Hi, Everybody:
This Sunday, June 30, is the 5th Sunday after Pentecost and the first Lutheran Loose Change Sunday since we’ve started in-person services (I know you’ve been saving your coins for the past 15 months just for this auspicious day!). The in-person outdoor service is at 10 a.m. on the patio with masks, distancing, and individual communion elements (you can assume I’ll tell you if the situation changes). There will still be an online worship service for the foreseeable future (probably until we can deliver it directly into your brain – you know, through that chip they implanted in you when you got your vaccine). Zoom Coffee Chat and Zoom Communion are at 9:15 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
You may remember the letter I sent out a month ago from the HTLC Council describing our very stressed financial situation (the scale goes from “not stressed at all” to “yikes!”). Treasurer Terri has finished the Financial Report for May, and while the situation has improved a little (thank you for that), we’re still struggling: $8,600 in the hole (stress level: “just plain stressed”) as opposed to $10,000. I wanted to let you know in case you felt like searching the couch for that extra change that fell there while you were binge-watching Netflix this past year-and-a-half. Let’s at least get down to “somewhat stressed”!
Marta Wicke and John Williams have written their 2021Synod Assembly Report. Thanks, Marta and John, for attending and being our voting members from HTLC. It was a “virtual” assembly this year. Read their report for the goings-on, but the big news was the election of our new Synod Bishop, The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer (Pride Month reminder: Megan Rohrer is the first transgendered bishop of a major Christian denomination in the U.S.!).
The Tri-City ELCA churches are starting a Kids’ Theater Project. It’s for children in grades K-8, and for high school kids as student assistants. They will meet Wednesdays, 3 to 5 p.m. from August 25 through October 6 at Holy Redeemer in Newark to rehearse the musical “Are We There Yet?” by Alan Pote & Tom Long. Performances will be on Wednesday, October 6 at 6:30 p.m. and on Sunday, October 10 at 10:15 a.m. Click here to go directly to the information and registration web page. You know your kids are the most talented in the world, so get them involved!
– Keith, your friendly Parish Life Coordinator (i.e. Church Secretary)