AUGUST | 2023

IN DEFENSE OF REST AND VACATION Dear friends in Christ, You can rest. It’s ok. No seriously. This is not the line from your pastor to guilt you back to church and away from lake weekends. In fact, this is one of your pastors giving you permission to rest. Giving priority to time away and time together with your family is necessary. So necessary, God even commands it. Here’s your reminder, it comes in the way of the fourth commandment (you know, of 10): “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy” Exodus 20:8. What does that mean exactly? You may have heard it said, this is why we come together weekly and honor God in worship. And yes, this is one of the ways we honor the commandment of God. Also, it is the way that God knows what we need. God’s commandments are meant for the betterment of God’s people. They give us concrete ways for us to love our neighbor and ourselves. And sometimes what we need to love ourselves and be loving towards our neighbors, is a nap. Or a vacation. Or another cup of coffee on the deck.  Keeping the Sabbath is also about acknowledging that we as human creatures have limits. We cannot do it all, at full speed, in all seasons of our lives. And we shouldn’t try. When we work at this pace, we also leave very little room for what God can do and does do, through our lives. Taking the time to rest is also the way we can notice where God is moving. It’s hard to see cruising by at a million miles an hour.  Remember the Creation Story? The one from Genesis. God makes all the wonderful, lovely, curious, intricate world, with every soaring star and creeping worm in its place. God works for six days. And then on the seventh, God takes a break. God takes a rest. But why? Surely God did not get tired?! I think God made room for creativity to continue. In order for creation to rest and grow, and God gives space for that to happen. God takes a rest for relationships to flourish—between creation and Creator. And maybe, God rests to show God’s stubborn creatures (ahem!) that it can be done. If God can create a beautiful world in the span of six days and then took a whole day to rest, you can rest too. Very serious and esteemed theologian, Walter Brueggeman, has a whole brilliant book on the subject, “Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now”, (a little intense for a beach read, but maybe add it for the list for later): “Sabbath becomes a decisive, concrete, visible way of opting for and aligning with the God of rest.” In other words, you can rest. It’s a way to sync your life with a God who rests. With a God who made you beautifully and marvelously, also made you with limits included. All to say: enjoy your August vacation, your lake weekends, the leisurely lovely cup of coffee, your family and class reunions. You were made to rest. You are commanded to rest by a loving, creative God. May your rest be a prayer; a prayer of dependance, not on our break-neck pace and our very own hustle, but of our dependence on the goodness of God. God will grace you with all that you need. Right where you are. You can rest. And let God get to work astounding you with all that God can do. Be very well, Pastor Erika

COLUMBARIUM NICHES FOR SALE NOW Work on the future site of the columbarium is set to begin this month! Niches are now available for purchase. The cost per niche (which can hold either one or two urns) is $2000. Urns and faceplate inscription are not included in the purchase price. More information can be found on our website or in the Vinje office. If you have questions or would like to purchase a niche, please contact the church office to request a call from a member of the columbarium committee. Thanks you!

SUNDAY MORNING CAMERA AND SLIDE HELP NEEDED! We are in desperate need of help with cameras & slides. These are relatively easy tasks and we promise to provide ample training opportunities to anyone that’s willing to learn! Without your help, we will not be able to continue to stream all of our services on YouTube. If you can pitch in once a month or once a year, we’d greatly appreciate it! Email Melissa or call the church office if you can help!

FAMILY PROMISE OPEN HOUSE TUESDAY, JULY 11 | 11 AM-1 PM, 4 PM-6 PM Vinje members have been working with Family Promise to prepare their new shelter located at 545 Pacific Ave SW, Willmar! The new Family Promise shelter will provide temporary housing for families as they are working to get back on their feet. The Family Promise staff and volunteers are very excited about this new space and all the families that it will soon help! Please come and see it for yourself during their open house!

VINJE QUILTERS ON SUMMER BREAK Quilters will begin meeting again in September. All are welcome! We meet the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month at 9am.

LOVING ARMS UPDATE Our newest daycare center, Discovery Hill, located on MinnWest Campus is now up and running! We are so excited to have infants and toddlers filling our rooms! Preschool and Pre-K rooms will be open soon as well! We are loving the new facility and all of our kind, welcoming new neighbors.

BRING US YOUR BAGS Starting in September Vinje Members will be asked to collect from their homes, recyclable plastic bags and recycle them at Vinje. If we collect 500 pounds of plastic in six months, Nextrex will send us a bench made from the recycled plastic. Calvary and Bethel Lutheran Churches have joined the program and each have received benches for use at their church properties. Bring your grocery, dry cleaner, Ziplock, softener bags, newspaper sleeves, bubble wrap, cereal liners, plastic shipping envelopes, bubble wrap, etc. to church each Sunday and Wednesday. We will have a bin by the west entry and two other locations in the building for your clean and dry recycled plastic. More about this program in the September Witness. Many of you are already bringing bags to Cashwise or Cub. Now just collect them at Vinje and save for a bench!

EXPLORING VINJE'S HISTORY This month, Ted & Mary Olson share their memories of chaperoning a Vinje youth group trip. One of youth on the trip was Grayson Swalin who will share his memories of the trip in next month’s article.  Ted & Mary Olson moved to Willmar at the end of the 1960s. They established their first home in town on 13th St SW, at a walking distance from Vinje. They decided to join Vinje precisely because they had us at walking distance. Not long after, the pastor, Keith Lentz, asked them if they could help with the youth program. They said they were willing and began attending youth meetings, served Easter breakfast with the group, and developed a close bond with those young people who after all were not so much younger than they were. Pastor Keith then asked them to bring a group of high schoolers from the youth group in a bus to a six-day convention of the Luther League of the ALC at Madison Square Garden of New York City in August of 1970. Pastor Keith would fly in to join them for the convention itself. They we excited for the opportunity to visit New York, and they enjoyed the group of kids and knew they would be fun to travel with.  They recall that the trip went smoothly other than one scary incident. On their way to New York, they spent the nights at different churches, and one night, while they were sleeping on the floor of the fellowship hall Pennsylvania, they woke up to find all of the young ladies’ purses in a pile near the door. All of their cash had been stolen as they slept. Fortunately, nobody was robbed of their excitement for what lay ahead. There is one more anecdote that Mary and Ted remember from this trip. One of the guys in the group made the claim that he one day would marry one of the girls in the group. Everybody thought that he was crazy, but believe it or not, several years later, those reconnected as students at Gustavus College, started dating, and ended up getting married.

STUFF THE BUS DONATIONS NEEDED BY AUGUST 3RD We are once again partnering with United Way to ‘Stuff the Bus’ with school supplies for area kids in need! Donations will be received through August 3rd. Items needed are: backpacks, calculators, scissors, pencils, pencil boxes, markers, rulers, glue sticks, tissues, and crayons. Monetary donations are also welcomed.

COUNCIL MEETING NEWS Here are the highlights from the July Council meeting. Karla Tinklenberg was our guest and shared that Creation Care will be collecting plastic bags at Vinje for recycling starting in September. Our Circle of Welcome Team is meeting on July 31 for training as we get ready to welcome a new immigrant family to Willmar. The council approved the purchase of new sound equipment for the sanctuary. Discovery Hill will be fully operational by the end of August. We are continuing the search for a new custodian to clean the building and are speaking with a good candidate. Council approved a new Ministry Associate to join us from Green Lake this next year. The endowment fund has had significant gains this year which should allow the funding of some significant ministry next year.

Make a one-time contribution or set up reoccurring giving here. Need help? Call the church office!

VINJE ON THE GO! RADIO Listen on Sundays at 9:30 am on KWLM, 1340 AM. INTERNET Watch anytime! (go to YouTube and search Vinje Willmar).  TV Watch local access channel, 180 Sundays at 2:30 pm and 8:30 pm and Tuesdays at 8 am and 5 pm.