Mon, 28 May 2012 05:55:31 -0800WeeblyThu, 05 Apr 2012 11:57:08 -0800http://www.rlcnb.net/1/post/2012/04/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit3.html Dear Friends and Members of Resurrection,

 

Have you noticed how amazing our youth are at RLC?  Last weekend, I had the privilege of participating with our high school youth in a 30 hour fast.  It lasted from Friday night until Sunday morning.  I wish all of you could have heard the thoughtful conversations we had about poverty and those who live with hunger as a daily reality.

 

The kids noticed how much harder it was to concentrate and stay focused when they were hungry.  They felt tired and irritable and realized how hard it would be to go to school or do homework or sports when hungry.  It was an eye-opening experience that will help all of us who participated to appreciate what a gift it is to have food and to be more compassionate to those who don’t have enough.

 

This group of kids will be traveling to New Orleans in July; they are eager to make a difference in the lives of people who live in poverty as an expression of their faith.  If you haven’t done so yet, ask one of these teens what matters to them—what their faith is about.  It will be an inspiring conversation!

 

Speaking of inspiring, plan to be at worship on May 27th when three of our youth will be confirmed.  They will be planning and leading the worship service and you will hear from them why it is they want to affirm the promises made for them when they were baptized.

 

Confirmation is celebrated here at RLC on Pentecost Sunday—that day when the church celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit.  How is it that you see the Spirit present in your own life?  The Christian faith declares that every person is given gifts of the Spirit that are meant to be used for the good of us all.   Do you think of yourself as a gifted person?  Do you know what those gifts are?  Are you using them so that you help make this world a better place?

 

No matter your age, you are never too old or too young to make a difference.  One place where many of us have been able to experience the truth of that statement is in Caring Conversation Café.  Many thanks to Geri Murtaugh, Ken Strecker and Kendall Wick who have led us in this new intergenerational Sunday school; under their guidance, many have come together each Sunday morning and been both learners and teachers as we have shared our faith together.

 

If you haven’t participated, consider making this half hour Caring Conversation a part of your practice this month.  Another opportunity you’ll have to experience Caring Conversations is this summer on Wednesday evenings, beginning with Fellowship Night on June 27th.  Every other Wednesday, we will be hosting an evening with our partners from Reformation.  From 6 p.m.-8 p.m. we will gather to share a meal, learn and experience together a particular Bible story about a particular family, and have a time of worship.  You are welcome to invite your neighbors, family and friends to these Wednesday evenings.  More information will be coming in next month’s newsletter, but for now, mark your calendar for June 27th!

 

I’m grateful to be part of this family of faith.

 

Peace and joy,

Pastor Mary

 


 ]]>Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:05:53 -0800http://www.rlcnb.net/1/post/2012/03/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit2.htmlDear friends and members of RLC,

Have you seen any flowers blooming in your yard yet?  I have.  On Ash Wednesday, as I went to get the mail, I saw a little cluster of crocuses blooming right next to my statue of a lion laying down next to a lamb.  Hope.  It’s what spring is all about.

The next day a snowstorm covered those tiny flowers in ice and snow, but on that day—the day in which the Christian world remembers that we are mortal people, created from the dust and returning to dust—they bloomed. 

We are living in the midst of Lent now, hoping for Easter.  We walk through the valley of the shadow of death, hoping for resurrection.  Winter storms may rage, but the crocuses are blooming.

How, in our daily lives, does such hope get embodied?  One way is by receiving God’s forgiveness and believing it is true.  Do we quit doing all the things we shouldn’t do or finish doing all the things we leave undone?  No.

And yet the God who knows us better than we know ourselves proclaims that each time we come before him, sorry for how we have fallen short of living as generously and lovingly as we ought, we are forgiven and set free to try again.

Do we believe it?  Do you believe it?  One way in which the church throughout the ages has helped people believe the truth of this promise is through individual confession and forgiveness.

Here at RLC, we are offering the opportunity to receive this sacramental act on Tuesday nights between 6:00-8:00 p.m.  I will be available to hear your confession and speak God’s forgiveness.

The conclusion of the confession in the brief service ends with these words:

·  I repent of all my sins, known and unknown.

·  I am truly sorry, and I pray for forgiveness.

·  I firmly intend to amend my life, and to seek help in  mending what is broken.

·  I ask for strength to turn from sin and to serve you in    newness of life.

I then have the privilege of speaking these powerful words to the one who has confessed:

· Cling to this promise: the word of forgiveness I speak to you comes from God.

· In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ,

· I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

It is not that you are required to confess your sins out loud in order to be forgiven.  Rather, many of us are unable to believe it is true unless we speak—out loud—those   things that trouble us and hear the words of forgiveness spoken in response.

We need to see the crocuses blooming ourselves in order to hope for spring.

They are there, sometimes under the snow and ice, but together, we can uncover them and hope.

Peace,

Pastor Mary

]]>Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:12:50 -0800http://www.rlcnb.net/1/post/2012/02/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit1.htmlDear friends and members of Resurrection Lutheran,

This month, Lent begins on Wednesday, February 22nd.  Lent is the season preceding Easter: “Lent” is from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “springtime” and so is to be understood as the holy springtime of the soul, a time for preparation, planting, and growth.

Within the Christian community, since at least the fourth century, certain disciplines have been associated with this season whose purpose has been to lead persons deeper into the life of Christ.  These disciplines have included prayer, confession, fasting and giving.  I encourage each one of you to think about how you would like to intentionally live the 2012 Lenten season such that your life becomes more deeply united with Christ’s in his death and resurrection.

On Ash Wednesday, a prayer is spoken over the ashes: “Lord, bless these ashes by which we show that we are dust.  Pardon our sins and keep us faithful to the discipline of Lent, for you do not want sinners to die but to live with the risen Christ.”  That last phrase of the prayer, “for you do not want sinners to die but to live with the risen Christ,” is of utmost importance.  Whatever we do, whatever we face during this season—or during our lives—we do so in the faith and hope that God’s desire is forgiveness and life, not vengeance and death.

This year, a primary focus at RLC during Lent is going to be on confession and forgiveness—not as an obligation, but a gift.  In the Large Catechism, Martin Luther had this to say:

Confession consists of two parts.  The first is my work and act, when I lament my sin and desire comfort and restoration for my soul.  The second is a work which God does, when he absolves me of my sins through a word placed in the mouth of a person…..We should set little value on our work but exalt and magnify God’s Word……You dare not come and say how good or how wicked you are…..But what you must do is to lament your need and allow yourself to be helped so that you may attain a happy heart and conscience.

With this focus, I invite you to “hear” the words of the Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness at the beginning of each Sunday morning worship service.  I also invite any who would like, to come on any Tuesday night during Lent for Individual Confession and Forgiveness.  I will be at church between 6:00-8:00p.m. each week, available for conversation and for this sacramental act.  The sanctuary will also be open for any who would like to stop by for personal prayer.

In addition, on Wednesday nights, we will be having Evening Prayer from 7:00-7:30p.m. followed by a Bible study entitled, “Forgiven and Forgiving.”  All are welcome; you may come for one or all five sessions.  The study will begin on February 29.

I pray that this Lent will indeed be a “holy springtime” for our souls.

Peace,

Pastor Mary

]]>Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:23:32 -0800http://www.rlcnb.net/1/post/2011/12/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit.htmlDear Friends and Members of RLC,

We have begun the Advent season; Advent is the four weeks preceding Christmas.  The color for all of our worship hangings (paraments) during this season is blue; blue is designated as the color for hope.

I mention this because it seems like a good reminder for many of us.  This is the season of hope.  Are you feeling hopeful this year?  Or are you feeling discouraged and weighed down by memories, events or relationships that seem too heavy to bear?

Either way, it is worth asking why it is that the church sets aside a season and encourages us to hope.  It’s not because Christmas automatically puts us in a good mood—actually, many people find this the most depressing time of year.  It’s not because we’re going to get so many great presents—some of us may, many will not.

Rather, the church reminds us to hope no matter what because Jesus is with us now and always.  And this world is headed in the direction that God wants it to go because it is God’s beloved world and God gets the last word!

Do our memories of loss and heartache hurt?  Yes, but we don’t have to bear them alone:  Jesus is with us.  Have events happened that are beyond our control that have changed our lives or the lives of our loved ones?  Perhaps, but we don’t have to face them alone:  Jesus is with us.  Are we in the midst of relationships that we can’t even imagine restored?  If so, remember we are not alone:  Jesus is with us.

How will it all turn out?  In the short run—who knows?  But in the end, there will be healing and love and light, for that is what God has promised.

In the meantime, stay open to the possibility of surprise.  Who would have thought that God would come to the earth as a helpless infant?  Who would have thought that the pathway to salvation for the world would have gone through a cross?  Who would think that the savior of the nations would come to us over and over again through bread and wine?  Or a word? Or a hug?

A lot of the time, it’s not easy to hope.  Try to do it anyway; be brave, be daring, trust the One who has called you into being and knows you by name.  He is with us.

“Look, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.”  Matthew 1:23

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

Peace and hope,

Pastor Mary

]]>Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:30:11 -0800http://www.rlcnb.net/1/post/2011/10/november-2011.htmlDear friends and members of Resurrection,

Thank you so much for your generosity and spirit of love and joy throughout Harvest Sunday/HarvestFaire.  It was a marvelous day of giving and prayer and laughter: our partners in Milwaukee and Tanzania will be blessed through our efforts.  I especially want to thank this year’s chair of the Outreach Task Force, Ron Reichert.  He, and all who helped him, allowed us to do good ministry together that day.  Thank you again.

This month we will spend some time reflecting on how we give thanks to God for the blessings that have been given to us.  These reflections will be framed around the gift of “Blessed Partnerships” with God, with one another, and with our partners at Reformation and Kikwe.  Watch your mail for a letter from our Stewardship chair, June Gumm, in the upcoming days; it will explain this theme more fully as a backdrop for our preparation of our 2012 pledges of time, talent and treasure.

“Thanksgiving” will also be the theme of worship on November 20th; we will be anticipating the national holiday that morning, singing traditional thanksgiving hymns and having an opportunity for some of you to share what you are thankful for this year.  Worship will be followed by a pie social.

The following Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent (can you believe it?!); a good deal of the worship service will be led through dance that morning.  Invite your friends and relatives to come to this special service!

Wednesday, November 30th, at 7:00p.m. will be the first of our Advent Holden Evening Prayer services.  Give yourself the gift of this half hour service of candlelight and singing during the four weeks leading up to Christmas.  It is truly a time of reflection and refreshment.  The service will be followed by an hour-long bible study from 7:30-8:30p.m. for all who would like to stay.

Early in December we have two events that you won’t want to miss.  On Saturday, December 3rd, Resurrection Lutheran will be marching in the New Berlin Christmas parade.  Several of our partners from Reformation will be joining us and we will be carrying a banner that reads, “Resurrection Lutheran Church; a Reconciling in Christ Congregation.”  We hope to have a large group of us participate and give the larger community a glimpse of who we are here at RLC!

The next morning, we will celebrate Kikwe Sunday in worship. Following the service, our friends, Jim and Tim, from Bella Café will be here with coffee treats and soups from the Soup Market.  In addition, we hope to have some African dancing and to see slides from our delegation’s recent trip to Tanzania.  Mark your calendars now: they fill up so quickly during December!

As the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians: every time I think of you, I give thanks to God.  It’s true: thanks for who you are and what you do!

Peace and Joy,

Pastor Mary

]]>Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:58:19 -0800http://www.rlcnb.net/1/post/2011/10/october-2011.htmlDear Friends and Members of Resurrection,  

Our fall schedule is underway and a lot of exciting things are happening. Many of them have to do with faith formation and community.  On Wednesday evenings, several of our youth and those from our partner congregation, Reformation, meet together at 6:30 p.m. to learn about some of the basics of the Christian faith. We are currently working on the 10 Commandments and will move on to the Lord’s Prayer, the Creeds and the Sacraments. We are not just studying these topics as historical teachings, but as means of guidance and faith formation in our own lives. Any who would like to join in on this study are warmly invited!  

Also, on most Sunday mornings after worship, the whole congregation—all ages—are invited to stay for a brief time of focused conversation around a topic that is connected with that morning’s worship service. The hope is that we will continue to learn together as we converse. A “home assignment” will be given each week to encourage continued learning and prayer at home. Please join us in this “Caring Conversation Café” in the Fellowship Hall. The coffee and hot chocolate will be served there, as well as the occasional “sweet treat!”  

This idea of viewing our homes as a source for faith formation leads me to another idea. I would like to see us begin SPA groups this winter: small groups that would meet in each other’s homes to Study, Pray, Act. Some of you have had the experience of being a part of a small group before: this can be such a gift as a place of trust, prayer and mutual encouragement. I would also like to see these groups become springboards for involving others outside of the church in concrete actions for the good of our larger community. This will be a topic I will address with you in upcoming Sunday morning “Caring Conversation Cafés.”  

But first, we have a major event in our congregation’s life coming up on October 23rd: Harvest Sunday. This is the Sunday when we prayerfully give a financial gift to be used in the ministry of our partner people of God committed and connected to those whose outward conditions are different from ours, yet whose inward selves are the same. We are all beloved children of God with something to share; we are each less than God intends us to be when we do not receive from, as well as give to, one another.   And so, I invite all of you to be present at worship on October 23rd. Bring your gift to the altar: offer yourself for God’s service and expect to find new opportunities before you in the upcoming year. None of us are “completed creations” until the day our bodies die; until then, God is continually creating us into someone more beautiful than we can imagine.   Following worship on October 23rd, plan to stay for awhile and enjoy each other’s company as we share a meal, enjoy(?) our men’s home-baked desserts and have some fun together at HarvestFaire.  

It is a blessing to be a part of this congregation: this particular expression of the living body of Christ. Thank you for all that you do and all that you are.  

Peace and Joy, Pastor Mary ]]>