Concord, NC

Pastor Hahn's Thoughts...

From our Interim Pastor,
The Reverend Dr. Norbert F. Hahn:

My dear Calvary church family,

Happy Valentine's Day! Wikipedia has this to say about this day: "Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14.It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr

named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world." Read more HERE.

For many people, chocolate, flowers, eating out, greeting cards, and more are important ingredients for observing this day. If this applies to you, please have a good time! (Of course, there are also those who resist artificial holidays created solely to benefit the flower, chocolate, and greeting cards industries.)

I would like to propose one, maybe two, additional accessories for the observance and celebration of this day: the reading (or re-reading) of and engagement with two very helpful books:

The first is "The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman.
The other book is "The Love Languages of God," also penned by Gary Chapman. (This one may be out of print but can be obtained used from Ebay or Goodreads.

Clearly, there is too much material in these two volumes for just one day. But maybe Valentine's Day can be the starting day for a journey of discovering the human and spiritual wisdom contained in these two books. Perhaps your relationship with your significant other and with God will receive a nice boost. And, as they say, that's not nothing!

God's Peace,
Pastor Hahn

P.S.: Please keep turning in your spiritual gift assessments! Put them in my mail box in the workroom or hand them to me on Sunday. Thanks in advance!

On Sunday, August 4th, Pastor Hahn began serving Calvary as our interim pastor.

The Rev. Dr. Norbert Hahn—who likes to be called “Pastor Hahn”—brings an international perspective with him as he has been educated, lived, and served in both the United States and Germany.

He completed his graduate education at the University of Muenster in Germany (Master of Theological Studies), Harvard University (Master of Divinity), and Emory University (PhD in Theology and Psychology). In addition, he has been trained as a church coach, a church growth consultant, and an intentional interim pastor.

He has served as parish pastor in Georgia, North Carolina (including twelve years here in Concord), Pennsylvania and Northern Germany and as campus minister at three different universities in the U.S.

Pastor Hahn will be serving as Calvary’s interim pastor on a part-time basis while continuing to serve as part-time Lutheran campus minister at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC.
He enjoys walking, cooking, and gardening with his wife, Lyn, playing his guitar, reading, and, occasionally, binge-watching an interesting TV series.

He and Lyn serve as staff to their cat, Lulu.