Five younguns affirm their faith
I thought Confirmation last Sunday went very well -- it was a memorable day, I hope, for all, especially for Rose, Dakota, Lindsey, Emma and Judd. The Education Team did a very nice job on the post service reception. During the service, at the end of the Confirmation portion of the service, we presented Cindy with a floral gift in appreciation for her two years of teaching this group of youth. Thank you Cindy!!
Evening of Historical Reflection ready to go
The Transition Team met after worship on Sunday to complete plans for our Evening of Historical Reflection, which is this coming Wednesday, from 7-9 pm. We have ice cream sundaes lined up for your enjoyment midway through the event. For more info about the whats and whys of this event, you can go here. Hope to see you there.
Two funerals this week
On Tuesday, the funeral for Alohoea was held at the church. On Thursday evening, I conducted a funeral service for Kenneth Fox, former attorney and judge in Bellevue. The Foxes were members of St. John's, but have not been active in recent years. Kenneth III and Tiffany (son and daughter) were very appreciative. Pastor Scott did the funeral for Mrs. Fox about a year ago,
Confirmation parents meeting
On Wednesday evening, I and members of the Education Team met with parents of next year's 6th, 7th and 8th graders, to discuss plans and times that will work for as many as possible for next year's Confirmation program. The consensus of those present was to keep the program on Wednesday evening, but to meet at 6:30 instead of 7:00. There are two families affected by participation in ICC sports, which requires attendance at CCD on Wednesday evenings. (No flexibility fro the priest on that). I will plan to meet periodically with affected youth (likely 2) to bring them up to date on important learnings from our Confirmation sessions.
Confirmation Camp at Camp Luther cancelled
I have talked and planned with the Education Team to offer a four day Confirmation Camp at Camp Luther from June 4-7 for our middle school youth. Because of the withdrawal of several of the congregations who had planned to attend and provide leadership, we have decided to cancel for this year and try again next year. We will instead focus on promoting a synod weekend youth event October 4-6 called Fall Into Lakeside. I added a link last week about this event -- if you want to take a look at it again, you can find it here. Education Team, as was the plan for camp, will offer a subsidy of half the registration fee.
ACC to begin wifi and computer upgrades
I received the following message from ACC regarding the coming installs and upgrades to our wifi, computers and network:
I have assigned Josh Branco as the assigned engineer. He will start configuring you firewall and access points for your new WIFI solution Tuesday morning. I could have him out there Wednesday to do the install. There will be some downtime while the Firewall is being replaced and you will experience some displacement while Josh moves through the office installing the APs. In order for us to do the install the cabling will need to have been ran and terminated. I have in our scope of work that this work was going to be done by you guys. If that has changed, please let me know.
We can also get the PC’s upgraded to Windows 10 next week as well. That will take us approximately 2 days to complete. If we do the wireless install on Wednesday then Josh can come back on Thursday and Friday to do the Windows 10 install. If you are not ready for the wireless install by Wednesday then we can do the Windows 10 install on Wednesday/Thursday. Completely up to you guys. I have dedicated 4 days next week to get your projects completed.
Update on Marcus
Marcus D., who was hospitalized at Bellevue with an infection, has been transferred to Toledo Hospital (not UTMC as I had earlier indicated).
Virtual Support Group
Recently I have been participating in a virtual support group sponsored by the Interim Ministry Network (IMN). It meets at 11am for 90 minutes on the second Friday of the month. There are about 6 interim pastors who attend regularly, spread out from coast to coast, and brought together by technology. IMN is an interdenominational organization that provides training and support for interim ministry and interim pastors. I also attend our synod interim pastors meeting -- we did not meet in April because of Easter, and our May meeting is this coming week, Thursday, 1pm at the synod office.
Death of Rachel Held Evans
Rachel Held Evans was a beloved American Christian columnist, blogger and author. From an obituary in Slate magazine: "Rachel Held Evans, an influential progressive Christian writer and speaker who cheerfully challenged American evangelical culture, died on Saturday at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. Evans, 37, entered the hospital in mid-April with the flu, and then had a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics." She left behind a husband and two young children.
My daughter, Sarah, is a fan, and had an autographed copy of one her books. Her final blog post before she became ill was published on Ash Wednesday. She wrote:
It strikes me today that the liturgy of Ash Wednesday teaches something that nearly everyone can agree on. Whether you are part of a church or not, whether you believe today or your doubt, whether you are a Christian or an atheist or an agnostic or a so-called “none” (whose faith experiences far transcend the limits of that label) you know this truth deep in your bones: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.”
Death is a part of life.
My prayer for you this season is that you make time to celebrate that reality, and to grieve that reality, and that you will know you are not alone.
You can read obituaries here and here.
Weekly messages from Bishop Daniel
I didn't include a link to Daniel's last week message, so am include that one along with this week's here:
A Mothers Day Prayer
On Mothers Day I remember my own mom -- had she lived she'd be 107. She died in 2002 at the age of 90. She had a twin brother, worked as a housekeeper, and eventually as a nurse at the hospital in the small town in Minnesota where I grew up. In 1950, at age 39 she married my dad. My brother Phil was born in 1951, and I followed in 1953. She was fun and funny. She was a good mom. One of my ELCA colleagues has written a Mothers Day prayer. You can read it here.
Pines Retreat next Monday and Tuesday
For a number of years I have participated with a group of synod pastors in attending a one and a half day retreat at the Pines Retreat Center in Fremont. We walk, talk, learn, pray, worship, eat, and it's been a good group to be part of. Pastor Henry Seibert also attends, and our next retreat will be at Henry and Becky's house instead of the Pines. We meet this coming Monday and Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment