Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park

Join us as we gather in-person at Augustana to celebrate the Festival of Pentecost on Sunday May 23rd at 9:30 am. After a long time apart, due to pandemic restrictions, it is fitting that we celebrate Pentecost together – at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit not only descended upon the apostles, in a personal and individual way, but connected them. Today, we often see the Spirit at work best when we are in community with each other, together.

Pentecost is one of the most ancient feasts of the church, celebrated early enough to be mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (20:16) and St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (16:8). As Pentecost marked a new mission for the apostles, in some ways the ‘birth’ of the church, we will begin a new phase for our community. Meeting together for the first time in many months, we will celebrate this new start in the context of an ancient and life-affirming liturgy.

We ask people to wear masks – not all people have been vaccinated, especially children. While we will not be singing as a congregation, music will be an important, vital part of our liturgy and we will be sharing the Eucharist. We will begin our summer schedule, so there will be one service, at 9:30 am, with no education hour. As has been our practice in the summer, no formal coffee hour is planned, but people are welcome to stay afterwards to visit, especially in the outdoor courtyards.

All members of Augustana are urged to get vaccinated. Right now, some of us – especially children – are not able to receive the vaccine yet. If you are able to be vaccinated, please do so. It is only because many of us have been vaccinated that we are able to meet together again. The sooner we are all vaccinated, the sooner we can sing and gather without any restrictions. If you need help getting vaccinated, contact Jim at 630-267-8325 or jim.vondracek@gmail.com