In this week's E-Herald edition:

  • Scripture for this upcoming Sunday
  • Stressed Out! an Adult Bible Study
  • Friend Fiesta
  • Youth Music Ministry at the Forum
  • Summer Camp opportunities
  • Pastor Aaron's visit to Holden Village
  • Birthdays for the upcoming week
The gift of new life, of eternal life, is the gift of the risen Christ. It is the promise of Jesus. It was true for Dorcas in Joppa. It was true for those “who have come out of the great ordeal” in the Revelation vision. It is true for us and for all the baptized: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Scripture readings for this Sunday
(click on the link to read):


Mother's Day is This Sunday
A prayer for Mother's Day:

Great God we thank you for creating each mom with a unique combination of gifts and talents. We thank you for the sacrifice of self each mom gives for her children. For the late nights and early mornings given in love.

We pray you give each mom strength. Help her to see in every mundane task the eternal, cosmic significance that you place on motherhood. Help her to understand that the most radical, world-changing events may be happening anonymously in her home.

We ask you to be the daily bread of tired mothers. We ask you to be their living water. We ask you to be their source of spiritual and physical strength.

We remember before you those mothers who are not with us physically. We thank you for the gift of remembering them and for those ways they still live on in us.

Lord, on this day in which we honor mothers, may we love and cherish the special women who have born us, who have nurtured us, and who have prayed for our well-being. May our hearts overflow with gratitude to you, who formed and knitted each of us in a mother’s womb. Amen.
Information Changes
If you have moved, changed phone numbers, had a child, or haven't filled out the church office membership form, please fill out the following form and forward to the church office. The information may also be filled out on our database, ICON system at Advent's WebPage Link
Online Giving Option Now Available at AdventELC.org
AdventELC relies on donations from members and friends in order to carry out our worship, ministry, and outreach.
Provide ongoing support

Join in a faithful, ongoing commitment to the work of this congregation through your offering. A recurring gift to AdventELC will allow us to continue to advance the work we are called to do as members of the body of Christ. It’s convenient, it’s simple and it makes a big impact on the mission and ministry of this congregation.
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Please consider a one time, weekly, or monthly gift that will help us to provide essential ministries to this family of faith and to our neighbors.
Advent Trip to Holy Land
March 17-26, 2020
Pastor Aaron invites you to journey to the Holy Land for the spiritual experience of a lifetime, where every page of the Bible comes alive! Walk where Jesus walked... sail on the Sea of Galilee... visit Capernaum and the Mount of Beatitudes, site of the “Sermon on the Mount” and where Jesus chose his Twelve Apostles...climb the Mount of Olives and view the Old City of Jerusalem... walk the Via Dolorosa...pray in the Garden of Gethsemane...see the Upper Room, traditional site of the Last Supper…visit Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity.

Click on the button below to see the p roposed itinerary, cost, and other details!
Miss a Sermon?
Want to hear one again or share it with someone else?
We are posting sermons from the past Sunday on our website. To hear past sermons or to share them with others go to the link below.

AdventELC has a ministry focused on praying for you in situations and times of need. If you would like us to pray for you, tell us your need or situation by submitting a prayer request.
If you are having an upcoming procedure please let us know so that we can pray for you.
Did you know that Pastor Aaron would love to come and pray with you before your procedure? Click below to let us know!
STRESSED OUT! an Adult Bible Study
Everyone experiences some kind of stress, and it’s impossible to get rid of all stress. For some, stress can even be motivational. The word stress does not occur in the Bible, but distress, distressed, distresses, and distressing occur in the NIV 111 times. So clearly the Bible has a lot to say about this human phenomenon.

Join us for a time of rest and reflection from 10-10:45am in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday mornings as Pastor Aaron walks us through the causes of stress and what the Bible and our faith has ways to help.

Youth & Family Corner
Youth Music Ministry at Forum
Thursday night the Advent Angels and Youth Choir alongside individual instrumentalists offered up ministry of music to a room full of residents at the Forum at Knightsbridge on Henderson Road.
Thanks to Jean Pontius and Holly Cronau for their direction as well as all of the parents who brought their children for a wonderfully inspirational evening of music!

Last Sunday our 6-12th grade youth had a friend fiesta!

With a piñata, 9 Square in the Air, kickball, sombrero relay race, and Taco Bell, it was a night not to be missed!
On Sunday, May 19 we are asking all willing and able youth and parents to come help get Advent's back yard and brush ready for the summer.
Bring your work gloves and meet us at 5:30-7:30p.
We'll have a bonfire with hotdogs and marshmallows as we start the evening!
Each year we invite everyone to consider going to camp!

For youth K-12 our home camp is Lutheran Memorial Camp (LMC) which is located about 45 min north of Columbus, near Mt. Gilead.

At LMC you can explore woodlands, Alum Creek, ponds and numerous nature trails throughout 400 acres at LMC. There are two retreat facilities, 15 cabins, full food service, swimming pool, outdoor chapel, Low ropes challenge course, Hiking trails, and Bible Study!

Are you an single adult or a family looking for a place apart to disconnect from the world and reconnect with God and loved ones? Family Camp at Camp Luther is a great way to do just that!

Camp Luther is located on 66 wooded acres along the shores of Lake Erie, provides a stunning view with sensational sunsets. There are 35 cabins with restroom facilities, full food service, swimming pool, outdoor chapel, indoor chapel, and hiking trails. In fact, our very own Pastor Aaron Layne will be the chaplin of the camp July 7-13!


CONFIRMATION YOUTH --- Remember you MUST go to camp at least 2 out of the 3 years of our program. We are going to camp June 9-14 at LMC. Register up TODAY by clicking on the button below.
Coming Soon to AdventELC
Special Recognition
On Sunday, May 19, we will be having a special time of Recognition. Our 3rd Graders will receive their Bibles in a tradition that Advent has participated.

Also, being recognized will be the Sunday School Teachers. Be sure to thank them for their hard work and dedication during this past year.

We have several young people that will be High School Graduates. Wish them luck in their future endeavors.
Music Appreciation Sunday
On Sunday, June 9, help us show thanks for the Music Department on Music Appreciation Sunday. Please join us for a reception after both services.
SAVE THE DATE!

Our Vacation Bible School is
July 22 – 26, from 9:00am - 11:30am for children 3 years old (potty trained) - 5th grade.

More information to come!
Pastor Aaron Returns from Holden Village
The Gravity of Grace
by Pastor Aaron Layne

Holden Village , a year round camp and retreat center in the State of Washington, has a full time school that is certified K-12. Currently there are 5 students total in those grade levels, all elementary.

As part of their studies they were learning about and writing Haiku poems, a short Japanese poem used to evoke images and has a traditional flow of syllables in the 5-7-5 form. Each student at a meal came to the announcement microphone for the all
the dinning hall to hear their haikus. It was so wonderful that the adults began to join in the fun as well by writing and reciting their haikus on various subjects from personal reflections to facts about sloths.

While I did not perform this in public, it seemed fitting to write a haiku to try to sum up my time in Holden Village: Beautiful high mounts, Snow melts and clear water flows, Gravity of Grace.

Camps around the ELCA are designed to be a place apart: a place to disconnect from the world, reconnect with God, and take your new awareness of God back into the world. That was my purpose as I went to Holden Village from April 30-May 4 with your help and through a Partners In Ministry grant from Holden Village.

What is Holden Village?
Over the course of 50 years, Holden Village is a place apart that has been transformed from a copper mining town to a vibrant place of education, programming, and worship. Holden invites people of all ages to come and experience their rhythms, which inspire and equip travelers for a sustainable life of faith outside the Village.
The Journey is worth taking
It is said that life is about the journey, not the destination. Well, I can honestly say that it was a journey to get to my destination.

Holden Village is located in north central Washington in a remote wilderness area. The valley is remote, and the community is intimate as there are no roads that directly connect to the Village. 

Travel to Holden took a jet plane to Seattle, Washington, a prop plane to Wenatchee, WA, a one-hour cab ride to Chelan, WA, then a scenic two-to-four-hour boat ride on Lake Chelan (a "must do" trip according to National Geographic). Once the boat comes to dock at Lucerne, you form a human luggage and supply line to fill the converted school bus which you then board and take an 11-mile ride (40 minutes) which completes the journey to the Village.
What did I do at Holden?
What did I do and how I did it are juxtaposed together. Holden is in such a remote location that it makes it impossible to get an internet or cell phone signal. Only satellite phones can penetrate this fortress of solitude and those are only used in emergencies. During the off peak season, which it was while I was there, there is no meat in the meals and the only caffine to speak of is that which you brought or in the coffee or tea provided (I didn't know we could bring pop with us). So what in the world does Pastor Aaron do with no caffeine and no connection to the rest of the world? Rest. Read. Relate. Renew. Repeat.

I was able to read my Bible, worship every day, find a holy spot to be still and talk with God. I was also reading two books other than the Bible while there, Giving Blood by Leonard Sweet and Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren. Both are good books that I hope to finish by the end of the month.

I also related to many of the other ~80 people at the village, especially the musician in residence, another photographer, and the Pastor to the Village. There were also two pastors from Tanzania giving a presentation on life and ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. One pastor's name was Moses so we teased each other back in forth that we were really brothers (Moses and Aaron were brothers, see Exodus 7:1).
Every evening at Holden there is worship. Two highlights included singing the Holden Evening Prayer liturgy (see the worship space and hear a service from Holden Village here) and being invited to play percussion for a worship service on Thursday night.

In my time at Holden as I gazed upon the mountains, trees, and streams the gravity of grace became a reality for me in a new way. I have done nothing to earn God's blessing or favor. But as I gazed upon those mountains I saw God's love sown into the fabric of life and nature: snow falls, snow melts providing flowing, clean water, and then gravity brings flowing blessing to us... who have done nothing to deserve it. This is a source for life. This is baptism. This is the gravity of grace.

There is much more I can share with you if you would like to have a personal conversation with me. Thank you all for your support in allowing me to have an extraordinary week at this extraordinary place. Special thanks to our staff and Pastor Chris Adams of North Community Lutheran Church for covering pastoral emergencies while I was out of contact.

I know that it is a special thing to be able to get away for moments like this. It is my hope that AdventELC can be and is a place apart for you to find moments in your week to rest, read, relate, renew, repeat as we are active in our mission together of worshipping God, following Jesus, serving others, and making disciples.