Transition Team and Church Council will meet together on Tuesday, 14 April at 6:30 p.m. in the Friendship Room. This is the meeting at which most of the details of our congregation’s Ministry Site Profile will be finalized (pending the last congregational forum on 4/19), and the work of the Transition Team will come to an end. At this meeting, it is highly likely that the Council will complete the ballot of nominees for the Call Committee and call for its election at a duly called Congregational Meeting on the first Sunday of May. PLEASE be watching for the announcement of the exact date, time, and place of that meeting and plan to attend this very important step in our journey toward calling a permanent pastor to serve us.

The Sacrament of Holy Baptism and Reception of New Members will take place at the Sunday service on 26 April. If you are interested in learning more about baptism, or officially joining the Central community of faith, please speak with Pastor Hoffman. The Sunday liturgy that day will be a joyful one, focusing in on the promise of Easter and remembering the covenant God has made with each of us in Holy Baptism.  In the Gospel reading for that day from John 10 we will hear from Jesus, I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Beginning with +The Resurrection of Our Lord on Sunday, 5 April 2026, we began a weeks-long celebration. While the rest of the world might think of Easter as a day, we in the Church think of it as a season. Sometimes called, “The Great Fifty Days,” our celebration of Easter will continue from now until Pentecost, which this year falls on Sunday, 31 May. Sometimes this season is referred to as “a week of weeks,” or 7x7, which adds up to 49, Pentecost being that 50^th day, mentioned above. The Easter flowers might linger for a while, we’ll still be singing Easter hymns across the rest of April and May, and the texts from the Scripture will be stories that point us to the miracle of the resurrection. The First Reading will be not from the Old Testament, but from the book of Acts. There we will hear again how the earliest followers of the risen Lord Jesus brought this message to the world, what it cost them, and how their stories encourage our own proclamation of Jesus in times that are equally complacent and sometimes even hostile to the good news of Christ’s victory over death.

Easter Season Worship Schedule:

April 12 - Acts 2:14a,22-32; John 20:19-31
April 19 - Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Luke 24:13-35
April 26 - Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; John 10:1-10
May  3 -  1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14
May 10 - Acts 17:22-31; John 14:22-31
May 17 - Acts 1:1-11; Luke 24:44-53
May 24 - to be determined

Rev. John Michael Barich of Seattle will serve our congregation on Sunday, 19 April as preacher and presider. Pastor Hoffman will be on the east coast for the celebration of life of his son’s mother-in-law in northern New Jersey.  Pastor Barich has served congregations in Chicago and Seattle, and is currently doing interim ministry at Vashon Lutheran Church on Vashon Island, and Church of the Apostles in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. We are grateful for his willingness to serve us as supply pastor this month.

These are exciting days in the life of Central Lutheran Church. We are finding ourselves deep in the season of Easter, and celebrating the resurrection promise that death no longer has any power over us. What a powerful message by which to live as so much of the news that comes to us from the world is quite the opposite: pain, war, injustice, poverty, suffering.

In spite of all the ways of death by which our world is so often defined, we at Central continue to deal in life. During one of my interviews with congregational members someone piped up as soon as I asked about Central’s strengths and said, “We are small but mighty.”  I didn’t know just how true that was at the time – early in February. But every day that I serve you here I come to believe it more and more. Especially the “mighty” part.

Central is mighty in the way that it continues to serve. Each day you are deeply involved in the lives of one another. I see you sharing your joys and your sorrows. Every week – and many times in between – you reach out to the Everett community meeting the very real need of hunger that is so prevalent in our community. And your ministry reaches far beyond Everett. Ministries of the Month recently have included Lutheran World Relief and ELCA World Hunger. The quilters continue to sew away. Each week in the liturgy we pray for the needs of the world.

And, we also are at an important turning point in the ministry of seeking new, permanent pastoral leadership at Central. The Transition Team is about to complete its work and hand it over to the Call Committee that you will soon elect.  Informational forums about how Central will be described to potential pastoral candidates will be held on 12 and 19 April following the service.  A Call Committee election is coming very soon.

Easter will not be crushed beneath the load of the world’s sorrows and woes. Each day is a day of resurrection and, even when life deals us its worst, the promise abides, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” And, “there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus.”

Our sympathy to Suzy and Sam Lavis and family at the death of Sam’s mother, Darcy. Her funeral will be held on Saturday, 11 April in Spokane.

Our sympathy to Aggie Birklid and family at the death of her son, Curtis, on Easter Sunday. Service information is not yet available.

Our sympathy to the family and friends, and our congregation, at the death of our brother, Steve Olsen, on 8 April. Service will be held here at Central on Saturday, May 16, at 2:00 PM. 

A heartfelt thank you from the family of Mary Beck. 

To the Central Lutheran Congregation and all who helped make our dear mother’s memorial and reception such a huge success, THANK YOU! Pastor Hoffman, Joan Dirska, Dave Finstad, and all the women who baked and helped out at the reception, we couldn’t have done it without you. To mom’s dear friend Jan Ahern and to Debbie Ritchie whose support was endless, we offer our thanks and gratitude. To the members of mom’s beloved church, thank you for attending. You all held a special place in our mother’s heart and now in ours. With gratitude from the Beck Family.

ELCA World Hunger works with and through congregations and other partners to reach communities in need. From health clinics to microloans, water wells to animal husbandry, community meals to advocacy, ELCA World Hunger supports sustainable solutions that get at the root causes of hunger and poverty.

CLICK HERE for more information.

Happy Birthday!

Debbie Ritchie, 4/8
Josephine Davis, 4/10
Tom (Thomas) Dotzauer, 4/11
Faviola (Martha) Dias, 4/15
Carter Haines, 4/15
Janet Loesche, 4/17
Dave (David) Finstad, 4/18
Ben Eastin, 4/22
Katie Eastin, 4/22
Jorge Hernandez, 4/23
Harold Villalba Rueda 4/24

The quilters here at Central Lutheran Church make quilts for people around the world, through Lutheran World Relief.  Click below for more information on how you can help.  

The homeless, under-resourced, or just plain hungry are all welcome! Anyone in need can get a meal at Central Lutheran Church each Sunday night. Sunday Suppers are at 5:00 pm. These meals are provided by volunteers from  different congregations representing a variety of denominations in Snohomish County.

You are invited to serve in this vital ministry. Volunteers can arrive at 4:30 to help with set up and the meal will be served at 5:00. We stop serving meals at 6:00 and usually can be cleaned up and done by 6:30.   As the saying goes, many hands make light work. 

Thank you as always for your support in time, food, and prayers.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. John 20:1

When I ask people how they are, so often they say, “Well, I’m doing ok considering …”

Sometimes they confess to me that the world just feels so dark right now.

And I get it – I can feel this way, too. Sometimes it does seem the shadows are gathering around us and just getting scarier and more menacing and it is hard to see a path forward.

But then I am reminded of the gift of darkness.

We use YouTube to live stream and record our worship services.  In each weekly Worship Invitation email, we include a link  to that Sunday's worship service.  Past worship services can be viewed by going to our YouTube page by searching for "Central Lutheran Church Everett Washington" or by CLICKING HERE.

Church Office Hours are:   Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. 

Pastor Hoffman's Office Hours are:   Sunday-Wednesday

Pastor Hoffman plans to offer his 3/4 time ministry at Central Sunday-Wednesday.

Sundays will include worship and (for now) visits with congregational members.

Mondays and Tuesday will be standard office work days, meaning that he'll be ministering out of the office at Central, but also making homebound, hospital and membership visits.

Wednesdays will normally include Everett Area Pastors' Text Study group and the writing of a sermon and prayers for Sunday worship. If no other appointments are scheduled in Everett, he may work from home while writing.