PILGRIM LUTHERAN CHURCH
44 CHAPEL ROAD – KENMORE, NY 14217
(716) 875-5485
A Congregation in Mission, Community and Service
PILGRIM’S PROGRESS
MAY 2016
PASTOR: Rev. Ben Eder
EDITOR: Mary Werth
ASSOC. EDITOR:
SUNDAY SCHOOL: 9:00 AM
TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY: 9:30 AM
WORSHIP: 10:00 AM
The Ascension challenge
Ever wonder what it might have been like to be a disciple when Jesus ascended into heaven? He gave them the
monumental task of making disciples of all the world. Plus, they’d have to do it without relying on Jesus’
physical presence, as they had until then. Were the disciples overwhelmed, uncertain, afraid?
Maybe, yet they went on to spread the gospel throughout the world nonetheless. They rose to the challenge
because they fixed their gaze above as they watched Jesus disappear into the clouds.
When we follow that example, offering ourselves as willing servants and keeping our eyes trained on Jesus
instead of our circumstances, there’s no limit to what God can accomplish through us.
Ascension Day
Forty days after each Easter, many Christians around the world celebrate the Ascension. It’s the day when the
resurrected Jesus was raised up from the earth into heaven. The Ascension is the prelude to Pentecost, when the
Holy Spirit came upon a gathering of people, including the apostles, in Jerusalem.
The Ascension is more important than many Christians realize. In his human body, Christ could be in only one
place at a time. The risen Christ, however, can be spiritually present in any place at any time.
Ruth — a Pentecost story?
The disciples were celebrating Pentecost, originally a Jewish festival, when the Holy Spirit descended
on them and birthed the church. Pentecost, which began as a harvest festival, had come to commemorate the
giving of the law. The book of Ruth became integral to festival worship.
Why Ruth? This short story doesn’t mention the law, let alone God giving it to Moses. Yet in Ruth’s
devotion to her mother-in-law (“Where you go I will go .... Your people will be my people ... ” [Ruth 1:16,
NIV]), she fulfills not just the letter but the spirit of the law: loving kindness — all the more remarkable
because she’s a foreigner. Boaz, too, demonstrates exorbitant kindness to Ruth.
As Christians celebrate the Spirit bridging differences in Jerusalem, uniting all nationalities by making
the gospel message intelligible to all people, we too can remember Ruth’s story. For in it, God unites two
enemy peoples for his grand purpose: Boaz and Ruth’s marriage leads to King David and, ultimately, to King
Jesus. Today, the Holy Spirit continues to unite all categories of people under Christ’s reign for the good of the
world.
Always with us
Forty days after Easter, we celebrate Jesus’ ascension into heaven. This occurred 10 days before
Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus’ followers, as he had promised.
Jesus’ ascension reminds Christians that although his body couldn’t remain present everywhere, we can
universally experience his spiritual presence. In fact, Jesus’ final words to his disciples — and to us — contain
this key promise: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, ESV).
SUNDAY SERVER SCHEDULE
MAY 2016
DATE
READER
May 1
Wes Wiers
USHERS
Mike
Weurch
*
Diane
Weurch
Gary Smith
COMMUNION
ASSISTANT
NURSERY
Carolyn
Alessi
May 8
Carolyn
Alessi
Naomi
George
*
Harvey
Caldow
Eric
Fellner
May 15
Mary
Werth
Tyrone
Bryant
*
Colvina
Colvin
Jack
Hambridge
May 22
Sue
Holway
Peggy
Clark
*
George
Alessi
Jim
O’Brien
May 29
Tyrone
Bryant
Eric Fellner
*
Gary Smith
Ruth
O’Brien
Ashleigh
/George
Diane
Weurch
Carol Obot
Frank
Alessi
More than a name
When the late CBS correspondent Ed Bradley visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., he
found a letter propped against the black wall. It read:
“I wanted to come back and say hello. You know, I went ahead and married Dick, and we have a
beautiful little girl. Her favorite color is purple, the color of this stationery. I went to Arlington to
see your grave, and on it, it said you got a Purple Heart for dying. Well, this is your purple heart
for having lived. I hope that our daughter finds as wonderful and as beautiful a first love as you
were for me. Good-bye. Hello. Nancy.”
That’s a strong reminder that those we honor on Memorial Day are more than simply names. They
were living people who loved and were loved … and are still loved.
—Adapted from Homiletics
Carolyn Alessi
May 8
Tyrone Bryant
May 9
Mark Eder
May 18
Peggy Clark
May 29
Gail Rodgers
May 30
May 11
May 17
Rob & Carol Gross
Frank & Carolyn Alessi
ESTHER CIRCLE
The next meeting of the Esther Circle will be on Monday, May 9th, at 6:30 p.m. Our
guest speaker will be Andrea Cammarata from Journey’s End. She will tell us about the
organization and how it works with refugees in our area. ALL are welcome to attend.
We donated money for the purchase of four new tables for the fellowship hall. These
tables are considerably lighter in weight and will be easier to move around.
Another “Pot Faith” meal is planned for Esther Circle Sunday on May 22nd. There will
be a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board soon.
On Saturday, June 18th, we will be having a Bake/Book sale. (No, not baked books.
Don’t be silly.) We are looking for fiction and non-fiction novels, children’s books and
cookbooks. Please do not donate encyclopedias, dictionaries or textbooks. A box will be put
in the back of the church in June to collect the books.
Please remember to save:
Dash’s register tapes – give to Sue Holway
Cancelled postage stamps and used ink cartridges – give to Pat Watkins
Pennies – give to Karen Smith.
The next Community Dinner will be on Friday, May 6th, from 5 to 7 pm. The menu is beef
stew over noodles, apple sauce, desserts and beverages. This is sponsored in part by a
grant from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
The next meeting of the Pilgrim Active Laymen (P.A.L.s) will be on Saturday, May 21st,
at 8:00 am at Pilgrim. All men are welcome to join us!
LHM Paraguay Center Dedicates New Office
Facility
On Sunday, March 13, friends, partners, and
supporters gathered in Asunción, Paraguay to
celebrate the dedication of the new ministry
facility of LHM's Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones
(CPTLN)—Paraguay outreach center.
After months of anticipation, the ministry broke
ground on the building project last June.
CPTLN—Paraguay Director Victor Verruck said
at the groundbreaking ceremony that the ministry
was looking forward eagerly to having its own
place. With the cutting of a ribbon on March 13,
Victor's dream officially became a reality.
"What a day!" said Dr. Douglas Rutt, Director of International Ministries for LHM. "A beautiful worship
service with our brothers and sisters of Paraguay and then the dedication of our new Lutheran Hour
Ministries ministry center!" Rutt, who attended the festivities together with LHM President and CEO
Kurt Buchholz and Latin America Regional Director Rev. Dr. Nilo Figur, was a guest speaker for the
worship service that kicked off the celebration.
The new facility is equipped with administrative offices, a multipurpose room, an auditorium, a
kitchen, and a recording studio. This will provide the capacity to hold a variety of ministry activities,
including workshops, conferences, training activities, and receptions.
Having a new headquarters is not likely to keep LHM—Paraguay's staff and volunteers from their
busy "outbound" schedule. They build relationships and share the love of Christ the old-fashioned
way—hands-on—which means they will continue to travel to the country's other cities and remote
villages to respond to need, present film shows and vacation Bible schools and values education, and
provide microbusiness vocational training—along with the message of eternal hope in Jesus.
To learn more about the Gospel outreach of Lutheran Hour Ministries in Paraguay, visit the center's
Facebook page, www.facebook.com/cptln.paraguay.
Thoughts for Memorial Day
The anthropologist and naturalist, Loren Eiseley, who died in 1977, wanted this epitaph for his wife and
himself: “We loved the earth, but could not stay.”
No one can stay, of course. We all are moving inexorably toward that final day when “the shadows lengthen,
and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over, and our work is done” (Book
of Common Prayer).
This Memorial Day we particularly remember the men and women who have perished in war, giving the
ultimate sacrifice to make the world a better place. They too “loved the earth, but could not stay.” May God
hasten the day when we can solve our disputes peacefully.
We also remember all our loved ones whose stay on Earth is over. Christians believe that death does not end all.
We trust that the God who made us will provide for us when our bodies can no longer sustain us.
A memorial stone on the campus of the College of Wooster in Ohio, placed there by a class many years ago,
reads:
United in time
Divided in time
To be reunited
When time shall be no more.
That is a hope we can have for ourselves, our loved ones and those who sacrificed all.
Ever-evolving, ever-loved hymn
“Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” often known simply as “The Navy Hymn,” dates back to 1860, when William
Whiting wrote it for a student of his about to travel by ship from England to America.
Original verses testified to the protection of God the Father, Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Trinity. In 1940, the
U.S. Episcopal Church rewrote the hymn to include travel on land and in the air. Many verses have been written
since: for Navy SEALs, submariners, astronauts, military families, ship dedications and more.
The following verse, intended for Memorial Day, may be used with the credit line below:
We thank you, God, for loved ones dear
Who clung to faith beyond their fear,
Who served and paid the highest price
For freedom bought with sacrifice.
May they remind us of your Son
Whose death our final freedom won.
—Heidi L. Mann, 2012
THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR THE JUNE
NEWSLETTER IS MAY 22ND.