Peace Lutheran also offers Sunday worship services online. As state mandates fluctuate, contact Peace for information about our worship services either online or in-person.

An Asian man wearing a clerical collar holds a book by the church's baptismal font, while a white man in a blue sweater works a phone-camera.

Opening a Sunday worship service with a prayer. Church organist Walt Strony, left, embraces his newly added role of filming for online worship services. Photo by Anne Vaaler.

The joy of God’s presence continues to lift people up through online worship services at Peace Lutheran Church in Grass Valley. Anyone can find spiritual nourishment amid the COVID-19 pandemic through Peace’s music, scripture readings and preaching.

“We pray in isolation, we sing the hymns alone… We live the Easter message by gladly serving you.” Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

At Peace, a dedicated cadre of staff and lay worship leaders gather in the sanctuary in the middle of each week. Together, they record the worship service for the Sunday coming up. The abbreviated format includes the Gospel reading, a sermon, and music led by organist Walt Strony and vocalist Anne Vaaler. Words to the hymns appear on the video screen, so viewers can sing along.

“A crisis is a time when people really need God and crave spiritual guidance,” Strony said. The online services help provide spiritual nourishment during this difficult and sometimes confusing time.

A time for spiritual deepening – aided by joy online

A white man wearing a blue sweater plays a song on an organ, while a white woman in a blue dress sings from sheet music.

Peace keyboardist Walt Strony accompanies vocalist Anne Vaaler as they record the piece for an online Sunday worship experience.

This can even be a time for finding deeper joy in one’s faith with the help of online resources, wrote Bishop Mark W. Holmerud, of the regional Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He encouraged faithful people to gather online or in small groups, using all recommended precautions. Online, people can still enjoy prayer, Bible study and planning service projects to help those in need. He called online worship “a very effective tool for evangelism.”

“I am weary of sheltering in place… and yet I am hopeful,” Holmerud wrote. “Imagine what might come out of such times of study, prayer and service that would inform how we will worship when we are able to safely gather again!”

National guidelines for houses of Worship

Peace members are holding Bible study and Sunday morning fellowship online using email and Zoom. Contact the church office for more information, (530) 273-9631.

What we Believe at Peace Lutheran Church