Together Growing in Faith

Take notice this Sunday, it’s finally here, the rain garden work has begun!  Yesterday I bounced into the church office once the backhoe dumped its first pile of dirt.  Marilyn said, “You are like a kid in a candy shop!”  Yes, it seems like the whole rain garden project has been a long time coming.

The discussion began before I started working here.  Pastor Kristie had received a letter from the county asking if Family of Christ might consider such a project.  She then brought it to the Creation Care committee where it received great support.  After the church council gave their support, the planning began and now, more than a year later, it is finally underway.

Rain Garden – Day 1!

In all the excitement (see photo), it also occurred to me that before something new could happen, something old had to be taken away.  The old grass and dirt needed to be removed as a first step.  Deconstruction has to happen before new construction can begin.

Ok, because I’m a pastor, my mind went right to baptism because this is precisely how we speak about baptism.  Through the water and Word, the old “Adam” (person) dies and a new one is born.  The very parts of us that are stuck and stubborn are taken away so that new growth and new life can take shape.

Each day the rain garden will grow and over time it will blossom into the beautiful creation it will finally become.  Not only will it offer aesthetic beauty but it will filter pollutants and sediment from the church parking lot, and will be a feeding source for bees, butterflies and birds.  So it is with us.  Over time we grow in faith, and by God’s hand, can offer our beauty, our love and our very selves for the sake of the world.

What a joy it has been for me to work with pastors Josh and Kristie, Creation Care, the church council and all of you to see this ministry come to fruition.  Indeed this is one way we can be good stewards of God’s creation.  Thanks to all who helped make the garden a reality.  We will be planting the garden in mid to late June and if you haven’t already signed up to help plant, but would like to do so, please email me (jeanne@familyofchristonline.com).

See you in church ~ Pastor Jeanne

Guess who moved into the neighborhood.

Dear Friends,

Sometimes we spend time pondering an imponderable in these weekly email notes. Sometimes we tell you a funny story, or share a devotional thought. And sometimes, like today, we just share a little news from a corner of the greater work of our church so that you can be more informed.

Last Friday and Saturday, our Minneapolis Area Synod (a gathering of representatives from the 150 ELCA churches in the west metro) met in Assembly at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Ramsey. They have a great big gymnasium so they could easily accommodate the nearly 500 of us that attended. Though Bishop Ann had just endured a difficult personal loss with the death of her son, she still graciously led our assembly in worship and in church business. Noted author, Brian McLaren, was our keynote speaker and he did a wonderful task of inspiring us with the message of incarnation – how God becomes really present among us. From Family of Christ, Pastor Jeanne, Laura Oman, Grace Dosdall (our lovely youth rep), and I represented all of you so we could sense and celebrate our greater partnerships in the work of the church at large.

The music, the coffee, the catered meals, the many display tables, the Christian book store, the fellowship, the game show, the reports, the resolutions and the votes: all of this took place in our whirlwind of two-days of meeting. Though I typically get a little antsy at these rather lengthy meetings, and some of the proceedings seem to drag on a bit (ask Grace about that!), I do enjoy getting together with excitable Lutherans to share in our greater sense of purpose at being faithful disciples in this part of God’s beautiful kingdom. Let me pause now to share some assembly reflections from one of the attendees who represented our Family of Christ congregation.

“I’m Laura Oman, and I serve as secretary on our church council. This was my first time attending the Minneapolis Area Synod Assembly. The theme of the assembly was “The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.” We were reminded that our Lutheran theology is “downward” theology. Christ came to us-we cannot bring ourselves ‘up’ to God-no matter hard we try. But God wants us close to Him so he sent Jesus down to us! The Word literally became flesh and moved into the neighborhood!

There were many inspiring stories from Minneapolis area churches of how they are the flesh in their neighborhood. Lutheran churches in the Minneapolis area are “becoming the flesh” in many inspiring ways such as painting garages to prevent graffiti and serving meals to their multi-cultural neighborhood to encourage relationships across cultures and religions. Attendees were posed with the challenge: how can we be the flesh in the neighborhood? I had time to contemplate where and how our church is involved in bringing God’s love to our neighborhoods. We are serving meals at Tree House and Our Savior’s Shelter. We are caring for creation with a rain garden. We work at Feed My Starving Children, and share in our offerings with others like Simpson House or the World Hunger Appeal. What else are we doing at Family of Christ that I’m not aware of? How can we do more? I look forward to the challenge!”

As Laura says, we are to keep pursuing the challenge that our own mission statement lays before us: to keep making disciples, making a difference. We will keep our attention and energy always on how we can make the love of God real to our children…to the youth and young adults…to middle-agers on up to the oldest among us…to our friends…to our neighbors…and to this world that God so dearly loves. It is especially heartening to know that in these tasks we are never alone. We have so many partners in faith in this synod who will work along with us, always responding to the ways the Holy Spirit would move us to greater acts of love and grace.

-Pastor Josh Nelson