PJ's April Blog

Dear Friends, Greetings to you in the powerful name of Jesus Christ! “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” Luke 24:17 Do you enjoy taking a walk? I can not wait for the snow to melt so that I can go for some walks in the neighborhood and on some of the many area trails. There is so much to see and enjoy when one goes for a Walk. We are reminded of a few people who went on a walk with Jesus. At first they did not know who he was as they walked along talking about the things of life. It can be that way sometimes when one goes on a walk with a friend. One ends up talking about all sorts of things. So it was on the road to Emmaus that day with Jesus. These two men were opening up their lives to Jesus! It was further down the pathway that they came to realize who was walking with them that day – it was Jesus! I want to invite you to a WALK WITH JESUS that will take place at Atonement on Sunday – April 21. Together we will discover again just who Jesus is and what he is up to in our lives. We will encounter Jesus in the manger, walking on the water, feeding 5,000 people, healing a man, sharing a parable, dying on the cross and the empty tomb. The WALK WITH JESUS will begin at 2:00p.m. that Sunday afternoon and it is open to everyone. All of our confirmation youth are expected to participate in some way. LET’S GO FOR A WALK!! ********************************************************************** The visits begin! Starting in April Bethany & I will start our VISIT EVERY HOME CAMPAIGN! It is our intent to visit each household in the Atonement family over the next year. The goal for these visits are as follows: *To get to know each other better! *To hear what your hopes are for Atonement! *To share the vision the Church Council has for the next three years! I am looking for two people who would be willing to help us arrange these visits. We plan to do 4 or 5 visits each week. This is another way that we can grow in our understanding the Mission & Ministry Jesus is calling us to embrace! See you soon! In Christ, Pastor Jim Gerth

PJ's March 2013 Blog

Dear Friends, Greetings to you in the powerful name of Jesus Christ! “Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life!” John 6:35 Bread! I do love the smell of bread baking! I so enjoy taking a bite out of a piece of bread when it is still warm and has some butter and strawberry jam on it. Bread is just one of those food items that we all enjoy and is going to be the focus for our consideration on Wednesday evenings. Now I am not talking about Wonder Bread or some other brand. What I am talking about is the one who claims to be the Bread Of Life – Jesus Christ. Consider with me for a moment each letter of the word BREAD and what it may remind us about our relationship with the BREAD OF LIFE: B February 20 / Broken, Baptism, Believe, Bitter, Battle, Beautiful, Begotten, R February 27 / Ready, Remember, Redeemer, Renew, Rest, Rise, Rain E March 6 / Enough, Everlasting, Eternal, Enlighten, Expectation, Eating, A March 13 / Abundant, Alive, Abide Ask, Atonement, Alone, Anointed, D March 20 / Death, Deliver, Dust, Dying, Dark, Delight, Descendent, Each Wednesday evening we will enjoy some homemade Bread & Soup that will be served by our youth. The freewill offering taken for the meal will help support getting our youth to camp and mission trips. Following the meal we will gather for worship and celebrate and explore what it means to be in relationship with the one who is THE BREAD OF LIFE. The offering given during worship will be to help our Seminarian – Paul K as he prepares for ministry. If you wish your gift to go to another purpose please note it on the envelop. Our youth will be teaming up with Bethany to help lead us in worship! We are excited to welcome the members of Christ Community who will be worshiping with us on Maundy Thursday – March 28th. A special meal will be served that evening starting at 6:00P.M. with worship taking place at 7:00P.M. The focus of worship that evening will be meeting the one who is The Bread of Life in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Pastor Chris who is the intern at Calvary Lutheran and helps out at Christ Community will be participating in the service! LET’S FILL THE CHURCH as together we REMEMBER! Be sure to come and enjoy Soup & Bread from 6:00-6:45P.M. followed by worship at 7:00P.M. with Holy Communion. In Christ, Pastor Jim Gerth