Worship Schedule:
10:00am in the Sanctuary and on YouTube
Due to the pandemic the need for food is increasing daily. In addition, the annual Letter Carriers Food Drive (Stamp Out Hunger) which normally produces more than 50,000 lbs. of donated food has been canceled which makes the need even greater.
AFAC needs canned vegetables, cereal (low sugar), canned tuna, canned tomato products (stewed, diced, paste), and peanut butter (in plastic jars).
Contributions can be dropped off in the Narthex.
Please join us for a live stream of our 10:00am Worship Serivce on Sunday, July 3, 2022, the Fourth Sunday After Pentecost. If you missed the service, then please click below for a replay.
Worship Bulletin for July 3, 2022Please be aware that there may be moments of silence during the hymns, choral pieces, and organ voluntaries for which we have not been able to secure streaming rights from the music publishers. We apologize for this disruption and thank you for your understanding.
As the scriptural witness lives on and continues to form and inform our life together, Jesus continues to appoint us – you, and me – and all the baptized children of God to be sent on missionary journeys to the places Jesus intends to go just as he appointed the seventy in the days of old as we heard in today’s gospel from Luke.
You and I have been on such a missionary journey together for two years, and some months, and now we are parting ways – you remaining here, and I venturing westward for the congregational call in Phoenix to be near my son.
When our paths coincided back in 2019, we said in essence to each other, “Peace to this house!” And I believe that we have shared in that peace, the peace of Christ, during our sojourn together.
And you can be sure that in my leave-taking, I will not be wiping off any dust that clings to my feet in protest of you or of this place.
In keeping with the message from today’s gospel reading from Luke and Jesus’ instructions found therein, we have shared this journey with focus on proclamation in word and deed that the “dominion of God has come near to us.” And we have known the nearness of that dominion, I believe, in our life together.
Now there is another sending, me to Phoenix, and you to whatever is in store in the next chapter of your life together as Resurrection Lutheran Church.
To be sure, we enter into anxious times, both you and I. Thus, Jesus’ words recorded in Luke perhaps haunt us: “Go on our way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals….”
This sounds dangerous and quite austere and minimalist. Will there be enough for the journey? Can we rely on others to give us the provisions we need to survive, if not to thrive? Will there be an appropriate interim pastor available to you at this time? Will there be the pastoral candidates you need for such a time as this? I, too, am embarking on a call to a congregation that has its own share of challenges and struggles amidst a time of significant economic uncertainty and plenty of national and international crises to keep us awake at night.
It’s quite the leap of faith that we are undertaking in our different ways. And our provisions for the journey may at first seem scarce.
In these anxious, uncertain times that we share in our own ways, we may take some comfort in Isaiah’s prophetic words of promise and restoration from today’s first reading: “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for the city, all you love her; rejoice with Jerusalem in joy, all you who mourn over her – that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious bosom. For thus says the Lord: I will extend prosperity to Jerusalem like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm, and dandled on her knees….”
What lovely, comforting words: the promise of the restoration of the holy city and with abundance and with a loving embrace as from a mother for her children.
Throughout the many Christian centuries of reading the prophets like Isaiah through Christocentric lenses, seeing Christ in the prophetic word, the church, the body of Christ, has been viewed as a new manifestation of the holy city Jerusalem. This place, this assembly is our holy city.
Thus, when we hear with the ears of faith that we are promised to nurse as at a mother’s breast in this holy city, we may hear overtones of the Holy Supper, the Eucharist, when we eat and drink from the body of our saving mother, Christ.
When we hear that the prosperity of the holy city extends like a river, and that wealth is offered up like an overflowing stream, we might think of the waters of baptism which indeed give us life abundant, grace overflowing without end.
Then, just when we’re overcome with fears of scarcity – will we have what we need? – we come to our senses and realize anew that here in this place is in fact God’s abundance to feed us, to nurse us, to quench our thirst, with plenty left over for us to feed and nourish the nations.
That is good news indeed. Just what we need for times like these.
And if we become overconfident in our own doings as the returning seventy did when they were impressed that the spirits submitted to them in their healing and exorcisms, Christ is here in the word to remind us: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Indeed, our names are close to the heart of God ever since we were claimed as God’s children by name, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit in the overflowing waters of grace at the font.
And likewise, if we run into trouble in Christian community and there is conflict in the life together, as there clearly was at the church in Galatia which Paul was addressing in today’s second reading, the Spirit speaks through the words of the apostle to remind us: “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision [the controversy that captivated the church in Galatia] is anything; but a new creation [in Christ] is everything!”
Thus it is that in Christ, here in this place, Sunday after Sunday without fail, we are given what we need to be sent on our missionary journeys despite the nagging sense of austerity and scarcity and danger that the logic of the world imposes on us. For once again, in Christ, we have absolutely everything we ultimately need for the journey, whether the journey takes us here or there.
Thus, with our sometimes-feeble faith renewed, we go out on our way to feed the world with the same mother’s milk that we receive here from Christ in the word and in the sacraments ever proclaiming that the dominion of God has indeed come near to us in Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Ms. Angie has a new children's message! Click below to watch:
Sunday, July 3
10:00 am – Worship – with conversation following with Pastor Linman concerning call circumstances during coffee hour.
Wednesday, July 6
7:30 pm – Reopening Planning Group Meeting via Zoom
Thursday, July 7
7:30 pm – Congregation Council Meeting via Zoom
Sunday, July 10
10:00 am – Worship
In an effort to create an updated membership directory with the most current, accurate and preferred contact information, you’ve now received a message which contains a member information form which we ask each member of the congregation to fill out and return to the church office. This message and the form has come to you via Constant Contact.
We will receive donations of food items for AFAC on Sunday, July 3 in conjunction with our regular worship service.
In less than three weeks, RELC will host it’s annual Yard Sale to support teen participation in future ELCA Youth Gatherings. Donations have been accruing in Room 13, and can continue to be brought there through Sunday, July 10th. An initial inventory will be taken following worship on Sunday, July 10th by Youth Director Amanda Lindamood to allow for volunteer engagement to assist with pricing, set up and day of staffing of the yard sale. Below is a break down of volunteer needs and opportunities.
For any of the below time frames, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. of your plans to come.
Sunday, July 10th 12-4 pm
Open opportunity to assist Amanda with inventorying the donations and determining supply needs.
Tuesday, July 12th 3-5 pm
Open opportunity to assist with organizing and pricing.
Wednesday, July 13th 4-8 pm
Open opportunity to assist with organizing and pricing.
Thursday, July 14th 3-5 pm
Open opportunity to complete organizing and pricing.
Friday, July 15th 4-8 pm
Open opportunity to move all included Yard Sale items into the Fellowship Hall, preparing for Saturday.
Day of Volunteer Roles
For most effective running of the Yard Sale, Amanda needs three to four volunteers to complement her for 2 hour shifts throughout the day, helping to manage the flow of visitors and purchases, specifically aiding with transactions. You are welcome to show up for multiple shifts.
Shift 1—6 to 8 am Opening
Shift 2—8-10 am
Shift 3—10-12 pm
Shift 4—12-2 pm Closing
Shift 5—2-4 pm Clean up
If you have access to a car during the next week and can assist with drop offs of remaining stuff, please indicate that availability as well. Amanda will be on site for all of these listed times.
During the months of August and September, monthly virtual All Ages Bible Study and Outdoor Liturgies will continue. Please note the following upcoming dates for Bible Study: July 12th and August 9th, and for Outdoor Liturgy: July 24th and August 28th in your calendars.
Moving through Resistance: Lessons from Ruth, Naomi & Jonah
Mar-Lu-Ridge Camp & Retreat Center
Ridge Inn Conference Center
As we remain in a time of ministry during Covid, we are excited to host an in person, Church Retreat in October 2022. From Saturday, October 8th at 10 am until Monday, October 10th at 2 pm we will gather for learning and fellowship at Mar Lu Ridge Lutheran Camp in nearby Jefferson, Maryland, about an hour away. Accommodations, meals and activities will be centralized in the Ridge Inn Conference Center which includes indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, a private cafeteria, and 16 motel style rooms each with three twin beds and a private backroom.
Ministry in the age of Covid has granted many changes, very fast changes. Retreats are an opportunity to spend time with scripture, slowly taking in the context, questions and characters in a story, allowing our reflections to be enriched by long and shared exploration. We will be guided this weekend by three scriptural figures—Jonah, Naomi and Ruth.
RELC is supplementing the cost of participation, and extending invitations to participate to members and non members, as you are welcome to share this opportunity with friends and family. Both day time participation and overnight participation can be accommodated. The full weekend includes two nights of lodging, all prepared meals, hikes, worship, camp fires, low ropes courses, and a service project, and plenty of down time. We will reflect together over the weekend--what is faithfulness; how is it defined and practiced? There are opportunities to participate as daytime visitors and overnight visitors, with limited rooms available. As a commitment to this opportunity, Resurrection will provide an adjusted price for participants. For single participants staying overnight, a 50-dollar cost and for couples and families 100 dollars for the weekend. For day time visitors, a 25-dollar cost to cover meals.
Over the next several weeks, please share any interest in participating in this planned retreat with Youth Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who is coordinating this effort. Official commitments will be required by the end of August, and closed once the retreat center's capacity is reached. Each room is equipped with three twin beds and a private bathroom, with room to allow for blow up mattresses, sleeping bags and cribs.
It is our hope that this occasion delights you and provides you with both community and respite.
To view our 10:00 AM Sunday worship service on YouTube live, click on the live worship link on the RELC home page on Sunday mornings during the worship hour and be redirected to the YouTube live stream. The Live Stream will "go live" at 9:55AM on each Sunday morning. To view the service at a later time, go to our YouTube Channel. Click on the videos tab to browse archives of past services. Click on the Subscribe button and create an account to be notified when Live Streams are started or when other videos are added. For any questions, please contact the pastor.
In addition to our usual prayers of intercession in our home worship, we encourage your prayers throughout the week for the following:
For those whom you know, consider sending a card, or an email, or make a phone call. These additional expressions of prayerfulness can make a big, healing difference in people’s lives and promote their sense of well-being. For current contact information, if you don’t have it, kindly reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Should you desire to make prayer requests for persons you care about, or desire prayer for other concerns, please contact Pastor Linman with those requests: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 703-972-2076. Pastor will make certain that the names you provide will be included in the Prayers of Intercession for Sundays, and for your prayers throughout the week. Making your requests known to Pastor Linman will allow him to follow up with you directly – as your requests for prayer help set the agenda for our Pastor’s ministry at Resurrection Church.
For the latest updates on our county’s pandemic response as well as official and current information concerning vaccinations, go to the following:
https://www.arlingtonva.us/covid-19/
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/VAARLINGTON/bulletins/2f93e4f
Here are the best and most direct ways to contact Pastor Linman. The email address given for his professional and pastoral use is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Pastor Linman’s direct dial phone number in the church office is: 703-972-2076. Please leave a message there if Pastor does not answer. He monitors and responds to his messages throughout the day even when he's not in the office. Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you.
Should you have announcements that you wish to communicate in this weekly message as committee chairs or those responsible for other ministry initiatives at Resurrection, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by late Wednesday mornings for inclusion in the message for the coming Thursday. Thanks!
Dear People of God at Resurrection Lutheran Church:
After much prayerful deliberation and holy conversations with many of you individually and communally, I have decided to accept the call to serve as pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Thus, with numerous mixed emotions and with a heavy heart, I announce to you my resignation as pastor of Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church.
I am deeply appreciative of the past week and a half, a time that has afforded us occasion to engage together in this final phase of my discernment of call. The conversations and communications we have had together during these days have been enormously helpful and important, even as they have been difficult to undertake. I heard what I believe is a full range of thought and opinion from you, though I am also aware that not everyone claimed the opportunity to be in conversation and that perhaps some may not have spoken the fullness of what was on their hearts and minds. But the net effect of our conversations has been a confirmation of my sense of call to transition to engage the pastorate of Faith Church while also undertaking the daily opportunities of being father to Nathan all in the same geographic locale in central Phoenix. Many of you expressed understanding of and respect for the claims of being dad and pastor, and the desirability of fulfilling these responsibilities in the same place.
During our conversations in the past several days, I also unmistakably heard and felt the weight of the effect this decision will have on you and the congregation, especially with the need to engage in another call process so soon after the process to call me as pastor of Resurrection Church. Thus, my decision has been a difficult one to make, even as the call before me offers promise to reintegrate and reunite the parental and pastoral dimensions of my vocation.
My decision is also difficult because I have such high regard for you individually and together as a congregation. Please know that everything that drew me to serving as your pastor remains in place and my view of you has not changed. That is to say, you and the congregation embody great gifts and promise in the service of God’s mission. Though our time together has been brief, I will forever cherish you and my time as pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church. Therefore, I will grieve deeply in response to my leave-taking.
This letter announcing my resignation is being sent also to the Bishop’s Office of the Metropolitan Washington DC Synod, who will be in contact with Resurrection Congregation leaders about next steps during this time of transition. The Congregation Council and I, in consultation with the Bishop’s Office and leaders at Faith Church in Phoenix, will determination the timeline for the coming weeks and the official termination date of our time together. Thus, additional information is forthcoming.
While our paths are separating, we are nonetheless undertaking together a leap of faith into God’s promised future and whatever is in store for us. May we be emboldened to claim the grace-filled promise expressed in Dag Hammarskjöld’s brief prayer, a prayer that helped draw me to Resurrection Church and a prayer that continues to inform next steps in the life of faith and of service: “For all that has been, thanks; for all that is to come, yes.”
May God in Christ continue to lead and guide us in the power of the Spirit,
Pastor Jonathan Linman
Please join us for a live stream of our 10:00am Worship Serivce on Sunday, June 26, 2022, the Third Sunday After Pentecost. If you missed the service, then please click below for a replay.
Worship Bulletin for June 26, 2022Please be aware that there may be moments of silence during the hymns, choral pieces, and organ voluntaries for which we have not been able to secure streaming rights from the music publishers. We apologize for this disruption and thank you for your understanding.
So many stories in the Bible involve the nomadic nature of human life. The people of Israel spend forty years traveling in the wilderness after their liberation from slavery until at last they reach the promised land.
Jesus’ ministry takes him and his disciples from place to place. The book of Acts and the letters of Paul tell of the missionary journeys of the apostles and their establishing churches in various cities throughout the ancient Near Eastern world.
Indeed, the whole story of humanity is one of migration, of our species’ spread to the farthest points on the planet. Some of this migration has been propelled by curiosity – wanderlust. Most of it has been driven by need, as we continue to see today throughout the world with refugees fleeing war and oppression, famine, and now the ravages of a changing climate.
Ultimately, we are all descended from immigrants. Moreover, our life journeys have taken us from place to place for education, jobs, and more. Many of you have served abroad in your careers in the military or state department and other careers.
I, myself, have lived in eight different states during my six decades. And I will soon make a decision that would result in my journey having taken me to nine states.
Amidst all of this is Jesus’ invitation to us, “Follow me.” Responding to Jesus’ invitation can take us to places that we least expect and on journeys characterized by some itineracy. For as Luke records in today’s gospel, Jesus observed, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Jesus said this in response to someone accompanying Jesus on the road, on a journey, who exclaimed perhaps with some naïve exuberance, Lord “I will follow you wherever you go.”
The other exchanges in today’s gospel reveal how the human condition inevitably interferes with Jesus’ invitation to follow him. In the recounting, Jesus bid others on the road to follow him. One person’s response was this: “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Then another bargained, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”
Jesus’ response to these folk and their bargaining reveals the uncompromising claims of Jesus’ call to discipleship: “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the dominion of God.” And: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the dominion of God.”
And yet, on our own, we’re stuck in the ambivalence of competing claims and desires, captive to the reality that we are simultaneously saints and sinners with circumstances that are complicated which make it impossible for us by ourselves to will one thing (the very definition of purity of heart according to Soren Kierkegaard). With our wills in bondage, captive to competing claims, we persist in various forms of ambivalence, again, when we’re left to our own devices.
As for me, it’s the competing claims of my commitments to you as pastor of Resurrection Church and then also the claims of the fatherhood of my son, both of which arguably involve my discipleship of Jesus Christ, my responses to Jesus’ invitation to follow him.
And you have your own stories to tell about difficult junctures in your lives where decisions had to be made, decisions that have great effects on the lives, circumstances, and well-being of others. We tremble at the precipice of making such decisions for good reason, stuck as we are amidst the competing claims of our responsibilities.
But here’s the thing: only Christ, not us, can set his face to Jerusalem, the place of cross and empty tomb, of death and resurrection, without looking back.
And because Christ goes to Jerusalem without ambivalence, hesitancy, or a conflicted will (though he had his moments – “Let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done, O God”) – because Christ’s face was set to Jerusalem in such a way that resulted in his death and new life, we, then, are liberated by grace, mercy, and forgiveness, and freed from our own bondage to our compromised capacities to follow and to serve. This freedom is ultimately available to us only in Christ Jesus.
So it is that Paul can write in Galatians, today’s second reading, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Which is to say that forgiveness, mercy, grace, and all the blessings that flow from Christ’s death and resurrection are available to us, to you, to me, wherever we happen to be and whether we stay or go in our nomadic journeys of both life and discipleship.
And every Sunday, here, there, or the other place, becomes a new occasion for emancipation, for freedom, for release from our various forms of captivity.
At the font we are given the gift of absolution, of forgiveness, of being set free from our captivity to sin. In this place of the proclamation of the gospel, the word emancipates us, breaking through our conflicted wills, to set our face also to the cross of Christ and the empty tomb, our source of freedom. At the table of the Eucharistic feast we hear again and again Jesus’ own words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sin,” and in eating and drinking receive the reality that the words signify.
I’m drawn in particular to today’s reading from 1 Kings in light of our gospel and second readings which gives us the chance to see the story of Elijah’s call to Elisha through Christian lenses. Elisha was engaged in his work of plowing with a dozen oxen when the call came. Unlike Jesus, it seems Elijah let Elisha return home to say goodbye to his father and mother.
But then in response to Elijah’s call and in quite the dramatic act, Elisha slaughtered the oxen and used the plowing implements, the sources of his livelihood, to start a fire to make a feast for the people so that they could all eat and be fed. Only then did Elisha leave to follow Elijah.
So it is that, following the example of Jesus, who made do with what he had, namely his own body dead, slaughtered, on the tree and alive again out of the tomb, we make do with bread and wine, ordinary gifts of creation, that Christ’s body and blood become for us a feast to feed us for the journey, wherever it happens to take us, that we may also feed a hungry world.
In this place, through these means of grace, is our freedom to do the best we can in our attempts to follow Christ, day by day, one step at a time, trusting in the forgiveness and mercy of God, and using our freedom in Christ to serve our neighbors wherever they are and whoever they may be.
Again, here’s Paul in today’s second reading: “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Thus, journeying in the Spirit, by God’s mercy and grace in Christ, our serving each other and our neighbors beyond these walls, has the possibility of reflecting the features of life in the Spirit, namely, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
May it be so among us as we continue this journey in the coming days, trusting that, whatever the outcomes, Christ’s mercy remains with us, follows us wherever we go, here or there. Thus, we make our way, ever falling into the merciful, loving, forgiving arms of God in Christ, the only source of true freedom. God in Christ help us in the power of the Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, June 26
9:15 am – Sunday School
10:00 am – Worship – with conversation following with Pastor Linman concerning call circumstances during coffee hour.
Monday, June 27
6:30 pm – Bible Study via Zoom
Sunday, July 3
10:00 am – Worship
As I am amidst the final phase of my discernment and decision-making concerning the call from Faith Lutheran Church in Phoenix for me to serve as their pastor, I invite conversation with you, the members of Resurrection Church, that you may have occasion to express your thoughts and views and concerns. I am not drawn to making significant decisions on my own without consultation and holy conversation with others. Moreover, such conversation is in keeping with the collaborative spirit we’ve sought to build over the course of our time together. One such time for conversation is this coming Sunday after worship in the parish hall during coffee hour, when you are free to express whatever is on your mind and when I can also offer my own story of discernment. I also invite you to reach out to me for one-on-one conversation in the coming – via email, phone, Zoom, or in person. Should you desire this opportunity, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to schedule a time when we can talk. I’ll make a decision about this call on June 29.
Come celebrate FUNday School to close out our Sunday school year, this Sunday, June 26, at 9:15 am.
More details to come in your inbox. IF you do not already receive our Sunday school emails, please email Angie Brooke at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.
In an effort to create an updated membership directory with the most current, accurate and preferred contact information, you’ve now received a message which contains a member information form which we ask each member of the congregation to fill out and return to the church office. This message and the form has come to you via Constant Contact.
We will receive donations of food items for AFAC on Sunday, July 3 in conjunction with our regular worship service.
Our Monday evening bible study is ongoing via Zoom. The current focus for our time together is each of the main readings for the upcoming Sunday, allowing us to explore new horizons of meaning which emerge when we engage the Sunday passages in relation to each other. If you wish to join in these occasions, please contact Pastor Linman so that you can be added to the email list that receives the Zoom links.
Please note a changed date for this Summer's Annual RELC Yard Sale--now scheduled for Saturday, July 16th from 7-1 pm. Donations can be collected and placed in Room 13 from now through Sunday, July 10th. Occasions for pricing will be scheduled between July 11th and 14th, with staging and setup happening the night on July 15th. Interested volunteers to aid in pricing, set up, day of support, clean up and deliveries to good will can email to Amanda Lindamood. Shifts will be distributed following expressed interest in later June.
During the months of August and September, monthly virtual All Ages Bible Study and Outdoor Liturgies will continue. Please note the following upcoming dates for Bible Study: July 12th and August 9th, and for Outdoor Liturgy: July 24th and August 28th in your calendars.
To view our 10:00 AM Sunday worship service on YouTube live, click on the live worship link on the RELC home page on Sunday mornings during the worship hour and be redirected to the YouTube live stream. The Live Stream will "go live" at 9:55AM on each Sunday morning. To view the service at a later time, go to our YouTube Channel. Click on the videos tab to browse archives of past services. Click on the Subscribe button and create an account to be notified when Live Streams are started or when other videos are added. For any questions, please contact the pastor.
In addition to our usual prayers of intercession in our home worship, we encourage your prayers throughout the week for the following:
For those whom you know, consider sending a card, or an email, or make a phone call. These additional expressions of prayerfulness can make a big, healing difference in people’s lives and promote their sense of well-being. For current contact information, if you don’t have it, kindly reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Should you desire to make prayer requests for persons you care about, or desire prayer for other concerns, please contact Pastor Linman with those requests: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 703-972-2076. Pastor will make certain that the names you provide will be included in the Prayers of Intercession for Sundays, and for your prayers throughout the week. Making your requests known to Pastor Linman will allow him to follow up with you directly – as your requests for prayer help set the agenda for our Pastor’s ministry at Resurrection Church.
For the latest updates on our county’s pandemic response as well as official and current information concerning vaccinations, go to the following:
https://www.arlingtonva.us/covid-19/
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/VAARLINGTON/bulletins/2f93e4f
Here are the best and most direct ways to contact Pastor Linman. The email address given for his professional and pastoral use is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Pastor Linman’s direct dial phone number in the church office is: 703-972-2076. Please leave a message there if Pastor does not answer. He monitors and responds to his messages throughout the day even when he's not in the office. Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you.
Should you have announcements that you wish to communicate in this weekly message as committee chairs or those responsible for other ministry initiatives at Resurrection, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by late Wednesday mornings for inclusion in the message for the coming Thursday. Thanks!
Dear People of God at Resurrection Church:
Yesterday, June 19, the Second Sunday after Pentecost, the people of Faith Lutheran Church in Phoenix, Arizona extended a call to me to serve as their pastor. I have not yet made a decision about this call, for I wish to engage you, the leaders and members of Resurrection Church, in this final stage of my discernment. I take my commitments to you and my call to Resurrection very seriously, and you have not yet had occasion to offer your voice in this communal discernment process.
In the coming days, there will be various occasions for us to be in discerning, holy conversation together about what is before us. This coming Thursday evening, I will meet with our Congregation Council to learn their thoughts and views and feelings and to offer further information. Then also, this coming Sunday, June 26, I propose that we spend time together after worship in the parish hall during coffee hour so that all members of the congregation can have occasion likewise to express their views and concerns. Additionally, I invite anyone who wishes to have a one-on-one conversation with me – in person, on the phone, via email, or Zoom – to let me know so that we can arrange a time and format to be in conversation.
Once we have had these occasions to engage each other, I will offer to you and to Faith Church in Phoenix my decision about call on Wednesday, June 29.
Now a word about what has led us to this point. Earlier in this calendar year, the Bishop of the Grand Canyon Synod invited me to consider the possibility of a call to Faith Church, so I entered into a period of serious discernment. This invitation came as a surprise to me, as I fully anticipated when I accepted the call here that I would conclude my pastoral career with you at Resurrection Church.
Obviously, this is not an ideal time to consider a transition to another call, as it seems that in many ways we have just begun our life together, given how the pandemic has slowed down what otherwise would have been a quicker start to our shared ministry and mission. Please know that my discernment has weighed heavily on my heart and mind, for again, I take very seriously my commitments to you. During my call process with you and continuing to this day, you have been extraordinarily generous, patient, understanding, and supportive, given Nathan’s extended time of recovery from his stroke and now as he grows as a teenager. Nathan’s needs, of course, continue to have prominence in my ongoing discernment of call.
Thus, the possibility of giving expression to my calling both as a father to Nathan and as a pastor of the church in the same locale is profoundly compelling to me. I must confess that during the past couple of years, I have felt an ongoing tension and a divide between these callings, with parts of me focusing on my son in Phoenix and parts of me attending to my pastoral commitments to you, absent a sense of unity within and cohesion between these crucial features of my vocation. Faith Church in Phoenix is a mere four miles from where Nathan lives with his mother, which would enable me to be a consistent presence in his life during these remaining tender years of his growing up. Given the challenges of adolescence amidst an ongoing pandemic with lingering issues related to stroke recovery, and given that our nation and world continue in foreboding crises, Nathan would benefit from having both of his parents available to him on a daily basis in the same part of town.
Now I look forward to hearing more from you, your thoughts and views and concerns, as this communal discernment process draws closer to the time of a decision.
May God in Christ continue to lead and guide us in the power of the Spirit,
Pastor Jonathan Linman
Sunday, June 19
9:15 am – Sunday School
10:00 am – Worship, Preaching and Presiding: The Rev. James Farwell, Ph.D., Professor of Theology and Liturgy at Virginia Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church
Wednesday, June 22
7:00 pm – Christian Education Committee via Zoom
Thursday, June 23
11:00 am – Bible Study via Zoom
Sunday, June 26
9:15 am – Sunday School
10:00 am – Worship
In an effort to create an updated membership directory with the most current, accurate and preferred contact information, you’ve now received a message which contains a member information form which we ask each member of the congregation to fill out and return to the church office. This message and the form has come to you via Constant Contact.
We will receive donations of food items for AFAC on Sunday, June 19 in conjunction with our regular worship service.
Our Monday evening bible study is ongoing via Zoom. The current focus for our time together is each of the main readings for the upcoming Sunday, allowing us to explore new horizons of meaning which emerge when we engage the Sunday passages in relation to each other. If you wish to join in these occasions, please contact Pastor Linman so that you can be added to the email list that receives the Zoom links.
Please note a changed date for this Summer's Annual RELC Yard Sale--now scheduled for Saturday, July 16th from 7-1 pm. Donations can be collected and placed in Room 13 from now through Sunday, July 10th. Occasions for pricing will be scheduled between July 11th and 14th, with staging and setup happening the night on July 15th. Interested volunteers to aid in pricing, set up, day of support, clean up and deliveries to good will can email to Amanda Lindamood. Shifts will be distributed following expressed interest in later June.
During the months of August and September, monthly virtual All Ages Bible Study and Outdoor Liturgies will continue. Please note the following upcoming dates for Bible Study: July 12th and August 9th, and for Outdoor Liturgy: July 24th and August 28th in your calendars.
Sunday School has moved indoors. We meet in the Chapel and start promptly at 9:15am. Masks are required and we will have air purifiers along with windows that we can open. Following our lessons, I will bring your kids into the Sanctuary and you will find us in the PrayGround.
Our Nursery is not available at this time as we are cleaning and refreshing the space. If you are in need of a changing table or need to quiet a screaming child, please use our lounge. Once your child is comforted, please feel free to return. We do have a speaker system in the lounge which feeds the service so you won't miss anything while away.
If you are not on our mailing list and would like to join us, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
To view our 10:00 AM Sunday worship service on YouTube live, click on the live worship link on the RELC home page on Sunday mornings during the worship hour and be redirected to the YouTube live stream. The Live Stream will "go live" at 9:55AM on each Sunday morning. To view the service at a later time, go to our YouTube Channel. Click on the videos tab to browse archives of past services. Click on the Subscribe button and create an account to be notified when Live Streams are started or when other videos are added. For any questions, please contact the pastor.
In addition to our usual prayers of intercession in our home worship, we encourage your prayers throughout the week for the following:
For those whom you know, consider sending a card, or an email, or make a phone call. These additional expressions of prayerfulness can make a big, healing difference in people’s lives and promote their sense of well-being. For current contact information, if you don’t have it, kindly reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Should you desire to make prayer requests for persons you care about, or desire prayer for other concerns, please contact Pastor Linman with those requests: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 703-972-2076. Pastor will make certain that the names you provide will be included in the Prayers of Intercession for Sundays, and for your prayers throughout the week. Making your requests known to Pastor Linman will allow him to follow up with you directly – as your requests for prayer help set the agenda for our Pastor’s ministry at Resurrection Church.
For the latest updates on our county’s pandemic response as well as official and current information concerning vaccinations, go to the following:
https://www.arlingtonva.us/covid-19/
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/VAARLINGTON/bulletins/2f93e4f
Pastor Linman will be in Phoenix over a long Father’s Day weekend, June 17-21. On Sunday June 19, The Rev. Dr. James Farwell, a friend and former colleague of Pastor’s who is Professor of Theology and Liturgy at Virginia Theological Seminary, will be our presiding and preaching minister.
Here are the best and most direct ways to contact Pastor Linman. The email address given for his professional and pastoral use is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Pastor Linman’s direct dial phone number in the church office is: 703-972-2076. Please leave a message there if Pastor does not answer. He monitors and responds to his messages throughout the day even when he's not in the office. Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you.
Should you have announcements that you wish to communicate in this weekly message as committee chairs or those responsible for other ministry initiatives at Resurrection, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by late Wednesday mornings for inclusion in the message for the coming Thursday. Thanks!
Service of Holy Communion will once again be held in the Sanctuary at 10:00am. Everyone is asked to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status, and to maintain social dinstance out of respect for those who cannot receive or who have chosen not to receive a Covid vaccine. Please bring a small juice glass, so that you may receive wine with Communion.
Dr. Melvin S. Lange, pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church from 1958 to 1971, prepared the theological material for the artist, Roy Calligan, of the Hunt Stained Glass Studios in Pittsburgh, PA. The meaning of each of the seventeen windows is indicated by a Bible verse. The theme begins with the window to the left of the lectern (when facing the altar) and proceeds around the nave toward the back, and then forward on the opposite side toward the last window to the right of the pulpit.
Stained Glass Windows Information
We are a church that strives to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). We do justice by serving our community through our social outreach activities and through contributions of finances and member’s time to local programs, including, for example, Lutheran Social Services. We provide opportunities for a rich Christian education to our members and to the community. Many of our members are active in synod activities and in ecumenical activities with other Christians.
We love kindness in the Christian work we do, often quietly but resolutely, for our members and for the community. Benevolence has always been a priority for our church, and we are a significant donor both in our financial resources and, perhaps more importantly to us, our member’s time. We are active with food assistance programs in the Arlington area and to other social service organizations.
We strive to walk humbly with our God in our worship services. We take liturgy, prayer, and music very seriously in our church as a path through which our parishioners can experience the word and sacrament in their lives. Finally, we are excited about offering the sacrament of communion to our parishioners at every Sunday service and believe it is important that we continue to do so.
