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Our congregation's purpose statement: Called and empowered to proclaim the radical love of Christ through lives of service.

July 13, 2025

Dear Siblings in Christ,

Who is my neighbor? This question has often been asked, not because we want to know who to grow closer to, but rather who we have permission to exclude.

In Sunday's Gospel we hear the familiar story of the Good Samaritan, and the challenge to love our neighbor as ourselves. Yet Jesus' parable does not comfort the lawyer asking for clarity on the law. Instead, it raises the bar and challenges us all to look at how we love the world by offering mercy to all. This was a tall order for the community of Jesus' time, and it has not gotten any easier for us today. How does the church respond in an era of division and hate, when our world is so set on caring for some and leaving others behind?

Faithfully yours,

Pastor Naomi

Sunday Bulletin

and Online Worship Link

Click here or the picture above to access the Sunday 10:00a worship bulletin.

Click here for live-streaming of the 10:00a worship service.

Calendar

This Sunday, July 13 ~ 5th Sunday after Pentecost

+8:00a -- Gospel Discussion + Communion: Learning Center.
+10:00a -- Sunday Celebration: Sanctuary. (In-person and live-streamed on YouTube)
11:15a -- Fellowship Time: Activities Room. Join us for refreshments and conversation.

+ Service includes Holy Communion.

Monday, July 14

The church office is closed on Mondays.

Tuesday, July 15

Tuesday through Friday, 9:00a to 3:00p -- Church Office is open: Use the south entry door and ring the doorbell if the door is locked.

Wednesday, July 16

Noon -- Articles are due for "Weekly Footnotes": Submit via email to office@lcftucson.org.
4:30p to 6:00p -- Handbell Quartet rehearsal with Chad Pittman: Sanctuary.

Thursday, July 17

10:00a to 11:30a -- Coffee Talk: Bruegger's Bagels (northwest corner of Swan and Sunrise).

Friday, July 18

3:45p -- Primavera Men's Shelter hot stew meal items due: Bring food items to the kitchen area and put a checkmark beside your name on the signup sheet.
5:45p to 8:00p -- AA PreWeekenders & Al-Anon Sunset: Activities Room. (Community Groups)

Saturday, July 19

9:00a to 12:00p -- National Charity League: Activities Room. (Community Group)

Coming Up

July 20 -- Inclusivity Team meeting
July 21 -- Pray Without Ceasing: Our Saviour's Lutheran Church chapel

Community Service

July Community Service Emphasis: School Supplies for San Juan Bautista

It’s that time of year again! Parents

are thinking about where they might come up with the resources to purchase

school supplies for their children.

For the month of July, San Juan Bautista Lutheran Church and Lutheran Church of the Foothills are partnering to provide about 30 neighborhood students with the supplies needed to start their next school adventure. Over 45% of the community at San Juan Bautista is of school age and so many of the families in their community face many challenges, not the least of which is purchasing school supplies.

A list of supplies is available on the table in the church narthex. Feel free to take one with you. Specific needs include, but are not limited to:

backpacks,
wide-ruled paper,
pencils, pens, markers, crayons, and
monetary donations.

You can help by donating any of the above during this month. A box is available by the display table in the narthex to place items you donate.

You can also help by giving a monetary donation by using the Community Service envelopes on the display table. Make checks payable to “Lutheran Church of the Foothills” and note “Community Service” in the memo line. Place your donations in the offering basket or mail them to the church. You can also give online by using the QR code in the Sunday worship bulletin or the Giving page on our website. Finally, any loose cash placed in the offering basket is automatically designated for the current Community Service emphasis.

Thank you so much for supporting this month’s Community Service emphasis and your generous support throughout the year.

~Community Service Team

The Peanut Butter Party Has Arrived!

The Interfaith Community Services (ICS) 2025 Peanut Butter Party begins Tuesday, July 1, and runs through Friday, August 1. It's a month of friendly competition, community spirit, and helping food-insecure families during the critical summer months--one peanut butter jar at a time!

Bring in your peanut butter jars (preferably 12 or 16 oz.) and add to the display in the narthex. If you choose to drop off your donations at the Northwest Food Bank (2820 W. Ina Rd.) or Eastside Food Drop-Off (8701 E. Old Spanish Trail), you will need to fill out and bring the 2025 PB Party Competition Form for your jars to count toward the Lutheran Church of the Foothills total. Prefer to donate from home? You can also shop on Amazon and take advantage of free Prime delivery directly to ICS! Just CLICK HERE to see the shopping list and complete your order.

If you have any questions, please contact Becky Lococo at blococo@icstucson.org

Primavera Hot Stew Meal Date: Next Friday, July 18!

Our next opportunity to provide a hot stew dinner at the Primavera Men's Shelter is July 18. You can participate by signing up on the clipboard on the Activities Counter or calling the church office to indicate that you will prepare the food in your home kitchen, provide side dishes and desserts, or serve the meal at the Shelter. As of this newsletter, these signups are still needed:

2 hot stews;
1 salad and salad dressing; and
2 desserts.

Remember, menu contributions need to be at the church on or before 3:45p so our serving team has time to pack the items for transport to the Shelter (which is on Benson Highway near the Veterans’ Hospital) and to set up the buffet table for service beginning promptly at 5:00p. Note that the church building closes at 3:00p, and the south entrance will be open briefly at 3:45p when the serving team arrives to start packing your food contributions.

Please bring items in at serving temperature and in covered disposable containers (except the stew is brought in the LCF stew containers with lids). Put your menu contributions in the kitchen area and make a checkmark beside your name on the sign-up sheet when you bring in your food.

Thank you for your participation in this ministry! For more information contact Sylvia Strauss-Kolb.

~ Community Service Team

You Continue to Live Out Our Congregation’s Core Value of Generosity!

During March and April, you gave a remarkable $4,527.83 in support of our Community Service Team’s emphasis on the Water Project of the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission (NELM). This 70-year-old ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Rock Point, Arizona, serves a community where more than half of all households either lack running water or do not have access to safe drinking water. Your gifts will help fund NELM’s $110,000 project to upgrade the Mission’s over-600-foot-deep well with filtration and chlorination systems, holding tanks, automated water distribution, and an ice-making machine (much needed in an area where many homes do not have electricity).

Thank you for your generosity and commitment to living out your faith in tangible ways. You are making a real difference by helping our Navajo siblings living near Rock Point have clean water for everyday living.

~ Leslie Johnson and Joan Nolan

Community Service Team

Life Together

Welcome, Chad Pittman!

Lutheran Church of the Foothills welcomes a new Music Ministry Leader, Chad Pittman.

Chad is a multi-talented musician—conductor, educator, and organist—who believes in the amazing transformational power of music. He is currently a DMA student in Choral Conducting at The University of Arizona.

When not making music and collaborating with amazing folks, Chad Pittman enjoys traveling and is an excited and curious “foodie.” An animal lover, he frequently volunteers at local shelters and enjoys spending time with his cats and faithful, rambunctious Chiweenie (Chihuahua/Dachshund), Hank!

Welcome, Chad!

Chad Pittman Solo Organ Recital

You are invited to hear Chad Pittman at a solo organ recital at the United Methodist Church of Green Valley on Sunday, August 10, at 3:00p. The recital will feature musician friends, music of many styles, times, and places, and a few fun surprises! Admission is free.

Chad would LOVE to see some Lutheran Church of the Foothills friends attend!

Upcoming music in worship:

July 20 - Los Campaneros Handbell Quartet and Chad Pittman, piano
July 27 - Kyla Cooper, University of Arizona mezzo-soprano

Grand Canyon Synod Wins the 2025 Lenten Challenge!

During this past Lent (March-April), 15 people from Lutheran Church of the Foothills signed up for the Region 2 Lenten Challenge. This friendly effort among the five synods of Region 2 (Sierra Pacific, Southwest California, Pacifica, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain) led to our Grand Canyon Synod winning the challenge by being the synod with the highest number of individuals participating (407).

In addition to helping participants have a more meaningful Lenten experience through the practices of reading a daily devotional, participating in community activities around water, and being aware of their personal water usage, the “Daily Donation” practice raised over $30,564 from Region 2 for the Water Project at the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission (NELM) in Rock Point, Arizona. (These funds are being distributed through a special appeal of Lutheran Disaster Response.) During March and April our Community Service Team Emphasis was also about the NELM Water Project; our congregation raised over $4,000 (see Generosity article elsewhere in “Weekly Footnotes”)

Thank you to those who participated in the 2025 Region 2 Lenten Challenge and helped our Grand Canyon Synod win “bragging rights.” I hope your daily practices enriched your Lenten experience as well as raised your awareness of water issues at the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission.

~ Leslie Johnson

Coming Soon to Your Electronic Device: A New Website!

The new and (hopefully) improved Lutheran Church of the Foothills website is coming soon! It will feature

up-to-date news and calendar events,
worship service and visitor information,
a (still in development) timeline of important events in our history,
access to the most recent newsletters and worship videos,
information about our ministry partners and community involvement, and much more!

As the website continues to evolve, we hope you make it your one-stop for information about the happenings at Lutheran Church of the Foothills.

You Can Be a Part of the A/V Team

Each Sunday during worship a small team of people make sure everyone can see, hear, and feel connected—both in the sanctuary and online. One volunteer operates the sound while another operates the video. We’re looking for a few more helping hands to join this important ministry.

Why volunteer? Serving on the A/V Team is a wonderful way to:

Take pride in helping worship reach people near and far
Learn something new in a relaxed, supportive environment
Make a meaningful difference every time you serve
Enjoy getting to know other volunteers better

You don’t need to be “tech-savvy”—if you can click a mouse, push a button, or follow simple instructions, you already have what it takes! We’ll provide all the training you need, and you’ll never serve alone until you feel comfortable.

Volunteering once a month (or as often as you like) makes a big difference. If you’d like to learn more or give it a try, talk to Bryan Daum (daum5735@yahoo.com; 520-577-1782) or Stewart McDonald (revstewart@lcftucson.org; 520-360-7794) or come see us in the a/v booth after worship.

~Stewart McDonald

The Power of Us: Civic Engagement on HIV and Related Issues

Hearing about funding cuts and wondering what’s going on and how to respond? Join us for a 90-minute, non-partisan session for Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN) CarePartners, volunteers, donors, and faith community members, as well as folks from key partner agencies who are sponsors and participants of this event. This session will be held from 5:30p -7:00p at a midtown Tucson location provided upon receiving an RSVP on Monday, July 14. This session will be facilitated by Dr. Alison Sutton-Ryan (TIHAN Board member, professor, and psychotherapist), Dr. Kevin Carmichael, Executive Director Scott Blades, and Pima County Supervisor Andrés Cano.

In addition to an overview of the $3 million in HIV funding cuts, topics will include:

Identifying your advocacy goals
Understanding risk in advocacy
Ways to get involved (advocacy tools)
Intersectionality with other justice issues
Safety considerations
Self-care as activism

For more information, see the flyer on the Activities Counter in the narthex. An RSVP is required to scott@tihan.org

From Hawaii to the Caribbean

Why volunteer at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly?

Meet ELCA leaders from Hawaii, across the USA, and into the Caribbean.
Participate in the every-three-years decision-making process that shapes the future of our denomination.
Support the election of a new churchwide bishop and secretary.
Live out your belief in the radical hospitality of Christ.
Connect with nearly 100 others from our Grand Canyon Synod who will be volunteering.
And maybe even reconnect with folks from the synod you once called home before moving to Tucson!

2025 Churchwide Assembly meets July 28–August 2 at the Phoenix Convention Center. Volunteer shifts are available before, during, and after the event. You can serve for just a few hours or sign up for multiple roles throughout the week. Many hands make light work—please consider joining this ministry of hospitality.

A complete list of open shifts and the volunteer sign-up form are available at www.gcsynod.org/cwa. Also on that site is information about the Volunteer Training Session via Zoom on July 16 (which will be recorded for later viewing). Feel free to contact Leslie Johnson if you have any questions not answered on the website.

This is a rare chance for our synod to welcome the wider church with warmth and care. Your hospitality reflects God’s love and helps the church discern with clarity.

~ Leslie Johnson, Neighborhood Interaction Team

Read & Yak on July 26: The Personal Librarian

You are invited to join us at noon on Saturday, July 26, for a discussion of the historical novel, The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. Bring your lunch to enjoy as we talk.

The Personal Librarian tells of the remarkable, little-known story of Belle da Costa Green, the personal librarian to J.P. Morgan, who became one of the most powerful women in New York despite her dangerous secret. Click here to join the Zoom discussion. Meeting ID: 822 7558 0676 Passcode: 844657

Upcoming Reads:

📖 August 23: House Made of Dawn: A Novel, by N. Scott Momaday (Fiction)

📖 September 27: The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, by John Barry (Nonfiction/History)

Revitalize Your Faith Through Diakonia

A new cohort for the Growing in Faith/Diakonia program will be forming this fall. Brochures detailing this ministry program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are available on the Activities Counter in the narthex. If you have questions about the program, contact Bethany Boyd or Ken Goode. They can give you a firsthand account of how it helped them grow in faith. Our own Rev. Stewart McDonald and Kevin Roark will be teaching select sessions.

Coffee Talk Meets Every Thursday During the Summer

Through the end of August, this informal version of Thursday Journey meets at 10:00a each Thursday at Bruegger's Bagels (at the corner of Swan and Sunrise) for a little food, beverages, and engaging conversation on current events. Thursday Journey will resume in September with a topic yet to be determined.

"Kneaded": Communion Bread Bakers

If you like to bake or wonder how you can volunteer from the privacy of your home, you can be a communion bread baker!

The most current and easy unleavened bread recipe and signup sheet are on the counter in the Narthex. To ease communion prep on Sunday mornings, please bring the bread to the church Sacristy by noon on the Friday before the service or no later than 8:45a Sunday morning. For more information, contact Beth Daum.