Trinity Lutheran Church of Long Island City and Astoria installs council members for 2023.

Trinity Lutheran Church of Astoria and Long Island City installed its council this past Sunday, July 16th, after members of the congregation elected them to help grow and lead the church. We are very fortunate to have such faithful servants of God and community.

Hello my Trinity Family, the Lord be with you. I feel very blessed and grateful to share with you how the Lord called me to start the ministry I’ve been facilitating for the past two years called “Women of the Bible.” About two years ago I was sitting in my usual pew, and it was Lent, and Pastor was reading one of my favorite stories of Jesus’s ministry, which is the Samaritan woman at the well. The story has often fed me spiritually and it means a lot to me. And as I listened to it I thought to myself, “Jesus did a lot of awesome things, usually with a female follower, why doesn’t anyone talk about that?” 

It is said in the Word that we are made in God’s image, which means I am made in God’s image, Pastor Paul is, and so are all of you here. And I feel that, when you approach the Bible, you go for spiritual nourishment; when I read the Bible I want to hear the Lord, I want to feel Christ’s love, and in order to do that you need to be able to see yourself, and find yourself, in the Word. When you facilitate a feminist Bible study you spend a lot of time talking about that.

I felt that I wanted to share all of the things I loved about the Bible with other people. I wanted to help people see themselves—specifically women—when a lot of times in organized religion we don’t always have the full voice that we should… which is why I’m Lutheran. 

One of the most rewarding things for me is when people will come up to me and say, ‘I never knew this woman’s story and it helped me feel closer to God,’ or ‘it helped give me strength.’ And there are times in my life when I think: God, I need to be brave like Esther. I need to be fearless like Judith. I need to listen and ponder like Mary.

So when you’re able to see yourself in the Word you become closer to the Lord, you’re able to understand your faith a little bit better, you’re able to find comfort in this holy book that’s been gifted to us.

I feel very blessed that I’m at a congregation where my pastor is supportive of such an unusual ministry. I feel thankful for all of you who have supported it over the past two years. And I feel thankful to God for calling me to this service to help people become closer to him. Amen.