Here comes September! And of course, here at Calvary that means here comes a full calendar of good stuff! This fall’s calendar is going to be a little different – and I’m hoping better than ever – because of the Sunday morning schedule change that will go into effect on September 7. If you remember, the new Sunday schedule we voted to try starting this September is as follows:

Traditional Worship: 9:15 and 10:45 in Sanctuary
Contemporary Worship: 9:15 and 10:45 in Fellowship Hall
Sunday School: 9:15 and 10:45 in S.S. rooms
Adult Education (led by pastors & staff) 9:15 and 10:45 in Choir Room

It’s not a perfect schedule (that won’t happen till heaven, when worship happens all the time!) but it is a schedule with some advantages. One advantage is that I think it’s more memorable and therefore “user friendly” for visitors. That may not seem like a big deal to those of you who are “Calvary regulars,” but I’ve had more than a few occasions to invite someone to worship at Calvary, only to watch their eyes glaze over when I started explaining things: “OK, there’s 8:30 traditional in the Sanctuary – that’s on the north end, and then at 9:00 there’s contemporary on the south end, and then at 9:45 there’s traditional again back in the Sanctuary and then at 11:00 there’s contemporary or traditional in the Fellowship Hall and Sanctuary and then Sunday School for kids is at 9:45 or 11:00. Got it?” I like that I can now tell people that everything we do is offered at both 9:15 and 10:45. Then I don’t get the “glazed eyes look” until I try to tell them how to find our building! (“Turn east off Washington at Wendy’s” is about the simplest way I’ve found to do that!) (A Calvary member suggested our mission statement should be: “Calvary Lutheran Church: cleverly hidden in a neighborhood near you.”)

I also like – I really, really like! – that I can now also tell folks about our offering of pastor led Bible Studies and education opportunities on Sunday mornings. At what time? (Hey, this is easy – 9:15 and 10:45!!) These adult ed. offerings will take place in the choir room. One option now possible for families, if you so choose, is for parents and children all to attend different “Sunday School classes” at one time, and then worship together at the other time. For those of you who prefer to have your children in Sunday School while you’re at worship, that option also exists at both times. And for those of you who like the adult ed. classes but Sunday doesn’t work so well for you, we’re going to offer each Sunday’s class also on the following Tuesday over the lunch hour. We’ll start at 12:10 and finish promptly at 12:50, and you can bring your sack lunch if you’d like!

Another thing I think will be helpful about this schedule is the 30 minutes “down time” between 9:15 and 10:45. I’m very hopeful that this will alleviate some of the parking lot congestion that has so often been a problem – especially for some of our older folks – when you arrive for later services.

As I said, it’s not a perfect schedule, and I’m sure we’ll have some growing pains getting used it –- and we may even find we need to tweak it in some way or another. But I like that we’re giving it a shot, and I thank you for being such “flexible Lutherans” that you’re willing to give it a shot too!

I’m also excited about the worship and education topics we’ll be offering to start off the year -- in both a sermon series and our adult ed. We’re going to dig in to one of the great books of the Bible –- the book of Genesis. We’ll hear the stories of some of the great “heroes” of the faith –- Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. We’ll re-discover that many of these “heroes” –- being real people –- didn’t always act “heroically.” But God always acts faithfully. These are great stories –- with deep life applications for those of us who are “real people” too! We’ll supplement that sermon series with an adult ed. class on “Faith, Science, the Bible – and Creation.” A schedule for the series and adult ed. time is included elsewhere in this newsletter. I hope you enjoy taking part in it as much as we’ve enjoyed preparing it for you.

Grace and peace be with you,

Pastor Roger