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