Message From Pastor Nancy
Summer Greetings!
Recent Sunday morning worship themes have included this idea: God’s Holy Spirit is still speaking. We come to this conclusion through scripture. In Jeremiah 33:3 we hear, Call to me and I will answer. In John’s gospel Jesus tells us, My sheep hear my voice. If any of you lack wisdom, ask for it, (James 1:5). Let us boldly go to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, (Hebrews 4:16).
My last few vacation days were spent at Dunrovin Retreat Center, north of Stillwater, MN. At the center was a brochure about prayer from Sister Melannie. The rest of this article includes some of her writings about prayer’s two way street of listening to God’s voice and talking to God.
Why pray? Because Jesus prayed! Sister Melannie adds 2 more reasons. 1) Honest prayer helps us discover what is truly on our hearts and minds. When we get in touch with our deepest needs and desires, God often speaks most clearly to us. 2) In the quiet of silent prayer we have an opportunity to hear what God thinks and feels.
Whether your summer is a bit less hectic, or busier than ever, please make a renewed commitment to prayer (alone and/or with another person). Take current concerns to prayer. A prayer acronym recently given to me is G-L-A-D. Share in daily prayer Gratitude, something you Learned, something you Accomplished and something for which you take Delight!
Love and Prayers, Pastor Nancy
Loving God, teach me to pray. Teach me to lift my mind and heart to You in conversation with You. Help me be honest in my prayer, expressing to You my deepest needs and desires. Help me to keep showing up for prayer even when I think my prayer is inferior, difficult, or boring. Keep reminding me that any place is a good place to converse with You. God, I thank You for the times my prayer has been consoling, and I thank You for the times it has been disturbing – those times You have invited me to change my mind, attitude, or plans. And may I always remember that I pray not to get results, but to love You and to become the person You are calling me to become, step by baby step. Amen.
Recent Sunday morning worship themes have included this idea: God’s Holy Spirit is still speaking. We come to this conclusion through scripture. In Jeremiah 33:3 we hear, Call to me and I will answer. In John’s gospel Jesus tells us, My sheep hear my voice. If any of you lack wisdom, ask for it, (James 1:5). Let us boldly go to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, (Hebrews 4:16).
My last few vacation days were spent at Dunrovin Retreat Center, north of Stillwater, MN. At the center was a brochure about prayer from Sister Melannie. The rest of this article includes some of her writings about prayer’s two way street of listening to God’s voice and talking to God.
Why pray? Because Jesus prayed! Sister Melannie adds 2 more reasons. 1) Honest prayer helps us discover what is truly on our hearts and minds. When we get in touch with our deepest needs and desires, God often speaks most clearly to us. 2) In the quiet of silent prayer we have an opportunity to hear what God thinks and feels.
Whether your summer is a bit less hectic, or busier than ever, please make a renewed commitment to prayer (alone and/or with another person). Take current concerns to prayer. A prayer acronym recently given to me is G-L-A-D. Share in daily prayer Gratitude, something you Learned, something you Accomplished and something for which you take Delight!
Love and Prayers, Pastor Nancy
Loving God, teach me to pray. Teach me to lift my mind and heart to You in conversation with You. Help me be honest in my prayer, expressing to You my deepest needs and desires. Help me to keep showing up for prayer even when I think my prayer is inferior, difficult, or boring. Keep reminding me that any place is a good place to converse with You. God, I thank You for the times my prayer has been consoling, and I thank You for the times it has been disturbing – those times You have invited me to change my mind, attitude, or plans. And may I always remember that I pray not to get results, but to love You and to become the person You are calling me to become, step by baby step. Amen.
President’s Message
Dear Messiah Family,
What does the summer season look like at your house? In our family, Summer always brings visitors, traveling, and an ever-changing schedule! It can be tricky to keep steering the boat on a steady course in such turbulent days. Even attending church on Sundays takes a little more effort in Summer. The problem is, uneven attendance often means an uncertain flow of financial contributions. And unfortunately, the monthly bills keep coming, whether church attendance is up or down.
If you have been reading the weekly bulletin, you are aware that each Sunday Messiah has mostly been falling short of our budgeted needs. This trend has brought us to a giving-deficit of over $5,000 at the end of May. In this busy season, please take time to examine your church contributions. When you are not at church on Sunday, please be mindful of Messiah’s dependence on your weekly offering.
Summer fund-raising opportunities include the Yard Sale, June 15th, the Grilled Chicken Dinner following worship on June 30th, and the Salad Luncheon on July 26th. Your support of these efforts with time and money help boost our budget. Please help as you are able.
Be assured that your church council and the finance committee are putting their heads together and trying to find solutions to our budgeting needs. If anyone has suggestions or questions, those would be most welcome.
Thanks to those of you who help keep us on course with your dependable gifts of time and money. Bless all of our lives in service to our church, our faith, our God.
Ginny Pedersen, Council President
Dear Messiah Family,
What does the summer season look like at your house? In our family, Summer always brings visitors, traveling, and an ever-changing schedule! It can be tricky to keep steering the boat on a steady course in such turbulent days. Even attending church on Sundays takes a little more effort in Summer. The problem is, uneven attendance often means an uncertain flow of financial contributions. And unfortunately, the monthly bills keep coming, whether church attendance is up or down.
If you have been reading the weekly bulletin, you are aware that each Sunday Messiah has mostly been falling short of our budgeted needs. This trend has brought us to a giving-deficit of over $5,000 at the end of May. In this busy season, please take time to examine your church contributions. When you are not at church on Sunday, please be mindful of Messiah’s dependence on your weekly offering.
Summer fund-raising opportunities include the Yard Sale, June 15th, the Grilled Chicken Dinner following worship on June 30th, and the Salad Luncheon on July 26th. Your support of these efforts with time and money help boost our budget. Please help as you are able.
Be assured that your church council and the finance committee are putting their heads together and trying to find solutions to our budgeting needs. If anyone has suggestions or questions, those would be most welcome.
Thanks to those of you who help keep us on course with your dependable gifts of time and money. Bless all of our lives in service to our church, our faith, our God.
Ginny Pedersen, Council President
Here are some brief messages you need: (From Council President, Ginny)
Your church council is preparing to spend a Saturday in late October developing a new Strategic Plan for Messiah’s mission in the next two years. These plans help us focus our efforts to accomplish God’s work. Our last plan helped us make progress in the areas of Stewardship, Evangelism, and Youth. Please pray for your council as we begin this important task, asking for guidance from the Holy Spirt.
As work on the downstairs/fellowship areas progresses, we will need to make decisions about whether or not coffee fellowship is do-able on a week-by-week basis. Please be patient with the process! We sorely miss the time to gather together and learn about one another’s lives. Every effort is being made to continue this fellowship time whenever and however possible!
If you read August council minutes, you will see that we were of the mind that we should try to hold our annual Lutefisk/Meatball Dinner at a different location this December since our construction will certainly prohibit us from holding it at Messiah. On speaking with several groups of people since last month’s meeting about this, there has been a concensus that it might be a better idea to postpone the event until February when we can use our own kitchen again. If you have opinions about this decision, please contact a council member. Thanks!
Lastly, mark your calendars for Sunday, October 14th, when Troy Schmitke will be speaking to us following worship on the progress of the building project to date. Much is happening already and much more will be in store in the near weeks ahead. This will be a good opportunity to learn and to ask questions. Thanks, Troy, for your faithful efforts!
Thanks be to God!
Ginny
Your church council is preparing to spend a Saturday in late October developing a new Strategic Plan for Messiah’s mission in the next two years. These plans help us focus our efforts to accomplish God’s work. Our last plan helped us make progress in the areas of Stewardship, Evangelism, and Youth. Please pray for your council as we begin this important task, asking for guidance from the Holy Spirt.
As work on the downstairs/fellowship areas progresses, we will need to make decisions about whether or not coffee fellowship is do-able on a week-by-week basis. Please be patient with the process! We sorely miss the time to gather together and learn about one another’s lives. Every effort is being made to continue this fellowship time whenever and however possible!
If you read August council minutes, you will see that we were of the mind that we should try to hold our annual Lutefisk/Meatball Dinner at a different location this December since our construction will certainly prohibit us from holding it at Messiah. On speaking with several groups of people since last month’s meeting about this, there has been a concensus that it might be a better idea to postpone the event until February when we can use our own kitchen again. If you have opinions about this decision, please contact a council member. Thanks!
Lastly, mark your calendars for Sunday, October 14th, when Troy Schmitke will be speaking to us following worship on the progress of the building project to date. Much is happening already and much more will be in store in the near weeks ahead. This will be a good opportunity to learn and to ask questions. Thanks, Troy, for your faithful efforts!
Thanks be to God!
Ginny
The apostles said to Jesus, “Make our faith greater.”
And Jesus answered, “If you had faith as big as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea!’ and it would obey you.” Luke 17:5,6.
In April, Messiah learned that the ELCA was accepting applications for “Outreach Grants.” Congregations were encouraged to develop a plan for serving their communities in ways consistent with Jesus’ teaching. The church council asked council member, Bob Leis, if he would be interested in considering this opportunity. As a leader of Heaven’s Helping Hands, Bob was aware that hunger is a real concern within our community. At several times each year, HHH provides meals, money, and organizational support to feed hungry families. Bob learned that local children who receive “free and reduced lunch” at school lose that program once summer school ends. So Bob decided to develop a program to continue to provide food boxes to several families over the summer months. He applied for $1,000 from the ELCA with the understanding that our church would need to match that dollar amount. Bob believed that if the application was accepted there would be a way to raise that matching amount. He sent in the application. He had faith.
April & May came and went. Bob and his team contacted the school, contacted families, and began planning for mid-June when summer school would end. In the meantime, there was no word from the ELCA on whether Bob’s grant proposal would be accepted. But Bob had faith.
In June the delivery system was in place. As soon as the summer school program ended, Bob’s team began to provide much needed food boxes for local families. Bob applied for a Team Action Grant from Thrivent to kick-start the program and he also relied on monetary gifts that came from Messiah members who were aware of this effort. There was no clear understanding of where the continued funding might come from. But Bob had faith.
As July began, the families continued to receive food boxes each week. Still no word from the ELCA. Bob was beginning to think he might need to find more support for this program locally. And then….
On July 18th Bob got a call from an ELCA representative congratulating him on receiving the full amount that his grant had requested: $1,000. Praise God!
But now Bob had a new concern. One of the families which had several children had moved away. Now Bob had more money than was actually needed to complete his grant project! He decided to call the ELCA and describe his problem. Would they withdraw his grant? Would they reduce his award? Bob knew that the program was a success. Children were being fed. This was certainly consistent with Jesus’ teaching! What would the ELCA decide?
With a faithful heart, Bob made the call. He described his problem and suggested a possible solution. The grant application had been for the summer months only. But there are other times during the year when hunger is a problem. Might the grant’s parameters be extended? Could the funds apply to food boxes during school holidays? Or at other times of need? The ELCA responded, “No problem, Bob.”
Could this be the lesson that Jesus was trying to teach the apostles?
“If you had faith as big as a mustard seed…”
Because he had faith, Bob applied for the grant. Because he had faith, he began the food program even before he knew whether the grant would be accepted. Because he had faith, Bob and his team were able to feed children in need this summer and will be able to plan for future needs of these and other local families. Faith.
Of course, that $1,000 from the ELCA still needs to be matched by Messiah. Where will that money come from? Some will come from Heaven’s Helping Hands’ treasury. Money that they have raised in the past in order to show God’s love by their deeds. But maybe some donations will come directly from other members of our congregation. Bob has faith. ~submitted by Ginny Pederson
And Jesus answered, “If you had faith as big as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea!’ and it would obey you.” Luke 17:5,6.
In April, Messiah learned that the ELCA was accepting applications for “Outreach Grants.” Congregations were encouraged to develop a plan for serving their communities in ways consistent with Jesus’ teaching. The church council asked council member, Bob Leis, if he would be interested in considering this opportunity. As a leader of Heaven’s Helping Hands, Bob was aware that hunger is a real concern within our community. At several times each year, HHH provides meals, money, and organizational support to feed hungry families. Bob learned that local children who receive “free and reduced lunch” at school lose that program once summer school ends. So Bob decided to develop a program to continue to provide food boxes to several families over the summer months. He applied for $1,000 from the ELCA with the understanding that our church would need to match that dollar amount. Bob believed that if the application was accepted there would be a way to raise that matching amount. He sent in the application. He had faith.
April & May came and went. Bob and his team contacted the school, contacted families, and began planning for mid-June when summer school would end. In the meantime, there was no word from the ELCA on whether Bob’s grant proposal would be accepted. But Bob had faith.
In June the delivery system was in place. As soon as the summer school program ended, Bob’s team began to provide much needed food boxes for local families. Bob applied for a Team Action Grant from Thrivent to kick-start the program and he also relied on monetary gifts that came from Messiah members who were aware of this effort. There was no clear understanding of where the continued funding might come from. But Bob had faith.
As July began, the families continued to receive food boxes each week. Still no word from the ELCA. Bob was beginning to think he might need to find more support for this program locally. And then….
On July 18th Bob got a call from an ELCA representative congratulating him on receiving the full amount that his grant had requested: $1,000. Praise God!
But now Bob had a new concern. One of the families which had several children had moved away. Now Bob had more money than was actually needed to complete his grant project! He decided to call the ELCA and describe his problem. Would they withdraw his grant? Would they reduce his award? Bob knew that the program was a success. Children were being fed. This was certainly consistent with Jesus’ teaching! What would the ELCA decide?
With a faithful heart, Bob made the call. He described his problem and suggested a possible solution. The grant application had been for the summer months only. But there are other times during the year when hunger is a problem. Might the grant’s parameters be extended? Could the funds apply to food boxes during school holidays? Or at other times of need? The ELCA responded, “No problem, Bob.”
Could this be the lesson that Jesus was trying to teach the apostles?
“If you had faith as big as a mustard seed…”
Because he had faith, Bob applied for the grant. Because he had faith, he began the food program even before he knew whether the grant would be accepted. Because he had faith, Bob and his team were able to feed children in need this summer and will be able to plan for future needs of these and other local families. Faith.
Of course, that $1,000 from the ELCA still needs to be matched by Messiah. Where will that money come from? Some will come from Heaven’s Helping Hands’ treasury. Money that they have raised in the past in order to show God’s love by their deeds. But maybe some donations will come directly from other members of our congregation. Bob has faith. ~submitted by Ginny Pederson