Here are some things that will be going on in our Nativity worship in the coming weeks.

Sunday July 3 we will be switching to what has fondly become Nativity’s “summer liturgy”: Now the Feast and Celebration, by Marty Haugen. This will be our Sunday liturgy (work of the people) through July and August. Our Communion “procedure” will continue to be coming to the altar in a line.

If you have musical talents to share, either vocal or instrumental, and could provide us with special music during one of our Sunday services during July or August, please be in touch with Charlie: (207)239-1481 or cbrownjr51@gmail.com

Our Lutheran tradition of worship is built around Word and Sacrament. We have become used to the Word portion being scripture readings and a sermon. But there are other ways for the Word to be proclaimed other than just one person delivering a sermon. On Sunday July 17 we will experience a different way as we explore a piece of scripture together in a more interactive way as part of our “Rooted to Grow” Generosity Campaign. Words, phrases, and stories from many will combine to proclaim God’s blessings.

Another way to hear the Word differently is to use different translations of the Bible. Translating anything from one language to another often involves making choices of how to express something. There are sentence structure differences, syntax, tense, and gender differences not to mention cultural differences. Multiply all that by deciphering ancient texts and languages and you can get some real differences. Some people like to read or hear the Bible in Elizabethan English. Others want to read or hear a version that gives a close word-for-word correspondence between the original languages and English. Biblical scholar, author, and pastor Eugene Peterson recognized that the original sentence structure is very different from that of contemporary English. He decided to create a translation in which he would strive for the spirit of the original manuscripts—to express the rhythm of the voices, the flavor of the idiomatic expressions, the subtle connotations of meaning that are often lost in English translations. That is how The Message version of the Bible was created. Peterson translated from the original Greek and Hebrew. The original books of the Bible were not written in formal language. The Message tries to recapture the Word in the words we use today. During July and August, we’ll use that translation in Sunday worship.

August will be “favorite hymn month” at Nativity. Generally, when planning worship, I choose the hymns based on the Bible texts and theme of my sermon for each Sunday or to coordinate with the particular season of the church year we are in. Since we are so blessed with a talented musician who can play and lead such a variety of musical styles, I often go beyond the “old standards” and choose hymns that are new to us or are a bit musically challenging or perhaps come from a different culture. I realize that is a bit frustrating to some of our regular worshippers who find comfort and peace in some of the hymns they know very well that we don’t seem to sing often. So, I am inviting you to share with me a few of your favorites and all the hymns in August will come from those lists. Please email the titles to office@nativityrockport.org by July18th. I can’t promise we’ll be able to fit in ALL the favorites, but I’ll do my best.

I’m looking forward to some wonderful summer worship! I hope you are, too.

Blessings,

Pastor

In the Gospel of John, Jesus uses the image of a vine, its branches, and its fruit to remind us of the ways we are connected to each other, to God, and to the world. With what we know about how plants grow we know that roots are essential to keep a vine anchored and to provide nutrients for growth. Using Jesus’s image as our center we will take some time together in worship on Sunday July 17 to explore some of the roots that help us stay grounded in Christ as a community, how we support one another, and some of the ways we see God helping us bear fruit. Together we’ll create a visual rendition of how Nativity lives out Jesus’s image and is rooted to grow. A few days later you’ll receive an invitation from our Generosity Team to spend about twenty minutes on your own or with your spouse or family digging deeper into our focus scripture and considering your commitment and support of our shared ministry. Together we are more strongly “rooted to grow.”

Click on the Nativity Lutheran Church Calendar Link below if you would like an "easy-to-read" full size view of the month.

It will open a new window featuring the calendar.

Sunday, July 3

9:30 AM - Worship in-person and online

Assistant: Ted Long

Sunday, July 10

9:30 AM - Worship in-person and online

Assistant: Betty Long

Thursday, July 14

10:30 AM - Celebration of Life Service for Beth Guiseley

Sunday, July 17

9:30 AM - Worship in-person and online

Assistant: Ann Walker

Monday, July 19

11:00 AM - Celebration of Life Service for Margaret Guilkey

Sunday, July 24

9:30 AM - Worship in-person and online

Assistant: Ted Long

Nativity "Day Out in Nature" at Merryspring Nature Center, after worship

Sunday, July 31

9:30 AM - Worship in-person and online

Assistant: Marty Taylor

Weekly

Tuesdays 9:30 - 11:00 AM - "Out of Office" hours (see article below)

Thursdays 8:00 AM - Morning Prayer via Zoom

For midweek prayer via zoom - there is a separate Zoom link. Email Pastor at office@nativityrockport.org if you would like the zoom link.

Please also email Pastor if you do not have the Sunday Zoom link.

Pastor’s "Out-of-the-Office-and-into-Creation Hours" will continue Tuesday mornings in July.

Bring your own coffee (and a treat if you want) and meet Pastor in a local park for casual

conversation about whatever comes up. She has picked out some parks that feature trees for

shade, picnic tables, and in some cases benches. But you might want to bring your own chair to

be more comfortable. Pastor will plan to be there 9:30 to 11:00 AM. She tried to pick spots that

might have shade so it should be pleasant if it's not raining. If it's raining, she won't be there.

Here are the places:

Tuesday July 5 Walker Park, Sea St, Rockport (Pascal Ave. to Elm St. to Sea St.)

Tuesday July 12 Owls Head Lighthouse State Park, 186 Lighthouse Road, Owls Head

Tuesday July 19 (No Out of Office Hours this day)

Tuesday July 26 G.W. Hodson Park, Molyneaux Rd, Camden

In October, 2021, we received a letter inviting us to participate in a program to convert old, inefficient lighting to LED’s. The program offered a free lighting assessment (with an Efficiency Maine partner company) and up to 80% reimbursement for the cost of the upgrades. In May 2022 a representative from ABS Mechanical evaluated all lighting units in our facility and put together a proposal for all the eligible units. Efficiency Maine’s estimate of electricity savings in one year was about equal to Nativity’s share (25%) of the total cost. The work was performed in mid June.

Many fixtures in the newer parts of our building did not have comparable LED replacements available but LED bulbs which fit our current fixtures have recently become available. We are awaiting word from Efficiency Maine if their incentive program would also apply to the cost of these bulbs which we can order and install ourselves.

Ann Walker

Starting the first Sunday in July, the Creation Care Team would like to hear from you. I have been sharing environmental “green tips” with you for the past 4-5 months. My goal has been to help you break old unsustainable habits and develop new environment-friendly habits. Would you be willing to tell the congregation about a change that you have made in your life, resulting from re-thinking how you are integral to our environment and have become an improved steward of creation? If the answer is YES, please contact me at 691-3480 or email me at dadbstadler@me.com. Your story could spark someone else to share their story or make a change in their life to be a better steward of God’s creation.

Denise Stadler, Creation Care Team

Moving into our second year focus on creation care, please follow these links to watch a video created to introduce our parish to a regional Green Team within the New England Synod. This year’s theme is watersheds. Several opportunities for attending a watershed workshop is in our future in nearby New England.

First go to http://www.nelutherans.org/

Then click on Who We Are - Synod Teams - Green Team.

Next click Creation Care 101 Webinar - June 18, 2022

Enjoy learning about the grassroots Green Team!

Creation Care Team Member,

Gretchen Hanna

Did you hear the news? We have all just been prescribed a healthy dose of Vitamin N. Vitamin N for “Nature”, that is, time spent outdoors in God’s awe-inspiring and restorative Creation.

The Maine Summer we’ve been waiting for has arrived and our cooped up days are over for a little while. Seizing the moment, Nativity’s Creation Care Team is excited to invite you to leave the indoors behind, come outside and enjoy some fellowship, fun and amazing Vitamin N.

When: Sunday, July 24 after worship

Where: Merryspring Nature Center, Camden

What: Take in the miracle of Creation all around you.

What to Bring:

• A device for taking photographs
• A folding chair if you wish
• A snack or drink if you wish
• Yourself and your 5 senses

It’s up to you how you spend this time. Relax, explore, listen, move, pray, whatever you feel drawn to do.

For those willing to share their photos, the Creation Care Team is looking forward to seeing them!

Questions? Contact Sue Dawson or Elaine Isakson

In early June, Nativity’s delegation to the ELCA New England Synod Assembly traveled to Worcester, Massachusetts, where pastors and lay representatives of other Lutheran churches from across New England gathered to discuss current issues. Pastor Anderson, along with Bruce and Sherry Cobb, joined the delegation from Brunswick, Maine, at one of the three Maine tables.

We were particularly pleased when our pastor’s name appeared on a ballot of rostered candidates for a four-year term on the Synod Council and she won by a wide margin! The Synod Council is the board of directors of the Synod. It serves as the legislative authority between meetings of the annual Assembly, so it’s an important job.

Meeting as a whole, the Assembly tackled difficult questions, particularly how the New England Synod ought to respond to a West Coast church controversy and, most importantly, the wording of the Synod’s Resolution on Anti-Racism. The primary criticism of the draft being considered was that an insufficient attempt had been made to include people of color on the committee that framed the resolution. At length, the motion was tabled. The Synod Council has since invited all lay or ordained voting members who identify as persons of color to further this discussion by attending the first of several planned Zoom conversations.

Over the two days, panel discussions and breakout sessions dealt with a wide range of social needs – racial justice, refugee resettlement, poverty, homelessness, mental health, and climate change – as well as congregational life. The projects and programs the speakers presented were heart-warming and inspiring. Being in the presence of all those good people whose lives show dedication to the love of God and His creation, made the Assembly a rewarding use of our time.

Sherry Cobb

Connect with ELCA greater church

Read Bishop Eaton’s monthly article:

https://www.livinglutheran.org/

https://www.elca.org/Resources/Presiding-Bishop-Messages

9 - Kathleen Graf

9 - Carol Coiley

14 - Sandy Abate

20 - Ken Guiseley

23 - Ann Walker

Cast your bread upon the water,

for you will find it after many days.

Ecclesiastes 11:1

As many of you know, I've returned from my Spring pilgrimage to South Dakota and many parts in between. The trip, centered around spending time with my sister Kathleen, felt like an absolute gift in so many ways. I thought I would like to tell you about Kathleen, the person you have faithfully prayed for over the past 10 years.

Kathleen was Karen’s and my little sister, 3 years younger, and Paul’s big sister. Having older sisters who were a lot alike, meant she got double hand-me-downs! It also meant she carved out her own identity. Where I safely wore flats, she, though tall like me, embraced high heels! Where Karen and I attended Luther College, she attended Concordia and graduated from Valparaiso in Indiana. She was the first to become a wife and mom and devoted herself to it.

She tackled many things and approached just about everything with confidence, from making furniture to remodeling homes, teaching school, serving as a youth minister, leading a Christian Olympics program, working in the field of women’s economic development and directing the chamber of commerce for 2 towns. She was smart and energetic. She radiated warmth and open-heartedness. She composed beautiful, loving letters to each of her children to tell them how much she cherished and believed in them. She envisioned and organized our first 3-day Isakson reunion, with over 100 in attendance. She loved to laugh, and her kind of silliness was contagious. She built enduring friendships. Kathleen knew a great many songs and loved to sing. As I saw so clearly during her illness, her faith was rooted and strong.

By age 50, Kathleen started having difficulty with certain ordinary tasks. She was evaluated and diagnosed with Benson’s Disorder, a rare form of dementia affecting primarily the rear of the brain initially. The diagnosis shook her immediate family, along with Mom, Dad, Karen, Paul and I. Kathleen remained at home initially, even started her own cleaning business, but when she could no longer drive, she chose to move to a retirement home. She referred to the residents there (most much older than she) as her ‘people’ and welcomed the opportunity to look out for them, noticing when any of them was having a hard day. Kathleen belonged to a church women’s group and was asked to speak at their retreat on the topic of joy. She spoke openly about her diagnosis and about her trust in God.

Kathleen continued to face her illness with courage and grace, even as she knew she was losing her abilities. Finally, she required nursing home care and was admitted to a local facility where she lived the last 5+ years of her life. The dementia eventually took much of her eyesight, her mobility and her speech, but the core parts of her personality seemed unchanged. Though she no longer knew how to give hugs or converse, she continued to share her special warmth that endeared her to those around her. She felt the losses when both of our parents died. Through the years of her illness, Kathleen gave me many things. She inspired me to trust in God, to keep believing. She was protective of me, not the other way around. Best of all, she gave me a rare gift that I needed, time to practice being in the moment. Now was what she had, now was what we shared, and it was a blessing.

This year’s was the 8th or 9th trip I’d made to spend time with Kathleen and her kids. I was so grateful for all the time I had with her, though it was never easy to see what more the disease had taken from her since my last visit. It truly was the ‘long goodbye’. This year in May, she officially qualified for hospice services due to increased difficulty swallowing. I saw Kathleen every day for 26 days, and when the final day came, I said a last good bye to her as best I could. I spent some solo days of camping in the National Grasslands, days of solitude which gave me such a peace. Then I started to make my way toward home.

As I was leaving Rapid City, I had put in a request for the clergy from a local church to visit Kathleen. Out in the remote grasslands, I got a call from one of their 2 pastors who said she would be happy to visit her. She recognized Kathleen’s name and, as it turned out, had attended the retreat and remembered Kathleen’s talk! She recounted how not long after the retreat, she felt called to go into the ministry, accepting a position at the same church. This story brought tears to my eyes as I took in how Kathleen’s faith seemed to have come full circle back to her.

A few days later, I learned Kathleen had taken a serious turn and wasn’t breathing well. A vigil and message thread were set up for the family to be in communication. Before long, I got word that she had died. As I drove home on the final leg of my trip, Kathleen made the final leg of her life journey and went home too. She died on Pentecost. She was 61. Having Kathleen as a sister was a true blessing. You would have liked her.

Thank you so very much for all those prayers all those years, and I’m glad I can share her with you!

Elaine Isakson

• The Pastor’s Discretionary Fund: Please remember that an extra $5 or $10 each month may make a huge difference to a family in need! Please indicate any additional donations as "Pastor's Discretionary" when you mail in your monthly offering.
• Our Nativity Choir officially takes the summer off, and we invite individuals or small groups (duets, trios, quartets, etc.) to provide special music in worship. If you can share your musical talent one or more times, please contact Charlie B. cbrownjr51@gmail.com
  
• Don't forget: One simple way to help care for creation is to download the weekly bulletin onto your smart phone or tablet and then bring that device to worship or use it when you zoom at home saving paper and resources. Need help figuring that out? Call Pastor for Android help or Denise Stadler for Apple help.
  
• We have a new receptacle for collecting our aluminum pop tabs. Look for the paper bag on the Social Ministry bulletin board in the Narthex. Place your tabs in the bag and take your container home and fill it again! The tabs are donated to the Ronald McDonald House. The revenue they receive from their partner metal recycling facility supplements the stays of families of hospitalized children at their facilities in Bangor and Portland.
  

A Note from your editor, Kim Murphy

Reminder - send articles and photos by the 15th of each month.

Email kmusicorama@gmail.com

Photos this month - Elaine Isakson, Internet resources

Rev. Wendy J. Anderson

Sunday Worship (Sept -May) 10:30 AM

Summer Sunday Worship (June - August) 9:30 AM

Email: office@nativityrockport.org
Website: www.nativityrockport.org
Location: 179 Old County Rd, Rockport, ME, United States
Phone: 207-594-4665
Facebook: facebook.com/nativitylutheranchurch.rockport.maine