Youth Sunday and Special Offering

I grew up in a church smaller than Resurrection. Our high school youth group (called “Luther League”) had 6-10 active youth. We had game nights and occasional Bible studies. We went on camping trips and hikes.  But our biggest events was when we went to the special youth gatherings in Seattle where several hundred high school youth would sing, shout and experience God’s love and grace together. At these gathering, I felt connected to something bigger, deeper, and wider than my small Luther League. Jesus came alive for me at these mass gatherings. The seeds for my calling as your pastor were sown at these events. 

This summer the youth of Resurrection will have the opportunity to experience God’s love in such a setting.  Every three years our national church body organizes a national youth gathering where over 35,000 high school youth and adults come together to worship and serve, play and converse. This year’s ELCA Youth Gathering is in Detroit starting July 15. During the day we will participate in various service opportunities; in the evening we will gather at Ford Field for special speakers and music. You can read more about the ELCA Youth Gathering here.  I plan to attend with Hannah Koehler (Director of Family-based Youth Ministry), John Moore, Leslee Donovan and our ten youth. 

On Sunday, March 1^st, the Resurrection’s youth will be a vital part of our worship as they speak to why they feel called to attend the National Youth Gathering. They will share how they hope this will impact their walk with Jesus. They will be asking for your prayers and encouragement as they prepare for the event. They will also be asking that each member of Resurrection contribute to a special offering that will help pay for the trip.

The registration cost for the Gathering is significantly more than the youth’s annual mission trip. Your generosity will help to make this event happen for our youth. As a congregation we make a covenant with each baptism that we will help our children and youth grew in faith in Christ. Their trip is an outreach of our entire congregation as we seek to call our youth to the Vibrant Life of Faith in Christ. It is your opportunity to plant and water God’s seeds of faith in their lives. Who knows?  Someday, one of them may be your pastor! 

 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. Psalm 71:17

Pastor John Keller 

Let God Lead With Our Generosity

Transitions are tough.  To move to a new town is challenging for us.  To start a new job and to learn new work habits and culture adds to the difficulty.  Yet thousands of people do it every year.  My wife and I did it when we married and moved to St. Paul from Kansas City so that I could start seminary.  I helped my daughter Christina move to Austin, Texas, so she could begin her first teaching job. With patience, wisdom and perseverance people transition to a new life. 

The people of Israel had a difficult transition as they entered the Promise land of Canaan.  They had been nomadic sheep and goat herders in their wandering in the wilderness.  Moses, before he died, had a final word from God. In the book of Deuteronomy he instructed the people on how they were to act once they transition to farming.  

    When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it,  you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.
    And you shall say, “The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders;  and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me." You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 26:1-2, 8-10

This was the offering of first fruits.  God was teaching the people to practice generosity in their daily living.  The first-fruit generosity was stated as the expectation of God for his people as a response to God’s generosity in giving them the land they now settled and farmed.  Notice why they gave. It was not a payment in order to earn God’s favor.  Rather it was a thankful response to what God had already given to them.

The practice of generous giving is one that our contemporary society can embrace.  Our congregation witnessed such generosity when Inez Oehlke donated her farm buildings and land to the congregation when she transition out of the farm house.   We are ever grateful for her example of generosity.

The practice reminds us to open our hearts and minds towards God’s gracious gifts towards us.  It reminds us that God has given us not only the created world and all its produce, but has given us new life in his Son, Jesus Christ.  God is generous and gracious towards us; can we not be generous toward God’s ministry in the world?

When have you recognized a gift of generosity towards yourself?   When have you practiced generosity?

Lord Jesus, teach to me practice generosity towards others.

Pastor John Keller

Sign of Patience

Block work started on our new sign

Waiting with joy is a Christian practice that builds patience.  Our congregation has had to practice patience as we waited for final city and county approval for our new road sign.  That approval was granted last month and our new sign is under construction. 

The sign is the final piece of our New Connection projects that started last year.   The other projects are either completed or in process.   Last August we connected to the city sewer system and this spring we started our consultation with the architects from Station 19 regarding our master plan for our build facilities.  A final report from Station 19 will be present to the congregation this fall or winter.   All the projects were funded through the generous donations to the New Connection fund drive one year ago. Thank You for your participation

Leroy Signs artist rendition of our new sign. 

The new sign will replace the one wooden sign at our entrance on Bailey Road. It will have an electronic display board that will allow us to publicize our ministry opportunities to the many people who pass by on Bailey Road. This will help us in our mission to call all people to the vibrant life of faith in Christ.  

This past week the monument foundation was built using the same block that is part of our building.  The other pieces will be coming in the next few weeks and our sign will be completed.   Thank you for your patience in this endeavor. 

May you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully  giving thanks to the Father. Colossians 1:11

Question for reflection:  What do you think should be our first message on the sign?   

My Prayer Journey

My Prayer Journey
Su Sorenson

Over the past ten years I have had the privilege and honor of praying for others during my daily devotions. I have been in prayer groups and on prayer chains throughout my adult life, but ten years ago I began my own personal devotional and prayer life. It actually came about out of my own busy life and my inability to join or organize a Bible Study at our church in Bemidji. So, in July of 2004 I went out and bought a Life Application Study Bible and began reading through the Bible. I would have some quiet time each afternoon to read a couple chapters, do some journaling, and then have prayers for myself and my family. I found myself grounded and at peace as I started a new position at school in the fall as the director of the middle school alternative program. There I spent my days with the toughest and neediest students in the building. And soon I found myself praying over each one of them, often times in tears. I prayed for my students who were living in the middle of alcohol and drug abuse, students raising younger brothers and sisters, students attempting suicide, students living with HIV, and students with no hope. I prayed as we celebrated successes together and talked about a future. I felt God had placed me in my position so I could pray for the kids.

Throughout my prayer time I would of course pray for any other friend or family member who came to mind. Those who were celebrating life or mourning a loss or in need of healing. One Wednesday night I was a guest speaker at confirmation, to share my own faith story. At the end I asked the confirmation students and leaders to write down any prayer requests they may have and I would pray for them for the next month. The response was awesome. I prayed for science tests, friendships, loneliness, hurting families and our church. I was mostly affected by my own feelings of complete honor as I prayed for each child and adult. About six months later Stacey, one of the leaders, said after church, “I don’t worry about anything anymore because I know Su is praying for me.” Wow! I was completely unaware of the impact my praying was having on other lives.

Then I found out what it feels like to have others pray for me and my family. After Ivar’s accident I was unable to pray. I had no words. I had no thoughts. Yet I was at peace. Others were lifting us in prayer and putting us into the strong arms of Jesus. I know because I felt those arms holding me and healing me.

My daily devotion and prayer time continued, even as I moved and my life situations changed. During the past couple of years at the Women’s Retreat, I have had the chance to ask for prayer requests. And I have had the honor of praying for my Resurrection family. As I pray and see you in front of me, I am lifting you up into Jesus arms. Jesus is holding your children, your aging parents, your broken marriages, your lost jobs and uncertain futures. Jesus is celebrating with you over new life, new opportunities, new challenges, and hope for the future. Thank you, thank you, thank you for allowing me to lift you into those arms of peace, power and healing.

The Importance of Regular Worship

Pastor Ron Freimark

While I was serving as a parish pastor, I made two observations when it came to regular worship, one that filled my heart with thanks and one that gave me great concern. First, I observed how many people made worship a priority every week. The second was the number of people who often just “skipped church.” Things that could have been postponed until later took priority. “Are we going to church today?” should not even be a question we discuss at home, I believe. It should be a given, unless a really legitimate reason for not attending services exists!

[caption id="attachment_111" align="alignleft" width="309"] Under the Cross of Jesus[/caption]

Considering the importance of regular worship, I wish we would all be cross-eyed! Look at the cross with me. First, we see the vertical bar. When our eyes follow that bar they are lifted up and we are reminded of our relationship with our dear Savior. When we come to worship we are standing on holy ground! We hear God’s word speak to us, and we respond with praises and prayers.

I read that the Dutch have a legend about a spider living high in the rafters of a barn. One day it looked down and said to itself, “I wonder what the world below is like.” So the spider swung downward on a long, sturdy thread and came to rest on a beam far below. Pleased with its new home, it spread its web and set up a home. There it lived, spending long days catching flies and growing fat and fulfilled.

After quite some time the spider noticed a long, sturdy thread running into the darkness high above. The forgetful spider said, “I wonder what that thread is for! I cannot see its purpose. So the spider broke the thread and its little world collapsed.

Sometimes we act like the forgetful spider and cut our ties with God, only to discover that our whole world tumbles down about us. Acts of worship build a tie between the security of heaven and the instability of earth. Worship gathers spiritual reserves that brace us in times of trouble and bring us out again into the sunshine of God’s love. We need the connection even when we wonder, like the spider, what it is for. I might add--even when we like other songs better, even when the pastor’s message did not especially speak to us that Sunday, even when… (you name it).

Cross-eyed! The horizontal bar on the cross reminds us of our connection with fellow believers—the communion of saints! We need to be with other Christians. A good picture of the church is a clump of grapes connected to one another. Sometimes we prefer the inferior picture—that of marbles unattached in a box. Experiencing our connections with one another is part of the importance of regular worship. Even when we do not see eye to eye with others, as long as we are cross-eyed, we will determine to be part of the regular worship community and experience the joy of worship!

“Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25).