Newsletter Article Jason Stanton Newsletter Article Jason Stanton

Message from Paston Stanton for February 2018

Lent begins Ash Wednesday, February 14. That’s the perfect amount of time to come up with an idea for what you may fast from / or what you may add to your life as a spiritual discipline. First Lutheran enjoys a membership with many Christian backgrounds who participated in a variety of spiritual practices. Some of our brothers and sisters who grew up Roman Catholic have asked me over the years whether Lutherans eat fish on Fridays during Lent. My answer is something like, “it depends whether the chef of the house feels like cooking, or going out for fish that Friday, I guess.” Although some churches enter into a communal fast—like fasting from all meat but fish on Fridays—other churches leave it to the individuals. I was serving a congregation in Columbia, SC during seminary that had the whole church fast from ‘sweets’ during Lent (that one was tough!)

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God's Hands & Feet Kathryn Pedretti God's Hands & Feet Kathryn Pedretti

Warm Hearts

My daughter Sarah and I watched the movie “Warm Bodies” just before I wrote this. It is a funny romantic movie about a zombie falling in love with a non zombie girl. His heart starts beating again, bringing him back to life, because of the connection he felt toward the girl. Because of his relationship with the girl, even just holding her hand, others began to reconnect, too, bringing their hearts to life. It’s quite humorous, as the storyline develops, but what caught my attention was that to warm one’s heart one must feel connected.

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Newsletter Article Jason Stanton Newsletter Article Jason Stanton

Message From Pastor Stanton for December 2017

Since October 15, First Lutheran has been in an ‘every-member-visit’ mode. Thirty visitors have made their way to almost 150 families thus far. The conversations our visitors are having are priceless.

Last week I talked with a longtime member who is far less engaged with First than he used to be, “for no good reason”, he said. Through the course of our 45-minute conversation, I heard about the challenges his family has faced over the last year including a retirement, two elder deaths and three imminent graduations. What is so incredible to me is that most of my visits are like this. So much is happening in the lives of each and every family at First as parents age, kids grow, jobs change and life goes from one stage to another. Every time I leave one of these visits, I feel so much better about the health of our church as I know a little bit more about what my prayers should include and I understand how interconnected we already are. The ways I preach and the programs we offer take shape from these conversations. The vitality of our fellowship comes from knowing each other.

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