Original art by Maria Hupp 2025

It is Holy Week. On these days leading up to Easter, Christian communities gather to hear stories about Jesus giving a new commandment “To love one another,” before eating a final meal with his friends and his startling arrest in Gethsemane. We recall his brutal beating and makeshift trial. We remember a denial by the charcoal fire and the crowds screaming “Crucify him!” We try to insulate ourselves from the bizarre parade to execution hill beyond the city walls and the violence of fear and hatred which took his life.

I wish that all of the gruesome events of these solemn and shadowy days were sequestered in the past, but unfortunately our embrace of sin continues to propel similar occurrences right into our days and newsfeeds. Greed, selfishness, and betrayal runs rampant. Hate and revenge dismantles friendships and allegiances. The struggle to maintain power and cling to self-preservation distorts otherwise clear-headed thinking. Manipulation and judgment rooted in fear continues to be lived out in real time right in front of us.

As I write, politicians and lawyers are arguing over what to do with Kilmar Ábrego García after he was mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison. Russia and Ukraine continue to launch bombs at one another. Israel and Hamas are at a seeming stalemate as lives continue to be destroyed daily. The Sudanese civil war marks a two year anniversary with more death and starvation. Chaos reigns at our Southern border and a flurry of tariffs strain international relationships. Democrats and Republicans point fingers and blame one another as they dig in their heels. Military budgets swell as countries fortress themselves for the future. Countless children continue to go to bed hungry. Like the disciples, we are paralyzed by waiting and wondering as the shadows lengthen and threaten to overwhelm us.

In the gospel according to John, Jesus refers to himself as light and speaks to the realities that come with that brightness. He tells us that we won’t stumble, our vision will be transformed, and mobility will look different with his encompassing light. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8). The Lord of Light doesn’t say that the darkness is gone, but promises that the veil of gloom will not dominate the landscape of our lives. The Light of Christ shines into every shadowed corner and cranny.

Pastor Daniel Erlander describes it this way: “We do not find God. God finds us – in our darkness, our pain, our emptiness, our loneliness, our weakness… [For us, this] is a new way of seeing… It is here, on the cross, that God meets us. Here God makes Godself present: hidden in weakness, vulnerable, suffering, forsaken, dying… As God meets us where we are, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see the Cross is God’s embrace – the Cross is God’s victory!”

This line of thinking is called Theology of the Cross. In the cross of Jesus, we see forgiveness, reconciliation, power, hope, life, unconditional love, and triumph. In the cross of Jesus, we are reminded that the goodness of God is stronger than any evil. In the cross of Jesus, God declares that death does not have the final word.

Filled and fueled by these promises, we live as people of Hope who are waiting and watching for something beyond the struggle and pain of now. We cling to God’s resurrection promises! Pain and suffering isn’t the end of the story. Jesus bursts into our presence as the one who once was dead, but now is alive.

Leaning into Hope!
Pastor Lowell Michelson

We all worry about our kids and the kids we love. From babies to adults, we agonize if we have done enough, what direction they are headed, or did we do or say too much? As a parent, aunt, neighbor, and in my position as Director of Faith Formation, I have had the joy and sometimes heartache of experiencing kids in all stages of life.

As I grow older and continue to learn about the grace and peace that a life grounded in the love of Jesus can bring, my heart and mind are less jumbled with worry about my parenting skills and my kids’ success in the eyes of the world. I find myself praying more about the fruits of the spirit in my own life and cultivating them in the children I love. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) are the true markings of a life in Christ.

It’s not easy in this environment with the distractions of phones, devices, social media, and a world oriented to material success to engage with children in an authentic and meaningful way. While you may feel like you are falling short, I can assure you that you are not. I see the fruits of the spirit that you are instilling in your kids even if you receive the full spectrum of their developing minds and hearts at home.

I recently spent the weekend with our Jr. High kids at an overnight retreat at Lord of Life. They were all things that you can imagine a group of 6th to 8th graders would be: active, silly, loud, impatient, and impulsive. However, they were also kind, helpful, empathetic, creative, and faithful—like preschoolers with bigger bodies.

Our theme for the retreat was “God Calls Us to Serve.” We discussed ways to love and care for our neighbors through acts of service. We experienced serving and recognized who serves us. They mentioned their families over and over again as examples of kindness, sharing, and serving others. Well done, families! They are observing and imitating you.

As one of our activities, we served at Matthew 25 by sorting “imperfect” feminine hygiene pads into those that could still be used for their original purpose or those that can be used for cleaning up in areas devastated by war, natural disasters, or poverty. While they might have grumbled at the task initially, they got to work. They made a game of tossing them in the proper bins and competed to see who sorted the fastest, but they also worked diligently to get as many sorted as possible while discussing how different resources can be used to serve others or how we can work to be less wasteful in our own lives to serve creation.

Modeling our faith, priorities, and care for others can sometimes seem to be a daunting task, especially with the distractions and busyness of life. Be kind to yourself and know that the children we love are seeing the fruits of the spirit in you. What small steps can you take this week to live more freely in those life-giving traits?

We may never stop worrying about our children and the children we love but we can rest in the assurance that God will continue to guide our lives through the joys and heartache. I pray that living in the fruits of the spirit will not only nourish us but the lives of the children that surround us.

Living and serving with you through God’s love,
Angie Seiller, Director of Faith Formation

When Lord of Life started as a mission in 1987, color television had only existed for 33 years. By the late 80’s, the average family had progressed from hoping to be lucky enough to have a single console television in their family room to having TV’s in multiple rooms.

From the 50’s to the 80’s we also made it possible to answer our land line telephones from multiple places in our homes by installing jacks throughout the house, and many homes were even able to cut the cord and use cordless telephones. My sister always had ours, so I never got to use it. We added answering machines, caller ID, and pushed buttons instead of dialing on a rotary. Our stereos went from AM/FM receivers with record players to 8-tracks and cassettes, and by the 80’s we were using compact discs, and I remember having all of that technology at one time because we still had records, cassettes, and CD’s in our giant media center.

Our audio/video landscape had changed drastically from 1954 to 1987.

Now it has been 38 years since Lord of Life planted roots in West Chester. In that time, I remember fully adopting and then abandoning CDs and DVDs. My sister got me an MP3 player to carry with me, and I spent hours downloading music so I could have the best of my collection with me wherever I went. Now my iPod is gathering dust because I just stream whatever music I want to listen to any time I want. I have gotten rid of all of my giant tube TVs and have sleek flat screens that hug the walls in several rooms in my house, a projector in one room, and several small home displays, any of which allow me to watch any show, movie, or media clip I might pull up online. I don’t have cable anymore, but I can access almost any program at will any time I want - I can even watch worship from previous weeks at Lord of Life! Despite having a screen in every room, most of the time I watch everything on my phone - the all-in-one music/video/calling/texting/mailing device I am attached to all the time.

Not only is technology changing fast, but we are constantly adding ways we connect with each other. We experience that in the church building, too.

Ten years ago, we had a 16 channel audio mixer that just barely accommodated the band, the pastor, a worship leader, and two speakers. Upgrading to a relatively inexpensive 32 channel mixer kept us going for eight years. It offered digital integration so we could integrate our online worship, and the extra channels let us add more band members, add microphones for additional worship leaders, and support our outdoor worship space.

The mixer we have currently has aged and some channels have died. The cost of repairing it is now beyond the value of replacing it, and we have completely maxed out the number of channels we are using each week. We’re constantly finding new things we wish we could add. Just last week, we hosted Baptism sponsors over Zoom from California - this took an additional channel coming into the mixer and one going out so they could hear us. I had to temporarily remove something else from the mix to make that work so we had enough channels. We would love to add microphones so we can hear the congregational singing, additional instrumental mics when we have extra musicians at Christmas and Easter, channels from other parts of the building in a retreat or conference situation, and whatever new technology might pop up in the next six months or sixteen years.

The great thing about the newest mixers is that they are built the same way new computers are - they can be expanded with additional components. We are not locked in with our initial purchase. If the power supply or processing unit goes bad, it can be swapped out on site instead of shipping it away at great cost to us. If we need more channels, we can just add them. The new units are meant to last many years.

I’m committed to making music as great as I can and being as responsible as I can with our resources. Our Sound Footing campaign launched last week to raise the capital for our sound system and to repave our parking lot. As of writing this blog, we’re over half-way to our $165,000 goal to achieve both projects! This will bring our audio technology up to date and keep us worshiping joyfully for a long time. I’m excited as we step into this next chapter of our history together!

If you are interested in contributing, please visit www.lol-lutheran.com/give and select the Sound Footing tile.

You never get a second chance at a first impression.

When picking up a date in high school, I remember my older brother telling me to be on time, go to the door and greet the parents/family, smile, ask about their interests, and be grateful. You never get a second chance at a first impression.

When going to an interview, others advised that I arrive early, dress professionally, be familiar with the company and position for which I am applying, prepare questions ahead of time, give a firm handshake, make eye contact, and smile. You never get a second chance at a first impression.

The same is true at church. Often, when I have a conversation with someone who recently visited Lord of Life for the first time, they talk about their first impressions using phrases like “What a friendly place. I felt welcomed.”, “There’s so much natural light in the worship space.”, and “It felt like coming home.” For those who visit in the summer, they are stunned that we have a permanent outdoor space under the canopy of trees. “Wow! What a joy and delight to worship in creation!” You never get a second chance at a first impression.

Think back to your first impressions of Lord of Life. What were they? Maybe you sent a child to the preschool or attended a 12-step meeting on a Sunday evening. Perhaps you were looking for a place to land for worship during COVID and stumbled on a worship service in your social media feed. You might live in the area and heard about the connection to the community.

My first impression of Lord of Life came while reading paperwork about the congregation from five states away in Wichita, KS. I had an overwhelming sense that this congregation rooted themselves in God’s promises and sought a life of faithfulness in worship, learning, and serving. Even in the midst of pastoral transition, this community played to their strengths and continued to move forward in intentional discipleship and mission. What a first impression!

Together, we’re working on some first impression projects right now. You may have noticed that our unrepairable road sign was recently removed. Thanks to a generous $15,000 designated gift, a new welcome sign has been created and is expected to be installed in the coming weeks. Lord of Life Christian Preschool is paying for an accompanying sign to be part of the project, too.

In addition, our church council recently approved a plan to move forward with repairing our parking lot and replacing our sanctuary sound system. Both of these directly connect to the first impressions people have of our faith community. The parking lot is not only visually a mess right now, but even has some hazardous areas where walking and driving are not safe. The sound system is essential not only to onsite worship and other events held in the sanctuary, but also impacts the outdoor and online worship moments. Can the Spirit of God work in spite of a crumbling parking lot and crackling sound system? Yes, absolutely. But these two projects will help our congregation make the best first impression possible.

This weekend, we are launching Sound Footing, a month-long campaign inviting you to help us tackle the cost of these two projects before we hit the summer months. Please prayerfully consider a special gift to help us bring renewal to the parking lot and sound system. See page three of the April Lifeline newsletter for more details, and be sure to catch worship this weekend when we’ll share more about the growing momentum for these plans.

Thank you for helping us make a good first impression and not only welcome people to the Lord of Life campus, but also invite them into abundant life in this community as we live, share, and celebrate the all-encompassing love of Jesus for all.

Sharing life together,
Pastor Lowell

My first year at Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University, I took a class called Death, Dying, and Grieving. When we got to the part of the class where we talked about grief, we learned about the stages of grief, which are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. For some, grief is understood as having a very linear track. A person goes through one stage of grief and then the next, and once someone reaches the last stage, the grief is magically over.

The more I learned about grief, I realized that for many of us, grief is much more complicated than that. It is less of a linear path and more squiggly lines that cross all over the place that weave in between the stages and have no end. We also experience grief in a variety of ways; we can grieve the death of someone we love, a major change in our life or the world, a tragic event, and so much more. Learning to understand grief in this way helped me to start navigating my own journey of grief with my parents divorce, major life changes, and the death of friends and family.

I have been thinking about grief a lot more in the last few weeks, especially since my grandma's death on Valentine's Day. If I am being honest, I am not entirely sure where I am in my grief journey. There are some days where I feel like I go through all the stages but at the same time feel continually comforted that she is with God. Scripture is filled with many people expressing lament. Lament is another way of understanding and expressing sorrow, grief, and pain.

Lament is often expressed in the psalms. Psalm 22:1-2 says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but find no rest.” The psalmist cries out to God about the sorrow being experienced in their life.

I do not know what you are grieving, but we have reassurance that God is with us in our journey of grief and can handle our sorrow in all of the stages, highs, and lows. Perhaps you have seen God's reassuring presence amid your grief through the kindness of a good friend or family member who takes the time to listen to you, a kind note, or prayers.

In our Lenten theme, "Everything in Between," we have been talking about the messy middle that we experience in our lives. Often our grief is not in one stage or another but it's everything in between those stages. In what ways are you grieving? How are you seeing God walk alongside you in this journey?

Grieving with you,
Pastor Nicole

Doug grew famous last month with a simple, yet heartwarming invitation to his Winter Party. He certainly did not mean to get so much attention; his intention was to have a small gathering of old and new friends. Doug is an 87-year-old man whose wife passed away three years ago. He personally delivered twenty-four handwritten invitations that simply said, “A Celebration of Winter. 4pm until the cops arrive. Food and drinks on offer. Bring only a smile,” underneath his drawing of a snowflake. This interaction with one of his new neighbors was captured on her door camera. She posted it on social media and their exchange went viral (rapidly circulating from one internet user to another).

Doug said he hoped to “put people together in one room and maybe they will get to know each other”. His simple gesture spread beyond one room and all over the world. He received food donations and hundreds of cards wishing them well, and it even spawned a larger gathering in the town square for those that weren’t invited. I believe people are craving goodness and community in this world where ugliness tends to overshadow the good.

Being at Lord of Life (LOL) has shown me how powerful community can be, especially when it is rooted in the love of Jesus Christ. When we come together, we see and hear each other more fully, which enables us to grow together and gives us strength. It is an act of love, of affirmation, of understanding that we are better because of what each person brings. God has created each of us in all our uniqueness and diversity to enhance our lives together. Even if you join online with us, we pray that you feel the power of community. We are grateful for all the ways we connect.

As we gather around tables to share a meal in the sanctuary for Lent Dinner/Church, it is just one of the experiences at LOL that binds us together as we listen to each other’s stories. There is a transformational and healing power when we embrace each other fully. Romans 12:10 reminds us to “be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” It is a holy calling.

When we feel the peace of being loved in our own uniqueness, we can confidently take that into our community as some of us did at the Hamilton Pride Community Conversation or at the rally to Unite Against Hate. We didn’t know how many other LOL people would be at these events, but we individually felt the urge to comfort and support those who are marginalized, pushed to the edges, and even hated. How beautiful it was to find the strength of community and to listen with empathy and love.

LOL may not party till the cops come like Doug’s gathering, but we know how to sing, connect, and celebrate. We pray that we can provide a community where all are seen, honored, and embraced. Sure, there are times we fail or could improve, but the core of who we are is living, sharing, and celebrating, with all people, God’s love in Jesus Christ.

Do you feel loved in your uniqueness? I hope so! How is God calling you to listen, share, and celebrate in community with others?

Always learning and growing in Christ with you,
Angie Seiller, Director of Faith Formation