SAINT LUKE'S LUTHERAN CHURCH

401 Scammel Street Marietta, OH 45750 740-373-1716  An ELCA Congregation

  "Embraced by God's love, we connect, worship and serve."

From

the Pastor:

July 2010 Newsletter Article

I write this article within hours of leaving for a week of bicycle riding through south-east Ohio. I’ll be joining my temporary community of 3000+ bicyclists for the week, as we travel close to 400 miles starting in Logan, and making stops in McConnelsville, Marietta, Athens and McArthur. The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure is truly something to behold, as the bicyclists “take-over” the small towns whenever they arrive. A temporary mini-city of tents is erected for one to two days; streets are littered with bicyclists; restaurants are jam-packed; and a party atmosphere ensues. I’m excited to meet fellow cyclists from across the state, as well as from other states as we join together and bond for this great trek through our neck of the woods.

I’m equally excited because many of you will get to share with me in a part of this experience through the two dinners that our congregation is hosting. I’m eager to share my temporary community with you, as I’ve experienced bicyclists to be some of the friendliest people . . . but I’m even more excited to share you, my church community, with them! And I want to thank you, so many of you, for the work that you’ve put forward in making these dinners happen. The amount of people necessary to pull of dinner for 300-400 people not just one night, but two nights, was overwhelming. I’m not certain that we’ve ever been asked to do something on this magnitude before . . . and I’m sure that by the time you’ve read this, we’ll be able to step back from the whole experience and evaluate how we did.

But what I really want to express this month is a word of thanks. Thanks to Becky, Vickie, Joye, and Margene for taking the bull by the horns and running with me on this. Thanks to the many people who worked by donating cookies (100+ dozen cookies and brownies is a lot of dessert!), and homemade noodles (which are heavily labor intensive). Thanks to the many different ministries who volunteered their time and effort to serve and bus tables and refill drinks and collect money and take out the trash and run to MC for ice and set-up and clean-up. Thanks to Jane at Old Towne Bakery for selling us food at cost so we could make some money on this, and to Tim Horton’s for donating some coffee for one of the nights. Thanks to those of you who shared your coolers. Thanks to Jeri, who as church secretary had to feel overwhelmed and confused as everyone called her for all the answers (your efforts are appreciated). And thanks to God, for allowing me to serve and be a part of such a wonderful faith community.

Thanks to all of you for helping to pull this off! I’m so proud to share all of you with my temporary community of GOBA.

You are God’s chosen and special people.

You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation.

God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Now you must tell all the wonderful things he has done.

1 Peter 2:9

Locality, nationality, particularity are essential marks of the universal Church;

The local congregation is the embodiment at a given place and time

Of the Church of all the world.

Alan Richardson