Dear “Virtual” Southminster Members,

Welcome to this Sunday edition of Virtual worship! My hope is that as you worship and take time to care for your spirit, the Great Spirit and Southminster will fill you with hope and comfort and resilience.

Today we will focus on what it means to care for humanity and the nature of belonging amidst the current storms we face.  I also encourage you to participate in the Adult Education Committee’s “Virtual Sunday Starter” at 9:00 a.m. — a series that aims to be offered every other week (see below for details).  This first Sunday Starter will explore the topic of “Finding Meaning in our Pause.” My prayer is that you will find a sense of belonging and purpose even in these days.

To Join the Sunday Starter discussion on Sunday, May 17 from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m, click on the following link (Zoom Meeting) on Sunday morning.

https://zoom.us/j/97508667608?pwd=ZUxqbVFXYXN0QmFDdDV3UHRVV3Z4dz09

Meeting ID: 975 0866 7608
Password: 947366

Topic: Finding Meaning During the Pause

• Is this “pause” a time for quieter reflection and assessment? 
• Have you found any unexpected gifts or insights? 
• Have you learned to do old things in new ways? 
• What does being a church mean when we can’t do our traditional activities of worship and service or have to do them in new ways?

As always, give me a call if you need anything from me or the community.  I can be reached at 503.819.2442 or ludwigpdx@gmail.com.

Virtual Pastor Don

View this week’s Worship Guide >>

Dear “Virtual” Southminster Members,

Happy Mother’s Day! And welcome to this Sunday edition of Virtual worship! My hope is that as you worship and take time to care for your spirit, the Great Spirit and Southminster will fill you with hope and comfort and resilience.

I encourage you to participate with us at our congregational fellowship hour after worship today (see below for details). We will have a special recognition for mothers as well as Matt and Krista Thompson-Aue. Matt and Krista will be moving to Madison, Wisconsin this week for Krista to begin graduate school. We will send out an address where cards, notes, and gifts may be sent to in our Monday Spotlight mailing. 

How to Join the congregation fellowship on Sunday, May 10 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m:

1. Register for Zoom (zoom.us): Simply download “zoom” onto your device
2. Click on the following link (Zoom Meeting) on Sunday morning.
   https://zoom.us/j/91598261573pwd=anBjM3FDRkhqalZBUFhkeFlOTkRpUT09
   Meeting ID: 915 9826 1573
   Password: 370367

3. General Structure to the Fellowship Hour
   • Welcome, Introductions and Short Devotion
   • Special Recognition of Matt and Krista Thompson-Aue
   • Break Out Small groups with guided questions
   • Popcorn “Sharing”
   • Virtual Dance Party (or enjoy watching and listening)

As always, give me a call if you need anything from me or the community.  I can be reached at 503.819.2442 or ludwigpdx@gmail.com.

View this week’s Worship Guide >>

Dear “Virtual” Southminster Members,

The Ludwig’s had a family Zoom meeting this last week with members from all over the country and it reminded me of how much our lives have changed—how much my life has been transformed by everything that’s happened to us during this global pandemic! Yes, I’m longing to return to church—and for all of us to be together again. That will come in time.

Until then, I hope that we are not just waiting out the days but rather taking time for us and our world to be transformed into something new. How is your life being transformed as we speak? How is Southminster going to be transformed into a different community? This week in our virtual worship, I encourage you to quiet the storms around you and take time to focus on the moments of transformations in your life and in the actions of others all across the globe.

As always, email or text or call me if you have any questions or need anything from me or the community. My hope is that as you worship and take time to care for your spirit—that you will be touched by the Great Spirit and Southminster will fill you with hope and comfort and resilience.

Virtual Pastor Don

View this week’s Worship Guide >>

Dear “Virtual” Southminster Members,

Welcome to this Sunday edition of Virtual worship! My hope is that as you worship and take time to care for your spirit, the Great Spirit and Southminster will fill you with hope and comfort and resilience.

I encourage you to participate with us at our congregational fellowship hour after worship today (see below for details).  We have some fun things planned!

How to join the congregation fellowship on Sunday, April 26 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m:

• Register on Zoom (click here or go to zoom.us — you will only have to do this once)
• Click on the following link (Zoom Meeting) on Sunday morning.
  • https://zoom.us/j/91204458608
  • Meeting ID: 912 0445 8608

• General Structure to the Fellowship Hour
  • Welcome, Introductions and Short Devotion
  • Virtual Dance Party (or enjoying watching and listening)
  • Sermon Locations revealed and winner 1 announced
  • Break Out Small groups with guided questions
  • Popcorn “Sharing”

As always, give me a call if you need anything from me or the community.  I can be reached at 503.819.2442 or ludwigpdx@gmail.com.

Virtual Pastor Don

Click here for this week’s Worship Guide

Dear “Virtual” Southminster Members,

Rob Bell recently wrote. “Love is what God is, love is why Jesus came, and love is why he continues to come, year after year to person after person… May you experience this vast, expansive, infinity indestructible love that has been yours all along. May you discover that this love is as wide as the sky and as small as the cracks in your heart no one else knows about, and may you know, deep in your bones, that love wins.”

I could not have said it better!  Over the last week, I have heard from many of you who want this “social distancing” to end already. There are so many questions and uncertainties and increasing anxieties all around us. Yet, as Christians (and as human beings for that matter), we have something that we call “grace.” Grace is a gift that is worth so much more than a stimulus check. Grace comes to us in many forms if we are looking for it. Grace brings meaning to our lives even when life is in disarray. 

This week in our virtual worship, I encourage you to quiet the storms around you and take time to focus on grace in your life and in the actions of others all across the globe. Listen to it… Amazing Grace… how sweet the sound…

As always, email or text or call me if you have any questions or need anything from me or the community. My hope is that as you worship and take time to care for your spirit, the Great Spirit and Southminster will fill you with hope and comfort and resilience.

Virtual Pastor Don

Click here for the April 19th Worship Guide

Dear “Virtual” Southminster Members,

Welcome to Easter Morning,

I know that none of us planned to be apart on Easter this year, but here we are. And we are proving that the church is not a building, that community is discovered in each other. As you wake up this Easter, I encourage you to take a brief moment to go or look outside. Take a short walk. Read or listen to the Easter Sunrise meditation that I have for you today — as you listen to the “Morning Has Broken” hymn and watch the Flowering of Southminster member video, may you find peace and wholeness.

You are also encouraged to take 45 minutes this morning, with you and your family, to watch the PCUSA Easter Celebration and message of hope.  Leaders of the Presbyterian church (U.S.A.) have created this video to help us all come together in this time of social distancing.

From the Ludwig’s to all of you – Happy Easter!

Virtual Pastor Don

Click here for the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service

Welcome to “calendar” Holy Week! While we will celebrate the events of this week virtually, please know that we plan to have a second “Holy” week upon our collective return to Southminster, including the flowering of the cross. What a joyous week that will be. Stay tuned.

I still encourage you and your family to celebrate Holy week virtually. Here’s how:

“Flowering of the Cross” Virtual Slideshow: All members are asked to “virtually” decorate the “cross” by sending in one or two pictures of flowers and yourselves. Pull out your baskets, vases, and bowls and fill them with the greenery, buds, and blossoms from your gardens. Whether your inspiration is a single tulip or a bodacious bouquet, take out your cell phone or digital camera and capture an image of your Easter floral arrangement with you and/or your family as a backdrop. You are welcome to send in an image of past “flowering of the cross” worship services too. All are welcome. All invited. Send your images to staff@southmin.org before Friday at noon. We will then take all of these images and create a slideshow with music and send it out to everyone on Easter morning along with the virtual Easter Sunrise service.

Good Friday Prayer Vigil: Pastor Don and 2-3 rotating individuals will be in the Sanctuary for prayer between the hours of 3:00-7:00 p.m. on Friday. Please email your prayers to Don at ludwigpdx@gmail.com. If you are interested in signing up for a timeslot to pray, we will ensure social distancing in our rotation of individuals. 

Easter Sunrise Service: Rev. Don Ludwig will provide an Easter Sunrise prayer and meditation that will be delivered to your Email by 6:30 a.m. on Easter. The Southminster “Flowering of the Cross” slideshow will also be sent to you.

Easter worship service: Everyone is encouraged to join the LIVE STREAMING of the National Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) worship service. You will be sent a link to the service on Thursday and the link will also be in the “virtual” Easter Sunrise service sent out on Sunday morning.  

As always, email or text or call me if you have any questions or need anything from me or the community. My hope is that as you worship and take time to care for your spirit, the Great Spirit and Southminster will fill you with hope and comfort and resilience.

Welcome to “calendar” Palm Sunday!

I hope that all of you are not going stir crazy and are finding the power of love in your lives. As you know I plan to make my sermons available in “video” and “written” format each week. To add a little Southminster fun, I will always “preach” from a different location of the church building. But where? That is for you and your family to guess and write it down on a list. When we finally are able to physically gather as a congregation (our Easter Sunday), there will be a “prize” given for the individual or family that guesses the most correct Sermon locations. How well do you really know the church? Hmmmm. I will give you a hint on how to start:

1. Sermon Location COVID-19 Week-One (March 15): Written Sermon only
2. Sermon Location COVID-19 Week-Two (March 22): _______________
3. Sermon Location COVID-19 Week-Two (March 29): _______________

As always, email or text or call me if you have any questions or need anything from me or the community. My hope is that as you worship and take time to care for your spirit, the Great Spirit and Southminster will fill you with hope and comfort and resilience – WE GOT THIS!

This is week two of our online “virtual” worship. I hope and pray that you are taking care of yourselves and know that you are not alone. I have changed our spiritual theme for the coming weeks to focus on how to respond to wilderness experiences: Resilience in the Wilderness. Some of us who are older have been through similar times as these – some of us are bewildered by fear and anxiety in experiencing a social disaster for the first time. All of us have experienced moments and periods where we have felt isolated and as if Spirit was far away.

I encourage you to read, watch and listen to the “virtual worship service” as individuals and/or families. There are two video links that have relevant hymns for you to join along or simply listen to and one “must-see” theme reading video link of Maya Angelou’s remarkable reading of her poem “I Rise.” Don’s sermon is available in video and written format (click on the preferred links).

At the end of the service is a special edition of Sunday Starter: A Focus on Climate Change. At some point during the week, the Adult Education Committee would love for you to watch the Bill Moyers interview, read the brief overview, and consider the Question Prompts.

As always, email or text or call me if you have any questions or need anything from me or the community. My hope is that as you worship and take time to care for your spirit, the Spirit of God and Southminster will fill you with hope and comfort and resilience – WE GOT THIS!