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 June 23, 2024
Pastor’s Reflection
Happy Juneteenth and Father’s Day, and a huge thanks to all who helped with setup and cleanup for our outdoor coffee hour last Sunday on the lawn. It was fun to be out there and sit with different folks and get to know one another better. I’m eager to hear if you think this is something we should try again!
We are going to “think on our feet” this Sunday during our Church Becoming meeting, as we rove around Elim’s building, stand inside all our unused spaces and conjure up life-sustaining memories from our rich past (and maybe finally find a few lost things that we need!). I’m calling it our “Spirit in the Spiderwebs” tour. We will begin on the lawn after worship in patio chairs under a canopy, so please bring your snacks upstairs as soon as you can after worship. Chairs will be provided throughout the tour for those who need to sit.
I’m looking forward to going on an adventure right at home with you!
with love, Pastor Chelsea
Upcoming events:
Sunday July 7th, 10 am – Outdoor Worship with First Presbyterian at Monroe Park
Every Wednesday night in July, 7:30 – 8 pm – Evening Prayer on the Lawn
Sunday July 14th – Council meeting
Elim Extra for Sunday June 16, 2024
Pastor’s Reflection
This weekend I decided to watch some of my ministry colleagues’ services online – you know, as you do – and I was horrified when one of them started pulling questions out of an “Ask Your Minister Anything” box and answering them on the spot! Talk about putting my premeditated question-based sermon series to shame.
While I was impressed with my colleague’s courage and quick wits, what was most valuable was hearing unfiltered questions from a wide range of people in the same faith community. The concerns that keep people up at night vary widely from person to person, it turns out. (So do the bones people have to pick with their minister.) What I want to hear about – and what I think YOU should hear about – might be quite different from what’s actually on your mind!
Perhaps while I was addressing domestic violence and LGBTQ Pride during the past two weeks, you were feeling like these topics weren’t quite for you. Thank you for taking the time to listen to what your neighbor needed to hear. This Sunday, we will entertain another question from one of our members that I think has broader appeal – “How can we be blessed to be a blessing?”
Please join us!
with love, Pr. Chelsea
p.s. Thank you for celebrating my one-year anniversary at Elim! I did not expect that and was very touched. I love being with all of you!
Upcoming Events:
June 16 – Father’s Day Outdoor Coffee Hour
June 22 – My Hometown Ogden yard work at Elim 9-11
June 23 – Church Becoming meeting
June 30 – Worship Team meeting
Elim Extra for Sunday June 9, 2024
Pastor’s Reflection
We have begun our “Why Do You Ask” summer sermon series at church. Jesus answered only three of the 183 questions he was asked! Instead he asked lots of his own questions (307 of them in fact). I’m giving space in the pulpit to address whatever questions you bring to me, and I have room for a few more if there are any sermon topics you’d like to hear.
Now, at first I thought this would be a fun and easy summer project. But now that I’m getting your deep questions, I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew!
But we don’t have to bring a full answer to our big questions, settling them for all time. Preaching is not a one and done. Rather, we feel our way into a few truths that meet the needs of the moment, and let the rest of the mystery continue to unfold. Like the poet Rilke said:
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
with love, Pr. Chelsea
Upcoming events:
June 16 – Father’s Day – outdoor coffee hour.
June 22 – My Hometown Ogden yard work.
June 23 – Church becoming meeting.
July 7 – Outdoor worship at Monroe Park with First Presbyterian Church; Elim will be closed.