Welcome!
Today is the Epiphany of Our Lord, January 6! Join Pastor Sarah in the Eastern Christian tradition of chalking your door(s) with the tradition blessing invoking the names of the three magi. We have a video and a document (CLICK HERE link below) to assist you.
And this can be done anytime leading up to Ash Wednesday. So gather with your loved ones, or just with Pastor online, and mark your own doors with prayers for the new year.
Welcome!
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, and you can see the difference for yourselves, whether you join us online or in-person. Our blue paraments (our worship linens and cloths) are blue, our Advent Wreath is up, and all around the church—we’ve made the switch to the season. You may have even glimpsed my personal Christmas tree in my office, too. (If you haven’t, drive by at night! 🙂
Advent is from a Latin word which means “coming.” During Advent, we wait not just for Christmas which celebrates Jesus’ arrival and birth, but we wait for his second coming, when God’s kingdom on earth is fully realized.
Many of you may recall purple as the season’s color, with a bit of pink thrown in. So why blue? Is this new? Not really. The Swedish Church has used blue for centuries as well as parts of Spain as early as the eighth century. There is strong evidence of Western churches using blue and sometimes even black in the 12-14th centuries.
More recently, the need to differentiate the seasons of Advent and Lent has been discussed. Using the same colors as Lent can be confusing. Lent, a time of repentance before Easter, uses purple as the color for royalty, penitence and fasting. Blue is a color suited for royalty, but it is also for hope. In Advent, we are waiting for Christ, but we are more hopeful. The old Green Hymnal, remember that one?, recommended using blue over purple in 1978—but many churches did not change immediately for a variety of reasons. My old church, it was because of finances. We had nice purple paraments—why not use them?
I am partial to the blue because it is a visual difference between Advent and Lent. I don’t know about you, but I need hope in the typically darker days of Advent. I need hope that Christ’s presence in this world will grow, and his light will overcome all darkness. This Advent season, our theme will be the different kinds of Hope we have—for ourselves, for our communities and for our church. I pray that you join us as much as you can these next 4 weeks. I pray that you find hope when and where you need it the most.
Blessings, peace and hope,
Pastor Sarah
Welcome!
“The end is near,” we have been hearing the past few weeks on Sundays. This Sunday, we do reach an end—the end of our church’s liturgical year. Our church year always begins on the first Sunday of Advent and it ends today on Christ the King Sunday.
It’s easy to rush through Christ the King Sunday and move into the much anticipated season of Advent. Who doesn’t love a good Advent season with its blue colors and, eventually, trees? While I will preach about Christ the King and its meaning for us today, I would like to take this space and reflect on our past church year as Bay Shore.
A year ago, I was in my spare bedroom leading worship on Zoom. Danny, Dulcie and Kate also were in their homes, playing music, reading lessons and singing hymns. A year ago, we knew we would not be worshipping together for Christmas Eve, and we began making plans to create a service that we could show on our then new YouTube Channel. A year ago, we were completing the installation of our new technology which allowed us to begin livestreaming our services in early 2021. A year ago, I couldn’t fathom that we would not be together for a second Easter. A year ago, we didn’t have vaccines readily available.
In June, we returned to our building. We continue to livestream. And now, we still are contemplating the best way to have services in the coming weeks and months. I do not have a crystal ball, and so far, God is not answering certain questions that I have about when the pandemic will finally be contained enough to return to all things normally. But I am grateful to have spent the past year with this great community here at Bay Shore—the staff, our Council, our volunteers, our members and friends. We learned a lot; we grew in ways we did and did not want to grow. But most of all, we stayed together and supported one another as Jesus taught his disciples to do.
Blessings, my friends. May God bless us in our new year.
Pastor Sarah
Dear Bay Shore Family,
As we reflect on another All Saints Sunday together I am reminded of all the people that I have had the privilege of knowing in my years here at Bay Shore. Their faces and stories are forever in my memory as I walk through my weeks here, their voices and reminders are everywhere.
It would be easy for me to start naming names like Bernice Flickinger, Lois Dallman, and Lorraine Kubitschek, many of you won’t remember those lovely women or the Speerschnieders, the Semlers and the McCroskeys…all once served with us, sang with us, laughed and cried with us. You may not remember, but they are all here.
The Apostles’ Creed that we say on Sundays reminds us that we believe in the “Communion of Saints” which from what I have gleaned from my years now in the Lutheran church means that all the baptized who came before us, those among us now and even those who are yet to be born are Saints in our presence. That’s a pretty cosmic thought, but I like it! My friend Carolyn used to describe that while she was receiving Holy Communion, she would think of her grandmother holding her hand on the way to receive the holy meal. Everyone present, everyone welcome, today and forever.
Surrounded by the Communion of Saints, we remember the people who left our earthly home this year and to all those from years gone by, I say thank you. Thank you, Mother and Dad, for making church an important commitment in our lives, thank you to my husband and children who make the journey of life so full and precious, and thank you to my Bay Shore family from Carla Hoelz to Gordy Hackbarth to Michael Trost and all the rest for sharing your faith journeys with me in this life as Saints together forever.
Happy All Saints Sunday!
Kate Yelvington
Jesus and I have our best conversations when I am driving. Sometimes, it is just me talking and venting. Often, it is me praying. But every so often, Jesus comes through the radio. Like today.
Driving to work this morning, I listened to a segment on Public Radio. It was an interview with Sam Quinones, the author of Dreamland and his latest release, The Least of Us. Both books feature stories about the opioid crisis in America. This morning, Sam shared why he called his latest book The Least of Us. Sam shared that he went to the Bible and he was reminded of how Jesus served the least in the society. The poor, the orphan, etc. And then he said that our society “was only as strong as the least of us.”
Bay Shore, I needed that reminder. Maybe you do, too. Our community here in the Greater Milwaukee area is only as strong as “the least.” Jesus taught this, we hear this on Sundays, and we know it is true—but it’s also easy to move on. But today, I couldn’t move on. Because today I also learned that 36% of Wisconsin’s 4th graders are reading below reading levels. And today I felt Jesus speaking through the radio, reminding me of why churches exist.
It’s to serve the least of us. Those who have needs, problems, issues, and adversities. It’s to be Jesus to the person who needs tutoring, clothing and other basic necessities. Jesus taught that we were only as strong as the least of us—and that to be first, we had to become last. When you think of it this way—if we are last, with our skills, education and privilege, then our society will finally be more equal and just for all. Because if we are last—just imagine how better our world will be for those who follow.
What areas that are least served can we fill and renew? Where can we use our gifts and skills and help others in the name of Christ?
As we ponder the future mission of Bay Shore through the Strategic Plan process, join me in being open to the where the Spirit is guiding us. Or what Jesus may be telling us when we least expect it. The world is changing, I know you can feel it. But the message of Jesus in its purest form, loving our neighbor, is constant and the world is desperate for this good news.
You’re in my prayers, Bay Shore.
Blessings and peace to you and your loved ones.
Pastor Sarah
This past summer, I shared pumpkins seeds with our children here at church to tie into the story when Jesus talked to his disciples about mustard seeds and faith. Later that day, Pete, LJ, and I each took a seed to plant at home, but space was limited so in the end, I planted them in my almost empty compost pile. Surprisingly, all three grew and grew large. But, after the most blossoms I have ever had—only one pumpkin grew from one seed. That’s the one I brought today.
At the same time, I saw how a young dad threw his pumpkin into the yard in 2020, and he noticed this past summer all the stalks that were growing. So he left them to see what what would happen. At last count, which is hard since his yard now looks like a forest of pumpkin leaves, he has 19 pumpkins growing. Truth is, he tossed that pumpkin and didn’t give it a thought. Careless, you could say.
This reminded me that what we do with purpose and with carelessness matters because both ways produce results. Results which may surprise us or overwhelm us. Results which are good and sometimes hurtful. Results which we may not see for years by the seeds grow. With purpose, I planted three seeds and have one pumpkin, but the dad who likely threw the pumpkin in his backyard as a joke has a bounty.
It doesn’t seem fair at times what comes easily for others and harder for some. Or that carelessness is rewarded while careful planning produces less than desired. And yet, Jesus would tell me that I really only needed one pumpkin today, and that’s what I was given. Perhaps the dad needed more pumpkins to understand God’s abundance. The truth is, we all learn differently, we have different results, and we need different experiences to experience God. Today, for me, it is one pumpkin. And Jesus is right. Today, it’s enough. Pastor Sarah
