Our Mission Statement:
We are a Gospel-centered community of people blessed by God to be a blessing to others.
Get involved!
Highlights of our upcoming events:
Our Fall Festival is coming up on October 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
-Come and select from a wide assortment of items, including jams, baked goods, candies, crafts, jewelry, greeting cards, books,
and all kinds of gifts. The cafe will be serving breakfast and lunch.
Want to spotlight your event? Email the webmaster at popdsm@gmail.com and we'll put it here!
This month's letter from Pastor Roger Osbeck
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I begin with thanks, once again, for the wonderful celebration of our 25th anniversary as pastors in ministry partnership with you at Prince of Peace
held this past July 29th. We are touched by the sentiment expressed in the recognition of this milestone. We truly appreciate all who planned, organized, and participate
in any and every way to make it happen. Your thoughtfulness demonstrates why we have always felt blessed to serve here. Even though twenty-five
years is usuallly associated with a Silver Anniversary, we are grateful for your "going green" instead.
During the program phase of the anniversary party, Dennis Grell mentioned I have used so many sermon illustrations based on the play Fiddler on the Roof,
it was fitting for Joe Nolte to offer the song If I Were a Rich Man from the musical. There is another song from the same source which comes to mind today.
At one point in the story, two of the main characters, Tevye and his wife Golde, sing a dialog recalling their own 25-year relationship together.
Their marriage was arranged by a matchmaker, so they were strangers to each other beforehand. Their oldest daughter, Hodel, wants to choose her own match
marry Perchik, the poor tailor, out of the love they share for one another. So, Tevye asks Golde the question in the song title, Do You Love Me?
Golde answers this way:
For twenty-five years I've washed your clothes
Cooked your meals, cleaned your house
Given you children, milked your cow
After twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?
Tevye persists with the questioning, Do you love me? to which Golde reflects:
For twenty-five years I've lived with him
Fought with him, starved with him
Twenty-five years my bed is his
If that's not love, what is?
So, they conclude, all they've been through together in life must truly constitute the love they've built for one another. We certainly have the same conclusion in our relationship
with the people of Prince of Peace. As we look back back on twenty-five years together, we have done a lot in ministry to try and fulfill our mission to be blessings to
others. We have done so out of the love we've built...for God and for one another, in Christ. There is still much left to do.
Another song also comes to mind today. From our Hymnal, #712 Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service. Always meaningful to me, the second verse reminds us:
Still your children wander homeless; still the hungry cry for bread; still the captives long for freedom; still in grief we mourn our dead.
With stillmuch need, in the hymn, we ask for God's power to help us continue to fulfill our calling. And in the final verse, we declare this:
Called by worship to your service, forth in your dear name we go, to the child, the youth, the aged, love in living deeds to show; hope and health,
goodwill and comfort, counsel, aid, and peace we give, that your servants, Lord, in freedom may your mercy know and live.
For us, as pastors, there are still many sermons to preach, lessons to teach and people to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are joyful,
still to share in this ministry calling with you all, in the love for God and each other through Jesus Christ.
Peace to you. See you in church.
Pastor Roger
Outreach links:
Meals from the Heartland
Habitat for Humanity
Lutheran Services in Iowa
Lutheran World Relief
ELCA Malaria Campaign
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