From the Pastor's Desk
Oct 2023
To all the saints at Vestal,
September went by fast! That’s the effect of the Fall, I suppose, but it never ceases to surprise me how quickly the last third of the year goes by. Colors and changing and temperatures are dropping, and I am personally so excited for the season! It is my favorite season, and this year it feels crisper and fresher and more delightful than ever, because it is my first one as a married man. Certainly, this is a new season for me. As you move fully into the new season, I hope you are filled with the same wonder and delight that I have for God’s beautiful and wonderful creations.
On the first Sunday of October (coincidentally October 1st, this year), we recognized the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) and used the service materials they provided. If you’re interested in LWML events at Grace in the future, please speak with Nancy Warner! Additionally, we will be starting a monthly Lady’s Breakfast to read scripture together, pray together, and have a good time! Ladies, please consider joining in for the first breakfast later in the month with more details to come. (And men, remember that the Sons of Solomon Men’s Breakfast will also meet at Take-A-Break Diner, at 6:30 am on Thursday, October 12th!)
Later in the month, I will again be attending a conference. This time, it’s mandatory. I will be attending the Eastern District’s Fall Pastor’s Conference will be from October 23rd to October 25th, down in Pennsylvania. The district also encouraged that this will be a more comfortable conference than we’re accustomed to, and that we should consider bringing our wives. So, pray that Faith and I have safe driving down and back on those days.
Lest anyone forget, the excitement of October comes mostly at the end! Grace will be observing Reformation on Sunday, October 29th, rather than a couple days later on actual Reformation Day, the 31st. And in honor of the Reformation, we will be having a Reformation Party! That is, we will be getting together on the evening of Sunday, October 29th, at 4 pm
(everybody wear red for reformation, please!) for a Reformation Hymn Sing, a few quick words on Luther’s 95 Theses, a German-inspired dinner! We will start with the hymn sing, in the Sanctuary before moving to the Fellowship Hall. During the hymn sing, I will say a bit about each hymn and
Faith has volunteered to play organ for us all. We’re planning a few of the hymns ahead of time, but be thinking about your favorites, because we’ll ask you all to (cumulatively! Unfortunately, time is a limited commodity) pick one hymn from the hymnal for us to sing, all spur-of-the-moment-like. So again, please join us for dinner and song time at 4 pm on Sunday, October
29th!
Finally though, I’ll leave you with a word of scripture. As we do enjoy crisp weather and pretty colors all around, and maybe a mug of apple cider or a hay-ride, let us also remember the God who provides all good things. And let us remember His Word and believe and enter His rest, for no season or vacation could ever bring us the kind of rest which only He provides. And no seasonal treat the kind of joy and peace which emanates only from His Son. Let us not wait, but now and always hear and believe His Word. In the epistle to the Hebrews (4:1-7), it is written that “While the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as He has said, ‘As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest,’ although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.’ And again in this passage He said, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again He appoints a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.’”
Blessings on your month,
Pastor Jake Bellinghausen
To all the saints at Vestal,
September went by fast! That’s the effect of the Fall, I suppose, but it never ceases to surprise me how quickly the last third of the year goes by. Colors and changing and temperatures are dropping, and I am personally so excited for the season! It is my favorite season, and this year it feels crisper and fresher and more delightful than ever, because it is my first one as a married man. Certainly, this is a new season for me. As you move fully into the new season, I hope you are filled with the same wonder and delight that I have for God’s beautiful and wonderful creations.
On the first Sunday of October (coincidentally October 1st, this year), we recognized the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) and used the service materials they provided. If you’re interested in LWML events at Grace in the future, please speak with Nancy Warner! Additionally, we will be starting a monthly Lady’s Breakfast to read scripture together, pray together, and have a good time! Ladies, please consider joining in for the first breakfast later in the month with more details to come. (And men, remember that the Sons of Solomon Men’s Breakfast will also meet at Take-A-Break Diner, at 6:30 am on Thursday, October 12th!)
Later in the month, I will again be attending a conference. This time, it’s mandatory. I will be attending the Eastern District’s Fall Pastor’s Conference will be from October 23rd to October 25th, down in Pennsylvania. The district also encouraged that this will be a more comfortable conference than we’re accustomed to, and that we should consider bringing our wives. So, pray that Faith and I have safe driving down and back on those days.
Lest anyone forget, the excitement of October comes mostly at the end! Grace will be observing Reformation on Sunday, October 29th, rather than a couple days later on actual Reformation Day, the 31st. And in honor of the Reformation, we will be having a Reformation Party! That is, we will be getting together on the evening of Sunday, October 29th, at 4 pm
(everybody wear red for reformation, please!) for a Reformation Hymn Sing, a few quick words on Luther’s 95 Theses, a German-inspired dinner! We will start with the hymn sing, in the Sanctuary before moving to the Fellowship Hall. During the hymn sing, I will say a bit about each hymn and
Faith has volunteered to play organ for us all. We’re planning a few of the hymns ahead of time, but be thinking about your favorites, because we’ll ask you all to (cumulatively! Unfortunately, time is a limited commodity) pick one hymn from the hymnal for us to sing, all spur-of-the-moment-like. So again, please join us for dinner and song time at 4 pm on Sunday, October
29th!
Finally though, I’ll leave you with a word of scripture. As we do enjoy crisp weather and pretty colors all around, and maybe a mug of apple cider or a hay-ride, let us also remember the God who provides all good things. And let us remember His Word and believe and enter His rest, for no season or vacation could ever bring us the kind of rest which only He provides. And no seasonal treat the kind of joy and peace which emanates only from His Son. Let us not wait, but now and always hear and believe His Word. In the epistle to the Hebrews (4:1-7), it is written that “While the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as He has said, ‘As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest,’ although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.’ And again in this passage He said, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again He appoints a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.’”
Blessings on your month,
Pastor Jake Bellinghausen