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Dear faithful people of Christ the King Lutheran Church,

You’ve now heard me pray this prayer from Dag Hammarskjöld’s posthumously published book Markings numerous times –

For all that has been, thanks!

For all that will be, YES!

The second part is particularly appropriate for us as we face the opportunities and challenges of 2026.

However, some thanks are still due to a number of leaders in our congregation who used their God-given gifts and experience-honed talents and worked very hard, yet mostly quietly and in the background, for the betterment of our life together, ministry, and mission as faithful people of Christ the King Lutheran Church. Over the next four Sundays, we are going to express our thanks to God for them and to them for their work and for providing us with clear examples of what faithful discipleship means. We will be adapting the rite for Recognition of Ministries in the Congregation from Occasional Services for the Christian Assembly to accomplish this; and we will be giving each disciple a token of our thanks for their service and work.

These “Time after Pentecost” Sundays, with their emphasis on discipleship (Gospel); cohesiveness of the Christian community (second reading); and on our faith’s much-needed emphases on acts of love and justice (first reading) are the perfect time for celebrating this.

I invite you each Sunday from January 25 through February 15 to join me in these acts of thanksgiving for those who have exemplified God’s Work, Our Hands.

Peace and Joy---and Courage!

Mandy

Amandus J. Derr

Interim Senior Pastor