Redeemer’s First Sunday of the Month Worship
Once a month Redeemer worships in East Falls. Our Ambassadors were happy to be home this week. One of our Ambassadors had just returned from a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, and was brimming with news of her visit to a Missouri Lutheran Church there.
She had been invited to attend a Catholic church with some of her travel companions, but she was determined to visit a Lutheran Church in this old and historic city.
We did the research in advance and found there were only two—one ELCA and one Missouri. Both were quite a distance from the hotel where she was staying.
Two members took her under their wings, invited her to the new member reception, and drove her back to her hotel.
The church gave her a gift of a cross with Luther’s Seal. They had fashioned the nice medallion to sell to raise money for property renovation. They are encouraging others to emulate their successful fundraiser. We are all for congregational entrepreneurship!
Another Ambassador had brought a painting an artist in a previous congregation had given as a gift many years ago. The artist, now deceased, had become quite famous and has works in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Our Ambassador had rich provenance from his personal relationship with this artist and shared many stories. It happened that another Ambassador was planning to attend a social that very afternoon featuring an appraiser from PBS’s Antiques Roadshow. We convinced him to take his “Lutheran” painting for appraisal.
We began worship sharing our week’s activities but soon settled down to hear the message of peace that was the lectionary theme for the day. Peace — that elusive, misunderstood, but welcome Christian concept.
We long for peace that doesn’t dehumanize us. Peace with passion, perhaps. Peace that doesn’t discern victors and victims.
Which brought our Ambassadors to talking about the signs that have gone up around Redeemer this week. The patronizing signs chastise local dog owners who let their pets run freely on the vacant property. I listened for a while as the Ambassadors talked about the desecration of sacred property. I thought they were talking about the dogs desecrating the property, but I soon realized that they considered the heavy-handed signs revealing an attitude of superiority to be the desecration.
Blessed are the peacemakers. Anyone know any peacemakers?
Or is peace one of those concepts Lutherans believe in theory only?
