Clothes Closet, Newsletter Article, Serve & Give Andrew Stutesman Clothes Closet, Newsletter Article, Serve & Give Andrew Stutesman

First Teen Clothes Closet Update for October 2019

It has been a big year for the First Teen Clothes Closet! We have been in our new location at Trinity Lutheran Church for just over a year, and in that year we have served more than 275 individual teens from at least 24 area middle schools and high schools through our Monday night shopping hours, private appointments and the annual Trinity Lutheran Church block party and shoe distribution. (The shoe distribution alone set more than 170 teens up for the school year with a pair of new shoes).

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Newsletter Article Andrew Stutesman Newsletter Article Andrew Stutesman

Message from Pastor Karyn for September 2019

We Are Church. This is the theme that the Churchwide Assembly gathered under last week as members of each of the 65 synods of the ELCA gathered together in Milwaukee. I was privileged to serve this amazing group of people throughout the week as a volunteer with the worship staff. My primary task was to work in the vestry, where I made sure the 75 communion ministers, the principals and any other people participating in worship were appropriately garbed. That came out to somewhere between 600 and 700 people fitted for albs over the course of the week! That was a lot of people, and I loved every minute of it. It was such a blessing to see different segments of our church gathered together in one room: our bishops, deacons, youth, female clergy, chaplains, voting members, they all came through the vestry.

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Newsletter Article, God's Hands & Feet Kathryn Pedretti Newsletter Article, God's Hands & Feet Kathryn Pedretti

Called By Name

It’s so easy to forget someone’s name. I can forget a name as soon as the person walks away after telling me their name two minutes before. I can forget a name of someone I’ve known for years. Sometimes I can remember a spouse’s name but not the one I’m talking to. I can remember the kids’ names but not the parents and vise versa. It just happens; the name disappears somewhere into my brain, sometimes never to return.

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Newsletter Article Jason Stanton Newsletter Article Jason Stanton

All Are Welcome: It's Harder Than You Think

What’s your favorite part of being a member at First Lutheran? This is a question I ask often. And I have heard a variety of answers ranging from a person’s favorite ministry program, to the work we do together in the world. But the most common, agreed-upon value we share seems to be something we say every week at worship. As a way of inviting everyone to the communion rail, Pastor Karyn or I say, “ALL are welcome, to this the LORD’S table.”

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