WHAT I’VE LEARNED
Author Frederick Buechner says, “You can survive on your own; you can grow strong on your own; you can prevail on your own; but you cannot become human on your own.” The book of Genesis puts it even more simply as God says, “It is not good for the human to be alone.” As access to vaccines becomes widespread, we seem to be in a new phase of the pandemic. While things may be not “normal” or “over,” we can celebrate that we are increasingly able to return to gathering as a community with necessary precautions.
One thing that God has certainly taught me over the last year is the value of our faith community. Prior to this, I’m not sure I could fully understand or appreciate how important it is that we gathered together. I’ve long believed that we are better together. I’ve long believed that faith, scripture, the will of God, and the movement of the Holy Spirit are best interpreted as a community. If we are left alone we become too self-serving and we imagine God in our own image. However, in the last year it has felt that something is missing as we have not been able to gather in the same space. As weekly updates on life from many of you turned into biannual updates, something was missing. A part of me seemed to be gone. Perhaps it is as Buechner suggests, that I was not able to be fully human without all of us functioning as a community. Certainly God was right, it was not good.
I’m grateful for this lesson. I’m grateful for the ways that we did our best to stick together. I’m so grateful for the ways that Vinje continued to worship and serve during a time of exile. Thank you for doing your part to keep us focused on the ministry God has called each of us to. Thank you for leading worship with phone recordings of prayers. Thank you for serving others. Thank you for sharing your gifts. These last many months have most obviously not been a perfect time, nor anything we would desire to repeat, but it was a time in which God moved among us.
In the months ahead we will return to in-person community. We are planning worship services, fellowship gatherings, fun events, small group studies, and other events for our coming future. When you feel comfortable to be a part of these in person, there will be many ready to welcome you back. Keep your eyes and ears open for the many details to come (some can even be found in this newsletter), and feel free to reach out to me or other members of the staff with new ideas and suggestions. This can be a time of new beginnings, and there is much to be excited for in the days ahead as God continues to teach us what it means to be human together.
-Pastor Justin
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CAMERA OPERATORS NEEDED!
We could use a couple of camera operators to stream our Sunday worship services! It's honestly a very easy system to use and we'll be happy to train you/work with you until you are comfortable on your own. If you are willing to consider helping us with this important task, please email Melissa.
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VINJE OUTDOOR CLEAN UP DAY: MAY 4TH
We'd love your help to spruce up our courtyards and outdoor spaces for summer! If you are free on Tuesday, May 4th beginning at 9am, please bring a rake and some gloves and drop in for a bit to lend a hand! Thanks!
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WE WANT TO HONOR THE MOMS IN YOUR LIFE...PHOTOS NEEDED ASAP!
Please send in a photo of the moms in your life so we can honor them on Mother's Day! (Hey moms, we know that dads might drop the ball on this one, so don't hesitate to send us the photo yourself!) Please email a photo (of your mom, mom and kids, whole family...anything will do!) to Sara Bos by Monday, May 3rd.
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ATTN: MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH We sure missed our summer service trip last year. This summer, even though Covid will prevent us from traveling too far we would love for you to join us in a service trip to the North Shore. You'll work with service organizations for two days, and explore the beauty of the Lake Superior area the other two days. We’ll kayak on Lake Superior and ride fat tire bikes through the trees. We will be staying at Camp House so you won’t even need to back your air mattress! And since they will make all our meals you won’t need to serve on kitchen crews either.
Camp House also has spots for families to have their own cabin. If you want to serve as a family let Pastor Justin know. While youth are engaged in their events with camp counselors adults are free to attend events like Duluth brewery tours.
The dates are July 11-16 and the cost is $250. Talk to Pastor Justin for more info!
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DAYCAMP (VBS) FUN!
We are once again excited to join in the Day Camp (VBS) fun together with Green Lake Lutheran Ministries and our friends from Calvary and Bethel!
Who is this for? Daycamp is open to all kids who have completed Pre-K—5th grade.
When is it? July 19th-22nd (Monday-Thursday) from 8am –12pm with an early drop off option at 7:30 am.
Where is it? All students will be dropped off and picked up at Calvary at the outdoor shelter.
What is it? At day camp kids will participate in age-appropriate worship and bible study, make crafts, play games, spend time with trained college-aged folks who have a passion for kids, and enjoy all sorts of camp fun!
What does it Cost? The cost per student is $25 for the week. This cost includes a T-shirt for each student registered.
How do I Register? Find the link on the “News” page on Vinje’s website.
Want to Help? We’d love it! If you are interested, please contact Pastor Dane.
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Last summer Vinje members were kind enough to host small group gatherings in their backyards and even invited one of the pastors to join them. They were a great way to connect and enjoy each other’s company. Your pastors enjoyed these gatherings so much that they would like to do them again! We would like you to consider hosting such an event. It is a fairly simple process. You invite some Vinje friends and pick a date that works best for you. Then contact one of the pastors and we join you. If you’d like to be a part of these gatherings in the months ahead, but don’t want to host, simply contact the church office and we will find a group for you to join. |
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Sunday, April 25 Vinje celebrated Earth Day. Recyclable items were displayed as a reminder that so many of our household items are to be recycled.
Make every day Earth Day! Earth Day was established 51 years ago.
Did you know?
- More than 20% of all the world’s freshwater is in the Great Lakes.
- The Great Lakes region is the primary water source for more than 40 million people.
- Our Great Lakes are irreplaceable, fragile ecosystem that holds six quadrillion gallons of freshwater that our planet needs to survive.
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VINJE PHOTO DIRECTORIES
If your family’s photo is in the Vinje directory, updated copies have arrived. Call the church office to make arrangements to pick up your directory.
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WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY OPPORTUNITIES
We currently have three women’s circles (bible study groups) that meet monthly here at Vinje. We’d like to invite anyone that might be interested in joining one of these groups (or perhaps starting a new group) to contact the church office and let us know what meeting days/times would work best for you. If you have questions, please contact Grace Fladeboe at 320.796.5260.
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Director of Music, Karen Wojahn
What do you associate with the month of May? I think of spring flowers and Mothers’ Day. There is a beautiful, gentle hymn in our red Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal which likens God to a mother, “Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth.” Are you familiar with it? Without getting into a deep discussion of male/female roles or the gender of God, I hope you can appreciate the images suggested by the lyrics of this hymn: “...You are my rain, my wind, my sun...source of every breath...food of light, grain of life, grape of love...nurturing one... .” To listen to it, go to YouTube.com and search for ELW735 (no space.) Let us give thanks for our mothers and sing along with the music.
See you in church!
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SUSPENSION OF DAVID HAAS HYMNS
Many of you may not be aware of this situation, but in this past year, allegations of sexual misconduct by David Haas, a prominent musician in the Church have come to light. In light of this information, your worship staff has decided to suspend the use of all of David Haas's songs in our worship services. We do not make this decision lightly. Mr. Haas has written some songs that are beloved to many of us at Vinje, including "Blest Are They" "We Are Called," and "You Are Mine." These are beautiful songs that speak powerfully to our faith and for many, these pieces of music have accompanied us in moments of joy and sorrow, celebration and grief. At this time, we commit to setting these songs aside out of respect for the victims who have been hurt by Mr. Haas and his actions. As always, we encourage you to speak with the worship staff if you have any questions or concerns. Please join us as we pray for these and all victims of abuse. May we all do our part to work toward a future where abuse like this never happens again.
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LOVING ARMS UPDATE
SUMMER CARE FOR SCHOOL AGE KIDS!
Loving Arms will once again be offering a fun and age-appropriate care option for kindergarteners through fifth graders (for the 2021-22) for summer 2021.
There will be a “main event” activity each afternoon
{pool days, parks, field trips, cooking, special guests & more!}
Please email or call Chris at 235.7271 for more information or to reserve a spot for your child(ren).
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COUNCIL MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
- Beginning May 23, online services will be livestream of worship, rather than a prerecorded service.
- New intern from Luther will start late summer.
- Heard pastoral updates from Andres and Kate.
- Covid update.
- Pastoral call committee update.
- Update on possible expansion of Loving Arms.
- Council is working on insurance renewal.
- Working on installation of new dishwasher.
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EXPLORING VINJE'S HISTORY:
VINJE CEMETERY
Pastor Andrés is digging into Vinje’s unique history. This month, he reached out to Mark Bredeson to learn a little bit about the history of Vinje’s Cemetery.
You may not know that Vinje Church has their own cemetery. It is located at 501 Becker Ave. SE. The cemetery was the site of the church until 1904 when Vinje moved to uptown Willmar. As you can imagine, the cemetery has many older graves dating back to the mid 1800's.
One of the biggest challenges of taking care of the cemetery is funding. In 1970, there was a fundraising effort which was spearheaded by Jorgen and Florence Bredeson, along with others. Pledge cards were mailed out and phone calls were made over several years which ended in 1976 with enough pledges to create the Perpetual Care Fund. This allowed a new fence to be installed around the perimeter of the cemetery, place a new gate with pillars for the front, and a sign above the gate marked the completion of the project. The dedication was held on July 11, 1976.
In the late 2000's, the pillars of the gate were showing their age. After meeting with the Property Committee and Church Council, funds were secured, design was approved, and updates were made in the summer of 2007. Several years later, a water leak occurred in the underground piping from the street to the water spigot inside the cemetery. The pipe ran under the paved driveway in the cemetery. It was decided to remove all the pavement and reposition the spigot closer to the front gate. The completion of the work was done in the summer of 2018. It was also decided that instead of replacing the pavement to put down crushed concrete as the driveway medium.
For the past several years, the Cemetery Board along with many volunteers meet in early April—this year we did it on April 6th—for "clean up" day by bringing rakes, vacuum mowers, and the cemetery is prepared for the summer mowing season.
We would encourage all of you to take a drive down Becker Ave. to visit this important piece of Vinje's history. Maybe you could do it on Memorial Day. Another tradition at Vinje Cemetery is the Memorial Day remembrance. Every Memorial Day at 7:45 am, there is a reading of names of the 26 veterans buried at Vinje, a 21-gun salute is executed by the local VFW veterans followed by "taps" by a couple of Willmar junior high trumpeters.
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Make a one-time contribution or set up reoccurring giving here. Need help? Call the church office!
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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, WRAC 8/180, Sundays at 2:30 pm and 8:30 pm, Tuesdays at 8 am and 5 pm or Saturdays at 6 pm.
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