Election Day Bake Sale 8am - 8pm
Election Day Bake Sale 8am - 8pm
Pretzel City Parish News 2024 Post Labor Day Weekend Edition 6261 Newsletter - Updates on Our Activities + Our Large Group Meeting on Saturday, Aug. 17 at St. Paul's went really well. More than 30 people participated from all 6 congregations. We broke into 4 discussion groups to share “best practices”. We got a first look at our Covenant document, drafted by Deacon Kat Tigerman, who zoomed into the meeting. We were glad to have Pastor Rachel Dietz and Pastor Drew Neidig with us. We enjoyed lunch together and a tour of St. Paul’s Nave upstairs. + The Steering Committee met on Monday, August 26 and had a good discussion about drafting the 6261 budget. Pastor Carol Kehler joined us. At the end of the meeting, we prayed for her in her retirement. She leads worship at Nativity on Sat. Aug. 31 at 5 p.m. A reception is planned following worship. St. Paul’s honored her on her last Sunday, August 25. Copies of the first draft of the Covenant are available for anyone in our congregations to read. Anyone is welcome at our Large Group gatherings.
Upcoming Important Large Group Meeting dates: + Saturday, October 12 at 9 a.m. at Bethany, West Reading, 336 Franklin Street with street parking (Check 3rd Street) or use the Obold Street Wyomissing School District lot. At this meeting a second draft of the Covenant and a detailed operating budget will be shared for review. + Saturday, November 9 at Hope, Reading, 601 N. Front Street. Final draft of the Covenant and Budget will be approved by those who gather. This will be forwarded to Congregation Councils for action. It is our hope that Congregational meetings will be called in December. Our Back-To-School Moonlight Pool Party at College Manor Pool on Wednesday, August 21 attracted about 30 folks from 4 congregations. Bishop Chris deForest, in his Zoom Bishop’s Annual Report on Tuesday, August 27 lifted up what has happened with 6261’s around the synod. Pastor Rachel Dietz reported that there are currently 14 candidates for ordination in our synod! Pastor Jira Albers reported that there are 35 candidates in the Licensed Lay Minister program! May 30-31 is the date for the 2025 synod assembly. The location will be announced in October after the Synod Council meets.
On Saturday, October 19, a Klein bus with 38 people will visit The Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. The bus is currently full. This trip was arranged by LLM Candidate Tanya Kantner. (tanyakantner@gmail.com) Pastor Bruce Osterhout led worship at St. Paul’s on Sunday, September 1 at 9 a.m. He rearranged his schedule in order to share time with the St. Paul’s people and reassure them that they are not going through this pastoral transition alone. He will lead worship at Nativity on Saturday, September 7 at 5 p.m for the same reason. Congregational Deacon Shirley Lyttle led worship at Bethany at 9:30 a.m. led worship and preached at Christ on September 1. Retired Pastor Mike Bennethum led worship at Hope on September 1/September 15. Learn more about our 6 congregations by looking at their websites: Bethany, West Reading bethanywestreading.org Zion-Spies, Reading zionspieslutheran.org Nativity, Reading natsec4.wixsite.com Hope, Reading jcishope.org Christ, Glenside christlutheranrdg.org St.Paul Lutheran Church, Reading PA On Facebook, no website
Copies of the book “Part-Time is Plenty” Thriving with Part-time Clergy are available from Pastor Bruce (bgosterhout@gmail.com). This is a good book to read to understand the issues surrounding the formation of our 6261. Please be in touch with him to buy a copy. $25 - brand new) www.antietamvalley.org The Antietam Valley Community Partnership continues doing flood recovery work. Volunteers with general construction skills over the age of 16 are needed. Upcoming Fall Events Sat. Sept. 7 Zion-Spies Corn Harvest Festival @ 4:30 pm followed by 5:30 pm meal/worship - “God Our Creator” following Lenni Lenape traditions led by Fritz and Pat Bower of St. Mark’s, Birdsboro. Sat. Sept. 28 - Spaghetti Dinner at Nativity 4-6 pm $10. Pre-order at natsec@comcast.net Oct. 4-6 Women’s Retreat at Bear Creek - Pastor Rebecca is the chaplain at the event. Oct. 19-20 at Zion-Spies Indigenous People Weekend with Guest Pastor Justin Johnson Sun. Oct. 27 Zion-Spies 250th Anniversary with Bishop deForest Tues. Nov. 7 - Election Eats at Nativity/St. Paul’s Sat. Nov. 16 4-7 p.m. Bethany Spaghetti Dinner Submissions to this occasional newsletter are welcome to bgosterhout@gmail.com
(It is available on New, Use, and as an EBook)
Authored by Pastor Bruce Osterhout
(Bethany, Christ, Hope Lutheran Churches)
Here is a draft of our brief history of our Reading 6261 that is now
approved to be shared on the synod website.
Spring 2023
Pastors Wolfe and Osterhout began discussing the future pastor a transition at Hope with Pastor Wolfe’s announced retirement at the end of September 2023. Pastor Osterhout supplied several times at Hope with Hope paying for the supply pastor at Bethany. Christ paid for the supply pastor at Christ on those Sundays. Pastor Osterhout still showed up at Christ by the end of their worship. Pastor Osterhout reassured Bethany and Christ Councils of his
intent to regularly be present as worship leader in those 2 congregations.
October 2023
Pastor Osterhout became the official Designated Pastor at Hope after beginning to meet with Hope’s Council in August and September. Bethany Council and Christ Council were aware of this synodical appointment. The proximity of the 3 congregations makes the Sunday morning
travel easy. Hope is located between Bethany, West Reading and Christ, in NW Reading, accessed easily using the Buttonwood Street Bridge. In October/November, Pastor Osterhout does Hope’s Table on Tuesday nights as Pastor Wolfe stepped back. Pastor Osterhout schedules
Hope’s Sunday morning worship leadership. On October 1, he leads worship there. He began the weekly practice of “dropping in” (about 10-20 minutes, sometimes communing) on Sunday mornings as he traveled from Bethany to Christ. He begins attending Hope’s Council meetings.
The October 2023 through January 2024 is seen as a temporary arrangement until Pastor Osterhout’s one year call to Bethany is renewed in January 2024.
Fall 2023
Pastor Osterhout, Pastor Kehler, and Pastor Knox began conversation
about working together to form a 6261.
January 2024
Pastor Osterhout’s one year term call to Bethany was renewed for one year, through January 2025. Congregational meetings were held in January.
February 2024
The first large group meeting of the 6 congregations (with more than 45 people attending) was held on Saturday morning at Nativity, Reading with Bishop deForest and DEM Kat Tigerman. The event is positively received. Nativity, Reading provided lunch. The building was toured. Names and emails were recorded. Minutes were sent out. Roger Fegely of Zion, Spies suggested that a Steering Committee be appointed to direct the future discussions. As Lent/Holy Week activities began, the Steering Committee would not meet until after Easter.
April 2024
The second large group meeting was held on Saturday morning, April 13 at Zion-Spies in Alsace Township with more than 40 in attendance, including 20 from Zion-Spies. Again, a positive experience. The nave was toured. Some visited the cabin up the hill on the church’s 28 wooded acres. The Steering Committee meets on Monday, April 29 to review and discuss this document and to review Zion-Spies presentation for the Tuesday, May 7 West Berks Mission District Assembly concerning the cabin and the related planned summer
programing. Setting a meeting schedule for the rest of 2024 is on the agenda.
May 2024
The Steering Committee intends to meet on Saturday, May 18 at 9:30 a.m. at Christ to discuss/rehearse a possible presentation to the Synod Assembly on Saturday, June 8 at Atonement Lutheran Church, Wyomissing. DEM Kat T is exploring this possibility with the
Bishop and Synod Council. The beginning thought is to have one lay person from each of the 6 congregations read from a script, about 1 minute each. In Summary, our 6261 has:
+ Worked together to emphasize the positive ministries that are going on while holding intension the need for future changes.
+ Supported our members who are interested in becoming Licensed Lay Ministers (LLM) with intentions to mentor/place them within our 6261.
+ Benefitted from long standing relationships between the rostered leaders who have strong knowledge of the city and the community
+ Enjoyed the close proximity of our congregations.
+ Enjoyed getting to know each other and sharing “best practices”
+ Lifted up the book “Part-Time is Plenty: Thriving Without Full-Time Clergy” by author Jeffrey MacDonald as a very relevant resource for our synod’s many part-timers.
(It is available on New, Use, and as an EBook)
Authored by Pastor Bruce Osterhout
(Bethany, Christ, Hope Lutheran Churches)