Lutheran Church of Our Savior
Grow stronger in faith through worship, deeper through learning, warmer through fellowship and broader through service to our neighbors...
This is Christ's Church.
There is a place for you here.
We are the church that shares a living, daring confidence in God's grace. Liberated by our faith, we embrace you as a whole person -- questions, complexities and all. Join us as we do God's work in Christ's name for the life of the world.
Lutheran Church of Our Savior
A congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
12 Franklin Avenue, Port Washington, NY 11050
Phone 516-767-0603
Website lutheranchurchportwashington.com
email lcosoffice@optimum.net
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lutheranpw/
Church Office Hours
The Church Office will be open on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Church Office - Sue Waiter
Pastor - Roger Berner
Director of Music - Federico Teti
Custodian - Marvin Mora
Facilities Use Coordinator - Linda Murphy
Worship
There's a place for everyone at Our Savior to be involved and make new friends through small group ministries, fellowship events, and committees for the congregation's life and mission. Membership is voluntary and personal.
Persons join when they express the desire to affiliate. Adults may join formally the congregation by either a letter of membership transfer from another Christian congregation or by adult Confirmation.
The sacrament of Holy Communion is celebrated with this understanding: that the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are truly present in, with, and under the bread and wine; and, that the penitent receive the full forgiveness of all their sins. All baptized Christians who, in good conscience, can receive with this understanding are invited to partake.
Baptisms and weddings are conducted as needed. A church wedding requires a couple to spend a period of time preparing for marriage in consultation with the pastor.
An elevator and access ramp are available for entering and exiting the building. Refreshments are usually served after worship on Sunday. In warmer weather, the church is air-conditioned for your comfort.
Phone 516-767-0603
Website lutheranchurchportwashington.com
email lcosoffice@optimum.net
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lutheranpw
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Godspeed Pastor Roger Berner
This time of year is usually marked by mums in the planters and piles of leaves on our lawns, marking the advent of autumn! At our church home this month, we have decorations heralding a change of our own - a lawn sign wishing Godspeed to our Interim Pastor, Roger Berner, as he prepares to make his way back to Maryland, and a well-deserved retirement that has been postponed… just a few times.
It surely represents all the thanks we can summon for guiding us through these last two transition years and an equal measure of best wishes! Just like those lawn signs and drive-by parties that we saw sprout up during the pandemic, it is a fun way to celebrate this church family’s important life event!
Denise DePalma & Linda Murphy
Current and Incoming Church Council PresidentsPastor Roger Berner
Our Interim Pastor I grew up on the Great Plains, in the fifth largest (14,007 people) metropolitan area in South Dakota – Watertown. We lived on the edge of “town”, and had a huge garden – or was it a small farm? We had a tractor and a plow to turn the soil over in the spring. My father ordered 1,000 tomato plants and 3,000 cabbage plants from Georgia every spring. We also grew carrots, onions, cucumbers, squash, corn, beans, peas, beets, and potatoes. The entire garden was surrounded by hundreds of peonies.
I enjoyed planting the corn and potatoes, because I did that with my father. He dug the hole and I threw in a few kernels of corn or some old smelly potatoes cut up with “eyes” sticking out. I did not enjoy weeding the garden. In fact, the weeds usually won out toward the end of the summer, but the harvest was nonetheless bountiful and delicious. Growing up, I never tasted sweet corn that was more than 15 minutes old. My father picked the corn, I husked it, my mother cooked it, and we all ate it together. My father would also take me with him to seine for minnows, or to go fishing and hunting. While driving, my father quizzed me on what crop was growing in each field we passed. He would point to the right or left and I would say: corn, wheat, barley, flax, soy beans or rye. The most difficult to distinguish were wheat and oats – they look so much alike. My favorite crop was flax (linen is made from flax, as is the fine paper used for Bibles), because when it was in bloom it looked like a blue sea.
Joseph and Mary must have taught Jesus about agriculture because his parables were filled with images of “the farm” – mustard, sheep, grapes, goats, mint, wolves, wheat, doves, barley, dogs, olives, cows, and lilies. My mother, Sunday School teachers, pastors, and professors taught me the parables of Jesus; but I came to understand his parables through what my father taught me in the garden and the fields.
I studied history at St. Olaf College in Minnesota and continued on at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. While at seminary I organized a “summer internship” outside of Phoenix, doing youth work and going door to door, inviting people to “Come and See!” the new mission church. I also served as “the Vicar” at Zion Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, New York for my official internship. Those two places were very different, but both were filled with amazing, wonderful, and faithful members who were also my teachers.
I was ordained in January at my home congregation in South Dakota. It was -27 degrees (-69 degrees wind chill factor), and no one even suggested postponing the service. St. John Mark Lutheran Church in Homestead (Pittsburgh), PA had called me as their Pastor, and I served there for 9 years. Then Trinity Lutheran Church in North Bethesda, MD called me, where I served for 28 years until October 2018. Both were places of faith, hope, love, and great joy for me. After a year of retirement, the Interim Bishop of New York asked if I would serve as the Interim Pastor of Emanuel Lutheran Church, Pleasantville, NY – a delightful experience to share the good news of Christ in Westchester County with a wonderful congregation, even through the challenges and learning opportunities of a pandemic.
Now I have begun a new adventure of faith in Christ Jesus – getting to know and love the people of the Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Port Washington. I trust that we will laugh and cry, work and play, sing and pray together during this “in between” time for LCOS, as we continue to trust in God’s grace and mercy to lead us into a future of Spirit-led ministry.
Pray for the Peace of Israel and Palestine
Pray for the Peace of Israel and Palestine
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The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem was built between 1893 and 1898. It houses Lutheran congregations that worship in Arabic, German, Danish, and English. It serves as the headquarters of the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, the Arabic-speaking (Palestinian) Church of Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. The LCOR has a congregation of around 3,000 members.
Sally Ibrahim Azar was ordained as the first female Pastor in the Holy Land on January 22, 2023. She is now the Pastor of the Church’s English-speaking congregation.
The church was built on land given by Sultan Abdülhamid of the Ottoman Empire. In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II made a trip to Jerusalem to personally dedicate the new church. For the dedication of the church, the Kaiser entered the city on horseback through two specially made ceremonial arches, one a gift of the Ottoman Empire and one a gift from the local Jewish community. The church was dedicated on Reformation Day, 1898. The church tower (one of the tallest structures in the Old City) is open to the public and offers a spectacular view of the city.
Augusta Victoria Hospital began its ministry in East Jerusalem, which was part of the Kingdom of Jordan, to serve the medical needs of Palestinian refugees in 1950. Operating from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) is a health care institution of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) primarily serving the Palestinian population.
AVH is one of six specialized hospitals in the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, which has contributed to the development of the Palestinian health care system and the education of healthcare workers and specialists. The hospital provides specialty care for Palestinians from across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with services including a cancer center, a dialysis unit, a pediatric center, and a bone marrow transplant unit. It is the sole remaining specialized-care hospital located in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. With 120 in-patient beds, it is the only radiation therapy facility serving 4.5 million Palestinians.
Lutheran World Relief
Faithful Lutherans have a long history of rushing aid to the frontlines when crisis strikes.
From sending emergency health care supplies to delivering LWR Mission Quilts, your love has been reaching children, women and families in the direst situations. With your support, together, we will not abandon these neighbors now.
Your gift will deliver critically needed resources like medical care, food, water and essential supplies where they are needed most.
Thank you for putting your faith in action and sharing God’s love with your neighbors.
Send your gift: click the box below;
or by calling 1-800-597-5972;or by check to: Lutheran World Relief, PO Box 17061, Baltimore, MD 21297-1061.
Lutheran World Relief is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization.
Your gift is tax deductible.CLICK TO GIVE TO LWR 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering
Every three years, thousands of high school youth and their adult leaders from across the ELCA gather for a week of faith formation known as the ELCA Youth Gathering. Through days spent in interactive learning, worship, Bible study, service and fellowship, young people grow in faith and are challenged and inspired to live their faith daily.
The 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans is scheduled for July 16-20, 2024, with pre-gathering events from the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) and the tAble July 13-16, and the ELCA Gathering for Young Adults (18-35), which will run concurrently with the ELCA Youth Gathering.
For more information about this exciting event, please email The Rev. John Hickey, Synod Champion for Metro NY, at pastorjohn@ourredeemerlutheran.church.
Complexities of Forgiveness
The Complexities of Forgiveness
I forgive you. Is forgiveness as simple as saying those three words? Occasionally, it might be. Other times, it’s much more complicated. While the benefits of forgiveness seem straightforward enough, forgiveness itself can actually be quite complex. Let’s explore some of the reasons why!
In this week's blog post, we're talking about the complexities of forgiveness.
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