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I am writing this article just days after my return to worship leadership following my shoulder surgery. While mentally I was ready to return, my shoulder tells me to make sure I pace myself during the next few months of recovery. That pace is going vary.  Sometimes the pace will be slow. Other times the pace will feel fast.

This month of March is filled with changes of pace as we worship God. We begin with the pace of Lent. Then when we get to Passion/Palm Sunday, the pace of Holy Week increases and becomes more intense as we approach Good Friday.  We end this month with the great celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord, with an entire new pace and an entire new outlook on our future.

Our worship during this month requires our attendance so that God may be served, and we share as a community in the central story of what makes us Christian. As you mark the dates of our worship, be sure that you reach out and invite other people to join you in these most holy days of the year. Our service to Jesus in word and deed includes our faithful ability to reach out, invite, and participate in God’s world of love, mercy and grace. I look forward to joining with you in this unique mission of Christian service.

 

Clifton D. Eshbach,

Pastor

 

Maundy Thursday –March 24^th at 7:00 pm:   This is the day when Christians remember the Last Supper.  At the close of the service the altar and the sanctuary will be stripped in preparation for Good Friday

Good Friday-March 25^th at 12:00 noon and 7:00 pm: This is the day when Christians around the world commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ

Easter Vigil – March 26^th at 7:00 pm at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Millersville: This service is sometimes referred to as the Paschal Vigil and is celebrated the evening before Easter Sunday.  It is considered to be the first service of Easter.

Easter Sunday – March 27^th at 9:30 am:  This is the day that we as Christians celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Holy Spirit’s Book Club will be meeting on Tuesday, April 5, at 7 pm in the Spirit Center.  We will be reading and discussing, “The Nightingale”. The author is Kristin Hannah.  Do come and enjoy the discussion and fellowship!  If you have any questions please contact Sandra Kleckner or Linda Schmitt.

 

 

Our new signs are now installed and lighting up Columbia Ave. We are thankful for the grant from the Willis and Elsie Shank Foundation which provided the funding for this project.

I’m not a “Church Hopper” but in the spring and summer of 2009 I found myself looking for a new church to worship in. My knees and legs were deteriorating too much to be able to handle all of the steps in the beautiful old church where I had been a member for thirty five years.

My plan was to visit other churches in the area to see what was out there. One of my early visits was to Holy Spirit Lutheran Church on Columbia Avenue. It was the only one I returned to multiple times. I was impressed by the fact that, not only was I greeted there but that some of the people actually remembered my name on subsequent visits! This was most unusual and although I had told the pastor that I did not plan to join the church, I did join later that year, a decision I have never regretted. I became involved in the various programs of the church something that I would suggested for every member. There are various small groups. i.e. Bible Studies, a book group, the prayer shawl knitting group, the quilting group, the prayer chain, the choir, greeters, and ushers to name a few. Each one is a way of knowing your neighbor and of being God’s hands.

I have felt as time went, by that my move was an answer to prayer and not just a whim of my own. I could never have foreseen how fortunate I would be to be a part of this congregation and the physical and spiritual care I have received here since my subsequent surgery and recovery.

Now six years later I thank this congregation and God for my many blessings and pray that I can be as warm and giving to others as others have been to me, that together we can be led by the Spirit. About which St. Paul wrote “Gifts of the Spirit are love, joy , peace long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, and faint…” Galatians 5:22

If you are not involved in the various activities and opportunities for service and fellowship which are part of this congregation I urge you to “try it you’ll like it”