Along with the rest of the nation and the world, St. Peter Lutheran Church is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in March of 2020, we have spent the past 16 months coping with the effects of stepping back from our familiar daily lives and
transitioning to masks, social distancing and a virtual world of curbside grocery pick-up and Zoom worship. Our congregation has been so blessed that, to date, we have not lost a member to the ravages of this deadly virus. Even more blessed, we have been able to carry on with worship, Bible study, and meetings with the knowledge and assistance of the technically astute.
As vaccines have been made available to the general population, we are now worshipping live both via Zoom and in the sanctuary at our beloved St. Peter Lutheran Church.
St. Peter Lutheran Church was originally founded as a mission in 1929 and received its charter from the Texas Lutheran Synod in 1949. Through these 72 years, our congregation has grown and ebbed along with jobs and the community of Bay City. Today, we celebrate our Lutheran heritage and faith as a cornerstone of our community presence in Matagorda County.
In 2018, St. Peter entered into Shared Ministry with St. John Lutheran Church is Angleton, Texas. We welcomed Pastor Pete Lopez as our Shared Ministry pastor as he commuted those 40 miles on Sundays between Angleton and Bay City and back again to lead worship for both congregations.
In 2019, Pastor Pete, along with the support of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, introduced the possibility of St. Peter becoming a teaching congregation, beginning a relationship with Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. We applied for an intern, and in August of 2019, as Intern Supervisor, Pastor Pete installed Vicar Cassandra Borges as our first intern. We embraced her, her husband, Richard, and their dog, Ajax, with love and respect.
Unfortunately, in the spring of 2020, the advent of COVID-19 dramatically changed all of our lives, but Vicar Cassie never skipped a beat. She immediately began live-streaming our Sunday worship from St. Peter’s parsonage, and for the remainder of her intern year, she offered Sunday worship virtually via Zoom with a deliberate and reverent manner. As Vicar Cassie’s intern year drew to an end in July of 2020, we could only offer a drive-through farewell celebration.
Our second intern from Wartburg, Vicar Laura Anderson, arrived in August of 2020, and we welcomed her, her husband Bjørn, their dog, Addie Grace, into our congregational family even amidst the trials of COVID-19 restrictions. We resumed in-person worship slowly, starting outside at the pavilion in October of 2020 and then moving inside, embracing the opportunity to once again worship in person, even as masks and social distancing physically separated us. Like Vicar Cassie, Vicar Laura has faithfully guided our congregation through a year full of challenges and beautiful experiences.
As Vicar Laura, Bjørn and Addie Grace come to the end of their year at St. Peter, our congregation prepares for our third intern, Vicar Eric Locke and his family. Eric and his wife Liz, their three children, Corban, Noah, Julia, and their two cats, Kyros and Ashes, arrived in early August. We are beginning to realize that saying good-bye to our beloved Vicars and greeting the next one is a both a heart-breaking and life-giving experience for all of us.
With God’s help, and the faithful leadership of Pastor Pete and each of our Interns/Vicars, the congregation of St. Peter Lutheran Church continues to grow – in our hearts, in our faith, in relationship with each other, and in our community.
May the Holy Spirit continue to guide us on this remarkable journey.