TRANSFIGURATION LUTHERAN CHURCH
11000 France Ave. S. - Bloomington, MN 55431
Office: (952) 884-2364 (Also 24 hr Pastoral Emergency Service)
Office Open Monday-Thursday, 9:00am to 4:00pm
Appointments Appreciated
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Altar flowers for Sunday are given by Linda Knutson
in loving memory of her Mom, Evelyn Sodergren.
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Outdoors this Sunday! (Weather Permitting)
Mother’s Day
Ice Cream Social.
Bring your own
lawn chair.
ELC Playground will
be open for supervised/masked playtime for kids.
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11:30am-12:30pm
TLC North Yard
See you there!
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The Sixth Sunday of Easter:
"All Creation Sings!"
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Rob Reid,
Director of Music
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Come worship the Risen Christ this Sunday, May 9 at 10:00am, as we sing with “All Creation!” Yes, this Sunday we will be singing two new hymns from the Brand-New ELW Supplemental Hymnal “All Creation Sings,” a 2020 publication that is similar to the Blue Hymnal “With One Voice” that came out in 1995 as a supplement to the Green LBW Hymnal. It includes new hymns for all the seasons of the year, starting with the Advent Hymn No. 901, “Now the Heavens Start to Whisper.”
We will sing No. 938 “Christ Has Risen While Earth Slumbers” following Pastor Eva’s Message. The hymn tune by Calvin Hampton we sang during our Advent Hymn Festival in 2019, using Advent words, but on Sunday we will sing that tune with Easter words penned by the famous John Bell. Jill Reid will play flute parts along with this hymn that was composed by David Cherwien of the National Lutheran Choir, and transcribed by our very own organist, Karen Daniels, who also leads our hymns this week.
The Socially Distanced Singers (Jill Reid, Mary George, Rob Reid, Kevin Erickson) will sing the other new hymn during the Offering. No. 933 is called “Day of Delight” and is set to the tune of a Renaissance madrigal song by Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi (how about those initials G-G-G!). The singers will add some percussion to help bring the Renaissance flavor to the song. This tune is also used in our current Red ELW hymnal, No. 867, and is sung to the words “In Thee Is Gladness.”
If you’re not quite sure you’re ready for New Hymns, we will also sing three familiar ones from our current hymnal, “Christ Is Alive! Let Christians Sing,” “Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love,” and “Alleluia! Sing to Jesus,” so warm up your voice and join us in celebrating together with these joyful Easter hymns – Alleluia!
Peace,
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Live-Stream Viewer Data
Confirmation Sunday, May 2, 2021
Outdoor Drive-in / Walk-up Service
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320+ viewers of the 10:00am service
125 attended in-person.
Percent watching on specified device:
- Computer 51.3%
- Smart TV 28.2%
- Mobile phone 11.5%
- Tablet 9.0%
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If you are in need of prayer or have the name of someone you would like to add, please ask permission from that person first. Then, contact Marilyn Erickson, Care Ministry at 952-884-2364 ext. 10, or merickson@tlcmn.com.
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Dave Merrill
Jane Kinyon
Joel Wigstadt
Larry Granger
Barb Halverson
Irene Johnson
Kevin Erickson
Jerry Hanson
Jean Nyberg
Walt Thomsen
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Irene Amon
Dunwiddie Family
Don Jacobson
Carol Robbins
Judy Hanson
Ron Schultz
Ron Schroeder
Carol Hill
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Prayers of Sympathy to:
Lee & Jim McMillan and the McChesney families on the death of Lee's Aunt Beth McChesney.
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Discover a place where your
children know they are home.
Schedule a virtual or in-person tour.
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The past couple weeks our KinderPlus students have been learning all about volcanoes! |
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When you trust us with your family, you become like our family. At TLC Early Learning Center (ELC), we are committed to providing high quality care, specializing in educating children while nurturing their spiritual growth. TLC-ELC is a nationally-accredited, Christian childcare and preschool program in Bloomington, MN, with college-educated and trained teachers in early childhood education, assuring that your children will be left in very capable hands. If you’re ready to experience a safe, supportive, and fun environment for your child and a partner who cares about your family, we’re ready to meet you! |
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Thursday, all the ELC students gathered outside and watched the KinderPlus students demonstrate how volcanos erupt. |
Anyone remember Peter Brady (Brady Bunch) and his volcano demo in front of his sister Marsha and friends? |
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The TLC Council, in conjunction with Pastor Arthur Murray and Pastor Eva Jensen, held a retreat last Sunday afternoon to kick-off discussion of the plans and processes we will need to update our congregational mission and guide our future staffing and resource needs to support our evolving ministry.
These activities will involve the participation of our membership and staff over the next several months to clarify who we are as a congregation, identify our mission mandates, create strategic directions, and define plans to implement our ministry.
Over the next few months, the Council will form a Transition Team to lead this planning process under the guidance of Pastor Eva Jensen. The Council will periodically provide progress reports to the congregation on this important work. Please watch for announcements that will include opportunities for congregational participation in this process.
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TLC is a church that supports its young people spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. An ongoing tradition at TLC is awarding a scholarship to a student who has engaged at church, in the community and the classroom.
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Celebration of the Life of
Barbara Johnson
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The funeral service for long-time TLC Member, Barbara Anne Johnson, was held this past Thursday, May 6 in the TLC Sanctuary. Due to COVID guidelines, attendance was limited to immediate family. However, the service was live-streamed. The eulogy was provided by son, Eric Johnson; homily by Pastor Arthur; hymn soloist, Rob Reid; and organist Karen Daniels.
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COVID Response Team Update
May 5, 2021
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The cases/10,000 people in Bloomington is 41 which means:
The council is considering changes to the current plan to accommodate church meetings for fully vaccinated groups, to tweak the implementation of weddings/funerals, to expand monthly worship indoors.
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We are in Phase 2 of our Covid Re-entry Plan (See plan here)
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In-person, Indoor worship is pushed out to June 13th.
- All building use for internal and external groups is on hold for now until the numbers are consistently lower
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View the daily case count at the following:
(it takes several seconds to display all the data)
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MN Governor Walz Issues Phased Easing of Restrictions
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PHASE 1: RESTAURANTS, BARS EASE THIS FRIDAY, MAY 7
Starting at noon Friday, Walz’s new actions will:
- Remove limits for outdoor dining, events, and other get-togethers, and end the mask requirement outdoors except at large venues with over 500 people.
- Eliminate the state-established mandatory closing time for bars, restaurants, and food and beverage service at other places of public accommodation.
PHASE 2: MAY 28, THE BIG EASING
- On May 28, remaining capacity and distancing limits will come to an end, including for indoor events and gatherings.
The requirements that will remain include:
- Face coverings indoors and for outdoor events that exceed 500 people.
- There will be no new safety requirements for businesses, though they must maintain their plans to keep their employees and customers safe.
PHASE 3: EVERYTHING ELSE
- The third phase will begin once 70 percent of Minnesotans age 16 years and older — 3,087,404 Minnesotans — get at least one dose of the vaccine, but no later than July 1. At that point, the remaining face covering requirement and the requirement for preparedness plans will end. Local jurisdictions and entities may set their own mask policies.
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May 2 was Confirmation Sunday at TLC. Above, Confirmand Breanna Latzke kneels and is surrounded by her family as she is confirmed. |
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Imagine being confirmed out in a parking lot. Well, actually it went really well, and those confirmands' loved ones laying their hands on them as each one was confirmed, was such a loving thing to do. I was trying to remember my own confirmation that was in the late '40's and I think I was only 12 years old. Sadly, I cannot find the picture taken of me in my white robe. At the time I was wondering if my shoes matched the robe or not as it was early June, and the white shoes of most of us were appearing for the first time. |
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I have told before about the first communion that also happened that day. As we gathered around the altar our first taste of wine at all took place. The wine tasted so bad.....Turns out it was spoiled and tasted like vinegar!
We had to memorize a lot of Luther's Small Catechism for our confirmation. Do kids have to do that any more? We had met for less than a year, but would have spent a lot of Saturday mornings sitting in the church's basement and learning what we would have to know, and be able to answer any questions. There was no "Faith Statement" that we'd written or anything like that, so I admire these young people for being able to think of what they truly believe. Even now I think it would be a hard thing to write down....What do I really believe? Maybe we should all try to do that sometime? It's easy to repeat the Apostles' Creed, or the Nicene Creed without too much concentration for either one. Same with the Lord's Prayer....Do we need to have our minds more fully aware? It's not how often one says a prayer, it's what is within the prayer that matters. These days we have a lot to pray about, and just repeating the same words can be fine, but let's go a bit further. I see names on our prayer list each week and would appreciate knowing those people are doing well.
We chose not to sit in our car last Sunday, but watched the lovely live-streamed service. I hope the confirmands can truly feel like they are an important part of our congregation-family. So often confirmation can seem more like a graduation and the young people scatter off to Sunday jobs. That happened in our family. Often beginners get Sunday hours, so it's quite common to lose them for Sunday worship.
Blessings to all the confirmands and their mentors.----This is just the beginning!!
-Bloomington Bird Lady
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TLC is currently seeking a person with event planning skills and a naturally compassionate spirit to fill the part-time position of Funeral and Wedding Coordinator.
Contact Pastor Arthur at amurray@tlcmn.com to inquire or to submit a recommendation. Please pray for this search process.
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Thoughts by Pastor Al Dungan
A Return to Normal?
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Ever since the pandemic began to make itself felt in our country people have expressed a longing “to return to normal”.
I don’t think that will happen and this is why:
First, there is no state of existence that can be called normal because life is in a constant state of change. Every day is different from every other day. Every person is in a constant state of change, getting older, getting taller than when we were small children, and on and on. There is no such thing as normal so we can’t go back to it even though we’d really like to return to days that we thought were more stable and when we felt more secure.
Second, I read a sentence in the latest edition of The Living Lutheran that got me thinking: “Maybe it is not a return to something before But a turn to something new”. (The Living Lutheran, May 2021, p. 20)
We have recently celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That, and the preceding crucifixion, had shaken his followers to the core of their beings. They probably would have liked to go back to the time when they were following their Rabbi through the country side of Palestine. But that wasn’t going to happen because a massive change had occurred. Definitely not a return to normal.
And coming up is the Festival of Pentecost when the Spirit of God blew mightily through the gathering in Jerusalem and prepared them for greater things to come. No normal here.
And, finally, when they were scattered from Jerusalem to other places because of persecution by the Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, they had to change again. Again, no return to normal.
The Church, then and now, is an agent for change and because it is, it has brought about powerful changes in our world from the Day of the Resurrection to the present.
We, as the Church, must not ever look to or stand for “normalcy” or “stability”. If we ever do that we will die because the Church is a living organism and that means it’s always changing.
As the sentence in the Living Lutheran stated: Maybe it is not a return to something before But a turn to something new.
A Return to Normal? I truly hope not. What I look for is ways that we can take the terrible toll that the pandemic has had on all of us and use it for new ways to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ to a hurting world.
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Transfiguration Lutheran Church
Addiction Awareness
Team
-Our Mission-
This ministry exists to provide a safe environment for those seeking hope and restoration from addiction and codependency.
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Addiction and Codependency Rediscovered
Years ago I learned these things about addiction and codependency: both are diseases, not moral failings, which are Primary, Chronic, Progressive and Fatal.
Let’s look at addiction first because that’s the disease we think we know most about; but, over the years, the disease model of addiction has broadened considerably. Most people associate addiction with a particular substance such as alcohol and other mood altering drugs which include cocaine, morphine, heroin and opioids of a variety of kinds. But, as our awareness of addiction has grown we have come to recognize that a behavior can also come under the rubric of addiction. For example, we have addiction to gambling, food, sex, electronic devices, such as our computers and cell phones, and the list can go on and on.
Addiction is primary. That means that nothing else causes the particular addiction except the presence of substances or behaviors. It’s not caused by mental illness, although most addicts do have a variety of mental health issues. It’s not caused by specific difficulties in life such as job loss, loss of a loved one or divorce although these difficulties may cause a person to increase their ingestion of a substance or a particular behavior. The presence of COVID 19 has caused a major upsurge in addictive behavior with very debilitating results.
Addiction is chronic. That means once a person becomes addicted it will never go away. There is no “cure” for addiction. The only hope for an addict is to get the disease into remission through addiction related counseling and/or attending an appropriate 12 Step group.
Addiction is progressive. Unless and until the disease gets into remission, the addict gets sicker and sicker. And even then, if the addict relapses, it will be as if the remission never happened.
Finally, addiction is fatal. Addiction kills everything with which it comes into contact: the addict, family relations, job, loss of friends, etc. The list is endless.
It goes without saying that many people, both recovering addicts and others, are aware of all of this. However, not so many may be aware that codependency is also primary, chronic, progressive and fatal. Too often, little thought is given to the chaos that invades the lives of those persons who have direct and ongoing contact with the addict.
Codependency is primary and the carrier is the addict with whom the codependent is associated.
Codependency is chronic. Once a codependent, always a codependent.
Codependency is progressive. Just as addiction to a substance or behavior is progressive in the life of the addict, so is it progressive in the life of the codependent. Without help such as codependency counseling and/or an appropriate 12 Step program, the codependent will get worse.
And, again, Codependency is fatal. In fact, the codependent will often die before the addict due to the huge load of stress that is taken on by association with the addict.
Not a pretty picture, but if we are to address these two pandemics, yes, pandemics, we need to know what we’re looking at.
If you or someone you care for is presenting either of these problems, you are welcome to contact any of the members of the Addiction Awareness team that are listed here. May you be well and if you are hurting, we can help you find healing.
-Al Dungan, Team Member
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- Chris Campo
- Dave Dickson
- Al Dungan
- Mary George
- Griffin Myslivecek
- Louise Olson
- Beth Rahn
- Rick Zeidler
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Calling ALL TLC paddlers! BWCA Trips are Coming Up! |
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Good news! It’s getting to be that time of year again! We are hoping for three BWCA trips as usual this summer.
- June 16-20 –Our annual TLC guided trip out of Ely, Minnesota. Suggested contribution is $200 per paddler. Open to youth finished 6th grade and up; Adults; Younger kids with a parent accompanying.
- August 11- “Swampers Week” through Wilderness Canoe Base. Suggested contribution $300 per paddler. Open to: Youth finished 9th grade and up.
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August 28-31 – Family Mission Camp at Wilderness Canoe Base. Approx. cost $100 per person. Open to all ages and abilities.
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June 6
Drive-In / Walk-Up
Worship Service
High School
&
College Graduates
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On Sunday, June 6th, at the 10:00am outdoor service, Transfiguration Lutheran Church will celebrate a milestone in the life of this congregation and the lives of all graduates. This is a moment in time when we close one door and open another while we honor our graduates and families – blessing their next chapter of life. We are excited to celebrate this important moment together, in-person (with masks and social distancing)
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May is Mental Health Awareness Month |
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May 16 is our Annual Mental Health Awareness Sunday
The toll the pandemic has taken on mental health is well documented.
What has been your experience of the last year?
Pastor Arthur would like to hear from TLC members in response to any of the following questions:
- What has been one struggle that you have faced in relation to mental health during the pandemic?
- What has been one thing that you have discovered or experienced, or a tool you have developed that has helped, or brought you hope during the pandemic?
- How has your mental health impacted your faith journey?
- How have you experienced God in the past year?
Please email Pastor Arthur by Wednesday, May 12 at amurray@tlcmn.com with any responses. Your stories of struggle and hope may be referenced in the service, no names attached.
Please know that your pastors, staff and your fellow TLC members are praying for you. If you are in need of a call or visit from a pastor, please do not hesitate to let us know.
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7045 Lyndale Ave So
Richfield, MN 55423
1st & 3rd Sundays/domingos
5:00 p.m. worship/servicio de alabanza
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Tapestry is a bilingual (Español/Inglés) and multicultural community that works to not only build bridges, but to cross them, too. We are working together to reach out and weave together the diversity of people living in our communities into what it means to be una comunidad de fe. We engage in deep listening to build compassion and trust. We intentionally enter into conversations with people different from ourselves. We are transformed through our relationships and through the work of the Holy Spirit.
ALL ARE WELCOME! ¡TODOS SON BIENVENIDOS/AS!
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TLC Memorial Garden
A place of peace and reflection, honoring and remembering those close to our hearts. Please click here to visit our website dedicated to those who have passed on -- from 2012 to the present. Each person -Saint- has a page with their obituary, video photo collage, the funeral service bulletin, homily, photo album, and in more recent years, a video of the entire funeral service that was held at TLC. |
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Free Subscriptions, sign up to be a volunteer,
request care ministry and more!
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Subscribe a friend to this newsletter, TLC Weekly. Interested in TLC membership? Sunday school? Our renowned TLC music program, volunteering and more are choices on this easy online TLC Request Form. Just [Click Here] or the "Sign Me Up" button on the left.
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A Reconciling in Christ Congregation
A Culture of Diversity and Inclusion
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If you've scrolled along and are reading this, thank you for browsing through the entire TLC Weekly.
Considering the season of golf already underway, along with the welcome reduction of COVID restrictions on the course, the new item to go back and find is a golf ball. In the rough? The water hazard? Where could it be? Well, it's hiding somewhere within the articles, pictures and stories in this issue of the TLC Weekly. By the way, all of the hidden items are in this newsletter. They are not part of an external click-thru link or in the graphic on the side margins (blue flowers this week).
When you find the golf ball, email us, telling where the golf ball was located. In next week's TLC Weekly we'll post the top names of those who contacted us first.
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Seven TLC women sent email after discovering the golf ball's location in last week's TLC Weekly (May 2 issue) Pictured on the left, the golf ball was hiding underneath the "driver's side" of the toddler's cardboard school bus, as shown in the ELC article. Btw, we've yet to have any of the guys step up with an answer to the hidden object. Must be a short attention span, eh?
The seven who found the golf ball in order of email timestamp:
- Sandy Mullen
- Linda Meyer
- Becky Woll
- Lois Manning
- Barb Wigstadt
- Joanne Haugen
- Diane Mielke
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