"WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD,
GROWING IN FAITH, LIVING BY GRACE"
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Welcome to Abiding Savior Lutheran Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America!
This web site contains information about and links to the activities and worship experiences of Abiding Savior and ELCA ministries. Our web site offers a friendly guide to our congregation and synod for those seeking a church home, guidance, direction or assistance, or for those just visiting.
We hope that you will find our web site informative and useful. We welcome your feedback and comments.
Blessings,
Pastor Megan Elliott
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| Pastor Megan Elliott |
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Pastor's Corner:
27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 1 Corinthians 1: 27-29
Today is a cold, rainy December day. I am sitting at my desk, feeling cozy warm with the whir of the heating vent next to me, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the piles of books and papers and files surrounding me that are just on the verge of consuming my office, and wracking my brain to try to come up with something, anything really, to say in the newsletter for this month. Do I talk about our season of waiting in Advent? How about a good, old-fashioned rant against consumerism? Or maybe just a nice empty platitude about the little baby Jesus asleep in the manager?
But the more ideas I come up with, the more they fall, flat, hollow, meaningless into the muddled mess of my mind. I finally give up and throw up my hands in defeat -- in this moment I am not convinced that I have anything to say that will be of worth, anything that will make a difference, anything that will truly matter. I feel empty, used up, dried out.
But then it hits me that maybe this is precisely where I need to be in this season of Advent. Because it is exactly in these barren spaces of our lives that Jesus comes and meets us. It is when we have nothing to offer, nothing to give, nothing but the echo of our own failures endlessly repeating in our ears that God comes into our world unexpectedly, interrupting our emptiness to fill us up again, disrupting our used-up passion to ignite us once more, bursting into our dry spots to nourish us forever.
For it is when Saul becomes blind that he is able to see for the first time the truth of Christ. It is when Peter is sinking in the water that he is pulled into the arms of Jesus. It is when Mary is overcome by her grief that she is met in the garden by her Savior and called by name.
In this season of Advent we cry out for Jesus to come. And it is finally when we stop looking, when we rest, when we listen, that we realize that the one we have been searching for has been there all along, embracing us in our loneliness, loving us in our brokenness, and calling us out of our places of death to live in his new life.
Peace,
Pastor Megan
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| Joseph, Mary and Infant Jesus |
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| The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen.
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| The Holy Spirit descending as a Dove |
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| God of compassion,
We confess that we have failed to bear witness that you desire to draw all people to yourself. In our hearts we have thought ill of those who differ from us, and our love of others has not been genuine. We have been caught up in the cares of the world. We have neglected opportunities to welcome the stranger, to feed the hungry, and to mend broken relationships. Forgive our sins, merciful God, that our hearts may burn with love for you and for those in need, and that our lives may witness to your never-failing love for your creation.
Amen.
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| Stained Glass Window above Altar |
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| The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.*
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
* or "he descended to the dead," another translation of this text in widespread use.
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| Three Candles |
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| ABIDING SAVIOR PRAYER
O Jesus Christ, Our Lord and King,
We offer Thee our everything:
Our lives we give in service free
To help Thy people 'ere they be;
O hear us Lord we cry to Thee
Abiding Savior on our knee.
Abiding Savior praise Thy name,
Its glory ever be the same:
We pray Thy blessing on us all
That ne'er a one of us may fall.
O hear us Lord, we pray to Thee
Abiding Savior on our knee.
O grant this church Thy blessing sweet,
and keep it faithful at Thy feet:
Bless its message strong and clear
That we may spread it far and near.
Abiding Savior Church we love
Help it look to Thee above.
Amen.
-- words by Ellis Karns
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