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Second Sunday after Pentecost – June 6, 2021

Dear People of God’s Spirit!

Jesus reminds us in the Gospel Reading – “Here are my mother and my brothers!” as he begins his public ministry teaching that the inner life of the Spirit is more important than any other pursuit in our lives – even our family relationships. All are truly welcome in God’s family, which we belong to when we set our lives to seek God’s will.

We worship together through the recording here. The bulletin and Celebrate are attached.

Our larger church expression, the ELCA, is producing a hymnal supplement called “All Creation Sings”. This Sunday, we introduce one of those hymns, so please plan on learning it with us. Selections of “All Creation Sings” can be found online (YouTube) by entering it in your search browser. As the Psalms often say: Sing a new song unto the Lord!

The Memorial Service for Lu Sluiter was held Saturday, June 5th at 11 am in our sanctuary. This was was our first public gathering since March 15, 2020. It was recorded and is available here.

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Memorial for Lu Sluiter – June 5, 2021

Dear Beloved Community at St. Stephen’s,

We will gather on Saturday, June 5th at 11am, in-person in the church sanctuary to worship God through lifting up our dear sister Lu Sluiter in memoriam.

This service will also be livestreamed. You can go to our website and open the link to the service there. It will also be recorded and posted on our website.

We will sing hymns that Lu had chosen in advance when we gather, as she prepared well for this time where her beloved church family and friends will be together giving thanks for the time that she was entrusted to us as one of God’s children.

Please wear a mask and sit only with those from your family/group, allowing for safe distancing. There will be no reception following. We ask that we move outside in order to have conversation and greet one another. Remember that this is a public gathering and we are still trying to take the best care of the most vulnerable among us, despite many other aspects of life returning to more familiar ways.

Holy Trinity Sunday – May 30, 2021

Dear People of God’s Spirit!

We worship together on this Holy Trinity through the recording here on our website.

Congratulations to one of our worship leaders (trumpet) Nathan Lapp as he graduated from Soquel High School this weekend! He will be attending the University of California Berkeley, in the College of Natural Resources this Fall.

Flowers for Worship: Please sign up to provide flowers in honor of someone or a special occasion as another way to offer yourself in worship to God. The Flower Chart will be available at worship, or you can call the church office – 476-4700.

For the months of June, July, and August on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month at 10am, there will be an outdoor, live-streamed worship service. The recording of that service will be available after 5pm on our website. Sundays: June 13, 27 / July 11, 25 / August 8,22. Will be in-person outdoors and livestreamed through our website. All other Sundays will be recorded on Fridays at 11am. and posted to our website by Sunday morning.

The Church Council at its May 11th meeting, has voted to begin every Sunday indoor services on Sunday, September 12 at 10am. More information about how we will proceed with indoor worship will be shared next month as we develop our guidelines.

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Pentecost – May 23, 2021

Dear People of God’s Spirit!

We worship together on this Pentecost Sunday at 10 am outdoors in our parking lot and livestreamed on our website here.

You can also participate through the recording after 5pm on Sunday by going to our website.

Wear something RED as we adorn ourselves with the color of the coming of the Holy Spirit!

6 yr. old Ila Mendoza, who attended our Child Development Center and is the Great-Granddaughter of one of our members from St. Stephen’s Senior Housing – Tony (deceased) & Rose Guerrero, and the Granddaughter of another church member Gina Mendoza, will be baptized at the worship service!  Come and share in her excitement and welcome to God’s family forever.

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Seventh Sunday of Easter – May 16, 2021

Dear People of God,

Have your worship bulletin, Celebrate and Holy Communion elements ready, so we can join our spirits as we offer ourselves to God.

Pastor Jim will offer a song on guitar that has been a part of his life since he was confirmed at Good Shepherd Lutheran in San Diego, by Pastor Theodore O. Danitschek in 1980. It is a song that continues to express the prayer of Jesus we hear in the Gospel Reading today: “That they may be one as we are one.”  By devoting our lives to seeking to ever becoming more like the One sent to us from God we do our part in fulfilling Jesus’ prayer.  What does that look like in your life? How well do you know the ways and message of Jesus Christ so that you can be one with God’s Word for the world? 

The hymns are from Easter Sunday, so sing out loud with Pastor Jim as we celebrate the Risen Christ – the God of new and eternal life!

The following Sunday, May 23rd (Pentecost), we will gather in-person outdoors in our parking lot at 10am for a livestreamed worship service. I encourage everyone to wear something red to celebrate the color of the day – a sign of the Holy Spirit among us.

It is also a significant day for our church as little 5 yr. old Ila, who attended our preschool and whose Great-grandmother & Great-grandfather were some of the first residents of St. Stephen’s Senior Housing, will be baptized. This is the first baptism of someone from our preschool since it opened eight years ago, and the first from a family from St. Stephen’s Senior Housing. Thanks be to God!

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