“What do you call a church made up of Lutherans and Episcopalians (and friends)?” asks Mesquite resident Marty Pecoraro, one of the founding members of an Episcopalian group formed last summer in Mesquite.
“Lutherpalians!” he responds with a smile.
A recently formed Mesquite Episcopal/Lutheran Community starts meeting at Valley Presbyterian Church at noon on April 7. Valley Presbyterian is located at 350 Falcon Ridge Pkwy #702.
“We invite all to join us for worship and fellowship at Valley Presbyterian Church,” Pecoraro said. “We thank Valley Presbyterian Church for sharing its worship and fellowship space with us.”
Since 2001, The Episcopal Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have been in full communion. That means their clergy are “interchangeable,” Pecoraro said.
For the Mesquite community, a retired Episcopal priest from Grace Church in St. George will lead services once a month, and a New Promise clergy team member will take another Sunday.
Pecoraro also encourages the community to feel welcome at a special Easter service this week.
The Easter Sunday (March 31) services will begin at 11 a.m. at the Mesquite Fine Arts Center, 15 W. Mesquite Blvd.
Stephen Brehe, recently retired Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Reno, will preach and celebrate the Holy Eucharist. All are welcome!
“Lutherans and Episcopalians are family members who got separated during the ecclesiastical divorce we call the Reformation,” said Brehe, who has helped launch the joint community. “One sibling grew up in England and the other on the continent. In the second half of the last century, we looked around and discovered that we were siblings with lots of common characteristics. We should get the family together. We retain our distinctive differences like brothers and sisters in any family. But we have so much in common, it makes sense to work and pray together, especially in smaller communities.”
The church is a joint project of the Grand Canyon District of the ELCA and the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada.
For more information about the services, contact Pecoraro at 775-843-4173 or by email at martii714@aol.com.
