At this writing, we are just two days into Lent. By the time this newsletter reaches you, the second weekend in Lent will have been a past event. Given the way the dates fall on the calendar for 2018, the remainder of Lent will take place during the month of March. Holy Week will fall during the last seven days of March, with Easter Sunday falling on April 1st. Once again, the cycle of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday will be repeated in the churches. Aside from the Christmas story, the saga of Holy Week is the one series of events with which most persons—even non-Christians—have some familiarity.
These are familiar stories, to be sure. Yet, every time around, I learn something new and appreciate something different. The new insight may not necessarily be about the story itself; it may be something I learn about myself and the world around me through the story. Because of that sort of thing, I again encourage each of you to be present to as many of those worship opportunities as possible. Simply jumping from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday doesn’t give us enough of that experience. A schedule of the events for Holy Week can be found inside the pages of this month’s newsletter.
Also on the docket for March will be two Membership Gatherings, the first of which will be held following worship on Sunday, March 18th—at 10:00 a.m.—in the Library Room and the second of which will be held on Thursday, March 22nd at 6:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. The focal point of these gatherings will be a proposed change in the time of Sunday worship from 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and follow-up discussions about December’s by-laws changes and church membership. The positive reaction to the 9:00 a.m. start time to December’s Christmas program and the fact that Salem is the only church in Sheboygan County (to my knowledge) that has a single service of worship on Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. has led the leadership of the church to consider this change. And as there are still questions to be answered and points to be clarified about the by-laws changes, it seemed appropriate to visit this topic again.
Your input and questions are valued, so I encourage your participation in either one of the sessions if you have one of those two things to offer up. Whether attending or not, you are welcomed to speak with me or our Consistory members regarding these or other topics which may be on your mind or heart.
May your Lenten pilgrimage be a spiritually fruitful one.
Your servant in Christ,
Rev. Jim Hoppert
