“Join us as we learn the conversation of hope!”

I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."
Psalm 122:1

When I was a little girl every Saturday we had what I believe was a sacred ritual. My mother would iron a beautiful white altar cloth, clean all the brass communion and altar ware, create a floral arrangement from the garden, pack it all into the car along with me and we’d drive to our little church. When we walked in to the little sanctuary with folding chairs and a bare wooden table we used for an altar, I think to many people it would seem more like a garage than a church. However, to me and my mom, it was a “Holy Place”. I would help her place the cloth on the altar (first white and then a beautiful purple runner), we’d polish any of our fingerprints off the brassware, put the candles in their holder and place the bouquet of flowers in their appropriate spot. Part of our ritual was to always pray for the next morning’s service.

You see we were part of a group of people who started a new Lutheran church in Citrus Heights. It was a new church that was birthed from the mother church Faith Lutheran in Carmichael, California. The mother church had beautiful stained-glass windows and a large steeple, the picture perfect church. There were some people who would not move to the new little church because it met in a building that was more like a warehouse and not the picture -perfect church. So I asked mom, “why are we here?” Mom replied “We are Pioneers and we go where God needs us.” (She would always remind me that as a little girl she came from Montana to Washington in a covered wagon so she was a true Pioneer).

The amazing thing to me is that on Sunday mornings, when I would walk in with my mom to that little church in a warehouse, it was a beautiful place. The altar glistened in front reminding us that we were there to worship God and celebrate what Jesus did for us on the cross. The folding chairs had people sitting in them smiling, praying and worshipping decorating the entire scene.

Every Saturday I have the pleasure of setting up the altar in our new Mountainside sanctuary. Rich often helps me or Kathi King or Millie Porter or Fiona Monaghan or Jannette Backlund. We place the clothes on the altar, the plants, the brassware, the candles and suddenly a gymnasium becomes a sanctuary. The entire time I’m praying for the Pioneers who are going to come in Sunday morning at 11:00AM and worship God.

I say Pioneers because for us it is hard to leave our beautiful Spirit Falls Sanctuary, but for some they realize that God needs them in the new building. To fill it up and be there to greet the visitors who 90% of the time come to the 11:00AM service as their first experience with our church.

I learned at an early age that being a Pioneer is one of the greatest blessings you can experience. Try it – be a Pioneer and experience the joy of worshipping at 11:00AM in our new Mountainside Sanctuary. I know you will be doubly blessed because over the next few months we are going to be having some of our great guest artists join us for worship at 11:00AM only. (And if you want to help set up the altar, let me know- I would love to have other Pioneers join me in that joy!)

Pastor Linda