The annual meeting will be held at 11am on Sunday, January 30, and there will be an online attendance option.
Click the button below to open the 2021 Annual Report. Please note that the official ballot will be slightly different, as the empty slots in committees have been filled out since the publishing of this document.
In the summer of 2021, the remains of 215 bodies were found outside a boarding school for Indigenous children in Kamloops, B.C., even as the remains of 9 children were repatriated to the Rosebud Sioux in South Dakota from a boarding school in Pennsylvania. We are faced with the reality that for nearly 100 years the U.S. government and white settlers forcibly removed children from their families in order to assimilate them into white, “good Christian” culture. Our Native American and Alaskan Native neighbors still suffer deeply from the scars of this trauma and its lasting effects on their individual and community wellbeing.
This congregation is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), whose Northern European forebears settled across the Great Plains and into the Pacific Northwest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, displacing the tribal residents of the lands we homesteaded. But we also made friends: members of tribal peoples joined our congregations. And in 2021 the ELCA American Indian/Alaska Native Lutheran Association asked ELCA churches to hang orange banners in sanctuaries or other prominent places to recognize, remember, and honor the lives of children lost to the boarding school system, the generational trauma incurred by this sin, and our commitment to learn from the past and make amends as best we are able.
Faith’s orange banner features the handprints of our members and words that express our commitment to listen, lament, and love our Indigenous Neighbors. We hung it on Reformation Day 2021, and it will be up through June 2022—a bit more than one day for each child found or returned last summer. Its design was inspired by the University of Victoria’s 2021 Orange Shirt Day “Heart and Hands” emblem, created by UVIC’s Audain Professor of Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest, Carey Newman. Newman writes:
"This design was made to honour the children who died in residential school. The hearts express love for all those in unmarked graves and compassion for the families and communities who waited for them to be found. The small and colourful hands remind us of the uniqueness and beauty of every child. Taken together, they represent our commitment to listen to our hearts and use our hands, to do the work that needs to be done.
The visceral confirmation of Survivor accounts that has come from locating these graves has affected many of us on an emotional level. It has changed the way that many people think and feel about our histories and current realities in Canada."
- Artist Carey Newman Hayalthkin’geme (Kwakwaka'wakw/Coast Salish) on "Hearts and Hands"
Blue Christmas: December 15, 7pm. Christmas and Grief. Wednesday evening at 7:00pm, come for a special time of worship for those for whom the holidays are marked by grief and loss. Will also be livestreamed on Facebook.
Christmas Eve Worship: 3:00pm and 9:00pm. The 3 o’clock service will be livestreamed on Facebook.
Sunday, December 26: one service at 10:00am. This service will also be livestreamed on Facebook.
Click the button below to see the results of the recent feedback form regarding Children and Youth Ministry staffing at Faith Shelton. More detailed results are available from the church office upon request (email welcomehome@faithshelton.org)
I urge everyone to pray for a swift resolution of this pandemic. I urge everyone to show support for the tireless efforts of so many health care professionals, hospital staff, and first responders. I urge everyone to be slow to judge and quick to show compassion. And I humbly urge everyone who is physically able to get the vaccine: for the sake of others, for the sake of the gospel, and for the sake of Christ Jesus.
We’re hiring a full-time Director of Children and Youth Ministry! Please see the job description below (or click here if it isn’t loading). Please email a cover letter and resume to doug@faithshelton.org by noon on Wednesday, August 11.
Auditions dates for A Christmas Carol (a musical) Sunday, August 29th 2 pm ages 10- adults. Click here for more information.
Hi all
I am excited to be preparing for our holiday show - A Christmas Carol (a musical)
We have obtained the rights to perform the musical version from IT&M shows. A link to the songs is below:
http://www.itmshows.com/christmas-carol/_deploy/content/the-songs.html
the beauty of this license is it allows us to edit the script/songs in any way we please. I have had a zoom meeting with the composer to discuss my ideas and get his vision for the show.
That being said - FA! will be producing a unique version of the show. We will be replacing some of the songs with other, more contemporary songs as well as adding in some others. For example, near the opening of the show, the whole company will be performing "Money, money, money" from ABBA and later in the show, Tiny Tim will be singing "This is My fight Song".
It's going to be a super fun and exciting show - so please consider participating. I know I've missed some folks, so please forward this on to others you know. We are also looking for new members to join our group - so please pass this on to anyone you know who might be interested as well as post on your social media.
the website has been updated with all the necessary details. here is the link
https://www.keystonecenterartsandsci.com/acting-out
AUDITIONS - will be SUNDAY, AUGUST 29th, 2:00 pm in the Fellowship Hall, Faith Luteran Church, 1212 Connection St.
We will also be looking for addition help with the tech crew - lights and sound.
This is not only a great family show for the holidays - but ALSO families IN the show, so consider joining as a family.
Let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing you all again on August 29th. (PS - please be sure to bring a mask and your auditions form).
—Michelle Whitaker, Director
Here is the link to the stream of Chuck Nesmith’s Memorial.
The constitution that we recently approved can now be viewed on our website. Click the link below to see the page!
Palm Sunday:
10AM traditional service, livestreamed and in person
Contemporary Worship Cafe Playlist
Maundy Thursday:
Noon service of footwashing and Holy Communion on Facebook Live from the Pastors Satrum/Peterson house
Good Friday:
Virtual Stations of the Cross on YouTube (stay tuned for direct link)
Please note that we will not be gathering in person for Maundy Thursday or Good Friday.
Easter Sunday
9AM traditional service, livestreamed and in person
11AM contemporary service, in person
Contemporary Worship Cafe Playlist on YouTube (stay tuned for direct link)
Please do not come to worship onsite if you are not feeling well or if you are still uncomfortable doing so! Plenty of folks are continuing to worship from their homes, and we look forward to seeing you when you are comfortable coming in person, whenever that may be. Here’s a link to our COVID-19 safety measures and protocol.
Dear Friends and Families of Faith Lutheran of Shelton,
Happy Spring! It’s been a while since our bonfires last fall: what beautiful evenings they were! Light and life are returning to the land—and hopefully, we will be together in person soon.
In the meantime, we offer your household some devotions and coloring pages to connect with each other and the love of God through the Easter Story. Illustrated Stations of the Cross introduce us to the people and events of Jesus’ Way through Jerusalem to the hill where he died and invite us to celebrate his resurrection on Easter Morn.
We have mailed out paper copies of the following:
8 ½ x 11 coloring pages of the Stations of the Cross, both simple and more complex.
Devotions for kids and adults: super conversation starters that fit beautifully into the Faith5 (SHARE highs and lows, READ scripture, TALK about it, PRAY for each other, BLESS each other) we practice at FLC. Use some or all of the 15 entries!
Please email youth@faithshelton.org if you haven’t received these and would like us to send (or re-send) some copies.
Digital copies of the coloring pages and the devotional are available on the church website if you need more (please see our weekly email for the password).
Help us out with Holy Week? We’re looking for readers (young, old, and in-between) and singers for Holy Week Zoom worship.
God bless each and all of you, dear friends! We hold you in Light and Hope of new beginnings and re-openings soon to come, and in eager expectation of connecting with you during this Holy Week and Easter season.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Brenda
Pastor Brenda Satrum, Spiritual Formation
Our Ash Wednesday service will be at noon on February 17, 2021: in person (wear a mask!) and livestreamed on Facebook.
Religion and ritual often give outward, shared expression to profound inner realities. On this day, dust and ashes express our own and our community’s confusion, division, fear, lack of understanding, grief, anger, despair. Together in heart and spirit if not in body, we return to God, powerless over this unmanageable life and world, seeking the power and hope of our Creator, Savior, and Living Spirit to save and sustain us all.
TO PREPARE AT HOME:
This service can be as interactive as you want to make it. Gather a candle or two, a cross of some sort, a small bowl or cup of water, dust or ash mixed with oil (a dab of cocoa powder or mascara works, too), and perhaps paper or your journal, even art supplies(!) for prayers. We will also share communion, so have bread and wine ready if you wish.
The virtual Christmas pageant was a success! 31 children and young adults appeared in the show, as well as a few older children of God. We were even able to incorporate some kids from Kids Cove Preschool, which meets in our building. Thank you to all of the camera-people, kiddo-wranglers, and costumers/prop masters from each household; we couldn’t have done it without you!
Originally streamed on Facebook Live on December 19, 2020.
