In this issue please take time to read the news from Interim Youth & Family Minister Pete Erickson regarding this Sunday afternoon's Imagination Event and this Wednesday's TLC/ELC Community Night. |
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TRANSFIGURATION LUTHERAN CHURCH
11000 France Ave. S. - Bloomington, MN 55431
Office: (952) 884-2364 (Also 24-hour Pastoral Emergency Service)
Office Open Monday-Thursday, 9:00am to 4:00pm
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Sunday, July 18
In-Person and Live-Stream Worship Services
8:30am & 10:00am
Ice Cream Hospitality After Each Service
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Altar flowers this Sunday are given by Irene Bjerke in memory of granddaughter, Daina Ann Sobota. |
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Rob Reid
Director of Music
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Guest Preachers!
And Music to Celebrate Them!
On Sunday, July 18 we welcome Reverends John Karmo and Daniel Goba to preach to us. Both of them are from Liberia, and bring us updates about the challenges facing this country in West Africa, where we also support our Missionary Philip Nushann. Organist Carmen Englert and a quartet of song leaders (Jill Reid, Nancy Shemanek, Rob Reid and Kevin Erickson) lead our hymns and songs, including the joyful "Halle, Halle-lujah," "Christ Has Arisen" and "We Are Marching." The quartet will also sing a beautiful setting of the 23rd Psalm, "Our Host and Meal" for the Offering, and "Taste and See" for Communion.
Pastor Arthur will lead our Prayers and Preside over Communion, and Pastor Melanie will again lead our Time for Children based on the Fruits of the Spirit from Galatians.
Hope to see you Sunday - Blessings and Peace to you!
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Pete Erickson
Interim Youth & Family Minister
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TLC “Diversity and Neighborhood Engagement” Imagination Event – July 18 from 1-4PM at TLC – YOU ARE INVITED!
On July 18th from 1-4PM, you are invited to an Imagination Event to engage the congregation to articulate their values, hopes, and expectations of how our understanding of who is our neighbor and neighborhood engagement help us express TLC’s mission. Pastor Eva Jensen will facilitate this visioning event.
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Here are the details:
- If you are vaccinated, we encourage you to attend in person. If you are not, please join us by Zoom (see link below)
- Pizza, snacks, and beverages will be provided
- Childcare for all ages will be provided (please let Pete Erickson know if you will be bringing your child)
Here’s a link to the event:
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 857 7284 0686
Passcode: 479888
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,85772840686# US (New York)
+13017158592,,85772840686# US (Washington DC)
TLC/ELC Community Nights – THIS WEDNESDAY July 21 (5:00-7:00PM) and August 8 (Sunday, 10AM – Blessing of the Animals)
Transfiguration Lutheran Church and the Early Learning Center are partnering together on community events this summer designed to connect in community, celebrate our resiliency over the last year, and imagine a new, exciting day for our community of faith.
We invite the whole ELC/TLC community to come for dinner (PLUS AN ICE CREAM TRUCK), games, stories, music, and to meet your neighbors and our community partners at TLC. Here are the details:
- July 21 (5:00-7:00PM) – in the TLC Parking Lot
- August 8 (10AM) – On the lawn – this will be a worship that includes a blessing of the animals!
The planning team is looking for help to make these events happen. Here are some areas we’d love your partnership:
- Set Up/Clean Up
- Leading games
- Food support
- Engaging/inviting our neighbors to attend
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LAST SUNDAY'S IMAGINATION EVENT
Congregational Care Ministry
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Over 30 TLC members actively participated in last Sunday’s Imagination Event on Congregational Care Ministries. The majority of attendees were in-person, with a smaller group joining by Zoom. Many thanks to our reporters: Pat McMullen (Parish Nursing), Griffin Myslivecek (Addiction Awareness), Bob Riley and Becky Woll (Stephen Ministry), and Marilyn Erickson (Other Care Ministries). Their reports can be viewed thru the links below.
We are now half way through our Six Imagination Events. Please join us this Sunday, July 18, from 1-4pm for our next event – Diversity and Neighborhood Engagement. Your presence is needed!
PDF REPORTS FROM EVENTS TO DATE
Children, Youth and Family
Building and Property
Consolidated Care Ministry
SCHEDULE
- May 23 – Children, Youth and Family (completed)
- June 27 – Building and Property (completed)
- July 11 – Seniors and Care Ministry (completed)
- July 18 – Diversity and Neighbor Engagement
- Aug 15 – Mission and Outreach
- Aug 22 – Financial Sustainability
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Welcoming Guest Preachers to our Pulpit |
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This Sunday we welcome Rev. John Karmo and Rev. Daniel Goba to our pulpit. Rev. Karmo is currently visiting from Liberia and will be sharing the latest news of the current COVID surge that is taking place in Africa. We are continuing to collect face masks which he will be taking with him back to Liberia. We will also be receiving a special offering to repair storm damaged churches in Western Liberia.
Rev. Goba is pastor of a Liberian congregation in Bloomington, currently sharing space at Atonement Lutheran. We first collaborated with Rev. Goba and his congregation in the effort to combat Ebola in 2014. Now we are joining with him and his community to help combat COVID.
Please joining me in welcoming these two friends and colleagues in ministry as together we seek to share God’s love with the people of Liberia.
-Pastor Arthur
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Finished with your Masks?
TLC will be collecting new, unused or washed Face Masks over the next two weeks to ship to Liberia. Currently, West Africa is seeing its biggest spikes of the pandemic due to the Delta Variant. Vaccinations are available to only 1% of the population and masks are in great need. Our goal is to fill a suitcase with masks by the end of July. Masks may be placed in the boxes outside the TLC office.
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Updated COVID Guidelines at TLC, Effective July 2021
All are welcome to come worship and sing in the TLC sanctuary every Sunday!
Communion
Communion elements (fruit juice and wafer) are available in sealed, prepackaged containers in the church Narthex. Please take one when entering the Sanctuary, or... Communion (wine/juice & wafer) will also be distributed by the pastors from the altar area. At-home (online) Communion is also practiced and addressed by the Pastors during the service.
Masks
8:30am Worship Service
Masks are optional.
10:00am Worship Service
Masks are recommended and encouraged for all in-person worshipers out of solidarity and concern for the unvaccinated and those with underlying health conditions. This will be reevaluated and updated for the month of August.
Socializing Comfort Levels
Please wear a name-tag with a colored sticker that indicates your level of socializing comfort. Name tags & colored stickers are provided in the Narthex.
Green – handshakes and hugs are welcome
Yellow – fist or elbow-bumps only, please
Red – wave or Peace Sign only, please
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Live-Stream Viewers
&
In-Person Attendance
Sunday, July 11, 2021
8:30am Service
Live-Stream: 51
In-Person: 43
10:00am Service
Live-Stream: 156
In-Person: 50
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Join us! July 12 – 30, 2021
LET'S FILL THE BINS AT TLC!
Thousands of students in the Bloomington, Richfield and Edina school districts need help filling their backpacks this fall. Join us in supporting their academic success by making sure they have all the supplies they need for the year. VEAP will be collecting items and distributing to the school districts with the support of local faith communities, businesses and partners.
What supplies are most needed?
Backpacks and calculators (scientific or otherwise) are high-demand items and the most impactful, as they’re expensive for families to purchase on their own. If you are able, please consider making these a focus of your donations. Traditional supplies like spiral notebooks, flash drives, head phones, and washable markers are needed as well. Please make sure all items are new. Please, no gift cards at this time.
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The kids are back in their ELC Photography Club after a long hiatus due to the pandemic.
Nine members, pictured above with two staff teachers, Jessica and Eme, went on a field trip to the Lake Harriet Bandshell recently. Their photos will be featured in upcoming issues of the TLC Weekly. Perhaps there's a future Ansel Adams or Annie Leibovitz amongst these talented, young photographers.
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Invitation from CYF Transition Team
All parents, volunteers and youth interested in the future of the TLC Confirmation and Youth Program are invited to a conversation on Monday, July 19 at 7:00pm in the Adult Education Room (downstairs at TLC).
While in-person attendance is preferred, a Zoom link is available below for the meeting. Child care will be provided on request. Please contact Pastor Arthur ( amurray@tlcmn.com) if child care would help make your attendance possible. We will be reviewing the attached Job Description which the CYF Team has completed and asking your input in determining next steps in the hiring process.
Pastor Arthur invites you to join him in sincerely thanking the CYF Transition Team (currently Sandy Stooke, Linnea Anderson, Karen Wenge, Megan Muff) along with Interim Youth and Family Minister, Pete Erickson, for their exceptional dedication to seeing this process through under extraordinary circumstances. Now we need your help to bring about a good completion. Please join us and pray for the Spirit’s guidance in our discernment.
Transfiguration Lutheran Church is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Youth and Family Ministry Conversation
Time: Jul 19, 2021 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 859 2573 8405 Passcode: 428006
One tap mobile +13126266799,,85925738405# US (Chicago)
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YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO
TRY IT OUT!
AV Techs for TLC Services and Programs in the Sanctuary
Stop by during a service and watch how it's done
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All positions are under the guidance and supervision of TLC Director of Music, Rob Reid.
There will be informal training offered for these positions: Watch and learn, then hands-on.
Volunteer SOUND BOARD OPERATOR for Worship Services
Experience and a good ear in audio mixing helpful.
Sunday Morning Worship Services: 3 hours of your time
Monitoring the sanctuary speaker system and the audio feed to our live-stream system, the operator will:
- Adjust and mix microphone levels of various speakers (pastors, lectors).
- Adjust and mix microphone levels of musicians (singers and instruments)
- Adjust and mix input levels from external sources (video playbacks)
Paid SOUND BOARD OPERATOR for Funeral Services
Same functions as above Sound Board Operator.
Immediate Need! Occasional daytime, weekdays and weekends. Typically 1.5 hours of time. There is a modest honorarium paid for your work in this vital ministry.
Volunteer POWERPOINT SLIDE SHOW OPERATOR
Experience with desktop PC's, keyboarding, basic word processing syntax and Microsoft Office (PowerPoint) software is beneficial.
Must have a good “ear” listening to the hymns sung by musicians and congregation, as you’ll be advancing “slides” when a hymn’s verse or spoken liturgy is completed.
- Operate PowerPoint software on a Windows 10 PC, presenting the "slides" on the sanctuary projector system.
- Follow instructions detailed on hard copy of service “leader docs” (expanded version of bulletin).
- Operate playback of occasional video clips for worship services.
# # #
CONTACT: Rob Reid
Phone: 952-884-2364 Ext. 19
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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
Barb Halverson
Kevin Erickson
Jerry Hanson
Jean Nyberg
Walt Thomsen
Irene Amon
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Dunwiddie Family
Don Jacobson
Judy Hanson
Ron Schultz
Ron Schroeder
Stephen Nushann
Dave Dickson
Gail Kleven
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1986 - Camping with Friends |
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If you have ever camped with good friends, you no doubt had an even better time than just by yourself. Or... were there a few surprises that will always be remembered? Our friends invited us to sleep in their house trailer, which had a table at one end, and this turned into a bed when necessary. Guess who got that bed?
They pulled their trailer with their pickup truck and were always on the road ahead of us. The trailer held all our clothes, toiletries, meds, and whatever we'd need. The important thing was to stay together, and not get separated, especially as we neared the camping spot. We were driving to Vancouver in 1986 to see the World's Fair, so it was a long trip from Minnesota. But....what could go wrong?
Well, imagine this: Driving along, not a care in the world, and suddenly you think, "Are they behind us now or ahead?" With road construction, possible detours, or just not looking at the roadmap enough, how does one know for sure who is ahead or behind? As we neared Vancouver and our camping site, our friends were not visible anymore. What to do?
We continued on, reached the camping place, and they were not there! Since four of us were to be together, we talked to the manager of the camp to see what we should do. Evidently, these things happen quite often so the camp had an old camper that could be used just in case. I guess it had belonged to some workmen who stayed there. We agreed that the ratty camper would be our spot for the night. Well....since all our things were somewhere else, we went out and bought two pillows, a blanket, one toothbrush for the two of us, and crawled into the camper through a window!. I remember lying there laughing at our fate and the accommodations for a good night's rest. Funny how fast you can brush your teeth when someone else has just used the brush first. Next day, who should show up finally? Their pickup had conked out, and they had to get it fixed. In those days of no cell phones, we had no way of knowing what had happened. So, now we share fond memories of our long road trip together.... having fun playing Scrabble and Cribbage in the evening after our supper, and making up the table into our bed at the end of the evening; enjoying beautiful scenery in Vancouver, after we finally did get back together.
The road home to Minnesota was a welcome sight, and you can be sure we asked along the way if there wereany detours, or road construction so we'd never get separated again.
-Bloomington Bird Lady
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Thoughts by Pastor Al Dungan
~ ~ ~
Who Wrote the Bible?
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Once again I need to remind you of the rigorous honesty with which the editors of the Hebrew Scriptures to which they held themselves when they recorded the origin stories of the Hebrew people.
Rebellion, murder, mayhem, sex, seriously dysfunctional families—all contributed to their story. We might say that when we get beyond the "nice” Sunday school stories, we are confronted with at least an “X rated” piece of literature if not XX.
For example, this week we’ll take a brief detour (there’s a muddy road ahead) from the story of Joseph and look at Judah, one of his brothers and an ancestor of Jesus and… Judah’s daughter-in-law, Tamar. It’s a really juicy story and is found in Genesis 38.
It was the custom of the Hebrews that if a woman’s husband died, the next in line would marry her and the children born by her would carry the first husband’s name to carry on his line.
As it happened, Tamar’s husband, Er, was a very wicked man, so, as the text tells us the Lord put him to death. Onan, the next son in line was told to take Tamar as his wife but refused, “spilling his semen on the ground” (another way of saying that he masturbated instead of having intercourse with Tamar). Again, the Lord was not pleased with this action so Onan was also slain.
By this time, Judah, seeing his sons drop like flies, put Tamar off telling her that when his third son, Shelah grew up he would marry her.
But, he reneged on his promise and didn’t follow through.
So…Tamar decided to take the matter into her own hands and tricked Judah into having sexual intercourse with her, posing as a temple prostitute. This “one-nighter” was enough to get Tamar pregnant and when that was discovered she was accused of being a whore and was going to be burned because of this.
However, Tamar had taken certain personal pledges from Judah (a signet, the cord binding up his clothing and his staff) which was how, when she was brought out to be burned, she was able to show who was responsible for her pregnancy.
Judah acknowledged his part, Tamar was allowed to live and gave birth to twins.
Yes, these truly flawed persons were the ancestors of Jesus which helps me one more time to see how the grace of God worked through them and works through us to bring about the continuation of God’s plan for our 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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Click button above to experience additional details
about the upcoming October conference.
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If you are new to recovery or are just interested in finding out what AA or NA meetings are all about, and would like for someone to attend a meeting with you for the first time, please contact our group. We are here to support and guide you!
- Chris Campo
- Dave Dickson
- Al Dungan
- Mary George
- Griffin Myslivecek
- Louise Olson
- Beth Rahn
- Rick Zeidler
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The Mission of Exodus Lending is dedicated solely to providing trapped Minnesotan borrowers a just pathway out of payday loan debt and toward financial stability.
On behalf of enrolled Minnesotans, Exodus Lending pays off up to $1500 of payday, title, or online installment loan debt carrying more than 36% interest. Participants then repay over at least 12 months, with no interest on their loan with us.
Program Updates
Exodus Lending strives to provide a holistic, participant-centered program that helps break the cycle of predatory debt and provides resources for people to avoid the debt trap in the first place. We are building off our success over our first six years of lending by moving forward with a secondary loan product: a zero-interest, $200-$1,000 personal loan. In early 2020, we first piloted this program and distributed ten such loans with 12-month repayment terms. After analyzing the results, we are scaling up this pilot program and plan to offer a limited number of personal loans to persons referred to us through our partner agencies, by the end of 2021. Additionally, we are excited to expand our partnership with Prepare + Prosper. As a result, we are now able to enroll interested individuals in their FAIR Financial Solutions program, which offers checking, savings, and credit builder products for low-income, low-wealth households.
The Exodus Lending annual fundraiser is coming up on July 29th and tickets are only $5.00! We would love to see you and celebrate being together once again. If you'd like to learn more you can visit our website: exoduslending.org.
This is the fourth year that TLC has been a contributor to Exodus Lending. Due to a high rate of pay-back for the loans the money is then loaned again to another borrower. Through the 1+1 Fund program, TLC gave a gift of $2,000.
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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,
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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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