Interim Grace Notes for February 24, 2023

A Good Week of Continuing Education

My week of Recreation and Revelation went well. The "Recreation" part meant four days on the slopes of Winter Park ski area, ascending to 11,200 feet from the base level of 9,000'. I spent three of the four days skiing with Steve Delzer, my bishop during my 2015 interim in Minnesota in the Southeastern Minnesota Synod.

The "Revelation" part involved four presentations each by Drs. Ryan Bonfiglio and Kelly Sherman-Conroy. Dr. Ryan provided solid teaching on Sabbath "as divine gift—a disruptive and daring invitation to experiment with meaningful play, restorative rest, sensual holiness, communal feasting, and social justice." If you want to take a look at some of the concepts Dr. Ryan shared, take a look at his PowerPoint, which you can view HERE.

Dr. Kelly brought a Native American perspective to her presentations, as she is a proud member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. These are the native people who inhabited the land homesteaded by great-grandparents in Eastern South Dakota. She led us in a Native "Smudging Ceremony" using sage, and became the Confession and Forgiveness for our Thursday worship. You can read more about Kelly HERE.

A Close Encounter with Covid-19

By Friday evening's plane ride home, I was beginning to feel not so good. I awoke on Saturday feeling worse, but, nevertheless, drove to Fremont to conduct the Saturday service, which I did with great difficulty. When I got home after the service, I took a Covid rapid-test, which came back positive. Maureen filled in for me on Sunday morning, and also for Ash Wednesday. Mary Carmen took my noon-1pm shift for drive-through ashes.

My Primary-Care physician wrote me a prescription for Paxlovid, the series of drugs that helps relieve Covid-19 symptoms. It is taken twice a day for five days. I'll finish my course on Saturday morning.

Current CDC Recommendations when testing positive for Covid-19 include:

• Stay home for 5 days from symptom onset and isolate from others in your home.
• End home-isolation after 5 full days if you are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medications
• Wear a well-fitting mask for 10 full days any time you are around others inside your home or in public.

I plan to conduct worship on Saturday, February 25, and be available to preach on Sunday, February 26. I will wear an N-95 mask, and not otherwise interact with others during worship.

Meeting with Jennie Wolf Smith on Tuesday, February 21

After arranging a meeting with Jennie Wolf Smith to help provide Grace direction with their recent bequest, I had to sit it out with my positive Covid-19 test. I received the following message from Jennie, who reported on the meeting:

A quick note to say the conversation at Grace went well yesterday. You'll see an email coming through soon to connect Grace with Sonja Markwart, the ELCA regional gift planner for NW Ohio. I think Sonja will be a good resource for considering the appropriate vehicle(s) to park the bequest funds for short and long term. I strongly encouraged the group to establish a gift acceptance policy for future gifts so such decisions are already made. Sonja will be helpful in this regard, too.

I also offered to Al that Sonja would be able to review the Endowment and Memorial policies and suggest tune-ups to help both run effectively.

The group was very open to Stewardship for All Seasons. I should have starting dates ready to share with you at the beginning of March.

And I offered to put together a proposal for a new strategic planning process. The question of how to use this gift to strengthen the ministry and congregation of Grace will take some intentional time to unearth. The group agreed this is the right next step. I'll aim to have that proposal to you in the coming days.

I have made an email connection with Sonja. She says she is traveling in the area March 6-7, so we are arranging a phone call to discuss details. I'll keep you informed about that.

As promised, Jennie sent a proposal from GSB for Grace to create a strategic plan. I will forward this to Executive Committee, and if anyone else wants to see it, let me know and I'll send it over.

Midweek Lent Series "Amazing Grace" Begins Wednesday

Join us for our Amazing Grace Lenten series based on the beloved song that celebrates its 250th anniversary this year. In this week’s service, we will see God’s amazing grace at work in the life of the prophet Isaiah, who proclaimed to God’s people the salvation that was to come through the Suffering Servant. Our call in Lent is to speak that same message of salvation found in the suffering and death of Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve. Supper is served beginning at 5:30 pm, and worship begins at 6:30 pm.