Central Lutheran Church

On the 4^th of July weekend Central Lutheran will be gathering with several other area congregations to worship. The event will take place at The Gathering, 4634 Alger Avenue. Following worship, please plan to join in a BBQ on the grounds of the church. More details will follow soon in the Sunday morning bulletins.

Wasn’t it jut February? These months spent together as pastor and people at Central have simply sped by. When I arrived, we were still in the Epiphany season (remember?), and since then, we’ve celebrated all of Lent, the entire Easter season, and now have moved through Pentecost, the Holy Trinity, and find ourselves in the season after Pentecost.During these five months together, we’ve shared in some amazing ministry events. Two of them occurred during Sunday morning worship, at the time of the sermon, when we were all surprised by a gentleman and a toddler becoming a part of the proclamation. We’ve received new members and celebrated baptisms, grieved the loss of dear members and the relatives of many. We’ve marveled at the increasing number of persons at worship, and come to expect that twenty children up front for Children’s Word is to be expected.

In the realm of moving toward new, permanent pastoral leadership, every person at Central was given the opportunity to offer input, the transition team morphed that input into a solid Ministry Site Profile, and a Call Committee was elected, has met with the Assistant to the Bishop, and is well underway in its work.

But none of what is listed above is as important as this: week after week, day after day, moment by moment, we have lived in the presence of the Risen Christ. We’ve shared the Gospel story and feasted on Jesus weekly in bread and cup. We have continued the vibrant ministry of outreach to the immediate community through the Sunday suppers, and gifted the larger community through vibrant, generous gifts to Faith Action Network, Lutheran World Relief and World Hunger, Academia Latina, and – this month – Everett Gospel Mission.

It has been such a privilege to serve you in these three transitional months, and to look forward with you to a bright and settled future in the near future for Central. Donna and I will be disappearing for a while, but you will always remain a part of our hearts and lives, and we trust God in providing all good things for you and through you in the days ahead.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Hoffman

Ordinary time/Ordinary bulletin

In June, the Church enters a period of time called “ordinary.” Ordinary Time. There are some hints that this is where we are in the church year – the Sunday Gospel readings no longer focus on the biography of Jesus, but rather Christ’s call to the Church to be faithful in service. Sometimes the period from Advent through Pentecost is called “the Lord’s half of the Church Year.” And this new season – Ordinary Time – is often referred to as “the Church’s half of the Church Year.”

Ordinary is a word that doesn’t particularly conjure up the extraordinary love and grace that we know in Christ. We often use ordinary to say things like, “this was just an ordinary day,” or, “we are not going to do anything out of the ordinary on our vacation.” But where Jesus is present, things are NEVER ordinary! When we say ordinary time in the Church, we are using the word in quite a different way. Think of the root word, “ordinal,” as in “ordinal numbers.” This time in the Church year is called ordinary because we simply count the Sundays – lectionary 15, lectionary 16, and so on.

Falling as it does in the months of summer, our Sunday services have a slightly more ordinary rhythm, although the Gospel story of Jesus remains compelling.

Both the rhythm of the season, and the way in which we’ll be served most of the summer by Supply Pastors, has led to the creation of a single summer bulletin that will serve us every week. These orders of worship can be left behind from Sunday to Sunday and the savings in paper and office time will be amazing. It’s an act of stewardship of resources and staff time as well.

In addition to the Summer Worship bulletin, there will be a weekly insert with the Scripture texts for that day, weekly announcements, the calendar and other current events. We’ll use the hymnals to sing our hymns; they’ve been living a rather lonely existence since Covid.

All of this sounds more momentous than it is. The whole idea is one of simplicity. And, of course, a spiritually-enriching experience at every summer service.