It\u2019s remarkable \u2013 but not\nsurprising \u2013 how some events grab our attention and occupy our minds every day,\nfrom the moment we wake up until sleep returns at night. The virus that currently\nhas the world in its grip is certainly one of those events. It\u2019s not surprising\n\u2013 in fact, it is quite important \u2013 that we do pay attention, and that we\nrespond to it in the most responsible way we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For First Lutheran Church, that\nmeans that this morning the church council and I have canceled our\nWednesday, Saturday, and Sunday worship services for the remainder of March. <\/strong>We\nhave been reluctant to do this. But by doing so, we hope not only to protect\nourselves. We do this to protect others; and to contribute our small part, we\nfondly hope, to the early end of this threat throughout our country and the\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will find other ways to\n\u201cgather\u201d. Wednesday and Sunday worship services will be broadcast on YouTube<\/strong>\nat their regular times, for you to watch and participate at home. One member\nhas also shared with me that she is setting her phone alarm every day at 3:00\nPM to pray the Lord\u2019s Prayer, and to pray that this viral pandemic would end. She\nis inviting everyone to do the same, thus \u201cgathering\u201d together in prayer. We\nwill keep you posted as to when we will return to holding public worship\nservices.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It will remain true for a while, unfortunately,\nthat the virus will occupy our attention. But let us be on guard that it\ndoesn\u2019t crowd out all other thoughts! Let your love for God, and thoughts of\nHis love for you, take the uppermost place in your mind and heart.<\/em> Let those\nloves have a higher and more prominent place in all our thoughts than anything\nthat tries to take away our joy \u2013 our joy in the Lord, and our joy in one\nanother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sincerely in\nChrist,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pastor Carl L.M. Rasmussen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Friends:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 March 17, 2020 It\u2019s remarkable \u2013 but not surprising \u2013 how some events grab our attention and occupy our minds every day, from the moment we wake up until sleep returns at night. The virus that currently has the world in its grip is certainly one of those events. It\u2019s not surprising \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kirklandflc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kirklandflc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kirklandflc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirklandflc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirklandflc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirklandflc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kirklandflc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirklandflc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirklandflc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}