June 2026
There is a scene in the movie Schindler’s List where Oscar Schindler is naming off the Jews who have worked for him to his treasurer, Itzhak Stern, who is one of the Jews that had been working for Schindler.
After seeing the tyranny of the Nazis exacted on the Jewish population, Schindler makes the decision to spend everything he has to save as many of his workers as possible toward the end of World War II. The effort comes at great cost to Schindler, who had exploited the Jews for his own gain, and since he was identified as a war criminal when the war ended, he was never wealthy again. Those same people he had saved, took care of him for the rest of his life. Schindler died with very little.
The scene where Schindler and Stern are developing the list is powerful to say the least. I remember the first time I saw the movie, I literally bawled most of the way through it. I understood how inhumane Jews had been treated in Germany and Poland during the war, but I don’t think it really sunk in until I saw the movie and felt the guilt of my German ancestry because of it.
All the people Schindler and Stern put on the list were saved. Each time I think of prayer lists I’ve made through the years for glory sightings, people celebrating life, or living through life’s struggles, there is something about that which reminds me of the list Schindler and Stern created. Once the list is complete, Stern holds it up and says “This list is an absolute good. The list is life. All around its margins lies the gulf.”
This last Sunday, I used up the book where I have recorded the names of people, congregations, and prayer groups who have asked and been held up in prayer. And nowadays, the book takes on an added meaning given some of what we are witnessing in our country right now.
It makes me wonder if the list of names shouldn’t include immigrants who have been thrown into for-profit prisons, which are essentially modern-day concentration camps. It makes me wonder if the list shouldn’t include names of people in Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, and Greenland. It certainly makes me want to pray that wanna-be authoritarians, and their billionaire buddies would have a change of heart and life because their actions and their choices have no semblance of greatness about them.
When next Sunday rolls around, I’ll have a new book for the prayer requests I write down. It will be the start of developing a list that is absolutely good. It will be a list that represents life with every margin representing the gulfs surrounding life. And I am profoundly grateful for every name that’s listed, every person who asks for people to be included in it, both in the one that’s being retired and the one we will be starting.
Maybe keeping that in mind will remind us of the peace Jesus promised that passes understanding. At least that’s my hope and prayer as I pray over this new book.
Until next month, just keep pedaling.
Shalom,
Pastor Mark
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UPCOMING EVENTS
June 1* 9:30 Ladies Exercise Class
June 1 5:15 Kids First Board Meeting
June 3 10:30 Oakview Bible Study
June 5-7 Miner’s Days
Kids first will have an enrollment booth
June 6 9:30 Kids First Parade During Miner’s Days
June 8 5:15 AD Board Meeting
Week of June 8th – New weekly Bible Study begins on the Book of John – Sign up Now
June 9 1:00 FMW Lunch at Guadalajara Mexican restaurant (new location)
June 10 10:30 Oakview Bible Study
June 17 10:30 Oakview Bible Study
June 24 10:30 Oakview Bible Study
# Other Ladies Exercise Class Dates 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29
JUNE BIRTHDAYS
June 1 Max Morris June 13 Addie Lillich
June 3 Alexus McGowen June 17 Suzie Lloyd
June 4 Jerry Johnson June 18 Linda Terdin
June 4 Dolores Casey June 27 Avery Stotts
June 6 Easton Clemensen June 29 Erika Carson
June 6 Will Bunn June 30 Alivia Bridwell
June 12 Angela Siebuhr
If there are any errors or omissions for birthdays, please contact the church office.
NEW BIBLE STUDY FOR SUMMER ON JOHN STARTING
A new summer Bible Study is forming. This study will be about John. Time and Date is flexible. Check the sign-in sheet and make your suggestion for the best time and day of the week. It will begin on the week of June 8th and meet each week at the chosen time. Rev. Mark is trying to be open to set a day and time that meets the most schedules to includre more people in the study.
FRONTENAC MINING DAYS – June 5-7
Many activities are planned for this year’s Frontenac Mining Days. The Kids First Day Care will be participating in the Parade on Saturday, June 6th.