Before St. Stephen Lutheran Church established a building at 537 Bolton Street more than 40 years ago, people would gather for outdoor “worship in the pines” on the property. This month, outside worship will take place again on Sunday, August 9 – a reflection on the 2020 pandemic rather than a nod to nostalgia.
    Safely-distanced outside worship was the preference of 75% of respondents to a survey asking if people would attend outdoor or indoor services. Worship in the pines will be held in the partially-shaded back parking lot and those who attend must wear masks, bring their own chairs, keep social distance from people who are not family members, and pre-register, since only 40 people will be able to gather. 
    “For our congregation, part of ‘loving your neighbor’ is following the public health guidelines that keep us all safe,” noted St. Stephen Pastor Joseph Graumann. “After a great deal of time without gathering, it will be a joy to see each other face-to-face in a way that’s both safe and enjoyable.”
    Ushers will offer hand sanitizer and guide worshipers to seating locations. Bathrooms will be available on a limited basis. Worship begins at 10:00 am and will be what is known as Service of the Word, without Holy Communion, although a committee is looking into communion options for the future.
    Everyone who attends – members, friends, and visitors –  must pre-register by going to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/outdoor-worship-registration-113524466736.  By reserving a “ticket,” registrants will provide important information so that, in the unlikely event of someone falling ill, the church will be able to give critical information to public health professionals. 
    The outdoor services will be live-streamed on YouTube for those who prefer to participate from home. St. Stephen Lutheran Church hopes to continue to hold outside services on alternate weeks with the live-stream option, and maintain Zoom worship on the opposite weeks.
    The church building has been closed since March, while church services have continued using YouTube and Zoom.  As Zoom worship developed, piano accompaniment from the music director and participation by readers and an assisting minister added more elements of a traditional church service.  Parishioners also have gathered virtually for coffee hour, book club, youth group, and ministry team meetings.
    There will be a food collection for the Hudson Food Pantry on the outdoor worship Sundays. Some needed items include hearty soups, white tuna, cereal, baked beans, and packaged rice and pasta side dishes.
    For more information about St. Stephen Lutheran Church, visit the church’s Facebook page or website, www.saintstephenlutheran.com. Saint Stephen is a member of the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (www.elca.org). The church is a Reconciling in Christ congregation, inviting people of every gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, ability, marital status, or class. Parishioners come from Marlborough, Hudson, Berlin, Northborough, Southborough, Westborough, Shrewsbury, Sudbury, Stow, and Bolton.
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​Dear Friends,


As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change our daily lives, Holy Week has taken on new dimensions. We are still unable to gather together for worship, and as we look to the cross, death seems to swirl around us. This is a difficult time, and it is a time when we need the hope that springs from Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Holy Week will be different this year. While we are working hard to maintain community ties and to share God’s Word, our online services are simply different than gathering in person. For Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, we will have a zoom meeting at 5PM to gather for prayer and community time followed by a 7 PM YouTube video message. Easter Vigil, we will celebrate that “this is the night” with a YouTube video.  Stan will be providing some music for each of these videos. We’re grateful for his continued leadership in this time.

On Easter Sunday, we will have a zoom worship service, with live music and readings, all led from our respective homes. This will not be a videotaped service from an empty sanctuary. It will be living and incarnate from house to house. Even though it may not feel like the Easters we know and love, we trust that Christ is still risen. God continues to bring new life amidst the death around us.

I look forward to the time we can shout our Easter hallelujahs in person. I truly miss the handshakes and hugs that go along with our gatherings. But soon enough, just as we are sure in the resurrection, we will surely gather once more around God’s table and sing, “This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia!”

For now, please stay at home. Wash your hands regularly, and avoid public spaces of all kinds. Call one another and check in. Pray. May God bless you and keep you safe.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Joe

​February 26 is Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar, a day people throughout the world will go to church, to mark the start of the season of Lent, the 46 days before Easter, often a time for penitence and reflection. The day is named for the practice of imposing ashes, a tradition that many Christians have found to be a meaningful part of the Ash Wednesday liturgy.
            If, however, you can’t make it to church on Ash Wednesday, the ashes can come to you! Saint Stephen Lutheran Church offers this creative alternative. Pastor Joseph Graumann and assisting minister Ann Gibson will be available in Marlborough near the corner of Main and Florence streets, from noon to 1:00 pm on Ash Wednesday, and will impose ashes and offer a blessing to anyone who asks. Those who prefer not to receive ashes are also welcome to come for prayer or conversation.
            “Ash has been a symbol of death and mourning since ancient times,” Pastor Graumann says. “Christians mark their foreheads with ashes to remember that ‘we are dust, and to dust we shall return.’ We remember our mortality, but also in the sign of the cross, how Jesus triumphed over death,” he adds.
Lenten Services February 26-April 1
            In addition to noontime ashes and prayer on Main Street, St. Stephen Lutheran Church will offer traditional Ash Wednesday worship at 7:00 p.m. on February 26 at the church at 537 Bolton St., Marlborough. 
            On subsequent Wednesdays in Lent, March 4, 11, 18, 25 and April 1, people are invited to gather at St. Stephen for a simple soup supper (one soup is vegetarian) at 6:30 PM, followed by  a choral Vespers—or evening prayer—service. “Lent is a time of discipline, but it is also a time of celebration and beauty,” Pastor Graumann says. “On March 25, our friends from Temple Emanuel in Marlborough will be joining us,” he noted.
            Vespers will feature Marty Haugen’s Holden Evening Prayer, along with a reading and reflection from the Lenten stories from the Hebrew Bible. Holden Evening Prayer “is easy to sing and focuses on Christ as the light of the world. During evening prayer, we hear the story of Mary and her response to God’s news that she would bear for us a savior. We pray for a world in need, and we receive God’s blessing,” Pastor Graumann said. 
            Written in 1985-86 by Marty Haugen during a musical residency at Holden Village, a scenic Lutheran camp in the mountains of Washington State, Holden Evening Prayer is a simple Lutheran vespers service that follows traditional form while using contemporary and inclusive language. Since then, the service has been adopted around the world. Haugen is a composer of liturgical music for Lutheran, Roman Catholic and other denominations, with over 400 compositions.

Snow tubing and a Games Night were on the January schedule for the Youth of St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Marlborough, but those social activities were sandwiched between events where they reach out and help others, something they are drawn to just about every month.
    In December, teens joined friends from other churches that are part of LIPY (Lutheran Interparish Youth) to shop for and wrap Christmas gifts for children in need in Central Massachusetts. Participating families and others in the congregation donated $525 for this event. 
     A week later, the teens, younger kids and parents came together to wrap 215 sweatshirts in just 90 minutes, as a service to the Marlborough-based non-profit, Sweats4Vets. Church members and friends also donated sweatshirts and wrapping paper.  Sweats 4 Vets collects new Boston/ New England sports-themed sweatshirts and wraps and distributes them to homeless veterans in the greater Boston and Worcester areas for Christmas. 
    January 11 was the date of a visit to Hudson’s Fresh Start Furniture Bank. St. Stephen youth had collected new pillows and shower curtain liners, but also brought supplies to create housewarming gifts with a bucket holding a broom, dustpan and cleaning products. They completed each present with a large bow. Fresh Start is a volunteer-based organization that provides free furniture and home goods to people in need.
    Next on the teen calendar is a Youth vs Adult Trivia Contest on Friday, February 7 at 6:30 pm at the church. Giving back, however, is never far from the minds of St. Stephen youth, as they are planning and raising funds for a mission trip to Maine in April.
    For more information about the church, visit www.saintstephenlutheran.com  or the church’s Facebook page. Saint Stephen is a member of the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (www.elca.org) . The church is a Reconciling in Christ congregation, inviting people of every gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, ability, marital status, or class. Parishioners come from Marlborough, Hudson, Berlin, Northborough, Southborough, Westborough, Shrewsbury, Sudbury, Stow, and Bolton. Sunday Worship is at 10 am, with Sunday School for all ages at 9:00.

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