September 2022 Newsletter
Grace and peace are yours in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Dear Family of God at Grace,
I went back and looked at my September Newsletters for the last 4 or 5 years and every one of them begins with a phrase like, “this month begins all our activities at Grace.” While this is true, I sound like a broken record and I’m stating the obvious. There was one Newsletter where I talked about a hurricane. I certainly hope that I won’t have to talk about hurricanes in any letters this year. I did wake up to a hurricane notification on my phone but fortunately for us it was out in the North Atlantic and no threat to Florida. Okay, enough about that!
This year we will start Conformation and our choirs, Wednesday the 7th. Choristers is at 4:15 PM, Conformation is at 4:30 PM, and Adult Choir 7 PM. Our dinners and Evening Prayer Services will not start until October. Let me repeat that, no dinner or evening services till October. Bell Choir will be at 6 PM on Thursdays starting the 8th. Anyone wishing to sing or play the bells come and join in!
It is always good, but hard to start our activities back up. It takes time to develop the routine! Conformation this year looks like a great class of young people. I have taught Luther’s Small Catechism for almost 30 years and every year we are tweaking how it is taught to try and improve on the retention and growth of our confirmands. This year is no exception. We have some updated technology in the room that will be a benefit, but it all comes down to memorizing those six chief parts of the faith and then grasping and engraining them into the DNA of our young people. Parents, please be supportive and encourage your child. They will be learning the faith that they will cling to for the rest of their lives. That faith bids them to Jesus! He has given them forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation in their baptism. Let’s work together to strengthen The Faith in them so that when they are old, they will never depart from Jesus!
I want to give you an update on our proposed Grace Classical Lutheran Hybrid Homeschool. I spent two days in Leesburg Virginia, just outside of Washington DC, at a conference held by an organization called, the Herzog Foundation. This new foundation is built on the proposition of paying a coach to come along side any organization wishing to start a school and coach them through the process. In our circumstance the Herzog Foundation will find a coach who started a Classical Lutheran Hybrid Homeschool or something as close to that as possible. Then, that coach will help us get our school up and running. The Herzog Foundation covers the cost of the coach. It was very exciting and informative. I believe Herzog will be a great blessing to us in our process of opening Grace School. Much, much more to follow!
Let me catch you up on the office refurbishment. Things are going well, and the offices walls, windows, and new ceiling fans all look fantastic. The flooring will be put down in the next week or two and then the finishing touches. Thank you to our secret interior decorator! Great Job! I would say stop by after the 15th and look at what was done in our offices!
Bob and Gwyn Powers have their house up for sale. We will miss the Powers family! They have been a wonderful blessing to us at Grace. Gwyn is retiring as our Administrative Assistant. There will be a Farewell and Godspeed for them on Sunday September 18th. They may not be leaving so soon but we want to celebrate them and their service! Come say “thank you” in-between the services at the Bible Class. We welcome Denise Canning as our new administrative assistant. She is adjusting well to the craziness that is the office at Grace!
Finally, let me simply remind you about our theme verse so that it will be an encouragement to you. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). Nothing to fear as we walk together in Christ!
In His Service,
Pastor Lingsch