We had beautiful Holy Week services starting with Palm Sunday with breakfast after the service, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday, with all three well attended.  On Easter Sunday the sanctuary was beautiful with lilies on the cross and flowers up around the altar.  Thank you to all who helped us with all the flowers.  The organ, the Choir, and Don Smith’s solo and, of course, Pastor’s sermons all through the week.  We have turned a page here at Living Lord and are headed in the right direction.  It is such a joy for me, as your Council President, to see what we are doing now as a church.  Let’s just keep reaching!  May will be outside flower month.  We will be picking up our flowers shortly and will be having a planting party within the next few weeks.  Thanks to the congregation our outside flower fund reached just under $1,000.00, which is great!  I cannot wait to see the finished product out front and the patio behind the Fellowship Hall.  We will be doing some outside projects this summer funded by the Fuchs Fund.  The entrance and exit of the parking lot will be dug up and repaved back 40 feet from Route 46 on the exit side and on the entrance side the driveway will be widened at the road and dug up to the sidewalk in front of the church about 50 feet back from the road.  The current handicapped spaces out front will be replaced as they are falling apart.  We will then convert all the parking spaces in front of the Education Wing to handicap spots.  That will give us a total of 14 handicap spaces.  All the spots in the back will cost us nothing.  We will be removing the final two trees behind the Fellowship Hall and having the stumps grinded level to the ground.  My vision for that space is to landscape to some degree.  I will share my visions for that space at a later date.  Thank you all for your help and understanding as your Council President and I appreciate your support.

Church Information…Please remember that you can obtain church information from the monthly Lamplighter Newsletter, the Constant Contact emails you receive, on the church website (www.lllc.org), on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Living-Lord-Lutheran-Church-493806727349110/), and postings on the church bulletin board.  Church Council Meeting minutes are posted on the bulletin board and sent out via Constant Contact.  We would like to see a better “open rate” when we send information to you via Constant Contact so that we know you are being informed of the activities that are occurring at the church.  If you have any other suggestions on how best to reach out to our parishioners, please see a Council member.

Thank you to all who contributed to the collection of T-shirts and socks for the Paw Pantry at Howland High School.  Our tallies were:  Girls T-shirts = 30; Boys T-shirts = 25; Girls pr. of socks = 104; Boys pr. of socks = 75; Pajamas = 2; Footsies = 2; Compression socks = 4; Miscellaneous socks = 8.  All schools participate in suggesting student needs for the distribution of toiletries, food, and clothing.  The room in the high school that houses the items for distribution is very well organized, very clean, and supervised at all times.  Thursdays are organized for high school students to visit the Pantry for needed items and teachers in the other Howland Schools send over to the Pantry requests for their students in need.  We at Living Lord will be collecting toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush) for the months of May, June, and July for the Paw Pantry.  Thank you in advance for your generosity!  Watch for the container in the narthex.  Pastor Gammon and a member of the Evangelical/Membership Committee have taken communion to our homebound members.  We will start over on the list to visit after Easter.

Our Lenten Soup Suppers and our Palm Sunday Breakfast were certainly big hits.  My sincere thanks to all who donated and helped to clean up.  There was good fellowship and a great message each week from Pastor.  May’s Fellowship will be on May 18 following the service.  I am planning the usual coffee and sweets.  Bakers needed!  Our June Flea Market and Bake Sale will be on Saturday, June 21.  Please consider donating some baked goods for our sale.  This was a great success last year and a good moneymaker.  Please enjoy Spring’s warmth and sunshine.  Everything is so green and the flowers are so beautiful.  Thank you God!

Monthly Women’s Breakfast…Please join us at our monthly breakfast at Vasilio’s in Cortland on the second Thursday of every month at 10:00 am.  All are welcome!

Thanks to everyone who supported our Easter Food Basket ministry.  Whether you donated goods, money, or your time, we could not have done this without you.  Wishing all of you God’s blessings.  You are appreciated!

Time.  The subject of time, and its passage, probably has more idioms relative to the subject than perhaps any other (with the exception of love).  “Time stands still”, “Time heals all wounds”, “Time is a thief”, etc.  The truth is that time, and its passage, is relatively constant.  The variable is our perception of time.  When we are experiencing something we enjoy, time seems to pass quickly; conversely, when we experience something we do not enjoy, time seems too slow.

But the fact is, time, as measured here on Earth, passes at the same rate–60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 365.25 days in a year.  Our relationship with time changes based on our circumstances.  Watching a child grow can give us the perception of time passing ever so quickly; suffering pain (physical or emotional) often seems to bring the passing of time to a halt.  When we are busy, “there’s not enough time in a day”, and when we are not busy or are bored, “time goes by so slowly”.  Sometimes we anticipate an event so much that time seems slow, and then when the event is over our hindsight tells us that time moved too quickly (my childhood Christmases come to mind!).

Whatever the case, time moves on.  With or without us, the clock keeps ticking.  I believe that our amount of time is not as important as what we do with our time.  Obviously, there are certain things we must do with our time–work, eat, hygiene practices, etc.  We all need to have time to relax and reflect, but we also need to make time for fellowship, worship, and being with our Lord.  Not just on Sunday mornings but finding time in our busy schedules to spend time in prayer and reflection with God.  Scripture tells us that our Savior will return someday and that we must be ready when that occurs.  In preparation for Jesus’ return, let us spend time reading scripture, learning more about our Lord, reflecting on our relationship with Christ, and identifying and removing any barriers that might exist.

April is here, and Easter is approaching fast.  Let us look into ourselves and our relationship with the Christ so that we are better prepared to greet His coming.  Afterall, “There’s no time like the present!”

I wish you all many blessings from our Lord this Easter and thereafter.

Well our Ash Wednesday service went very well and attendance was great and that led us to our Wednesday Lenten Soup Suppers and Evening Service for five weeks.  Our first two suppers were also well attended with inspirational messages from Pastor Gerry.  I am hoping the rest of our Soup Suppers and Evening Services will continue to be well attended.  These are the functions that keep our church together and we become stronger in our beliefs and love of God and these functions make us a stronger Living Lord Lutheran Church.  Our weekly church service, our Adult Forum, our Sunday School (when we have children in the building), all the causes that we ask you to support, are all part of Living Lord Lutheran Church.  These are the things that make our church stable and we can continue to do God’s work.  We are now working on some new Fellowship ideas to have here at the church.  We are thinking of Bingo parties and game nights or afternoons and maybe a Chili cook-off.  These will be causal with snacks and beverages and allow more fellowship between our members and possibly other area churches.

At times I feel that we get bogged down by silliness, which means nothing or at the most very little.  And that  is not our goal as a church.  Our purpose is to spread the word of God, help in our communities when we can, have a vibrant and healthy atmosphere in which to worship, and to support our church.

Look, as Council President, I am doing my part the best I can.  We realize that the future of our church is to attract new members.  We are doing our best to make our church as attractive as possible to potential new members.  But I need you all to help me keep us heading in the right direction, to support the church.  I am not saying financially–you are doing that–just please also support the church through its functions.  That makes us stronger as a church.

I would like to take a minute to comment on our pastor.  He is doing a great job learning our liturgy for our Sunday services.  He and his wife, Marian, have settled right in to our congregation.  They are active in most all of our functions here at the church.  Pastor has not said no to anything I have asked of him.  And remember, he is also the pastor to another congregation and that he is a part-time pastor.  I think sometimes he has gone beyond part-time.  So hats off to our pastor!

Let me finish by telling you a little story about Karin and I joining Living Lord.  At the time, we were looking for a new church.  Karin’s best friend was a member here.  She suggested that we consider Living Lord.  Well, an appointment was made for Pastor Williams to come visit us.  I was a little nervous about the meeting because I did not know what to expect.  I was not sure if we were going to hear fire and brimstone and we needed to get to church or we were going to hell!   Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but when the pastor came, Karin and I were so taken by him that we ended up joining Living Lord.  That was 42+ years ago and Karin and I still love this church and the members are part of our family.  We both feel we want to see this church continue on as long as possible.

Church Information…Please remember that you can obtain church information from the monthly Lamplighter Newsletter, the Constant Contact emails you receive, on the church website (www.lllc.org), on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Living-Lord-Lutheran-Church-493806727349110/), and postings on the church bulletin board.  Church Council Meeting minutes are posted on the bulletin board and sent out via Constant Contact.  We would like to see a better “open rate” when we send information to you via Constant Contact so that we know you are being informed of the activities that are occurring at the church.  If you have any other suggestions on how best to reach out to our parishioners, please see a Council member.

Sincere thanks to our members for the generous donations of T-shirts and socks to the Howland Local Schools’ Paw Pantry in March.  Your generous gifts of these two clothing items will be greatly appreciated by students in need in K-12 grades in our schools.  We will be collecting toiletries for the Paw Pantry in June and July 2025.  A list of requested needed items will be posted on the bulletin board in the narthex after Easter 2025.  Again, many thanks and have a blessed Easter!

As we welcome in Spring, we enjoy the longer daylight hours and God’s warm sunshine.  Our Soup Suppers have been a wonderful get-together on Wednesday evenings.  Good soup and great fellowship are a winning combination.  Pastor Gammon has provided us with a mid-week message for Lent as we prepare for Holy Week.  Thank you!  We have started planning our June Flea Market and Bake Sale.  The Bake Sale was a success last year and I hope for a repeat.  More info coming soon.

Fellowship Sunday…Please plan on joining us on April 13, Palm Sunday, for our monthly Fellowship gathering.  We are planning a breakfast menu following our service with cinnamon rolls, breakfast foods, and good conversation.

We will be offering Easter Food Baskets.  The board with donation lists will be in the narthex.  The last day to bring in food donations is Sunday, April 6.  Food Basket pick-up will be on Palm Sunday, April 13, after the worship service.  If you wish to reserve a basket, please contact Pam Boothe.  Thank you in advance!  God bless.

Here it is March already!  And with it we will begin the Lenten season.  March 5 is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.  Each of the following Wednesdays until Holy Week we will share in our Soup Suppers, read and reflect on scripture, and enjoy fellowship all in our Fellowship Hall.  Last year we experienced good attendance at these gatherings, and it is my hope that we will do even better this year!  Lent is a wonderful time to work on improving our relationship with the Lord.  We can use this 40-day season to really dig deep into ourselves and identify things that might be obstacles in our relationship with the Lord.  We can read more scripture, we can spend more time in prayer, we can give more of ourselves and our resources to those in need, we can abstain from things that take time away from spending time with our Lord and really focus on Jesus.

The purpose of Lent is really to prepare ourselves for the Risen Christ.  If you knew that Jesus was coming back in the next few days, what would your priorities be?  What are the things that you would want to better or get in order before His arrival?  These are the things we can use this wonderful season working on.  And who knows, they might just become habit forming!  Maybe we will discover new ways to always be ready for the Lord’s return!  Just maybe we will be better equipped to face judgement day!  And how wonderful would it be if we were able to help others do the same?

I wish you all a very blessed March.  I pray that you all will use these first few days of Lent to find ways to bring yourselves closer to God and experience the love He has for you always.  May His grace bring you peace, now and always,

Pastor Gerry

PS:  I want to thank all our returning service leaders in our Church Council.  I also want to extend my gratitude to all those who have served previously and have decided to rest for a while.  I also encourage all our members to support those who are working so hard to keep our church viable and try to increase our numbers.  If you have interest or ideas, please feel free to approach Council members or myself.