Dear Fellow Children of God,
On Sunday night David Grosz and I led worship at the Palmer Correction Center. During the meditation or Bible study the question was asked, “What is God’s plan for your life?” Part of the reason that question was asked is that we studied John 17:11-19. This section of Scripture is part of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” which He prayed in the upper room the night before he died. As He is speaking to His heavenly Father verse 18, Jesus prays, 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. Jesus’ prayer and plan for us is to bring God’s love to the world as He did. God’s plan for each of us, and His plan for the church as a whole, is that His children share Jesus so that others in the world know His love for them.
I don’t know if you realize how many activities at St. John are planned at this time to share Jesus’ love with others, but we have a month full of outreach efforts ahead of us.
· Last Sunday we took an offering for the St. John Mission team that will go north of Tok to Northway to lead Bible School June 6-10. (You may still make a donation for this effort.) This group will share God’s love with the children of this small Alaska town.
· In worship on Sunday, June 5, Rev. Dr. Jenson Seyenkulo, a pastor from Aftrica, will tell us about efforts (by the Lutheran Church) among the Kuwaa people of Western Africa.
· On June 11 St. John again hosts the community picnic on our eastern property. With the help of funds from Thrivent we hope to feed people from Palmer after the Colony Days parade and invite them to worship and Vacation Bible School at St. John. (Last year an estimated 500 people attended this picnic.)
· Vacation Bible School will be offered at St. John June 20-24 as an effort, not only to share Jesus with the children of St. John, but also as an effort to reach children in our community with the good news of Jesus’ love.
You might be surprised to know, or maybe not so surprised, that the men in the prison worship knew ways that God was using them to share God’s love at the prison. We also discussed that Jesus’ sacrificial and forgiving love is not always shared with words, but instead His love is often shared in actions. That after all is what Jesus did. God sent His Son, Jesus, to the world, and Jesus showed love in dying on the cross and rising again. Jesus’ prayer for us and His plan for us is that we are sent into the world as He was sent.
A Child of God, Sent to Share His love,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. Sunday God reached out to call another child to His family. Here is a picture from the baptism of Fiona Greenwood. https://picasaweb.google.com/jonrock53/May22StJohnBaptism20thAnniversaryForPastorJonathan?authkey=Gv1sRgCKLumJXB1crt3gE#5610183228478193394
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THANK YOU – Thanks you, members and friends of St. John, for the reception and gifts in remembrance of the 20th anniversary of my installation as Pastor of St. John. (I took the fishing pole with me to the Alaska Church Workers’ Conference in Fairbanks this week, in hopes of wetting the line in a Parks Highway stream.)
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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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