Faith Lutheran Church of Blakeslee, PA

www.faithlutheranblakeslee.org

The Pastor's Page

This week we begin a new church year with the season of Advent. This is a time when the Church invites us to slow down, savor the anticipation of Christmas and prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. Yet too often we have found the busyness of preparing for Christmas soon overwhelms our best intentions for prayer and pondering.

But whether we like it or not, this year will be different. As the pandemic surges around the country, this year’s Advent is beginning to look a lot like this year’s Lent. To avoid contracting or spreading COVID-19, we are by necessity paring down our usual seasonal activities. Get-togethers are being canceled or moved online, and we are left with sincere feelings of loss. It is painful to have to skip or alter the traditions, celebrations and togetherness that help us celebrate what matters most…we are mourning right along with you.

While we are planning to continue indoor worship services through December, we are aware that those plans are subject to change based on conditions around us.  That’s why we are continuing to develop our technical capabilities and offer more options for worship. We are in the final stages of being able to have Sunday morning services go ‘live’ on Zoom (and hopefully Facebook). These will also be recorded and available at other times you want to watch, including on YouTube.  You can also come to the parking lot and pick-up worship booklets and communion cups and listen to the service on radio station 93.1 FM.  We’ve come a long way since March!

Despite its challenges, this Advent can be a time of great opportunity if we let it. Since the Church is calling us to slow down, and the pandemic is forcing us to slow down, maybe this is the year we allow Advent to truly take root in our hearts. Perhaps our social losses can lead to spiritual gains. In this newsletter you will find information on our upcoming on-line Advent Study, our virtual Christmas ‘pageant’, and a special Christmas celebration offered by the National Lutheran Choir.

This Advent also offers a chance to ponder more deeply the real meaning of the season: that we are preparing our hearts not just in memory of the Lord’s birth but in anticipation of his coming again.  With a global pandemic endangering the health of millions, political divisions straining our relationships, and climate changes threatening habitats, many of us are feeling anxious, frightened, overwhelmed. We are in need of healing…physically from a virus that has claimed too many lives, emotionally from strained relationships, spiritually from the fatigue of doubt and fear.  But remember that Jesus was born into a world facing disorder, oppression, and fright as well. People then, as now, longed for a Messiah who would save them…bring them wholeness and healing.

So never forget that Advent is above all a season of hope, joy, peace and love.  Jesus is the Word made flesh, and we look forward to his coming to bring healing and restoration of all of God’s creation.  He made his dwelling among us in order to save us, and we rejoice in the hope of one day meeting him face to face. This year, when so much is unknown, let us cling to that hope ever more fervently.

Even during our current time of darkness, we find reasons for hope. Stories abound of the courage of our health care workers and the creative perseverance of our churches. Truly remarkable scientific advances seem to be bringing a COVID-19 vaccine in record time. The people of God are generous and are helping one another in concrete and meaningful ways. And, of course, Jesus Christ dwells among us. What better source of hope could we want?

So while this Advent is going to look and feel different, if we make a point to center our hearts on the coming of Christ, and remain filled with his hope, this season will be not only reclaimed but enriched. We may find ourselves celebrating the most Advent-like Advent ever.

Yours in hopeful expectation…     Pastor Debby

Technology Committee

by Paul Frantz, Vice President and Finance Chair

 Congregational Council has recently approved the creation of a new committee. The technology committee has not been formally formed however a few of us have been filling roles that will eventually fall under the purview of this new committee. 

In response to the pandemic Pastor has asked to have the ability to ”broadcast”, commonly known as streaming, the Sunday service live over the internet. This will allow our congregation to receive the service live anywhere they can login to the internet. We expect to have this capability ready early in December. Details will follow by e-mail.

In order to achieve the ability to stream the service, our internet connect at the church was upgraded. We also purchased a camera and upgraded the network to allow for better video processing. We are now connected to the internet through Blue Ridge Communications with a major speed increase from our former Frontier Communication setup.

These changes also have necessitate updating the e-mail that is used by the office and pastor. Several new e-mail addresses have also been added for communication with council and committees. If you see a need for another e-mail address for a specific use please contact the office and we will add them after council approval.

The following E-mails are currently active:

faithoffice@faithlutheranblakeslee.org

moquendo@faithlutheranblakeslee.org

technology@faithlutheranblakeslee.org

treasurer@faithlutheranblakeslee.org

finance@faithlutheranblakeslee.org

As we work to stand this committee up, we are asking anybody that is interested in joining us, to drop us an e-mail at technology@faithlutheranblakeslee.org.

Thoughts from your Council President

Home for the holidays.  A saying that used to bring joy in anticipation of family gatherings and celebrations.  Not this year.  We seem to be stuck in an endless rut of stay home orders and fear of an invisible virus.  We all try to remain positive, but find it harder and harder every day.  

Finally, we have good news of several vaccines on the horizon.  Hope could not come soon enough.  Is this the corner we all have been waiting to turn?  Let’s not forget that many of our favorite small businesses will struggle to stay afloat for a very long time.  Unemployment is not going to fair much better.  A special prayer for them this year goes without saying. 

Our church family will recover over time.  The new normal will become just that, normal.  Give thanks for the blessings that God has given you.  Rejoice at the news of our savior’s birth.  Share these gifts with those who are less fortunate or homebound.  The alternative is to do what our resident bear population does around this time.  Fill your belly, find a comfortable spot and hang a “ See you in the spring” sign.

Yours in Christ,    Michael Gillis   

COMMUNION WILL BE SERVED – HYMNS ARE READ PRAYERFULLY!

"Recordings of each week's service will be posted on Sunday on our Facebook Page, Website and our YouTube channel."

Facebook: Faith Lutheran Church of Blakeslee PA

Website: www.faithlutheranblakeslee.org

YouTube: NEW! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClS4mbff7D-Blf04KHGSNAw

Sages, mystics and prophets through the ages have taught us that cultivating an attitude of thankfulness will not only help us grow as disciples, but thankfulness will also deepen our connection neighbors and give us happier, more fulfilling lives.

And how do you cultivate thankfulness? First and always, through prayer. Consider how many of the Psalms offer thanks, or how often the Apostle Paul gives thanks for the people and blessings of his ministry. Pray always – and always with thanksgiving. Keep a “blessings list” and pray through it daily.

Giving thanks to God can nourish thankfulness in your own heart, and you can also help encourage thankfulness in your community by developing a habit of thanking others – verbally, by text or email, or with cards and notes.  

Look for every opportunity to thank someone for any reason, big or small. It could be a stranger who holds a door open for you, a clerk who rings up your sale, or a neighbor who does you a favor. Keep track of the number of times you can say “thank you.” You may be surprised.

In the process of saying “thank you” you will not only develop a habit that will deepen your soul, you will also change your relationship with neighbors, your community and our world. And that will be a real cause for thanksgiving.

–Rob Blezard

Copyright © 2020, Rev. Robert Blezard. Pastor Blezard serves as pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Aberdeen, MD, and works as content editor for www.stewardshipoflife.org. He blogs at www.thestewardshipguy.com

Faith’s ALL CHURCH Christmas Pageant 

Sunday, December 13th, 7:00 PM

Please join us in your home for our very first online All Church Christmas Pageant.

Sign your email on the sign up sheet located in the back of the church or email Maritza at moquendo@faithlutheranblakeslee.org if you prefer the Zoom information emailed to you separately. 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/96401249742?pwd=eVJFMVlPa2RwZ2FCY0F1NTZRbnR0QT09

Meeting ID: 964 0124 9742
Passcode: 679790

One tap mobile
Dial by your location

1-929-205-6099 US (New York)

Planning to date:

• Carol Sing-alongs with Molly, Dan, Melanie, and Phil
• The Christmas Story read by our Children
• Special Music by Dick Merrell
• Each person attending Showing and Sharing their favorite Christmas
• Memory, Ornament, Decoration, Poem…
• Christmas Prayer read by Lois

Special thanks to Janice Neagle and Judie Tim for organizing and Pastor Debby for her guidance!

Respectfully Submitted,

Judie Tim

Filmed in the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, and drawing on five years of live-streamed programs plus multi-media videography, the program celebrates a global nativity; Christ incarnate; being born in each of us, in every time and place. Nothing – not even our pandemic year – can separate us from God’s love and the music that conveys the peace and joy of Christ’s birth! 

To pre-register your appointment, please visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). There are donation eligibility requirements by donation type.  Please click on the link below for Eligibility Requirements.