Worship Livestream

We routinely live-stream our Sunday services, as well as some other special events, on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/elimlutheran.church.3/) and on our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ElimLutheran/streams

Please join us there, if you cannot join us in person!

To receive the weekly Elim Extra email in your inbox, please contact our office administrator at office@elimlutheran.org to sign up. You can also sign up to receive our monthy newsletter the Scribe at your home address.

Elim Extra for Sunday February 11, 2024

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Pastor’s Reflection

Lent is coming! Mark your calendars for a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper on February 13 at 5:30 (bring a favorite topping to share), Ash Wednesday on February 14 at 5:30, and a midweek evening prayer service every following Wednesday at 5:30. There are signup sheets in the hallway to bring soup for our Sunday lunches during Lent. If you can’t make it to church at 5:30 on February 14 but would like to receive ashes, Ascension Lutheran is offering “ashes to go” in their parking lot during the lunch hour; or please contact me to arrange a visit at home. I love Lent!

This Sunday wraps up our Epiphany season, when we have been basking in the light of Jesus’s various manifestations of holiness: divine vulnerability, divine grief, divine belovedness, divine vigor, divine destiny (as I shared with the Boy Scouts last week), and now this week on Transfiguration Sunday, divine transformation! It is fitting that Epiphany ends with a blinding flash of light on the mountaintop, so that the glory of Christ may light our way through the dark valley of Lent.
This Lent we will continue to explore grief and loss through the Psalms of Lament, and also hear many readings from the prophet Jeremiah, the champion of lament. I invite you to stay after church on the last two Sundays of this month, to help build a timeline of Elim’s past and do some nostalgic remembering and grieving together. Christ will light our way!
with love, Pr. Chelsea
Events:

February 11 – Council Meeting
February 13 – Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner 5:30 pm
February 14 – Ash Wednesday at 5:30 PM & Valentine’s Day
February 18 & 25 – Church Becoming workshops (building a church timeline)
February 18 – Lenten soup luncheons begin – Please sign up to bring food!
February 19 – Presidents Day
February 21 – First Lenten evening worship @ 5:30

Elim Extra for February 4, 2024

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Pastor’s Reflection

All of a sudden there are many, many names our prayer list. Life can be like that sometimes. Yet in recent days I have seen your prayers work. We thank God that Amy, Frank, Brittney, Karen, and Lucille are getting better. Bill, Christy, Jane, Kay, and Rosemary still need our prayers. Please hold Joan and Peggy in prayer this week as they undergo successful hand surgeries and get a head start on a great recovery. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

What a fabulous treat this Sunday that we will get to enjoy worship led by the Scouts of Troop 54. It is truly a joy when young people offer us their spiritual leadership and service. Please plan to stay after worship on Sunday to enjoy a reception with this wonderful group.

Lent is coming! Mark your calendars for a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper on February 13 at 5:30, Ash Wednesday on February 14 at 5:30, and a midweek evening prayer service every Wednesday following, also at 5:30. There are signup sheets in the hallway for to bring soup for our Sunday lunches during Lent. So many wonderful opportunities this time of year to deepen our spiritual fellowship!

with love, Pr. Chelsea

Elim Extra for Sunday January 28, 2024

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Pastor’s Reflection

In our reading from Acts last Sunday, we heard about the Ethiopian eunuch reading the famous passage in Isaiah about the Suffering Servant. Isaiah was talking about the nation of Israel going through suffering, but in his description, Christians have seen an amazing portrayal of the Suffering Servant Jesus who was to come. This Sunday’s gospel reading will highlight the way that Jesus shared in our afflictions through his healing ministry, as we continue the theme of Epiphany/manifestation: Jesus showing his divine strength in the face of grief.

In Bible study this month, we have been studying ways to work through our own suffering after losing someone, through the “tasks of grief” model. Last Sunday we made grief bracelets, and this coming Sunday at 9 AM we will be drawing necklaces to symbolize our journeys of change and corporate loss in the various churches we have been part of. All are welcome to join us! A sweeter sister of Grief is Nostalgia, who opens us to happy memories of those we have lost, so that we can draw strength from their strength. During Lent we will be exploring the history of Elim looking for what sweet Nostalgia can teach us for our future.

In the words of our Bible study author, Bishop Michael Girlinghouse: “Our own nostalgic reflection can help us see how the Holy Spirit was at work among us, the gospel of Jesus Christ was motivating us, and the God who created us and called us was with us in those days. That reflection can give us assurance that God is still with us, even as we acknowledge and grieve what we have lost.”

with love, Pr. Chelsea

–Annual Congregational Meeting and Potluck this Sunday! Chair exercises will resume before coffee hour the following Sunday.

–February 4th will be Scouts Sunday.