Dear Fellow Children of God,
This weekend I will be at Victory Bible Camp for our
yearly confirmation retreat with 20 or more middle school confirmation students
and a number of other adult helpers.
This year’s retreat theme is “Growing in Maturity as a Child of
God.” I am sensitive to the fact that I
was gone for the first two Sundays of February on vacation and am now gone
again the last week of February on this retreat. I wondered about sending someone else on this
retreat, but I also considered how important it is that God’s Church work to
encourage and nurture faith in our young people. Then experiences and requests quickly taught
me again about many of our young people who are doing special work to serve God
and the members of St. John.
·
Last week I had a request from a lady in
California to write a recommendation for a Lutheran scholarship for Quillan
Jacobson. Do you know that for three and
a half years now Quillan has served as a Lay Minister in early worship? Quillan leads many of our different
liturgies. In fact, while I don’t
personally chant when leading Divine Service setting 2, Quillan does. Our early service people are really
appreciative of Quillan’s service in our worship.
·
Last week I also visited one of our members who
was home recovering from a serious automobile accident. Denise Larsen is home from the hospital in a
special body cast that supports her broken back. She is doing better but still needs folks
there to help her get around safely.
When I visited, do you know who I found spending time with Denise to
help her out? Kaycee Nufer was at home
with Denise. You may know that Kaycee is
a high school senior. Kaycee not only
helped Denise, she runs our sound board and video screen at times in late
worship. What a blessing to have Kaycee
as part of our congregation!
·
Hunter Richards is a little older, but has now
been going to school for almost 7 years in his studies to be a pastor. He is currently serving an internship or
vicarage in North Canton, OH, and will graduate from Concordia Seminary in May,
2015! During his time at home here in
Palmer Hunter also served as a Lay Minister leading worship. He has also taught Sunday School and Confirmation
Classes, and Hunter has visited home bound members of our church and preached
in worship. What a blessing this young
man of God is in Jesus’ Church!
·
Brittany Arlow is in her fourth year of college
education as she studies to be a Director of Christian Education. She is currently serving her internship in
Plant City, FL. I hear she is doing such
a good job the church there would like her to stay!! In her years at St. John, Brittany was in the
Bell Choir and also helped lead worship as a song leader.
·
Last week Kathy and I were working on taxes and
looking at expenses for us and for our children. We figured out that our son, Tim, had driven
to Cooper Landing and Sterling 12 times in the last year to lead worship in
those small congregations without a pastor.
Of course, Tim also served as a Lay Minister at St. John. He sang as a late service song leader, and
Tim helped in many skits over the years during Lent and Advent.
These are only some of the young people at St. John who
are not just attending worship but putting their faith into practice and
blessing the members of our congregation.
This doesn’t even include the other 15 young men who have served as Lay
Ministers. It doesn’t include our
acolytes, other high school youth who help lead singing on the second Sunday of
each month, or our high school youth who have led the Good Friday service for
many years, Many others have helped
present skits over the years, and this year our 8th Grade
Confirmation Class will help share God’s Word through skits about the catechism
in our mid-week Lenten services.
One of the last
classes I took in my doctoral studies at Concordia Seminary was on the Gospel
of Matthew. Our professor let us know
that in Jesus’ time children were considered unimportant in comparison with
adults. That is why Jesus’ words about
reaching out to children were actually quite radical for His time. Jesus has much to say about how important
children are in God’s kingdom. Just look
at Matthew 18 and 19. Perhaps you know
what Jesus said in Matthew 19:14, "Let the little children
come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such
as these."
Jesus cares about everyone, but it is obvious that He has
special care for our youth and children.
I am thankful to be able to spend a weekend with our middle school
students learning about “Growing in Maturity as a Child of God.”
A Child of God, Thankful for the youth and children in
our congregation,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. Quillan
Jacobson and C.J. Jeffers are in the Palmer High School play showing this
weekend! I hear it is really worth
seeing.
****
ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ - I am
sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and
friends whose e-mails I have. (I am always adding new names of friends
and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first
time.) However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me
know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if
you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me
their e-mail address.
******
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