First Lutheran Church

06/02/2026

Ever been down in Swede Hollow? This weekend would be a great time to do it!

06/02/2026

Lots happening this coming weekend. Watch for it...

06/02/2026

Bishop Yehiel Curry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America shares his monthly message…

Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry has issued his first in a series of monthly messages that will continue through the end of this year under the title "All Together in One Place."

Each message will share a pastoral word, rooted in Scripture, that witnesses to God’s presence today, our rich theological tradition and the social teaching that connects us.

Read the full message through the link in the comments below.

05/31/2026

It’s Trinity Sunday and we are invited to join in a dance with God-the 3-in-one in a relationship of love together! Join us at 10am today as we celebrate! ♥️✨🙏🏼

05/27/2026

Bishop Patricia Lull in some lighter moments…

05/26/2026

New Female Lutheran Bishop in Kenya…

05/23/2026

As we approach Pentecost…

As we approach the Day of Pentecost, I have been thinking back to the beginning of Lent. I am struck again by how this arc of time that began with ashes will end with fire, that vivid image and symbol of the Spirit that comes to Jesus’ gathered followers. Pentecost comes to remind us, in part, that ashes do not have the final word, and that fire does not come only to consume. It comes also to bless, to call, to inspire, to give to us what we could never begin to imagine on our own. Here at the threshold of this new season, this blessing is for you, with gratefulness.

WHAT THE FIRE GIVES
A Blessing for Pentecost

You had thought that fire
only consumed,
only devoured,
only took for itself,
leaving merely ash
and memory
of something
you had believed,
if not permanent,
would be long enough,
enduring enough,
to be nearly
eternal.

So when you felt
the scorch on your lips,
the searing in your heart,
you could not
at first believe
that flame could be
so generous,
that when it came to you—
you, in your sackcloth
and sorrow—
it did not come
to consume,
to take still more
than everything.

What surprised you most
were not the syllables
that spilled from
your scalded,
astonished mouth—
though that was miracle
enough,
to have words
burn through
what had been numb,
to find your tongue
aflame with a language
you did not know
you knew—

no, what came
as greatest gift
was to be so heard
in the place
of your deepest
silence,
to be so seen
within the blazing,
to be met
with such completeness
by what the fire gives.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
janrichardson.com/books

Image: "What the Fire Gives"
© Jan Richardson
janrichardsonimages.com