Pastoral Message: “Supporting Each Other for Our Health and Wellness” Week of the Fourth Sunday in Lent March 22, 2023
Pastoral Message:
“Supporting Each Other for Our Health and Wellness”
Week of the Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 22, 2023
Dear People of God at Faith-La Fe!
A small group of seven of us gathered this past Saturday for a Quiet Day – a time together but also set apart from our usual routines – to explore the intersections between Christian Spirituality and our health, holistically understood. We worshiped, prayed and sang. We engaged in conversational bible study which brought home to us the understanding that in Christianity the body is not opposed to spirit, but rather both are inseparably interconnected in this earthly life for the sake of the work that God has entrusted to us. Our bible study also made the point that seeking our wellness is not just a solitary, individual endeavor. No, when it comes to nurturing our health, we’re in this together in Christian community to hold each other accountable in grace-filled, compassionate, forgiving and encouraging ways. Our time together also gave participants occasion for individual reflection and meditation while walking about our beautiful campus and grounds. Then prior to a healthy lunch of green salad with grilled chicken and fresh fruit, a yoga instructor led us in some stretching and breathing exercises so that we could in fact practice what we preach, namely, nurture our greater health and wellness. The day concluded with a Service of the Word for Healing with Laying on of Hands and Anointing with Oil and an affirmation of our vocation to care for each other in our efforts to be well.
Toward this end, the happening on Saturday also included conversation on possible practical ways we could support each other in our wellness efforts. Here is a summary of ideas shared among participants:
· Schedule monthly occasions that combine healing liturgy with some bible study and supportive conversation for those who attend.
· Include health education and resource sharing among the educational offerings of our congregation – between services on Sundays and via the weekly pastoral messages and perhaps other occasions and formats.
· Host events that promote a group approach to staying healthy – like game nights for brain exercise or group hikes/walks outdoors.
· Establish something like a calling tree such that members commit to contacting each other regularly to check in on how they are doing and otherwise reach out to each other with cards and texts and visits.
And there are surely many other such good ideas that you may have as together we seek holistic well-being in community. Which is to say, I invite you to share with me those ideas. Watch for movement on our efforts to nurture health and wellness in future pastoral messages and other congregation communications efforts.
In conclusion, to view our quiet day on spirituality and health in our seasonal context, this occasion was an important feature of our Lenten offerings this year as we endeavor to “run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith… so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed” (cf. Hebrews 12:1-13).
Running that race with you in Jesus’ name,
Pastor Jonathan Linman
Pastor’s Office Phone Number: 602-265-5860
Email: pastor@faithalive.com
Announcements
Interested in Membership at Faith-La Fe?
If you or anyone you know is curious about learning more about Faith-La Fe Church toward perhaps becoming a member of our congregation, kindly reach out to either Pastor Linman or Pastor Veronica. They are more than eager to engage you in conversation for your discernment. We are planning to receive new members at our Easter Vigil this year on Saturday evening, April 8 at 7:00 pm.
Worship on Annunciation of Our Lord
Come March 25, right in the midst of Lent, it will be nine months until Christmas! On that day, we will celebrate a significant festival of the church, the Annunciation of Our Lord, when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary her having found favor with God whose Holy Spirit would cause her to conceive and to bear God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Plan to join us for a special liturgy on that Saturday morning, March 25, beginning at 10:00 am when we juxtapose themes of the Incarnation and Christmastide with the focus of Lent on Jesus’ Passion, his death and resurrection.
WELCA Returns at Faith-La Fe
WELCA, Women of the ELCA at Faith/la Fe, will have a Spring Tea in Faith’s Parish Hall on Saturday, March 25 at 3:00PM. Please come to join us for a celebration of rising out of the COVID ashes and giving new life to ministry of women. There will be opportunity for some Scripture Study, discussion and planning for our organization, plus tea & coffee with accompanying goodies. There are sign up sheets in the Narthex so we may prepare adequately for the attendees. There is no registration fee, though there will be free will offering to support our unit.
Easter Fellowship Festivities at Faith-La Fe
Please plan to join us for Easter Brunch in Parish Hall at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, April 9.
We will be serving a hot breakfast casserole and an array of bagels and cream cheese. To complete the feast, we are asking the congregation to bring baked items like coffee cakes, muffins and breads plus other treats either sweet or savory. Please bring your items to the kitchen in Parish Hall by 8:30 on Easter morning. All items should be plated and ready to serve. As a treat for all the children in our midst on Easter morning, there will also be an Easter Egg Hunt after both the 9:00 am and 11:00 am services.
Thrivent Hospice of the Valley Project
When: Saturday, April 1, 8:30 to 11:00 am.
Where: Dementia Care and Education Center, 3811 N 44th Street. (Park in in the front/west parking lot and meet in the Education Center Café, a two-story building)
Activities: Assemble planter table, fill it with soil (assisted living residents will plant fruits and veggies we provide); assemble SPA baskets with materials we provide ranging from creams, lotions, lip balms and other body care products; bird house kits; make cards for residents to sent to their loved ones. Refreshments will be provided. You might consider bringing screw drivers to assemble the planter table.
Please call Fred at 602-228-3349 to confirm your attendance.
Lent 2023 at Faith-La Fe
Join us each Wednesday evening during Lent for a soup supper beginning at 6:30 in the parish hall, and followed by evening prayer in the chapel at 7:15. Evening Prayer will be led by lay persons, and the message will be offered by various neighboring pastors of congregations in the Capital Conference of the Grand Canyon Synod. As a feature of evening prayer, we’ll commemorate holy ones and saints on our calendar of commemorations. And the overarching title for the offerings of our local pastors is: “Pardon Our Dust: Finding God in the Mess of Change.”
Please know that we need volunteers to sign up to provide bread and soup for the Wednesdays in Lent. Look for sign-up sheets on the bulletin board in the breezeway outdoors.
March 22 + Midweek Soup Supper and Lenten Service
(Jonathan Edwards, Teacher, Missionary to American Indians, 1758)
Speaker: Pastor Kari Williamson from Saint Andrew
March 29 + Midweek Soup Supper and Lenten Service
(Hans Nielson Hauge, Renewer of the Church, 1824)
Speakers: Pastors Veronica Alvarez and Jonathan Linman in a dialogue sermon
40 DAYS OF CARING FOR CREATION: A LENTEN PRACTICUM
It’s a beautiful planet, this Earth. Carl Sagan wrote of the view from space, “To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
Home to 8-billion people now, Earth is heating up and heating up fast. None of us is immune from the resulting climate changes and their catastrophic effects. It’s “code red for humanity,” says the U.N. Secretary-General.
It’s Kairos time, says the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in its draft social statement on Earth’s climate crisis, “a critical time when decisive action is required.”
This Lent, join us in taking decisive action! Featuring the Christian practices of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, we will renew and improve our care of creation.
Here’s a hard truth: One person’s dietary and lifestyle changes won’t reverse a drought or stop the glaciers from melting or prevent a wildfire.
But here’s another truth, a truth about faith: We don’t have to carry on with our earth-crucifying ways. Nor do we have to be paralyzed by anxiety and despair. Each of us individually and all of us together can do better. We can choose to actively trust God’s vision for creation. We can do our part, small as it may be, to keep this Earth a habitable and wholesome home.
Join learner/facilitator Sheri Brown on Thursdays at 4:00 pm MST (AZ) for six half-hour virtual workshops, beginning Thursday, February 23, as we live into 40 days of caring for creation.
WEEKLY TOPICS
March 23: Human migration patterns and global demographic decline.
March 30: Purchasing choices and what they say about faith-based earth advocacy.
Communicating Pastoral Care Needs to the Pastors
Pastor Veronica and I are here to serve you in your times of need and opportunity, to support you through our pastoral care-giving. If you are in need of pastoral conversation or visitation, please reach out to one or both of us directly – or have someone in your family or with whom you are close make that direct contact. Please don’t assume that word of your need or desire will come to us indirectly through others. Members of Faith-La Fe attend to each other’s needs in laudable ways, which is a wonderful thing. But there have been some occasions when your pastors have not been aware of circumstances that would warrant our outreach to you. We are here for you and want to be a part of the care that our congregation offers. So, please don’t assume we’re too busy or that what’s happening in your life does not warrant our time and attention. Pastoral care-giving is central to our identities as pastors of the church. Both Pastor Veronica and I regularly monitor our emails and phone messages, so please leave messages and we’ll engage with you promptly. My contact information always appears with my signature line below.
Holy Week and Easter at Faith-La Fe
Here is our schedule for Holy Week and Easter 2023:
April 2 at 9:00 and 11:00 am + Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday
April 6 at 7:00 pm + Maundy Thursday, Bi-lingual, Holy Communion, Foot Washing, Stripping of the Altar
April 7 + Good Friday: Noon, Stations of the Cross in English, 6:00 pm, Stations of the Cross in Spanish, and 7:30 pm, Liturgy in English
April 8 at 7:00 + Vigil of Easter with Reception of New Members
April 9 at 9:00 and 11:00 am + Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day
Mark Your Calendars Now for Upcoming Special Worship Services
Further detail about the following special occasions for worship is forthcoming, but please note these special liturgies now in your calendars!
March 25 at 10:00 am + Annunciation of Our Lord, Holy Communion
May 18 at 7:00 pm + Ascension of Our Lord, Holy Communion
May 28 at 9:00 and 11:00 am + Day of Pentecost
May 31 at 7:00 pm + Visit of Mary to Elizabeth, Holy Communion
July 22 at 10:00 am + Mary Magdalene, Apostle, Morning Prayer
August 15 at 7:00 pm + Mary, Mother of Our Lord, Holy Communion
September 14 at 7:00 pm + Holy Cross Day, Evensong
November 1 at 7:00 pm + All Saints’ Day, Holy Communion
Upcoming Saturday Quiet Days at Faith-La Fe in 2023
Saturday, April 29 – an introduction to Lectio Divina, or sacred reading, an approach to prayerfully engaging scripture that emerges from the Benedictine tradition and is increasingly popular today among clergy and lay audiences. I’ve done extensive work on the experiential dynamics of lectio divina, and I’m eager to share insights for your inspiration and edification. We do a modified form of lectio divina during our Wednesday bible studies, but spending the day together will give us occasion to do this prayerful form of bible reading as it is more fully intended.
Saturday, June 3 – a day to more deeply explore the spirituality of preaching, with special focus on how sermons are occasions of spiritual guidance. We’ll also spend some more time on your role as listeners to sermons, and how you can get still more out of preaching for your spiritual edification. We will touch on listening to sermons at next Sunday’s adult forum, but focusing on this topic for a whole Saturday will give us occasion to go still more deeply into the topic. On this day, we’ll also learn some of what Luther had to say about preaching!
Saturday, September 30 – on this day, close to the commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi, we will explore Franciscan Spirituality and what it might mean for Lutherans in ministry and mission in the 21st Century.
Saturday, October 28 – as we approach Reformation Sunday, this will be a day devoted to revealing key features of specifically Lutheran Spirituality, or Christian spirituality with Lutheran accents. We will discover that there’s a lot to draw from in our own tradition to take us ever more deeply into the spiritual life.
Saturday, November 18 – this day will be devoted to spending our time together in our beautiful nave doing “Stations of Our Stained Glass Windows,” a series of visual meditations on our stained-glass windows and the miracles and parables of Jesus they depict. We’ll explore in conversation the bible stories the windows are based on, and then look carefully at the windows to see features of the story which the stained-glass art highlights. Each station will feature a hymn before we move on to the next window.