Spiritual Life
A6
Thursday, January 6, 2022
SPIRITUAL LIFE HIGHLIGHTS
Join Morning Prayer service
in person or online
SUBMISSIONS
Churches and faith-based groups are encouraged to submit Highlights for the Spiritual Life
page by 4 p.m. Tuesday for publication Thursday. Submit by email to news@lagrandeob-
server.com (with Highlights in the subject line).
LA GRANDE — St. Peter’s
Episcopal Church will meet for
a service of Morning Prayer
on Sunday, Jan. 9, at 11 a.m.
Masks and social distancing
are required. The service will
be streamed live. The link to
that stream will be posted to the
church’s Facebook page on Sat-
urday, Jan. 8, and can also be
used to watch the service at a
later time.
‘Digging Out’ is topic
of Jan. 9 sermon
LA GRANDE — First Chris-
tian Church (Disciples of Christ)
worships at 10 a.m. each Sunday,
with all welcome to join the
Lord’s table. This Sunday, Jan.
9, Pastor Archie Hook will speak
on “Digging Out,” with reference
to Hebrews 6:11-12: “But we pas-
sionately want each of you to
demonstrate the same eagerness
for the fulfi llment of your hope
until the end, so that you may
not be sluggish, but imitators of
those who through faith and per-
severance inherit the promises.”
Jan. 9, at 9 a.m. Masks and social
distancing are required. The ser-
vice will also be livestreamed to
YouTube, and the link for that
stream will be posted on Zion’s
Facebook page and website on
Saturday, Jan. 8.
Service streamed
to YouTube
NORTHEASTERN OREGON
— Members of the congregation
will be the speakers for the Sac-
rament Service at the region’s
wards of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints on
LA GRANDE — Zion
Lutheran Church will off er
in-person worship on Sunday,
The only wrong
way to serve is
to do nothing
ROBERTA
SMYTHE
WALKING WITH
THE SHEPHERD
e must run with
patience the race
that has been set
W
before us.
That’s from Paul, in
his letter to the Hebrews.
It’s a fi tting description of
where we are regarding the
COVID-19 pandemic.
We are currently facing
the impact of the latest
COVID variant, omicron.
So far, it appears that this
variant is more contagious,
but perhaps less serious,
than previous variants.
Case counts and hospital-
izations continue to rise in
our state and around the
country.
As a pastor, I think a lot
about whether my congre-
gations may need to adjust
their worship practices due
to this latest variant. Other
pastors are likely doing the
same, though we may reach
diff erent decisions.
You see, Christian
leaders are not in agree-
ment on how to best
operate during this pan-
demic, nor are we in
agreement on other mat-
ters. Even within a given
denomination, or a given
congregation, there are
diff erences of opinion. In
my congregations, I have
those who will not return
to in-person worship while
COVID is so prevalent. I
also have those who won’t
come to worship if they
have to wear a mask.
We do a disservice to
any religion, any belief
system, when we assume
all followers are the same.
This is also true of polit-
ical beliefs. It may be easier
to assume that all mem-
bers of a political party are
the same, but they’re not.
Even those with the same
opinion on a candidate or
policy may think that way
for diff erent reasons.
The same is true of
Christians. We all believe
in Jesus as Son of God,
crucifi ed and risen from the
dead for our sake. But that
may be the extent of our
agreement.
My belief is that God
has called us to proclaim
the good news: that Jesus
came to forgive us and
show us God’s love for all.
My duty as a Christian (not
just as a pastor), is to tell
how following Jesus has
made a diff erence in my
life. But it is not my job to
force someone to believe
the way I do. So I share my
beliefs, my story. It is then
up to God to work in the
heart of that person in order
to do what God has in mind
for them.
I also believe that God
wants us to care for one
another, to be God’s hands
and feet in this world. How
each of us carries out that
mission will vary. Some
may serve as pastors or lay
leaders in the church. Some
may serve in community
service professions. Some
may serve through political
action. Some may serve by
volunteering time or money
to causes that help those in
need.
The only wrong way to
serve is to do nothing.
———
Roberta Smythe is the
pastor of La Grande’s Zion
Lutheran and St. Peter’s
Episcopal churches.
Jan. 9 livestream
addresses young adults
Sunday, Jan. 9. The second hour
will be Priesthood and Relief
Society meetings.
Elder Ronald A. Rasband,
of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles, will speak to young
adults via livestream on Jan. 9 at
4 p.m. He will be joined by his
wife, Melanie T. Rasband, and
Elder Clark G. Gilbert, General
Authority Seventy, and his wife,
Christine C. Gilbert.
The livestream can be viewed
YouTube or on the church’s live
broadcast page in English or ASL.
The “Come, Follow Me”
lesson for the week of Jan. 10 is
based on Genesis 3-4 and Moses
4-5 (found in the Pearl of Great
Price). These chapters cover the
fall of Adam and Eve with the
chapters in Moses providing fur-
ther insight into how the fall
aff ects, and blesses, each of us.
God revealed himself in
Jesus’ baptism
LA GRANDE — Thursday,
Jan. 6, is the Twelfth Day of
Christmas, called Epiphany.
Epiphany is a time that follows
Christmas to celebrate that God
provides us with epiphanies
(manifestations) in which Christ
reveals himself.
The sermon at Faith Lutheran
Church on Sunday, Jan. 9, will
expound on God revealing him-
self through Jesus’ baptism by the
bold John the Baptist, drawn from
Luke 3:15-22.
The reading will be Matthew
2:1-12, which tells of the Magi
visiting the Holy Family.
Koinonia, Faith Lutheran’s
women’s group, will meet on Sat-
urday, Jan. 8.
— The Observer
Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s moral conscience, dies at 90
By ANDREW MELDRUM
Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG
— Desmond Tutu, South
Africa’s Nobel Peace
Prize-winning icon, an
uncompromising foe of
apartheid and a mod-
ern-day activist for racial
justice and LGBT rights,
died Sunday, Dec. 26,
2021, at 90. South Afri-
cans, world leaders and
people around the globe
mourned the death of the
man viewed as the coun-
try’s moral conscience.
Tutu worked passion-
ately, tirelessly and non-
violently to tear down
apartheid — South Afri-
ca’s brutal, decades-long
regime of oppression
against its Black majority
that ended only in 1994.
The buoyant, blunt-
J. Pat Carter/Associated Press
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu addresses University of
Oklahoma graduates at a ceremony after he received an honorary
degree, on Tuesday, April 25, 2000, in Norman, Oklahoma.
spoken clergyman used
his pulpit as the fi rst Black
bishop of Johannesburg
and later as the Anglican
Archbishop of Cape Town,
as well as frequent public
demonstrations, to galva-
nize public opinion against
racial inequity, both at
home and globally.
Nicknamed “the Arch,”
the diminutive Tutu
became a towering fi gure
in his nation’s history,
comparable to fellow Nobel
laureate Nelson Mandela, a
prisoner during white rule
who became South Afri-
ca’s fi rst Black president.
Tutu and Mandela shared
a commitment to building
a better, more equal South
Africa.
Upon becoming pres-
ident in 1994, Mandela
appointed Tutu to be
chairman of the coun-
try’s Truth and Reconcili-
ation Commission, which
uncovered the abuses of
apartheid.
Former U.S. President
Barack Obama hailed Tutu
as “a moral compass for
me and so many others.
A universal spirit, Arch-
bishop Tutu was grounded
in the struggle for libera-
tion and justice in his own
country, but also concerned
with injustice everywhere.
He never lost his impish
sense of humor and will-
ingness to fi nd humanity in
his adversaries.”
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Northeast Oregon Directory of Churches
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!
First Christian
Church
(Disciples of Christ)
Worship
10:00 a.m.
~Join us at The Lord’s Table~
SUMMERVILLE
BAPTIST CHURCH
LA GRANDE UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
A church for your whole family
Visit us at summervillebaptistchurch.org
The Place
62848 Philynda Loop in Island City
901 Penn Avenue 963-2623 “We are called to Serve”
lgdisciples@gmail.com
Worship: 9:00 a.m. Cove
Worship: 10:00 a.m. N. Powder
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
GRACE COMMUNITY
LUTHERAN CHURCH
Sunday School for all ages - 9:00 am
Sunday Worship 10:00 am
Phone: 541-568-4230
grace.lutherancove@gmail.com
www.lagrandeumc.org
www.imblercc@gmail.com
Sunday Services
9:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
Sunday School
Worship Service
La Grande Seventh-day
A Place where hope is found in Jesus
Join us in Fellowship & Worship
Saturday all age classes 9:30 am
Saturday Worship 11:00 am
1612 4th Street – 963-2498
For service information go to
440 Ruckman, Imbler 534-2201
Adventist Church
“OPEN HEARTS, OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS”
Pastor Taylor Gould
Imbler
Christian
Church
2702 Adams Avenue, La Grande
963-4018
109 18th Street • 963-3402
Sunday School 9:15 a.m.
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
lagrandeor.adventistchurch.org
Learning for Today and Eternity
Little Friends
Christian Preschool/Childcare 963-6390
La Grande Adventist Christian School
K-8th Grade 963-6203
FIRST LANDMARK
MISSIONARY BAPTIST
CHURCH
1812 1st St. La Grande
Pastor Dave Tierce • 541-605-0215
We use the King James Version Bible
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”
www.flmbclagrande.com
Services
This
Week