Page 4 - February 2018 Traveler

From the Pastor’s Study…

I just glanced at the calendar and was stunned to see that in less than a month is Ash
th
Wednesday (Feb 14 !) and we will begin Lent! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone!
It seems like life moves quickly so I am especially glad for the time of Lent, where we slow

down a bit and have an opportunity in our mid-week services to spend some quality time
together in fellowship and worship. This year especially I am looking forward to that time
together. Everywhere I turn, it seems like our world is in chaos with heart-breaking world
events of violent strife, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, economic instability and poverty,
so having a little down-time with all of you alongside a time of worship is such a blessing.

With that in mind, we are going to be trying something just a bit different this year in
terms of our mid-week structure. Like most years we will once again gather together in the
lower level to enjoy a simple dinner starting at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday evenings
(beginning on Feb 21), but unlike most years immediately following our dinner, we will
begin our time of worship. I am especially excited about this time together, because as part
of worship we will focus on hunger—for sustenance and for God. This emphasis is a contin-
uation of the ministry we have engaged in through the work of our Stewardship Team as

well as our Market Garden Team. Each week we will focus on a different aspect of hunger
and food scarcity and how God strengthens us to serve the poor and hungry among us and
throughout the world. It will be a time for us to dig
a little deeper and broaden our understanding of
ELCA World Hunger and our ministry to eradicate
poverty.

I pray that each of you will make the time
each week to join us this Lent as we gather togeth-
er to reconnect with God and one another! I can’t
wait to spend some time with you!

With prayer,

Pastor Pat

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