What a weekend! This past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were loaded with congregational goodness and you were part of it!

Friday night, busy teens took time out of their late-August days for a Sr. High Lock-in. Twenty of us spent the night playing wacky games, studying the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), worshipping around the campfire, and snacking and munching our way through the night. What an excellent way to kick off the Fall!

Saturday morning brought set-up crews for Summerfest and the continuing work of preparing the Preschool classrooms that will soon be bustling with children and their families – 104 kids at last count are signed up for the 2017-2018 school year! Wow!

When Sunday came around, we gathered for one celebratory worship together with our seminarian Corey Wagonfield, who shared snacks with everyone during the Children’s message preached. Little Annabelle Potter had a bundle of family to surround her for her baptism and welcome her as a child of God.

Following worship, we shared a massive potluck of BBQ pork (thanks to Phil Panning and John Morrell for providing the meat), macaroni and cheese, side dishes, salads, and sweet treats, before enjoying an afternoon of field games and bingo, colorful face painting, target practice with the dunk tank, and creativity at the tie dye table.

Big thanks to all who planned, set up, cleaned up, led, and participated in any of these events. You can view photos from these events on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LordofLifeWestChester​​) and in our upcoming printed Lifeline newsletter.

Our theme for this year of worship, learning, and serving moments is “God Blesses the World through Lord of Life.” We are blessed when God meets us in times of worship, education, and fellowship. God uses us to be a blessing as we are sent into our neighborhoods for living, school, work, recreation, and service. Our dollars and other gifts are a blessing as God uses them to impact churches and communities around the globe.

We want to hear your stories. Tell us how you’ve seen this in your life or the lives of others. How have you witnessed God blessing the world through Lord of Life?

Introducing...

“Blessings in the Bug.”

For the next month, a 1974 yellow VW Bug will be our mobile recording studio, ready to capture your reflections.

It’s as easy as 1,2,3:

1. Think of a Blessing.

“How have you been blessed by Lord of Life?”

or

“How have you seen Lord of Life be a blessing?”

2. Climb in the VW Bug.

3. Record your blessing.

Use your phone or the provided ipad to record: introduce yourself and then give a 1 minute reflection in the VW Studio. If you use your own device, please upload it to YouTube and send a link to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

You can also record elsewhere and send it to us.

Psalm 71:15 says, “I will tell of your goodness; all day long I will speak of your salvation, though it is more than I can understand.” Thanks for helping us name and celebrate how “God Blesses the World through Lord of Life.” We’ll let you know in the coming weeks how we’ll share these encouraging stories of faith and hope.

Wishing you peace.

Pastor Lowell

Last week, I attended the inaugural ELCA Rostered Minister’s Gathering in Atlanta, where 900 pastors and deacons assembled for a week of worship, lectures, workshops, service projects, and fellowship. There were congregational leaders, military, hospital, and prison chaplains, campus pastors and seminary professors, and interim and retired ministers, as well as regional and churchwide staff. The event was promoted as a time to be encouraged, challenged, and renewed as leaders in the church, and did not disappoint.

Encouraged.
Each day, I had opportunities to reconnect with friends from around the country and meet new friends and colleagues as we shared the joys and struggles of ministry. Bible study leaders led us into the rich story of Jesus meeting the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24), with comparisons to this chaotic season filled with death and resurrection moments. Our own Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton confronted the rumors that Christianity is dying, with a bold response, “The Church of Jesus Christ is not dying, but changing!” She continued by sharing stories of how God is using people, congregations, and ministry organizations in new and creative ways to share hope with the world. God is doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:19).

Challenged.
There were many good moments of challenge, too. Presiding Bishop Eaton, in her opening remarks, reminded us, that ministry can be overwhelming and we can lose focus. “As leaders, you need to love Jesus because Jesus loves you... then, you need to love your people!”

Rev. Ronald Bonner, in his workshop Racism and the Church: No Bigotry Allowed, argued, “If you can fix the heart, you can fix the other part... Racism will end when white people stop accepting racism as normative.” As we spoke candidly about our own biases and histories, none of us could have imagined the events that would unfold in Charlottesville by the end of the week.

Rev. Dr. James Forbes, Jr., Senior Pastor of Riverside Baptist Church and professor at Union Theological Seminary (both in New York City), preached on Romans 12, saying, “the invitation to offer our lives as living sacrifices is not a graveyard death, but an invitation to die to our priorities, die to our selfish agendas, die to our fear, and say ‘My life is in your hands, Lord.’”

Renewed.
Just before we went on our separate directions, popular speaker and writer, Rachel Held Evans, spoke pointedly about the ways we beat ourselves up as people of faith for not being and doing enough for the sake of Christ. She said, “Our insufficiencies are the point. Death is something empires worry about, not resurrection people. We need to let [things] die! We win with surrender. We have a God who knows the way out of the grave.” Although Easter is a long way off, promises of resurrection fuel us, today.

I was also renewed by being part of the musical team for worship and other events throughout the week.

Thank you for valuing continuing education and professional development. This gathering was a tremendous boost. The introductory words proclaimed, “We are a church that believes God is calling us into the world – together. Together, we can achieve things on a scale and scope we could never do otherwise. As we continue to deepen our ecumenical partnerships, confront racism and boldly respond to the needs of the world, this gathering provides the opportunity for leaders to gather and explore what God has in store for us.”

Always being renewed,

Pastor Lowell

For more about this event and to view a photo gallery, https://www.livinglutheran.org/2017/08/25087/

Smack! The door slammed shut in front of me. I may have been a few feet from entering the classroom, but when the bell rang, the teacher shut the door – even if all the students were not in their seats. It was a daunting and embarrassing walk to my seat after the door was closed. With my shoulders slouched and my head down the teacher would shout, “90 percent of life is just showing-up!” Although this trademark saying was meant to teach a lesson about the importance of being on time, it turned out to be an important life lesson that I continue to carry with me.

When traumatic and life-changing events occur in our lives, and our heart aches, often all we need is someone to walk alongside us. As a Christian community, we are not meant to bear our burdens alone. Recently, Ava Fiebig and I attended a week-long training event focusing on Stephen Ministry. This is some of what we learned:

What is Stephen Ministry?

Stephen Ministry equips people to provide confidential, one-to-one Christian care to individuals in their congregation and community who are experiencing difficulties in their lives.

Who is a Stephen Minister?

A Stephen Minister is any caring congregation member who feels called to serve in this role. Once called, Stephen Ministers receive 50 hours of training in providing emotional and spiritual care. As our community continues to grow, the need for active listeners also continues to grow. Stephen Ministers care, listen, encourage, and pray for those in need.

Who would benefit from a Stephen Minister?

Almost anyone can benefit from having someone present to listen to what is on their heart. Grief, divorce, illness, job loss, loss of a home, military deployment, loneliness, and spiritual crisis, are a few examples of life struggles that a Stephen Minister can walk alongside you through.

This past week, I was reminded of the importance of presence and how simply showing-up is vital to our calling to help one another in difficult times. As you are enjoying the last days of summer, I urge all of you to take the opportunity to be present, especially with those around you who are struggling. If you feel called to share your skill for listening, please join me for an informational meeting about becoming a Stephen Minister at Lord of Life this Sunday, August 13, in the Fellowship Hall following 9:30 worship.

With Christ's Presence,

Lucas 

What does church music look like to you? As Lutherans, we embrace a rich tapestry of styles and textures from traditional hymns to praise songs; from chants to global rhythms. We lift up the gifts of those who wish to offer them. Some days, that might look like piano, drums and singers. Other days we might hear guitar and violin. Every day, everyone assembled is invited to sing along to lift up our message and praise.

This year, as some of the threads of our musical brocade come out, what threads will we weave in to replace them? What musical gifts do you have to offer? Could you play your clarinet once in a while?

Do you play the cello and haven’t been sure if we might work it into worship? Please let me know the next time you see me or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

I’d especially like to work on special music offerings, as we build up to our 500-year Reformation celebration in October.

The blazing summer sun, knee-high cotton socks, shouting rhymes for the sake of annoyance, these are the days I remember standing in far right field waiting for a baseball to roll passed a few defenders and into my glove. On a good day, I might have gotten to field the ball once or twice a game, that is, when I wasn’t distracted by picking dandelions in the outfield.

Finally, it was my turn to bat! Marching up to home-plate was where all the action was! Although I loved the rare feeling of hitting a homerun, my swing was never all that good. Instead, I was known on the team as the speedster, the one that could make it to first base in the blink of an eye. So, nearly every time I went up to bat, no matter the situation, I went for the bunt. Needless to say, Billy Hamilton is my favorite Redleg! Bunting was my gift. Most often, my team didn’t need me to bunt, but it gave me a sense of identity and purpose. In fact, using my gift of bunting, especially when the team didn’t need it, was when I thrived the most. It was incredibly freeing to bunt when the pressure of succeeding wasn’t on the line.

Much like any team, it is easy for any church to slip into a needs-based mindset for ministry. There are always vacancies that need to be filled and duties that need to be done. As we look toward restarting many of our ministries at Lord of Life for another meaningful year, we can become overly focused on what is needed. Certainly, the church needs volunteers, teachers, musicians, Ministry Area Coordinators (MACs), Stephen Ministers, communion assistants, council members, tutors, worship leaders, organizers, choir members, Family Promise hosts, gardeners, visionaries, cooks, acolytes, and ushers; but God invites us see things a bit differently. Rather than need, God calls us by our gifts.

The apostle Paul reminds us that “there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Cor 12:4). This is the same Spirit that will sustain the church until the end of time. As opportunities to serve begin to increase, you are encouraged to live into your gifts; whether that is bunting, swinging for the fences, or strategically waiting for the right pitch. Now is the perfect time to get involved and dive-into wherever your gifts are calling you to serve.

When it was my turn up to bunt there was no anxiety or pressure to get on base. Bunting brought joy to the game. So too, you can rest assured that God will care for the church. God will provide the church with exactly what it needs. Our mission is to live into the gifts God has given us, to rally around those gifts, and to lift one another up because of the gifts we offer. Serving where we are led by the Spirit is what brings joy and abundant life. Whether you are up to bat, in the outfield, on the mound, in the dugout, or managing the equipment, you are an important part of the team. You play an invaluable role in the Body of Christ!

With a Serving Spirit,

Intern Lucas McSurley

“Mom, I think I have a problem with alcohol.” That was ten years ago. Those life-changing words confirmed why our family had been thrown into a condition of insanity and hopelessness. Our first-born child had become a victim of a disease over which we, as parents, had absolutely no control.

Our journey of faith and hope crystallized one October night at the Al-Anon meeting in the library at Lord of Life and our daughter’s miracle of sobriety began seven years ago at AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) in the fellowship hall. Al-Anon is a gathering where friends and families of problem drinkers find understanding and support. Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who want to do something about their drinking problem. This past Sunday, our daughter and her husband celebrated their first wedding anniversary! God is good! I shared that miracle with Pastor Lowell as I left church and it hung on his heart. He wondered if I’d share a bit of my journey of faith at LOL – “Why Lord of Life?”

I struggled with my faith through my teen years. Life and family circumstances sometimes made it difficult to trust that God loved me. I “walked away” from God and the church where I’d been baptized and confirmed in my teens after my dad took his own life due to depression aggravated by tinnitus. “How could the God my parents and I worshipped, trusted, and loved become so heartless?”

I subsequently played the devil’s advocate throughout much of my late teens and early twenties, arguing against God and his love. God stayed with me, despite my chosen estrangement from him.

Read more …