kick-off! for our 2017-2018 christian formation · kick-off! for our 2017-2018 christian formation...

The

The monthly newsletter of Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA)

8154 Atlee Road, Mechanicsville, Virginia 23111 804-746-7134

SEPTEMBER 2017

A look inside.... Pastor’s Letter ……..…….....…….. P. 3 Prayers & Celebrations ..…..……..P. 5 Calendar of events …...…………….P. 6. Evangelism HELP needed………... P. 7 CFFY …………………………………. P. 8 New ChurchNext course………….. P. 9 Fall learning opportunities………P. 10 YOU are invited! …………………. P. 11 .

Kick-Off! for our 2017-2018 Christian Formation Rally Day is Sunday, September 10! Sunday school for all ages begins that morning at 9:15 am. To help kick-off this year’s Sunday school fun, youth and chil-dren of God of all ages are invited to come dressed in their favorite football team’s colors for Sunday school and worship. All members of Messiah are also invited to participate in a special food drive benefit-ting the MCEF food pantry in our narthex. (Cash donations will also be accepted. Just note MCEF on your envelope or check’s memo line with the amount to be applied.) Continued on page 2

Tea and Fashion Show

Ladies of Messiah, Please join us for our second Tea and Fashion Show on Saturday, September 23, 2017. You may wear a hat, if you like, and possi-bly win a prize for the most creative. Also, you will be able to purchase pansies, mums, and buy Mary Kay cosmetics. The fashion show will feature the latest fash-ions by Christopher and Banks, they are located at 2750 Short Pump Town Center, Henrico, Va. 23233. The event supports Foster Children’s Christmas. The Tea will take place in our Fellowship Hall, 12pm to 2pm. Lunch is catered by Sally Bell’s Kitchen. Admission is a $20 donation. You may obtain tickets from Diane Absher, Sheila Whirley, Debbie Walker, Marilyn Gunn, or Sharon Addair. Any questions, please call Sharon Addair at 543-9709. - Social Ministry Team

September 2017 Messenger page 2

The Messenger

Published monthly by Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church ELCA 8154 Atlee Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Church Office: (804) 746-7134 FAX: (804) 746-5579

Rev. Louis A. Florio, Jr., Pastor Pastor’s email: [email protected]

Davina Winn, Church Secretary Office email: [email protected]

Susie Weaver, Newsletter Editor Ph: 804-559-3503

Email: susiew [email protected]

VISIT OUR MLC WEBSITE: http://www.messiahmech.com

Your 2017 Church Council And Associate Members

Dean Gustafson …….. Council President

James Anderson ……..Vice-President Sally Bennett …… Secretary

Sharon Addair Becky Collie Steve Gilnett Cheryl B Griffis Donna Shaw Susie Weaver

Council Liaisons Christian Education ……….Donna Shaw Evangelism …………....James Anderson Finance ……………………... Becky Collie Property ……………………..Steve Gilnett Social Ministry ……………Sharon Addair Stewardship ………………..Susie Weaver Worship ……….…………….Sally Bennett

Bill Weaver ….…..Treasurer Jake Addair ……. Financial Secretary Sue Gilnett, RN...Parish Nurse

Trustees: Leroy Albertson,

Pat Hubert, and Dick Wright .

Sermons online Don't forget, recent Sunday sermons are being posted each week at Messiah-Mech.com and our MessiahMech YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2fCNdhDR_Ey20lQjswhitw

@MessiahMech

Kick-Off! Continued from page 1 The Preschool/K class will be led by Lois Schroeder. The elementary age (1st-5th grade) class will be led by Donna Combs and Kristine Florio. These age groups will learn about Bible heroes, Jesus teachings, and other stories appropriate for the liturgical year using song, crafts, videos, and more. Our weekly Gospel Fun Time efforts dur-ing worship, reflecting weekly Sunday readings, are coordinated by Tracey Anderson. (Please sign-up alone or with a friend to help serve as a leader on the Sunday(s) of your choice. The sign-up sheet is in our welcome area.) Pastor Lou heads up the Jr/Sr High & Adult Forum. Please prayerfully consider helping as an assistant, substitute, or by leading or de-veloping these or additional classes or of-ferings. Please contact Pastor Lou or Donna Shaw , our council liaison to the Christian Formation Team to lend a help-ing hand to this important ministry.


Pastoral Letter… Remember “…remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me,” (Isa. 46:9) Many times in scripture, we, the people of God, are called to remember our sins, con-fess and repent of them. There is no fear attached to this nor surprise, for although we are human, God’s love and grace is perfect and overflows. We are asked to re-member that, too! The reality of Christ’s sacrifice for our sake and all his promises encourage us to walk on rather than get stuck in our past. Looking back, we can then often better see God at work in our lives and world. Looking forward, we can then better experience the abundant life Christ offers us. This fall, we will be doing much remem-bering. We will actively mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and begin marking our 50th year as a faith commu-nity. We will say good-by to Bishop James Mauney, and celebrate the installation of Bishop-elect Robert Humphries. There will be plenty to do, learn, celebrate, as well as repent of, for we of the church are sinner-saints at our best. Thus, we will offer many programs not just looking at the joys of being church, but also historic errors of the church needing confession, address-ing, reform. As well, we will continue to seek to meet the concerns of our church and world in the present through active evangelism, social ministry, fellowship and worship. To help us move forward as a community, we desperately need the gifts of your time, treasure and talent. We need your pres-ence, prayer and participation. And whether we remember it always or not, the church remains Christ’s gift to us to help each of us walk on in his light. It is up to us in our own humility to intentionally ac-cept this gift.

Recent events remind us that we live in a wounded world – certainly nationally, but closer to home, people are hurting and lonely as well. Christ invites you. The church needs you. Your neighbors await you. Remember Christ’s past faithfulness and seek to respond in love. Walk on with us this fall into a sometimes difficult but always sure and certain future. For, Jesus will remember us always. Christ’s peace, Pastor Lou

A Statement of Unity The Bishop and Bishop-elect of the Vir-ginia Synod of the ELCA, the Bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the ELCA, as well as about twenty local ELCA pastors attended a simultaneous, peaceful ecu-menical clergy protest in opposition to white supremacists gathering in Char-lottesville. All Virginia Synod clergy were asked to consider attending by Bishop James Mauney. Following the violent and deadly events in Charlottesville, Pastor Lou spoke at length at the beginning of worship the next day as to why - although invited - he did not choose to participate in the protest. Due to the personal and pastoral nature of his comments, they have not been published in detail or recorded, but as Messiah mem-bers, you may request to speak with him at any time. It will be a better discussion face to face. As a local law enforcement volunteer chaplain, he was also asked by the International Conference of Police Chaplains to be on stand-by to support Continued on page 4


Unity Continued from page 3 local police chaplaincy efforts as needed, but he was not called upon to respond. Among his comments, Pastor Lou spoke of the need for us as Christians to explicitly condemn the sin of white supremacy in any form. He also condemned the sin of some of those (not involved in the clergy protest) claiming to be confronting hate groups with their own violence – some-times using such violence against the clergy, first responders and other innocent people present. As baptized children of God, he argued that we each should inten-tionally, prayerfully and boldly discern how we are called personally to work against such sin: prayer, protest, advo-cacy, voting, letters to the editor, cooperat-ing with law enforcement, confronting its everyday forms as encountered in our rela-tionships or work - there is no one way God might seek to use us. In response to Charlottesville, you may wish to follow or volunteer with the efforts of the Virginia Synod’s Tapestry Team. This team’s mission is “to empower con-gregations in the Virginia Synod to be Am-bassadors for Christ in matters of diversity and inclusion, walking with God, and guided by the Holy Spirit to bring healing, reconciliation, and justice.” The team pro-vides “resources, facilitates conversations, and fosters networking across the Synod in order to advocate for God’s desire to weave a rich and diverse Body of Christ.” There are also many other worthy groups with which you might choose to support or volunteer. As Hanover County is considered part of the Metro-Richmond area, Pastor Lou has signed the “Metro Richmond Pastors and Ministry Leaders’ Statement of Unity.” This represents his endorsement only, and it does not imply anyone else’s agreement other than those clergy who signed it. This

statement seeks: to explicitly affirm that all people are created in the image of God; condemn the ideology of white supremacy, including antisemitism, as an unqualified evil, as well as that any teaching suggest-ing that one people, race or nation are in-herently superior to others “for God de-sires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth”; and to have the signers repent of their own and church’s historical or present complicity (intentional or unintentional) in the sins related to racism. In closing, the signers promise to promote healing and reconcilia-tion; leading “in the way of love, and to seek ways to heal the divisions that sepa-rate races and cultures in our city.” The statement is a local, grass roots effort at-tached to no one organization. It is ecu-menical, bipartisan, and avoids accusatory or “revolutionary” language found in many such documents of late. The statement does not directly address the local and statewide issue of Confederate statues and memorials. The complete text can be read here: richmondpastorsstatement.org. Inspired by 2 Cor. 5:11-21, our Virginia Synod has called for its members to be ambassadors for Christ. The ministry of reconciliation is shared by us all. Please continue to pray for those who mourn the deaths of Heather Heyer, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper Berke M.M. Bates, all those injured, as well as peace, justice and rec-onciliation in our commonwealth and na-tion.


We pray for each other: Charlie Absher; Joan Barnes; Kenneth Deere; Adam Dw orak, Family & Friends of Ivan Habron; Mac McAllister; Pat Motley; Ruth Schroeder; Family & Friends of Billy Thomas; Marc Thomas; Dick Wright. We pray for our extended family and neighbors: Linda Barnes-Depuy, daughter of Joan Barnes; Cynthia Bauer, sister of Lois Schroeder; Camdyn Fleming; Family & Friends of Earl "Frankie" Fox, nephew of Annette Buckholtz; Sam Markovich, Kristine Florio's father; The Rev. Samuel Mozolak, father of Karen & Michael Mor-ris; Kari Nelson, Friend of Becky Collie; Evelyn Poulsen, mother of Roger Schroe-der; Patricia Reed, neighbor of Annette Buckholtz; Family and friends of Sandra Russell , friend of Charlie & Judy; Family and friends of Mary Roberts Schroeder,

mother of the Rev. Elizabeth Yates; Tim Schroeder, Roger’s nephew; James Schw erdtfeger, son of Charlie Schwerdtfe-ger; Lorna Snook, mother-in-law of Jeff Weaver; Our veterans, their fellow soldiers & their waiting families, especially Andrew Addair, Ian Schwerdtfeger, & LJ Spray; Law enforcement, firefighters and first responders; The people of All Souls Episcopal and our shared ministry; All those persecuted in any way for their faith in Christ, especially in Tunisia, Bhutan, Malaysia, and Mali. To add or remove a name from the prayer list, please call the church office, 746-7134. If leav-ing a message, include your contact information for follow-up. Unless we hear otherwise, indi-viduals will be removed quarterly. Memorial prayers will run a minimum of two weeks and then be included in our All Saints Sunday activi-ties.

September 2 Amy Delph 3 John DiGrazia 3 Charlie Schwerdtfeger 8 Dean Gustafson 8 Beth Carpenter 10 Sheila Whirley 15 Paul Knab 23 Kirsten Combs 24 Roberta McMillen 26 Jeff Weaver September 17 Valarie & Darren Williams 28 Bill & Chrisann Hatfield 30 Jean (and John) Martin If you would like YOUR birthdays & anniversary included in the newsletter, please send an email to [email protected] or call Davina (746-7134).

Where has Luther been?

Summer travels are ending, but our con-test continues. We need your photos of your “Traveling Luther” to be submitted. Don’t forget that your local Traveling Mar-tin pics can win too – at schools, parks, athletic fields, anywhere! Prizes are to be awarded for “most creative” as well as “most entries” on Reformation Sunday, October 29. Submit your child's entries to Pastor Lou.


Calendar of events 1 Church Office Closed on Fridays Pastor's Day Off 2 Commemoration of Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig, Bishop & Renewer of the Church 3 9:15 AM Guest Congregation Meets (All Souls Episcopal) 10:45 AM Worship Service (MLC) 4 Church Office Closed Labor Day 5 10:00 AM Richmond Conference Pastors Mtg. 6 10:00 AM Pastor @HCSO 2:00 PM Daily Discipleship Bible Study 6:00 PM Centering Prayer (Atlee House) 7 10:30 AM Men's Bible Study * 4:30 PM Hanover Cares Coalition Meet 7:00 PM 500 Years of Reformation Speaker Series * 7:00 PM Choir Practice 8 Church Office Closed on Fridays Pastor's Day Off 9 Commemoration of Peter Claver, Missionary 1:00 PM Installation of Virginia Synod Bishop * 10 God's Work - Our Hands Day Virginia Lutheran Items Due 9:15 AM Guest Congregation Meets (All Souls Episcopal) 9:15 AM Sunday School for All Ages (Messiah Lutheran) 10:45 AM Worship Service (MLC) 11 Patriot Day 12 13 Commemoration of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople

13 2:00 PM Daily Discipleship Bible Study 6:00 PM Centering Prayer (Atlee House) 14 Holy Cross Day 10:30 AM Men's Bible Study * 7:00 PM Choir Practice 15 Church Office Closed on Fridays 9:00 AM Hosting of HCSO Chaplains Quarterly Meeting 16 Commemoration of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage and Martyr 17 Commemoration of Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen 9:15 AM Guest Congregation Meets (All Souls Episcopal) 9:15 AM Sunday School for All Ages (Messiah Lutheran) 10:45 AM Worship Service (MLC) 11:45 AM Worship Team Meeting 18 Commemoration of Dag Hammarskjöld 5:00 PM Stevie B night for MCEF 19 6:15 PM Council Meeting 20 2:00 PM Daily Discipleship Bible Study 6:00 PM Centering Prayer (Atlee House) 21 Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist 10:30 AM Men's Bible Study * 7:00 PM Choir Practice 22 Church Office Closed on Fridays First Day of Autumn Pastor's Day Off 23 12:00 PM Ladies Tea 24 Local Remembrance: Dr. Seuss 9:15 AM Guest Congregation Meets (All Souls Episcopal) 9:15 AM Sunday School for All Ages (Messiah Lutheran) 10:45 AM Worship Service (MLC) 25 26 27 2:00 PM Daily Discipleship Bible Study 6:00 PM Centering Prayer (Atlee House) 28 10:30 AM Men's Bible Study * 7:00 PM Choir Practice 29 Church Office Closed on Fridays Feast of Michael & All Angels Happy National Coffee Day! Pastor's Day Off 30 Commemoration of Jerome, Translator & Teacher * Off site


CreationFest, our pet blessing, craft fair and more, has been one of our most effective and popular outreach efforts to date. We still need helpers to organize, host and set-up for the big day. If you can help in any way, please contact Pastor Lou as soon as possible. Our special guests this year will in-clude, Birds of Paradise, an exotic bird rescue that has performed and exhib-ited at the Virginia State Fair. More news to come! The date is set for Satur-day, October 14, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm.

We have also been asked to attend the

Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Community Fair on Saturday, October 21st. We need members of Messiah to help set up and man two tables offering simple children’s crafts and informa-tion about our church throughout the day. All Souls Episcopal will be partici-pating with us, and Lutheran Family Services staff are being invited to help as well. Last time, our efforts were a huge success, and the event welcomed approximately 5,000 people. This year, they expect 8,000 – 10,000 people. Help people learn about Jesus and our faith community!

Sunday sermons are posted at

MessiahMech.com and our Messiah-Mech YouTube channel whenever pos-sible. Please help with this ministry by volunteering to control the camera at worship or editing the video. Shut-ins, members of our greater community, and traveling Messiah members have been taking advantage of this offering.

With hope in the promises of Resurrection… We once again express our Christian love and sympathy to all those who mourn upon the deaths of Frankie Fox (nephew of Annette Buckholtz), Ivan Habron (member of Messiah) and William “Billy” Thomas (member of Messiah) during late August. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Our Shepherds Team still needs help-ers to meet the growing needs of those who can’t make it to church each week. If you can help visit those in need at least once a month, call or write to them, this team is for you!

We will continue marking the 500th

anniversary of the Reformation this fall. Invite friends and family to attend our special worship and events, espe-cially Reformation Sunday worship and pot-luck on Sunday, October 29th. Also help us by actively sharing and/or liking posts on our social media. This helps greatly increase the number of those exposed to our church and events in lieu of paid advertisement.

To assist with any of these evangelism op-portunities or learn more, please contact Pastor Lou or James Anderson, our council’s evangelism liaison.


CFFY Corner (Christian Formation for You) Lutheran women have a long his-tory of Bible study, discipleship, and desire to deepen their spiritual life and learn about issues. Women of the ELCA offers many free, downloadable program resources to help you grow in faith and engage in ministry and ac-tion. The Story of Peter and Cornelius, Listening to the Third Slave, Gifts for You: Opening Your Spiritual Gifts and Stitches & Scripture are just a sample of the more than 50 titles of study to peek your interest. To examine all that’s available go to www.womenoftheelca.org/ and click on the Resources Tab. Evening & Morning: Music of Lu-theran Daily Prayer CD. This is a beautiful set of recordings of the sung and spoken portions of the prayer ser-vices offered in Treasury of Daily Prayer and all performed by the Kan-torei of Concordia Theological Semi-nary. The Kantorei is a choir of sixteen male voices from the student body of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. The recordings have been prepared for individual, family, or even a small group use to enhance de-votional time. Included are various tracks of Matins, Vespers, Morning Prayers, Evening Prayers, Compline, and Litany. It is available from Concor-dia Publishing House, www.cph.org/, for $11.99.

A Simple Way to Pray by Martin Luther is for those of us who struggle when praying. When asked by his bar-ber and good friend, Peter Beskendorf, for some practical guidance on how to prepare oneself for prayer, Martin Lu-ther responded by writing this brief treatise first published in 1535. A Simple Way to Pray is a fresh modern translation bringing us Luther's prac-tical instruction, using Luther's I.T.C.P. method of prayer. This method anchors prayer in the cate-chism or other biblical texts, but al-lows the Holy Spirit to prompt thoughts via the Word, which may be chased more freely by the mind at prayer. It is available from Concordia Publishing House, www.cph.org/, for $3.99. The Hammer of God by Bo Giertz, is a bestselling novel about three pastors who learn the necessity of relying on God's grace. They fall short of their pastoral duties through public humiliation, self-doubt, inabil-ity to accept God's promises in their own lives, and divisions and quarrel-ing among their parishioners. Ulti-mately each man rejects temptations and permits the Holy Spirit to work through him. This revised edition in-cludes the final chapter, never before published in English. The new intro-duction provides historical and theo-logical background to deepen the reader's understanding of the stories. The book is available from Concordia Publishing House, www.cph.org/, for $18.99. - Donna Shaw


MCEF News

The MCEF One Stop Shop now has an official opening date, Monday, September 25 at 9:30 a.m. The One Stop Shop is fol-lowing the current food pantry schedule at this time for clients and donations: Monday, 9:30 am—11 am; Tuesday and Thursday morning, 9:30

am—11 am; Tuesday and Thursday evening, 6:30

pm—7:30 pm. Please be advised that the rental lease

does not allow items to be left at the front door.

Additional drop-off times are scheduled for the first and third Sunday of each month, 2 - 4 p.m.

MCEF Senior Rides program needs driv-ers. As word has spread, the number of seniors registering for possible medical rides has increased. Restrictions have been put into place due to a lack of avail-able drivers. If you are feeling the need to help, this opportunity may be for you. Please call 804-357-9360 for additional information or talk to Pat or Glady Hubert, 730-3141. Mark your calendar for September 11 for the Patriotic Concert presented by the John Marshall Alumni Band at Walnut Grove Baptist Church, Cold Harbor Road, at 7:00 p.m. This is an annual fundraiser for the MCEF food pantry. Donation of $2 and a canned food item will be accepted at the door.

Free Church Next Course! Faithful Dissent: Loving Our Way into a Brighter Tomorrow We live in increasingly divisive times. From politics to sports, the gift of human difference can quickly become a chasm that can invite serious discord and divi-sion. What does it mean for good Chris-tians to disagree? How do we do so faith-fully? Should Christians protest? How should they do so? In this free, Worldwide Class, we get an-swers from two prominent and in many ways, opposing camps. Social activist Ed Bacon believes Christians should be at the cutting edge of social protest. Ethicist Stanley Hauerwas believes Christians best shine their light by living faithful lives, as people distinct from the world. Their views come to light in these four video presentations: The Gift of Dissent The Nature of Dissent Witness and Dissent How We Dissent You can register for the course right now, but it will not be available to take until Monday, September 11. It will remain open and free through Monday, Septem-ber 25 - that means you can take it for free anytime, 24/7, during that time pe-riod. If you register today they'll send you an email to remind you. Go to https://www.churchnext.tv/library/the-big-class-faithful-dissent-loving-our-way-into-a-brighter-tomorrow/62262/about/ to reg-ister. This course comes to us free thanks to the generosity of: The Episcopal Church, Forward Movement, Duke Divinity School, FORMA, and ChurchNext.


ACTS 2017 Fall Course: Bonhoeffer & Responsible Discipleship Large Group Dates: Saturday, October 7, 2017 & Saturday, November 4, 2017, 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Large Group Leader: The Rev. Dr. H. Gay-lon Barker, interim pastor of Good Shep-herd Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, NY and adjunct associate professor of theology at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY. Cost: $175/person registration fee plus two required texts ($87.50 if you bring a friend new to ACTS or you have already completed a Christian’s call course previ-ously). Registration deadline is September 22, 2017. To Dietrich Bonhoeffer, noted theologian and martyr, our life in the world, which is lived out in the midst of families, friend-ships, work, and communities, is meant to display the presence and transformative work of God. Because Bonhoeffer's faith led him to take the world seriously in all of its manifestations, Christian vocation is one that willingly stands up for one's neighbor and gets its hands dirty. Join other ACTS participants as together we explore and learn more about our Chris-tian’s Call through this course. The Am-bassadors Community for Theological Study (ACTS) is a program of the Virginia Synod. To learn more, visit Messiah-Mech.com and click the “Updates” tab.

Hero Central VBS a Super Success! Our comic super-hero themed vacation Bible school was attended by approxi-mately 35 children. Each night, an adult Bible study was also well attended, and we certainly had a great number of volunteers to assist with escorting, story-telling, mu-sic, crafts and games. The Hanover County Sheriff’s Office sends many thanks for hosting a National Night Out event as part of VBS. We had an “Avengers” themed bounce house, games and activities, free food, pictures with McGruff the Crime Dog, along with visits from a K9 team, pa-trol unit, and bicycle patrol officers. “Discover your strength in God!” was the theme, and it is good advice for our lives all year long. Participants collected ap-proximately 65 Teddy Bears to be used by local law enforcement and other first re-sponders in serving children facing crises. Thanks for everyone’s generosity! Pictures from the week are on our Facebook page and photo gallery.

Fall Forums: Luther Remembered As we gather Sundays at 9:15 am for the Jr/Sr High & Adult Forums, you will be exposed to (perhaps) new sides of Luther: a look at him from the Reformed tradi-tion’s viewpoint, some of his lesser known writings, and yes, even his sin. We begin with a new DVD presentation on his life on September 10. Learn more as it is announced on our website and Facebook page throughout the year!


Join Messiah on Facebook!

Hanover Cares Update Thank you for the hospitality shown Hano-ver Cares and its first-ever paid director, Octavia Marsh. Pastor Lou has been noti-fied that they will be vacating Messiah for space at New Hanover Presbyterian Church in September. The organization has been utilizing space in our copier room for free since January 2017 to help their director get started. They intend to enter a paid contract with New Hanover which will provide office space offering more privacy and storage space. Hanover Cares is a non-profit which “seeks to mobilize community awareness of substance abuse issues into actions that develop and support healthy opportu-nities for youth in our community.” It serves mainly in our school system, and it is actively supported by our local law en-forcement and Commonwealth Attorney. Our congregation’s Safe Haven declaration from August 2008 includes our collective promise to “reach out into the commu-nity…to intentionally and creatively sup-port families in bringing up their children ;…to assist other agencies wherever possi-ble as they address the needs of children and their families;…to access and utilize research and identified best practices in our shared ministry;…to love all as Christ commanded, as the children of God.” The statement reflects Jesus’ own command which also inspired the formation of our former preschool, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14). If you have other ideas about how we can continue to fulfill this call and commit-ment, please contact any council member.

You are invited! The Bishop-Elect, The Rev. Robert F. Humphrey, will be installed at 1:00 PM on Saturday, September 9, 2017, at First Presbyterian Church, W 11th St & S Wayne Ave, Waynesboro, VA 22980. A reception after the service will be held from 3 to 5 PM at (note the new location): Grace Lutheran Church, 500 S Wayne Ave, Waynesboro, VA 22980.

The next Worship Team meeting will be held in the sanctuary directly after wor-ship on Sunday, September 17th.


Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church 8154 Atlee Rd Mechanicsville VA 23111

The DEADLINE for the October, 2017

edition of The Messenger is Sunday, September 17th.

Please call me with your

submission, hand me a written submission OR email

[email protected]

Messiah on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/messiahmech/ boards/

Reformation 500 Speaker Series Continues St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Hanover will host the next speaker in our popular Reformation 500 Speaker Series. The topic will be “What Luther Taught Us: His Influence on the English Reformation.” The Rev’d Dr Robert Prichard, Professor of Christianity in America at Virginia Theological Seminary will present. Join us on Thursday, September 7th at 7:00 pm.

kick-off! for our 2017-2018 christian formation · kick-off! for our 2017-2018 christian formation...

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