Rake & Run 2020

Pacific Hills Lutheran Church held it's annual Rake & Run this past Sunday 11/22/2020. It was a beautiful fall afternoon to help our neighbors with their yardwork. This year's event had a small but mighty group of workers. We found and helped our neighbors who had recently moved into the neighborhood. Thank you to everyone that helped!

Details: Published: 23 November 2020 23 November 2020; Last Updated: 23 November 2020 23 November 2020

Online Streaming and Copyright

The organ at Pacific Hill Lutheran Church

Change, change, change! That seems to be the routine of this year! One of the big changes Pacific Hills has gone through is adding the option for online streaming of the services! This is a wonderful benefit for those home-bound and a great opportunity for outreach! What does this new option mean for music?

One of the biggest concerns with music is copyright. One small mistake can cost a fortune. So, what are some of the rules we need to consider? Well firstly, copyright only lasts 70 years. In the grand scheme, this is a short time period; however, that is a large chunk of most of our lives. To further complicate it, a copyright can be renewed on a piece music if a new arrangement or addition is made, but only for that arrangement/addition, the original will be out of copyright – but then you have to find one that is still available for purchase or print!

Details: Published: 25 October 2020 25 October 2020; Last Updated: 25 October 2020 25 October 2020

Rally Day 2020

Pacific Hills Lutheran Church will hold its annual Rally Day on Sunday, September 13, 2020, during the Sunday School Hour, 9:00 – 10:00 am. We’ll kick off fall programming and educational programs, share faith milestones, and enjoy an outside, socially-distanced breakfast.

If you or your children are not regularly in the Word, now is the time to rededicate yourself and your family. Get your kids involved with our online Sunday school. Join us for Sunday morning adult Bible study, or a study throughout the week. More info below.

Details: Published: 30 August 2020 30 August 2020; Last Updated: 30 August 2020 30 August 2020

Change

Change. No one likes change, especially not Lutherans. August is a month of change, especially this year. Many children are heading back to school, and that looks very different than previous years.

Children are starting in new schools or moving up to a different grade or classroom. Learning may be in person or online. The seasons are changing. Soon the temperatures will drop along with the leaves on the trees. Life at Pacific Hills is changing as we are in the midst of our building projects. We can be grateful that as we go through changes in our lives we have a God who never changes. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” He is always there for us and blesses us and is a constant in our lives.

Details: Published: 22 August 2020 22 August 2020; Last Updated: 22 August 2020 22 August 2020

One Small Step for a Man

As I write this article today I am reminded of Neil Armstrong’s historic moon landing which took place 51 years ago, July 20, 1969. In the hours before Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon, he decided what his first momentous words, to be broadcast back to Earth and around the world, should be: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Then, in the excitement of the moment, he messed up his line. Armstrong plead indistinct diction, although listening live and to the recordings all these years later, it’s impossible not to hear him saying, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Hear the difference? The indefinite article, a, contrasted his small step, the small step of a single man, with the giant accomplishment of the lunar landing for all mankind. As it came out, the point was a little less clear.

Details: Published: 02 August 2020 02 August 2020; Last Updated: 02 August 2020 02 August 2020

Happy Independence Day!

What will you do to celebrate the Fourth of July? Maybe you will have a picnic and set off some fireworks or maybe you will just spend the day with friends and family and enjoy a long-awaited day off.

This week, on the 4th of July, we will celebrate our nation’s 244th birthday. On this day we celebrate the precious gift of freedom because of the price others have paid. The ideal of freedom is one that our founding fathers believed valuable enough to risk everything on. They risked their fortunes, their families, their reputations and their sacred honor. They risked their very lives and many of them paid for our freedom with their blood and the blood of their children.

Details: Published: 03 July 2020 03 July 2020; Last Updated: 03 July 2020 03 July 2020

The Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL both have Feast Days in the Church Year commemorating events in their lives (Confession of St. Peter on January 18 and Conversion of St. Paul on January 25). Yet even more significant is their joint Feast Day on June 29.

One of the oldest of the festivals commemorating the lives of two saints, it was widely celebrated by the fourth century, but some scholars date it to 258 AD. Some traditions hold that they were both martyred on June 29 in 67 AD. More likely, it was on June 29, 258 AD that their remains were moved to the catacombs which established this feast.

Details: Published: 27 June 2020 27 June 2020; Last Updated: 27 June 2020 27 June 2020

Zach Hastings - New Director of Music

Pacific Hills welcomes organist Zach Hastings as Director of Music on July 1, 2020. He will be directing music and choir for the congregation’s traditional Lutheran Liturgy worship services and seasonal offerings. Zach will be playing the newly-renovated Schantz pipe organ, one of two like it in the Omaha area.

Zach is a native of Ankeny, Iowa, and served for seven years at congregations in Iowa and Minnesota, as a director of worship and music and as a bell choir director. He holds a 2016 Bachelor of Arts in Music degree from Iowa State University, where he studied organ performance. He currently serves on the Central Iowa American Guild of Organists (AGO) Executive Committee, and on the American Guild of Organists Young Organists (AGOYO) National Board.

Details: Published: 14 June 2020 14 June 2020; Last Updated: 14 June 2020 14 June 2020

Caring For You

Our Sunday services are open again, with social distancing and special Holy Communion practices. We still have live streamed, online Sunday services through May 31. We care about our visitors and members, and we’re taking measures to keep you safe.

Details: Published: 23 May 2020 23 May 2020; Last Updated: 23 May 2020 23 May 2020

Happy Mother's Day

Every year at this time, children, of all ages, have quite a challenge. How are they going to pay attention to mom in such a way that the day goes well? There are the standard and routine ways to recognize this one very important person in the family – a card, a phone call, flowers, children trying to be on their best behavior. Mothers and their children tend to have high expectations for what the day will be like.

Details: Published: 09 May 2020 09 May 2020; Last Updated: 09 May 2020 09 May 2020

Naboth’s Vineyard

Drawing by Michelle Steen

ome time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. ² Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.” ³ But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” ⁴ So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. ⁵ His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?” ⁶ He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” ⁷ Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” ⁸ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. ⁹ In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. ¹⁰ But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” ¹¹ So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. ¹² They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. ¹³ Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. ¹⁴ Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.” ¹⁵ As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.” ¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.

- 1 Kings 21:1-16

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