Our denomination, the ELCA, holds a churchwide assembly triennially - to worship, vote on matters of governance and policy, and be church together for the sake of the world. This year’s churchwide assembly was full of important votes and actions, including:
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Greetings! This month I’d like to share some updates from our companions in South Africa. ~Pr. Megan 2019 Report from the SW MN Companion Synod Committee Sometimes churches, like families go through growing pains. For another year our sisters and brothers in the Southeastern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa have has their work interrupted and their ministries slowed because of growing pains caused by difficulties between their churchwide structure and their dioceses. Especially our companion diocese, the South Eastern Diocese has experienced turmoil. A diocese in South Africa is the equivalent to what we call a synod. While we are pained to see our shared ministries slowed, we are encouraged that their Health and Wellness Committee on the Diocesan level continues to work and share programs between Circuits in the in the Diocese. Work among people living in poverty, many of whom are elderly, where little health care is available, are being helped because of the work of this committee along with help from conferences in our synod who support a salary for the Committee’s Coordinator. Many of our conferences also support the Health and Wellness Committee in their partner Circuit where hot meals are served, and gardens are growing to supplement the pantries of local families. We also know that the work of parishes in the various circuits continues at the local levels. Sunday School materials shared by Lutheran Churches across southern Africa are available and are being used in parishes that share training for those who teach Sunday School in local congregations. Women’s leagues, Men’s leagues and Youth Leagues continue to meet separately in parishes and within circuits. Scholarships and help with uniforms continue to go to school children at all levels. We are also very hopeful that ELCSA now has a new Presiding Bishop and their Church Council with the Presiding Bishop recently passed a resolution that they hold an extra meeting to discuss what needs to be done to have elections for a new Bishop in the Southeastern Diocese and to help them proceed to elect their new leadership at all levels. That meeting was scheduled for May 27, 2019. We wait eagerly for news from this meeting and are hopeful that present crisis will pass. We pray that this meeting will set us all on a new path that we may share again getting to know each other and again learn how we can grow in faith together and join in sharing God’s Good News of grace and love for our Lord, each other and our neighbors. Even as this begins we know we here in SW MN must continue to pray patiently. As happens in many families we will wait for there to be recognition and reorganization. We rely on our Lord who wants only the best for our brothers and sisters in South Africa and our sharing of faith and ministry together. We know we can be God’s hands and feet here in Minnesota and in South Africa. For the committee- Marie Nelson, Chair Update on the Bishopstowe Deanery Project in the Umngeni Circuit You may remember that fundraising project our conference did for the roof on the Bishopstowe Deanery/Circuit Center in our companion circuit in South Africa. The roof has been completed. The work that needs to be completed to make the center usable has been halted due to the problems that are taking place in the church at large in South Africa. Since they also now have doors and windows, they are able to secure the structure. The South Africans remain grateful for our help and are anxious to move on to the next phase of their project. Please continue to pray for their efforts. Peg Hatlestad, Crow River Conference Partnership Committee Hello Friends, Over the last few months, I have been spending a lot of my spare time at my house sorting. When we moved into the parsonage two years ago there were plenty of boxes that I just didn’t have the time or energy to sort through and so they got stuck in various closets, in the basement, and the garage. When we learned we were expecting a child this summer, however, I knew it was time to start making decisions about the stuff in those boxes that hadn’t seen the light of day in a long while. I started in the room that will soon become the nursery. I told myself, “go through one or two boxes each day.” That felt like a manageable goal. But as I started to pull things out of the closet, I got kind of possessed by the process, and I made it through the whole closet in one evening. It was surprising to me as I tend to be quite sentimental about my possessions. All the times my mom made me go through boxes and drawers and bins as a kid, I absolutely despised the process. I just figured it would be no different this time around. After all, I had been dreading it so much that I had opted to drag many of these boxes across the country for various moves over the last decade, instead of sorting their contents. As I sat on my living room floor and sorted the items into piles—keep, dispose, donate—I was surprised at how good it felt, and by how much I was willing to part with. The sentiment associated with the items was still there. Each notebook brought back exciting memories of college classes, each souvenir t-shirt brought back fond memories of family vacations, each trinket brought back giggly memories of childhood birthday parties, each report card brought back warm memories of beloved teachers. And yet, something was different this time around. Even though those good memories were there, I was able to let go of much of these things that I had been storing for so long. I realized what was different—me. This time I wasn’t just sorting to make my life lighter, or to fit into a smaller space, or to appease my mother, or to purge things that no longer had a use to me. This time I was sorting to make space for someone else—someone new—to physically accommodate this huge change that was about to occur. These things I had been storing—they were all about me. Yes, they were important things about me, part of the story that shaped me, relics of the things I was taught to value, influential in my identity, part of what made me, me. But as I pulled items out of boxes and thought about this new life that would be joining our family, it didn’t feel so necessary to keep those items around anymore. Suddenly I was able to acknowledge the goodness of these things, understand that my identity was not going to vanish if this stuff was no loner stacked in my closet, and feel joyful about creating space for something—someone—more than me. Change is hard no matter what the circumstances, but I’m finding that it’s easier to let go of the past, even the beautiful, meaningful, identity defining things – when I realize it’s to make space for new life. I think this is true in the church too. It’s sad to see the events for which we have fond memories fade away. It’s scary to let go of ministries for which we have worked long and hard. It’s tough to remember that our purpose won’t vanish and our identity won’t become untethered as we change and physically make space for the Spirit to do something new, to bring in someone new, to continue to fill us with joy as space is being created for more than us. In Christ, -Pastor Megan Hello Friends! With spring finally here and the 50 days of the Easter Season in full swing, I thought I would share a fun activity for you to enjoy on your own or as a family. Often we think of spiritual disciplines as a Lenten practice, but I’d like to encourage you to practice becoming more aware of God’s work in your everyday, even beyond Lent. Have some fun with this BINGO card this month. Each day ask yourself the question, “Where have I seen God at work in the world?” If you manage to get a BINGO, stop on by my office for an undeniably awesome high-five and a little spring surprise 😊 Happy May!! ~ Pr. Megan Happy Spring! Ever since I was in high school, I have tried to participate in some kind of Lenten discipline. I remember first giving up pop for the season. I didn’t drink much to start, so it wasn’t too tough, but it was a nice little reminder in my week that something was different about this season in my faith life. I eventually moved to giving up all sweets for the season. This was much harder. No more stopping at the candy dish, no hot chocolate while studying, no dessert. It was a discipline not only in restraint, but one that heightened my sense of how much I take for granted in my day to day. It’s amazing how making one switch for a period of time like that can really begin to alter your perception. I realized, however, after a number of years, this practice of giving up some type of food was no longer as meaningful as it had begun. Maybe it was because I am easily bored with things and need variety in my life, or maybe it was because I was being forced to give up many more foods as my allergies became more severe. Whatever the case, in seminary I decided to switch things up. Instead of giving something up, I tried to add a spiritual practice into my daily life. I found a short daily devotion book to read each morning or evening before bed. It’s not a practice I have been able to sustain throughout the whole year, but I look forward to each Lenten season and finding a new book with simple centering passages and reflections to guide my journey to the cross. This year I am reading, 40 Day Journey with Parker Palmer. The other discipline I have chosen to pay more attention to this Lent, along with my husband, is my plastic consumption. This may sound a bit cliché, it seems like we see articles about banning plastic straws and plastic grocery bags all over these days, but I have become increasingly distressed by how fast my recycling bin fills up each week. I’m noticing more and more just how much my grocery items, even produce, are wrapped, or boxed, or bagged in plastic. Every time I head to Target or Home Depot, I feel like I end up with more packaging trash by volume than goods. And it’s so easy just to fill the bin, let it be taken away, and never give it a second thought. When I visited Namibia in 2015, I was struck by how much plastic waste was strewn along every road, piled up behind every house and business, and generally blowing across the landscape. It made me realize, in my community, we have just as much plastic waste, if not more, but we have a centralized system for taking it away. Namibia did not. The sheer volume of this pollutant is somewhat hidden from me and I willingly choose not to look very hard to see my impact. As I think about all God has given to me for my life, and all God has entrusted to me to care for, not just for my own sake, but for the sake of all others I share this planet with, and those who will one day call this place home, this season of Lent I choose to recommit myself to paying attention to what I consume, how I consume it, how it’s packaged, and whether or not I really need it. I’m starting small, kind of like I started small with giving up pop in high school, by looking closer at my groceries. Is there a way I can avoid purchasing that in a bottle? What kind of reusable glass container do I own so I can get bulk items? Is this item a necessity or simply a convenience? What clever ways have you cut down on your plastic waste that you could share with me? My prayers to you as you find meaningful ways to journey to the cross this Lent, living in Christ’s freedom for you, sharing amazing grace with your neighbors, and leaning into resurrection joy. Pr. Megan Winter Greetings! This month I would like to highlight a ministry of our Southwestern Minnesota Synod. In recent years applications for 4 types of grants have been made available to pastors and rostered leaders. One of these grants helps to retire student debt. The last two years (2018 & 2019) I have received grants from this program. I was very fortunate to graduate with my bachelor’s degree with no student debt, but I did have to take out loans in order to complete my four years of seminary studies. Increasingly, student debt is negatively affecting our pastors and our congregations. High levels of student debt limits following God’s call and creates much stress. I am very grateful to this grant program for helping me pay down my seminary debt at a more rapid pace than I would be able to accomplish on my own. It helps me feel more confident in my decision making regarding my personal finances, allows me to be more generous with my giving, and helps me remember that I am not alone in this ministry. I also want to thank Trinity for generously contributing monthly toward paying down my student loans. This was part of my financial package you offered. It shows that this congregation cares about its leaders, sustainable ministry, and partnership. Here is more information about the synod’s grant program which has been re-named Gifts of Grace. “The grant we received from the Lilly Endowment was to help us develop ways to improve the financial stress of our rostered leaders. The Ministerial Excellence Fund through Gifts of Grace is a key part of this, but so also are education resources for financial literacy, stewardship, and generosity. We believe that less strained pastors will make them better able to serve their congregations well. So this is not just about pastors, but about the congregations they serve. We are hearing that pastors who receive help for education loans not only feel blessed, but feel cared for by their synod. All of this may help us retain pastors in rural areas. One of the key questions we need to ask as a church is this … Whose issue is it that pastors who seek to serve the church are coming out of seminary with the burden of $40,000 or $50,000 in educational debt (plus the other usual loans we face)? If we think each individual is responsible for their own education, then pastors will remain silent about the strain they are bearing. But what if this is a systemic problem that the whole church needs to address? We see congregations who are understanding that the cost of education has shifted too much away from a denomination responsibility to the individual. We can share in this together. In January 2019 we distributed the MEF’s Grant for Educational Loan Reduction. Fifty pastors received help to reduce their educational debt. We have begun a new three-year period of work with the Lilly Endowment Inc. Our first three-year term was 2016-2018. We applied for a second three-year term, and will now be working with them through 2021. With this new term comes a new infusion of money for our work with the requirement that we match the money they give us. Lilly will provide $250,000 and we will be raising another $250,000 from individual and congregational donations. Given the generosity shown 2016-2018 in raising matching funds, we know we can do this.” If you would like to support the work of Gifts of Grace and have your gift matched by the Lilly Endowment Inc., here is how you can give:
Pastor Megan Happy February! This month I want to lift up some great work being done by our synod youth, including our very own Dawson Miller. Below you will find information about The Lutheran Youth Organization as well as an interview with Dawson about his own experiences as a member of our synod’s board. ~ Pr. Megan The Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO) is an organization of high-school age young people who are members of the ELCA. There are nearly 100,000 ELCA youth across the United States and the Caribbean. The LYO is a place where the voices of young people are lifted up in the church. This ministry happens through young people discussing and advocating issues of importance to them concerning faith, youth ministry, the ELCA, local communities, and the world. The LYO Board is made up of 15 youth and 10 adults from our synod. They plan and coordinate the synod’s Jr. and Sr. High Youth Gatherings and raise up the voice of youth on a synod level. Youth who serve on the LYO board are in grades 9-12 and are elected at the Sr. High Youth Gathering. Each conference has an adult representative on the LYO board that is elected or appointed by the conference. Youth Ministry Coordinator, Sarah Hausken advises the LYO board. Dawson, what is LYO? “Well the first thing I would say is that it is like my second family. We always have a group chat going and we see each other a lot. It’s been my favorite way to learn about God with people my own age. It helps me understand what God is doing through my community.“ When did you get involved and what is your role on the board? “I got involved early last year, right after the Sr High Youth Gathering. A friend of mine from school was applying to be on the board and she said I should apply. I really enjoyed the Sr High gathering, so I thought, why not? I applied and I was board appointed. I’m the treasurer so I handle the money. I am also on Servant Team #5. We handle registration and service projects for the gatherings. We create ideas for the gatherings.” What has been the best part of LYO? “The best part is meeting new friends. These are some of the closest friends I have now. I get to see God through their eyes. They have such a different view than I do. They have experiences I don’t have. It’s been awesome to create new memories.” What has been the most challenging part? “Coming up with new ideas! And keeping everyone on the same level. Keeping ideas flowing and keeping everyone as happy as possible.” What do you want people to know about the upcoming Sr High Youth Gathering in April? “I think it’s going to be even better than last year. We have a super cool theme, ‘Walk Humbly’. Last year was great, but there are so many more ideas that can come through this year’s theme because we are always walking with God.” Anything else you want to share? “Just that people need to go and experience what this does for people. People ask me, ‘Is this just like any church group?’ And it’s not. It’s so much more than an average church group. This is one of the coolest church things I have ever done. You have to be there to experience it and to know what it’s like.” Stay up to date with SW MN LYO. Like them on Facebook. Follow them on Instagram @swmnlyo. Dear friends, Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe we have made it into 2019. And I can’t believe I have been your pastor for 1.5 years already. Time really flies when you are having fun. I want to say a word of thanks for your ministry this past year and I look forward to all that is yet to come! As we kick off a new year, I invite you to dream. When you close your eyes, and think about our community, what do you dream for us? What brings you great excitement? What fuels your drive for purpose? Where do you feel the Spirit urging us to go? As a seminary student, a professor of mine posed a scenario to the class. She said, “Imagine someone walks into your office and says to you, ‘I have $10,000 I want to give to this church, but first I want to know, what would you do with it?’ The professor then asked, “Would you have an immediate answer for this generous donor?” Now, the amount of money isn’t really the focus. She could have said $1,000 or even $100,000. Her point was that as leaders it’s part of our job to be dreaming. It is part of our job to be thinking big and having an imagination for our communities. It is part of our job to be listening for God’s small voice leading us into bold ventures. As God’s people we are called to do the same. How would you answer the question? If someone walked up to you and offered the church $10,000, what would you say that we would do with it? I have a number of answers to this question. If you want to know what I am dreaming about, stop and ask me anytime! I’m going to avoid the classic mistake of asking the class a question and then answering it myself. I really want you to think and dream! As you ponder this year ahead, I invite you to attend our Annual Meeting. We will give thanks for 2018 and all that God has done here, in and through us, and we will continue to plan and dream for 2019. Trinity’s Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, January 27, 2019 following worship. [Back-up date: Sunday, February 3, 2019.] We will join together in a pot-luck meal following the meeting. January is a natural time to dream. We get to start fresh and listen for how God is moving us and shaping us for the next 12 months ahead. I think it’s appropriate that we remember a pastor, Reverend Doctor King, who once told the world he had a dream. A dream where his “four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” A dream of justice, a dream of freedom, a dream of God’s kingdom on earth. This year, what is your dream? In Christ, Pastor Megan Advent & Christmas greetings! When I was a kid, my family had a children’s nativity. The three-sided barn was paper board covered in barn patterned fabric. The lyrics to “Away in a Manger” were printed on the back. The people, angels, and animals were made from fabric and stuffed to be able to stand upright. And of course, there was a tiny stuffed baby Jesus nestled in a stuffed manger. The plush nativity sat on the lower shelf on the living room end table. I always loved pulling it out of storage each December and I remember laying on the ground playing with the animals, swooping the angels, moving the wise-men a little closer each day, and of course reciting the story to myself and my little brothers. This was not the only nativity set in our house. We also had a very fragile ceramic set with a wooden barn that we would set up on top of the TV. (Yes, we still had one of those wooden cabinet style TV’s for most of my childhood!) My mom would let me help her carefully take the figures out of their wrappings and arrange the scene. I had to use a stool to reach or get on my tip toes. Once everything was in place the rule was, no more touching, only looking. As I was thinking back on those days, I was struck by these two very different interactions with the Christmas story. In the first case, I was encouraged to get up close and personal with the nativity. I could hold the baby in my hands, move the pieces around, and act out the story. The scene was physically down at my level. I laid on my belly and played. In the second case, I was not allowed to get too close. There was no getting personally acquainted with the figures or the story. They might get damaged! This was only for show. It was physically up high, and for me to see it well, I had to be on my tip toes and look up high. Now, there is nothing wrong with a beautiful and fragile nativity. I think they invite a reverence for the story and for the precious gift the scene is displaying, but I have to admit, I really prefer that children’s nativity. The one that invited me in, encouraged me to play-tell the story, the one that said, this gift, this squishy child in the manger, is not just for show, but is meant for you. I think there is something beautifully poetic about this plush nativity tucked away on the low shelf of the living room end table, accessible to lowly children. Jesus, God’s son, sent to turn the world upside down, to lift up the humble and cast down those on high, who’s own humble origins involved a messy human birth, a bed in a feed trough, and animal and shepherd companions, all in a small tucked away town. This nativity said to me as a small child that God’s story is not just for show, but that my story is part of God’s story. The faith given to me in this child is to be explored, handled, shared, maybe even knocked around a bit. God is not fragile. Don’t be afraid to do more than just look! Have a blessed December. “He came down that you may have love, light, peace, and joy.” In Christ, Pr. Megan Consecration Sunday Is Coming Congregations that approach financial stewardship from a biblical perspective do not view the money Christians give to their church merely as a way to pay its bills. Rather, such congregations see financial contributions as a way to help people grow spiritually in their relationship with God by supporting their church’s mission and ministry with a percentage of their incomes. Our congregation’s finance committee has selected the New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program as a way to teach the biblical and spiritual principles of generous giving in our stewardship education emphasis this year. New Consecration Sunday is based on the biblical philosophy of the need of the giver to give for his or her own spiritual development, rather than on the need of the church to receive. Instead of treating people like members of a social club who should pay dues, we will treat people like followers of Jesus Christ who want to give unselfishly as an act of discipleship. New Consecration Sunday encourages people toward proportionate and systematic giving in response to the question, “What percentage of my income is God calling me to give?” During morning worship on Consecration Sunday, we are asking our attendees and members to make their financial commitments to our church’s missionary, benevolent, and educational ministries in this community and around the world. Every attendee and member who completes an Estimate of Giving Card does so voluntarily by attending morning worship on Consecration Sunday. We urge people to attend who feel strongly opposed to completing a card. The procedure is done in such a way that no one feels personal embarrassment if he or she chooses not to fill out a card. We will do no home solicitation to ask people to complete cards. During morning worship our guest leader will conduct a brief period of instruction and inspiration, climaxed by members making their commitments as a confidential act of worship. We will encourage participation in Consecration Sunday events through the Consecration Sunday team and governing board members. Since we will make no follow-up visits to ask people to complete their cards, we will make every effort to inform, inspire, and commit everyone to attend Consecration Sunday worship. Thanks in advance for your enthusiastic participation in Consecration Sunday events. Pastor Megan |
AuthorPastor Megan finds that she rarely has all the right answers, but tries to help her community ask better questions. Archives
July 2021
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