Community Focus for the Month
During the month of February WELCA is collecting supplies to donate to the Safe Shelter. If you are not aware SAFE Shelter provides housing for families of domestic or partner violence and their children under18 years of age. A list of acceptable items are in the Narthex. You may bring your donations and place them in the trunk in the Narthex. Thank you for helping us with this worthwhile endeavor.
To our wonderful congregation,
WELCA supports numerous organizations as well as our church throughout the year. We cannot do everything without the support and help from you. We wanted to thank the congregation for assisting us during the Christmas season with the following contributions:
- WELCA alone contributed $100.00 to the Shelter From the Rain project —- 100 churches $100.00. We also donated 30 inspirational calendars.
- WELCA and our congregation contributed cleaning supplies and paper products to the Summit House.
- WELCA, our congregation and WoodmenLife contributed gift cards for Pare Place (a temporary shelter for children.
WELCA is open for all women in our church. We would love to have you join us. We meet on the first Wednesday of the month in Hoffner Hall at 6:00 PM
St. Paul’s Evangelical Church
WELCA Circle Letter
March 2023
The following is excerpted from the January/February 2023 issue of the Gather Magazine.
Nowadays, as adults cruising along on a bike trail, it doesn’t even occur to us to wobble. Our habit of riding our bikes has settled deep into our bones. There’s no need to go back to our training-wheel days.
If someone asked you to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, or the table grace you learned as a child, would you need to refer to a cheat sheet? No, those words have long been committed to memory. You can likely rattle them off without conscious thought, fully confident in their accuracy. In fact, going back to reading them would seem strange. You know these things by heart. They remind you to be a good citizen. To show gratitude for a meal. They have become a part of who you are.
Of course, in our later years, the extra protection of bedrails and walker wheels can once again be greatly helpful. But until then, we don’t have to obsess about them, or fear forgetting what we’ve learned. We can go about our business, secure in the abilities we gained as children.
Out of all the things we learn by heart as we make our way through life, there is nothing more grounding, more sensible, more liberating and more heartfelt than Jesus’ succinct summary of the commandments. When we all give love, love returns to us thousandfold. We can then make our journeys in the world, on the wheels of love. We can rest, guarded and kept safe by that same love. We draw upon love to power our thoughts, words and actions. Love fulfills the ten commandments.
As Paul explains, if we understand the “why” in our hearts, we needn’t worry about remembering every single “what.” The “what” flows naturally from the “why.”
Theologian Frederick Buechner writes, “To lend each other a hand when we’re falling, perhaps that’s the only work that matters in the end.” Buechner’s words are just another way to think about the Greatest Commandment. We all need a hand sometimes to make it through our inevitable troubles, sorrow and pain. God’s love for us, which we extend to one another, is a steadying, reassuring hand that reaches out to everyone.
With God’s help, we can all be guardrails. We can all be training wheels. When our neighbor is falling, when we are falling, we can—and we are called to—keep each other safe.
Love God. Love others as ourselves. If we know this by heart, and absolutely nothing else, it will be enough for a lifetime.
In His Love,
Chris
