Category: Announcements

Synod Assembly

May 31, 2017

Shepherd of the Mountains belongs to the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod of the ELCA.  This year’s assembly was exciting as we elected a new bishop!  Please keep the bishop-elect, Rev. Kristen Kuempel, in your prayers.

Congregational representatives Meghan McCreedy, Robyn Lunsford, Tanya Shedd and Pastor Inger Hanson also enjoyed a variety of workshops, including

  • Ministry to Veterans: A Basic Toolkit and Road Map
  • Grace Sends Us Out Into a Multi-Cultural World
  • The Forgotten Luther I: Reclaiming the Socio-Economic Dimension of Reformation
  • What If We Did It Together?
  • Prayer and Spirituality in Art

Ask them about what they learned!

Another highlight was reconnecting with Martin the Moose.  At the kick-off of our 25th Anniversary, we sent this stuffed animal on a journey to visit congregations in all 12 clusters of our synod to learn and share about local ministries and to introduce the synod’s “Moving in Mission Together” campaign.  Martin the Moose has become a bit of a celebrity (he has over eighty Facebook friends) and is delighting in his travels.  At Synod Assembly, Martin helped with all the announcements and met the Secretary of the National Church, bishops from other synods, and lots of lay leaders!

Community Blood Drive Next Week!

April 7, 2017

This blood drive is particularly special, falling during Holy Week.  What a concrete way to love your neighbor!  It’s the second blood drive of the year, and we’re hoping to have 25 members participate (as donors or volunteers) in honor of our 25th Anniversary!  Please sign up and spread the word.

Habitat Build

April 7, 2017

On March 25th, Shepherd of the Mountains was one of the primary work forces at the two homes Teton Habitat is building in Alpine.  Steffan Freeman, Sherry Kinsella, Holly Luense, Robyn Lunsford, Jim Wells, Pam Zernis & Pastor Inger enjoyed a great day of service, framing six interior walls and putting a front deck on one of the houses!

 

25th Anniversary Kick-Off Party

December 15, 2016

We gathered together after the second service December 11th to celebrate all that God has done and is doing in and through Shepherd of the Mountains.  We received birthday greetings and well wishes from near and far.  It’s going to be a special year!

 

A Visit from Marty Haugen

October 19, 2016

This December, Shepherd of the Mountains will begin celebrating its 25th anniversary of being a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.  The church council is thrilled to announce that we have commissioned a new service by Marty Haugen as the centerpiece for our celebrations in this special year.  The process began with Haugen’s initial visit to meet us October 7th– 10th, 2016.  It was wonderful to worship and spend time in fellowship and workshops with Marty!

More about Marty…

Haugen is a well-known musician-theologian and composer of favorite service settings like “Now the Feast and Celebration” and “Holden Evening Prayer,” as well as hymns like “Gather Us In.”  We rejoice in the memories that Haugen’s songs stir up.  The Moulders shared a particularly special one with me.  They have been with this congregation for these 25 years and in 2017 will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary…  Haugen’s hymns “Taste and See” and “Eye Has Not Seen” were sung as communion songs at their wedding ceremony.

New music also renews us – nourishing the congregation and the community here and now.  Shepherd of the Mountains and Jackson will fundamentally shape the music, celebrating our unique context.  Haugen will visit for a few days this October to get a sense of who we are and how music might support us.  As he composes, he will share pieces with us for us to try and invite feedback, perhaps visiting again during this development process, and at the end.  We hope to debut the final service around August 2017 (possibly in time for solar eclipse visitors).

And finally, our hope is that this music reaches out to the larger church in a special way.  We will have supported one of the church’s great composers, and eventually this gift of music would be available to congregations in the synod, the nation, and the world.

Pet Blessings to Go!

September 30, 2016

Why St. Francis Day, and Why Pet Blessings to Go?

St. Francis of Assisi is commemorated as a renewer of the church.  Drawing on the psalms and passages like Romans 8:19-23, which reminds us that all of creation waits with us for redemption, Francis drew attention to the duty and ability of all creatures to praise God, and preached about protecting and enjoying nature as stewards and as creatures ourselves.  Here in Jackson, surrounded by the majesty of mountains and wildlife, and with all of our community’s creature companions, it seems especially fitting to celebrate this leader.
Often, congregations offer a pet blessing worship service, and several of our full communion partners in Jackson will be doing so.  However, sometimes these services are challenging for pet owners to attend and be fully present in.  PetBlessings To Go will provide an alternative.  We will meet people (and their creature companions!) where they are at – at the Cache Creek trailhead before or after a hike, in town on the St. John’s lawn, or here in our Indian Trails neighborhood.  Instead of more formulaic blessings, we can offer prayers more specific to a situation.  Finally, we can be of concrete service to the community – providing a treat, a clean-up bag, and helping communicate the Forest Service’s rules.