Interim Grace Notes for February 16, 2024

Report on Colorado R&R

I had a good week of R&R (Recreation and Revelation) at Winter Park, Colorado from Sunday through Thursday, February 4-8. I returned to Ohio on Friday, February 9. We always have excellent speakers, good food and fellowship, and (sometimes) challenging recreation on the slopes of Winter Park Ski Resort, across Route US40 from Winter Park Mountain Lodage, our home for the week. Our speakers were Dr. Kimberly Wagner, currently Associate Professor of Preaching at Princeton Theological Seminary, who spoke on the issue of Trauma, and Dr. Mary Hinkle Shore, who spoke on the theme "Seeking Jesus Together." You can read more about Kim and Mary HERE, more about R&R HERE, and one page summaries of Dr.'s Kim and Mary's presentations HERE and HERE.

Organ MIDI Progress

Greg Jess continues to work diligently on getting our organ "mapped" to receive signals from SOS to play hymns on the organ instead of through the church sound system. To give you an idea of what this entails, I am copying Greg's recent email to Lynea, who is from SOS helping us make this connection.

Good afternoon, I wanted to inform everyone that with Lynea’s support, we have successfully mapped our organ. If I understand correctly, the next step is to take the digital file that was created today and convert that data to match as closely as possible to the corresponding stop, key, pedal on the organ used at Church Music Solutions. This process is estimated to take three weeks. Once that is completed, then any song in their library that has already been played/recorded from the red ELW can be coded to play on our organ rather simply via software. In the event a song is selected that has not yet been requested, an organist would play the hymn and add it to the library. There is also some behind the scenes work with Apple that needs to be done to allow Grace’s digital data to work properly within their app. The app will need to be downloaded to the iPad we will be using. Lynea will be keeping us informed and will share what cables and or apps we will need when we get closer to a trial run.

The urgency for this is a bit diminished since we will now have in-person organists to play our services, but the SOS and the hoped for pipe organ connection will be used as a substitute organist (Hyo will go gone for three weeks in May and June to visit elderly parents in Korea) when one is needed, and for some midweek and special services..

Organists Hired - Starting This Weekend

Our prayers for (a) new organist(s) have been answered! As it turns out, the new organists is actually two organists! One for Saturday, and one for Sunday. And so, withoug any further ado, I am happy to introduce to you:

• Hyo Jung Kim, Saturday Organist. Mrs. Kim lives in the Toledo area with her husband, who is the pastor at Hanmi Covenant Presbyterian Church. She has an extensive background of professional organist and pianist experience.
• Susan Barker, Sunday Organist. Mrs. Barker and her husband live in the Bowling Green area. She comes highly qualified with an extensive background in organist, choir director, and orchestra experience.

Susan has also expressed an interest in directing the choir, but this possibility is still in the planning stages. Hope you can be present this weekend to help welcome Hyo and Susan to Grace!

Grace Youth Attending Retreat at St. Mark's Bowling Green

By this time last year, our confirmation youth had attended a weekend retreat at Hopewood Pines (formerly Lutheran Memorial Camp, or LMC). Heather and I considered doing that again this year, until we were offered the opportunity of joining a more local group for a retreat at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Bowling Green. So, beginning today, Friday, Heather, I, and three youth from Grace will join youth and adult leaders from St. Mark's Bowling Green and Solomon in Woodville for a scheduled activities of learning fellowship and fun beginning at 5pm on Friday and concluding at 6pm on Saturday. You can view the retreat schedule HERE. We are expecting a total of about 20 youth, which will be a good number.

I'm looking forward to working again with Pr. Ken Pollitz, who will be one of the leaders from St. Mark's along with Pr. Robin Small. Pr. Alan Brown from Solomon will also be one of the leaders. Pr. Ken and I worked together for many years along with a group of other pastors to plan and lead four-day confirmation camps, mostly at Camp Luther near Conneaut, now known as Hopewood Shores. He recently retired after 31 years as the founding pastor of New Creation Lutheran Church in Ottawa, and is now serving St. Mark's Bowling Green on a part-time basis. I will need to leave early on Saturday to get back to Fremont for 4:00 pm worship.

Links for You

• March Message on Syod theme of Rest
• Go and Do News - a newsletter from ELCA World Hunger

 

March Rest Calendar

"After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper." 1 Kings 19:12 Time and time again God calls us into rest through scripture. We read stories of Jesus retreating into the hills, journeys being paused, and creation being celebrated with rest. So what does it mean for God's people to engage in rest? Throughout 2024 we will explore this question, not just through sleep or vacation time, but through little moments each day that nourish and renew us. Instead of our traditional daily Bible reading guide we invite you to engage in daily rest practices, using the seven types of active rest. By grounding these practices in a weekly Bible verse, we pray this guide will help you discover moments of rest and peace.

Our grounding verses for March are brought to us by Father Jeff Bunke, retired Episcopal priest, former interim pastor, and current member of the NWOS Transition team. Here's what he had to say when asked how he rests:

March 2024 Rest Calendar

Meet Father Jeff Bunke

The most important note in a musical score is the “rest.” The open aural space punctuates, gives light and a “lift” to the cascade of other notes in the song/composition. Failure to observe these rests results in lots of sound, but a presentation devoid of character and life – not a bad metaphor when considering the place of rest and silence in our spiritual pilgrimage. A decade ago, I was privileged to chaperone our parish youth confirmands’ out-of-country pilgrimage to the isle of Iona (Inner Hebrides, Scotland). Taking responsibility for twenty-six teens and five other adults on a ten-day international trip isn’t a picture of peaceful retreat – yet for one afternoon’s free time, I stole away to climb a rock outcropping in the middle of a cow pasture adjacent the old abbey chapel. As I gazed across the pasture and the Straits of Iona toward Mull, the voices of Patrick, Columba, and the generations who kept this mission outpost seemed to swirl about and uplift me – truly providing a “thin place” experience. The struggle of discernment with which I’d been actively engaged (the call to a new congregation) gently dropped into place, and a deep and gentle peace surrounded me. Rest and quiet is perhaps the most important (and often-overlooked) element in the crowded “score” of my habitually Type AA, ADHD daily life. The open physical and spiritual space punctuates, gives light and a lift to the competing demands and distractions composing a priest/pastor’s daily life. Failure to observe these “breaths” results in lots of spinning activity, but all too often a product and presence devoid of authentic and deep character and life. As a spiritual director once responded when I was whining about my annoyance at being wakened at 2:30 am every night, “When else do you shut up long enough for God to get a word in edgewise?” Raised as the youngest in a NW Ohio German-American dairy-farming family, the notion of rest resided primarily in Sunday afternoon visits with maternal grandparents, very rare vacations (I recall two in eighteen years), and the well-earned embrace of a firm mattress after the shower that followed nightly milking chores. However, two arenas emerged during those formative years that continue to provide for me God’s gift of rest – the natural order and music. Both are a sort of “tongue,” permitting the Spirit to enfold me in God’s presence and tease me into laying aside the agenda, work, and busy-ness to become immersed in a deeper reality – awe and peace. The Iona story provides one instance of seeking and finding God’s still small voice present in the “silence” of the natural order. Resting in the embrace of music, in many of its forms, also opens me to God’s embrace. Scripture citations and links to some diverse music selections follow. I hope you find rest for your spirit’s refreshment and recharging – perhaps in surprising places!

March 2024 Rest Calendar

Interim Grace Notes for February 2, 2024

Annual Meeting Sunday

Don't forget - the Annual Meeting is Sunday after worship! If you don't have the hardcopy of the Annual Report at your fingertips, you can review and read it HERE. The Zoom link is posted in Just Three Things.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Perhaps you have seen this story. If you haven't, here you go.

Can anybody tell me what Easter is all about?” asked the Sunday school teacher. The kids had been particularly restless and goofy that morning, and she was hoping for one good Bible lesson before they all went home.

One little hand shot up into the air, and the teacher gratefully called on the eager child. “Yes?” she said. “What is Easter all about?”

“Easter,” the child said confidently, “is the day that Jesus rose up from the grave …” “Yes?” the teacher encouraged. “And came out of the tomb …” “Yes?” she prodded. “But then he saw his shadow and went back into the tomb for another six weeks!”

Aaargh! So close. And yet, so far.

Today is Groundhog Day, when a fictional furry rodent is said to climb out of his hole in the ground, and if he sees his shadow, we all supposedly get another six weeks of winter. It’s a 137-year-old legend, told in the U.S. and Canada, and according to Wikipedia, delivers accurate weather results about 35-40% of the time.

Let's hope this is a correct year for the not at all fictional Buckeye Chuck and Punxatawney Phil, neither of which saw their shadow today.

Congrats and Prayers for Maureen and Duane

Much joy, celebration, but also concern for Maureen and Duane this February. On Wednesday, Maureen celebrated her birthday, and yesterday, Maureen and Duane celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! Congrats on these milestones, and we wish many more for you. Prayers also, as Duane goes in for major surgery on Wednesday, which will be followed by up to a week in the hospital, and then continued recovery at home. You are very much in our prayers!!

Getting Packed

Well, not really. But I will need to soon. My United flight (nonstop - yayy!) to Denver departs Sunday at 8:35 am. Then a 2-hour afternoon van ride from the airport to the Winter Park Mountain Lodge. First session is Sunday evening, then sessions Monday through Thursday in the morning and evening, and during the day up the mountain for skiing. I fly back to Ohio on Friday morning, and should be back home by late afternoon. Looking forward to a good week. For more info on this unique continuing education event, you can go HERE.

Pastor Paul Will Cover On February 7, 8 and 9

With both Maureen and I out next week, Pastor Paul has agreed to cover any emergencies that may arise on February 7, 8 and 9.

Organ Will Soon Get MIDI Connection to SOS

Our SOS (Substitute Organists Service) has really gone a long way in getting us through the interim to a new organist. The next step is to "map" the MIDI interface which we have on our organ to work with the SOS app on the iPad that I have been using to play digital tracks of an organ playing through the sound system. The new method will have the SOS actually playing our organ. Greg Jess is our point man for this process, and has been diligently and enthusiastically working to get this connection made. We will receive special cables to program the MIDI and connect to the iPad, and a special program installed on Greg's laptop will enable an SOS connection to "map" our organ so the service can play the right notes.

Sunday Organist Candidate Will Play on February 18

I received a phone call yesterday (Thursday) from a person interested in the Sunday organist position, and possibly also the choir director position. She has agreed to play for the Sunday service on February 18 in a substitute role, with the hope that she would be hired as the regular Sunday organist. She is a professional musician who (found this on the web)

has served two large Presbyterian congregations as Music Director/Organist over the last thirty-five years. She knew from an early age that her calling was church music. (She) holds a Bachelor's Degree in Organ Performance from Occidental College in Los Angeles and a Master of Music degree in Church Music from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.

She will be sending a resume, which I will forward to Executive Committee. I have been working on job descriptions and employment agreements for these positions, which I will share with Exec on the 12th.

A reminder that the weekend of February 17-18 is also our Saturday organist Hyo's first time playing. With our candidate playing on Sunday, we will have no need of SOS and the iPad. Yayy! If our candidate is indeed hired, we will continue to retain SOS (soon playing our organ) to use for Lent Midweek, Holy Week, and other special occasions.

"A Time to Rest" is Theme of 2024 Synod Bible Study

"Our focus this year is to receive and practice God's sacred gift of rest." You can learn more about our synod's 2024 theme HERE. The linked Bible study was created by the entire ministry staff at NWOS.

Healthy Congregations Facilitator Training Continues

On Thursday I attended the third of seven weekly two-hour Zoom sessions to receive training as a Healthy Congregations Workshop Facilitator. This week we learned more about Bowen Family Systems and how it applies to congregational life, and then how to lead Workshop Two of the six that are in this series. The title of the the Workshop 2 is "Healthy Congregations Respond to Anxiety and Change." From the intro to the Workshop manual

These Workshops enable participants to

• Gain a renewed sense of purpose and mission
• Cultivate strong leadership capacities to challenge the congregation
• Learn how to develop healthy patterns of living together in community
• Learn to focus on strengths, resources, and options for the future
• Boost confidence in responding to challenges and opportunities
• Learn how to lead calmly and with thoughtfulness
• Reflect theologically about relationships
• Move the congregation toward healthy functioning

All congregations, including Grace, could benefit from one or more of these workshops!

Links for You

• Where Your Heart Is A newsletter from ELCA Stewardship Support
• LIFT Notes
• Just Three Things

2024 Synod Bible Study Rest

 

A Time to Rest The Year of Rest Bible Study (Updated Bible Study Link Below)

Welcome to 2024: The Year of Rest. Our focus this year is to receive and practice God's sacred gift of rest. To help us discover what rest means and how we might embody it we offer up this seven-session Bible study. Guided by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, this study focuses on the seven types of active rest: physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, and spiritual. How do followers of Jesus take time to rest in ways that are holistic and soul-nourishing? We invite you to join us in attempting to answer this question as we learn to embrace God's gift of rest. Updated Bible Study Link:

A Time to Rest: 2024 Bible Study

Interim Grace Notes for January 26, 2024

Interim Grace Notes for January 26, 2024

Maureen Completes Basic Unit of Clinical Pastoral Education

Ministry, like most professions, has both generalists and specialists. Physicians can be General Practitioners, and any number of medical specialists. Lawyers have a wide range of specialty options to choose from. My son Erik is a Civil Engineer, and is a geotechnical specialist - he analyzes subsoil to determine if the earth's substrate will support whatever physical structure might install on any given area of land.

Ministry also has specialists - most pastors are generalists, but many choose a specialty: Youth ministry, Outdoor Ministry (Marcy was a Lutheran Camp director before becoming a 5th grade teacher), or institutional chaplaincy. Some who become chaplains also become CPE Supervisors. CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) is education to teach spiritual care to clergy and others, and is the primary method of training hospital and hospice chaplains and spiritual care providers to develop counseling skills, familiarity with a particular pastoral setting (usually within a hospital, parish, hospice, retirement home, etc.) and self-awareness as pastoral care-givers.

A basic (usually a three-month course) unit of CPE has long been a staple of seminary education, required of all who are enrolled in seminary with a path to ordination as Ministers of Word and Sacrament (ordained pastors) and Ministers of Word and Service (ordained deacons).

Recently, more and more denominations are expecting lay ministry staff who are serving congregations, in our case, Synodically Authorized Ministers (SAM's), to complete a basic unit of CPE. This is now the expectation of the SAM's in our Northwestern Ohio Synod. Maureen enrolled in and completed a basic unit, taking six hours every Wednesday to attend Zoom classes taught by a CPE supervisor, and participating in one-on-one meetings with the supervisor to discuss progress and evaluate written assignments.

I completed four units (one year) of CPE before I started in parish ministry 42 years ago, but I remember well how challenging this part of my education to be a pastor was. I am happy to report that Maureen has completed her basic unit of CPE. She shared her evaluation with me, which I would describe as nothing less than exemplary.

Congratulations, Maureen on this accomplishment, and thanks for your continued pursuit of excellence in ministry at Grace!

Saturday Worship Accompanists Visiting This Weekend

I reported in last week's Grace Notes that I had interviewed a candidate to be our Saturday worship accompanist. I was impressed with her skills, and after meeting informally with Executive Committee, we decided to offer her the position. A contract will be developed and voted on at the next Executive Committee meeting on February 12. The candidate's name is Hyo Jung Kim, and she is an immigrant from Korea. Her husband, Jin, is the pastor of the Korean Presbyterian Church USA congregation in Toledo, and she is the accompanist at her husbands church, which explains why she is not a candidate for the Sunday position at Grace. She will be attending worship at Grace this Saturday so that she can get a feel for the service. If you have time on Saturday, stop by and help welcome Hyo to Grace. Her first Saturday to play will be February 17.

Property Committee Researching Organ MIDI Possibilities

Greg from Property Committee has been doing some excellent research and outreach to see if the Grace organ can connect via MIDI to play SOS (Substitute Organist Service) organ tracks. We have been trying to coordinate communication between Glenn Tallar, our organ technician/tuner and Lynae from SOS to determine if this will work. Greg did some investigating on the organ and found some MIDI elements which he photographed. Then... Breaking News!!
Just received an email from Lynae from SOS, who had reviewed the photos sent by Greg. Here is what she said:

Hi Greg,

It looks like the organ is all set up for MIDI playback already! That is a Classic Organ Works system, and we have successfully added those to our organ “library” in the past. If y’all are in favor, we can move ahead with mapping the organ’s MIDI commands to be able to use the SOS with the organ instead of the sound system. That process takes 2-3 weeks to complete and will cost you $100 for the map, and about $100 for the connection equipment between the iPad and organ.

Let me know if you’d like to proceed and we’ll get the ball rolling!

Blessings, Lynea

I replied to Lynea to say yes, proceed with this upgrade, and to copy Greg, Glenn (our organ tuner/tech) and me in future correspondence.

Pack 302 Pinewood Derby Scheduled

The Cub Scout Pinewood Derby has fostered creativity, innovation, and friendly rivalry among Cub Scouts and their parents for 70 years. First introduced in 1953 by Don Murphy, a Cubmaster in California, the original rules required each car be made from a single wood block. The Pinewood Derby has become a favorite activity for Cub Scouts across America, with millions of participants each year creating cars and racing them down a ramped track.

The Pack 302 Pinewood Derby is scheduled for Saturday, January 27, beginning at 4:15 pm. This will be our first ever Glow in the Dark Derby Race!

Volunteer Recruitment and Retention Workshop

On Thursday, I along with two other Grace members joined the first of four monthly sessions. that will help us build a strong program of volunteer recruitment and retention. We learned about how to write good job descriptions for our volunteers. These job descriptions contain five essential elements:

• Tasks - A list of the tasks that this position entails
• Impact - A description of the impact a members volunteer service will have on others
• Timeframe - You are volunteering for a specific time-from, not forever and ever
• Check-ins - Someone will check-in to see how things are going.
• Testimonials - Those who have done this task in the past tell stories of how doing this volunteer task has enriched their spiritual lives and the lives of others.

The session has been recorded, and I'd encourage you to watch it HERE. The Passcode is: @W9$jd4V It lasts about an hour. You can view a sample job description with the above mention elements HERE.

Healthy Congregations Facilitator Training

On Thursday I also attended via Zoom the second of seven training sessions for becoming a Healthy Congregations Workshop Facilitator. Last week was an introduction, and this week's session introduced the first of the six Workshops. You can read more about these six workshops that I am being trained to lead HERE. Grace could benefit from attending any or all of these workshops, facilitated by a member of the NWOS Congregational Resource Team. Each workshop has several sessions that are designed to be carried out over a six-hour period - usually a Saturday from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm.

Links for You

• February Grace and Truth
• LIFT Notes
• Just Three Things
• Hopewood Outdoors Fireside News
• An Excellent Message from Dr. Emlyn Ott, Executive Director of Healthy Congregations

From the Healthy Congregations Executive Director

 From the Executive Director...

 

 

How would you describe a color to someone who had been blind since birth?

Explaining the unimaginable to the puzzled or someone who has no experience of what you are describing is really what must have been Jesus’ life for those years of his public ministry. It was frustrating, exciting, illuminating, and confusing to those who heard him. And made many angry. Very angry.

In Jesus’ time, most people thought the end of the world would be in their lifetime. There were many who roamed the world, proclaiming the end times or promising that they were the ones to save the world.

To get his message across Jesus clothed the utterly unique work of God through Christ in language that was how the people of his time lived and spoke.

Jesus’ preaching and teaching was all about “the kingdom of God.” The first-century world understood the concept of “kingship” very well. They expected that their salvation would be a political one—a geographic king of power and might.  The nations of the world were ruled by kings, and kings were absolute authority figures with unquestioned control over their subjects. The Old Testament refers to the kingship of God more than any other divine quality. Israel was God’s first kingdom, but in the future all the nations would recognize God’s ruling status and bow down before God.

When Jesus spoke of the “kingdom of God’ his audience, especially the Torah-learned Jews, thought they knew what he was talking about.

Surprise. They did not.

Jesus was not talking about establishing a place with borders, a kind of divine fiefdom. The kingdom of God wasn’t a political polis or a pie-in-the-sky, far-and-away dreamscape.

In fact, the kingdom of God didn’t even depend upon a stern, large-and-in-charge “king” for its existence. Even though Jesus spent most of his days describing the kingdom of God, he had little to say about God as “king.” Instead, Jesus spoke of a God as “Abba,” a God who loved, who longed for their children, who offered redemption and forgiveness. A closer but not exact translation would be “Papa” or “Daddy.” That is who Jesus prayed to.

Jesus’ “kingdom of God” was something entirely different from any kingdom people had ever seen or heard or experienced before. How do you describe that in a way that people could wrap their heads around it?

You and I are still confused about it.

Jesus never defined the kingdom. Jesus never gave a clear and concise definition of what he meant by "the kingdom of God." But Jesus did describe through stories and healings and teachings what might be the capacities that would challenge each one of them to live into a relationship with God. A faith built on principles of hope and new life might lead people to:

• Make choices that are thoughtful about when to cross the line and when to stay in line.
• Continue to challenge themselves to look to their principles and faith for a new view on their life and challenges.
• Focus on their experience and living as a process of learning.
• Look to the stories of the people who lived before them as resources of understanding and perspective.

There is an “ing” quality to this capacity that Jesus offers. Movement.  Experimentation. There was a “reJesus” movement in the 2000’s that encouraged people in Christian faith communities to become a “conspiracy of little Jesuses.”  It raised important perspectives on holding one’s feet to the fire of belief. Do people who observe us see that there is a connection between what we say and how we act? The issue is not catching or judging other people in their hypocrisy but catching and healing our own.

Jesus’ first act in public ministry was to start calling a community of disciples to “follow me.” Jesus’ invitation was “Join me. Be in relationship to me and what we stand for. And later Jesus promised his disciples that wherever “Two or three are gathered in my name, there I am also.”

When Jesus called his first disciples, Simon, Andrew, James, and John, he didn’t call them to a life of thoughtful contemplation, days of mystic musing, or holy habitations. Jesus called them into live action, everyday mission. They had been making their living by catching fish. Now they would make a new life by catching people, by sharing a message and perspective that is more caught than taught.

Our family lived in Europe in 2003 for 6 months. We got to travel throughout Great Britain and then made trips to France and Germany. On one of our trips, we spent time in a garden of the sculptor Auguste Rodin’s statues in Paris. 

While we were there, we heard a story about Rodin. One day Rodin noticed a large crucifix that had been discarded in a pile of trash. Although it was in terrible shape, Rodin thought that it could be restored to its original beauty. He and others carried it to his home.

But the cross was too big for his house. What to do? Rather than return it to the trash heap, Rodin decided to knock out some walls and raise the roof of his house to make room for it.

In what ways does our observation about our everyday world and our clarity about what we believe challenge us to knock out some walls and raise the roof of our lives or our faith communities? In what ways are we taking the challenges that were offered in the first century and making them relevant and engaged in the 21^st? How do we think systems and watch process? Where do we need to cross the line, experiment, clarify, take action or learn from the experiences of those in previous generations?

Blessings,

Interim Grace Notes for January 19, 2024

Heather in NOLA for Extravaganza

Heather departed early on Thursday morning for New Orleans to attend Extravaganza 2024, the annual gathering of The ELCA Network, a consortium of children, youth and family ministry volunteers and professionals. The Extravaganza website describes this event well:

Extravaganza is the Network's annual conference, drawing together over 1,000 leaders in children, youth and family ministry, along with teachers, resource providers and leaders from the ELCA, all for four days of renewal, education and networking.

This year's theme is "Dream," and theme verse is Acts 2:17 -- “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your shall prophesy, and your young…shall see visions,and your old…shall dream dreams.”

We wish Heather and all our fellow ELCA participants an inspiring time together, and a safe return home for all. Heather flies back to Ohio on Monday, January 22.

First Communion Mini-Retreat Scheduled

Heather and I have scheduled the next mini-retreat for our 2nd graders and others who may join for this learning. The date and time is Saturday, March 16, from 9:00 - 11:00 am. Heather indicated that our group will be a bit smaller this year - we're expecting at least two, possibly three, hopefully even more.

Spirit Canceled on Wednesday

The Grace Inclement Weather Policy kicked in on Wednesday - with Fremont Schools being closed, we also canceled Spirit - the supper and all scheduled groups.

Saturday Organist Interviewed

On Tuesday, I interviewed a candidate for the Saturday organist position at Grace. She is the spouse of a Toledo area pastor, and plays organ at her husband's church on Sundays, so is not available then. She has a long impressive resume of accompanist on piano and organ for both congregational worship as well as for choirs and praise teams. I was impressed with her abilities - she first played the organ, then the piano. It wasn't until she got to the piano that I thought to record a few measures of her playing. You can hear about 30 seconds of her playing the Josh Groban favorite "You Raise Me Up" HERE. I am working with with the Executive Committee on the processing of this prospective hire.

Healthy Congregations Workshop Facilitator Training

On Thursday I participated in the first of seven sessions of training to become a Facilitator for Healthy Congregations Workshops. "What is that?" you may ask. Let me begin with an explanation of what Healthy Congregations is. Here is a description from the Healthy Congregations website:

Healthy Congregations is an ecumenical and interfaith organization that takes seriously the times that we live in and the challenges of thinking more clearly about families, congregations, and leadership. Healthy Congregations, Inc. offers resources and training that are based on a view of life that looks at communities as living systems that incorporate thinking, feeling, responsibility, and purpose.

Making use of the contributions of leaders in the field of Bowen Family Systems Theory and congregational life, Healthy Congregations, Inc. has created educational resources and leadership development material designed with the purpose of encouraging healthier, clearer and deeper individual and community life.

Over the years, Healthy Congregations has developed a series of six workshops that help promote the health and well-being of congregations. The first workshop introduces the basics of systems thinking; the second addresses healthy ways of addressing anxiety, change and conflict. Other workshops address growing strong leaders, healthy relationships, developing generosity in stewardship and strong spirituality. You can read more about these six workshops HERE.

The training that I began this week will teach me how to lead these six workshops as part of our Northwestern Ohio Synod Congregational Resources Team which I joined last year. There is much here that could benefit our synod congregations, including Grace. The team already has experienced facilitators that could help with any or all of the areas addressed by these workshops.

The cost for this training is $800, of which the synod is paying half. Participation on this team will be one way that I can continue to serve the synod and its congregations in retirement.

Round-Robin Planned for Lent Midweek

LIFT Leaders met last week, and one of the items on our meeting agenda was a plan for midweek Lent services. We settled on a plan for a "Round-Robin" approach in which a group of pastors prepares a message on the chosen theme, and then takes it on the "road" to each of the congregations represented by the leaders. An ideal situation is 5 leaders going to 5 different churches each week. Since we have four leaders and three locations, the schedule looks like THIS. You'll see that our theme is "Making Change" and our topics are:

• Change of Season
• Change of Circumstances
• Change of Heart
• Change of Plans
• Change of Habit

Since there are four of us and five weeks of midweek services (not counting Ash Wednesday), we'll each be at our own church for the first week, then we'll cycle through the other locations during the following weeks. Many thanks to Paul who figured it all out and put it all together!

Links for You

• LIFT Notes
• Just Three Things
• ELCA Seeds Monthly