Sunday was the last day of worship services at the Lutheran Church of the Incarnation in East Cobb.
In addition to its scheduled Sunday morning service, the congregation that’s part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America also held a special Holy Closure service for members Sunday afternoon.
Holy Closure is the process in the ELCA by which congregations are turned over to their synods, or regional governing bodies.
The church opened in 1980 and two years later dedicated its building at 1200 Indian Hills Parkway, at the corner of Roswell Road. It is located adjacent to Congregation Etz Chaim, which opened in 1975 as the first synagogue in East Cobb.
Incarnation’s sanctuary featured a segmented glass-stained window in the back of the sanctuary, between the organ pipes (below) and another stained glass Rose Window depicts a vine, branches, grapes and shafts of wheat with readings from John and the words of Christ (“I am the true Vine and my father is the gardener.”) 
Incarnation leaders announced the Holy Closure process last month, citing declining membership and financial difficulties, and after a congregational meeting in late May to detail those issues.
The church’s property and other assets will be managed by the Southeastern Synod of the ELCA in Atlanta.
Incarnation is the second church in the synod to close recently, along with the Lutheran Church of the Messiah in Decatur.
In his final sermon, Incarnation Pastor Uijin Hwang preached about “The Living God” and cited the Book of Hosea:
“We have to live a life that does not fall into the ideology of abundance and fertility, but opens our heart to the depth of God’s creation and life that is much deeper and richer.
“In life itself, not prosperity, there is the satisfaction of our soul. They say this is the normal life, but the truth is that they have a lot of greed.
“The reason we do not feel any problem in our life is that we are already accustomed to the Baal faith and cannot get hold of another dimension of life.
“It’s just sad that even as Christians, we don’t know a newer dimension of life as Jesus ever proclaims, that is, the Kingdom of God.
“As Christians, we do believe the living God. And this God declares that we are the chosen ones to live as children of the living God.
“Please live like a Christian!”
Incarnation has held a yard sale and conducted other special activities to prepare for its closing.
There are two other ELCA churches in the East Cobb area: Lutheran Church of the Resurrection on Paper Mill Road and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Sandy Plains Road.
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Note – Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church is not an ELCA Lutheran Church. From their website:
Our ministry and work extend around the world through our church body, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). The WELS, characterized as theologically conservative, is the third largest Lutheran church body in America.
The ELCA, or Evangelical Lutheran Church of America is vastly different in its believes and organizational structure than the WELS.
That information has been corrected. Thank you.