Exodus 34:22 -
“And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end.”
Ecclesiastes 3:17 - “I said in my heart, "God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
2 Peter 3:8 - “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
Moses gave God's commands to the people of Israel. One of those commands had to do with remembering and celebrating God's faithfulness. The "Feast of Ingathering" was celebrated at the end of the year, when all the crops were in, when the work was done, when it was time to assess the past year, when it was time to recognize God's faithfulness to the people. You see, there were to be times of recognition and celebration in the year. You can read about a lot of celebrations if you are willing to get into the Books of Moses.
When we go to another Old Testament book, the Book of Ecclesiastes, we are reminded again that we have a gracious God. He waits patiently for us, but will call us to account. There is a time for work and play and for celebration. We all recognize that, particularly this year as we complete Zion's 100th year. Our celebration is not without purpose, for we seek to honor God in His faithfulness to our congregation.
The Apostle Peter would remind us, whether it has been a hundred years for us or just a minute or two, God is the Faithful One, unchanging, and worthy of our praise and honor. Just think about God sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins. Romans 5:6 reminds us, "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." It was all God's timing, not ours.
But what is coming down the pike for us at Zion? Lots! May 19th was the date that our centennial year book went to the printer. A full copy is now on our internet website. Hard cover copies will soon be available on a donation basis when the complete year books are shipped to us. Year book research has revealed a pattern of God's faithfulness and continuing work through the people of Zion for our first hundred years. May we be diligent in honoring Him as we enter the second hundred.
As you will recall, our 2005 Missions Conference scheduled for this spring was flooded out by those very heavy rains. We look forward to having Pastor Jim Gerdeen join us this summer to bring us that missions focus in our hundredth year.
Our congregation has been working on funding for our parking lot paving and at the time of this writing (in mid-May), has close to $4000. We have $6000 to go to pave that soggy spot we call our parking lot--maybe that will be done by October. If we had only ten households that could come up with $12.50 extra a Sunday through the end of August, we could have the parking area done in September. No--please just don't do that, but if the Lord leads you in that direction, you can see what the result might be for us.
Now, what about Pastor Lee and our celebration in October? Ernie Burnett on behalf of your church council and I have sat down and done some basic thinking and planning about our Fall celebration on the weekend of Reformation Sunday, October 29 and 30. You'll be hearing more as we get going, but figure that on that Saturday and Sunday we will celebrate big time with music, an open house, a Luther-based drama, and worship using the same liturgy that those Swedes used when they first worshipped as a congregation in Silverhill (and no, you don't have to learn Swede because we have a 1901 English version).
AFLC President Pastor Lee will participate on both Saturday and Sunday. Potluck? Of course! Plan on Sunday. Nothing is set in concrete yet, so let your church council members know what you might like to see. We can still incorporate many other ideas.
Isn't it great to celebrate? And just think, God in His wisdom has called on people to remember His graciousness. How great it is to remember Him and His love for the people of Zion and Baldwin County!
~Pastor Dave
The AFLC Youth Ministries is experiencing a funding shortfall that has required that the Youth Director's position be reduced from full time to three quarters time. The Youth understandably think this is unacceptable and have written requesting help.
The Council does not feel that we are in a position currently to donate unbudgeted money to this cause. If you would like to directly help alleviate this problem your donations would be greatly appreciated. It can be accomplished easily by adding the amount to your regular offering and note on the envelope that you designate a certain amount to be sent to the AFLC Youth Ministries.
