Interim Grace Notes for July 30, 2021

Volunteers Needed for Block Party

Our LIFT Block Party is just around the corner, and one of the main concerns/needs right now is volunteers. An online sign-up sheet has been created listing the various needs and numbers needed for each area. Sign up for just an hour or for multiple hours. I signed up last week. If you haven't yet, take a few minutes now and sign up, too! Just click or tap HERE.

Plans Continue for Spirit and Confirmation

Heather, Tom, Maureen and I are continuing our plans for Wednesday night Spirit. Heather has scheduled a Confirmation leaders planning meeting for Thursday, August 5 at 1pm at grace.

Do We Need to Put Our Masks Back On?

With the coronavirus variant delta taking off around the U.S., the federal government Tuesday updated its masking guidelines for fully vaccinated people. The new advice is to mask up indoors if you live in a place with "substantial" or "high" coronavirus transmission. (The guidance for people who are unvaccinated remains the same: Always mask up indoors.) So, what's the level of transmission where we live? Here's what CDC says is the level for Sandusky and surrounding counties for the time period Friday, Jul 23 - Thursday, July 29 , on a scale of low, moderate, substantial, high:

• Sandusky - Substantial
• Wood - Moderate
• Ottawa - Substantial
• Erie - Substantial
• Huron - Substantial
• Seneca - Moderate

To view the CDC map, go HERE and enter Ohio and Sandusky into the state and county fields to display a color coded map.

I'm not suggesting that we return to masks during worship, but I think this basic metric is something we should at least monitor, and discuss if local levels move from substatial to high.

A Place to Go for Covid-19 Information

One of the challenges during the pandemic has been getting reliable scientific "balls and strikes" information about the coronovirus and its spread to base our decisions on - whether it's when we should go back to church, school, resume our family and social gatherings, or whether we should wear a mask and when it's safe to go without. Last July, I began listening to a weekly podcast - The Osterholm Update: COVID-19, published by The University of MInnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), and narrated by infectious disease expert and founder/director of CIDRAP, Dr. Michael Osterholm. With declining cases due to increasing vaccination rates, the podcast scaled back to every other week for the months of June and early July, but now, with the delta variant surge, has returned to every week programming. This week's episidode is entitled "Untangling the Data." In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and host Chris Dall discuss the Delta variant and the surge in cases in the US, the new CDC recommendation for masking among vaccinated people, and answer a COVID query on breakthrough cases. You can stream or download this episode HERE.

Planning for Stewardship Program

I've been doing some planning for a fall stewardship program, and considering using resources from GSB, a charitable fundraising firm that many of our Lutheran synods and congregations have partnered with. I used GSB last year to assist my Stewaradship team at St. John's to complete the fall stewardship campaign. The program is called "Building a Culture of Generosity" and includes a number of Zoom meetings with a GSB consultant, as well as prepared content for the campaign. You can view more information about this program in a two-page flyer that you can view HERE. I would be looking for members to serve on the Stewardship Committee along with Council member Tanya. Ed provided the names of those who had helped with a previous Consecration Sunday campaign, so that would be a good place to start.

Assistant Janitor Hire

An assistant janitor has been hired to work afternoons (including post pre-school day and Spirit Wednesday nights) and Sunday morning opening, relieving Jean and George. Welcome aboard Michaelle Goodman!

2021 VBS a Success!

We blasted off to Mars, and learned about how God invites us to go beyoond with faith, kindness and hope. We had 56 kids registered, and they were joined by 30 volunteers who led activities of openings, Bible story, crafts, science projects, and games. We collected offering for Bridge of Hope food bank, which yielded $70 and 70 food bank items. Many thanks to Heather who took the lead on this, along with Pastor Paul, Sue from St. John's and Tricia from Hayes UMC. Heather had this to add: "a huge thank you to all the volunteers that were there to make it possible."

Worship meeting scheduled

A worship committee meeting has been scheduled for next Tuesday, August 3, at 2:00 pm. If you have concerns about worship or have an item you'd like us to consider or discus, just let one of us know: Maureen or me, Tom, Becky Seibert, Cindy Scranton, or Judy Overmyer.

Funeral for Pr. Jody's mom on Tuesday

Funeral services for Pastor Jody's mother, Lorraine Crawford, will be held next Tuesday, August 3, beginning at 10:00 am at St. John's in Fremont. Pastor Matt will officiate. There will be an hour of visitation, also at the church, beginning at 9:00 am until the time of service. Keep Pastor Jody and all of Lorrainse family and loved ones in your prayers. You can read the published obituary HERE.

Grace Between the Lines

Synod staff member, Sherry Krieger, Director of Leadership Development for Congregational Care, publishes a regular devotional reflection which we receive by email entitled "Grace Between the Lines." In her posts she describes her experiences of grace, and ecourages us to recognize God grace in our lives. You can read her most recent post HERE.

Interim Grace Notes for July 23, 2021

VBS Starts Monday

Heather and her team spent a chunk of time on Thursday at Hayes UMC decorating for VBS -- our theme is "To Mars and Beyond." It will be "out of this world!" I've been saying. Looking forward to this time together with LIFT kids and adults.

Volunteers Needed for Block Party

Our LIFT Block Party is just around the corner, and one of the main concerns/needs right now is volunteers. An online sign-up sheet has been created listing the various needs and numbers needed for each area. Sign up for just an hour or for multiple hours. I have just completed signing up. Take a few minutes now and sign up, too! Just click or tap HERE.

First Meeting of Transition Team

The first meeting of the Transition Team was held Thursday, July 22, from 4:30-6:00 pm with all members present. Jean (bless her heart) brought pizza, which infused lotsa mozzarella energy into our meeting. She offered to also bring food to future meetings.

We began with a devotion centered on this thought: In Calling a Pastor, We Consider Our Own Calling, which has come in our own baptism. From my devotional resource:

That is why Martin Luther was bold to insist that "the ministry of the Word belongs to all." And again, "There is no other Word of God than that which is given all Christians to proclaim." (from Luther's Concerning the Ministry, 1523) Just as all Christians share the promise, so too do we share the task of proclamation. Most of us take up the task in the ministry of daily life. Others we ask to do so publicly for the community so faith can be created and sustained in us. So we see that in the economy of God's grace the ministry of those called and ordained follows from the call which has come to all who believe.

We spent some time with introductions, and learned that our Team has a rich combination of experiences of service both in their family and work vocations and in the congregation. We completed a brief "Congregational Vitality" survey, whick asked us rate Grace from 1-5 on following two questions:

How well do these phrases describe your congregation:

• Worship nurtures people’s faith
• Deepens people’s relationship with God
• A clear sense of mission/purpose
• Excitement about the congregation’s future
• Always ready to try something new
• A positive force in the community
• Works for social justice/advocacy

And, How well does your congregation...

• Incorporate new members into congregational life
• Seek out and use the gifts of members of all ages
• Build strong, healthy relationships among members
• Manage disagreements in a healthy respectful manner
• Address social concerns (helping those in need)
• Equip members to share their faith with others Interact with the local community
• Help members live out their faith in daily lives

Transition Team members learned that this is a survey that could easily be distributed to the congregation, and would provide helpful information on how the congregation sees its stregths and growth areas. Data such as this, as well as other data an input from the congregation throughout the interim time through small group meetings and other surveys will greatly assist the Transition Team in completing the Ministry Site Profile in such a way that it is a reflection of members of the congregation who have provided their input, perspectives and opinions.

The next two meetings of the Team are scheduled for Thursdays, August 5, and August 19, both at 4:30 pm.

Fall Planning Underway

Following the Staff meeting on Tuesday, Heather, Maureen, Tom and I met to discuss plans for Wednesday Spirit beginning September 8, which includes Supper, worship, and then various activities involving youth, children and adults, including choirs. This is still a work in progress, and we will keep the planning process going until all the pieces are put together.

Synod Assembly

In my July 9 Grace Notes post I provided information regarding the Synod Assembly on Friday, September 24 from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. Grace is allowed four voting congregation members, two of whom should be 30 or younger. You can read that post with the link to the registration page HERE.

Worship Notes

The ELCA publishes Worship newsletter once a month, and you can read the July issue HERE.

Met new preschool director

This week I had the opportunity to meet Andrea Hirt, the new director of Noah's Ark Preschool. From the August issue of G&T:

Andrea is busy preparing for the upcoming school year and is looking forward to an exciting year with the students! We welcome Andrea and are excited to have her on board!
NOAH’S ARK OPEN HOUSE: Thursday, September 2, 6-7pm
SCHOOL BEGINS: September 7 - Tuesday-Thursday Class; September 8 - Monday-Wednesday-Friday Class

LIFT Leaders Meeting

LIFT Leaders met on Wednesady this week at 11:00 am. One of our main items of discussion was the possibility of creating a "pulpit exchange" of LIFT pastors on 5th Sundays, so that all LIFT member congregations could get to know Pastor Paul as well as other pastors in the LIFT family. I created a possible rotation schedule, and this is still under discussion by the LIFT pastors, so nothing officia or even tentative at this point. Another point of discussion was distributed responsibilities for care centers, but with those centers still just beginning to open up, we did not make any definite decisions regarding this.

Interim Grace Notes for July 16, 2021

LIFT Board Meeting

On Sunday I attended my first LIFT Board meeting at St. John's. Joined Maureen for the representation from Grace. Main business was the agenda for the full LIFT Board which is this Sunday, 12:30 pm at St. John's.

Council/Transition Team Workshop

Thanks to all who attended the Council/Transition Team Workshop on Monday night. I know that some attend these meetings after a full day of work, so your dedication to Grace is impressive and commendable. The documents I distributed at the meeting are linked below:

• Stages and Tasks of Interim Ministry
  This chart describes visually (1) the Stages (linear in time) of the interim from Termination of your previous pastor to Startup of your newly called pastor and (2) The Tasks of interim ministry, referred to as "Self Study," and is also called "The Work of the Congregation." There are five Tasks (also called Focus Points) that are attended to during the interim time, facilitated by the Transition Team (see link to Focus Points below)
• The Work of the Congregation During the Interim Period: Focus Points
  This one page document provides brief descriptions of the Five Focus Points (new term) or Developmental Tasks (older term) which should be the work of the congregation during the Interim Time. Note that the end result is to provide an answer to the question: “Who are we?”, “What is God calling us to do?” and “Who are our neighbors?”
• The ELCA -- Serving the Gospel for Tomorrow
  This essay by Dr. Timothy Wengert, professor emeritus at United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, is the piece that I began but was able to only begin. Dr. Wengert speaks in this essay of three areas which must shape our future as a church (congregation, synod, ELCA): the commitment to the Bible, the centrality of worship, and the witness of the gospel as shaped by our Lutheran Confessions, primarily the Augsburg Confession. This essay is quite long, but I'd encourage you to spend some time reading and studing it, as it provides some clear direction for the ELCA, and for our local congregations, especially those in transition.
• Congregational Resource Tream (CRT) brochure
  I had made copies of this brochure, but forgot to distribute them at the workshop. This brochure describes the work of the CRT in our synod, which leads a series of workshops developed the the Healthy Congregations organization, and helps congregations to see themselves as emotional systesm. This was the main theme of Dr. Peter Steinke's talk in the video that we viewed at the workshop. The synod recommends that all congregation going through the interim process participate in at least Workshop #1. It's a four hour workshop usually done on a Saturday morning. We did this at St. John's Bellevue with Pr. Rob Johnson from Toledo as our leader. It was very well received by the council there.

Care Center Visits

I made my first care center visit on Sunday, stopping at Valley View on the way out of town on US6. It was a rather laborious registration system of answering health questions and getting a QR code which I took a picture of with my phone. It will be easier for subsequent visits as all I'll have to do now is display the photo of this QR to their scanner, which also takes my temp (98.3 on Sunday!) and clears me for visiting. I was able to visit and offer Holy Communion to Geri S., Carol K. and Kathy S. Masks are still required in the hallways and in semi-private rooms, but can be removed if you are alone with a resident either in their room or in a community space.

Bishop Daniel's latest email

You can read it HERE.

Local Lutheran Pastor Elevated to National Leadership

Twenty years ago, Trinity Lutheran, one of our then sister ELCA congregations in Monroeville, was at a crossroads. Attendance and membership had dwindled to perilous levels, and they had talked about closing, because they could only afford a half-time pastor. A new Trinity Seminary graduate, Amy Little, accepted the half-time call to Trinity. After several years, Pr. Amy had grown the congregation in numbers and giving to the level they could afford to provide her full-time compensation. Pastor Amy continued to grow the ministry at Trinity, and proved that the right leader can help to transform the climate of a congregation.

In 2011, Trinity withdrew from the ELCA and joined the newly formed North American Lutheran Church, or NALC, formed primarily from their disagreement with the ELCA on matters of sexuality. As a pastor in the NALC, Pastor Amy has served as the submissions editor for Sola Publishing, and on various NALC committees. She has recently accepted a call to serve as General Secretary, which is the chief operating officer of the NALC, managing its day-to-day administrative functions.

For many years, along with other area Lutheran pastors, I worked with Pastor Amy, even after she left the ELCA, to provide summer camp experiences for our congregations' confirmation youth. We were neighbors in faith and ministry, and physical neighbors, too. During my years in Norwalk, we lived across the street and down a few houses from each other on Liberty Street. You can read more about Pastor Amy and her new call HERE.

First Transition Team Meeting Scheduled

Members of the Grace Transition Team caucused at the end of the Council workshop Monday night and scheduled their first meeting for Thursday, July 22 at 4:30 pm. A Transition Team normally meets about twice a month for as many months it takes to complete their work. Transition Team members are:

• Ed Muffler
• Beth Muffler
• Peggy Kiser
• Jean Dupey
• Becky Seibert
• Mike Amor
• Larry McElfresh

VBS Meeting Finalizes Plans for "To Mars and Beyond"

On Wednesday, Heather and I joined Pastor Paul, Tricia from Hayes UMC, and Sue from St. John's to finalize the plans for our LIFT sponsored VBS, "To Mars and Beyond." The VBS will be held from 6:00 - 7:30 on Monday through Wednesday, July 26 -28. To register Pre-K through Grade 6 kids, or yourself as a volunteer, go HERE.

Conversation with Sherry Krieger

On Tuesday, I had a Zoom conversation with Sherry Krieger, the NWOS Director of Leadership Development for Congregational Care. Bishop Daniel knew that I had some questions about Maureen's authority to preside over Holy Communion at Grace now that I have arrived as interim pastor. Specifically, I was wondering if Maureen's authorization to preside at Holy Communion extended to services for which I would not be present. This would include funerals for which the family requests Holy Communion, Saturday services, where normally only one pastor is present, and weekends during which I would not be present because of vacation or attending continuing education. The answer to that question is "yes". The only limit on Maureen's authority to preside over Holy Communion at Grace is when both of us are serving as leaders of a worship service, in which case I would be the one always to preside. The instructive paragraph of the ELCA docment The Use of the Means of Grace is on page 45:

In witness that this sacrament is a celebration of the Church, serving its unity, an ordained minister presides in the service of Holy Communion and proclaims the Great Thanksgiving . Where it is not possible for an extended period of time to provide ordained pastoral leadership, a synodical bishop may authorize a properly trained lay person to preside for a specified period of time and in a given location only.

Sherry also indicated that Maureen's authority to celebrate Holy Communion extends to all the LIFT congregations, if no other ordained pastor is present at that service. This is good to know, in that in our LIFT meetings we are considering a program of rotation of pastors, possibly on a 5th Sunday, so that all members of the LIFT parish are exposed to all the pastors in the parish.

Interim Grace Notes for July 9, 2021

Synod Assembly Registration Open

The 2021 Northwestern Ohio Synod Assembly has been scheduled for Friday, September 24 from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. There is no cost to attend, and will be held via Zoom. This streamlined business-only Assembly will include voting on council and committee nominees, budget, compensation guidelines, and other assembly business matters. There will not be special guest speakers, extended workshops, or breakout rooms as in previous assemblies. Registration is open now through September 10. For links to Asssembly registration and the NWOS Assembly site, go HERE.

Council/Transition Team Workshop Monday

You likely have already read the reminder email from Linda regarding the Council/Transition Team workshop scheduled for Monday, July 12, from 5:30 - 8:30 pm. This meeting will include a brief business time to approve essential reports, but the main event will a workshop to orient Council and Transition Team - those identified so far, to the interim process, and the roles that Council and Transition Team will play in that process. I have not yet finalized the schedule, but expect me to present and invite participation from those attending regarding the following

• A few get-to-know-you-better activities, and sharing of hopes and dreams for Grace
• A broad overview of the interim process, including a more thorough description of the Five Focus Points for the interim
• An introduction to the congregation as an emotional system, by viewing a video talk by Rev. Dr. Peter Steinke, founder of the Healthy Congregations organization
• A presentation on some important scriptural and confessional concepts which help us to focus our mission and ministry as a congregation. I will be using the essay "The ELCA: Serving the Gospel for Tomorrow," by Rev. Dr. Timothy Wengert, Professor Emeritus of United Lutheran Seminary as a basis for this part of the workshop.

A light supper will be served during this event, so no need to eat before you come.

Garry Coleman Memorial Scheduled

The church office received a request from the family of Garry Coleman to hold a memorial service at Grace on Saturday, August 7 at 11:00 am. I agreed to preside and conduct the service. My understanding is that Mr. Coleman was a former member of Grace, but moved with his wife to Florida about 25 years ago, and transferred their congregation membership. Mrs. Coleman died in 2019, and Pr. Jody conducted a memorial service for her at Grace. Grace doesn't have hard and fast policies on who we do church based funerals or memorial services and what we should charge for such services for non-members. For now they ar being handled on a case-by-case basis. It is hard to know what to quote for costs.

Article about Fremont

One of my Fremont Facebook friends posted this very positive article about Fremont. This article could very well provide some valuable information for the Transition Team as they complete the Ministry Site Profile, which includes a section on the characteristics of the community in which the ministry site is located.

Bishop Daniel email

You can read Bishop Daniel's most recent email HERE.

Interim Grace Notes for July 2, 2021

Sympathy to the family of Scott Wood

We extend our sympathy and prayers to the family of Scott Wood, who died this week. Pray especially for Scott's wife, Mary Alyce, who is Maureen's sister, and their children and grandchildren. The funeral for Scott will be next Friday, July 9. at Grace. Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. with the service to follow at 11:00 a.m. Maureen will preside. You can read the obituary HERE.

Retreat at Henry and Becky's

I spent most of the day Monday at Henry and Becky Seibert's farm, enjoying the hospitality and good food, a fellowship that one always experiences in that setting. For the past twenty or so years, a group of pastors from our Northwestern Ohio Synod have met twice a year for one or two day retreats for conversation, mutual support, learning, prayer, worship and solitude. The setting for these retreats has usually been The Pines Retreat Center in Fremont, but on several occasions we have met at Henry and Becky's house. Initially there were four smaller groups, from which one larger group was formed. Bishop Daniel was a part of my original group, and he was able to join us for Monday's gathering.

Graveside Funeral on Friday

On Friday I conducted a graveside funeral service at Greenlawn for George "Bud" Lamson of Clyde at the request of the Auxter Funeral Home. The family expressed a preference for a Lutheran pastor, so I was happy to provide this ministry.

Welcome of Pastor Matt Zuehlke

On Wednesday evening, I attended the welcoming service for Pastor Matt Zuehlke at Zion in Gibsonburg. Tom Curry joined me in representing Grace. Like Grace, Zion's worship space is not air conditioned, it was a bit warm, but the significance of the event made the discomfort negligible. As I mentioned last week, Pastor Matt is on loan from the Presbyterian Church USA, and his serving Zion as pastor is possible because of our full-communion relationship with this church body. Full-communion fellowship means that we can freely commune at each others altars, and freely call each others pastors to serve in our respective congregations.

Did you know that our ELCA has Full Communion relationships with six other US church bodies? You can learn more about who our Full Communion Partners are and what that means for our ministry together HERE.

Adding to the ecumenicity of Pr. Matt's service was the presence of Father Scott, the Roman Catholic priest serving the St. Mary and St. Michael Parishes in Helena and Gibsonburg. Father Scott vested, processed with us, and brought greetings from his parish. Attending pastors gathered for a group photo with Pastor Matthew and Bishop Daniel following the service, which you can view HERE.

One of the Five Focus Points for the interim time is called "Connections," which is defined as "discovering all the relationships a faith community builds outside of itself." This includes not only church body connections, but other civic and community connections, such as food banks, government entities (police, firefighters), other service focused non-profits such as Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity. I'll be saying more about the Five Focus Points during our Council workshop on July 12.

Email from Bishop Daniel

You can read Bishop Daniel's most recent email message HERE.

Just Three Things

If you missed this week's issue of Just Three Things, you can read it HERE.

A Prayer for the 4th of July

Liberating God, you have given us this good land as our heritage. Make us always remember your generosity and constantly do your will. Bless our land with honesty in the workplace, truth in education, and honor in daily life. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance; and from every evil course of action. When times are prosperous, let our hearts be thankful; and, in troubled times, do not let our trust in you fail. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.