Offering of Thanks

“…as we carry the offering,

which we administer in order

to honor the Lord himself and

to show our eagerness to help.”

           2 Corinthians 8:19b

 Dear Givers of God’s Blessings:

    The Lower Susquehanna Lutheran Bishop, Rev. Jim Dunlop, recently sent out a letter to all the congregations of the synod. In this letter he raises up the importance of each congregation’s mission support towards the many needs of our greater ministry throughout central Pennsylvania. As the synod moves forward into the R3 initiative of Reform, Renew & Revision, new ministries and ideas are growing. He writes that, “While we celebrate these innovations, our synod is also accomplishing our everyday work:…putting in place superior pastors… consulting and working with congregations on everything from pastoral transition to financial assistance to leadership retreats... cultivate partnerships with Lutheran Camping Corp. United Lutheran Seminary, SpiriTrust and LutherCare… maintain mutual productive relationships with our neighbor synods in the ELCA region 8, as well as Lutheran Disaster Response, Lutheran World Hunger, and other church-wide ministries…. Support the ELCA with direct financial giving of about 45% of our budget. All this is made possible by Mission Support from congregations….”

    Our Bishop’s words are full of truth and gratitude for all what the congregations do as one synod together. In like manner I wanted to thank everyone for their continued support of mission through our synod and also here in our community. As we close in on Thanksgiving, we have to realize we have many blessings that God has bestowed on us that we can share with the world. St. Mark has been dedicated towards helping our neighbors in need in many and various ways. In these final weeks of 2018, we will be collecting basic staples for the food banks, Christmas gifts for New Hope clients, knit items for the hat and mitten tree, donations for world hunger tree, items for the stockings for the troops, besides striving to meet the goal of $14,000 for our benevolence to mission support at the synod and ELCA. God has surely blessed us, let’s give thanks now and always.    In faith and peace,

                                                                        Pastor Kirk Griffin