and share (in groups of 2 or 3) a personal “faith story” (or what some traditions called “testimonies”). Six members of Calvary joined me for Lutheran Next Steps in late 2019 and early 2020 and all said they enjoyed the experience. We were poised to introduce it to the wider congregation shortly thereafter, when … well you know … a pandemic kind of scrambled our plans.  

I’m eager to re-present it to our congregation.  The goal of this resource is to present the Christian faith in a straight-forward, Biblically sound way to deepen our knowledge of those beliefs.  This will equip participants for those moments when they may be presented an opportunity to witness to someone about our faith and the Lord Jesus. You might say it’s a “primer” for the Christian faith, so that if you were presenting it to someone who knew little or nothing of the faith, you could use this resource with them.  

Please look for the sign-up sheet on the OPPORTUNITIES kiosk near the Welcome Desk in the Narthex. A few “display only” copies of the materials will be available for you to examine to see if this study is for you.  If you wish to participate, registering will ensure you get a copy of the materials at our first class session.   There is no cost for the materials.   

Finally, this Sunday we will welcome several new members to Calvary, whose names, faces, and stories will be in a future issue of the Connections.  Please greet and welcome them all if you have opportunity.   

I hope to see you all this weekend.

The Lord watch over,

Pastor Ken Nelson