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THANK YOU! #Refo500 at St. Paul Lutheran Church

What a wonderful Reformation Sunday! It was a marvelous morning. On behalf of the Church Council and the congregation, I extend our collective gratitude to all who made it a terrific day: especially to Kathy Eckles, and her team: Chris Larson, Deb Coull, Rob Grenier, Chris Grenier, Dianne Richards, Carol Gray, Coreen Scharfe, Barbara Jobe, and everyone who pitched in to transform the Undercroft. The flower arrangements and table settings were inspired! Thank you to the Grenier family for our Reformation feast, featuring German breakfast foods. It was a delicious experience! A special thank you to Carl Johnson for his inspiring preaching! You melted our hearts. Thank you to Ed Garner for his Reformation Door! Gratitude to our choir and Ted Stoddard for their marvelous musical leadership! The roof came off. Thank you to the historians among us who made the Reformation timelines: Chris Grenier, Kimberlee Cloutier-Blazzard, Laurie Jamieson, Fred Peterson, Sandra Jamieson!

Tremendous thanks to the Church Council for their leadership and planning throughout our Refo 500 season this October.  My heartfelt thanks to the Council, Carol Gray and Mary Meader for the surprise anniversary gift of a Reformation Stole and ruby slippers.  And joyful thanks to all of you for a further lovely surprise:  the beautiful anniversary treasure chest full of such beautiful letters. Thank you to Nat Crosby for designing and making the treasure box. It was a wonderful wonderful day, a once in 500 years event!

There are many pictures of the morning on our Facebook page which you can access here.

All of October 2017 has been dedicated to raising our awareness of the roots and the ongoing significance of the Reformation, through worship, classes, discussions, and special events. Many of us working in the church feel that we are undergoing another kind of reformation in this 21st century. The good news: the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ moves in every age. My reformation prayer for all of us comes from a collect in our ELW, p.304 : O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us an your love supporting us; thought Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
With a full and grateful heart,
Pastor Anne