Stewardship Committee
The Worship Ministry Team is responsible for overseeing three committees – the Worship Committee, the Property Committee, and the Stewardship Committee (Continuing Resolutions, Page 19/26).
Although I accepted oversight responsibility for Stewardship in May, life has sped on; and, I have not made progress in forming a Stewardship Committee. However, recently, when visiting my aunt in an assisted living facility, the leader of the Christian band which was entertaining the residents reminded all in attendance that, “We are here for God’s Pleasure: to serve, praise, and worship God.” I believe that statement can be, is, or maybe should be, a great framework for “Stewardship.”
I am seeking three to four members for the Stewardship Committee to meet in early August. If you have specific desires for a Stewardship Committee, but are unable to participate, please let me know.
Roger Oliver, 563-343-1886.
Congratulations!
Baby Schoville has arrived! Congratulations Scott and Caitlin on the birth of Parker Thomas on Monday, July 1st. He weighed in at a healthy 10 pounds 9 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. All are doing well. Congratulations to Tom and Julie, the grandparents, as well.
Volunteer Sign-Up Sheets
The 3rd QTR volunteer sign-up sheets are hanging behind the 2nd QTR sign-up sheets on the kiosk in the gathering space. Please look and see where you can volunteer for the months of June, July, August, and September and sign up. It truly takes many hands to do God’s work!
Food Pantry
The food pantry has been extremely busy this summer so far and the patrons love to be able to get laundry detergent and other hygiene or cleaning items. These are things that cannot be purchased with food stamps. Please donate any of these items as you are able. Dollar Tree and Dollar General have laundry soap for $1/bottle. These bottles can do 32 loads.
From the Pastor
When I was in high school, I worked at a homeschooling curriculum supply store. Our shop was wall to wall with books, games, programs, software; basically every supply a person would need to educate a child at home from preschool to 12th grade. This was in small town Mississippi, because of the specialized nature of the store, people would drive in from around Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas to look at material. The thing that made it even better, was that I was homeschooled, I had field tested all this stuff and could make some real recommendations. This started a fascination with specialty shops. I live up the street from the East Village in Davenport. Those streets contain a religious supply store, and a spice store, and a soap store and lots of other jazzy places. And even if I don’t buy anything, it’s still fun to look.
Seeing that so many of these types of stores are open across the country, I can’t be the only person who likes to browse these kinds of shops. They hold a promise of having that special thing you are looking for; having exactly what you need. And they do this, by making you believe that you don’t have what you need, or that you have needs you aren’t even aware of. This idea of not having what you need, of scarcity is what drives commerce, but it’s a sneaky idea, that snakes its way into our hearts and whispers to us that we aren’t what someone needs, that somehow we aren’t enough.
In 1st Corinthians Paul is writing to a church that is trying to figure out what they need. This congregation was a mess; they were acting out, fighting, and not caring about what they should be caring about. So, they go looking to problem-solve, and write to Paul, the “specialty shop” of church issues. Surely he would have exactly what they need; he would have the special something to get them out of their mess.
But the funny thing is Paul doesn’t have that one special thing. He writes back For in every way you have been enriched in God, in speech, in knowledge of every kind. Paul continues, You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of Christ. God is faithful, by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (Paraphrased from 1st Corinthians 1) Often we are resistant to use our gifts as a church community because we don’t realize we have them. We read special books, go to special conferences, or listen to special podcasts hoping to get that one thing we really need. That one thing that will help us be better followers of Christ. But the thing is, we already have it. We were given the gift of the Holy Spirit in our baptisms; God hasn’t left us alone to figure it all out. God hasn’t been stingy with gifting people either. I look around my life and I see people who are great listeners, active servants, and compassionate workers for justice. I see people who have so many gifts to build the kingdom of God and don’t even realize it. Part of what we need to do is name the gifts we see in others. Sometimes others see things in us that we don’t see so clearly. The other part is that we need to cultivate trust in God, the ultimate giver.
A few months ago, I was at a conference (probably looking for that one “special thing”) and the speaker said that we have been given everything we need to do ministry, we only need to trust that we already have it. We already have what we need to build God’s kingdom on earth. We don’t need to wait until we become better people or go looking around specialty shops of spirituality. We are enough. May God, who is the ultimate giver of gifts, give us the will to use what we have.
Pastor Amy
Thanksgiving in July
Once again, All Saints Lutheran Church is collecting nonperishable food for Thanksgiving in July! We encourage everyone to participate in this month-long food drive. Any items collected at All Saints Lutheran Church will stay at All Saints Lutheran Church’s own food pantry. Reminder: July is declared laundry soap collection month at All Saints. ❤️
Flat Jesus Sightings
Have you been taking your Flat Jesus with you where you go? Pastor Amy challenged us to do just that this summer. If you need a copy of Flat Jesus, there are some copies on the cart at the back of the sanctuary or email Kristen at the office and she can email you a pdf of the document. Send your photos with Flat Jesus to the office email (office@allsaintsdavenport.org).
Here are Ryan, Tyler, and Craig with their Flat Jesus!
