Electrical Circuits Upgraded in Office
For a long time, Grace office staff have relied on an older microwave that seemed to be past its prime. It would heat, but it had lost some of its heating punch. Also, one could not operate the microwave and the Keurig coffee maker at the same time, as that was sure to trip a breaker. Recently, a new microwave was purchased for the office, using funds donated for that purpose. But there was a problem. Using the new microwave by itself tripped the breaker, which also crashed Tricia's computer. Burkette Electric came and addressed the situation. I'm not sure exactly what those professionals did, but everything seems to be working just fine now.
Congregational Resource Team Meeting
On Tuesday I joined a Zoom meeting of our synod's Congregational Resource Team. Several months ago I was invited to join this team, which I did. The Synod website describes the Teams purpose like this:
Helping your Congregation gain a vision for itself for ministry and mission
Founded in 2012, the Congregational Resource Team (CRT) exists to promote the health and well-being of congregations of the Northwestern Ohio Synod. We offer programs to foster congregational health, offer conflict resolution, and help with the call process.
One of the programs offered by CRT is a series of six workshops developed by the Healthy Congregations organization, based in Columbus. These workshops help congregations see themselves as an emotional system through the application of family systems thinking. I will eventually take the training from Healthy Congregation to become a workshop facilitator. During my interim at St. John's, we did two of these workshops, and they were very well received and very helpful.
Eastern Conference Pastors Meeting
Eastern Conference Pastors met Thursday morning for our bi-monthly meeting at Grace Castalia. We welcomed the newest member of our group, Pastor Jennifer Hermann, recently installed as the pastor of Trinity Sandusky (Venice) on Bardshar Road. Jennifer's family includes 9-year-old son Malachi, who is adjusting to a new school. Becky accompanied Pastor Henry to the meeting to talk about accompaniment, the word that she shared with us in her message along with Maureen and Jana on September 17, meaning the relationship we have with three other Lutheran church bodies around the world, including Tanzania, Serbia and Mexico. It was a good meeting in that we all shared what was happening in our congregations and lives. Pastor Dennis, recently retired from Emmanuel Hessville, was present, so it was good to see him.
Healthy Congregations September Event
Today (Friday) I attended via Zoom the Healthy Congregations September Event from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm. Through keynote messages and small group workshops used a Bowen Family Systems lens to engage our thinking and responses to trauma. Among other things the event helped us to
- explore ways of responding to and managing the effects of trauma in ourselves and in our communities.
- apply a systems approach to trauma in a variety of different circumstances.
Some Thoughts on Stewardship
Last week at this time I was finishing the writing for the brochure and bulletin inserts that will be key parts of our Stewardship Appeal, a six-week program that will launch the weekend of October 15. Here are some sentences and paragraphs from my recent Stewardship reading:
Christian Stewardship is the practice of systematic and proportionate giving of time, abilities, and material possessions, based upon the conviction that these are trusts from God to be used in service for the benefit of all humankind in grateful acknowledgment of Christ's redeeming love. (National Council of Churches United Stewardship Council - 1946)
From his book Abundance by Mike Ward:
Let me define two important Concepts:
Abundance: I believe that abundance is a mindset and not a condition of wealth. Abundance is recognizing the One who provides us everything and recognizing that it is not only enough, but enough to share.
Generosity: This is not only for the uber wealthy among us. In fact, much of the times those who are most generous are not the wealthiest. The generous are the ones who have learned that the joy of material wealth is the ability to share it with others for the common good with no expectation of receiving anything in return.
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