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Special Edition

Angelos

JUNE/JULY 2020

"I have no idea what I am doing. But incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm."

Woody Allen

It has been 3 months since we last worshipped together on March 8. We missed Lent together, Holy Week and Easter together, Compassion week together, the youth talent show together, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday together. It was winter when we last met together . . . this coming weekend is the start of summer! We missed a whole season!

Officially (and precariously!) we are in ‘Phase 2’ of the governor’s reopening plan. There are 16 bullet points of instructions for religious and faith-based organizations that describe what Phase 2 looks like. Some of the most important features include: - We can worship outside with no more than 100 people in attendance, and inside with no more than 50. - Whether outside or in all attenders and staff must be masked and keep 6 ft. of social distance. - Social distances need to be clearly marked out with markings on the floor and seats. - Only one access entrance can be used, all others must remain locked. - No more than 2 persons can be in a restroom at the same time, access must be controlled and social distancing maintained. - No choirs are permitted, and any singing done must happen with masks being worn. - After each use of a space all surfaces are required to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. - Anything to be consumed (think, communion) can’t be presented from a communal container or plate. Any failure to follow these regulations can mean the church will be closed until compliance can be guaranteed.

So, as a staff we are thinking about what this means for us in terms of reopening. Believe me when I tell you we are all tired of ‘live-stream’ worship, never seeing anyone except fellow staff people (we do like each other but even here there’s a limit!), and sharing the peace of the Lord ‘virtually’ (I’m beginning to think of the word ‘virtual’ as meaning something like “nothing like the real thing, a cheap imitation, a last resort”). Enough of my rant!

We’re Not Sure What to Do But We’re Doing It Enthusiastically!

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Right now we are following up on that survey many of you did. About 80 of you said you were ready and wanting to meet in a small group. That will be step 1 for our reopening. I believe it’s a great first step because it puts us in face-to-face contact with each other. Even when that face is 6 feet away it’s at least a real face! The next step will happen in July. We’ll begin opening our sanctuary several times a week for people simply to be in the sanctuary and pray or sit quietly. We have heard that many of you wish just to be here and that will start to happen in July (although some small groups will happen before that both at Christ Lutheran and in homes). We’ll offer a number of times in which you can come and enjoy God’s presence in the sanctuary. There will probably be a sign-up requirement since the number of people who can be together is limited. More details will follow. And then worship . . . this is the hardest piece. Whatever we do with worship will have to take into account that livestreaming will continue to happen. We already know that at least some people will not come back until there is a vaccine to prevent you from getting the virus or a medication that can be given if you are sick. Livestreaming will be a permanent way that at least some of Christ Lutheran will access worship. Then we also have to consider how many people our sanctuary can accommodate with 6 foot social distancing requirements (consider this isn’t only people 6 feet away from you to the side but also in front and behind you). This will also mean some kind of signing up to come to worship. Then how to accommodate visitors who might not know about our signing up requirements (we want to be sure that we don’t turn into the Club Christ Lutheran during this time!). And our musicians weren’t hired to do however many services we might need to accommodate 50 people at a time. I hope you can see how complicated this all is and how what to do next isn’t as easy as just reopening. We’ve noticed that some churches, as they open, don’t adhere to all guidelines. This is not an option for us. Regardless of how we feel about those guidelines we are committed to following them.

But still, we can’t go on like this forever. We’re thinking that if all things continue on the current course we will begin in-house worship again in August. I’m pretty certain it won’t be the way it was in March when we stopped, but it will be a step forward from where we are now. And whatever that looks like it will probably be the way we enter the fall and it will include some kind of livestream as well. I like words and among my favorite bible words is the Greek word hypomeno,

literally ‘to remain under,’ or, to persevere. “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us . . .” (Hebrews 12:1). The corona virus, which we hoped would be a sprint, is clearly now a marathon. I believe we are ready to run it, to persevere in the midst of circumstances that are less than the best. Like my opening Woody Allen quote, I’m not altogether sure of how best to proceed but I am ready to proceed with enthusiasm! Let us run with perseverance, and be amazed at all that God can do in the midst of this!

Your fellow (sometimes discouraged, usually enthused!) runner,

Pastor Ralf

Candles & Prayer

We had our first Candles & Prayer on June 8th with Pastor Andre Winston and Pastor Ralf. If you did not have a chance to watch it, you can go to our YouTube page. We will continue to have this event on a monthly basis.

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We are moving full steam ahead with Christ Lutheran’s VBS this summer, it will just look different than before! All aboard July 13-16th as we fill up the back parking lot with Rocky Railway Family VBS games, crafts, Bible stories, snacks and music. We have about 65 kids, along with their families, registered so far. If you would like to learn more about it, go to Christ Lutheran’s website and click on Vacation Bible School under the Children and Families tab.

We have several ways that you can help us make this an amazing time for families in our church and in the community. Please be on the lookout for an email coming in the next week to sign up to help with decorations and to donate snacks and craft supplies. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email me.

Sarah Children's Ministry Director

Intergenerational Summer Book Event:

This summer we will have the opportunity to “meet” for a Book Reading and Action Event. This will be open to all families and individuals at Christ Lutheran, any age! Each event we will read a book over zoom, then as a group discuss an action that we can do as a group or as families/individuals from what we learned from the book. Dates and times for each book event are coming soon – all taking place after VBS in July. More information coming!

Children & Family

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June 7 we got to celebrate 11 of our seniors outside in the back parking lot. This as you know was not our normal way of honoring our high school seniors. Thanks to all of you we were not only able to bless this seniors and their families with quilts and a catered lunch but, they where all happy and surprised by the parade and cards/gifts you lavished on them. This group of seniors were so grateful for the outpouring of love and support. This made them feel like a little normalcy in a graduation year that has been flipped upside down on them.

Thanks again for bringing joy to all the families with seniors. To all those who helped deliver food and party supplies to the grads for compassion weekend. Thanks to all those who bought pizza for the grads and those who got food for the senior service lunch. Those of you who wrote letters and sent cards, thank you and for those who did things that no one else knows about THANK YOU. Thank you to everyone who participated in the drive thru. This will be a memory they will not forget.

Matthew Fulcher Youth Director

Youth & Young Adult

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Preschool Our pre-K and preschool classes officially ended on June 5 with a virtual graduation for our 24 pre-K students! You can go to the Christ Lutheran Lakewood YouTube to view it if you would like! We are grateful for the many people who came together to make this wonderful event happen!

Although we don’t know exactly what next school year will look like, it is our hope that preschool will be up and running as usual! Currently our morning pre-K class is full and we have a wait list to hopefully establish an afternoon class. We do still have openings in our junior class (3 year olds).

Blessings Michele Green

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The Latchkey program has been keeping busy finishing online school and having socially distanced fun. We have studied the life cycle of a chick from egg to 3 weeks. Our children did daily observations and journaled their findings. We have loved our chicks and will miss them as they transition back to the farm. We also had weekly Wednesday Chapel time with Pastor Ralf, planted vegetable gardens, watched cocoons turn into butterflies, had visits from Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Cinderella, and Belle. If you add in lots of water fun, STEM activities, art and imaginative play, you have summed up our last few months perfectly. Our Luau Promotion Ceremony was the perfect ending to a unique school year. I am very grateful to have this opportunity to serve you and your children in the role of assistant director of our Christ Lutheran Latchkey Program. I believe in the Latchkey Family Philosophy (Every child was created by God and deserves to feel safe, to feel loved, to feel cherished and to be respected) and will continue to lead with this as my model. We are still accepting applications for our summer program called “Camp Latchkey”. Please feel free to call me if you are interested at 253-820-2268.

Heather Sarin Assistant Director

Latchkey

May Estimated Offering and Expense Report YTD Offerings 312,703

YTD Reimbursable Receipts (Book Fees, Events, Reg.) 27,756

Estimated Income for 2020 340,459

Est. Expenses for Salaries, Utilities & Programs (348,521)

Building Fund Transfer 8,062

Ending Balance for May, 31, 2020 0

Money Matters

With Thanks

I wanted to extend my thanks to the 30 volun-teers who helped me carry out my God in-spired idea to keep our members connected during the social isolation of COVID. Hopefully, you received a call or calls from another mem-ber who checked up on you, asked what your needs might be and communicated some church news. This isolation has lasted much longer then my volunteers could have antici-pated…a marathon rather than a sprint…I think most of us have traveled both the heights and depths during this time and it makes me so thankful for these callers. Be well, my friends. I hope we will be seeing each other soon!

You are the Light!

Kristin Moultine

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We made 218 masks! They were divided among and delivered to: The Steilacoom Food Pantry, Nativity House, Catholic Community Services, Network Tacoma, and The Tacoma Rescue Mission.

A Compassion Week Recap. In the following pages you will find a brief recap of compassion week. Together we can help our community and beyond, even from home.

Yards of fabric was washed and ironed for Days for Girls.

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Compassion Week Recap. Over 270 Sack lunches were made for Nativity House.

25 Flower pot were decorated and planted and delivered to our home bound members, and members in assisted living.

We put together Grad night party in a bag for each graduating senior.

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Compassion Week Recap.

Cards for our healthcare works, deployed military, shut-ins, and an anonymous donor. Over 15 baskets were delivered to local hospitals and care homes to thank those that work with those that are the most vulnerable during this time.

Lots of books for the little lending library that Rylie and Sierra built for our new play ground out back.

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6th Grade Rocks made over $3900 in noisy change!

Compassion Week Recap.

Food and other supplies for the Tillicum foodbank. It took five trips to deliver it all!

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Planters and plants for our Latchkey program, to be able to grow their own garden.

We gave instant pots, ingredients for 3 meals, desserts, and special kitchen items, plus a kids bag with big mugs and ingredients to make 3 recipes “in a mug” to 6 families.

Compassion Week Recap.

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Christ Lutheran Church

8211 112th St SW

Lakewood WA 98498

Ralf Kalms - Pastor prralf@clc-lakewood.org home 253.588.1549

Lyndi Reed - Parish Administrator lreed@clc-lakewood.org

Matthew Fulcher - Youth Director mfulcher@clc-lakewood.org

Sarah McGhinnis - children’s/family ministry director smcghinnis@clc-lakewood.org

Evin Lambert - Music Director elambert@clc-lakewood.org

Amy Boers - Music & Worship Leader aboers@clc-lakewood.org

Tracy Perry - Joyful Noise tperry@clc-lakewood.org

Aubrie Fulcher - Parish Secretary (M-TH) Michelle Kuhlmann—Parish Secretary (F) secretary@clc-lakewood.org

Lark Moore - Financial Coordinator lmoore@clc-lakewood.org

Michele Green - Preschool Director mgreen@clc-lakewood.org

ELCA Synod 253.535.8300 swwsynod@plu.edu

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