Life Open-hearted

“Ask, and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.  For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.  Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread will give a stone?  Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake?  If you, then, who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?”

                        -- Matthew 7:7-11

            God’s people pray.  Like a newborn infant taking its first breath, when faith is born within us, so is prayer.  Knowing that God is there and that we are God’s, how can our spirit do anything else but reach out to the Lord.  Then why is it that prayer seems so hard for so many?  Why is it so awkward, why a struggle to know how to start?  Why does it so often seem like nothing’s happening, or that our prayers are left unanswered?  Questions arise, like: “Why bother to pray when God already knows everything?” or “God’s going to do what God’s going to do, so what’s the point?”

            Author Henri Nouwen acknowledges that “prayer is no easy matter… 

            …The resistance to praying is like the resistance of tightly clenched fists.  This image shows the tension, the desire to cling tightly to yourself, a greediness which betrays fear.  The story about an old woman brought to a psychiatric center exemplifies an attitude.  She was wild, swinging at everything in sight and scaring everyone so much that the doctors had to take very thing away from her.  But there was one small coin which she gripped in her fist and would not give up.  In fact, it took two men to pry open that squeezed hand.  It was as though she would lose her very self along with the coin.  If they deprived her of that last possession, she would, she would have nothing more, and be nothing more.  That was her fear.  When we are invited to pray we are asked to open our tightly clenched fists and to give up our last coin.  But who wants to do that?

                                                -- Henri Nouwen: With Open Hands

            I’m sure the disciples prayed that Jesus would be saved from the disaster that took place in Jerusalem when He was betrayed, arrested, tried, tortured, humiliated and crucified.  And yet it happened anyway.  But with the empty tomb and the surprising appearance of their Lord among them, it was clear that God had heard their prayers and responded in a way totally unexpected --  totally beyond anything they could have hoped for. 

            Easter is all about building faith, overcoming fear, and unclenching our fists.  The disciples eventually discovered that the empty tomb was a sign of hope, not fear.  As they began to encounter the Risen Jesus, they slowly realized that the pain and struggle of His death was all part of a greater blessing.  As we realize that God is actually present in and around us, working with us and through us and sometimes against us (at least against those things which are trying to keep us bound up), we open up to the life of discipleship.  We become more and more willing to follow Jesus, to trust God, and to pray.

            So welcome to the amazing world of prayer.  Prayer can be conversation, can be words out-loud or internalized, can be silent meditation or contemplation beyond words.  Prayer can be motivated by desperate need, longing and concern, joy and hope, or the simple heartfelt gratitude for the blessing of a single moment.  There are countless ways to pray, all of which lead us towards perceiving the divine aspect of things.  Praying is faith in practice, growing out of our confidence in an unseen God who loves us. 

            This month we are offering a 4-week class called Prayer: Faith in Practice.  If you’d like to get familiar with what prayer is, get a wider perspective on ways to pray, or just become more comfortable with praying (out-loud or otherwise), then this class may be just what you’re looking for.  Please come join us Wednesdays at 7pm, starting April 13. 

            Imagine a marriage where a spouse never communicates with their partner, or a child who never says a word to their parent.  Just as unthinkable is a Christian who doesn’t pray.  Our Living Lord is longing to hear from you.  Take some time today to say “Hello” to God.

Peace,

Pastor Scott

Super-sized Christianity

"Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.  And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

                                                                                                                        --Acts 2:46

            On the show Parks and Recreation, Councilwoman Leslie Knope holds a hearing about the expanding sizes of soft drinks in her town of Pawnee.  It seems the local fast food chain Paunchburger has increased the size of their “small” beverages to a whopping 64 ounces.  Their medium-sized soda went to 128 ounces (most people call it a gallon).  Then, there is the horrifying 512 ounce version they called “child size” (because the gigantic cup is the size of a small child).

            On one of my frequent hospital visits recently, I was talking with the hospital chaplain and telling him about Atonement.  “We are just a small church, but very active,” I told him.  “We have about 250 members on our rolls.”  “Back when I was in seminary,” he told me, “a church with over 200 members wasn’t small.  We called that medium sized.”  As soon as he said that, it reminded me of what I had learned about growing churches over the years and I realized that he was right.  Atonement is growing up.  We’re becoming a medium-sized church.

            Small, medium, large…child sized… what difference does it make?  Those words are not nearly as arbitrary as they seem.  Churches at different sizes really do have different characteristics, different personalities, and they function differently.  One thing people love about small churches is that you can really know everybody.  When there is one service with attendance below 100, you can look around the sanctuary on a Sunday morning and tick off the names of who you know.  If there’s an unfamiliar face, it’s a safe bet they’re a visitor.  When weekly attendance climbs above 100, the percentage of visitors increases.  When there is more than one service, not even the pastor knows every worshipper. 

            Which brings us to some of the big changes churches see happening as they move from small to medium.  As churches grow through this transition the roles of the leaders, particularly the pastor, must transform.  The pastor’s time is inevitably drawn towards new plans and projects, and helping new people take on new roles.  Churches making a successful transition to the medium size find ways to share the ministry of routine calling on members and bringing communion to the homebound.  This is happening at Atonement with our Caring team and trained Eucharistic ministers.  Deacons, council members and other lay leaders also take on more prominent roles.  They may end up leading events and being public representatives of the church in ways that just the pastor would when the church was small.

            The role of the church council of a medium-sized church is different as well.  Council becomes more focused on ministry goals and policy decisions and less on deciding who we call to fix the toilets.  Authority and responsibility is spread increasingly through the congregation to those empowered and entrusted with particular details of parish life.  Council, in turn, works to keep the teams healthy and functioning so that more people can become involved and more ministry can happen.

            Our congregation is changing.  Sometimes we welcome change, sometimes we dread it.  Almost always, change brings some level of discomfort.  We’re regularly dealing with a number of growing pains, including:

 -- not knowing everyone…  It’s exciting to see new faces, but also confusing when you’re not sure who’s a regular and who’s new.  We are currently working on a directory which we will be producing in-house.  This will allow us to have regular updates and produce a more accurate directory with more photos.  This year I have invited various ministry groups to spend a morning with the confirmation class to get to know our youth a little better and to share a little about what they do.  But I hope that every member sees themselves on the front line of greeting and welcoming new members, as well as inviting them to serve.

-- we are tight for space…  For lack of available space, we turned down 3 congregations in the last year who came to us wanting to use our building.  Storage is at a premium. My office and all the rooms in the back have been used to store items used by other ministries.  Some evenings, there are groups in every available room.  It is wonderful that the building is being used so much, but it does put more wear and tear on the building.  We are grateful for the gracious spirit in which people help with clean up and help make room for others who are using the building.

-- we are looking to expand…  A new building will bring us new opportunities, possibilities AND responsibilities.  Many have pointed out that this means we will have more space that will need cleaning, more utilities that will break down, and more upkeep in general.  It will also mean that some of our ministries will be able to function differently.  We know that fellowship and the food pantry will be directly affected – fellowship because we will now be able to have larger meals cooked in a full kitchen; food pantry because they will continue to need designated space to store and distribute their food every week. 

            Paul Bartell has volunteered to help put together a “Master planning team” that will collect and coordinate various other plans for the use of our property.  Areas to be designated for the prayer garden, playground, columbarium (as well as access to it) and other outdoor projects should be identified and marked.  We hope that each ministry will be thinking about how they might need to adapt as we expand our facility, and share that with this group.

-- we have new ministries…  With our new English as a Second Language (ESL) class taking off, men’s and women’s Bible studies up and running, and expanding programs serving all ages, there is a lot going on at this church.  It gets hard to keep up with, so to help us all get a good look at the many ministries that happen here, we are putting together our first Ministry Fair Sunday on April 24.  Each ministry team will put up a display somewhere in the church building, and we will all take some time during worship that day to visit those stations.  We will also be implementing a new feature in the announcements – a “Classified Ad” section for each ministry to share their needs for resources, members, volunteers, etc.

            After the Easter miracle brought the Church to birth, God grew his people and expanded their numbers, growing their hearts along with it.  As we pursue our mission of sharing the love of Jesus, glorifying God and extending His kingdom, we experience the newness of God as the people of Atonement.  Like the early apostles, we recognize that many of the changes we experience are due to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit.  We give thanks for this future God is bringing about, even when it invades our space and messes with our comfort zones.  For years we have been Wesley Chapel’s “small church with a big heart.”  As our membership grows medium-sized, may God also transform our love for Him and for our neighbors, growing our hearts super-sized.

Peace,

Pastor Scott

This Hope Alone

“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.”  -- Isaiah 53:4

             Sometimes you just wonder how people cope.  The kids at the Shriner’s hospital facing risky surgery, the couple who loses their baby, the elderly lady with severe arthritis, the mistreated spouse, the homeless man who lost it all – how do these people face the tremendous troubles of their lives?  Sometimes those who have it the worst seem to be the ones most happy and hopeful.  From where does this strength come?  How do we gain the attitude and the fortitude to face the toughest problems that life throws at us?

            When Martin Luther looked back at the life of Abraham in the Bible, he saw a simple man with a deep and developing faith.  Abraham was blessed with wonderful promises from God, but that didn’t mean his life was easy.  Though he lived in a land that was promised to his descendants by God, Abraham lived there as a stranger and outsider.  He had to deal with family squabbles, famine, testy neighbors, natural disasters, and the unrest and violence of the society in which he lived.  To top it all off, God set before him the most difficult tasks imaginable: to send his firstborn son Ishmael into exile, and to kill his second son Isaac as a sacrifice.
            Reflecting on these incredible trials, which he says are more punishing than any self-inflicted torture of any medieval monk in a monastery, Martin Luther thought of the spiritual struggles that God had put him through in his own life.  He said he was often tempted to look at his own great accomplishments or the things he had done to find comfort for the hard road he travelled.  But it was never enough.  He said:
            I am very frequently troubled by this trial, that I look about for works in which I may be able to put my trust, because I have taught much, have benefitted many, and have borne many more indignities than I deserved.  But I realize that in real conflicts all these are nothing, and I am driven to the well-known confession of David, who said, “Lord I am nothing but a sinner” (cf. Ps. 32:5); and (Ps. 116:11): “I said in my consternation: All men are a vain hope.”; that is, every man who deceives and is deceived is useless.  Likewise (Ps. 143:2): “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant.”
            But I encourage myself with THIS HOPE ALONE, that in the Gospel I see that solace has been promised to the contrite, hope to the despairing, and heaven to those who have been put into hell; and the fact that the Son of God, without our knowledge, offered Himself for us to God the Father, His Father, on the altar of the cross, is sure proof of this hope.
                                     --Lectures on Genesis

             The one hope, the only hope that we can be sure of, comes not from the better days that tower above the bad ones, not from the fruit of our efforts or the tiny triumphs of our labors – our hope lies alone in the love, grace, and mercy of Jesus Christ.  Our Lord brings us pardon, peace, and perseverance in any struggle we’re going through.  Not only does his own life give us clues on how to deal with adversity and trouble, but He himself is the final answer to what we need when we are going through tough times.

           We are taking a whole new approach to our Lenten program this year, with an in-depth look at the spiritual resources God gives us to get through life’s difficulties.  THIS HOPE ALONE: Help in trying times brings us two separate but related worship services for each Wednesday of the Lenten season, as well as Maundy Thursday.  Each of those days, there will be an afternoon prayer service offered at 4pm, as well as the usual service at 7pm.  For the regular Lenten Wednesdays, the 7pm service will use the beautiful Holden Evening Prayer liturgy. 
            This series looks at the trials Jesus faced on the way to the cross in two ways.  At the 4pm service, we will examine an episode from the Passion story in Luke and reflect on the difficulty Jesus faced there.  At the 7pm service, we will look at that theme as it plays out throughout Scripture, and get a picture of some ways God helps us deal with that particular problem.
            Here is the schedule for our special services this Lent, including the preacher for each day, the service themes, and the reading from the Passion story we will be covering:

Ash Wed, 2/10 
Pastor Scott     

4pm     Hope in contention (Luke 22:24-38)

7pm     Help facing adversaries                      

Lent Wed 1, 2/17
Detlev Aeppel 

4pm     Hope when out-of-control (Luke 22:39-53)

7pm     Help facing temptation

Lent Wed 2, 2/24
Jim Turner      

4pm     Hope when abandoned (Luke 22:54-62)

7pm     Help facing loneliness

Lent Wed 3, 3/2 
Marcia Weil 

4pm     Hope when overwhelmed (Luke 22:63-71)

7pm     Help facing challenges

Lent Wed 4, 3/9 
Pastor Scott     

4pm     Hope when frustrated (Luke 23: 1-12)

7pm     Help facing discouragement

Lent Wed 5, 3/16
Rebecca Parker

4pm     Hope when exhausted (Luke 23:13-25)

7pm     Help facing weariness

Maundy Thursday 3/24 
Pastor Scott

4pm     Hope in sorrow (Luke 23:26-43)

7pm     Help facing depression

Good Friday 3/25 
Marcia Weil    

12 noon Stations of the Cross: Hope in pain (Luke 23:44-56)

7pm     Help facing death       

Although many people will choose to come to one or the other of the services, I am hopeful that everyone will find these to be helpful in their own lives.  Who hasn’t been tired, lonely, or sorrowful?  Who has never felt abandoned or confused by overwhelming circumstances?  Not only have we all been there, Jesus has been there too.  He is a Savior not unacquainted with pain and struggle, and we stand on THIS HOPE ALONE.  Come and draw encouragement from His promises, and strength from His presence.

Peace,

Pastor Scott

More than a song

“Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father…”
                                              -                   Ephesians 5:20

Friends of Atonement,

             I admit it – I love music.  This love goes way back – I found an old picture of me about 3 years old wearing my dad’s clunky headphones, listening intensely to some recording, probably on an actual vinyl record.  I’ve always loved hearing different styles of songs and symphonies.  I remember being so amazed at the varieties of sounds produced by voices and instruments and the magical way they fit together to form a piece of music.  Even back then, I was into everything from the Beatles to Gilbert and Sullivan, and after all these years I am still a fan.

            But of all the music in this world, there’s nothing that tugs on my heart strings like good old traditional Christmas carols.  This Christmas season at Atonement, we sang “Silent Night”, “O Holy Night”, “Angels We Have Heard on High”, “What Child is This?”, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, “Joy to the World”, “We Three Kings”, and many others.  These melodies are so familiar, but like the Gospel story itself, they always seem fresh each time we hear them. 

            I’m delighted that Atonement is a place where these old hymns continue to be sung and continue to find a place in our hearts.  Some churches have moved away from traditional church music, and I feel bad for worshippers who rarely hear the classic compositions that have nourished the faith of so many generations.  The songs we sing in worship are more than beautiful melodies, they also contain timeless teachings and lines of devotion that you can take with you and pray during the week.  All you have to do is think of the words to “Amazing Grace” or “How Great Thou Art” and pretty soon you’ll find yourself praying in your heart – addressing God with wonder and gratitude.

            Each season of the church year has its own songs and melodies, its own musical mood.  As the New Year pulls us out of Christmas and into Epiphany, we will be singing some classic songs like “Shall We Gather at the River”, “As the Deer”, “In the Garden”, and “Beautiful Savior.”  There is a certain amount of nostalgia that is stirred up by these songs, but with the memories comes an awareness that the God who is the same through all ages continues to be our guiding light today, and that even the same old song can be made new by the way you sing it.  Like Paul tells us in Ephesians, we are to make melody to the Lord with all our hearts, caught up in our thankfulness to God.

            We at Atonement are so blessed to have excellent musical resources and leadership.  Between Ruby and our choir, the “two Kens” – Ken Hanks our keyboardist and Ken Watts our praise band director, plus the praise band members and various soloists, we are able to present a variety of musical offerings at a level of quality that is surprising to find in a smaller church.  Thanks to your continued faithful giving to God through your tithes and offerings, as well as your strong support of our ministries, we are able to give our paid musicians a well-deserved 2.5% raise this year.

            Giving itself is a kind of praise.  It’s easy to sing God a song, but when we make an offering we’re giving God more than lip-service.  It shows that God really has priority over our lives.  There’s a beautiful song called “Heart of Worship,” which goes:

            I’ll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself

            Is not what you have required
            You search much deeper within through the way things appear
            You’re looking into my heart
             I’m coming back to the heart of worship,
            And it’s all about You – it’s all about You, Jesus

When we give to God, we are responding to the joy he gives us in countless ways.  Singing hymns may take us away to heavenly places, but our giving brings us down to earth where God calls us to share His love with others.

            Thanks again for all you do to praise, serve and share Jesus.  Thanks for the love in your heart, and for giving more than a song to the One who gives us everything. 

Peace,
Pastor Scott

That other commandment...

“The Word became flesh” – John 1:14

             And suddenly a new year is upon us – new goals, new dreams, new plans and expectations…  So many new things before us, but the same old problem: we’re stuck being the same old us.  Same old relatives on your back, same old body full of aches and pains, same old bills coming round every month.  So while we may hope for a better time around this year, we have our secret doubts.

            Doubts are a natural product of our human ability to reason.  Our brains like to analyze, to think through situations, work out probable outcomes and calculate probabilities.  We imagine the worst even while hoping for the best, just to keep from being too devastated by disappointment which might be lurking around the corner.  Doubt is also a product of sin.
            Stephen Colbert recently pointed out that Jesus actually commanded us not to worry.  And it’s true.  “Do not worry,” our Lord tells his audience at the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25).  Do. Not. Worry.  But this is said in the midst of a long speech about God’s wonders, so we treat it more like a casual piece of self-help advice, not like the 10 commandments graven onto stone and handed down to Moses from on high.  Truth is, this is a command from God every bit as divine and important as those top ten – because it’s really just another way of stating commandment #1.
            If you remember those commandments, the first one is the biggie.  It’s the commandment that serves as the bedrock foundation for all the rest: You shall have no other gods.  That’s gods with a small g – little things we worship and obsess over -- things that occupy our minds and fill us with doubt and worry over what big-G God has already said he’s got a handle on.
            So when God tells Abraham that he’s covered, he doesn’t need to worry about who his heir will be for his wife Sarah will have a child in her old age, “Abraham believed God and that faith he had was counted as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).  And when baby Isaac was born, it confirmed to Abraham that God’s Word was more that a prediction or promise – it was a completely trustworthy statement of fact. 
            This is why Luther said that when Isaac was born, God’s Word became flesh.  Although the Bible applies the phrase “Word became flesh” to the birth of Christ, it is really true that when any of God’s promises come about, that Word takes on the flesh of physical reality and becomes visible to all.  What had once been surrounded by worry and doubt now by hindsight becomes a given.
            So this year, let’s put aside our doubts, worries and little-g gods and believe the promise.  The babe in the manger is the Word that has stood from all time, who points us to a future where all sin and sorrow are swallowed up in love and grace.  Instead of pursuing our dreams, let’s go after God’s dream.  Instead of being the same old us, let’s open our lives to be transformed and renewed… re-made from the inside out in the image of the one who came to earth to give himself away. 
            How will Atonement be renewed and revitalized in this new year of 2016?  Oh, we have our plans and ideas for new programs.  We have new staff to hire and new worship services to develop.  But ultimately we’re here to bring about God’s future, not our own.  We begin this new year with God’s Word, living around, in, and among us, working through us and speaking to us.  He has given us a promise: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).  Let us live with complete trust in this promise, and behold the Word made flesh.

Peace,

Pastor Scott

 

2015-2016: A Hope and a promise

“Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham.  He is the father of us all.  As it is written, ‘I have made you father of many nations.’  He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”                                          -- Romans 4:16-17

 

            As followers of Jesus, we carry with us a hope and a promise that are not of this world.  But they are for this world.  The hope is hope in a God who brings life to the dead, restores the broken, heals the sick, makes crooked paths straight and brings even his enemies under the shelter of his wings.  The promise is a promise of a world made new…that one day God’s kingdom will arrive and everyone will finally see that the one God is father of us all. 

            When God told Abraham he would become the father of many nations, Abraham was ninety-nine years old.  It’s hard to imagine a more outrageous idea than this no-count nomad, this elderly man with his elderly wife having a baby and becoming parents to not just tribes and nations, but the world’s great faiths and humanity’s Savior.  If there’s anything crazier than that, it must be the fact that God uses us – you and me – to continue telling that story and to be an important part of sharing his hope and promise to the world.

            The passage above from Romans reminds me of why we come together each year at our annual meeting.  God keeps breathing new life into our struggles and challenges, so we look back over the events of the previous year with hope.  We give thanks to God for what we have accomplished, knowing that it is his goodness and loving-kindness that has enabled us to accomplish it all.  We lean upon God in all our losses, resting in the comforts of his Holy Spirit and receiving the peace that comes from trusting him.  We feel our hope renewed as we consider the things we are working towards, projects still in process, tasks unfinished but unforgotten, and remember that “the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).  After all, if God can grant such great honor to ancient Abraham and Sarah, if he dwells with us and cares for us and even uses us as his hands, feet and heart in the world -- if he is indeed our Lord and head of the Church, then how could we hope for anything better than that?

            But we do.  We long to see that hope poured out into the world.  We long for others to see this God who provides for us all and blesses us all, for them to know Jesus the Son who died for us all.  We are here not just to re-live the past and revisit the previous year, but to envision the new creation that God is bringing about in and among us.  As Abraham lived the promise of God in his life, trusting that God would indeed surround him with family and fortune, his life blossomed with courage, compassion, and generosity.  He knew that “God calls things that are not as though they were,” so even though the blessings had not yet come to be, they were already blessing him because he was living as if they were so. 

            So today, even though it is not yet here, the future God is creating for us comes to bless us as a hope and a promise.  The hope is our vision for a growing church and remarkable ministry.  The promise is that he will be with us always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

 

GROWING IN HOPE

 

            The new year began in the shadow of tragedy, as together we mourned the death of 16 year old Sean Bartell.  Suddenly and unexpectedly, Sean came down with a rare disease at the end of 2014, and died at Tampa General on New Years’ Eve.  A member of Atonement and an enthusiastic volunteer at our Helping Hands food pantry, Sean is survived by parents Paul and Jamie and brother James.  Knowing that we lacked the room here at Atonement, Sean’s funeral was held at the Zephyrhills Assembly of God.  The pastor and members of that church were extraordinarily gracious and helpful.  Wesley Chapel High School placed a memorial plaque for him near their front entrance, and Miss Jan and the Sunday school planted a memorial tree for Sean out in front of the church.  

            The light of hope shines bright as we continue to celebrate Sean’s life and memory.  Along with the Bartells, we brought together a team of people to develop the Sean Bartell Memorial Scholarship.  The first recipient was Megan Sanchez, who, as it turned out, was a good friend of Sean’s.  Next year, the scholarship will be given out to a student from Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, and Wiregrass High Schools.  Passing on these blessings does much to illuminate the promise we share of eternal life with our Lord and our loved ones.

            This year we entered the final year of the Capital Campaign.  The campaign is well past the 2/3 point, as we continue to pray that we will reach our goal of $300,000 by the end of February 2016.  Members have put up substantial amounts as matching challenges, and they were met each time.  As it stands, we have about $50,000 to go in  the next 3 months.  Thanks to all campaign members for their hard work and inspiration, and to team leader Jean Zabel, who will be moving up north before the campaign comes to an end.  She has been a tremendous help in leading the biggest fundraising effort this congregation has ever undertaken.

            And now our building team, with Terry Martin at the head, is working on our biggest building project since the church itself was built.  We have been working towards building a multi-purpose support building that will house new food pantry storage and a full kitchen.   Considerations of sturdier construction along with rapidly increasing construction costs have put the expected cost beyond our campaign goal, but how much more we have yet to see.  At a special congregational meeting in September, the congregation approved the building team to draft engineered plans for a steel construction building.  When those plans are done, we should have a more accurate idea of what the actual costs will be.  At that point, the matter will return to the congregation with recommendations for further approval.  Terry has pointed out to me that he is not a contractor himself, but it is clear that his experience and thoughtfulness are a real gift to Atonement.

            As long as we’re mentioning our biggest projects, we can’t neglect our biggest ministry -- the Helping Hands Food Pantry.  We have experienced great support financially, but also in food donations and volunteers.  The numbers continue to grow, and this year there were major changes in some of our food resources as Feeding America closed down their Land O’Lakes food bank.  As they began shifting over their food delivery methods, they recognized Atonement as a major and reliable point of distribution, and we now have regular weekly deliveries from Feeding America by truck for our own food pantry and for others in our area.  Great thanks go to Carla Haberland, along with Yvette Williams and all the other volunteers who make Helping Hands so much more than just a place where people receive food – it is a place where people find the grace, love and acceptance of Christ.

            A recent Sunday service road trip to join our friends at Rez House mission in Dade City was well received.  Even as much of Jean Jakes’ time has been taken with caring for her mom, the baby showers have been continuing for Rez House.  The WELCA group has helped with them, as well as expanding their ministries and beginning a women’s Bible study based on the national WELCA magazine.  Thanks to Salli Stupp-Conover and her excellent leadership of our Atonement Lutheran Church Women as they continue branching out in new directions. 

            Jan Gerle reports that the extra help she’s been getting with the Sunday school is much appreciated.  She has even been able to have some time off.  This year’s Day Camp VBS was our biggest ever, with over 30 kids registered for the first time.  We had a great team from Luther Springs this year – even though it was their last week and we had more kids than expected, they handled all those kids professionally and compassionately.

            This year, several adult leaders joined our youth on a trip to Detroit to take part in the ELCA’s triennial National Youth Gathering.  Though the number of high school youth is down from previous years, we currently have 8 young people in confirmation.  Youth leader Brenda Lenz had a great idea to bring youth group and confirmation together, and so one Saturday a month we have a combined meeting.  Our confirmation youth are active helping out in worship and special projects, and are reading through the book of Acts this year along with their regular catechism studies.  They have showed an interest in developing an outdoor sanctuary way out in the back of our property.

            Live streaming brought a new dimension to our worship.  Our IT guy, Scott Giesking, hooked us into the net and gave us the capability to broadcast our services live on the website each Sunday.   And it’s not just for shut-ins -- people have watched our services from California, North Dakota, and Mexico. 

            Another new ministry that has received great feedback is the Caring team.  This group, led by Karen Erickson, meets monthly and oversees the health and welfare of our members and others.  Members of the committee have been visiting the sick and shut-ins, along with our newly trained Eucharistic ministers, who bring communion to the hospitalized and homebound.  The entire membership will be receiving phone calls from members of the caring team, who will be asking if there are ways they can help them out, or help them feel more a part of Atonement. 

            Our new praise band director, Ken Watts, is working out very well for our needs.  As leader of the music for our 8:30am service, he brings with him new sounds and songs, new skills and knowledge, and his own unique brand of enthusiasm.  The praise band grew very close to him this year as we followed his discovery of and battle with prostate cancer.  Recent news is that the cancer is undetectable – an answer to our prayers.  The praise band even launched a new Christmas tradition – playing for a 4pm Christmas eve service. 

            Ruby Agnir has shown consistently strong leadership for the choir, with music choices that complement the Sunday messages.  She has gathered many extra musicians and participants for the Christmas cantatas, which are presented at area nursing homes as well as at Atonement.  During Lent, we began a new Good Friday tradition as well – a mid-day service centered on the Stations of the Cross.  Thanks to Marcia Weil and Suzi Morgan for putting this together, and especially Dominick Santoro, the young artist who drew pictures for each station.

            Just recently, Deacon Detlev Aeppel has begun leading a Wednesday night men’s group.  They haven’t picked a name yet, but it doesn’t sound like it will be MELCA…  Anway, the group has been meeting regularly and I’m hearing good feedback, so we will see what develops.

            Another new ministry that is going strong is our Hispanic Outreach team.  Atonement has hosted three different Hispanic congregations over the years, but has never had a program of Hispanic ministry of its own.  Bishop’s assistant Jaime Dubon preached here last July, and met with us at our Glows and Grows to share some ideas about growing our outreach to Hispanics.  Alice Deyne has gathered a group together, and they are exploring the possibilities of offering ESL (English as a second language) classes as a way to begin serving this population.

            With over 9,000 other congregations, we are a part of the largest body of Lutheran churches in the United States -- the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Our Florida-Bahamas synod is divided into smaller groups of churches, called conferences.  We are a part of the Tampa conference of churches, with 11 congregations between Sun City Center and Wesley Chapel.  This February, our Bishop Robert Schaefer called me and asked if I would take on leadership of the conference as our previous conference dean was receiving a call to a church in Orlando.  I accepted, knowing that this is an important time of transition for our conference.  Several of our congregations are looking for pastors and several of my colleagues are retiring soon.  At our Spring Conference Gathering I was elected to a 2-year term as our official conference dean.

            As conference dean, I am in charge of leading regular pastors’ meetings as well as coordinating Spring and Fall Conference Gatherings.  I’m also a representative for the bishop for local concerns.  I have already helped in calling new pastors for Good Shepherd and Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in Tampa, and will continue working with All Saints in Lutz and Christ Our Redeemer in Temple Terrace in their call processes.  It is a busy time, and I thank the leaders and members of Atonement for their support and encouragement as I take on these new challenges. 

            I am also working with our local Lutheran camp, Luther Springs, on implementing their Mission Possible capital campaign in our conference.  Here at Atonement, we hosted training for council visitors who are going to the congregations to tell the story of our camp and explaining the improvements and expansions that are underway.  Two of our members, Brenda Lenz and Detlev Aeppel, are on the team of council visitors for our Tampa conference.  Atonement will be participating in the Mission Possible program later next year, after our own Capital campaign has concluded. 

 

 

A FUTURE OF PROMISE

 

            Looking ahead to the coming year, we have many projects in the works to strengthen our ministries and grow our discipleship.  We have room to grow in many ministry areas.  Our ministry teams are open to new members, and should be actively seeking ways to include new people.  I will soon be meeting with our prayer group to discuss some ways we might widen and stretch our spiritual practices.  One idea I’ve shared, a drive-through prayer chapel, may seem a little offbeat but has the potential to serve some real needs for people who don’t normally have contact with church.  Prayer vigils, healing services, and other ministries are also possibilities.  I’m hoping to work with other groups like fellowship, stewardship, outreach, and social concerns to look at ways we can build on the ministries we have going.

            Our new church directory is in the works.  The designs have been sent in, and we will soon have proofs to review.  In addition to picture directories, the company will publish copies of a ministry guide that we will be providing to new members and people interested in our church.  One great benefit that this new company offers is a downloadable “app” for your smartphone, which will include links to a password protected church directory and other features to keep you connected with what’s happening at Atonement.

            The caring team has also been widening the scope of their ministries.  One of the possible new projects we’re exploring is establishing a grief support group for those who have lost loved ones.  We are also looking at materials that could be distributed to help with this issue.  At some point, we would like to send some members to be trained as Stephen’s Ministers.  These are people who would visit and offer care and support to those with various needs.

            Our office volunteers do amazing work every week, keeping up with all that’s going on and helping coordinate all the many groups that use our building.  Office coordinator Kay Edwards works very hard at keeping things together, and often spends long hours at home to keep up with all the work.  Still, we are finding increasing need for professionally skilled office help – someone who can work with publishing and graphics software, and help coordinate our web and social media presence.  It would also help to have someone in the office on an every-day basis each week. 

            Our plan for the coming year is to begin looking for a part-time office secretary who we can bring on next fall, and hopefully move to full-time in 2017.  Back when we rented our facilities to a local pre-school, we had a part-time paid secretary in the office every day.  When the pre-school left to build their own place, we no longer had funding to pay our secretary’s salary.  We have been looking towards a day when our financial situation would allow us to once again hire an office secretary, and our hope is that they would continue to work hand in hand with office volunteers.  We hope to increase our office productivity without sacrificing the fine hospitality that our volunteers have been able to give.

            We are also hoping to add a paid property maintenance overseer next year.  We are finding that keeping up with the many maintenance tasks at Atonement is increasingly difficult.  As we look forward to a day when we have a new building, we know it will not get any easier.  We are envisioning a person who is at the church a couple of days each week, but also on call for emergencies.  That person would work with the Property maintenance team to manage the general upkeep of our facilities and make sure our site is clean and well maintained inside and out.

            We’ve had conversations off and on the last couple years about starting a Saturday service.  In order to free up time to work on this, I am backing off on my participation in the praise band.  I will still fill in as a back-up and occasionally play along, but am not going to be regularly attending the practices.  This was part of the plan when we hired Ken Watts to lead the group.

            As we go into 2016, we have two big challenges looming before us.  One is finding a way to cover the cost of our new building, along with appliances and furnishing. We expect that the Capital campaign donations will fall short.  We also have been committed to honoring an earlier decision to avoid going for financing.  This leaves us in need of some creative solutions, for which we continue to pray.  The other challenge is the continued care and maintenance of our present building.  Concerns have been expressed about the back side of the church.  We know that critters have found their way into the building, and we sometimes hear them scampering about in the walls and ceiling.  Paul Weil has caught and relocated a few of them, but there are more of them out there.   We expect that hiring the property maintenance overseer will go along way in helping with these issues, but some decisions need to be made.

            We are a growing church in a growing community.  All around us, new homes are being built and new malls are springing up.  The hope and the promise given us by God spur us on to do the best job we can to serve those in need in and around our congregation.  Our hope that God’s grace keeps blessing the world through the power of the Holy Spirit continues to inspire and motivate us.  The promise of Christ’s presence as we follow him in the path of discipleship gives us the strength and stamina for the tasks ahead.  May our good God who gives us so many good things bring his hope and his promise to your heart and home as we prepare to celebrate the birth of his Son, our Savior, Jesus the Christ.

 

Peace,

  

Pastor Scott