“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Our Father is a God of abundance. He creates us and all of creation continuously. His work in creation is never done. His creation is a creation with more than enough for all His children. Our fear starves us… spiritually and physically. When there are people without because we insist on making people earn everything, God says through His prophet Isaiah that His creation and His gifts are given freely, without price. It is a blessing to be fed by the Body and Blood of Jesus every Sunday. Our sacramental meal deepens our faith and love. And when we are healed by that bread and wine, we see creation’s abundance. We don’t live out of fear anymore. We live with the hope that springs from faith in our Resurrected Lord, Jesus. The time we live in is a troubling one. It is tough to see where we are headed. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the things we cannot control: vicious politics, civil unrest, a new need to move against racism, a COVID-19 pandemic. It is okay to turn the tv off. It is okay to ignore the news for a day or two. Take time for yourself, a sabbath. Take time to walk in the woods and pray. Celebrate a sabbath and pack a picnic and read some Scripture. The news will be there tomorrow. Give your heart a chance to heal. I believe you will catch a glimpse of God’s grace. You will see that all will be well. For August, we will again meet outdoors for our Sunday worship. Bring a chair, an umbrella for the sun, a little wine and bread for communion… and yourselves! We are distancing ourselves to respect and protect each other. Masks are worn and we have masks available if you need one. Love your neighbor as yourself. (In case of rain, the service will be streamed on Zoom at https://luthersem.zoom.us/j/7022434787. We will let people know if the service is cancelled by phone tree around 9am.) The Council approved guidelines for small groups who wish to use our church. For more information, contact me or Katie. On Fridays at noon we continue to gather on Zoom for Friday Faith Conversations of Grace. We are looking at the Large Catechism right now. That will carry us into September. After that, we will see where the Spirit takes us. Through August, we will look at the Gospel of Mark, 7pm via Zoom. Mark is the Gospel for the coming year, so we will get a deeper look at Mark and his theology and what is to come in 2021. Mark’s

Grace Lutheran Church

is a caring community

of disciples, proclaiming

the good news of

Jesus Christ.

August, 2020

picture of Jesus is extraordinary and very human. Mark shows us a side of Jesus we can recognize and touch. Join us at https://luthersem.zoom.us/j/95111002305?pwd=cEJoZEN5Y0hSWTQzWVV2WkNyaWNtQT09. If you have questions on how to use Zoom, I can help. Give me a call or an email. Know that you are all in my heart and my prayers. I hope to talk to you soon, if I haven’t already. Please let me know if you need anything. Your church family is here for you. And if you ever need to talk or pray, take me aside at church and we can pray together. “O how good and how pleasant it is/ when kindred/ live together in unity!” (Ps 133) PayPal has been added to our website: gracesouthrange.com. You can now give electronically and set up recurring payments, so you won’t have to think about your envelopes every week. And our finances continue to look good, so thank you to all for doing your part to care for our church. Also, I am visiting people as I can. Let me or Katie know if you want to chat or pray or sit and drink coffee. Or we can meet in my office at the church. (I have La Croix in the refrigerator for us.) My sermons are all posted online at www.gracesouthrange.com/sermons/ and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/cavalerima. Don’t forget, if you have something to share with me, I LOVE to hear from you… good or bad or indifferent. All of your insights are appreciated. Thanks to everyone who has contributed your thoughts. Your reflections are a great help to me. Do you have dreams for our church? Have you had an idea you wish you could try out on our congregation? Talk to me. Grace is your church. Let’s make it what you need it to be. As always, I am here for you. Catch me on Zoom, call me at home or shoot me an email. We will get through this together… I look forward to talking with you. Be good to each other. Call each other. We are family. With faith and hope and love, Vicar Micah

Outside Worship Sundays at 11:00am.

We will have an outdoor worship Sundays at 11:00am. Bring a cozy lawn chair or feel free to stay in your vehicle. These

will be communion services, so please bring your own wine or juice with bread. You will serve only yourself and/or your household. If weather changes our plans, we will let you know via phone tree that

Sunday morning around 9:00am, and we will worship via Zoom.

4The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

~Numbers 11: 4-6

Dear Friends in Christ, Does your strength feel dried up? Is there nothing at all but online worship or half-empty pews to look at? Do you remember when we took regular in-the-sanctuary worship for granted? We remember the fellowship, the potlucks, the singing, gathering around the altar for the Lord’s Supper. Do you have a strong craving for going back to the way things used to be? The thing is…we are in the wilderness. We have left Egypt (the good and the bad) behind, and God is making us, the church (and maybe society too), into something new. And if the experience of the Israelites is any guide, we are only in the beginning of our journey. If, as Dr. Osterholm says (an epidemiologist) we are only in the second inning of a nine-inning game, then we are only in the first decade of a forty-year journey, or in the first months of what will take a year to two years. It is rather remarkable how the wilderness experience of the Israelites and our own pandemic wilderness experience is similar.

Moses was under a lot of stress, and so is your pastor.

Every day is full of new decisions. There is much to take into consideration and pastors are being pulled and pushed into exhaustion. Do we resume in person worship? How? When? What if cases in the community are rising? What if someone shows up and won’t wear a mask? What if more people show up than we can accommodate for social distancing? What if the most vulnerable come, how can we be sure they’ll be safe? What do I say to someone who doesn’t believe the threat is real? Please be patient with your pastor and your leadership. The way forward is far from clear… for returning to worship, fall programming, and so much more.

Moses learned not to be a solo leader and others stepped up to help.

At first it was all Moses. He went up the mountain alone and came down alone. But then he appointed more leaders to help shoulder the burden of leadership. When the pandemic first started, your pastoral leader scrambled to provide resources and/or an online worship. There wasn’t time to recruit volunteers, there was too much else to do. He or she may not have had the means or initiative to get the council or others involved in meeting the needs of ministry in the congregation, much less the community. But now, as we settle in for the long haul, councils and other congregation members would do well to ask their pastor how they can help, if they are not already doing so. Ask:

• ~Who needs a phone call and to be prayed with?

• ~What new technology can I learn that would help?

• ~Are there mailings I can help put together?

• ~Are there email lists and cell phone lists that need to be updated?

• ~Can I be a part of the online worship effort?

• ~Can I help someone use ZOOM? Or please simply send a note of thanks and affirmation, so your pastoral leader knows their efforts are appreciated, and hold them in prayer.

As their wilderness journey continued, the Israelites complained about a few things and so do we.

Wilderness times are full of high anxiety and stress. There is confusion. There is grief because we have lost the familiar and fear about an uncertain future. These feelings sometimes come out as anger or sadness or just untethered emotion. Sometimes the best we can do is to take a deep breath and invite others to do the same. The words of Julian of Norwich come to mind…again, “All will be well. All will be well. In all manner of things, all will be well.” It is not up to you or me to fix the church or solve the pandemic or answer every question in the moment it is asked. This is a time of prayer and discernment, of conversation together to determine what is best, of asking how God is at work, and erring on the side of care for the neighbor. Easier said than done. But being gentle with yourself and others is a good beginning.

The Israelites arrived in the promised land a different people than when they left Egypt and we will emerge from this pandemic a different people too.

We are practicing our faith differently. At a time when we have not been gathering for worship as we used to means that feeding one’s faith is not as easy as simply showing up to worship. This pandemic has challenged us to find new ways to deepen our discipleship and our relationship to God in Christ Jesus. Many pastoral leaders have done their best to provide online devotions, Bible studies, emails of encouragement, phone call prayers, and more. In addition, I see the need for congregation members to take a new kind of initiative. For some, it may be more difficult to turn on the computer than get in the car to go to church. It may be more difficult to pray at home, than in the gathered assembly. Personal devotions depend on a person doing them. Online Bible studies are helpful only if one participates. Our rhythms are off. The regular habits of faith have been disrupted. By the time this pandemic is over, new patterns and practices will emerge, new insights will give greater clarity, and who we are as Lutheran Christians in the Northern Great Lakes Synod will look and feel differently than it does now.

The Israelites were closer to God when they were in the wilderness –

intimately dependent on God in a whole new way.

In wilderness times, that is, in times of fear and uncertainty, we pray all the harder and more frequently. We look for God more fervently. We rely on the presence of Christ walking with us with greater dependence. God is nearer, more palpably present, and this is an unexpected blessing. As the Israelites travelled in the wilderness, their patience wore thin. They were tired of the journey, tired of Moses, critical of their situation and their leaders. I hope we can travel our wilderness road with a little more grace. As your leaders consider next steps, please understand that their priority is your health. And their primary challenge is how to nurture your relationship with God in Christ Jesus while observing the best practices for the safety of all. So, as you travel this wilderness journey, watch out for your friends and neighbors. We don’t want to lose anyone along the way. Check in on each other. Pray. Take your own initiative to deepen your discipleship and care for your congregation and community. Your pastor can only do so much. And just as God led the Israelites through the wilderness, so does God lead you and me. These are trying days that will stretch into months and longer. But God is with you, your congregation, and with the Church that is the body of Christ.

Take heart and do not lose faith…or patience. Yours in Christ,

Bishop Katherine Finegan

May our gracious God hem the broken parts of ourselves. May our Creator God weave together the joyful parts of our lives.

May the God of new life unravel our doubt and knit a tapestry of hope into our hearts. Amen

A Benediction from Messiah Lutheran in Marquette

Quilters On hold until

further notice.

Notes from

the office

Would you like to start receiving a weekly devotion from the church

office on Mondays? Please send Katie

your name and email address.

Newsletter items

are due in the office the last week of the

month.

Please save your Econo receipts and

return them to a box in the library. Grace receives 1%

of the total receipts.

If we do not have your birthday or

anniversary, please let us know.

Anniversaries

Ed & Karen Semmens 5 Joe & Chris DeForge 9

Micah & Molly Cavaleri 11 Tommy & Patty Savola 14 Paul & Cara Wightman 15 Tony & Deb Juntunen 28

Steve & Lauri Kneebone 31

Did You Miss A Sermon?

Vicar Micah's sermons are now on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/user/cavalerima

You may also find past and current sermons on our web page.

http://www.gracesouthrange.com/

Knit, Pray,

Crochet On hold until

further notice. All are welcome.

Birthdays Tatum Krznarich 7 Carolyn Maki 11 Denise Hendrickson 19 Adele Destrampe 23

Michelle Jeannotte 24

Kiitos Paljon

Thank you, Tommy Savola and Joe DeForge, for

repairing the wall and patching up around the chimney.

In these hard times please remember to save your Econo receipts and place

them in the designated box in the library. Grace receives 1% of the total receipts.

August

Worship Text

Sunday, August 2 Matthew 14:13-21 Jesus feeds 5000.

Sunday, August 9 Matthew 14:22-33

Jesus walking on the sea.

Sunday, August 16 Matthew 15:10-28

The Canaanite woman’s daughter is healed.

Saturday, August 23

Matthew 16:13-20 The profession of Peter’s faith.

Saturday, August 30

Matthew 16:21-28 The rebuke to Peter.

July Council Highlights

1. We will have a “soft opening" only for small groups/committees from our church. A “soft open" has been stated that groups of 10 or less can meet inside the church building and only use the rooms at either end of the church the quilting room or the dining area, and use of the rest rooms). There will be a sign-up sheet to track who has been in the building and verify that they do not feel sick or have any COVID symptoms. Serving of food or drinks will not be permitted. All groups will practice social distancing and wear masks and are expected to wash hands frequently.

2. Worship will continue to be held outdoors throughout August.

3. Surveyor needs to create the line separating the parsonage property and the church property. He will need help from Grace members. Chris DeForge, Tom Stimac, Joe DeForge, Karl Rundman, Dave Harju and Katie Bridgers will meet with Harold.

4. A bid was approved from Keweenaw Glass & Door for replacement of a panel on the main glass front doors, for $360.87.

5. Water is still leaking in through the chimney/furnace room and is being worked on by Tommy Savola and Joe DeForge.

Grace Lutheran remains temporarily closed.

The council continues to reevaluate the situation. For more information, you may call Katie at 482-2011, or email Katie at

grace@gracesouthrange.com. Or you may contact Vicar Micah

at 281-9588 or email Vicar Micah at vicar@gracesouthrange.com.

At this time, office hours will vary throughout the week. Please feel free to call the church; your calls will

be answered. Emails will be checked and answered throughout the day.

Lutheran Dictionary by: Walter Lieder

Concordia Publishing House Saint Louis, Missouri

Angel: A spirit, good or evil, more powerful than man; a messenger, especially of God (from Greek, “messenger”).

Crucifix: A cross bearing the figure of Christ Crucified.

High Place: In the Old Testament, a temple or altar, usually on a hill or elevation, and commonly devoted to idolatry; a sanctuary or altar of Baal. (Lev. 26:30; 2 Kings 17:9, 29)

New Man: The spiritual life in the regenerated, opposed to the old Adam; the sum total of all Christian virtues. (2 Cor. 5:7; Eph. 4:24)

Martin Luther on God’s Power In his great mercy he has given us new birth… into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power. (1 Peter 1:3-5) Peter addresses those “who through faith are shielded by God’s power.” He uses this description because when certain people hear the gospel – how faith alone without works makes us godly – they jump in and say, “Yes, I believe too.” They confuse their own thoughts, which they make up, with faith. We have previously taught from Scripture that none of us can do even the smallest works without God’s Spirit. How then out of our own strength could we do the greatest work – to believe? Such thoughts are nothing but a dream. If we are to believe, then God’s power must be working in us. Paul says, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom… that you may know… his incomparably great power for us who believe (Ephesians 1:17-19). Not only is it God’s will, but he also has the power to spend a great deal on us. For when God creates faith in us, it is a great work. It’s as if he were creating heaven and earth again. People are being foolish when they say, “How can faith alone save us?” There are some people who believe, yet they don’t do any good works. For they think that their own thoughts are faith and that faith can exist without good works. In contrast, we agree with Peter, who says faith is a power that comes from God. When God gives faith, the individual is born again and becomes a new creature. As a result, good works naturally flow from faith.

From Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

Grace

Lutheran is a

member

of the

Evangelical

Lutheran

Church

in America.

Our Hearts to Their Homes

Jean Simila at HCMC

Susan Koskela at home

Helen Sirvio at the Bluffs

Gert Somero at the Bluffs

Delores Paavola at home

Gladys McCormick at HCMC

Eleanor Maki at HCMC

Jan Mikkola at the Bluffs

Amanda Mountjoy at home

Bill & Sandra Mannisto at the Bluffs

Jesus speaks... My kingdom is not about earning and deserving; it is about believing and receiving.

Be the BEST

version of YOU

Weekly Activities at Grace

Mondays ~ Virtual Cup of Grace at 11:00am

Wednesdays ~ Bible Study at 7:00pm

Fridays ~ Friday Conversation at 12:00pm (starting July 10th, the first one will be at

11:00am, the following three will be at noon)

These are all by Zoom, so please contact Katie if you need the link or call in number.

Grace Lutheran Congregational Contact Information

Volunteer Coordinators

Acolytes/Bell Ringers Katie Bridgers 482-2011

Altar Duty Chris Davis 482-5567

Communion Chris DeForge 482-8068

Counters Marianne Bohjanen 482-8459

Funeral Servers Chris Davis 482-5567

Readers Cheryl Stimac 281-7909

Fellowship Carolyn Rundman 482-6344

Ushers Pam Long 482-4065

Greeters Chris Davis 482-5567

Ride Coordinator Katie Bridgers 482-2011

Office Volunteers Katie Bridgers 482-2011

Gardening Janet Kokko 482-2368

Building & Grounds Maintenance

Tom Stimac 281-7910 Joe DeForge 482-8068

Tom Savola 281-5494 Katie Bridgers 482-2011

Grace Lutheran Council

Micah Cavaleri 281-9558

Cheryl Stimac 281-7909

President

Chris DeForge 482-8068

Vice President

Heather Aro 482-0341

Secretary

Sue Slinde 483-4759

Jean Baillod 482-3240

Janet Kokko 482-2368

Rosanne Poisson 281-7622

Laurie Aho 482-0817

Treasurer

Committee of the Month

Christian Education Committee

Plans and coordinates the curriculum for Sunday School, Confirmation and

Vacation Bible School.

Our Christian Education Committee Vicar Micah Chris Davis Katie Bridgers Janet Kokko

Please talk to any one of these members for more information or join them at one of their meetings.

The council has approved some guidelines for small groups under 10 people who wish to use our church. If you are part of a small group or a committee that would like to meet in person at our church, please talk with Vicar Micah or Katie and we will go over the guidelines with you.

Our Christian Education Committee is in need of Sunday School teachers, story tellers

and volunteers to help with crafts. You may help out as little or as much as you are able.

If you are interested in helping, please see Katie.

Sun.

Mon.

Tues.

Wed.

Thurs

Fri.

Sat.

1

2

11:00am Outdoor Worship

3

11:00am Virtual

Cup of Grace via Zoom

4

5

7:00pm Bible Study via Zoom

6

7

12:00am Friday

Conversations via Zoom

8:00pm AA

8

9

11:00am Outdoor Worship

10

11:00am Virtual

Cup of Grace via Zoom

11

12

7:00pm Bible Study via Zoom

13

14

12:00am Friday

Conversations via Zoom

8:00pm AA

15

16

11:00am Outdoor Worship

17

11:00am Virtual

Cup of Grace via Zoom

18

6:30 Council Meeting

via Zoom

19

7:00pm Bible Study via Zoom

20

21

12:00am Friday

Conversations via Zoom

8:00pm AA

22

23

11:00am Outdoor Worship

30

11:00am Outdoor Worship

24

11:00am Virtual Cup

of Grace via Zoom

31

11:00am Virtual Cup

of Grace via Zoom

25

26

7:00pm Bible Study via Zoom

27 28

12:00am Friday

Conversations via Zoom

8:00pm AA

29