Pastor Dan is away on military leave.
April 26, 2024
Dear friends,
Generally associated with King David, Psalm 22 is a Psalm of lament and anguish. I find it interesting that this Psalm, which comes from a place of great sorrow, is located immediately before Psalm 23 and its vision of great comfort and beauty. If you’ve ever experienced a deep personal low in your life – and truthfully, who hasn’t – I hope this weekend’s sermon will offer some perspective on where and how we can gain comfort in such times. I will be preaching the sermon, which will be pre-recorded, and Pastor Bob will be leading the rest of the service.
Things are going well for me in Germany. I am no longer living on Ramstein Air Base but rather am renting an apartment in the nearby small village of Kottweiller-Schwanden. My landlord is about my age and speaks pretty good English. He is a mechanic in a nearby manufacturing facility. He and I are getting along very well. His wife speaks almost no English, so she and I are on more of a nod, smile and wave basis.
One of the leisure activities to do here is to go visit a castle or castle ruins. I read somewhere that Germany has something on the order of 20,000 castles. For comparison’s sake, America has about 14,000 McDonalds, so there are a lot of castles in Germany. Not far from my location is the castle of the family Frankenstein. The castle is indeed from THAT family of Frankenstein, but there is only folklore connecting the castle to Mary Shelley, who wrote the original Frankenstein book in 1818. Anyhow, if the weather cooperates, I hope to go visit the Castle Frankenstein this Saturday. I’ll share details and a photo or two when I can.
Our next trivia night will be next Friday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m. I enjoyed seeing many of you last month for trivia and look forward to it again. Your free answers are rhubarb, a stork and Walter. Categories for trivia will be the Old Testament, Birds, Automotive Industry History, National Parks, Flowers & Plants and USA. Last month, we had 56 people attend trivia, a new high-water mark for us. We continue to build community around that event. We’re hoping to keep the positive momentum going!
I hope you have a great rest of your day, a better Saturday and are able to join us for worship on Sunday. I look forward to it.
Peace and blessings!
Pastor Dan