Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – June 20, 2021

Dear People of God’s Spirit!,

We gather in spirit this 5th Sunday of Pentecost and worship together through the recording here. The bulletin and Celebrate are attached.

Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!  Now we are in the storm, the boat almost swamped; but Jesus is here now, and when we call him, he will calm the storm.  Even the wind and waves listen to him as they would to their creator.  We also listen to him and are called to believe in the power of God’s word in him, a power greater than all that we fear.

Our larger church expression, the ELCA, is producing a hymnal supplement called “All Creation Sings”. This Sunday, we introduce one of those hymns, so please plan on learning it with us. Selections of “All Creation Sings” can be found online (YouTube) by entering it in your search browser. As the Psalms often say: Sing a new song unto the Lord!

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Third Sunday after Pentecost – June 13, 2021

Dear People of God’s Spirit!

Jesus uses parables in today’s Gospel reading with images of sowing and growing to show the vitality of God’s reign here on earth.

The Memorial Service for Lu Sluiter was held Saturday, June 5th at 11am in our sanctuary. This was was our first public gathering since March 15, 2020. It was recorded and is available here on our website.

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Second Sunday after Pentecost – June 6, 2021

Dear People of God’s Spirit!

Jesus reminds us in the Gospel Reading – “Here are my mother and my brothers!” as he begins his public ministry teaching that the inner life of the Spirit is more important than any other pursuit in our lives – even our family relationships. All are truly welcome in God’s family, which we belong to when we set our lives to seek God’s will.

We worship together through the recording here. The bulletin and Celebrate are attached.

Our larger church expression, the ELCA, is producing a hymnal supplement called “All Creation Sings”. This Sunday, we introduce one of those hymns, so please plan on learning it with us. Selections of “All Creation Sings” can be found online (YouTube) by entering it in your search browser. As the Psalms often say: Sing a new song unto the Lord!

The Memorial Service for Lu Sluiter was held Saturday, June 5th at 11 am in our sanctuary. This was was our first public gathering since March 15, 2020. It was recorded and is available here.

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Memorial for Lu Sluiter – June 5, 2021

Dear Beloved Community at St. Stephen’s,

We will gather on Saturday, June 5th at 11am, in-person in the church sanctuary to worship God through lifting up our dear sister Lu Sluiter in memoriam.

This service will also be livestreamed. You can go to our website and open the link to the service there. It will also be recorded and posted on our website.

We will sing hymns that Lu had chosen in advance when we gather, as she prepared well for this time where her beloved church family and friends will be together giving thanks for the time that she was entrusted to us as one of God’s children.

Please wear a mask and sit only with those from your family/group, allowing for safe distancing. There will be no reception following. We ask that we move outside in order to have conversation and greet one another. Remember that this is a public gathering and we are still trying to take the best care of the most vulnerable among us, despite many other aspects of life returning to more familiar ways.

Holy Trinity Sunday – May 30, 2021

Dear People of God’s Spirit!

We worship together on this Holy Trinity through the recording here on our website.

Congratulations to one of our worship leaders (trumpet) Nathan Lapp as he graduated from Soquel High School this weekend! He will be attending the University of California Berkeley, in the College of Natural Resources this Fall.

Flowers for Worship: Please sign up to provide flowers in honor of someone or a special occasion as another way to offer yourself in worship to God. The Flower Chart will be available at worship, or you can call the church office – 476-4700.

For the months of June, July, and August on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month at 10am, there will be an outdoor, live-streamed worship service. The recording of that service will be available after 5pm on our website. Sundays: June 13, 27 / July 11, 25 / August 8,22. Will be in-person outdoors and livestreamed through our website. All other Sundays will be recorded on Fridays at 11am. and posted to our website by Sunday morning.

The Church Council at its May 11th meeting, has voted to begin every Sunday indoor services on Sunday, September 12 at 10am. More information about how we will proceed with indoor worship will be shared next month as we develop our guidelines.

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