The Board has been extremely busy with getting Committees set up for our upcoming Convention on April 22, 2023. We want to thank each and every one who has been part of the Committees and has worked so hard at keeping things moving along and notifying the Board if issues arise and what solutions are needed. These women have demonstrated amazing leadership. If you get the opportunity to work with any of them, you will understand what we are saying.

Communication has been extremely important between the Committees and the Board, and also with the rest of the women in our organization (you). As many of you know, we have been working on getting all Convention materials in electronic format. The Convention packets have been sent out electronically to everyone with an email address on file with us. Our Communications person, Kathy, has been instrumental in achieving this goal. We will be sending out the Convention booklets to all the voting members via the postal system prior to Convention and will have the printed materials available to those attending the Convention.

The Convention isn’t the only thing we have been working on. Missy, our secretary, has updated our Constitution to be in alignment with Churchwide. These changes were approved at the last Triennial Conference, so we will not need a vote at the Convention, but we want to make sure you have a copy. A link to read the Constitution is here. We will also have printed copies of this at the Convention.

Another thing we are currently working on is the proceeds from Katie’s Fund to enhance our women’s organization. We have been given $1,000 from the Fund and have decided to use the money to develop a wider base of leadership among our women to carry the organization into the future. In the last issue of Bridges, Glenda provided information on Katie’s Fund. We are also including the link here: https://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/2122/making-the-case-for-katies-fund.

We have become cohesive in our Board, and we have worked very hard to come together. We are also at the point where we will have many changes to board members at the upcoming Convention elections. The cohesiveness will need to be in play once again after the elections, however, we have determined that the “outgoing” members will attend the first Board meeting following Convention to assist with the “incoming” members and are willing to mentor them if needed.

Since our last Convention, we have had many changes; however, we have worked through them. It has been a “team effort” with God as our leader showing us the way, as a follower pushing us through, and/or a quiet partner walking along side us.

Refugee Services has been a program of the Minnesota Council of Churches since 1984. Since that time, Refugee Services has welcomed more than 10,000 refugees from around the world to lives of freedom, hope and opportunity in Minnesota.  They offer abundant support to newcomers through four lines of service: Case Management, Immigration (legal services offered in assisting them with the initial application and maintaining a copy of their application on file), Employment, and Education to help them on the path to self-sufficiency and support them as they work toward achieving their dreams.

The primary office for Refugee Services is in Minneapolis, 122 W. Franklin Ave., #100, where new refugee arrivals are offered a wide complement of services as stated above. In 2012, an office in Mankato was established to provide a system of support for the growing refugee population. Mankato has become home to an increasing number of secondary arrivals, individuals and families who have moved to Mankato from another place in the United States, where they resettled in the past 10 years.

The MN Council of Churches Refugee Services is in partnership with Episcopal Immigration Ministries, Greater Mankato United Way, Lutheran Volunteer Corps, and the Department of Human Services.

There are many opportunities for you to volunteer to make a difference in the lives of individuals who are refugees.  Financial support as well as household donations are always needed. You can call 612-230-3219 or email rsvolunteers@mnchurches.org to learn more.

Praying, encouraging and giving are three of the seven marks of discipleship. The other four are studying, worshipping, inviting and serving.  Studying was one of my favorite things when I was a young person. I just kept going to school and eventually graduated with a PhD from the University of Minnesota. Then, it was time to find my first “big people” job. I found one that had studying at its base—training and development. Studying God’s word, the Bible, is a daily activity for me, as part of my devotion. I find myself reading the short passages that accompany the devotion and often look at the verses before and after the reading to get more context for the passage. Bible study is offered at churches usually at least once a week and sometimes more often, with different topics having different approaches to studying the Bible. I think about Bible readings during workshop services and admire the lectors who are brave enough to read in front of such a large group of listeners. How much studying goes into this—looking for the right emphasis, sharing meaning with inflection, pausing when appropriate. How much more studying is needed to write a homily or perform a wedding?

Worshipping, showing reverence to God, takes on many forms in my mind. What I’m accustomed to includes Sunday worship with liturgy and homilies. This feels good to me—familiar, comfortable, inviting. When my daughter was in confirmation class, she requested that her second year be devoted to exploring worship around the Twin Cities, instead of going to confirmation class. Our understanding pastors agreed to this and our family set out to explore “worship experiences in the Twin Cities.” I came away from that with a new appreciation for the many different ways that one can show homage to God. We attended churches that covered all the Protestant options, some formal, some contemporary, some large, some small. We did not have the presence of mind to go to non-Protestant places of worship, but maybe there will be a time for this in my retirement.

As we entered churches while on this confirmation trek, often times people were at the door greeting us, words of welcome were included in the service, but the “inviting” story that rings truest for me was at my younger daughter’s experience in San Francisco. She moved to the Bay Area to get away from the cold and she had an aunt there who offered her a beautiful bedroom suite until she could get a place of her own. What she wanted on her first Christmas in California was not snow, but rather a church that sang “Silent Night” with candles at a late night service. She found a small Presbyterian church in Sausalito, and she has been there ever since! The pastor has a welcoming spirit, and the members mingle at the end of the service as if everyone knows everyone and wants to have any newcomers become part of the knowing. I have been part of their in-person services and their online, as well, and this is where I will worship this month while my daughter is on a three-week vacation and I’m looking after her house and her cat.

What about serving? The most obvious form of serving for me comes as part of worship on Sundays. There are ushers, lectors, communion assistants, people who dress the alter, musicians…the list goes on. All are there to share their gifts of service. I serve as a communion assistant, something I’ve been doing for years because my husband, who prior to his passing, saw that as a way to give as a retired minister. Seeing all the people who come before me when I’m serving wine or juice enriches my belief in the power of God. There are many ways to serve as a volunteer in any community—serving food, visiting lonely or unwell people, watching young children to give their parents a break….

As Lutheran Women of faith, we are all stewards of what we know intellectually, what we possess, what we are given, and how we interact with the world around us. Stewardship is a state of mind grounded in the truth that we are born in Him, and in Him we shall abide.

Your witness as a member of your congregation’s circle or unit, (as they are sometimes called) or an active purpose-minded woman whose congregation does not have an organized women’s group, is ready to be served to whatever end-recipient you select.

The needs are great. In addition to a gift to SWO and its basic operational needs, SWO treasurer, Karen Seaver, is equipped to receive your check and appropriate portions of it to other intended recipient(s). Examples would be:

Please open your stewardship spirit and allow your gifts to flow into any one of these or other causes lifted up by the ELCA’s outreach programs such as Lutheran Disaster Response. If this is your choice, such as displaced persons in Ukraine, or another great need, state it on your remitted gift to SWO and it will be forwarded promptly.

Your unit, circle or wherever women gather as in quilt-making or Bible study, will reap the harvest of a spirit which shares in its abundance.

For more info about ILAG: https://spas-elca.org/mission/global-mission/guatemala/

Excitement is building for the Just Love gathering as we finally meet in person with our sisters.

You can now register for the gathering and for your hotel (scroll down to Our Location) via the following link: https://www.womenoftheelca.org/new-triennial-event-page

This special in-person gathering is an opportunity to live out the message that the Rev. Angela Khabeb left us with in Minneapolis in 2017 and virtually in 2021, "Christianity is not comfortable. If you are comfortable in Jesus, you are doing it wrong."

We are different from the people we were in 2017 and 2021. Yet we know that as people of faith, we are still called to justice and love. It is up to us to carry this work forward.

See some of our photos from our last in-person event in 2017 in Minneapolis.

View Board Members, Special Roles and Cluster Leaders on our webpage at the Synod website: https://spas-elca.org/synodical-womens-organization/swo-leaders/