Dear Friends,

I read an essay by Debie Thomas this week that shared Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s quote,

“ Only a suffering God can help .”

The essay went on…

“If these were “ordinary” times, we’d be preparing to spend many hours together in our respective churches over the next few days…. But these aren’t ordinary times… What is there to say in perilous times like these? What does our faith offer us? On this Passion Sunday, I think it offers us a core truth, a healing truth, a paradoxical and shocking truth: only a suffering God can help. And a suffering God — a crucified, broken, desolate God — is what we have.”

It made me wonder…if Jesus was entering the Passion Story today, where would he have shown up? Would he have ridden a city bus into New York City, to face what was to come? Would he have gathered with his disciples in an isolated room for a final meal…washing their hands, reminding disciples who didn’t quite get the gravity of the moment, to above all, serve with love in the days to come? Would he have gone to a hospital waiting room to pray for exhausted and overworked medical workers…or an empty church sanctuary to pray for overwhelmed pastors, youth directors and church staff…or join a Zoom meeting to pray for children, parents, and teachers struggling with technology and new math - and terrified that none of that protects vulnerable children from hunger and violence? When symptoms of COVID-19 overtook him, would he have been judged too old, or non-essential, and denied a ventilator when it became difficult to breathe? Would he have died alone, and placed in a semi-truck until he could be properly buried?

Would he have stepped into every fear and grief we are experiencing, so when we got there too, we wouldn’t be alone?

Maybe it’s just me, but this Holy Week I am drawn to the suffering God who is showing up in hospitals, Zoom meetings, homeless shelters, Facebook Live, distance learning platforms, nursing homes, dinner tables, grocery stores…through medical staff, teachers, youth directors, pastors, volunteers, hourly workers...to be with those who are lonely, fearful, grieving, hungry, overwhelmed, exhausted. To be with us .

I am moved to tears by the way Jesus is washing feet through each of you as you play games with youth on Zoom, tackle online worship and devotions, set up phone trees so no one is forgotten, step into the grief of our young people as they lose their connections, spring rituals and activities they hold dear…and show up every day in so many ways to stand with others in their suffering, so they are not alone.

New life will come. But for today, only a suffering God can help. This Holy Week, may you be held and strengthened by the presence of our suffering God in the challenges you face in your lives and ministries. God is with us. God is with you. You are not alone on this journey!

Together in Christ,

Catherine Anderson

Coordinator of Youth Ministry

Faith Formation Resources in Response to COVID-19

This web page is for ministry leaders, parents, and all ages as you look for ways to do faith formation at home and online. Resources include coloring pages for kids, devotionals, videos for kids and adults, resources for discussions to hold online, Vibrant Faith's "Take Faith Home" handouts, a tutorial to using Zoom, and more.

Some of the resources added this last week!

Mental Health Resources in Response to COVID-19

This web page has resources for ministry leaders and parents on how to talk with children and youth about coronavirus and address their anxiety and grief, as well as tools and resources to care for your own mental health during this crisis.

Some of the resources added this last week!

Email Catherine if there are resources you are looking for or if you have great resources to share. Chances are, others are looking for similar resources...or need what you have!

(For Volunteers, Paid Youth Directors, Pastors...YOU!)

​Ministry has changed drastically, and the work you are doing to support youth and families is critical. Join other youth workers to support each other, share ideas and resources, pray and laugh together. 

Check-In meetings will be every Thursday, 10am, through April 30.

Login information for this Thursday, April 9:

You can also access the weekly link on the Faith Formation Resources in Response to COVID-19 page.

If these times don't work for you and you would like to check in with someone, please  email Catherine  or call 218-724-4424, ext 124. You are not alone as we navigate these challenging days!

Joy Hensel, Project Coordinator for the NE MN Synod Mental Health Initiative and team members will be sharing thoughts with you each week to encourage, educate, resource and support you as you walk with the anxiety, fear, and grief of youth and adults, and care for yourselves.

This week's words come from Dr. Ryan Jagim, PhD Licensed Psychologist and member of the NE MN Synod Mental Health Initiative Team ...

In my work as a clinical psychologist, I spent most of my time talking to children and families. I explained that a psychologist is a “talking doctor” who helped families deal with worries and problems. In our world today, we are faced with significant stress and worries related to the COVID-19 epidemic. It has changed our daily routines in significant ways as school is canceled, jobs are in limbo, and social activities with teammates, friends, and neighbors are restricted due to social distancing requirements.

I want to share some thoughts on how to talk about and understand stress and anxiety: how we understand how anxiety affects us physically, how we understand how to identify and name our worry, and how we find ways to cope with our anxieties.

Anxiety Can Be Both Good and Bad

At times we think about anxiety as being bad, and yet it is the way our body tries to protect us. Just like fire can be bad when it can burn us, destroy buildings, and cause forest fires, fire can also keep our houses warm in our fireplaces or furnaces, it powers our gas engines so we can go places, and it can cook our food so it is safe to eat and tastes better. So too, anxiety can feel uncomfortable but it is our body’s way of signaling “lookout”.

Our Amazing Built in Nervous System Radars

We have amazing bodies with a built-in radar. Weathermen use radar to help predict what weather is coming our way, and our body has a built-in radar that tells us when we might be in danger. This radar signal (lookout something is different) then will trigger physical changes in our bodies that help us prepare for an upcoming danger. You may have heard of the “flight” (running away) or “fight” (standing our ground and fighting) response. That describes our body’s way trying to help us when we experience stress or danger. I tend to add one more response and that is “freeze”. This is when we just feel like we don’t know what to do and we tend to feel stuck and frozen. The physical reaction to stress and worry includes an increased heart rate (we feel our heart beating faster), our breathing gets faster, and our muscles get ready to work. Our body is saying get ready, “I’m not sure what is happening but I don’t feel safe”.

Unique Radars Because We Are All Unique

 Each of us is different and so we each have a different kind of radar. Some of us have a very sensitive radar and as a result we can be “expert worriers”. Expert worriers are very good at predicting dangers ahead. Some of us have radars that do not pick up anxiety signals very well or until the signals are very strong (and even then, we can ignore the signal). You may recognize these individuals as the daredevils who do things that are really risky. So, using the Goldilocks example of too hot, too cold, just right, it’s important to figure out what type of nervous system we each have in response to stress. In our families it is good to know what type of radar we have so that we can deal with those differences in a caring loving way. Do we have a stress radar that is very sensitive or do we have a stress radar that doesn’t pick up any worry, or do we have a stress radar that is just right?

Long Term Stress is Difficult

We have also found that our bodies are built to deal better with short-term stresses. So, like now with the Covid-19 epidemic, we are faced with serious long-term stress. It is important to learn how our bodies work and how to cope with this long-term stress. With long-term stress, our radar can be going off all the time as our body keeps trying to protect us by trying to be ready for danger all the time. In some ways, the current situation gives us an idea how an “expert worriers” feel a lot of the time.

So, one of the first things to do when feeling stress is to identify the stress or worry and to name it. This may sound easy, but learning to identify and name our feelings is a skill that takes practice, just like learning to dance, read, or sing. Last week Joy Hensel talked about the importance of pausing and taking a deep breath. Slow breathing interrupts the fight/flight/freeze responses and is the way that we remind our body to calm down, so we can name how we are feeling. On the Synod website for mental health resources, you can find information on how to deal with the emotional impact of Covid-19. I hope that you have found this information helpful and look forward to sharing more in the future.

Ryan Jagim, PhD Licensed Psychologist and NE MN Synod Mental Health Intiative Team

While we learn to live with and respond to COVID-19 in our homes and congregations, I will be sending out Youth E-Chat every Tuesday morning with updates and resources for you to use in your congregations. If you have anyone in your congregation who would like to be added to this e-newsletter (it is a different database than our synod's Online Reflections/Announcements), please have them sign up here. You can also find previous Youth E-Chats on the Faith Formation Resources for COVID-19 web page.