JANUARY NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

 Grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!

It finally got here—AD* 2021–perhaps the world’s most eagerly anticipated year that I have seen in my lifetime.  

 

I am as excited as anyone to leave 2020 behind.  But not so much that I can’t see that God was richly giving us countless blessings throughout the year.  Besides, the most irksome matters—masks, runs on toilet paper, weird (and often pointless to me) policies of commerce and government—are going to be hanging around for a while.

 

All that opinion-giving aside, it is the new year, and tradition holds that NOW is the time we make New Year’s resolutions.   I have a mixed history with personal resolutions.  So let’s set those aside for this newsletter’s sake and talk about resolutions you can make that will help out OSLC. 

 

This year, your giving has remained solid.   Simultaneously we have had lots of costs drop.   So financially we are doing well.   Keep it up. 

 

But I want to talk about volunteerism.   That’s the giving of your time and your non-monetary talents.   It is there that we need help.   You can see it on the ministries that are listed monthly in The Grapevine and weekly in the bulletin.    We have all noticed that over the past year, there is a lot more gaps than there has been in years past.   AND I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND WHY!   Why sign up for a month of responsibilities  when any Sunday you might not come because you have a scratchy throat, and you know that people will stare at you like you have a scarlet “COVID” around your neck if you just clear your throat.   Some just don’t want to be around more than 10 people.   I get that.   Al of us are older and haven’t as much energy.  The reasons go on and on. 

 

But there are lots of things that still need to be done here.   Sure, as much as anyone, I would like to have a robed youth serving as an acolyte every Sunday.   The realty is we don’t have those around, but it is okay.   The candles will get lit.   But tellers, ushers, altar guild, property are all things that we still need.  

 

I’m asking you to resolve to use some creativity to get the things done that we need to have done.    Do NOT assume that there is a list of rules to be followed to the letter to get these things done.   Got a better idea?  Let’s hear it!   Can’t do a whole month?  Partner up with someone or three other people.   Do two things if you can on a Sunday.   Not coming because of the virus?   Sign up for property and show up after everyone is gone.  Be a teller and work masked with another in the fellowship hall 12 feet away from one another.  

 

If we were having financial difficulties, I would be writing about that.  We aren’t.  THANKS BE TO GOD!  But every week we are scrambling to get the assigned tasks complete.  If we can let the  stewardship attitudes that we have inform other areas, such as time and non-monetary talents.   We’ll be fine.  

 

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Lance

 

*fun fact—“AD” does not mean “After [Jesus’] Death”.  Rather, it is the abbreviation of the Latin phrase “Anno Domini” which means “the year of Our Lord”.  We started counting our years from what was initially calculated to be Jesus’ birth, not his death.