My point is to encourage you to enjoy each season we are in to its fullest. That means take the time to relish all the unique features and aspects of each season, rather than simply check them off the list of holidays to get through until the next one. So, in the next paragraphs I’ll highlight some opportunities to enrich your individual seasonal celebrations in the hope that you will be blessed, specifically by each season. If I might paraphrase, “Let’s remember the reason for each season.”

I look forward to Ian being as minimal as they are forecasting. And I look forward to helping you when an event comes along that allows the church to more broadly serve you in an unexpected time of need.

Our Pumpkin Patch will have pumpkins for sale in October. Consider volunteering to staff our sales table for a couple of hours. It’s a great time to visit with a fellow member (we always have at least 2 on hand), as well as an opportunity to engage our neighbors in friendly conversation.

Our Ministry Expansion Committee has begun their work. Our work in our Sunday Bible study gave them a wealth of ideas to begin with, and I am confident that those will only be the beginning of new opportunities for sharing the Gospel in word and deed. I look forward to their reports to Council and the new ministries that Holy Lamb will undertake in the months to come.

The definition of effective outreach puts it this way:
Effective outreach is the “planting and watering”
cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9) through which a congregation intentionally
engages non-churched people in ways that offer appropriate and
appealing entry points (other than worship services and traditional
Bible studies) that encourage non-churched people to participate in
the Word and Sacrament ministry* of the congregation.

A new roof has just been installed on our entire building. This is, nominally, a 40-year roof, although I have never seen a roof actually last as long as promised. Nevertheless, all of our roof surfaces are now on the same schedule. Unless we have additional storm damage, we should be set for
several decades.

As we conclude our second year of dealing with Covid, it is worth noting how Holy Lamb has responded to this challenge. Here are some of the significant developments driven by our desire to continue an effective ministry in this new environment:

This is an exciting time to be a part of the life and ministry of Holy Lamb. I have never been in a congregation that has made such an intentional effort to identify various needs of congregation and community and then, just as intentionally, seek to discern God’s will in determining how to meet those needs.

What is the purpose of the church?

Why does the church exist?

How can Holy Lamb fulfill the answers to these questions?

Now, as we look to the new year, Holy Lamb has unprecedented opportunities to move forward in ministry as we have never had before, or at least as long as I’ve been here (16+ years).

Our Lord has blessed us with resources of all kinds in the form of a strong and dedicated group of longtime members who have and continue to bless us with their tireless efforts; new members with new ideas and abilities; a financial picture that continues to improve beyond anything we could have imagined 10 years ago; and a site and building more than adequate to expand our ministry activities.