Interim Grace Notes for July 22, 2022

Interim Grace Notes for July 22, 2022

LIFT Board Meeting

The next board meeting is Sunday, July 24 at 12:30 at St. John's. Business and action items listed below:

• Updates
  • Trinity Closing
  • LIFT Vision Meeting: July 25
  • VBS
  • Bridge of Hope—New coordinator Annie Garcia
  • Camino de Vida
  • Community Garden
  • Confirmation
  • Backpack Program
  • Campus Ministry
• Old Business
  • 2022 and LIFT Board officer staffing
• New Business
  • LIFT a New Leaf—Proposing a new service project as a one-day event in the autumn, similar to Love Your Neighbor Day, where teams of volunteers rake leaves at the homes of elderly/homebound folks.
  • Gun Buyback: Father Matt Walgren from St. Paul’s has invited LIFT to collaborate on a “guns into gardens” program where, in collaboration with law enforcement and a blacksmith, firearms would be purchased to get the off the streets, and then formed into garden tools like shovels.
  • Blessing of the Animals: Last year this service was at St. Mark. Would we want to try it again?
  • Family Faith Nights: After seeing kids and adults interacting together at VBS, what would it look like to regularly (maybe quarterly) try to do some sort of intergenerational time together?

LIFT Visioning Meeting

Members of all the LIFT congregations are invited to a time of visioning, planning, and togetherness as we look to plan the future of LIFT. We will gather on Monday, July 25 from 6-8 p.m. at St. John's. Leaders of the Northwestern Ohio Synod will help us in this process. We especially encourage participation from church council members, congregational leaders, and anyone with creative vision about being Church together.

Confirmation Leaders Meeting

LIFT Congregation confirmation leaders met on Tuesday to make some decisions about the confirmation ministry program for the coming program year – September 2022 through May 2023. We will have one less congregation participating, and two fewer leaders than last year. St. Mark will have no youth participating this year. Participating congregations this year will be St. John's and Grace. The two main issues that we discussed were scheduling and curriculum. With regard to scheduling, it has been difficult to find a time that works for all, including families and leaders. We agreed on a compromise to offer our learning sessions at two different times: 1st and 3rd Sundays at Grace at 9:00 am, and 2nd and 4th at St. John's at 12:00 noon. The same lesson content will be taught at each location.

With regard to curriculum, LIFT congregations have been on a two-year rotation of learning content. Year 1 is Bible, and Year 2 is Catechism. The focus for this year will be Bible. We are tentatively going to use a Bible survey course called Manna and Mercy, which is presented in 16 lessions/sessions.

Heather Preparing for Churchwide Assembly (CWA) in August

Heather recently attended a meeting of those from our synod who will be attending the 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly on August 8-12 in Columbus. Some of the discussion helped voting members become acquainted with some of the issues that will be voted upon. Some of those issues include “On Leave From Call” status, which affects how rostered leaders enter and leave that status. There are also issues around how to administer discipline for rostered leaders, including removal from the roster, which, if happens, makes it impossible to receive a future call. It gets very complicated, so prayers for all our CWA Voting Members who will have to make decisions about this and many other issues.

Just a reminder that our CWA voting members, elected by our synods (and some who attend “ex officio, e.g. all synod bishops), do not “represent” us. They represent only themselves. In an older model of these kinds of gatherings, voting members were called “delegates,” which suggested that they were somehow representing the views and opinions of those areas from which they were elected.

Insurance Renewal Rates Up

Linda has sent a message to Council Members regarding our insurance rates. She sat down with the Church Mutual (our current carrier) agent this past week and reviewed the updated policy, which would be for 8/1/2022 – 7/31/2023. Bottom Line: there is about a 9% increase ($2,094) Amount for 2022: $19,602Amount for 2023: $21,696 Linda reminded Council members that she will be on vacation next week, so will need to move quickly on this when she returns, and the first quarter payment is due on August 12.

ELCA Worship Notes

You can read the July issue of ELCA Worship Notes HERE. At the top is a message from the ELCA Executive for Worship, Deacon John Weit:

We are in the final weeks before the 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, gathering in Ohio, Aug. 8-12, under the theme "Embody the Word." Worship will be central to the work of the assembly. Each day participants will gather for worship including Holy Communion on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; a Service of Word and Prayer on Tuesday; and Morning Prayer on Thursday. The worship moves through an arc that begins in the wilderness honoring where we have been as church over these last years, then into lament and repentance, and on to mission and sending. The assembly schedule, including worship times, is available on the Churchwide Assembly website for worship in the weeks leading up to and following the assembly.

National Hot Fudge Sundae Day

You may not know, but if you do, don't forget that Monday, July 25, is National Hot Fudge Sundae Day. You can be sure that I will be celebrating the day with gusto! You are welcome to join me!

Covid Transmission Levels Up

It comes as no surprise that Covid levels are up. President Biden has tested positive, and Rep. Bennie Thompson also, addressing the January 6 hearing Thursday night remotely. I learned via Facebook that my home congregation, Christ in Hendricks, Minnesota, has canceled worship for this Sunday because their new pastor, whose first Sunday was last Sunday and followed by a potluck gathering in the fellowship hall to welcome him, tested positive for Covid. It was too late to find a replacement, so they canceled worship. I'm not suggesting any changes in what we're doing at Grace – but it never hurts to proceed with caution. I haven't listened to Dr. Osterholm's latest podcast (which are now bi-weekly instead of weekly) but will do so soon. See the paragraph below to find the link.

A Suggestion for Summer Reading

I recently read a book by Rob Bell entitled “Love Wins.” The book was a bit controversial when it was published several years ago, as Bell suggested some alternatives to some of our common conceptions of heaven and hell. ELCA retired seminary professor Dr. Timothy Wengert offers some similar thoughts in a Living Lutheran article from 2018. Bell is no stranger to Grace, as some years ago his video series “Nooma” was used for an adult Bible study class. I found both the book and the article insightful and challenging. You can find the book HERE, or at your local library. You can find the Wengert article HERE.

Marcy At Air Camp for Educators this week

This summer Marcy applied for and was accepted into, and attended the Air Camp for Educators program this week from Monday through Thursday.. Copied below are a few paragraphs from the Air Camp web site:

Air Camp is a hands-on, educational adventure in aviation and aeronautics. We inspire students at the intermediate and middle school levels, as well as teachers and educational leaders across all grades, to learn more about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) using aviation and aerospace as our medium while promoting the values of scholarship, leadership, and citizenship.

Air Camp is the vision of Dayton-area leaders who want to help young people nationwide achieve their potential, develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, and pursue further education and future careers in STEM-related fields, aviation, and aeronautics

Activities included piloting a plane and a drone. She brought home a flight suit, which she can wear on days that she teaches aeronautical science lessons.

Osterholm Update

Dr. Michael Osterholm, founder and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, continues to deliver solid scientific analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic in his weekly podcasts. With cases declining, the podcast has scaled back to posting an episode every other week. The latest episode, posted on Thursday, July 21, is entitled "Rejecting the Status Quo." In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss the BA.5 surge in cases in the U.S. and around the world, assess the risk of reinfection with BA.5, and answer a COVID query about isolation guidelines. You can listen to or download this episode HERE.

Staff Vacation Weeks

• Tom - now through July 31
• Linda - next week, July 25 - 29
• Pr. Mark - next week and weekend - July 25 - 31

Interim Grace Notes for July 15, 2022

Week of VBS Concludes Thursday

A second week of LIFT VBS concluded on Thursday evening, incorporating the Thursday evening worship at St. John's. The first week was held at St. Mark, and led by Pr. Paul and members at St. Mark. They decided to offer a VBS week this year to better serve Fremont's east side community. Pr. Paul joined leaders at Grace and St. John for LIFT VBS week 2 at St. John's with our "Compassion" based theme. Our numbers were down a bit, as we didn't have kids from Faith and Hayes as we did last year. Pr. Paul put together a nice video, and Heather posted it on the Grace FB page with an evaluative comment, which you can view HERE.

Pastor Paul will preach August 21

Maureen and I met with Pastor Paul this week to schedule his next preaching assignment at Grace, which will be the weekend of August 20-21. This was Maureen's weekend to preach at Grace, so she will preside and preach at St. Mark instead. She and I are rotating on who covers for Pr. Paul when he comes to Grace. Next time will be my turn!

Backpack buddies update

Pastor Paul provided the following update about our new LIFT ministry, Backpack Buddies:

LIFT will be starting a new backpack program at Lutz Elementary School in early September. This is an exciting chance to partner in the community and meet some real hunger needs—filling gaps for kids to eat on the weekends when there is no school lunch program. It involves sending a backpack home on weekends with some healthy snacks and food that kids can prepare on their own. School staff identifies students with food insecurity issues at home. We would provide backpacks and food, assemble them and deliver them to the school. School staff would distribute them to students. To help fund this project, we are seeking financial contributions and donations of kid-friendly food items in individual servings. Look a basket in the sanctuary. Grace members are specifically encouraged to bring lunch items:

• Individual mac & cheese
• Canned pasta
• Apple sauce
• Peanut butter
• Crackers in sleeves

The next gathering for planning will be at St. John’s on Tuesday, August 9 at 10 AM. For more information, contact Pastor Paul Bailie (bailiepaul@gmail.com, 440-477-3641).

LIFT Leaders Meet

LIFT leaders met for our monthly meeting on Wednesday. We use this time to find out what our individual congregations are doing, especially those ministries we don't have as much contact with, such as Emmanuel, Faith, and Camino Da Vida.

Endowment Fund Report

Al Mehlow sent the 2nd quarter financial report on the Grace Endowment Fund, and it should come as no surprise that the value of holdings is down since the beginning of the year. But the portfolio also has some dividend producing funds which help to offset the decreases in value. Ending value June 30, 2022 is $1,152,592.60

Roots of Our Faith Sessions Continue

There will be two more sessions of the class I am leading during Sunday School hour (9:00 - 9:45 am) which I'm calling "Roots of Our Faith." So far, we have been looking at the biblical story, and in the two remaining sessions, I'll be presenting some of the unique ways that Lutherans understand and approach the Biblical story. On Sunday we'll be talking about "Up versus Down Religion." It is our responsibility to climb the ladder to reach God, or does God come down to us? We'll also be covering Lutheran basics like justification by grace through faith, law and gospel, and Luther's Two Kingdoms teaching. Come and join us in the dining room!

Osterholm Update

Dr. Michael Osterholm, founder and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, continues to deliver solid scientific analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic in his weekly podcasts. With cases declining, the podcast has scaled back to posting an episode every other week. The latest episode, posted on Thursday, July 8, is entitled "Living With Covid." In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss the state of the pandemic in the U.S. and internationally, the rise of the BA.5 subvariant, and what living with COVID currently looks like for Dr. Osterholm. You can listen to or download this episode HERE.

Pastor Paul on Innovator Leaders Academy Weekend

For the past couple years, NWOS has been partnering with Rev. Dr. Michael Adam Beck, who is the co-pastor of Wildwood UMC in Wildwood, Florida, where he leads his traditional parish and also supports the growth of small groups in the community known as fresh expressions. These groups are little new Christian communities led by people of faith that spring up in the neighborhood as “Fresh Expressions of Church.” A fresh expression is a form of church for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of those who are not yet part of any church. It’s a really neat model of discipleship and engaging our community beyond the walls of our church buildings. Those participating in the program attend several weekend events over the course of the year to learn about and experience this new way of approaching ministry and outreach. Heather participated last year, and Pastor Paul a member of this years cohort. This is one of their weekends, and Pr. Paul has reported from Faith Lutheran in Metamora. You can read more about Innovator Leaders Academy HERE.

Interim Grace Notes for July 8, 2022

VBS Set to Go on Monday

Our LIFT VBS is ready to go beginning Monday evening, 6:00 - 7:30 pm, and continuing every evening through Thursday, concluding with Thursday evening worship. VBS will be at St. John's this year, and we're thankful to Heather and Sue Lawrence for spending lots of time in preparation and planning. You can register a child or yourself to volunteer HERE.

LIFT Zoom to Plan for July 25 Visioning and Planning Meeting

On Wednesday, I joined a Zoom meeting with LIFT Leaders along with Deacon Sherry Krieger, Pr. Sarah Schaag, and Cala Gilson from synod staff to gather input for planning a visioning and planning meeting for LIFT on Monday, July 25, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm at St. John's. This meeeting is for anyone and everyone from all our LIFT congregations, especially Council members and staff who want to see LIFT move forward with creative vision of being church to together.

LIFT Backpack Planning Meeting on Sunday at Noon

LIFT is embarking on a new ministry called "Backpack Buddies." Pastor Paul explained the program in a May 26 email to LIFT Board and Leaders:

We were approached about a service opportunity in partnership with local schools that really falls into what we were talking about at our last meeting in terms of outreach in the community. One of the school social workers asked LIFT to provide a weekly backpack program at Lutz Elementary. Currently Victory Church partners with Croghan Elementary and the Alliance Church does the program at Otis. It involves sending a backpack home every other weekend with some healthy snacks and food that kids can prepare on their own. School staff identifies 10-15 students with food insecurity issues at home. We would provide backpacks and food, assemble them and deliver them to the school. School staff would distribute them to students.

I think this is a very doable project that folks in our congregations could rally behind. It addresses several of our Mission Priorities (Hearing the needs, Present in the community) and is something hands-on that people could get involved with. Right now, there is $700 in the LIFT Away Hunger account and $569 in undesignated Thrivent Choice funds. If we get a $250 Thrivent Action grant, that would give us a good start before asking congregation members for in-kind donations.

The ELCA has a document about starting these backpack programs that has some helpful information. I'm attaching it HERE.

After many affirmative responses from LIFT members and associates, we have forged ahead on this project, with Pastor Paul taking the lead in getting us organized. If you would like to help with the planning of this program, we will have an organizational meeting this Sunday, July 10, at 12 noon at St. Mark.

A New Picture Church Directory?

Picture church directories have long been a staple of congregational life. Most of the congregations I have served have published one or more directories during my tenure as their pastor, and also provide a literal pictorial snapshot of the congregation when created.

Problem is, they quickly become dated. The last directory created at Grace was in 2014. Even though faces have changed, it has still been a helpful tool for me to learn names and faces. Another problem, Church Directory companies are less willing to provide significant photo times without a large membership to photograph and sell portraits. I learned this at St. John's Bellevue, when a directory company was willing to come and photograph on two evenings during the week. Our solution at St. John's was to have a professional photographer who is a member of the congregation to do our photography. We were then able to put the directory online, and upload photos to our management software database.

I think that Grace is due for a new directory -- it would certainly be a gift for your new pastor in learning names and faces. Perhaps something you can discuss at Monday's council meeting.

Will Be Late for Council on Monday

I'm directly involved with leadership at VBS this year (I'm leading the Bible Story skits at the beginning), so won't be able to attend Executive, and will miss the first part of Council. I'll join you as soon as I'm done at VBS.

ELCA Global Links

You can read the latest on ELCA Global Mission activities HERE.

Interim Grace Notes for July 1, 2022

Presiding Bishop's Pastoral Letter on Abortion

Our Presiding Bishop, Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, has issued a pastoral message on the recent ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States which overturns Roe vs. Wade, and removes federal constitutional protection for safe and legal abortion and leaving decisions about abortion law largely to the states. Her message reminds us that

despite this new legal landscape, we continue to depend on our social teaching for guidance. Our social statement provides the moral framework for our church's communal discernment and ministry, holding in tension both the strong Christian presumption to preserve and protect all life as well as the complex moral situations in which pregnancy sometimes occurs. Our social teaching is complex and does not hew to clear categories or labels such as "pro-abortion" or "anti-abortion."

You can read the ELCA Statement on Abortion, adopted in 1991 by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly by a more than two-thirds vote, HERE. I encourage you to read both Bishop Eaton's message, and the above linked social statement. It is important to note that the statement emphasizes that with regard to abortion, there are no "absolutes:" "A developing life in the womb does not have an absolute right to be born, nor does a pregnant woman have an absolute right to terminate a pregnancy." The statement has five sections, as follows:

• Our Unity and Diversity in Christ
• Convictions of Our Faith
• The Church as a Community Supportive of Life
• Guidance in Making Decisions Regarding Unintended Pregnancies
• Public Policy Issues Related to Abortion

With regard to public policy, it is important to note the ELCA statement declares that

the position of this church is that, in cases where the life of the mother is threatened, where pregnancy results from rape or incest, or where the embryo or fetus has lethal abnormalities incompatible with life, abortion prior to viability should not be prohibited by law or by lack of public funding of abortions for low income women. On the other hand, this church supports legislation that prohibits abortions that are performed after the fetus is determined to be viable, except when the mother’s life is threatened or when lethal abnormalities indicate the prospective newborn will die very soon. Beyond these situations, this church neither supports nor opposes laws prohibiting abortion.

Latest post from Lanny's Sister

In previous issues of Grace Notes I have linked to posts by Diane Baima, the sister of an interim ministry colleague, Rev. Lanny Westphal, who has lived and worked in Ukraine since 2014 as a school teacher. She is married to a Ukrainian man, and lives on a farm outside of Kiev. Pastor Lanny posted the latest report from his sister, in which she describes the challenge of getting gas for her car in Ukraine. You can read Diane's post HERE.

Roots of Our Faith Class Continues

This Sunday at 9:00 am is the second of five sessions of a course I'm calling Roots of Our Faith. It is designed to be a class to prepare prospective members of Grace to be received as confirmed and voting members of the congregation. This week's session will focus on a panoramic view of the Old and New Testaments. People often read bits and pieces of the Bible, but seldom have time to put the whole story together and see the "big picture." We will be viewing a 40 minute video by Dr. Harry Wendt, author of the Crossways series of Bible Studies. In this video, Dr. Wendt leads us on a journey through the entire sweep of the biblical narrative, relating it to both history and our lives today. Would you like to get a helpful and informative overview of the message of scripture? Join us in the Dining Room on Sunday at 9:00 am.

Confirmation Leaders Plan for '22-'23

On Wednesday, I met with Heather and Pastor Paul (Pastor Matt was planning to attend, but was not available) to discuss our plans for confirmation ministry for the 2022-2023 program year. The program will be a bit different this year in that there will no youth from St. Mark participating. However, Pastor Paul will still be involved as a leader, as our confirmation program is considered an important element of our LIFT ministry. The challenge for doing confirmation ministry jointly is exponentially more challenging when the schedules of two congregations, four leaders, and a dozen or more participating youth and their families somehow need to come together. We will continue our planning at our next meeting on Tuesday, July 19, at 2:00 pm at Grace.

Osterholm Update

Dr. Michael Osterholm, founder and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, continues to deliver solid scientific analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic in his weekly podcasts. With cases declining, the podcast has scaled back to posting an episode every other week. The latest episode, posted on Thursday, June 23, is entitled "A BA.4 and BA.5 World." In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss the state of the pandemic in the U.S. and around the world, the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, and the recent approval of vaccines for children under 5. Dr. Osterholm also provides an update on monkeypox and shares a Celebration of Life from one of their listeners.. You can listen to or download this episode HERE.

VBS Planning Meeting

The VBS Team met for the final planning meeting this past Tuesday afternoon. Pastor Paul had his guitar and led us in singing and learning the songs that will be a part of Bible School this year. Youth were present and helped to prepare art projects, promotional posters, and decorations. Our VBS is scheduled for Monday, July 11, 2022 to Thursday, July 14, 2022, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM at St. John's. You can register for VBS online HERE. Share this link with anyone who may be interested in registering a child or grandchild for VBS.