Stewardship Mission Journey

The Stewardship Team invites you to join us as we begin our Stewardship Mission Journey. We start at Romans 12:10-13 “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the lord, rejoicing in hope patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.” It may not be a traditional Stewardship “campaign” passage, but it just may be time we consider stewardship differently.

 

Over the next few weeks, you will be hearing stories about the following disciplines from our some of our Stewardship Team:

Joyful – Rod Boorse; Hopeful – Gail Nicewander; Faithful – Carolyn Bernheim; Grateful – Dorothy Green; and culminating on Reformation Sunday, October 26th with Generosity – Betsy Boorse.

 

Reformation Sunday is the perfect day to end this portion of our Stewardship Mission Journey. It will be the ideal time for each of us to reflect on all that God provides for us on a daily basis and how we will lovingly, and generously respond to those blessings. Our commitment begins in our hearts and flows outward. It is a time of reformation here at Lord of Grace. It can be a time of reformation throughout our community and our world.

 

Remember, it begins with us – you and me. You will soon be receiving a letter in the mail inviting you to make a commitment, no, make that an investment in Lord of Grace. With your help, we have already taken great strides to pay off our mortgage and acquire a new (to us) organ for our sanctuary. But that's just a start. We can step out in faith and invest in our preschool. We can finally invest in a Reserve Fund (“rainy day fund”) to help preserve our aging building. But these are only the obvious options.

 

It's time we look and move forward and allow the Holy Spirit to blow through our doors – heck, blow the doors off! It's our Stewardship Mission Reformation Sunday. Let us be kindly affectionate to one another, with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, and given to hospitality.  Amen.

Pastor Hammar Scholarship application 2025

                           PASTOR HAMMAR SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION - 2025

                                                  Lord of Grace Lutheran Church

                                 APPLICATION DEADLINE DATE: October 31, 2025

Applicant’s name (first, middle, last):____________________________________

Applicant’s home address:_____________________________________________ Phone:______________________ Email:________________________________

Parents’ names: Father:_______________________________________________ Mother:______________________________________________

Grade point average in: High School:___________________________________

                                                 College: _______________________________________

Name of College (attending/applied to):________________________

Class Standing (please check)                           Enrolment Status (please check)

Entering first year __________                               Part-time_________

Sophmore              ___________                                Full-time_________

Junior                       ____________

Senior                      ____________

 On an attached sheet, provide a statement of your faith, your relationship with the church, and your perspective on God’s involvement in your life.

 

Signature of Applicant:_________________________________ Date:___________

 

Signature of Parent/Guardian:___________________________ Date:__________

Who is your caregiver?

Can you tell a caregiver by looking at them?

 

The only wrong answer I know of to this question is – “I am totally independent and I don't need a caregiver!”

 

This type of person has not entered the real life world that tells you we are all interdependent. For instance, if you fall or are pushed backward into a cactus, who do you call for help? If your car goes off the road because you are momentarily distracted, who do you call? If that off-road incident just happens to be out of cell service, now who do you call for help? (Think box canyon in Saguaro National Park West.)

 

I don't know your answers, but since my main caregiver is also handicapped, I call on God first. That is why prayer is so very important to me.

 

Gail Nicewander

Prayer Team

Mortgage Reduction Challenge Status

We met and exceeded the $10,000 Mortgage Reduction Challenge in August. A heartfelt thanks to the congregational donor who made the $10,000 donation to challenge the Lord of Grace congregation. Also, a thank you to all of you who have made donations to make the challenge a success. We also wish to thank Patty Clymer, our Treasurer, and Linda Lyth, our Financial Secretary, for their effort in orchestrating the financial gymnastics involved in the challenge effort.

The amount of $21,685.56 was submitted to the ELCA Mission Investment Fund, the mortgage lender, on September 5th and was posted on September 9th to pay down the mortgage principal. As of September 22nd there has been an additional donation of $1,000 received.

Please note that the mortgage has not been paid off completely, only the principal portion of the mortgage was reduced which lowers the number of monthly payments required to pay off the mortgage in early 2026.

During the challenge I was approached by a member of the congregation who asked “When does the challenge end?” My answer was “the goal is to pay off the mortgage before the new pastor is called.” That still remains the Lord of Grace goal.

Therefore, there still is the opportunity to make donations to the Mortgage Reduction Challenge. There is a convenient method using the Lord of Grace website- Click on the “Contribute” tab followed by the “Mortgage Reduction Donate” tab and follow the instructions or using the specially marked “Mortgage Reduction” envelopes located in the Narthex.

After the mortgage is paid, looking forward, Lord of Grace has a unique opportunity to evaluate how the retired mortgage payments income can be invested, channeled to a special ministry/mission or used to launch a new ministry/mission. If you have ideas please forward them to the Church Council and/or Transition Team.

 

Submitted by Rod Boorse, Finance Committee 

 

Some thoughts...

Hello fellow Lord of Grace parishioners! My name is Ray Hall and I am one of the lectors at the second service and a first-term Council member.

Those of you who have been following the news at Lord of Grace know that we are very close to paying off the mortgage on the church building. I haven’t read an e-mail or had a conversation with Rod Boorse where I haven’t been reminded of this fact (kidding Rod).

This will be an event that we can certainly celebrate, as all of us probably do when we pay off a long term obligation, but I would like to propose that it is also an event that presents as a tremendous opportunity. How can paying off the mortgage be considered an opportunity, you may ask? Here’s how:

Imagine if the financial commitment that you have provided to LOG that helped pay the mortgage could now be redirected to impacting our community in new ways. What if some of the monies no longer obligated to the mortgage could be used to expand our Mission here at Lord of Grace—to Love God, to Open our hearts and minds to others, and to Live graciously toward all? What if we could expand our Outreach to include even more activities and events that lift up those in our community who are struggling? What if we could provide even more enrichment activities for our students in Preschool, who are already receiving an excellent Christian-based experience to prepare them for regular school? What if we could deal with unexpected expenses (building repairs, weather damage, etc.) without having to wonder where the money is going to come from? What if we could provide even more in the way of supplies for Roadrunner Elementary, our adopted school? What if we could do even more to help the students and staff at Berega Orphanage? What if we could do even more to fulfill our Mission? I believe that members of the Lord of Grace congregation, each of you, could come up with more God-inspired ways to serve Him through our service to others.

Please give prayerful consideration to how your current, and future donations can be used to further God’s work here at Lord of Grace. Blessings to you.

Pastor's Pen

Do you want to thrive or simply survive?

            In 2014, Pastor John Ortberg published a book titled, “If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Boat.”  It was based on the Biblical story from Matthew 14 of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus came upon a boat with the disciples and invited Peter to walk toward him on the water.  Peter believed that if Jesus invited him, he could do it.  He stepped onto the sea with his eyes on the Lord and began walking toward Jesus until he looked down, saw the waves, and began to doubt. Suddenly he started to sink and Jesus grabbed his hand saying, “You of little faith.”

            You and I also sit ‘safely’ in the boat at times, unwilling to answer the call to trust our Lord by stepping outside of our comfort zones.  We forget that Jesus wants us to experience an abundant and thriving life! In my own experiences, there were (and are) times I’ve simply responded to Jesus’ invitation by saying, ”Thank you, but no thanks. I’ll stay here.” Is it any wonder then, that I simply survived rather than thrived? 

            The Church belongs to Christ and he wants us to thrive in his abundance. That means we are to let go of the practices, thoughts, and things that prevent us from getting out of the boat at his calling.  Don’t just survive…THRIVE with Jesus!

            So I put this challenge out to Lord of Grace today.  What makes you thrive as a faith community?  Where might you prefer to remain safe and simply survive?  I want to stretch your comfort zones and invite you to pray for God to help you focus on thriving.  What does it look like?  What can you do as an individual or family to help make it happen? 

            Moving forward in this stage of transition, thriving with a perspective of abundance is a lot more exciting than living in the fear of simply surviving. How can you engage the abundant Spirit of God and sow seeds of possibility within the ministries of our faith community?  What fears can we extinguish with courageous faith?  And who might you invite to join our journey of faithful, meaningful, and exciting life?

Peace,

Pastor Randy 

Pastoral Transition Update

Lord of Grace Family and Friends

By the time you read this, we will be about 2/3rd’s the way complete on our Cottage Meeting feedback.  We have already collected some great feedback from 35 people. 

What’s next?

In late October, we’ll release the all-church survey.  This will be an online survey designed to collect some demographic information, and some more detailed feedback on the key questions of who we have been, who we are, and who we want to be. 

What are you going to do with this feedback?

The transition team will review it all together and determine if there are key themes that help tell the story of who we are and where we want to go.  This will be used to complete a transition report to the council and congregation, and the Ministry Site Profile which is used by potential pastoral candidates to decide if they want to apply for our pastoral vacancy. 

What else do you have to do?

Here’s a list of what else, besides feedback, the transition team is seeking to complete prior to concluding the transition phase and starting the Call Committee phase.  Some of this is needed to ensure our house is in order for the new pastor, and some of this is needed for the Ministry Site Profile

ü  Review of Church Constitution and Bylaws

ü  Review of Church Stewardship and finances

ü  Review of Marana Demographics

o   Review of Employee Handbook and Policies and Procedures (starting this, could use help with this)

o   Review of Church Job Descriptions (work on this in October, could use help with this)

o   Review of the Strategic Plan, need mission statement (we have one), vision statement, and core values (work on this in November) 

I heard that Pastor Randy is applying for the new position.  How does that work?

This is true.  Pastor Randy is open to consideration of the full-time call at Lord of Grace.  Once the transition work is completed (probably by end of January), Pastor Randy is the first candidate we will consider.  God’s blessing to us, is that we’ll be able to collect a bunch of feedback from the church that we can use to consider Randy’s permanent placement with us.  If God does not lead us to proceed with Pastor Randy, or if Pastor Randy does not feel a calling, we will move on to request additional candidates from the Synod.

 What can I do?

2 things

1.)    Consider helping out with the Policy and Procedure review if you think you have a good eye towards policies and procedures

2.)    Prayer…constant prayer

·         Prayers for the new pastor who will be leading us, wherever he or she is, that he or she is starting to feel God’s calling to something new, and has a heart that wants to serve a church like Lord of Grace

·         Prayers for the Transition Team that we continue to seek God’s will for Lord of Grace, not our own, and that we seek the church’s feedback on who we are, not our own thoughts.

Questions – please email William Willcoxson – wwillcoxson@comcast.net

Via de Cristo October Newsletter

Lord of Grace is a part of the three-day spiritual renewal movement known as Via de Cristo. Also known as Cursillo, Via de Cristo is a movement for training church lay leaders through three-day weekend retreats and ongoing group connections. Via de Cristo weekends are open to both men and women who want to learn more about Lutheran theology.

The Three-day weekend will be held at Tanque Verde Lutheran Church on Oct. 10-13, 2025.  If you would be interested in attending this 3 day retreat talk to Tim Murphy, Parish Rep at  Lord of Grace for Via de Cristo, or other members who have been through the Week-end – Mary Murphy, Cindy Stein, Lori & Kevin Brown, Darlene Wager, Janette Carollo, Sam & Linda Lyth.

The three-days involves faith formation, music and singing, learning Lutheran theology, good food at every meal, and is FREE to participants.

Lord of Grace Via de Cristo Rep. – Tim Murphy – 520.780.2214

For tickets to the Gaslight Theater show contact:

LOG Parish Rep

Tim Murphy 520-780-2214

Or in the Narthex after each service.

Presidents Message October Newsletter

President's Message -

 As I write this message, God has blessed us with rain. It's ironic because at the Council meeting, we spent quite a bit of time discussing the blessings we have here at Lord of Grace. This is especially important since we will soon be blessed with NO MORTGAGE! But the follow-up question is, “What do we do now?”

 Well, let's begin by counting our blessings, not sheep that will put us to sleep, but honest to goodness blessings.  First and foremost, it's you and me,  the congregation. We are the church. It may be hokie, but when you look at chURch, you are church! We are blessed with an outstanding preschool here on our campus. Laura and her staff have done a magnificent job of breathing new spirit into the school.

We are blessed with incredible musicians that lend their talents to bringing the joy of music to both services. We are blessed with dedicated volunteers – that cannot be said often enough or loud enough. We have bakers, those who beautify our sanctuary, worship leaders and so many others who give numerous hours behind the scenes. And we have been blessed with a staff who is ready to go the extra mile to help us share God's word.

 We are approaching our Stewardship Campaign time. Not this year. This year we will be inviting you to participate in our Stewardship Mission journey. Now more than ever let's not just think about God's word and work in this place, although that is important. What we really need is an infusion of the Holy Spirit. Not just on any given Sunday as we head back out into the mission field, but every day. Martin Luther encouraged us to use our baptism as a constant source of comfort and strength, like a “daily garment” to wear. I know, sometimes those sweats and bunny slippers aren't really inspiring, but they could be. Maybe we change out the sweats for real athletic wear. And don't sell those bunny slippers short, God has a sense of humor!

 It's time to get in the spirit, the Holy Spirit!

 Blessings,

 Betsy Boorse,

LOG Council President

Outreach October Newsletter

Outreach Team – October 2025 Newsletter Article

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, Carlene Allegier, Gail Nicewander, Sandy Mitchel, Ruth Gross and Janette Carollo.

We are planning new and exciting projects this coming year. If you’d like more information about becoming a member of Outreach, contact Chris Kollen at lizzykollen@comcast.net or at 520-419-7475.

Continuing Events

Marana Food Bank

The Marana Food Bank would like to request that we collect instant rice, mac and cheese, canned tuna or chicken, pancake mix, syrup, tomato sauce, ready-to-eat meals, and cereal or oatmeal.

 1 in 7 people (and 1 in 5 children) are currently facing hunger.  Let’s remember that God calls on us to help others every day.  We can do that by helping make sure our neighbors’ cupboards aren’t bare when mealtime arrives.  Let’s celebrate God’s goodness, every day.

 Donated items can be placed in the wooden cabinet located in the hallway outside the Fellowship Hall.  Please remember that the food bank cannot accept any food items that have been opened/used or expired.  Also, please, no glass containers.

If you would like to donate and keep your gift for the needy of Marana, you can send a check to:

MFB-CRC

o/o Sahuarita Food Bank

PO Box 968

Sahuarita, AZ 85629 

Please make checks payable to Marana Food Bank – Community Resource Center or MFB-CRC.

You can also donate online at mfb-crc.org.

 Your monetary gift goes a long way. 

 Upcoming Events

 Thanksgiving Boxes – Roadrunner Elementary

We will start collecting food for Thanksgiving Food boxes from October 26th to November 16th for families with students attending Roadrunner Elementary. On Sunday, November 16th, we’ll have a fun day organizing the food and decorating the boxes. We’ll organize the food collected after 1st service, then pack the boxes after 2nd service. The boxes will be delivered to Roadrunner the week of November 17th. We will give out handouts of what to collect on Oct. 26th, there will be additional handouts in the Narthex. Please let us know of any additional families that need help.

 Adopt a Child – Roadrunner Elementary

We are having Adopt a Child again this year, partnering with Roadrunner Elementary School. We are waiting to hear from Roadrunner the names of the students and their needs and wants for Christmas and when they will need to be delivered to the school. There will be more information in the November newsletter.

 The sandwiches were delivered to Sister Jose Women’s Center the following day and the hygiene items were taken to Butler’s Pantry at Roadrunner.

 We made our goal for toothpaste for the drive-the kids were so excited!!  Here are the totals: 

135 tubes of toothpaste

75 toothbrushes

82 bars of soap

40 bottles of shampoo and conditioner

40 razors

39 deodorant

8 dish soaps

4 laundry soaps

2 hand soaps 

Kleenex

 

Thanks to everyone for your support.

Prayer Connection October 2025

Prayer Connection 

Who is your caregiver?

            Can you tell a caregiver by looking at them?

 The only wrong answer I know of to this question is – “I am totally independent and I don't need a caregiver!”

 This type of person has not entered the real life world that tells you we are all interdependent. For instance, if you fall or are pushed backward into a cactus, who do you call for help? If your car goes off the road because you are momentarily distracted, who do you call? If that off-road incident just happens to be out of cell service, now who do you call for help? (Think box canyon in Saguaro National Park West.)

 I don't know your answers, but since my main caregiver is also handicapped, I call on God first. That is why prayer is so very important to me.

 Gail Nicewander

Prayer Team

Outreach April 2025

Outreach Team – April 2025

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, Janette Carollo, Gail Nicewander, and Sandy Mitchel. We have a recent addition to Outreach! Ruth Gross will be joining us on the Team. She is a new congregational member, we are excited to have her join our team. Welcome Ruth!

We are planning new and exciting projects this coming year. If you’d like more information about becoming a member of Outreach, contact Chris Kollen at lizzykollen@comcast.net or at 520-419-7475.

Continuing Events

Marana Food Bank
The Marana Food Bank would like to request that we collect canned tomato sauce, instant rice, mac and cheese, jelly, cereal/oatmeal, tuna/chicken, and instant mashed potatoes.

Spring is a time for renewal and renewed hope.  Let’s do our part to serve our neighbors in need.

Donated items can be placed in the wooden cabinet located in the hallway outside the Fellowship Hall.  Please remember that the food bank cannot accept any food items that have been opened/used or expired.  Also, please no glass containers.

If you would like to donate and keep your gift for the needy of Marana, you can send a check to:

MFB-CRC

c/o Sahuarita Food Bank

PO Box 968

Sahuarita, AZ 85629 

Please make checks payable to Marana Food Bank – Community Resource Center or MFB-CRC.  You can also donate online at mfb-crc.org.

Your monetary gift goes a long way. 


Upcoming Events

Butler’s Pantry – Roadrunner Elementary

Lord of Grace will be collecting personal hygiene items for Butler’s Pantry, to support our friends at Roadrunner Elementary throughout the month of April. Personal care items are essential for maintaining good health and hygiene. These items may seem small, but they can make a significant impact on a person’s daily life.  Maintaining adequate personal hygiene is among the biggest challenges of those living with limited means. When we donate these items we allow individuals to feel appreciated and valued, which can help boost self-esteem and confidence!

 The items that we will be collecting include:

●     Bar soap

●     Deodorant

●     Shampoo

●     Body wash

●     Feminine hygiene products

●     Toothpaste and Toothbrushes

Help us reach our goal of 100 bottles of shampoo during this spring drive!  Thank you so much for supporting this important outreach in our community!

 

Past Events

LSS-SW Zoom meeting on 3/19/2025 – Update on status of refugee support

Chris Kollen attended a Zoom meeting on the status of LSS-SW with the loss of federal funding for refugee services. 

Refugee resettlement was paused with the new administration. LSS-SW and all other refugee resettlement organizations received a stop work order; no expenses will be paid. During the 90-day review, there will be no reimbursements. Just in January, LSS-SW had 180 refugees (116 refugees were settled in Tucson) that LSS-SW needs to support. In the last 90 days, 388 refugees were settled in Arizona. LSS-SW is owed $1.3 million for refugee services provided in December and January. As a result of a lawsuit by an LSS sister organization, half of the payment has now been made to LSS-SW for December and January.

There are two phases of services for refugee resettlement. All Phase I services (reception/placement) have been paused. Phase II (employment etc.) will continue, but the money will be sent to states directly if states want to continue the services.

In January, LSS-SW asked the community for support and received about $300,000 in funds from 436 congregations and individuals. They are also looking for privately funded sponsors.

As a result of these cuts, on March 30th they will be stopping one of their services – IHELP (Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program) that is offered in Phoenix.

How can we help:

·         Advocacy – contact senators and representatives for support.

·         Become a co-sponsor for a refugee

·         Help identify employment opportunities, talk to employers about hiring refugees

·         Volunteer with LSS-SW to help refugees find jobs

Lutheran World Relief Baby Care Kits – A great group of volunteers put together the baby care kits on March 9th! We were able to collect enough items to send 11 baby care kits. Last year they distributed baby care kits to Angola, Lebanon, Peru, Senegal, Turkey, Ukraine, Zambia and the US.

Sister Jose Women’s Center - We cooked a wonderful evening meal for the residents on March 12th. We served lasagna, salad, bread and dessert to about 50 women. They were all very appreciative! Thanks Norma Suchomel, Gail Nicewander and Phyllis Teager for volunteering! We were a great team!

Lotsa Pasta results

We received a note from Interfaith Community Services (ICS) about the Lotsa Pasta drive we participated in.

The ICS Outreach team would like to extend a huge THANK YOU for donating Lotsa Pasta this year! We received approximately 7925 packages of pasta and 4387 cans of sauce! Your contributions allow our food bank to continue serving those who need it most in our community.  We truly appreciate the time and effort you devoted to our food drive. 

Time to Help our Neighbors at Roadrunner

Lord of Grace will be collecting personal hygiene items for Butler’s Pantry, to support our friends at Roadrunner Elementary throughout the month of April.

Items Needed:

●     Bar soap

●     Deodorant

●     Shampoo

●     Body wash

●     Feminine hygiene products

●     Toothpaste and Toothbrushes

Help us reach our goal of 100 bottles of Shampoo!

Thank you so much for supporting this ongoing outreach in our community! 🙂 

Hiring: AV Coordinator for Sunday Services

Lord of Grace Church is looking for someone to operate the audio and visual for Sunday services. Duties include:

  • Running the audio

  • Running the visual software and slides

  • Operating the three PTZ cameras for the livestream

Skills preferred: knowledge of audio and video livestreaming.

  • Propresenter

  • Resi

  • Soundboards

  • PTZ cameras

 

Pay: $100/Sunday and $50/special service

Hours: 8am-12noon Sundays

Contact Pastor Lars Hammar if interested.

Outreach March 2025

Outreach Team – March 2025

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, Janette Carollo, and Gail Nicewander. We have a recent addition to Outreach! Sandy Mitchel will be joining us on the Team. She has been providing us with monthly updates for the Marana Food Bank. Welcome Sandy!

We are planning new and exciting projects this coming year. If you’d like more information about becoming a member of Outreach, contact Chris Kollen at lizzykollen@comcast.net or at 520-419-7475.

Continuing Events

Marana Food Bank
The Marana Food Bank would like to request that we collect canned spaghetti sauce, jelly, cereal, oatmeal, tuna/chicken, Spam/ham, mac and cheese, and instant rice.

 What a great way to show God’s love – by providing a nourishing meal to our neighbors in need.  

Donated items can be placed in the wooden cabinet located in the hallway outside the Fellowship Hall.  Please remember that the food bank cannot accept any food items that have been opened/used or expired.  Also, please no glass containers.

If you would like to donate and keep your gift for the needy of Marana, you can send a check to:

MFB-CRC

c/o Sahuarita Food Bank

PO Box 968

Sahuarita, AZ 85629 

Please make checks payable to Marana Food Bank – Community Resource Center or MFB-CRC.  You can also donate online at mfb-crc.org.

Your monetary gift goes a long way. 

Butler’s Pantry – Roadrunner Elementary

We will continue to have a work day each month and to staff the pantry the first Saturday of each month during 2025. We are always looking for volunteers to help with this ministry.  If this is something that you would be interested in getting involved in, please contact Phyllis Teager 520-906-1837.  Thanks to all at Lord of Grace for your support.

Past Events

Feed My Starving Children – A group of 11 members from LOG participated in one of mobile packing event for Feed My Starving Children at Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene. Our group packed 234 meals. It was great to be able to work together with Lutherans! Overall in the span of 5 days, there were 1.55 million meals packed at Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene.

Lotsa Pasta Food Drive – we participated in the Interfaith Community Services Lotsa Pasta Food Drive during the month of February. We delivered 50 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 78 packages of pasta, and 39 cans of pasta sauce. Thank you everyone!

Upcoming Events

Lutheran World Relief Baby Care Kits – The drive ends on March 2nd and we will put together the kits on March 9th, volunteers are welcome! We’ll organize the items between services and put the kits together after the 2nd service. Last year we were able to collect enough items to send 11 baby care kits. Last year they distributed baby care kits to Angola, Lebanon, Peru, Senegal, Turkey, Ukraine, Zambia and the US.

Sister Jose Women’s Center - We plan on cooking an evening meal for the residents on March 12th. There is a signup sheet in the Narthex starting next Sunday. We need 4-5 people to volunteer. We also plan on signing up to cook another evening meal in May. Any questions, contact Chris Kollen.

 

Prayer Connection March 2025

Prayer Connection

 

Psalm 75: 1

1 We Praise you, God, we praise you, for your Name is near, people tell of your wonderful deeds.

 There have been so many things to be grateful for.  I try to remember to thank God for the blessings that I have experienced lately when I start to pray. And then sometimes thanking God for the goodness I have experienced in the past.   With the 20-20 view, one can see where God was right there beside a person and it is good to remember those blessings. 

I remember learning the Parable of the 10 lepers years ago.  There were 10 lepers, or people infected with a skin ailment, who asked Jesus to heal them.  And they received the blessing.  Jesus told them to go to the temple for cleansing.  They were healed as they went.  And one came back to thank Jesus.  I suppose there are many truths to learn from that story. 

Lately, I have witnessed special blessings to friends and to myself.  I try to come back to my Lord, like the one that returned, and thank Him for those blessings. 

Dear Gracious God, thank You for the good news of friends who are healed.  Thank You for being near and always listening to our prayers.  Amen

The Lord of Grace Prayer Team is always here to help you with any prayer requests you may

have!  The Prayer Team continues to pray over all prayer petitions sent our way, including the

requests entered in the prayer journal in the Narthex.  The Team will also continue to offer

individual prayer times after each worship service on the 4th Sunday of each month.

,

The Ongoing Journey of Discipleship

,

Pastor’s Column - March 2025

When Jesus calls people to be disciples he is very direct. “Follow me”. Sometimes he adds a line, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. It’s not much more. The details of what you do come later, and the instructions will come as you go with him from place to place and encounter the different situations he deals with.

I’ve wondered if Jesus knew the guys he called to be disciples before hand, and had shared some of his vision with them first. His hometown was only a few hundred people. Even if you counted the towns around it’s still just a few thousand. The odds that he had lived there for 30 years and they were strangers seems remote. I think he fished with Peter, hung our with Bartholemew, paid his taxes to Matthew etc. When Jesus comes and says, “Follow me”, I have to think he was also partly saying, “Now’s the time, let’s do this.”

Discipleship, the Jesus way, feels a little like being an intern or apprentice. You can take classes, to a point, and learn the basics that way. But eventually you have to follow around a veteran and watch them deal with things as they come up. I know the plumber we called learned all sorts of things fixing our plugged toilets (toothbrushes, toys, and one time roots had grown through the space between the pipe and the foundation – millimeters – and had filled the pipe). The apprentice got knowledge each time, and eventually showed up by himself. Our kids trained him well.

There’s something very individualistic about discipleship. Jesus calls individuals. It’s one person to one person. It’s Jesus and Matthew, not Jesus and all of Matthew’s family or town. Just one to one. And Matthew has to make a big break with his life, his income, everything he knew. There is no way this was not painful. But he did it.

The individualistic nature of being called is what leads us down theological rabbit holes, locking horns over whether one is saved when one accepts Jesus and makes a personal profession of faith, or whether faith is something that grows slowly without the clean “decision”. Both happen, of course, depending on your life. Most of us grew up with faith, but some decide later to commit to it. At the same time, even if we grew up in the church, we had to decide to stay with it. Every Sunday we make a decision to worship or not. Every day we have to re-decide if we’re going to make Jesus a part of that day. And every time a decision comes to us, is forced on us, we have to decide to follow the Jesus way or not (and discern what is the Jesus way). It’s as if it doesn’t matter if you have always believed; discipleship is re-committed every decision we make.

We are also called into a community. Jesus makes a call to the individual, who is then brought into a new group. It’s not a solitary quest, but a new family to live out this calling with. This is the community side of it. It’s why you aren’t really a disciple of Jesus if you just practice by yourself on your own time all alone. That’s not how following Jesus works.

Calls to discipleship can get turned into legalistic sessions of billy-clubbing people with guilt and pressure to “step up” and “do more” and “put yourself out there” from the pulpit. By themselves, those are good things. But discipleship is about so much more than simply increasing volume of service. It’s much more the “what” of our service, the things we do. Maybe it involves fewer things done differently. It’s our culture, and our program-driven church culture, that is always craving more time investment. Sometimes, we should. But at a deeper level, what things are we doing that mold our lives the way Jesus commands?

In Lutheranism we shy away from talk of personal decisions and clean breaks and making big faith statements. They give us vibes of “decision theology”, where we believe that while God’s grace is a free gift that saves, it’s our decision that makes it work, and thus that is the act, the deed, the good work, that saves. Fair enough. We don’t save ourselves by choosing to save ourselves. But at what point does this become a hair-splitting abstract argument. Is giving yourself up and surrendering to Jesus doing nothing, or actually something? Is choosing not to act an action? Does it matter?

Like a lot of these theological arguments, I worry we overreact to an abuse one way with an overcompensation the other. Just because we cannot earn salvation through making a choice, does not mean we should not be making a commitment to Jesus, or making choices, as individuals, to act upon our faith.

Lent is coming in March this year, starting with Ash Wednesday on March 5th. We’ll do our traditional service for the day with imposition of ashes, same as every year. Some things are worth doing over and over. For mid-week services we’ll explore in depth topics of discipleship, with some original art to augment the theme, though without the discussion so focused on the art, and more on sharing individual stories and insights. And Sundays will be built around themes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, The Cost of Discipleship. You don’t need to read the book to understand the sermons. It’s just the bouncing off point for ideas. Hopefully we’ll all be able to see discipleship as something that is a way of life, a joy (not a burden) to take up, a concept that brings joy and freedom along with responsibility. I hope as well we can all come away from it with tools for finding our paths to discipleship in our lives.

Pastor Lars

HIking Group

Do you like to get out and enjoy the Arizona natural world?  Do you want to spend time in God’s creation.  On February 15th at 10:00 a.m. we’re inaugurating the 1st hiking event for Lord of Grace.  This activity is for casual hikers who like to meander a bit, get in a little bit of a workout , enjoy some good company and fresh air.  The first trail we will tackle will be the “Thunderbird Trail” in Saguaro National Park West which is on the east side of the park.  To get to the parking lot, take exit 252 off I-10 and head west on Camino del Cerro for 5.6 miles until you arrive at the dirt covered parking area where we will meet at 10:00 a.m.  Don’t forget your hiking boot, water, sunscreen, snacks and of course more water.  So, we have an idea of who will join us, please contact via text either Joy Folkvord or Laurie Graham to let us know you’re coming or if you have questions.  (Note: this will also serve as a contact list in case weather causes us to cancel).  We’re hoping to put together an event once a month so if you have other favorite places to go let us know.

Hope to see you on the trail.

Joy Folkvord