Resources and Announcements
October 1, 2020
|
|
Frosted Sugar Cocoa Bombs
“God’s got a plan for you” and its cousins “God never gives us more than we can handle” and “Every time God closes a door, God also opens a window” elicit in me a physical reaction of illness. Ok. Honestly. They make me barf. Mainly, this bumper sticker theology is like the “Frosted Sugar Cocoa Bombs” of the cereal world: tasty; quick; easy to serve; and completely devoid of any actual nutritional value. Whatever connection to real sustenance Frosted Sugar Cocoa Bombs might have had, that connection has been severed in favor of flavor, convenience, and a prolonged shelf life.
“Well, what about Jeremiah 29:11, Pastor Mike, where God says, ‘For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’? That sounds like God’s got a plan for us.”
Ah, yes. Jeremiah 29:11… which comes in the context of Jeremiah’s letter to his now-exiled people in Babylon, who have repeatedly ignored the message of the prophets and their cries for justice for the widow, the orphan, and the alien stranger and whose holy city and temple lie in a smoking heap of rubble while most of the useful populace of Jerusalem and its surrounding countryside have been carted off to captivity in Babylon. It’s always been a little wickedly humorous to me that Jeremiah 29:11 is lifted out of its context of judgment and destruction to be plopped down in graduation cards everywhere, while the rest of Jeremiah 29 and its further words of warning are ignored: “…I will pursue them with a sword, famine, and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. For they have not listened to my words,” declares the LORD, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets” (29:18-19). This sounds every bit like part of a plan by God too. I wonder how a new line of graduation cards that include that passage might go over?
Years ago, I sat with a widower whose spouse had fought a good fight for years against a persistent and horrible cancer. She had been an athlete all her life and was the picture of perfect health right up to her diagnosis. “Pastor,” he said, “Many of my friends have been telling me that God has a plan through all of this, through her cancer, through her death. And if that’s true, then I want nothing whatsoever to do with God. What kind of God would give my wife cancer for the sake of God’s plan for ME?!”
Dear Friends in Christ, the Gospel is NOT that God’s got a plan for your life and that it’s all going to work out and everything is going to be coming up roses and every cloud has a silver lining. It doesn’t appear that Jesus himself believed in such Frosted Sugar Cocoa Bombs when prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that he could somehow skip out of the cup of pain and suffering that was waiting for him. And it certainly doesn’t sound like he believed in a plan that everything was going to work out just fine when he cried from the cross, “My God, my God, WHY have you forsaken me?”
Perhaps there is a plan, and I think about such things in the midst of our current situation. But the Scriptures don’t offer us any sort of hope in that plan. The prophet Isaiah, in fact, tells us, “’My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD” (55:8). Whatever plan God has in heart and mind, a plan that may or may not include the particularities of pain and suffering, our being privy to such plan is not in the offing.
No, the Gospel Good News of Jesus Christ is that we have been given promises, and those promises come to us first in the Word that IS Jesus, INCLUDING his suffering, death, and resurrection. Next, those promises come to us in the Word-made-visible in the Sacraments of Communion and Baptism. (Lately, I’ve been teaching a 5-fold promise in the Sacraments: (1) that we are God’s children, never to be abandoned by God; (2) that we are given forgiveness and peace with God; (3) that our lives have purpose and meaning as they echo Christ’s life; (4) that we are given a people, a community in which to live out these promises; and (5) that death is not the final word in our lives.) Finally, those promises come to us in the fleshy, fallen lives of the sinners-and-saints who gather with us to worship, to pray, to serve, to encourage, and even and especially to simply shut up and cry with us when we suffer. All of which is considerably more sustaining, fibrous stuff than the Frosted Sugar Coca Bomb claptrap offered by the world.
Our time and situation is not the first time that the people of God have experienced such suffering and hardship. As I look at the signs all around us in the environment, in our politics, and in the health of our shared cultural institutions, deeper suffering and hardship may very well be yet to come. Whatever God’s unfolding plan may be in all of this, knowledge of which we are not guaranteed, let us not be turned away from the promises and God’s steadfastness to those promises, which we ARE guaranteed in Christ Jesus. May these promises sustain us in our weakness and fortify us for our witness of grace, mercy, and love through that same Christ.
Pastor Mike Pancoast
Trinity Lutheran Church, Princeton
Dean, Heartland Conference
|
|
Faith Formation Updates from the NE MN Synod!
Middle School Gathering:
The LYO Board will be providing free resources to equip adult leaders to put on your own Middle School Gathering! The focus will be on the Apostle’s Creed, and resources will include keynote speaker Joe Davis, Learning Clusters, games, closing worship and more!
All resource elements are designed to be used online or in person if safe to meet,
and will be posted November 1.
For those interested, t-shirts are available for purchase.
Church orders must be submitted by October 15!
|
|
Synod Journey Curriculum:
Session One: I AM
Session Two: Created by an Ever-Present, Loving God
Next Faithful Move for Church Leaders:
Tools for Talking about Race and Culture in the Church
Mondays, Oct 12-Nov 30, 6:30pm-8:30pm.
Cost: $268 ($250+$18 admin fee with 20% going to Rescue, Release Restore, an empowerment camp for youth of color). For those truly unable to pay, please email us and we will work something out on a case by case basis.
Joe Davis and Dave Scherer lead this 8-week cohort that provides intercultural development tools and resources, as connects participants to a community of practice to unpack difficult questions such as:
How do we move from shame and guilt to effective allyship?
How do we get out of our heads and into our bodies in our anti-racism work?
Transform(ed): Faith, Race & Justice
October 4-9, 2020
|
|
|
|
EcoFaith
Moments of Arising Series
NEWEST VIDEO IS NOW AVAILABLE!
|
Slumber
‘Love by hatred slain’
Now the Green Blade Rises
Stanza 3 (stanza 2 of original hymn)
In the grave they laid Him, love by hatred slain,
Thinking that He never would awake again.
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen,
Love will come again like wheat arising green.
Love by hatred slain is happening all around us now.
Are we waking up?
|
|
NE MN Synod, ELCA - LAY LEADER NETWORK UPDATES
Announcing our Yearly Intensive Series 2020-2021
WHAT: The LLN Yearly Intensive Series is a four-session educational program for adult learners, lay leaders and potential lay leaders of all ages. It seeks to balance head and heart in a life-long learning program and to build up the Body of Christ in both congregational settings and the community beyond and around us, ESPECIALLY HERE, ESPECIALLY NOW, EVEN through COVID and other challenges surround us. The series invites learners to experience heart transformation through dynamic engagement with God’s Word and Missional expression through contextual engagement.
Each year, the Yearly Intensive Series’ biblical study content aligns with the ELCA lectionary, inviting new lay students to enter the ever-evolving, ongoing three year program cycle at any given year. The 2020/2021 year will engage the Gospels of Mark and John.
Each yearly series has a fourfold focus: Biblical Study/Lutheran Theology(35%), Leadership and Spiritual Development (30%), Engaging Missional Context (20%), and Specific Ministry Focus (15%)
This year’s four session series’ main presenters will be the Rev. Dr. Mark Skinner and the Rev. Dr. David Mesner with possible additional guest presenters in selected topic areas tbd in response to the deep needs around us, eg. dismantling racism, addressing creation care, caring for those most vulnerable, understanding and grappling with increasing secularization in North America, etc.
WHERE, WHEN and HOW…
(In person programming IF COVID allows, otherwise we will be setting up Zoom presentations, gatherings, and study groups, etc. We are planning to have at least one Zoom option per session.)
Duluth site:
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd 10/10/2020, 11/14/2020, 2/6/2021 and 4/10/2021. Each session runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (subject to adaptations for use of Zoom)
Brainerd site:
Bethlehem Lutheran Church 10/3/2020, 11/21/2020, 2/20/2021, and 4/24/2021. Each session runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (subject to adaptations for use of Zoom)
Cost: $220 fee to attend (does not include books, materials or student travel expense); check to see if your congregation can help subsidize
Registration: If you wish to join the Yearly Intensive Series for this next season, please CHECK FIRST with your congregation to see if they are able to subsidize your registration fee. If they ARE, then follow the link below and when you register, select the Promo Code which best reflects your congregation’s subsidy. You will need to know this information BEFORE registering through Eventbrite so that you can enter the correct code and not be billed full rate.
For More Information: Contact Sue Lyback, Coordinator at 320-333-1894 (leave message) or email to susilyback@gmail.com.
|
|
Stay Informed.
Be Safe.
Wash your hands!
Use the links provided below
for the most reliable information
on COVID-19:
|
|
|
Dear partners and friends of ELCA World Hunger,
As you have experienced firsthand, the past several months have been extremely taxing on church ministries as we navigate the pandemic and its impact on communities. In response to COVID-19 and the increasing need for direct support of communities facing hunger, ELCA World Hunger officially launched Daily Bread Matching Grants this past spring. Two hundred congregational feeding ministries from around the country received access to tools for online fundraising and an accompanying grant. Altogether, participating congregations raised more than double the total amount awarded in grants!
With gratitude for the strong positive response by participants and donors to the ELCA’s COVID-19 Response Fund, ELCA World Hunger is happy to announce another round of Daily Bread Matching Grants taking place this fall!Applications will be accepted beginning Oct. 1, with the fundraising event scheduled for November.
More than 300 Daily Bread Matching Grants will be available for ELCA congregations on a first-come, first-served basis. However, priority will be given to congregations that were unable to participate in the last cycle due to capacity, and to congregations that are members of ELCA ethnic-specific and multicultural ministry networks or are priority congregations as identified by synods.
Congregations that have previously received a Daily Bread Matching Grant are not eligible to reapply. If your congregation has already benefited from a Daily Bread Matching Grant, please share this opportunity with a neighbor or partner congregation!
How it works:
ELCA World Hunger is continuing to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of ways.
ELCA Advocacy is monitoring developments in legislation related to COVID-19 at the federal level and providing ways for people to connect with their elected officials. Visit ELCA.org/advocacy to learn more and to sign up for e-alerts about public policies important to you and your community.
We have provided, and will continue to provide, information to help you and your communities stay informed. The ELCA World Hunger blog’s “Tips for Responding to Hunger in a Pandemic” offers best practices and suggestions for leaders, volunteers and supporters of feeding ministries. In addition, the ELCA provides regular updates on our church’s COVID-19 response at https://elca.org/publichealth.
A feedback form is available at http://bit.ly/ELCAWorldHungerFeedbackfor you to share your stories of hope with the wider church and to let the churchwide staff of ELCA World Hunger know how we can best support you. You can also share your creative and courageous practices, ask questions or offer feedback by emailing Hunger@ELCA.org.
We are grateful for the opportunity to continue walking with congregations as they respond to the needs of their communities. Although these are difficult times, ministries like yours continue to inspire hope through your creativity and commitment to spreading God’s love and abundance.
Until all are fed,
The ELCA World Hunger Team
|
|
Dear colleagues in ministry,
Greetings from the ELCA Fund for Leaders!
The Fund for Leaders, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), provides scholarships for future ELCA pastors and deacons who attend ELCA seminaries. In 2021, the Fund for Leaders will once again be offering scholarships to seminary students — and we need your help to spread the word!
The Fund for Leaders has an open application process that allows all eligible candidates to apply online directly to Fund for Leaders to be considered for a full-tuition scholarship. These scholarships will cover the full cost of seminary tuition for the duration of coursework. Eligible candidates must have an offer of admission from one or more ELCA seminaries, be planning to enroll full time in fall 2021 and be in good standing in the ELCA candidacy process. Recipients of Fund for Leaders scholarships may apply their full-tuition scholarship to any ELCA seminary that has offered them admission.
The application period will be open from November 2020 to February 2021.If you know of promising and gifted people discerning a call to rostered ministry in the ELCA, please forward this email to them and encourage them to visit ELCA.org/FundForLeaders today to learn more. Check our website for specific dates and eligibility criteria.
FAQs POSTER By spreading the word, you will help ensure that future church leaders will be able to serve as the church needs and the Holy Spirit leads. Thank you.
God's peace,
The Rev. Mark W. Olsen
Director, ELCA Fund for Leaders
Director, Mission Funding
|
|
Bishop
Director for Evangelical Mission
Assistant to the Bishop
Call Process
Assistant to the Bishop
Coordinator of Youth Ministry
Office Administrator
Executive Administrative Assistant
|
|
Click the icons below to follow our latest media information!
|
NE MN Synod, ELCA
1105 E Superior St. Upper Suite
Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: 218-724-4424
Fax: 218-724-4393
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
