It's been another heartbreaking weekend of watching Hurricane Irma tip people's worlds upside down, both figuratively and in the concrete destruction of homes and communities. Our Hunger Jar offerings in September will be sent on to Lutheran Disaster Relief to assist victims caught in these horrific storms. Please keep these people in your prayers.  

 

Our financial numbers have reflected our recent worship attendance, which has been down. I want everyone to know how important it is for members to keep up their attendance and their offerings as we anticipate this time of transition. This would be a great time to consider an extra financial gift to the General Fund!  

 

I got a chance to spend Saturday morning at the United Food Bank with members from Spirit of Hope, Spirit of Joy and Our Savior's Lutheran Church as we packed hundreds of boxes of food for the needy. This was one of the options for God's Work. Our Hands. Weekend. If you have never done this, I would highly recommend it. It's fun, relatively easy and for a good cause. It was also a treat to join with neighboring churches on Sunday to share some ice cream and again to thank God for the opportunity to serve God's creation. I always walk away from events like this thanking God for gifted leaders like our own Tina Gilson who teamed with others to pull this event off.  

 

Last Sunday I thanked our fill-in pianist Topher Keene for helping us out after our regular pianist Michael Snyder accepted a full time position in McAllen, TX. You will be seeing some new faces at the piano in the coming weeks as we search for a permanent replacement for Michael. Please keep this search in your prayers.

 

We are still looking for RSVP's for the 10th Anniversary of our building celebration on October 1st so enough food is ordered. You have until this Friday, September 15th to RSVP for this event. Remember that on Sunday, October 1st, we will have only one worship service at 10:15 a.m. with the lunch and program to follow as we Look At What God Has Done.  We will review the start of Spirit of Hope when this congregation was merely a dream by the leaders of Our Savior's Lutheran Church nearly 20 years ago. It will be a day of pictures, memories, and thanksgiving! 

Please don't forget the SOH Blood Drive on September 24th from 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. You can sign-up online or in the Narthex! 

I want to introduce you to our new Nursery Assistants - Marina Arredondo who joined us back in July and Allyson (Ally) Gallagher who joined us in September. One of our members Faith Meyer, left a wonderful note on the back of her Connection Card this past weekend that said "The women in the nursery are amazing. Best we've had in years. They are so kind, caring and play with the kids." We are blessed to have added Marina & Ally to our amazing staff here at SOH. In the coming weeks, you'll see Marina and Ally added to the staff page on our website, where you can learn more about them. 

Marina Arredondo

Ally Gallagher

While I'm on the topic of the nursery, I couldn't resist sharing this sweet photo of member Michael Stark rocking one of the babies in the nursery this past weekend. While the photo was taken through glass, it was too precious of a moment to miss capturing! Thank you to Michael and the others who have volunteered to rock babies in the nursery. We are in need of 2 more volunteers interested in rocking babies during the 10:15 a.m. service. If this is your calling, please let Youth Minister Rusty Shaffer know.

Last weekend our sermon text had Jesus giving his disciples some tips on how to deal with conflict. Jesus said that if someone sins against you, go in private and confront that person with their sin. If they listen, you will have gained a brother or sister. Conflict is not an option, but Jesus offers us a way to deal with it where relationships can be restored.  

 

Peace & love,

Pastor Glen