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We are moving out of Sand Flat Plaza & heading back to the lake (where we first began)!
Join us for worship on Sunday afternoons
at 4:00 p.m. at
Will O' the Wisp.
Sitzmark Room ~ Lower Level
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A Message From Our Pastor
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I pray this message finds you getting ready to celebrate a Happy 4th of July and Independence Day! Independence Day reminds us of our nations move from being a colony, to king and crown, to a self-governing sovereign entity on the world stage. Yet today, Independence Day often serves as a rallying cry ... for freedom, as in the unrestrained permission to do whatever one pleases ... whenever one pleases. Is that really the same freedom that was fought over during the American War of Independence? While I have not seen the new Independence Day: Resurgence I wonder how different it is from the original movie I remember watching once in a make-shift outdoor screen in Iraq on another 4th of July ... back in 2003. I remember a movie about what happened when strange things started happening around the world, when the skies were ignited and terror raced through the worlds cities. When peoples and presidents worked together to overcome a force of incredible magnitude which had arrived in order to annihilate all human life during one long Fourth of July weekend. The fact that these movie people came together and freely gave up their personal freedoms for the greater good will always serve as the foundation for a much greater story. A story like we heard just last Sunday from St. Paul.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote: "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery .... For you were called to freedom, brothers & sisters"; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another." Then, following the lengthy "works of the flesh", Paul goes on to offer the fruit of the Spirit when he writes: "... By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." In these words, Paul speaks to us how it's through these fruits Christ's perfect freedom engages us in a call. A call which obligates us to love our neighbor, as we love ourselves, while we are also called to love God with ... our heart, mind, and soul. A call to invest ourselves in a community of faith ... whether that community be known as Shepherd of the Hills (SOTH), Emmanuel (God is with us) on the Lake, or something very different.
Yes, as Shepherd of the Hills marks its 12th anniversary this weekend, it's future as an independent or "free" congregation, is under discussion.Due to a precipitous drop in visitors since moving to our current home, and to the loss of many founding members, SOTH is exploring options to ensure Lutheran ministry at Deep Creek Lake continues into the future. While we are now growing, having added three new workers in the field last weekend, and still have the potential to add six more full-time or year-round residents before the end of this summer, SOTH is not going to be able to continue if something doesn't change. Does SOTH need to look like all the other congregations around us, or is the Holy Spirit inviting us to find new ways to spread the word and to be a witness for Christ in this place? You might ask, "But Pastor, what does that look like or mean?" To which I would have to truly respond, "I don't know."
Perhaps we have been self-indulgent in trying to be a regular church, instead of the one the Holy Spirit needs to reach out to all those who come to the Lake without ever having heard the Word or after having been hurt elsewhere. "Mission at the Lake" is NOT just a plan to ensure current members of SOTH can continue to worship as a separate worshiping community. "Mission at the Lake" is about ensuring God's Word and Sacraments are made available. It's about more, more than what other churches focus upon, it's about what our Presiding Bishop calls the "distinctive nature of the Lutheran movement" in her latest monthly letter she wrote: "It's our understanding of the gospel. The gospel word creates faith. The gospel word is judgment and promise. Faith created by this gospel word sets people free to serve the neighbor. The church's proper work is to proclaim the gospel word. You know, in the end, it's all about God's fierce and tender love that drives us to the cross, and there, at the very point of death, gives us life. The world deserves to hear the gospel...". This is the heart of who we are, this is the heart of what we are called to do, this is the heart of why SOTH came into being. This is why SOTH is not just going to stick our heads in the sand and continue to do the same thing(s) we've always done. This is why we are exploring options, whether at our Church-wide or Synodical expressions such as taking time to discover opportunities with our full-communion partners, or at our local expression to explore how SOTH could be released from our present congregational overhead requirements. This why we are taking time to explore what merger with another congregation could do to ensure our ability to put our full effort into the "Great Commission."
Between last week and this your council decided to embrace action! To embrace action in order to ensure our future ability to act after taking time to pray and discern Gods will for ministry at "the lake". During this short period, your council confirmed we could be released from our current storefront lease with a mere 30-day notice. Your council also opened discussions with Will-O-The-Wisp and determined we could start worshiping back where our Lutheran fellowship started 12 years ago while saving at least $1,000/month from our current rent expenses. Yes, that will mean that, like Jesus, we will not have a place of our own, that we will have to simplify things for daily set-up and tear-down, that we will have to stack and move chairs, that we will have to give up our beautiful oak altar for a plastic table with linens - yet we will be free ... free to develop new programs and discuss liturgy as we will during our next Worship and Music Team meeting on June 18th where each of you are invited to help explore what lakeside worship can be - where we will be free to find new ways here at the lake and on this mountaintop.
Yes, Independence Day is a great time to remember our founding fathers and all they did, all they gave up, changed, and/or re-worked in order to ensure "...all men are created equal...." Just as SOTH is getting ready to also do something different, to give up things, to change things, or to restructure things in order to ensure ".... For you were called to freedom, brothers & sisters"; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another." Are you ready for Independence Day?
Pastor Rick
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We welcome our New Members
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We are thrilled to have had three new members join our congregation on Sunday, June 26. Pictured here are Pastor Rick Egtvedt, Linda and Jim Luedeke and Beth Colville. The Luedeke's transferred from Shepherd of the Glen Lutheran Church, Glenwood, MD where Jim was the pastor (now retired). Beth grew up in Garrett County... and has now "come back home" from Lynchburg, Virginia. WELCOME!!!
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June 26 ~ Gathering
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Looking at a Call to Mission
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Conversations have begun with the congregation of Emmanuel Lutheran Church about the possibility of the two becoming ONE CONGREGATION, with two ministry sites. One worship site would be at the main church in Bittinger, and the second site would serve as a worship location for outreach ministry in the Deep Creek Lake area, sharing the Good News to vacationers, newcomers, recent retirees, and lake-area residents without a church home. A task force has been commissioned to look into the wonderful opportunity. Members of the task force are Beth Johnson, Deirdre Kildow, Linda Buckel, Carol Newman, Ruth Seib and Paula Blank (pictured below, right).
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L.A.F.F. Dinner
(Life After Forty Five)
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L.A.F.F. Dinners are held the second Tuesday of each month. The collage below was taken on June 14 at the Cornucopia Cafe, in Grantsville. Our next L.A.F.F. Dinner will be held at D.C.'s Steak House, at Wisp, on Tuesday, July 12, beginning at 5:30 p.m. All are invited.
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Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church
The Rev. Richard T. Egtvedt
301-501-8218
Worship @ Will O' the Wisp
20160 Garrett Highway
Oakland, Maryland 21550
301-387-0400
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 374,
McHenry, MD 21541
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We celebrate our 12th Anniversary
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We are heading back to where we first began twelve years ago. Beginning July 10, 2016 worship will be held in the Sitzmark Room of Will O' the Wisp ~ Sunday afternoons at 4:30 p.m.
The first gathering of "Lutheran Fellowship at Deep Creek Lake" took place July 4, 2004 at Will O' the Wisp. A group of about fifty individuals began worshiping together for worship, mutual support and Bible study.Soon they explored the necessary steps for the formation of a new mission congregation....
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Camp Luther ~ WV Flooding
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Donations for Flood Victims
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