pastorblog

Greetings, Bay Shore!

This Sunday is the last Sunday of January, and it’s been a cold month. It’s also been a hard month for many in our greater community with the rising costs of food and utilities. Now, more than ever, our gifts of canned soup are needed for the local food banks. Donations come in before Christmas, with the season of generosity stirring hearts, but January and February tend to be the leanest months for those in need and for the food bank’s donations.

Souper Bowl of Caring happens every year, and it’s a fun thing to tie it in with the Super Bowl—synods with the competing teams often have competitions of their own for the most gifts to the cause. I had a LOT of fun when the Eagles were in a few years back. My bishop was not shy wearing the jersey on Sundays! This year, I know—the Pack is not in—but we can still support the Souper Bowl and those in need.

So here are a few ways you can help:

1. Our collection is from February 1 through Feb 14 only.
2. Drop off canned soup to the church when the office is open. Please limit your offering to canned soup (or canned vegetables if you see a good sale).
3. Soup that does NOT require milk is strongly preferred by local food banks. In fact, the most helpful soups to donate are “ready to eat” or “ready to serve.”
4. If you desire, you can send a check to the church marked “soup” in the memo, and we will pass on all donated funds received to the Hunger Task Force. They are able to buy soup and other canned goods in bulk, and it does make our dollars stretch more. Please send your donation early so that we can process it all by February 14.

The cans will be delivered to a local food bank based on need. (I have three in mind, and will find out which food bank needs the soup the most after Feb. 14.)

I have no “goal” in mind, but if every household at Bay Shore participated—what an impact that would be!

Thank you for your generosity during this time of challenge for many in the Milwaukee area.

Blessings and peace,

Pastor Sarah

Greetings, Bay Shore!

It has been a very busy week, it’s like a hive with many bees/emails/phone calls/mail coming in and out. With my absence most of last week, I am frankly a week behind and hopefully will catch up.

I have two very important things to share with you today.

First, this Sunday we will be livestreaming our service at 10 a.m. Please join us online at 10 am, or later in the day as your schedule allows. Even though we are not worshipping in person right now, please remember to continue your offerings as you normally would.

Secondly, I would like to share more details about Monday’s MLK Day of Service. 

Part of the hive activity this week has been our preparation for this event. We have shared our event now with the Synod, through the local group—Bay Bridge, and now through the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel! We are excited how this event has really made our church on Hampton more visible.

But, we are hearing from many that they still aren’t sure what is happening! And that’s understandable, since this has never happened before at Bay Shore.

This Monday, from 10:30-1:00, we will open our doors for those fully vaccinated volunteers who have signed up to be onsite to work on several projects that we will complete by 1:00 p.m.  We also will have a pick up system in place for those who have volunteered, but prefer to do the projects at home (we are calling this “remote” on the signups).

What are the projects? We are assembling a couple different kinds of “kits,” and we are making sandwiches for “Just One More” Ministry—which supports and feeds our Hephatha neighbors as well as others.

Both volunteer groups, in person and remote options, will be completing kits and making sandwiches for local charities in our area. In appreciation, and through grants from Thrivent, we are able to provide boxed lunches for our volunteers.

FYI: We have fulfilled our supply list for the number of kits and sandwiches that we have promised to deliver. We hope that next year, with more early volunteer sign ups and gifts, we can plan more. For now, we are grateful for what we will be able to do. Much of this first event is being funded by a generous grant from the Bay Shore Lutheran Church Foundation as a kick start to this new program.

How to volunteer? Please pre-register and sign up by clicking here.  Once you volunteer, you will receive more detailed information. Please pre-register, and let us know your preference in volunteering. Julie Murphy, our Chair, will be in touch to help you prepare for the event.

I am grateful for Julie Murphy’s leadership with this idea that I shared with her almost two years ago. Julie, with the full support of the Social Ministry Committee, has handled the responsibility of this new program at Bay Shore. Thank you, Julie!

I participated in MLK Day of Service events in Pennsylvania—and I missed it after moving here. My first experience was at a local church, not my own, that had been doing it for 10 years. They had hundreds of volunteers, and a year long task force that handled the preparations each year. My second and third experiences were at my own church—which we started in faith after attending the other church’s event. Our first year, it was small but well received. Our second year? We doubled in size and really expanded our projects and more.  I am prayerful that we too will be impactful this first year and expand each year after.  Join me, as you are able, on Monday as we serve others in our community. Let’s make a difference, and also share the good community that we have here at Bay Shore!

Blessings and peace,

Pastor Sarah

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 12-14^th 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