Interim Update for July 31, 2020

Power Outage

We currently have a partial power outage at the church affecting the elevator entry way, the ceiling light at the top and bottom of the stairway, the exit light, and the security system. The security system tech crew came and found the power outage -- until we get that fixed we will not know if the security system will need to be rebooted and uploaded with all the existing codes. Called Lenny and Mike -- Mike thinks it's the power coming in from outside, so Lenny will call the power company.

2020 VBS a Wrap

About 45 activity bags were picked up by parents for the kiddos in their families to participate in our Shake-It-Up Cafe Virtual VBS. The videos featured:

• Intro by Basil, the Chief Chef
• Songs (with actions) led by Dakota and Rose
• Telling of the Bible Story of the day
• Science experiment with a message
• Closing songs and message by Basil, Dakota and Rose

Heather made it all possible with her coordination, filming most of the videos, video editing and uploading to our YouTube Channel. I've linked the five videos below, each running about 30 minutes. One of the kids, in the comments section, wished they were longer. Thanks to all who participated and contributed, especially: Heather, Aaron, Kelly, Harmon, Vanessa, Ted, Dakota, Rose, Linda, Gunnar, Lilli, Kaden.

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5

If your family missed these sessions, it's not too late -- you can set up your own viewing time using the YouTube links, and additional activity bags can be found in the Lounge next to the church office.

Beginning a Culture of Generosity

This story is intended for all, but Stewardship Team members Aleta, Emma K. and Linda take special note.

Early in the shutdown, when Bishop Daniel was hosting weekly Zoom meetings with synod pastors and leaders, one of the topics was stewardship, and featured guest presenter Mike Ward from GSB Fundraising, a firm that many synods and congregations have partnered with as a stewardship resource. A current offer from GSB is to provide resources and direction for synod congregations to conduct a fall stewardship appeal. For more information about this offer, read this email message from the synod office. View the available video by Mike Ward from GSB, and the accompanying information. The cost is $450, with a $150 subsidy from the synod, for a net cost of $300. Deadline for registration is August 21.

Linda's mom

Linda called me on Thursday to come to her mom's house for a prayer -- Karen has been home since Monday under hospice care. With most family members present, we did a service of commendation. Keep Karen and all of her family in your prayers.

Preschool Board Meeting postponed

The Preschool Board meeting scheduled for Monday night has been postponed to a later date. The State of Ohio has given the OK for full attendance, but our school may choose to stay with the plan for smaller, self-contained class sizes and an

Wednesday Night Live

Our Wednesday Night Live Zoom meetings continue. For the last two sessions we have taken a closer look at the gospel text for the coming Sunday. Everyone's welcome -- 6:30 until about 7:15.

St. John's Preschool Rural King Fundraiser

Rural King is sponsoring CHURCH WEEK August 2, 2020 through August 15, 2020. Through this program customers can support local Christian churches, schools, and organizations. During Church Week, customers can choose a registered organization to donate to and begin uploading their receipts. All receipts must be uploaded to www.ruralking.com/churchweek by September 1 2020. Receipts must be dated between August 2, 2020 and August 15, 2020 to qualify. Rural King will donate 10% of each valid Rural King receipt’s total after sales tax to the registered organization chosen by the customer.

St. John's Preschool has been registered at Rural King for Church Week. We would appreciate your support in this event. Check Rural King out, get your needed items, choose St. John’s Christian Preschool as your organization, upload your receipt(s), and support St. John’s Christian Preschool. THANK YOU!!!

Brooke and Dana Reach the Goal!

Some of you may be aware that Dana and Brooke Beier have been raising money through a GoFundMe page to purchase a new bicycle/wheelchair for Dana and Brooke to go on outings. Thanks to all who contributed to this special project, they goal has been met, and the new equipment has been purchased and put to happy use! Just in time for Brooke's 19th birthday on August 1! A photo of Brooke using her new bike was posted on the St. John's Facebook page, but you can also view it [here] (https://www.facebook.com/345734388773840/photos/a.1047823075231631/4667491609931408/?type=3&notifid=1596221396416448&notift=pagepostreaction&ref=notif).

More pipes

Paul delivered more pipes to the church -- they are laid out in long wooden boxes which are quite heavy. With some help from a dad who was teaching his kids to ride their pikes in the church parking lot, we got two long boxes of pipes up to the balcony. Installation happens when the pros arrive.

More links

• ELCA Stewardnet - Summer 2020 issue of this ELCA stewardship resource
• Messages from Pr. Sarah Schaaf and Bishop Daniel
• New Beginnings Newsletter from Trinity Seminary

Interim Update for July 24, 2020

Graveside Funeral for Bud Spring

I received a request from Sharon (Spring) Cheek, a former member of St. John's, to do a graveside funeral for her uncle, Luther H. "Bud" Spring, who died in May. The service was held at McPherson Cemetery in Clyde on Saturday. The obituary for Bud can be found here.

Paul's Organ Update

Paul has been quite busy recently with upgrades to our organ. He provided this summary of recent activity. Thanks, Paul, for all you do to keep the organ in tip top shape, and for using your talents at the manual to make it sing.

Paul and Karen Lieber purchased an 8' Gamba Celeste rank of 61 pipes for the Solo Division of the organ. The "new" rank was made by the Moller Organ Company, Hagerstown, MD in 1930. It replaces a not very useful rank installed by Bunn Minnick in 1997-98. The Lieber's donated the rank to St. John's in HONOR of those congregational members who aided Paul's work on the organ over the past couple of years.

They are: Mike Berger, Bill Braddock, Lennie Bowers, Jake Doster, Sam Doster, Zach Eskins, Christopher Meadows, Gunnar Lilly, Kegan Lilly, Rich Lilly, Zarek Lilly, Kaden Miller, Mason Miller, Jan TerVeen, and any other individual that provided assistance.

The 8' Gamba Celeste was installed this past weekend.

Prayer concerns

• Don Miller has been hospitalized with kidney failure, and was recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He has been receiving dialysis, and will begin receiving chemotherapy to treat the myeloma. He is expected to be discharged from the hospital soon.
• Sandy Baum has been in the hospital at Firelands, but is now recovering at home.
• We continue to pray for loved ones of members -- Karen, Kyle, Steve, Bev, John.

"Shake It Up" VBS ready to go

VBS leaders have been extra busy this past week preparing for our virtural VBS. Volunteers have been video recording traditional VBS elements -- songs, stories, crafts, and Heather has been our chief coordinator and video editor. The first session will be ready to go at 6:30 pm this coming Sunday, July 26, and continue through Thursday, July 30, with each session available on St. John's Lutheran Bellevue YouTube channel.

If you have preregistered, you can pick up Participant Packets between 12 and 2 on Sunday. These packets will have everything kids need for the videos. You can find more info including a link to an online registration form here. Thanks Heather for your leadership on this!

Sanctuary AC problems

Heather, while in the sanctuary on Tuesday and walking down the side aisle, felt some raindrops falling on her head. They were coming from the AC unit on the left side at the back. The water had been collecting on the carpet for who know how long, but anyway was enough to create a squish squish sound when walking on it. We got out the wet-dry vac, and sucked up as much water as we could. Lenny called Hartland, who came out and made some adjustments in the drain tube so that water would move to the outside instead of inside.

Office painting completed

The church office has a new look with a fresh application of light blue paint. Zarek Lilly completed the work.

Seeds Monthly

The July issue includes info on safe return to in-person worship, and making plans for "God's Work Our Hands" day of service in Sepetember. You can read the issue here.

ELCA Youth Gathering Officially postponed

The ELCA Youth Gathering, originally scheduled for next summer in Minneapolis, has been postponed due to uncertainty regarding the coronavirus pandemic. It has been rescheduled for July 24-28, 2022. You read read the official Youth Gathering announcment here.

Five hundred years of The Freedom of a Christian

You are invited to study and reflect on Martin Luther’s treatise “The Freedom of a Christian” in 2020, its 500th anniversary. The treatise invites us to hear, share and experience the Lutheran witness of the Christian faith as it relates to God’s narrative of freedom in Christ. This initiative extends our engagement in the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Learn more at ELCA500.org.

Some more links for you

• Bishop Daniel's Weekly message

- ELCA Worship News - July Issue

Interim Update for July 17, 2020

Council Meeting

Council will meet in a hybrid meeting -- both onsite and via Zoom -- your choice. Facemasks and physical distancing will be the protocol, as we're all getting used to. I will send the Zoom link on Tuesday, so check your email then.

Parking Lot

The parking lot was sealed this week, and assuming that the striping will be done soon also so will be ready for Sunday. Thanks to Lenny for all the coordinating he's been doing in getting things set up with the contractor. A nice, new looking, freshly striped parking lot makes a good first impression.

VBS Under Construction

Heather has been spearheading our virtual VBS this summer, and looks like there will be plenty of fun for kids to experience remotely. Various leaders are meeting this week to create content videos, and Cindy will be doing her usual very cool music, except by uploaded videos this time. Participant packets will be put together so kids will have everything they need for the videos, which will go live at 6:30 pm, beginning July 26, and continuing through July 30. You can find more info including a link to an online registration form HERE. Thanks Heather for your leadership on this!

St. John's Preschool Update

I asked Linda to provide a brief preschool update, and I'm reproducing below her summary

St. John's Preschool board and staff are actively working on new policies and procedures to provide a safe environment for our preschoolers, families, and staff. Our plan is to reopen on September 9 with smaller class sizes and changes in our classroom structure and routine. There will be an emphasis on cleaning, disinfecting, handwashing, and health checks.

We will have 8 children with one lead teacher and one classroom assistant in each of our three classrooms. Children will attend two or three half-days per week with a total of 10 classes in our program. Each classroom will use one specific restroom. The only shared space will be the playground with a staggered schedule and sanitizing in between classes. One of the changes in our routine will be adults dropping off and picking up children outdoors. As we follow current guidelines, adults and staff will be wearing masks. Sharon Hill, our Christian Education Representative on the preschool board, has made clear masks for all of our teachers so the children can see our facial expressions and have clearer communication. Children will not be wearing masks.

Our preschool board is currently reviewing the proposed budget for the school year. There will be a $10/month increase in tuition because of the smaller group sizes. Thank you for your prayers and support as we do our best to reopen safely and share God's love with these precious children.

Health issues for Linda's (and Liana's) mom Karen continue - she is currently taking a break from her treatments. Keep her and all her family in your prayers.

Wednesday Zoom

Wendesday Night Live! did our usual meeting. After touching base, we completed the review of the ELCA Social Statement "Race, Ethnicity and Culture." We'll be moving on to something else next week

Michael Osterholm Podcast

Dr. Michael Osterholm offers his latest wisdom on Covid-19 in his podcast, "The Osterholm Update: Covid-19," which you can access here. In the July 16 episode, Dr. Osterholm and host Chris discuss considerations for reopening schools in the Fall, the concept of superspreaders and their role in the transmission of COVID-19, and recent statements regarding vaccines and masks. You can listen to that episode here. As always, Dr. Osterholm stresses patience, understanding, flexibility, masks, and responding to the science and not political pressure.

Conference Pastors Zoomed on Thursday

Eastern Conference pastors met Thursday on Zoom, mostly to touch base as to how things are going in our respective congregations. St. Peter Norwalk and St. John's Bellevue are currently the only congregations in the Eastern Conference that are holding in-person indoor worship. Pastor Ann said she was gettin 12-15 at their service, and then they do a full online service at 10:30 for the WLKR broadcast which has been happening for the last 60 years. Most other congregations moving beyond an online service are keeping it outdoors, either in chairs on the grass, or a parking lot service broadcase through a low-power FM transmitter to individual car radios. Pastor Jody Rice at Grace in Fremont announced at the meeting that she is planning retirement at the end of November, primarily because of health issues. She has provided excellent leadership at Grace and in Lift, and will be greatly missed.

Fundraiser for Brooke

Dana Beier is raising money through Gofundme to buy a new bicycle/wheelchair combination for Brook, who has outgrown her current equipment. She's about 70% to her goal. You can view more info about Brook, Dana, and their hopes for this fundaiser HERE. Let's help them get over the top!

NA finds space

The NA group that has used our space for their Sunday night meetings has found another place to meet until it's safe to return to our building. They came this week to pick up their, I was going to say paraphernalia, but I'll just say their meeting "stuff."

Interim Update for July 10, 2020

Services for Charley Baum

I held a family service at Foos Funeral Home on Sunday at 1pm, and the comittal was Monday at 11am at York Chapel Cemetery. Ken Ries was part of the honor guard for Charley. It was good to see him again. Keep Sandy and the family in your prayers.

Hymn Words and MP3's added to Sunday morning Email

Those who have been attending in-person worship have benefited from listening to Chris and Paul open up the outstanding St. John's pipe organ, providing that important musical element to the worship for the day. But what about those who are staying home and worshiping by way of our YouTube livestream? In the beginning we tried using music for this service, but the quality was so poor, we decided to eliminate that element from our service.

I have found a way to add some half-way decent music to that service, although in no way does it come close to what Chris and Paul do with the organ at the in-person service. I own organ music of all the public domain hymns in ELW (our cranberry hymnal) in MP3 format. So this is what I will start to do with this weekend's service:

• The email that I send on Sunday morning (and is posted on the St. John's Facebook page), and which includes the YouTube link to the livestream of the service, and also includes the text of the spoken parts of the service, will now include the text of the two hymns sung at the in-person service: the Gathering Song at the beginning and the Sending Song at the end..
• The title of the hymn will also be a LINK to a YouTube file that will load and play the MP3 organ accompaniment for that hymn.
• I will give online worshipers the opportunity to pause the livestream and play the sing the hymn before returning to the livestream, which will pick up where they left off. If you are viewing the livestream this Sunday, try it out and let me know how it works.

Worship and Music Meeting

Worship and Music met Thursday in Fellowship Hall. Here are some details of our discussion, per minutes taken by Cathy (Thanks Cathy!):

• Nancy Pickens has prayerfully agreed to an appointment to serve the remainder of Ann Paul’s term. Thank you Nancy for your willingness to serve. The committee voted to accept Nancy’s offer and make a recommendation to council that she be so appointed.
• Pat Olsen will continue to read each Sunday in July. Cathy will contact some of the others who have been attending live worship to see if they would be willing to help with the reading on some Sundays.
• Chris and Paul will continue to self-schedule organist coverage for in-person worship.
• Pastor Mark continues to focus on keeping the service brief to minimize exposure.
• You Tube worship: The number of views on Sunday has decreased but numbers throughout the week average around 30. The open rate for invitation emails is about 35%.
• Pastor Mark may try to send a mass text through Breeze to see if that increases the view rate.
• Drive through communion: There have been 5-6 cars each week.

This Week's Zoom meetings

Last week was very quiet as far as Zoom meetings go, but this week was plenty busy. Here's a summary:

• Tuesday - Bishop's Zoom with Synod congregation leaders. Bishop Daniel led us through a devotional reflection using a nature photo and scripture. He then focused his presentation on the challenge of racial healing, and provided us resources -- books and movies, including Emanuel, a documentary on the nine church members killed by Dylan Roof. Bishop Daniel reminded us that this his close to home, as Room came from a Lutheran family. He also challenged us to write about our own experiences of diversity and racism. The suggested resources were emailed to us after the meeting, and you can find ther here.
• Wednesday - Wednesday NIght Live was sparsely attended, as some of our regulars were shut one by a power outage, likely due to an accident on 20 and 302 that hit a large utility pole, killing a Bellevue man and his grandson. Very tragic, keep this family in your prayers. A Sundusky Register story on the tragedy can be found here.
• Thursday -- Two Zoom meetings
  • I joined a Zoom meeting from 12:30 - 2:00 entitled "Advocacy Tools for Loving Your Neighbor." The meeting was co-sponsored by advocacy leaders in both the ELCA and ECUSA (Episcopal Church USA). Presiding Bishops MIchael Curry (remember him from Prince Harry's wedding?) and Elizabeth Eaton both provided keynote messages, and were joined by other staff members from our respective Advocacy offices, as they explained the nature of faith-based advocacy, the issues to which we can speak, and the ways we can make our voices heard. For more information about our church's ministry of advocacy, and ways that we can get involved, go here.
  • Synod Transitional Pastors met from 2-3. Members of this group shared experiences and challenges of return to in-person worship as well as parking lot worship. Chris Young reported that her interim (I forget which congregation she is serving) setting was doing parking lot worship with an FM transmitter, and the transmitter failed. Technology is great when it works. This group will begin a study of the book Bishop Daniel encouraged us to read this year, "A Field Guide for the Missional Congregation: Embarking on a Journey of Transformation." I have the Kindle version for $14.24, and looks like a good read. If you'd be interested you can get it here.
• Friday -- today was my monthly interdenominational support group of interim pastors organized through the Interim Ministry Network. This interdenomination group is also international. One of the co-leaders is Lieve, who is from Belgium, and serves a church in Germany. I'm not sure what her mother tongue is, but it's not German, and of course she speaks English fluently. And preaches in German. There were two new members of our group, including Susan, a fellow ELCA interim pastor. I met Susan at a workshop in Minnesota during my interim there, and reconnected with her here in Ohio when she became a part of our synod interim pastors group. So was surprised to see her again in today's Zoom meeting.

One Day at at Time

In these pandemic days, we have been learning the importance of living one day a time. One of my Facebook friends posted a video which reminds us of this in a sweet way. The star of this video is 93 years old. You can look and listen here. It's very much worth 3:31 minutes of you time.

Interim Update for July 3, 2020

Sympathy to family of Charley Baum

We extend sympathy and prayers to Sandy Baum and family on the death of Charley on Wednesday at Firelands Medical Center. He had been having a very rough time in recent weeks, spending a long time in the hospital. He was able to go home where he appeared to be doing better, but took a turn for worse and had to return to the hospital. Visitation from 2-4 Sunday at Foos. I'll be doing a family service at 1pm, and the committal at York Chapel Cemetery on Monday at 11. You can read the obituary for Charley here.

Time to Baptize and Confirm the Bats

Some years ago, there was a Lutheran joke going around about a pastor who had bats in his church that he and the congregation leaders, as much as they tried, couldn't find a way to get rid of them. He finally decided to baptize and confirm them, and lo and behold, they never returned. It's was a cynically sad and not all that funny joke. I'm hoping to find a different way to deal with a problem that I understand St. John's has had before, but has now reared its ugly head, if you are of the mind that bats are ugly. Bat droppings (quite a bit of them) have been found in the sanctuary, on the carpet in the center aisle and up on the stage by the altar. Not sure how St. John's has dealt with this in the past, but it's time to pull out that playbook.

Dr. Osterholm Podcast

You may remember that I have mentioned Dr. Michael Osterholm, who is the founder and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research And Policy at the University of Minnesota, where he is a professor of public health. He's captured my attention not only for his incisive analysis and communication regarding the current pandemic on major news outlets, but also that he's a graduate of a Lutheran college (Luther in Decorah, Iowa) and an active member of an ELCA congregation. About two weeks ago, Dr. Osterholm did a 40 minute interview with NPR, which you can read the transcript of or listen to here as he describes the risks of reopening the economy and how to evaluate those risks. Dr. Osterholm offers his latest wisdom on Covid-19 in his podcast, "The Osterholm Update: Covid-19," which you can access here. In the July 1 episode, Dr. Osterholm and host Chris Dall discuss surging cases in the United States, the challenge of testing and tracing in hot spots, hugging in the midst of a pandemic, and news about a swine flu strain with pandemic potential. You can listen to that episode here.

One Zoom meeting this week!

My only Zoom meeting this week was Wednesday Night Live! We had a good session, and we continue our look at the ELCA Social Statement "Ethnicity, Race and Culture." We should finish that up this coming week, and then we'll move on the something else -- I'm thinking let's look at the lectionary texts for the coming Sunday.

Some Links for You

• New Beginnings -- Dean Kit Kleinhans's regular message from Trinity Seminary. You can read it here.
• ELCA Global Links -- news and updates regarding the global reach, ministry, and the Lutheran Churches around the world that we share the minisry of the gospel with. You can read the latest issue here.

Results of Faith and Race Survey

Responses from Questions 11-20

• Have Covid-related health concerns impacted your participation in protests, marches or demonstrations?
  • 11% A lot 1 response
  • 0% Some 0 responses
  • 11% A little 1 response
  • 78% Not really/not at all 7 responses
• Which word below best describes your primary emotion about current race issues in our country?
  • 0% Depressed 0 responses
  • 0% Fearful 0 responses
  • 33% Anxious 3 responses
  • 0% Angry 0 responses
  • 11% Hopeful 1 response
  • 0% Determined 0 responses
  • 11% Motivated 1 response
  • 11% Exhausted 1 response
  • 0% Skeptical 0 responses
  • 0% Confused *0 responses 8
  • 33% Frustrated 3 responses
  • 0% Depleted 0 responses
  • 0% None of these 0 responses
• How are current racial issues impacting your faith, if at all? My faith is...
  • 11% Stronger than ever 1 response
  • 33% Somewhat stronger 3 responses
  • 56% The same/unchanged 5 responses
  • 0% Wavering slightly 0 responses
  • 0% Wavering a lot 0 responses
  • 0% I am not hopeful about the future of my faith 0 responses
• Would you say you feel aligned with this church's pastor on issues of race and justice?
  • 22% Definitely aligned 2 responses
  • 22% Somewhat aligned 2 responses
  • 0% Not very aligned 0 responses
  • 11% Not at all aligned (we have different opinions) 1 response
  • 44% They haven’t made a clear enough statement for me to know 4 responses
• Personally, on a scale from 0 to 10, how much anxiety are you experiencing relating to current racial justice issues?
  • 11% 10 - Extreme Anxiety 1 response
  • 0% 9 0 responses
  • 0% 8 0 responses
  • 22% 7 2 responses
  • 22% 6 2 responses
  • 22% 5 2 responses
  • 0% 4 0 responses
  • 11% 3 1 response
  • 0% 2 0 responses
  • 11% 1 1 response
  • 0% 0 - No anxiety at all 0 responses
• In the midst of this moment, I feel very connected to my friends and family.
  • 22% 10 - Agree strongly 2 responses
  • 0% 9 0 responses
  • 11% 8 1 response
  • 22% 7 2 responses
  • 22% 6 2 responses
  • 11% 5 1 response
  • 11% 4 1 response
  • 0% 3 0 responses
  • 0% 2 0 responses
  • 0% 1 0 responses
  • 0% 0 - Disagree strongly 0 responses
• I sense a deepened calling to serve and help others in times like this.
  • 11% 10 - Agree strongly 1 response
  • 0% 9 0 responses
  • 33% 8 3 responses
  • 0% 7 0 responses
  • 22% 6 2 responses
  • 11% 5 1 response
  • 11% 4 1 response
  • 11% 3 1 response
  • 0% 2 0 responses
  • 0% 1 0 responses
  • 0% 0 - Disagree strongly 0 responses
• When the world around me feels turbulent, I find my hope in God.
  • 78% 10 - Agree strongly 7 responses
  • 11% 9 1 response
  • 0% 8 0 responses
  • 0% 7 0 responses
  • 0% 6 0 responses
  • 11% 5 1 response
  • 0% 4 0 responses
  • 0% 3 0 responses
  • 0% 2 0 responses
  • 0% 1 0 responses
  • 0% 0 - Disagree strongly 0 responses
• Which of the following best describes your race or ethnicity?
  • 100% White and not Hispanic 9 responses
• In what year were you born?
  • 0% 1999 - 2015 0 responses
  • 11% 1984 - 1998 1 response
  • 22% 1965 - 1983 2 responses
  • 56% 1946 - 1964 5 responses
  • 11% 1925 - 1945 1 response