Good morning, dear church!
Thank you for all your donations and all your help for this past weekend’s food drive! I don’t have the results yet, but will probably be able to share more information with you tomorrow. Today is June 1 (!!!) , and the graduation ceremonies, whatever form or shape they take this year, are beginning in our community. There will be virtual celebrations and speeches; there will be car processions and parades through some neighborhoods. There will be small, family-style parties in many homes. Schools and colleges are still wondering and pondering what the new school year or semester will look like. If you ask me, I hope they can have regular classes again, but we just don’t know, we just don’t know… As parents of a senior in High School and a college student, we will be busy this week. On Thursday is Sam’s graduation from Wissahickon High School, – that’s why I have to cancel this week’s Thursday noon Bible study. We will be in one of those cars processing through the community. Sam finished his final calculus course yesterday. He has experienced a remarkable recovery in the last few months. On Saturday he walked three miles on his own feet. Again, thank you for all your prayers over the last several years as he was bed-bound for such long and painful times with all kinds of other ailments bothering him. And yet, now he is graduating with his class and will have a free summer for the first time in three years. Next weekend, Julia and Sarah will drive to Ohio to finally clear out her college dorm. Sadly, her palm tree will probably be dead by now. Those are the smaller casualties of the pandemic. To all of you who have graduates and haven’t sent your picture to Jennifer B. yet, I think she might still accept pictures of graduates for our graduate Sunday picture show (June 14). Do it now! dfm@stpetersnoprthwales.org
Later this morning I will have the privilege to tell the story of Doris Moyer, Charlene B.’s mom, at a graveside service at Whitemarsh Memorial Park. Doris Moyer reached the ripe old age of 97 and had a full and satisfying life. She was born in upstate Pennsylvania and lived with her husband and twin daughters in Wyndmoor, PA for the longest time. Even though Doris was not a member of our church, we will make her eulogy available on our website. If you are like me, you always find the lives of real people fascinating. This morning I meditated over a passage from Isaiah that ends with, “You are my witnesses.” (Is 44:8) When it comes to the lives of people, it’s always about what we see, what we remember, how we look at someone’s life. We are witnesses of the lives of so many people around us. Are we able to SEE them? To me, that is always the great privilege and challenge of giving a eulogy: to feel myself as much as I can into a life of a person. I can tell you, it is very gratifying work.
Later tonight our council will gather on the Zoom screen to finalize and hopefully approve our re-opening plan. Since the plan will include not only a four page document but also addendums including a seating chart for the church sanctuary, we will probably send it to you in the form of a Steeple Views extra edition. You will receive that document in the next two week (it takes a little longer for bulk mail), and it won’t be ready to go out until late this week or early next week. As I have mentioned before, church will not be the same for that period when we are allowed to gather, but restricted to very small gatherings. We see it more as an opportunity to live stream services again from the sanctuary and give people who are really longing for that “being in church” feel an opportunity to join us. Once completed, the re-opening plan will also be posted on our website.
For this week, I would like to draw your attention to this Friday’s special Basic session, called “Learning to Walk in the Dark.” (7:00 p.m. Zoom) This session was originally supposed to be held in the winter season when it is naturally dark outside, but we decided to offer it anyway during the brightest part of the year, because the topic has so many spiritual implications for us right now. The main session will be a little bit over an hour long and is based on the Book with the same title by Barbara Brown-Taylor. Taylor, a former Episcopal priest, argues that the dark times are not as scary as they seem to be and can teach us a lot. She further says that modern Christianity has too often neglected that part of our faith experience. We try to focus on the light and “lighter” issues; we are scared to linger in places where we don’t immediately see our way. But a lot of things have their origins in the dark. We were made in a dark womb, for starters. My tomato plants outside germinated in dark soil, etc. We may have to re-visit the importance of darkness in our lives. Please join us on Friday. I will include the zoom invitation in my emails later this week.
One correction: Our new church members Tim and Polly B. have five grandchildren, not two as I falsely assumed. We don’t want to deprive them of any grandchildren!
Mrs. B’s Children’s Hour will take place every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m., starting on June 7. We encourage our families with young children to take advantage of this interactive program and to tell your neighbors with children about it.
Also, please don’t forget the Red Cross Blood Drive on June 8. Specific precautions are being taken and have been described in recent emails. Drive Details: Date: June 8th, Times: 2 – 7 PM;
TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT, PLEASE GO TO WWW.REDCROSS.ORG, ENTER SPONSOR CODE St. Peters North Wales or CLICK ON
Today is the birthdays of Lisa M. Happy birthday, Lisa!!!
As always, be blessed and be safe!
Pastor Andreas Wagner