Thank you again for the gift of time away for rest and renewal this summer. Unfortunately, not everyone has the gift of taking a 3-month extended leave, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t also embrace some of the patterns shaping my summer of refreshment.

Rest Up
I pray that the coming months are filled with some sabbath time for you, too. God took time to rest at the end of a time of creating. Jesus regularly spent time retreating for restoration. Following those patterns, may we take time—make time—for rest and renewal. It is essential to our long-term well-being. Remember that refreshment doesn’t have to be a week at the beach. This summer, schedule a walk, embrace a lazy afternoon of reading in a comfy chair, or whatever else helps you rest up. Your heart, soul, body, and mind will thank you for it.

Fuel Up
Along the same lines as above, lean into the patterns and activities that provide rejuvenation and bring you joy. Time in nature, immersion in the arts, delicious food, time in communal worship, solitude, catching up with a friend, and all the other good things that bring you refreshment and renewal are essentials to filling your tank. Fuel up with the good things that energize and propel you.

Look Up
As you rest up and fuel up, continue to look up from your own adventures with an awareness of those around you. Paul wrote, “Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Show up for those who need a hope-filled word or a traveling companion through a hard season. Look for opportunities to serve and moments to step up and make a difference.

Speak Up
Frances R. Havergal’s powerful hymn text, “Lord, speak to us, that we may speak in living echoes of your tone,” reminds us that God uses our voices to bring hope and comfort to a world looking for a word of peace. For those who are lost and alone, speak up with a word of welcome and inclusion. Speak up with a word of encouragement. Speak up with a word of forgiveness. For those with little or no voice, speak up to those in power. Speak up against injustice. Speak up with a word of wonder and curiosity at how God might be inviting us into holy moments. In courageous and confident love, speak up.

However your summer shapes up, I pray that you can live like you expect Jesus to show up. He makes that promise in Matthew 28:20, saying, “I am with you always.” Jesus always lives up to his promises.

Leaning into God’s abundance,
Pastor Lowell Michelson

Pastor Lowell will be away June 1-September 7 for an extended time of refreshment and renewal sponsored by The Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal Program. Read about the application process and updated details about how he plans to spend his sabbatical at this link. www.tinyurl.com/LOLsabbatical

We welcome Pastor Mary Laymon, who will be leading worship, providing pastoral care, guiding book discussions, and more during this summer. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 215-630-1091

For all other questions and concerns, please connect with Council President Jillian Campbell. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 513-503-7754

Visit the Staff page online to connect with other staff.

I was waiting in line to check out at a store the other day and noticed the mom in front of me with two toddlers in a cart and a young elementary school child standing next to her. I remember those days of shopping with young kids. I could feel her frustration as one of the toddlers attempted to throw items out of the cart as she tried to pay. I paid for my things and headed out a few minutes after her. She hadn’t gotten far, as she was trying to show her older child how to carry the big plastic pool they purchased and the toddler, once again, threw items out of the cart in the middle of the exit doors. I offered to help her carry the pool since the wind was blowing outside, while also reassuring her that I am a mom and have been there. She declined my help even as the wind almost took the pool out of her child’s hands.

As I walked to my car, my mind immediately went to a place of frustration. I thought her refusal was coming from a place of pride. I could have made her situation so much less stressful if she had just let me help. It wasn’t until I got to my car that a different perspective hit me. She was being the protector of her precious children. She wasn’t going to allow a stranger to follow her to her car in their vulnerable state. Bam! How did I not realize this? Whatever the reason, giving grace should have been my answer.

My assumption was unfair because it made my desire to be helpful more important than her comfort and safety.

This parking lot moment was a gentle reminder to suspend judgment, and practice unconditional grace. Everyone we meet may be fighting an unseen battle, or in my case, a “seen” battle that doesn’t deserve judgment. We can’t assume we know the motives behind anyone’s choices or actions. Jesus freely gives grace to us, and we should strive to do the same for others.

Have you been in a situation lately where grace wasn’t your first response? Have you prejudged a situation or person? This time of year seems especially stressful with the flurry of end of school year activities, transitions to summer, or new stages in life. Our fuses are short.

I pray that we continue to offer a helping hand, spread empathy and offer healthy doses of grace. Sometimes there are times when we do need to say, “Yes, I need help”, and I pray we can discern these moments. I pray the Momma in the parking lot has found some respite and will soon spend hours of laughter and fun this summer with her kiddos in their little, plastic pool.

Finding comfort in God’s unconditional grace and love along with you,
Angie Seiller, Director of Faith Formation

There weren’t many bugs in Greece. I didn’t notice right away, but after we remained unpestered during the fourth meal we ate outside, I realized that at home, I would have been swatting away gnats or flies. That’s why it was so surprising when we were coming down the mountain at Delphi to see a little girl squatting on the ground, blocking the narrow path, trying to corral a ladybug.

Her mom was being so patient. We were surrounded by ancient history - the Temple of Apollo, the seat of the Delphic Oracle, the stadium where the Pythian Games were held, the Athenian Treasury, a theatre that accommodated 5,000 spectators, and countless other relics - and this five-year-old child was blind to everything but the bug taking its time getting across the stepping stones. I would have been beside myself trying to get this child to look up from her beetle obsession to see the ancient history around her. But then what?

If mom had dragged her away from the ladybug without any sort of conversation or transition, what the girl would have remembered was her disappointment, and maybe a meltdown. The rest of the visit might have been lost to her. All she would remember about visiting Delphi was that it wasn’t any fun and she wasn’t allowed to see what she wanted.

We see this "ladybug logic" in our churches every Sunday. People walk through our doors carrying their own versions of that beetle. Maybe they are hyper-focused on a minor grievance, a specific social program, or even just the comfort of a familiar seat. From a "big picture" perspective, we might want to shout, "Don’t you see? The Creator of the Universe is here! Why are you worried about the carpet color or the length of the announcements?"

But if we force their heads up before they are ready, we risk losing them entirely. Like the patient mother at Delphi, we have to meet people where they are. If someone is fixated on a "ladybug," it’s often because that is the only thing they feel they can control in a world that feels as massive and overwhelming as those Grecian ruins. To help them see the Temple of Apollo, we first have to acknowledge the beauty of the bug they’re watching.

This patience shouldn't stop at the church foyer. When we interact with the world around us, it’s easy to get frustrated by people who seem "blind" to the spiritual significance of life. We see neighbors and coworkers consumed by temporary stressors—the "bugs" of politics, career ladders, or material gain—while the eternal landscape remains ignored.

Our instinct is often to lecture or pull them toward "what really matters." But true ministry looks a lot like squatting down on a dusty path. It’s about building a bridge of empathy. When we show interest in what they care about—no matter how small it seems to us—we earn the right to eventually say, "Hey, when you're ready, take a look at the view from here. It’s incredible."

In the end, the goal isn't just to get people to see the ruins; it's to make sure they enjoy the journey enough to want to stay. What are your ladybugs? How do you think you might get others to look up from their ladybugs to see God’s love around them?

On the journey with you,
John Johns, Music Director

It was wonderful to be with you one final Sunday, as I complete my season at Lord of Life. I look forward to joining you for two weeks later this summer, near the end of Pastor Lowell’s sabbatical. I know you will be in excellent hands as Pastor Mary cares for you and you for her.

I want to extend a heartfelt word of thanks to the Lord of Life community. I began my time with you in October, having one of the most abrupt and unexpected employment transitions of my career. I was uncertain what the future held, had a mix of grief and anxiety, and wondered what future work or ministry may look like. And you provided a soft, spirit filled place to land. With kindness, support and words of encouragement, you fully welcomed me into the community. I feel a deep kinship to you all and will have a long-standing spiritual connection to Lord of Life for years to come. I look forward to visiting you in the future and keeping you close as a prayer partner on my faith journey.

As I depart in this season, I want to offer you words of hope and encouragement: Keep being the Church!

Through your weekly worship, fellowship, education, and service to the community, you encompass what it means to love our neighbors. This was evident the first time I walked through the doors, and every week since. You know who you are because you know WHOSE you are. The reason we gather is to proclaim Christ crucified and Risen for the sake of the world. We gather to be refreshed and renewed and to go forth in service to others. I have rarely seen a community so centered and committed to this mission.

In our time together, you have reaffirmed my calling, showed God’s love, and offered joy and laughter week after week. Our world needs you and your faith.

Following Jesus, being a disciple, and living in community doesn’t mean everything is smooth, that we’ll never have tension and that we’ll always get along. Discipleship means we have to find courage to speak against oppression, against idolatry, and to turn to the early church for comfort and inspiration. To know there are people who went before us and experienced hardships—people like Stephen, the first martyr, whom we read about in this week’s scripture (Acts 7:55-60). People like the freedom fighters of the 1960s. Women who sought the right to vote and to be pastors and proclaim the Word.

The path of discipleship is not always an easy one. And that’s why communities like Lord of Life are so essential. It’s through places like this gathering, breaking bread, serving, laughing, and living in community, that we have the courage to speak truth in these times. So keep being community. Keep asking hard questions. Keep loving your neighbor and advocating for the immigrant, for the LGBTQIA+, for ALL children of God who need YOU in this world. Keep being the living Body of Christ.

Until we meet again…
Pastor Tracy Paschke-Johannes

Two continents. Two countries. Nine cities. Thousands of miles. How do I begin to summarize an epic pilgrimage to Greece and Turkey in a short blog reflection? Since I’m a geek who loves to dwell on the parts that some people might find boring, I’ve decided to focus on Plato. If you were on the trip with us, you might be scratching your head. Did anyone mention Plato the entire time we were touring the ancient cities? Not as much as I would have liked. And here’s why: to follow the "Footsteps of Paul" is to realize that the Apostle didn’t walk alone. Long before he stepped onto the dusty roads of Greece, the groundwork for the Gospel was being laid by the giants of human thought. Our journey wasn’t just about the geography of our travels, but about a long, divine conversation between the mind and the soul.

While many of the sites we visited didn’t have a direct "Paul slept here" sign, they resonated with the echoes of the men who tilled the soil of the Western mind. In Athens, we were surrounded by the legacy of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These men weren’t Christians, yet they spent their lives seeking "The Good," "The True," and "The Beautiful."

The rise of the early Church was possible because these philosophers had already challenged the world to look beyond clay idols and toward a higher, singular reality. They created the vocabulary of the soul. They were the "silent preachers" who prepared the world to finally hear the message of the Logos - the Word.

This connection hit home most powerfully at Mars Hill, where Paul pointed to their own altar to an “Unknown God” to reveal the One the Jews had known for generations. Two thousand years later, it’s hard to see it as much more than natural rock formation. Its edges have been smoothed by foot traffic and now it is a slippery and treacherous climb. Back then, it was a bustling center for Greek thought. Like the rock, the path of human logic is slick and precarious until faith gives us a place to stand, and Paul was the ultimate bridge-builder. He stood in the shadow of the Parthenon—the pinnacle of Greek reason—and didn’t tell the crowd they were wrong to seek truth. Instead, he told them that the Truth they had been searching for through logic had finally become a person.

At places like Thessaloniki and Corinth, Paul spoke to people who were already asking the "big questions" posed by the philosophers. He was taking the skeletal frame of Greek logic and putting the flesh and blood of Christ upon it.

Our final stop was Istanbul. While It is difficult to find a direct connection to Paul here, it felt like the natural conclusion to this intellectual and spiritual arc. While Paul knew it as Byzantium, it eventually became Constantinople—the capital of the empire that codified the very doctrines Paul pioneered in his letters. Istanbul sits at the crossroads of Europe and the Muslim world, and it was here that the Logos was kept alive. While the West entered what we think of as the Dark Ages, it was the thinkers in this region who preserved the works of Aristotle and Plato.

Walking through the Hagia Sophia, I was struck by how the "seeds" of Greek thought didn’t just grow into the Christian Church, but also nourished the Islamic Golden Age. The same logic Paul used to explain Christ was later used by Muslim scholars to understand the nature of God. Istanbul is a living testament to the fact that we are all, in some way, traveling in the same footsteps, looking for the Truth.

This trip challenged me to look at my own faith through a wider lens. It asks us to consider: Are we willing to see God’s hand in the "secular" world around us? In the faiths of others?

Just as Paul used the philosophy of his day to reach the hearts of his neighbors, we are invited to find the divine threads in our own culture. The road of the seeker is long, and it is paved with the thoughts of those who came before us. Whether through the logic of a philosopher or the devotion of a saint, may we all find our way to the "Unknown God" who has made Himself known.

Yours in the Word,
John Johns, Music Director

“I thought this was a ‘Footsteps of St. Paul’ pilgrimage, but we’ve only taken one step with Paul.”

A group of 35 of us have been island hopping for the last several days throughout the Aegean Sea as part of a pilgrimage through Greece and Turkey. Please visit the Lord of Life Facebook and Instagram social media pages if you would like to follow our travels.

We started in Athens and Corinth, focusing on the places and ways Paul interacted with the various communities, but then pushed off for several days away from the mainland. The Apostle Paul never made it to the islands of Mykonos and Santorini, as far as we know, but the Christian faith has taken deep roots here. His life and legacy made a profound difference here. 97% of Greece is Orthodox Christian.

Throughout the centuries, Paul’s message of forgiveness, redemption, and hope took root in communities and spread as other missionaries shared the news of the One risen from the dead, as well as those sharing stories through commerce, immigration, and other means of connection.

In the coming days, our tour will take us deep into the places that Paul visited on his second missionary journey, including Thessaloniki, Berea, and Philippi.

The work that he did there planting seeds of faith through conversation, teaching, and common labor with others transformed people and communities in Jesus’ name.

As we travel and think about Paul’s ministry, I’m reminded of the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13. It is a powerful story about a farmer who tossed seeds everywhere they went. Some landed on the path, on the rocky ground, among the thorns, and on the good soil. Not all of the seeds survived. Some were gobbled up, blew away, or were choked by thorns. But some took root and thrived!

Musician David Scherer (AKA Agape) embraces a different metaphor and encourages us to “sprinkle sunshine.” All the time, everywhere we go, God calls us to sprinkle sunshine. On the good days, sprinkle sunshine. On the challenging days, sprinkle sunshine. In our sorrow and in our joy, sprinkle sunshine. We can’t control where it will land, how it will be received, or the impact it will make, but we pray and trust that God will use it to change the world.

Whether we are at the locations of the Apostle Paul’s speeches and ministry or on the other side of the world in Ohio, I’m grateful for the countless ways that God continues to use us to sprinkle sunshine into the world. May God work through us in mighty and powerful ways to all yearning for hope and peace.

Wishing you Peace on your journey!
Pastor Lowell Michelson