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Message from the Pastor...

Greetings in the Risen Christ,

This month we will celebrate together the renewal of God’s church. An Ordination is a rite of renewal where the whole of God’s church affirms the call of the one being ordained. When I began this journey, a committee from the greater church granted me entrance into the process of candidacy for Word and Sacrament ministry. Without the affirmation of these lay and ordained members of God’s church, I could not have continued in this journey. The community of Immanuel Lutheran Church also played a major role in affirming this call to ordination, first welcoming me as a learning leader and then critiquing and evaluating in the internship process. The candidacy committee from the greater church affirms a call three times, with the final being approval for ordination. The Seminary is a part of the approval process with the entire faculty writing a recommendation for approval. And ultimately, for ordination to occur, the pastoral candidate must be extended (and accept) a pastoral call to serve in God’s church. While the candidate themself does much work and discernment on the road to ordination, so does the entirety of God’s church, through which the Holy Spirit of God moves and breathes.

On May 20th, the Body of Christ gathers to invoke God’s Holy Spirit, to affirm this call to serve, and to renew God’s church through the rite of Ordination. As a minister of Word and Sacrament, I am charged with proclaiming the Gospel and administering the sacraments, in the community of the Body of Christ. The rite of Ordination is placed within a traditional worship service, including Word and Sacrament. Just as a Sunday worship, this service is not a performance by a few worship leaders but an act of worship and praise by the whole community. This pattern of worship reflects the entire journey to Ordination, by the community of God’s church alongside the candidate.

I am humbled by the call to serve God’s church at Immanuel Lutheran. I am so excited to renew God’s church with this community on May 20th. I look with hope to a future of shared ministry and service as the Holy Spirit moves us.

SDG,

Pastor Katie