Spiritual Life
6A
Thursday, June 11, 2020
HIGHLIGHTS
CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
LA GRANDE STAKE — The
Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow
Me” lesson for the week of June
15-21 is based on Alma 13-16,
which is found in the Book of
Mormon.
This week’s lesson con-
tinues to cover the story of Alma
and Amulek as they preach in
Ammonihah and face extreme
persecution for their beliefs, wit-
at Faith Lutheran Church this
Sunday will focus on Jesus equip-
ping his disciples with authority
to “heal the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, cast out
demons” (Matthew 10:8). Christ
with his compassionate mercy
continues to equip us to serve one
another. It is up to us not to reject
the opportunities that are set
before us.
Intergenerational summer
Sunday school is at 8:45 a.m. with
a Matins service at 10 a.m.
Submissions
Churches and faith-based groups are encouraged to submit
Highlights for the Spiritual Life page by 4 p.m. Tuesday for publication
Thursdayday. Submit by email to news@lagrandeobserver.com (with
Highlights in the subject line).
ness the martyrdom of their fol-
lowers, are cast into prison and
then saved from the destruction
of the prison and the leaders who
persecuted them. To see a video
presentation of these scriptures,
and others, visit www.churchofje-
suschrist.org/media/collection/
book-of-mormon-videos.
FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH
LA GRANDE — The sermon
ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH
LA GRANDE — Zion
Lutheran Church will not have
in-person worship this Sunday,
June 14.
Links to an online worship
service will be posted on Zion’s
website and Facebook page on
Saturday.
Zion may resume in-person
worship next week, June 21.
Offerings may be mailed to
the church at 902 Fourth St., La
Grande 97850.
Dare to be a Daniel Pandemic accelerates Mormon
missionaries’ transition to online
Strong moral leadership requires courage
ecently my wife Kath-
will quickly be seen to be unjust
leen and I had an extended or weak, infl aming observers.
conversation about what
And, of course, leadership based
constitutes strong moral leader-
on subjective/relativistic notions
ship. What will it take to produce
of morality will come to be seen
it in greater measure at all levels
as puny and capricious.
of a troubled
In the course
society?
of
our
conversa-
CALL ME
It’s a big
tion about lead-
PASTOR
topic for two
ership, Kath-
DONALD BASTIAN
94-year-olds
leen reminded
retired from
me of a Sunday
public life and with no platform
school song written a century and
from which to speak. But we
a half ago by an Episcopalian cler-
had just watched American news
gyman named Philips Brooks. It
coverage of protests following
is about the prophet Daniel, the
the death of George Floyd at the
young Jewish lad who had been
hands of a policeman.
taken as a captive from Israel to
We had seen the walls of large
Babylon to be trained as a civil
buildings torched in some of
servant. There, he was twice at
America’s major cities. Streets
imminent risk of unjust execu-
were crowded with people, mostly tion (the second time cast into the
young, who were demonstrating
lions’ den because he continued
in an orderly way. But the fi res
petitioning to God even when it
were being set by another group
was commanded to only petition
whose obvious intention was to
King Darius).
destroy everything of value.
Here are the words of a refrain
Our conversation touched on
we sang 85 or so years ago:
the inner human commitments
Dare to be a Daniel,
that make for strong character
Dare to stand alone.
when taught and promoted. It was
Dare to have a purpose fi rm!
not about styles of leadership.
Dare to make it known.
There are plenty of courses, sem-
The morning after Kathleen’s
inars and videos attempting to
and my earnest discussion about
address them. It was rather about
higher leadership I went to the
core qualities: wisdom, righteous- little “den” of our apartment and
ness and commitment to justice.
read with delight the early part
We know that authentic righ-
of the book of Daniel. I read how
teousness requires that our
with utmost courtesy he stood like
thoughts and actions align with
a rock on issues of importance, to
God’s moral law (Exodus 20:1-
his own peril. And how the Lord
17). Justice seems to us to be the
was powerfully with him.
result of a human conscience
And I like to think that today,
aligned with God’s law written
too, we can say with Daniel (2:20-
on our hearts, enacted into rule
22): Praise be to the name of God
by law. And if we disobey such
forever and ever; wisdom and
a conscience, and righteous rule
power are his. He changes times
by law, we damage character and
and seasons; he deposes kings
deny justice.
and raises up others. He gives
Justice requires that both sides
wisdom to the wise and knowl-
in a dispute be treated equally. To edge to the discerning. He reveals
be just in a court of law is a most
deep and hidden things; he knows
demanding challenge, and some
what lies in darkness, and light
say justice is always an approxi-
dwells with him.
mation. Yet in everyday life, fair-
About the Author: Donald N.
ness can be discerned as a reach-
Bastian, of Ontario, Canada, is the
able standard.
bishop emeritus of the Free Meth-
Leaders who operate from
odist Church of North America.
power, emotion, personal animus, Find more of his writings at just-
empathy alone, prejudice or taste
callmepastor.wordpress.com.
R
By Brady McCombs
and Miriam Fam
Associated Press
BRIGHAM CITY, Utah —
Wearing dress shirts, ties and
name tags, three missionaries
with The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints sit around
the kitchen table inside a Utah
apartment planning how they’ll
spread their gospel that day.
Seth Rather, 19, of Wichita,
Kansas, reads aloud as he types
on a smartphone: “During this
time, we must put our faith in
God to deliver us through these
unprecedented times. How has
putting your faith in God helped
you in your life?
“That good?” he asks his two
companions.
“I like it,” Andrew Zitting
responds. Guenter Castrillo
nods.
With that, the young men
have their Facebook post for the
day. This is what missionary
work looks like during the coro-
navirus pandemic, which has
forced the Utah-based faith
widely known as the Mormon
church to accelerate its online
outreach.
After hastily bringing home
more than 26,000 young people
from overseas missions aimed
at recruiting new members, the
church has begun sending many
of them out again in their home
countries with a new focus on
online work that may persist
even after the pandemic, offi -
cials told The Associated Press.
“The leaders of our church
have been asking us: What
are we learning from this pan-
demic that will help us become
better, become more effi cient,”
said Brent H. Nielson, execu-
tive director of the church’s mis-
sionary department. “We’ve
learned that fi nding people,
teaching people online is much
more effective than trying to
meet people in person on a bus
or on a street corner or some-
where else. This will change
what we do, I think, forever.”
Missionary work has changed
drastically for young people like
Photo by Rick Bowmer/Associated Press
In this May 27 photo, missionaries with The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, from left to right, Andrew Zitting, Seth Rather,
and Guenter Castrillo look at their smartphones after a Zoom meet-
ing with a local family at their apartment, in Brigham City, Utah. The
faith has begun sending out many young men and women in their
home countries with a new focus on online work that could stick
even when the pandemic is over, church offi cials told The Associ-
ated Press.
Rather and Castrillo, who had
spent days walking the streets
in the Philippines to spread the
word of their faith before the
pandemic hit. Now, they hardly
leave an apartment in Brigham
City in northern Utah.
After sending the Facebook
post recently, they dialed in to a
Zoom call with a family. A sim-
ilar scene is playing out world-
wide as reassigned missionaries
navigate new realities.
In Orlando, Florida, Bella
McCain and Madison King hold
a video call with a family they
have been teaching church doc-
trine. They invite the family to
take the sacrament for the fi rst
time and follow up on an ear-
lier proposal: forgo coffee, a key
part of the faith’s health code,
which also bans alcohol and
tobacco.
The husband and wife had
different outcomes: She says she
found it diffi cult but would work
on it. He says he’d given up.
On Facebook, McCain and
King craft a message in Portu-
guese, the language they learned
for their original assignments
in Brazil. They also text people
asking to set up a call to talk
about the church.
It’s a far cry from just months
ago. In Brazil, McCain largely
spoke to people face to face.
“Sometimes we feel like pio-
neers,” said McCain, 19, from
Texas. “We’re not used to using
social media in this way and,
like, I never made videos and
posted them online before. ...
We’re all learning, and it’s really
interesting and really fun.”
The church began incor-
porating online faith outreach
when it gave some missionaries
tablets six years ago. It’s since
made technology more preva-
lent, giving most missionaries
smartphones even before the
pandemic, Nielson said.
A more online-based
approach would be a major shift
and could diminish the appeal
for some young church members
who crave an enriching cultural
experience, said Ryan Cragun,
a sociology professor at the Uni-
versity of Tampa.
“There’s this quasi-tourist
experience of going to these
cool places, but there is also
the connection you get to the
people,” Cragun said. “That’s
probably one of the more mean-
ingful things that happens to
them.”
Northeast Oregon Directory of Churches
Services This
Week
First Christian
Church
(Disciples of Christ)
FIRST LANDMARK
MISSIONARY BAPTIST
CHURCH
1812 1st St. La Grande
901 Penn Avenue 963-2623 Pastor Dave Tierce • 541-605-0215
lgdisciples@gmail.com
We use the King James Version Bible
Worship
10:00 a.m.
Sunday School - 10:00 am
Worship 11:00 am
Sunday Evening Bible Study - 3:00 pm (Effective June 10)
Wednesday Evening - 6:30 pm
“Where you can find TRUTH according to the scriptures”
~Join us at The Lord’s Table~
Zion Lutheran
Church
(an ELCA church)
902 Fourth Street,
La Grande, OR
(541) 963-5998
9:00 am - Worship
10:00 am - Fellowship & Refreshments
10:30 am - Classes
Pastor: Roberta Smythe
www.zionlagrande.org
First Baptist
Church
SIXTH &
SPRING,
LA GRANDE
541-963-3911
All services have been temporarily cancelled.
Live-streaming Sunday mornings at
10:00 am. People can watch at:
lagrandefbc.org
St. Katherine’s
Catholic Church
Fr. Thomas Puduppulliparamban
301 E Garfield Enterprise
Mass Schedule
Sundays:
St Pius X, Wallowa – 8:00 am
St Katherine of Siena, Enterprise – 10:30 am
Saturdays
St Katherine of Siena, Enterprise – 5:30 pm
Weekdays
St Katherine of Siena, Enterprise – 8:00 am
(Monday – Thursday and First Friday)
All are welcome
1531 S. Main
Street, Union
541-562-5531
www.UnionBaptistOregon.org
Sunday School
9:45 am
Morning Worship 11:00 am
Thursday AWANA 6:30 pm
Birthing, Building and Being
the Body of Christ
GRACE COMMUNITY
LUTHERAN CHURCH
The Place
62848 Philynda Loop in Island City
“We are called to Serve”
109 18th Street • 963-3402
Sunday School 9:15 a.m.
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
Sunday School for all ages - 9:00 am
Sunday Worship 10:00 am
Phone: 541-568-4230
grace.lutherancove@gmail.com
www.flmbclagrande.com
LA GRANDE UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
“OPEN HEARTS, OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS”
1612 4th Street – 963-2498
Pastor Taylor Gould
lgumc@eoni.com
www.lagrandeumc.org
Office Hours: Mon-Thur 9am-Noon
Worship 10:00 am
Fellowship Coffee Hour 11:00 am
Amazing Grace
Fellowship
1316 T St., La Grande, OR
541-568-4567
Sunday 10:30 a.m.
2 Cor 12:9 My Grace is
sufficient for you.
IS 40:31
- Nursery provided -
Imbler
Christian
Church
440 Ruckman, Imbler 534-2201
www.imblerchristianchurch.org
Sunday Services
9:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
Sunday School
Worship Service
Cove United
Methodist Church
1708 Jasper St., Cove, OR
North Powder
United
Methodist Church
390 E. St., North Powder, OR
JOIN US... Catch the Spirit!
Worship: 9:00 a.m. Cove
Worship: 10:00 a.m. N. Powder
La Grande Seventh-day
SUMMERVILLE
BAPTIST CHURCH
Sunday Services:
Sunday School & Adult Bible Classes
9:45AM
Children’s Church & Worship Service
11:00AM
Family Worship Service
6:00PM
Wednesday:
Prayer Mtg, Children’s Bible Club, Youth
Group 7:00PM
A church for your whole family
Visit us at summervillebaptistchurch.org
Adventist Church
A Place where hope is found in Jesus
Join us in Fellowship & Worship Every
Saturday
9:30 a.m. - Bible Study/Fellowship
10:45 a.m. - Worship Service
2702 Adams Avenue, La Grande • 963-4018
Pastor: Mike Armayor
www.lagrandeor.adventistchurch.org
Learning for Today and Eternity
Little Friends
Christian Preschool/Childcare 963-6390
La Grande Adventist Christian School
Christian Education K-8th Grade 963-6203