Worship Service

Sunday online & Drive-up @ 11am

Bible Class 9am via Zoom

Upcoming:

Cares Committee— June 3

Council Meeting—June 7 @ 1pm

Summer Worship time changes to 9:30am

starting June 21

JUNE 2020

GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH & PRESCHOOL

702 G Street Phone: (360)332-6589

P.O. Box 1646, Blaine, WA 98231-1646

www.blaine-grace-lutheran.org

Email: office@bglutheran.com

Pastor’s Message:

Hello all,

I hope you are well as these strange days

continue. If there is anything that I can do

please don't hesitate to reach out. I would

be happy to talk with you or respond to an

email. We are seeing some loosening up of

restrictions and we are making plans to

have a safe environment for worship once

we are allowed to gather together again

face to face. Basically once our county

reaches Phase 3 we are allowed to have

services with under 50 people. The earliest

we could get to Phase 3 is June 21st but it

could certainly be later than that. We are

planning to have services in the sanctuary

as soon as our county reaches Phase 3. We

will be sending out updates on the What's

Happening email. Please let us know if you

are not getting that so we can add you to

the list or communicate with you another

way. We will be asking if you are planning

on coming to our first service when we get

closer to that day to know whether we need

to plan for a second service. If you want to

let us know now just contact Gretel or I.

Waiting until we get closer and have more

information will work just fine as well.

When we have services in the sanctuary we

will practice social distancing between

households and the hymnals will be

removed. You will have a printed bulletin

with all the songs and other precautions will

be taken as necessary. We will

communicate more details as we get closer

to having our first service. We plan on

continuing to have the service on-line even

after we are back to having services in

person.

Starting as soon as June 1, with Phase 2, we

are allowed to meet with up to five people

from outside the household per week. Once

our County enters Phase 2, we will be

offering communion in groups of up to

five. If you would like to put together a

group of up to five people please let us

know and we will schedule you. We can

schedule you by yourself or with your spouse

or a friend just let us know when you are

available. Since I can only serve five people

per week, Pastor Dennis has also agreed to

offer communion. Depending on how

many people would like to receive

communion we will look at other ways of

serving more people. Hopefully we will be

able to offer the Lord's Supper as soon as we

start having services in the sanctuary so this

could be a short term issue.

If there are other ways we can stay

connected with you until our face to face

worship services resume please let us

know. I look forward to seeing you on Zoom

for Bible Study, or at the Drive-up service or

for a small group for communion. I look

forward to hearing from you by phone or by

email. The office is officially still closed as

required but you can call Gretel most

mornings at church (she is off on

Thursdays). I am working from home in the

mornings but am at church most afternoons

and email works any time of day and I

respond pretty quickly most days. My family

has started taking a day trip once in awhile

(a couple of times on a Friday) but even

then I can get back to you by Saturday.

Peace in Christ to you! Love and air hugs.

Pastor

Spiritually Vibrant Homes

As you may know, Lutheran Hour Ministries

has been working in partnership with the

Barna group. Last year they jointly released

the “Households of Faith Monograph”. This

helpful book is a compilation of research

related to spirituality in Christian homes. In

March, they released a suite of products

based on those research findings. Here is an

outline of some of those products for you

below:

• The Spiritually Vibrant Home: The Power

of Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open

Doors by Don Everts. In his newest book,

author Don Everts answers the questions of

What do spiritually vibrant households look

like? and Can households armed with that

knowledge strive to become more spiritually

vibrant?

• 30 Days of Household Devotions Booklet.

Are you interested in starting a devotion in

your home, but don’t know where to begin?

The 30 Days of Household Devotions booklet

opens with several tips on doing devotions in

your home before leading into 30 daily

devotions that can be used consecutively or

occasionally per time and topic based on

your household’s needs.

• Booklets for Parents. Three new booklets,

Helping Your Child Have a Relationship with

God, Helping Your Child Grow Through Faith

Conversations, and Helping Your Child

Welcome Others, equip parents to help their

children in three areas including their child’s

relationship with God, encouraging spiritual

conversations, and promoting hospitality

toward others.

• Booklets for Children. Encourage your

pre-school to third-grade children to spend

time with God in prayer, learn how

important it is to welcome others, and

remember to look to the Bible for guidance

on living a life for God in our three new

children’s booklets.

• Free LHM Learn Courses. Three new LHM

courses focused on Households of Faith offer

self-paced learning, time for reflection and

journaling, easy access on any digital

device, and much more.

• Households of Faith Small Group Bible

Study. In this four-session video study, you will

explore the research in the Households of

Faith monograph and learn how to apply it

to your household. The sessions highlight

three characteristics that LHM’s Barna-

based research found were active in vibrant

households. According to the research,

spiritually vibrant households apply spiritual

disciplines, extend hospitality, and engage

in spiritual conversations.

Households of Faith Starter Kit. Finally, if you

would like a sample of all these products,

you can order a Households of Faith Kit!

You can find all of these and other products

at www.lhm.org/households. At a time when

so many people are spending more time in

their households than ever before, these

products can help your family, and

members of the families in your

congregations, use this time to build more

spiritually vibrant households.

Joy & Peace,

Pastor Dennis, Congregational Ambassador

“WE ARE GRACE”

Thank you for your support during the

transition to church online. We’ve had many

“views” and “likes” for our Worship Services

on Youtube and Facebook. Thank you for

joining us for Bible Study via Zoom.

We are grateful to be able to worship

together from a distance. Our church is

staying strong despite the inconvenience to

our social gatherings and daily lives. We are

still serving, giving, loving our neighbors, and

staying connected.

Pastor Aaron and the Cares Committee

have been contacting everyone in our

church by phone and/or mail. We had a

parade with about 43 participants.

Volunteers have been weeding and mowing

the lawn. We are currently planning VBS

online.

Our first drive-in worship service on May 17

was different and exciting. It was similar to a

drive-in movie, without the big screen. As

Pastor Aaron described the armor of God a

large group of very vocal crows flew

overhead in hot pursuit of an eagle who had

made off with one of their young. Pastor

didn’t miss a beet as he incorporated that

into the sermon. We sang together from our

cars and honked as we exited.

Please join us as you can in the

coming weeks.

Bible Study

We meet every Saturday morning at 8am

for Men’s Bible Study and Sunday at 9am

for Bible Study for the whole

congregation. The instructions are on the

weekly What’s Happening email. You

can join us by simply making a phone

call. Come and try it.

Phone List

If you do not receive the weekly What’s

Happening email please contact us and

we will add you to the list. If you don’t

have email let us know and we will add

you to our phone list.

There is hope in our future of uncertainty

because of our faith in God and our

commitment to each other. We look

forward to being all together again.

Scripture Cake

This is from my great-grandmother, Alpha

L. Robinson, who came to the Oregon

Country from Missouri in a covered

wagon with her parents, the William

Robinsons’, in 1878. ~ Marlene Makinson

Pollard

You will need a Bible to decipher the

ingredients, enjoy the puzzle!

Two cupfuls of Jeremiah Chapter 6,

Verse 20

One and one half cupfuls of Judges

5:25, last clause

One half cupful of 1 Kings 4:22

Two cupfuls of Samuel 30:12

Two cupfuls of Nahum 3:12

One cupful of Numbers 17:8

One half cupful of Judges 4:19, last

clause

Two TBL of Samuel 14:25

Two tsp of Amos 4:5

Season to taste with Chronicles 9:9

Add six Jeremiah 17:11

Follow Solomon’s prescription for making

a good boy, Proverbs 23:14, and you will

have a good loaf cake.

God’s Constant Creativity

In Isaiah 43:19, God proclaims, “See, I am

doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you

not perceive it?” (NIV). God’s process of

creating is active and ongoing, meaning

there’s always something new for us to

notice, grasp and learn.

“God’s will is not an abstraction,” writes

Thomas Merton in No Man Is an Island. “It is a

living concrete reality in the lives of [people],

and our souls are created to burn as flames

within his flame. The will of the Lord is not a

static center drawing our souls blindly

toward itself. It is a creative power, working

everywhere, giving life and being and

direction to all things, and above all forming

and creating, in the midst of an old creation,

a whole new world which is called the

Kingdom of God.”

Treasure the Present

Patience asks us to live the moment to the

fullest … to taste the here and now, to be

where we are. When we are impatient, we

try to get away from where we are. We

behave as if the real thing will happen

tomorrow, later, and somewhere else. Let's

be patient and trust that the treasure we

look for is hidden in the ground on which

we stand.

—Henri Nouwen

Philippians 1:6

John 16:33

Virtual VBS

July 27-31

Rainforest Explorers: Jesus leads

the way through life’s

uncertainties and into life’s

celebrations.

We will be assembling packets

including crafts, activities & more

for explorers at home. If you can

help! We’d appreciate it!

Please contact:

Kelley 360-933-1304 or

Gretel 360-820-0972

Register online:

blaine-grace-lutheran.org

June 6, 2020 @ 2:00pm

Pick up tea bags on June 4 @ 1:00pm

Check the weekly What’s Happening

Email for details.

1 David Craig

Glen Hagen

2 Nisha Buksh

6 Al Shaulis

8 Alexander Tucker

9 Jim Higby

Ryan Johnson

10 Nancy Vogee

11 Lydia Pomerening

15 Kirsti Berge

16 Shaun Johnson

18 Treasa (Berg) Scott

Dan Delong

19 Gilbert Johnson

Donna Leach

20 Pat Hinchey

21 Cindy Vogt

Luke Liebert

22 David Halldorson

Shannon VanderYacht

23 Andrew Galbraith

Pat Bucknam

24 Rika Kent

Ida VanderYacht

25 Karin Wildermuth

Sarah Day

26 Jane Woods

Jason VanderYacht

Caryn Johnson

28 Lindsay (Delong) Tucker

30 Melissa McWilliams

Elsie Jussel

4 Butch & Pat Hinchey

14 Bruce & Lynne Shelton

19 Jim & Carolyn Higby

Neal & Delores Holleman

Harold & Leona Olason

26 Larry & Patt Van Wanseele

27 Dan & Allison Delong

Celebrating OUR GRADUATES

Congratulations to Anna Persse

and Anna Corinne Huffman, and

Rachel Johnson. Please keep

them in your prayers as they

journey into adulthood.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3

Cares Committee 2pm

4

Pick up tea bags for Lades’ Tea

5 6

Men’s Bible Class 8am

Ladies’ Tea 2pm

7 9:00 Bible Study 11:00 Worship Service Drive-in and online Council Meet. 1pm

8

9

10

11

12 13

Men’s Bible Class 8am

14 9:00 Bible Study 11:00 Worship Service Drive-in and online

15

16 17

18

19 20

Men’s Bible Class 8am

21 Father’s Day

9:30 Worship Service

22 23

24 25 26 27

Men’s Bible Class 8am

28 9:30 Worship Service

29

30