Dear Members and Friends of Good Shepherd:

Grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s June and ...

“What is so rare as a day in June? 

Then, if ever, come perfect days.”

At least that’s how the poet sees it. And after the storms of this past winter, if we get a perfect day or two (or thirty??), who is going to complain, right?

No matter the weather, June brings us to the beginning of the “green days” of the Pentecost season in the church year in 2008. Due to the early date of Easter this year, the festival days of Pentecost and Holy Trinity are already behind us as we go from May to June this time around. And due to that early Easter, the Pentecost season will be the longest it can be – twenty-six Sundays long which will take us to November 16th! Green is the color of Pentecost  and that color will be on the altar and on the pastor’s stole most of the upcoming Sundays until Christ the King Day (November 23rd), reminding us that we grow in grace and in our knowledge of being children of God during these months. The Pentecost season, therefore, is often called the “Season of the Church.” Advent through Easter, logically, is often called the “Season of our Lord,” as we go through the events of his life in that portion of the liturgical calendar. 

In the secular calendar, the third Sunday of June, the 15th, brings us Father’s Day. And just as Mother’s Day in May offers us an opportunity to thank God for our parents and those who have given us motherly care in our lives, so does this day provide another opportunity to thank our heavenly Father for our parents and those who have provided us with fatherly care in our lives. 

June 15th also brings Good Shepherd to another milestone in its twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations. It was on June 13, 1983, that Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Laconia was formally organized and accepted into the fellowship of the New England Synod, Lutheran Church in America. As a personal note, I remember being in the assembly room of the 1983 New England Synod Convention as Good Shepherd was received as a sister congregation.

It was a time of joy, not only for the folks at Good Shepherd, but for all of us in the greater church as well. Plan to be with us on the 15th for worship and special anniversary fellowship following each service. 

I’ll see you in church these (hopefully) perfect days in June!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Dave