You are invited to join Pastor Sonja Pilman’s last day with us for a
farewell brunch as a parish, Atonement & Piedmont Valley
at Piedmont Valley Lutheran Church,
Sunday April 16 starting at around 11:30 AM.

After attending the worship service at 9 AM you may help with preparing and
setting up food or enjoy coffee and conversations until Atonement arrives after their service
for brunch and pictures with Pastor Sonja. Hope to see you there!

Read Pastor’s Letter to the Congregation here:

Today’s Bible reading and devotion from Christ in Our Home is read by Carla Garner, Piedmont Valley Lutheran Church.

May you journey well through Holy Week and be inspired by these words:

Today’s Bible reading and devotion from Christ in Our Home is read by Larry Bailly from Atonement Lutheran Church.

May you journey well through Holy Week and be inspired by these words:

Today’s Bible reading and devotion from Christ in Our Home is read by Jane Cecil from Atonement Lutheran Church.

May you journey well through Holy Week and be inspired by these words:

What is true humility?

Holy Week begins on Sunday, April 2 with Palm / Passion Sunday, where there is only one truly humble person in the story: Jesus the Christ. You are invited to carry this theme of humility through to Easter.
Every day, in each story, look for the one you regard as humble. Think about: Why did you think that particular person is humble? And then reflect on yourself, how does your humility compare?

Look for growth in people’s characters. Are there characters who seem to gain or lose humility in the course of the story from the triumphant entry to the resurrection?

We recorded devotional videos for you to watch Monday, then Tuesday, and Wednesday (April 3-5) on our website under News. Then we have services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Saturday Easter Vigil, Easter Sunday Sunrise service and of course Easter service.

Use this time. A deep and meaningful understanding of humility is a worthy and lasting gift to take away from this season of Lent and the celebration of Easter.

Come on the ride, the ups and downs, all of it, and let it change you. Amen.

Here are the hula oops!

If you were wondering what we are doing with the hula hoops during Lent, the secret is out! We are using them as a hanging mobile for our weekly Lenten Services.

We have a cutout of an image for the theme of the evening and color it and write our thoughts and prayers on it.

Atonement already had a Lenten service, look at one of the mobiles with the cutouts! And Piedmont Valley has their mobiles ready to go for this Wednesday, March 8.

See you at Piedmont Valley at 5:45 for soup supper and 6:30 for the service! Or next week at Atonement again, same times.

2023 Digital Ministry Survey

The survey will be open until February 22nd: https://forms.gle/AyPhF3GrtayEC6zLA.

From our South Dakota Synod’s Digital Ministry Task Force

This task force is made up of pastors serving in South Dakota, professors, and lay people with technology expertise to collaborate on how we can use technology and digital spaces to support congregations in the South Dakota Synod. In order to do good work, we want to learn more about you and your church so that we are aware of what your needs are so we can do something that is helpful.

Blessing for a Home at Epiphany

Matthew writes that when the magi saw the shining star stop overhead, they were filled with joy. “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother” (Matt. 2:10-11). In the home, Christ is met in family and friends, in visitors and strangers. In the home, faith is shared, nurtured, and put into action. In the home, Christ is welcome.

On the Twelfth Night (January 5), Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6), or another day during the time after Epiphany you may gather to bless your home. Someone may lead the greeting and blessing, while another person may read the scripture passage. Following an eastern European tradition, a visual blessing may be inscribed with white chalk above the main door; for example, 20 + CMB + 22. The three letters stand for either the ancient Latin blessing Christe mansionem benedicat, which means “Christ, bless this house,” or the legendary names of the magi (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar). The last number (21 here) is the new year.

Greeting: May peace be to this house and to all who enter here. By wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. (Proverbs 24:3-4)

Reading: As we prepare to ask God’s blessing on this household, let us listen to the words of scripture.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him,
and without him not one thing came into being, and the life was the light of all people. The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory,
the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (John 1:1-4, 14, 16)

This inscription may be made with chalk above the entrance:
20 + C M B + 23
Write the appropriate character while speaking the text:
The magi of old, known as
C Caspar,
M Melchior, and
B Balthasar,
followed the star of God’s Son who came to dwell among us
20 two thousand
23 and twenty-three years ago.
☩ Christ, bless this house,
☩ and remain with us throughout the new year.

So it will look like this but the last number is 23 instead of 20 here:

Prayer of Blessing: O God, you revealed your Son to all people
by the shining light of a star. We pray that you bless this home and all who live here
with your gracious presence. May your love be our inspiration, your wisdom our guide, your truth our light, and your peace our benediction;

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Adapted from Come, Lord Jesus: Devotions for the Home (Augsburg Fortress, 1996). See also “Blessing for a Home” in Evangelical Lutheran Worship Pastoral Care, pp. 337–353. Copyright © 2016 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989