90th Anniversary Celebration A Great Day for St. Matthew’s

The celebration continues with our 90th year of ministry. On May 16, 2010, we gathered to remember our 90 years of ministry, and it was a great day not only remembering but also moving forward. Our thanks to retired Bishop Jon Enslin for sharing the Gospel message and reflecting on St. Matthew’s ministry. The Gospel for the day was Jesus’s prayer for his followers to be one in Him and His Love. Jon expressed that so well as he spoke about this own remembrances of growing up here at St. Matthew’s. His message was both a proclamation of the Gospel and a personal witness of the faith. I have heard so many favorable remarks about his sermon and presence with us. My thanks to him for accepting both the challenge and the honor to speak at this juncture of thanksgiving in our history.
The worship service using four hymnals in our his­tory since 1920 was thoughtfully put together by John Paradowski and praise worthy to God “from whom all blessings flow.” The music was wonderful. Thanks to Harvin Abrahamson for the words to the anniversary hymn and to Chuck Shantz for the anniversary poem.

At the adult education forum there were many thoughts that came to my mind. Among them is that St. Matthew’s is a special place. The word place is so important. All of scripture is about God providing a place for us from Adam being placed in the Garden of Eden, to Moses leading God’s people to a place, to Jesus “going to prepare a place for us.” Sue and I found a place at St. Matthew’s, a place we always called home, a place of belonging. As a church we need to be God’s Place, which is always found where the Holy Spirit is alive among God’s people. It is a place of Welcome, a place of Serving, a place of Faith Developing. Some of those thoughts came to my mind as I listened to our four speakers, Arvis Kraetsch, Joyce Heinrich, Karie Clement, and Al Van Lith.

The historical display area was wonderfully assembled by Jim Neubauer and Randy Suchy, who put the 1927 movie onto a DVD for viewing. People found a great deal of interest in the various items on display, espe­cially the photographs.
My thanks to those who baked and helped with the two receptions following each service. Also, thanks to all who have made a contribution to our anniversary gift toward our partner congregations. We are almost half way to our goal of $30,000, which we will continue until we reach the goal here in 2010. (St. Matthew’s has always met a giving challenge.)
The afternoon of the 16th was marvelous, an inspir­ing concert with our choir and the Chancel Choir from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Madison. People walked away feeling uplifted and inspired. It had the voices of seventy adults, twenty-five youth, and twenty orchestra members. It was just exceptional! Thanks to Dave Mohr, John Paradowski and Jeff Reeves and all the participants as well as the choir from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Madison.

May 16th was a day of giving thanks and celebrating. As Pastor Enslin shared with me, “The Spirit is really alive in this place!” Thank you for being a part of that living, breathing, vibrant Spirit of God’s presence in and through us. Thanks be to God!
Pastor Gary Erickson

90th Anniversary benevolence gift fund

St. Matthew’s will continue its long tradition of outreach through an Anniversary Benevolence Gift Fund which benefits our partnerships. We would like to celebrate the special milestone of 90 years of ministry by caring for our partners in ministry – Reformation Lutheran, Cross Lutheran and Sing ‘isi Lutheran in Tanzania. Each of these churches ministers to the poorest of the poor in our world and in thanksgiving to God for the blessings we have received, we would like to be a blessing to others. Our goal is $30,000 to be divided equally three ways. If you would like to help make this generous effort a reality, please join us in contributing toward the 90th Anniversary Gift. An Anniversary Benevolence Gift offering envelope will be available soon.