Oh, The Places We Shall Grow

A previous year's presentation of a Dr. Seuss tale.

On Sunday, April 19, Sarah Storvick,  Betsy Hickey and Hannah Koehler used rhyme and story to tell of Resurrection's current facility concerns. 

With apologies to Dr. Seuss, we present a brief tale:

One Fish, Too Squished . . . or Oh, The Spaces We Will Grow!

At one end of town, where new neighborhoods sprout,

sits a wee little church . . . spacious, glorious land all about.


Sundays and Wednesdays, the building is hopping.

But ideas and dreams, our square footage is stopping.


Programs and people clamor for space.

Getting on the calendar? It’s always a race!

And what about the children who need a quiet space?

How lovely it would be for them to have a comfy place.

Students in grades five and six hike across the plain,

an adventure for some, for others a strain.

And a pain. Some complain. Guests may be filled with disdain.

Can anyone spell chilblain? Is this the right way our children to train?

Classes for grown-ups? Many are yearning,

but there isn’t a space for adults to be learning!

Struggles with allergies? This is truly serious stuff.

Keeping a dear child away—something at the farmhouse makes it too rough.

Eighth graders meeting on nursery chairs,

small group space would be an answer to prayers!

Places to rehearse, to practice, to stage . . .

Constant take-down make Barry and Larry age!

Yet, servants and leaders are creative and clever, sharing God’s love through heartfelt endeavor. Forever.

That is the end of our little story, but the great news is that God’s story for Resurrection is still in its early chapters. What we hope you take from that rhyming riff are two things.

One, we have been witness to amazing creativity over the years, and we are so thankful to work with both adults and children – who are flexible and willing to work with whatever resources and spaces and talents they are given. 

And two, we see amazing potential. Ideas that have potential. Children with incredible potential. Youth who are realizing their potential. Hopes and dreams and desires that long to be realized. For the sake of the potential God will bring to us in the years to come, we pray that this congregation can work toward expanding our ability to serve the children and youth moving into our community.

And yet, we do face limits – with busy lives, and overly full calendars, many of you like to combine your visits here – and would love to participate in a Bible study while your children learn at confirmation or in Sunday School. But space limits that.

Others might like to have a team meeting while their students are in confirmation small groups, but no meeting space is left over. Sunday School small group leaders wrestle with the distractions of all meeting in one room, which makes focus difficult. Any of us will happily walk to and through the farmhouse with you if you would like to experience for yourself the pros and cons of that unique space. 

 We invite you to prayerfully consider what the space needs for children and youth ministry are today, what they may be a few years from now, and what they could be when whatever-child-you-may-visit-with this morning is bringing children of his or her own to worship here. If children bring out any good thing in us, we hope it is thought-filled planning and trust-filled living for those who will come after us. May God find us faithful!

Just Right!

We were starting a new chapter in life when we first visited Resurrection in the fall of 2011. Our kids were grown and lived out of state, so our needs were different from those that had led us to our previous church home. We weren't sure exactly what we were looking for, but decided to visit three different congregations, trusting that we would just know when it was right.

Resurrection was the first church we visited. We were greeted warmly and felt very comfortable in this new space. The energy was great – everyone seemed involved in the life of this congregation, from little kids to “mature” folks like us. Above all, we felt the love. Resurrection members really care for each other and the community around them. We not only pray, as a church, for other church communities each week, but we join with them in service to others.

Jim and I have very different styles when it comes to new situations. I tend to jump right in, building relationships as I go, while he tends to build relationships slowly before making any commitments. I was surprised when after our first visit he said "I like this church." Coming from Jim, that is high praise!

We never did visit the other congregations on our list. Resurrection felt just right for us. We visited often during the fall and winter, and became members in the spring of 2012. I have found plenty of ways to serve and make connections, and Jim’s need to take things a little more slowly has always been respected.

God has brought us just where we need to be. We are home, and now it is our turn to extend a warm welcome to other visitors. We hope they will find that Resurrection is just right for them too. Even if they eventually settle elsewhere, they will know they are always welcome here.

Written by: Jeannie LeMere

Serving Brings Joy

How do you put your faith into action? Actively living in faith can take many, many shapes. Maybe your job gives you daily opportunities to trust in God’s provision or grace. Perhaps you give continued attention to a challenging relationship. Or possibly your faith is active in the prayerful way you are seeking God’s guidance. This past Sunday, we gathered together to serve God and our neighbors by putting our faith in action in community-wide ways.

A couple participants share their reflections on Resurrection’s Faith in ACT!ON Day:

Faith in Action day is a jump start for me each spring.  As spring time comes and brings the promise of new life and color in our lives, Faith in Action Day brings us to others’ lives as we serve inside and outside our congregation. From cleaning and sharing stories with elderly folks to packing kits for children living under stress we get to have our hands and hearts involved in projects that bring our faith to others. I love that children can serve with or without their parents. I love that young and old can do something to reach out into the community and share their faith.  As an event leader on Faith in Action Day I receive the added bonus of seeing the faces of those who are affected by our donations. I get to see the excitement of the volunteers when I deliver 700 hygiene kits to the Neighborhood House. I get to see the tears of joy when I deliver over 200 kitchen kits to Bridging. I am excited to see the faces of the people at Lutheran Social Service’s Camp Noah when I deliver the kids’ kits we made. To me, this is powerful stuff and it fuels me when my faith meter is running low.  Jodi Diekmann

I just love how you can make a difference, with only a couple hours of your time. The people we visited loved sharing their stories. There is a great deal of power in simply listening. I love seeing the smiles on the faces of both those who serve and those we visited. Faith in ACT!ON brings joy! Renae Jensen

During last night’s final Lenten Wednesday message on the ten commandments, Pastor John closed with an image of Jesus washing his disciples feet. He wrapped up this series by helping us all remember that the hope we have in living by the commandments is found in Christ and his example. It is when we turn our eyes and lives to him that we experience the joy of faith in action.

Haiti Reflections

On my most recent mission trip to Haiti, our team jumped aboard the “tap tap” last Tuesday morning anticipating what God had in store for us to learn that day.  What was God going to teach us?  How were our hearts going to be opened?  How would we learn more about who God is through his own people?

 

That day we delivered water to a tent city where there is no clean drinking water or electricity, and there is sewage running through the streets.  Yet as we arrived in Cite Soleil the children mobbed us with large grins and joyful spirits.  Under the extreme poverty conditions the team was taken aback seeing the joy in their eyes, their large smiles and gigantic never-ending hugs.  Watching the line of water buckets continually growing, partnering with desperation, some team members witnessed excitement and gratefulness as the Haitians received their portion of clean water for their families. As we witnessed them walking with their water buckets to their homes and seeing the conditions, the reality of poverty and lack of comfort they have compared to what we have back in the states was striking and made us ask, “What is God trying to teach me?”  When God breaks our hearts for what breaks His, we can move into action.  Mark 12:31 reminds us, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no other commandment greater than these.”  We do not have to go to Haiti to serve others or to be moved into action.  We can love and serve our neighbors in our own community and backyard. 

 

You are invited to serve with our church family on faith in ACT!ON Day, Sunday, March 22 when we have the opportunity to put our faith into action! Perhaps you will bring a pet to visit residents at a care center, or help assemble Kids Kits for Camp Noah, a summer camp for children whose neighborhoods have experienced trauma. Maybe you will serve breakfast at a homeless shelter, or perhaps you will build shelves or organize supplies for ReBuilding Together.  Out of town that day?  Consider donating supplies for one of the assembly projects as your way of serving.

Let’s move into action together, and spread the good news of Jesus! Sign up here for faith in ACT!ON Day by Monday, March 16.  Please sign up for the potluck also.

Written by: Hannah Koehler

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 

Connecting With God on Your Walk Through Lent

Lent is a season in the church year, traditionally set aside by Christians as a time for reflection, repentance, and renewal. The forty days of Lent echo the forty days the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness and the forty days Jesus endured in the wilderness after his baptism. The forty days exclude Sundays, since every Sunday is a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection.  With Ash Wednesday on February 18, Lent begins. People with a background of observing Lent have often devoted added attention to spiritual practices of prayer, giving, and fasting. Each of these can be considered a spiritual discipline. What is a spiritual discipline? Ash Wednesday’s message The Way is Made By Walking will include a response to that question.

Author James Bryan Smith describes spiritual disciplines as soul-training exercises, wise practices that train and transform our hearts. These practices can range from familiar ones such as worship, service, or Scripture meditation, to silence or solitude, frugality, sacrifice, or even celebration. Some are activities of engagement, or things you do. Others are activities of abstinence, refraining from or going without something. Spiritual disciplines are practices, not resolutions. All are habits undertaken to turn our attention more fully to God. We embrace spiritual practices because we love God and want to lean into Him and know Him better. Spiritual disciplines can help us slow down, reflect on our relationship with Jesus, and create space that helps us more fully experience the kingdom of God. Spiritual disciplines foster the vibrant life we have in Christ. They are attempts to practice ways that Jesus lived, revealing vital steps in any Christian walk. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”  Jan Johnson has written much about spiritual disciplines and she reminds readers, “It’s about relationship—interacting with God, abiding in Christ, and living according to the Spirit.” 

Ideas will be provided on Ash Wednesday that may inspire a new Lenten practice for you. Many of the suggestions will be for a spiritual practice you can try on your own; for example, you may read Jesus’s prayers in the Gospels throughout Lent, and try praying as he did. A few group opportunities, such as a weekly time of centering prayer and lectio divina, are also planned. You may be part of a group focusing on gratitude, thanking God privately, but meeting with others to write cards and prayers of thanksgiving. Begin praying now for God to reveal to you an area of need or a spiritual discipline to try during Lent. Author Jan Johnson suggests, “Ask God to show you what discipline would best help you connect with Him.” Begin Lent with worship at 7pm on Ash Wednesday.

Written by: Sarah Storvick

Feed My Starving Children

God calls us into action.  Our faith is more than our words; it is taking the first baby step in getting out of our comfort zone and loving radically for Jesus through our actions. Little did I know last October when I boarded the airplane at 6:00 AM at our local airport and arrived at our final destination Port Au Prince, Haiti, my life would be turned upside down in every good way.  My world instantly had just gotten a little bit bigger. God was opening my heart to see the beauty and the pain that exists in Haiti.  My definition of beauty started to expand while I was there.  In the midst of garbage and tent cities, I saw beautiful people with overflowing hearts for their people and for their country. God was and is clearly present in Haiti. 

While in Haiti, one of the opportunities our team had was to put love into action; we delivered Feed My Starving Children boxes filled with manna packs to Isaiah’s Orphanage.  Having many experiences serving on the side of packaging manna packs at multiple locations in the Twin Cities, it was surreal to be on the other side and handing the boxes to the caretakers at the orphanage.  To be a first hand witness and see how Feed My Starving Children was making a difference in the world was unbelievable. Once we delivered the manna packs, we worshiped in creole, Glwa pou Bondye (Glory to God).  We proclaimed these words together through song and worship and tears fell from my eyes as I was blown away by God’s love for all people.    

 

I invite you to join me in serving at Feed My Starving Children with Resurrection on Friday, February 13, 2015 at the Eagan packing site. Our congregation is being challenged to fill an entire shift of 140 spots at Feed My Starving Children. I know the power of distributing food, but the food would not be distributed if we did not have volunteers to pack the food at each packing site.  We do not have to travel to a third world country to make a difference. We can serve right where God has planted us. 

Please sign up to take an hour and a half of your Friday evening and join Resurrection friends at the packing party on February 13^th.  At the end of the night, we can give God all the glory for what He has done in our lives and in the lives of others. Let’s get out of our comfort zone together and be doers of love.

Written by: Hannah Koehler