May blessings from Pastor Stephanie
May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. – Colossians 1: 11 – 12
May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. –Romans 15:13
May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace! –Psalm 29:11
May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. –Jude 1:2
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. –Psalm 126:5
May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. -Romans 15:5-6
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may
In hope,
Pastor Stephanie
FROM THE ARCHIVES
As we look forward to the 20th anniversary of the marriage/merger that formed Napa Valley Lutheran church, I gleaned these gems from the Parish Register of Emmanuel Lutheran Church. Next month we will take a look back at records from Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.
July 9, 1958 – Pastor (Paul) Larson and family are in residence on Broadmoor Drive.
October 23, 1958 – Twenty-three persons interested in the formation of a mission congregation met at the Napa Women’s Club at 218 Franklin Ave. to: 1) set November 2, 1958, as the date on which to begin Sunday Services; 2) select “Emmanuel” as the tentative name for the congregation.
June 24, 1962 – Groundbreaking services were conducted at our site at Jefferson and Trower.
April 14, 1963 – Easter Sunday, first Sunday worship in our new church building.
Pastor Owen Grams was installed in November of 1965…After Nancy completed her teaching contract in Watsonville, they moved into a home on MacGregor Court in July 1966.
In 1968 Heinrich Bockman, a friend of Pastor Grams from the Watsonville area passed away and left all his earthly goods to the church with Owen as executor. A third of this estate went to the Watsonville church. A like sum to projects of the church at large, and since Mr. Brockman had worked in the Napa Vineyards when he first came from Germany, and since he loved good organ music, a small pipe organ was purchased for Emmanuel with the balance of the money. Sandra Soderlund (Linnéa Laufer’s aunt), a concert organist whose parents later joined Emmanuel was consulted for this purchase from the Werner Bosch Company of Kassel, Germany. She played the dedicatory concert twice: 8PM on Friday September 10th and 4 PM on Sunday the 12th, 1971.
Pastor Carl Pihl was installed in June of 1994, and his wife Jean and son Eric joined as they made their home in Napa.
COUNCIL UPDATES
The council met on Thursday April 10, and these items were on the agenda:
- Update on progress on Parsonage repairs and remaining tasks.
- Update on planned safety and security issues for church and parsonage
property. - Discussed the election of council members, and who is eligible to serve another term. The nominating committee is busy in preparation for the election at the scheduled meeting on June 1!
A reminder that minutes of our church council minutes are posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex so everyone can read them!
NO WRONG DOOR!
Napa Valley Lutheran Church has too many doors! This has been said many times. Many members have been issued keys, and this makes it convenient for us to access the church buildings to carry out our respective tasks as active members. Being good stewards of our property includes making sure that the facilities are secure when they are unoccupied. We have placed many signs reminding folks to be sure they lock the doors.
IF YOU UNLOCK A DOOR, PLEASE LOCK IT BEHIND YOU. The wooden doors swell and stick, it is very important to check as you leave to make sure that each door is both LOCKED AND LATCHED. When you leave, make sure that you have your keys, and then be sure to check the handle (especially the thumb press ones) and give it a good tug to make sure it doesn’t pop back open. If you can’t get back in, neither can someone else who isn’t authorized to be there. And that is a good thing.
DEVOTIONAL RESOURCES
CHRIST IN OUR HOME: The April, May, June 2025 booklets are available now. If you would like to have one of these delivered to your home, please contact the church office at nvlc@sbcglobal.net or 707-226-8166 to make arrangements.
SECOND MILE GIVING FOR MAY
Each month we encourage extra gifts to be given to a ministry partner either here in Napa or from our Synod and Churchwide connections.
This month we highlight Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, our northern California camping program centered at Mt. Cross.
NVLC Endowment grants support camperships for our members who attend camp. This year Mt. Cross is open for all campers again. Here’s your opportunity to give a gift to help with the program expenses for our wonderful camp. Many lives are changed by a week at camp!
If you would like to contribute to support Mt. Cross, you can put a check into the offering baskets (made out to NVLC with “Second Mile” on the memo line) and include it with your offering anytime during May.
MT. CROSS’ SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!
The Summer 2025 theme is Word of Life. Please visit their website Mt. Cross Ministries (mtcross.org) to learn more about their programs and pricing or to begin your camper’s registration today! Family Camp is scheduled June 8-13. Don’t be concerned about the registration fees — NVLC loves to help families afford the Mt. Cross experience!
VIRTUAL EVENT
Global Refuge invites you to a virtual conversation between Rev. Eric Shafer, Global Refuge pastor in residence, and Rev. Dr. Richard Rouse, author of the newly published book ‘A Journey Called Hope.’ During this time to learn more about the stories of resiliency of new Americans featured in the book, you will also have the chance to ask questions of the speakers. ‘A Journey Called Hope’ is a great resource for anyone interested in learning more about the lives of refugees and other immigrants, and can be a great resource for your congregation, book club, or small group. Join us.
When: Tuesday, May 20, 7pm EDT/4pm PT
About the Speakers
The Rev. Eric C. Shafer, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is Global Refuge’s “Pastor-in-Residence.” In 2022, he retired after more than eight years as Senior Pastor at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Santa Monica, California.
There he helped open the Students4Students Shelter at Mt. Olive, the first shelter for homeless college students in the USA. His previous positions include Senior Vice President for Odyssey Networks in New York City and Director of Communication for the ELCA Churchwide Office in Chicago. Shafer has taught in South Africa and Madagascar and made multiple trips to Jerusalem and the West Bank. He is the host of the YouTube program Hope Matters and does interviews with new book authors for the Church Anew website.
Rev. Dr. Richard W. Rouse is a Lutheran pastor, professor, author, and popula
r conference speaker. He served congregations in Washington and Oregon where he assisted with the resettlement of immigrant families from Russia, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Ukraine. Rouse was the Executive Director for Church Relations and Continuing Education at Pacific Lutheran University for 12 years. He also served as adjunct faculty at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN and taught at the Evangelisch Fachschule in Nuremberg, Germany. Rouse was the Founder and Director of the Missional Leadership Academy for the Grand Canyon Synod of the ELCA. A certified Spiritual Director, Rouse is a member of the Advisory Board for Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. He is the author of numerous books, including A Journey Called Hope: Today’s Immigrant Stories and the American Dream (Chalice Press, 2024). He and his wife, Beth Lewis, reside in Mukilteo, WA.
GRATITUDE
Dear Napa Valley Lutherans,
You can’t imagine the surprise and delight on me and my husband’s face when we opened up the envelope you sent us with the enclosed check of $5,000.!!!! What an answer to prayer. Let me explain why I say this…After last year’s camp, it was such a huge success, that we decided the need is so great for kids with special needs to have a summer camp that we need to double our capacity. We can’t serve 40 kids in one week, so we need to expand to 2 weeks, which means doubling our budget. Between renting a bus, because with 20 kids, comes 20 volunteers, feeding 40 lunches every day, renting places like the trampoline park Kona Ice (all the snow cones you can eat!), the balloon guy and more, we have a $20K budget. So doubling the camp, meant doubling our budget. Now, you may be thinking right now, why don’t you scale back a bit and make it work, but when we started this camp, our goal was to have a first class camp for these kids that usually got leftovers in most other things. If you know, you know. So we prayed about it, felt like God was giving us the go ahead, so we put our faith in thea the funds would come and announced a second week. Right now we are 95% FULL in both weeks!!! We rely on private donors, grants and wonderful Napa organizations like Community Projects, Elks, Mason’s and you guys!!! We don’t charge the families that come because they already have enough expenses with everything else and it’s our way of blessing them with something wonderful and fun. After you folk donated to us last year, we thought that it was a one time gift, and we were so incredibly grateful for it, that it never occurred to us that it would happen again. Bud it did. God is so good!!! To say thank you , doesn’t express enough our gratitude, but hopefully you can hear in this letter, what an impact you are making in these kid’s lives, as well as their families.
With sincere gratitude,
Gavin & Jennie Fly
Campsuperfly.org
Dear Friends of NEWS:
Thank you for your generous gift of $1,000 on 4/3/2025 to NEWS. Your support is a powerful reminder of how our community comes together to transform lives in Napa County. The need for services continues to grow, with more survivors reaching out for comprehensive support – from emergency shelter and crisis intervention to housing assistance and children’s services. As a trusted community resource, NEWS provides these services free of charge ensuring help is accessible to everyone who needs it.
Your partnership makes this possible. Every gift strengthens out ability to respond when survivors need us most, offering not just immediate safety, but also the resources and support to build stable, independent lives. Together we’re creating a stronger, safer Napa County where survivors know they are never alone.
Thank you for being part of this transformative work.
With gratitude,
Tracy Lamb. Executive Director
RESUMING OUR HOPE CIRCLE MEETINGS
Pastor Stephanie would like to resume our monthly Hope Circle gatherings in June. The group previously met on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 1:00pm. Depending upon interest and availability we can adjust when we meet. Are you interested? Please let her know!
LUNCH BUNCH will meet at the Kitchen Door, 610 First St., on Thursday, May 22 at 12:45 p.m. Call Carol Holmes for reservations.
NAPA FOOD BANK THANKS YOU!
Carol Shirmang delivered 18# of donations to Food Bank in April. She noted that “It was the first time folks were lined up to “shop” when I’ve been there… folks are hurting here in Napa.”
Please consider purchasing non-perishable food items and place them in the grocery cart in the Narthex to help our neighbors who are in need.
MORE NOTES FROM THE CHURCH SECRETARY
Have you picked up your copy of the church directory yet? If you would like to update your contact information or if you have corrections, please let me know.
The best way is to email me at secretary@napavalleylutheran.org.
If you want additional copies, they are available in the church office
Thank you to the members of our congregation that have been sending in your contributions to the church office. It is much appreciated. Your financial giving to NVLC is still necessary for us to maintain needs of the congregation. Remember, that although we did not provide boxes of offering envelopes, as in past years, we still have the opportunity to make special offerings for special occasions, any occasion that is special to you!
# # #
Click here to access newsletter archive.
Click here to view the August 2024 Newsletter.
Click here to view the September 2024 Newsletter.
Click here to view the October 2024 Newsletter.
Click here to view the November 2024 Newsletter.
Click here to view the December 2024 Newsletter.
Click here to view the January 2025 Newsletter.
Click here to view the February 2025 Newsletter.
Click here to view the March 2025 Newsletter.
Click here to view the April 2025 Newsletter.