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Sanctuary Changes Coming!!! - Pastor's column June, 2023

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Our sanctuary renovations have started, and I hope you’ve had a chance to look at the sanctuary, if you can’t make it in person. As of writing this, we got the first phase completed: the painting of the walls. The two tones have warmed up and brought the sanctuary in a lot. I’ve been very pleased with how it’s come out. Sometimes things don’t look like you think when the color goes on, but this time worked. The peak in front, with the darker brown, really pulls your eye to the front, and pulls it up, so the room feels more high and less wide – less cavernous. The darker brown on the upper sides and back corners also does this. The lighter brown, on the lower sides and big, front walls contrasts well.

I’ve said for many years that we have to face the reality that average worship attendance is not likely to reach the highs of the early 2000’s. I said this before Covid, as trends have shown that most church members consider themselves active if they come even once a month, sometimes less. So you can have the same number of people, but the room gets emptier. Throw in Covid, and then people staying home and following online, and it’s even less. To grow the weekly average would require a massive jump in total numbers, so we could keep adding new members for years and still not see much difference on Sunday morning.

Then there’s the seasonal fluctuation. The snowbirds return to the north, and the families start vacations and camps. The first service drops to the low 20’s, and the second service in the 60-80 range (it varies a lot). We don’t need 220 spaces for either one.

This changes the dynamic in the room, of course. A full room has lots of energy, and feels more alive, even if it has fewer people, if the people are closer together. We have more people than a lot of the storefront churches around, but they’re jammed in small spaces so they *feel* more alive because they’re more crowded. On the flip side, when you come into a giant space that has 50-90% empty seating spaces, it *feels* empty– even if the actual, raw, number of attendees is the same as the storefront. In other words, if you reduce the seating and make the room feel smaller, people *feel* the space to be more warm and comfortable, and the congregation more alive. Empty pews telegraph how many used to be here but now aren’t. Full seats telegraph growth and success.

The sanctuary with the new paint colors.

All this undergirds the reasoning behind a lot of our sanctuary changes. The paint makes it feel more warm and cozy. Taking out half the pews allows us to size seating closer to capacity. Moving the band and choir up will make them more visible, which will make them feel closer. Extending the front platform across the room will make the seating area feel smaller still.

There are many other reasons for why we’re doing what we’re doing: to allow greater flexibility and creativity, to see better (the lights) and to have better angles for livestreaming (the platform). All this, together, will give us an adaptive space for future uses – even ones we can’t anticipate.

One note: when the shorter pews come back in they will not be bolted to the floor, so pulling on them to stand up will make them tip. We’re going to increase their stability by bracing the backs, but it won’t be 100% tip proof. On the flip side, we can space them out a little more, and move them around for special occasions or future needs.

Speaking of lights, while I write this the electricians are busy replacing those in the sanctuary. This includes the wall lights and 16 new track lights behind the front wood beam: 4 for choir, 4 for the band, and 8 new track lights for the altar area. All are LED and all are dimable. We will have more light for Sundays morning, and less for special services.

Once this is done we wait until vacation Bible school (June 5-9) is over. Then, on June 12 and 13 we’ll need lots of volunteers to come in and unbolt the pews and take them apart so the carpenter can haul them off for repair. June 11, then, will be the last Sunday in the sanctuary until the renovations are complete – a planned total of five weeks. During this time worship will be in the fellowship hall. It will still be the same two services, just in a different location. It should remind us of the good old days of being at Coyote Trail Elementary and meeting in the cafeteria – except that we’ll have less moving of chairs and equipment.

I thank everyone up front for all your flexibility and patience. We’ll have a lot of schlepping pews and tables and chairs around, lots of moving things and problem-solving space issues. It is only temporary. Most will be done before I leave on July 3rd, but not all. It will be fun to come back and see everything new.

Peace,

 

Pastor Lars

San Juan Batista Lutheran Church Painting

A big thanks to all that volunteered their time to help paint the fellowship hall. Volunteers came in on April 10th to come do prep work for painting such as taping and patching, etc. We returned on 12th and the 13th to do the painting. Everything went smoothly and now they have a new beautifully painted fellowship hall. Thank you again for all of the hardwork the volunteers put in to make this happen.

LOG Prayer Connection News May 2023

I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.  Psalm 17:6

Isn’t it a wonderful blessing that we have someone who is always there to hear our deepest concerns, worries and needs.  But more than that, he is there to talk to about anything.  Even everyday concerns.  When I first started praying, I was worried that my some of my prayers were not important enough to bother such a mighty individual as God.  As my prayer life deepened and grew, I learned that God wants to hear from us about everything and anything.  For me, this began with “Thank you” prayers for everyday blessings I encountered.  This then led to conversations with God to talk over my day and hopes for myself and others.  If you are feeling restless, unsettled, or even the opposite… very blessed and excited about an event or promotion for example, reach out to God.  He is ready and willing to listen to everyone at any time. 

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.  Psalm 145:18

Please know that the Lord of Grace Prayer team continues to pray over all prayer petitions sent our way, including the requests entered in the prayer journal in the Narthex.  Prayer teams are available in the conference/classroom across the hall from the office on the 4th Sunday of the month right after BOTH the 8:30 and 10:30 services.  If you are in need of prayer, please ask a team member to pray with y99u any Sunday or anytime.  We are here for you. 

Prayer Team: Cindy Stein, Sue Justis, Candy Borstad, Carlene Hugues, Diana Repp and Kris Pierce.

Outreach News May 2023

OUTREACH Ministry – May 2023

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Corliss Jenkins-Sherry, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, and Patty Clymer. 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.

 

Marana Community Food Bank

 

The Marana Resource Center can really use our help providing their clients with shampoo,

deodorant, and toothpaste. They don’t have budget for these items until July. Let’s help our neighbors with these much-needed hygiene items.

 

Donated food can be placed in the wooden cabinet located in the Narthex.  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 prefer to make cash donations, they are always welcome, and can be mailed to Marana Food Bank, 11134 West Grier Road, Marana, AZ 85653. 

           

Every $1 helps provide 4 meals.

 

Past events

 

Easter Breakfast

On April 9th, Easter Sunday, the outreach team hosted the Easter Breakfast. We had a good attendance by the congregation. We raised $337 that will go to Roadrunner Elementary to Butler’s Pantry, their resource center.

A big thank you to all the volunteers that assisted in making the Easter breakfast a success.

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Loving not Hating - Pastor's Column May 2023

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I was giving a tour of the sanctuary to a lighting consultant, who was asking me about what we wanted for the sanctuary. I told him my concerns were fairly practical: I wanted to have things more adjustable, and brighter up the front and on the sides, new sconces etc. He suggested all sorts of new lighting ideas, that the churches he worked with wanted fancy lights to “bring the young people back.”

That stuck with me, that churches had told him that they thought fancy light production at worship would make young people more interested in church. This shouldn’t surprise me. But it still seems like such 1990’s thinking. Back then, a lot of people (Baby Boomers – largely) grew up in traditional churches, but thought they were boring. So adding bands and light shows and production elements would tilt the scales when picking between churches. If you’re going anyways, why not the one with lasers, fog machines, jumbotron etc.?

But times have changed. I honestly have never met a person under 40 (heck, under 50 now) who says they don’t go to church because it’s too boring or traditional. Their issues are deeper. They don’t believe in God at all. Or they don’t like “organized religion,” and they will give a list of grievances with “church”. And none of them have anything to do with lights. Instead, the view is that Christians are hateful, transphobic, intolerant.

Ouch.

This bites much deeper than production value.

But where do they get these ideas?

The internet, of course.

And the newspaper.

And stories from friends.

And the stories they hear are disturbing.

I’m sure you all heard about the pastor at Faith Christian Church, based out of the University, using church funds to buy mansions on Mount Lemmon without paying taxes. He claims it’s for “spiritual retreats”. But, interestingly, only he and his close friends ever go on them.

So the internet lights up with “tax the churches. They’re all a scam….”

Then there’s the episode at Bookman’s where they had one of those drag queen story hours. A local church sent a crowd of angry people to shout and scream them down, scare them into stopping. They said they were “protecting the children from grooming”. What utter nonsense. There is no data to support drag queens leading to child molestation. Most offenders are straight and married. None of them started with drag queens.

Of course, to the young people watching from the sides, this is glaring hypocrisy, and intolerance. They see priests molesting kids and bishops covering it up, then Christians are worried about drag queens?

Of course, you and I will point out a distinction between some non-denominational personality cult and the Roman Catholic Church. They don’t. It’s all just “Christians are hypocrites”.

You want to know why kids don’t want to come to church? They think we’re hateful, homophobic, reactionary, sexist etc. They can’t figure out why they’d want that guy with his shiny red corvette and frosted tips to tell them every Sunday why LGBTQ people were going to hell. No thanks. I’ll be a good person, live love, and do it without “organized religion”.

I’ve had people ask my kids, when they say I’m a pastor, “so, your dad hates gays?” Gentle ribbing? Or do they really believe it?

The two biggest questions I get asked by confirmation students are “what is hell all about?” and “why do Christians hate gays?”

That’s the world we live in. Like it or not. The kids who go to church have to answer to their friends for the sins of those Christians who are screaming loudly to block what most young people see as self-evident human rights. They don’t see atheists shouting down drag queens and screaming at school board meetings. Ergo: atheists are more tolerant and loving.

I know that we as a church, as the ELCA, have struggled over the years with what course we will plot over LGBTQ issues. We know all too well at Lord of Grace that many of our former members left to go to conservative churches that would affirm their belief that all same-sex activity was sinful and against the Bible. We also know that our social statement on human sexuality both affirms same-sex marriage and ordination, but does not condemn those who choose not to support that. You don’t have to agree with the change, but we do expect you to live in a loving and supportive way in community with those who do.

Which brings me back to thinking about our place as a church, our future, our strategy for proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these times. Most of our society seems to be splitting apart along hard, partisan lines. Some churches stake out a traditionalist view, and they keep planting churches that affirm those beliefs, and do so with really good light shows. On the other hand, more and more of the population is just dropping out of church entirely. They don’t see a place for them. They may not deny God’s existence, but don’t want to participate in what they see as hateful politics.

In order to do evangelism these days it’s not enough to talk about Jesus. You have to overcome all these negative views, all these preconceptions first. You have to BE loving and supportive of people ostracized by other churches. And you have to keep clarifying, “but we’re not like that church, we don’t believe that, we don’t practice that……”

It's gets exhausting. I used to be more circumspect about doing the whole “We’re not them” bit. It felt arrogant. But after watching the screaming at Bookman’s and credible threats against the Catalina Foothills school board, I don’t feel we have a choice. Honestly, I would rather go to no church at all than that one.

And I used to be more circumspect about talking about ELCA social statements. I was worried it would offend people and cause controversy, and I didn’t have the energy for a fight. But, the more I see in the news, the more I feel the opposite. We’ve already lost people because of our positions. Maybe it’s time to use them to gain new ones.

It's why I feel we need to be more bold in identifying ourselves as different, and highlighting our social positions, and letting people know we’re an alternative. We also have the burden of living that out in practice, and demonstrating that we can be loving, open-minded, tolerant, inclusive, accepting, non-judgmental, listening to diverse views, and not automatically against all social change. We have a lot of obstacles to overcome to reach new generations for Christ. And none of them have to do with flashy lighting.

That said, we will be upgrading our lighting. We’ll go with the simpler plan: nothing flashy, but more bright and adjustable. We’ll be able to set a mood for a meditative service, and raise it for Sunday morning. And I hope that under those lights, whether dark and contemplative or bright and celebrating, that we act and live love and acceptance of Jesus, so we can melt hardened hearts with deeds and actions that give a different voice to Jesus and the church.  

Peace,

Pastor Lars

Outreach News April 2023

OUTREACH Ministry – April 2023

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Corliss Jenkins-Sherry, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, and Patty Clymer. 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.

 

Marana Community Food Bank

 

The Marana Resource Center recently received a pallet of peanut butter.  So, they would be

grateful for jelly (in plastic containers) to pair with the peanut butter.  Also, they have a need for

cereal.

 

Let’s get our neighbors off to a good start each morning with these favorites! Donated food can be place in the wooden cabinet located in the Narthex.  Please remember that the food bank cannot accept any food items that has been opened/used or expired.  Also, please no glass containers.  If you prefer to make cash donations, they are always welcome, and can be mailed to Marana Food Bank, 11134 West Grier Road, Marana, AZ 85653.    

 

Every $1 helps provide 4 meals.

 

Current and ongoing projects

 

Roadrunner Elementary-Lord of Grace Partnership

The Outreach Team will be continuing our work on Tuesday mornings at Butler’s Pantry, the

community resource center at Roadrunner Elementary from 9am-12pm. There will be a sign-up

in the Narthex on Sunday. We will meet Tuesday mornings at the LOG parking lot at 8:30am

and carpool to the school. If you have questions call Phyllis Teager 520-906-1837.

 

In addition, Carol Buuck and Phyllis Teager met at Roadrunner Elementary with Kristina Brewer on March 28, 2023 to discuss in what other areas we can help them. More to come later.

 

Upcoming projects

 

 

Easter Breakfast

The Outreach Team will be sponsoring the Easter Breakfast this year. We'll be serving breakfast from 7:45-8:30 and from 9:30-10:30. We will be serving buttermilk pancakes, sausages, fruit and pastries. Coffee, tea, and orange juice will also be available. 

We're looking for volunteers to help setup and prepare the fruit on Saturday April 8th and to help prepare and serve food and clean up on Sunday April 9th. There is a sign-up sheet in the narthex. The breakfast is a fund-raiser for Roadrunner Elementary School. 

We hope you'll be able to join us! Any questions, contact Corliss Jenkins-Sherry at minicjs333@gmail.com, call her at (520) 262-4271, contact anyone on the Outreach Team. Thank you! 

San Juan Bautista Lutheran Church Work Crew 

We've been asked by San Juan Bautista Lutheran Church at 1130 E Bilby Rd in Tucson to help paint their fellowship hall in preparation for their 70th anniversary celebration on April 30th. We're looking for people who would be interested in being on the work crew. Dates would be Monday April 10th to prep for painting and April 12-13th to paint. They need one wall painted and we're hoping if we have enough people signup for the work crew that we can paint all four walls. There is a sign-up sheet in the Narthex. Thank you for considering! Questions? Contact Chris Kollen at lizzykollen@comcast.net, anyone on the Outreach Team, or Pastor Lars. Thank you! 

LOG Prayer Connection News April 2023

LOG Prayer Connection

Persistent Prayer

Persistent prayer is when you don’t give up. It’s praying for something until God either answers our prayer, or He tells us to stop praying. Persistent prayer is standing in faith that God will answer our prayers. So often when we face a difficult decision, a strained relationship, financial concerns, feel sad or depressed, or facing a scary medical procedure or surgery or suffer from an illness, we often spend hours or days worrying and losing sleep.  When the first thing we should do is to turn to Jesus in prayer.

Scripture has a lot to say about persistent prayer and asking for prayer: Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.  Read Ephesians 6:18, James 5:14,16,

Prayer teams are available in the conference/classroom across the hall from the office on the 4th Sunday of the month right after BOTH the  8:30 and 10:30 services. And if you are in need of prayer please ask a team member to pray with you any Sunday or anytime and often. That’s Persistent Prayer.   Team: Cindy Stein, Sue Justis, Candy Borstad, Carleen Hugues, Diana Repp

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Painting San Juan Bautista - pastor's column April, 2023

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Seventy years ago some Swedish Lutherans on the south side of Tucson formed a congregation, in the old Augustana Synod (which has since merged in to the LCA and then to the ELCA), on Bilby Road and almost Park Avenue. They called this church Bethany Lutheran.

By the mid-1970’s, most of the Swedes had moved away, and the neighborhood had become mostly Mexican-American. So they sold the property to the Lutheran Church in America (the LCA) and with the proceeds moved west to Cardinal and Valencia and formed Santa Cruz Lutheran Church.

San Juan Bautista, as it looks today.

Meanwhile, at the old Bethany building, a new pastor named Rich Miller came in, who spoke Spanish and had served congregations in the Caribbean. He had a counseling practice on the side and, through that, met a bunch of people of Afro-Cuban descent who had just come to the US. He restarted the church as San Juan Bautista Lutheran Church, or Eglesia Luterana de San Juan Bautista.

The church remained this way until the early 1980’s, when most of the Cuban immigrants moved to other parts of the US, and Pastor Miller started and outreach to the Mexican-America community that now is the majority of the area. He stayed there until the late 1980’s.

He was then followed by a retired missionary from Guatemala, Pastor Gary McClure. He served the congregation part-time for the next 18 years. He was followed by three more pastors who all had short terms, followed then by Pastor Mateo Chavez, a retired teacher from Yuma and member of the congregation. Pastor Chavez has now been at San Juan for several years fully ordained.

This April 30th San Juan will be celebrating its 70th anniversary as a ministry site (as two different congregations). They’ve weathered a lot, particularly the struggle with finding pastors who can speak Spanish, and know the culture. As a small congregation of people on hour wages. San Juan has not been self-sustaining for years, and relies heavily on the generosity of the ELCA, Grand Canyon Synod, and our fellow Tucson congregations.

Pastor Rich Miller (second from left) helping the musicians from San Juan at the super-youth event in 2017. Pastor Mateo Chavez is speaking, and his wife Anette is with the guitar second from the right.

Lord of Grace has had an off-again, on-again partnership with San Juan. I saw in an old directory that we rebuilt the underlayment on their roof in the early 2000’s. We also had a combined youth group event in 2018 down there, which was a lot of fun. Then there was the “super-youth” event here in 2018 that featured a musical group from San Juan.

When I was doing Open Space Church, we had a good partnership with San Juan. As a mission start, we relied on ELCA money to support us. But what we didn’t have in finances, we had in talent.

Michael Schultz painting Jesus and John the Baptism where the old windows used to be at San Juan Bautista

In 2015 we held our second live graffiti art show at San Juan: WET PAINT 2. Open Space’s own Michael Schultz painted a big mural on their education building with the Virgin of Guadalupe, Jesus, and the Luther Rose. We also brought in other local artists to make an event out of it. The mural is still there, though it could use a touch-up because of the fading. It faces due west.

The Holy Spirit by Tucson artist SES ONE

Then again in 2019 Open Space came back to host a graffiti contest, and paint the outside front of the sanctuary. The windows that once showed light into the front were covered up with plywood decades ago, and were painted like the rest of the building. Instead, Michael Schultz painted this Jesus with John the Baptist (above) in stained-glass-style, but with all spray paint. Numerous other artists competed, and the winner, SES ONE, with this Holy Spirit Dove, still sits in the San Juan sanctuary.

One thing that has been a frustration of many of us in the Grand Canyon Synod is how Tucson, which is 40% Mexican-American, has only one Spanish-speaking church, and . We need to do better at our evangelism, and break out of being a denomination of primarily Midwestern transplants (says Midwestern Transplant). There aren’t easy solutions, but one thing we can do is help support the congregation we do have.

The Lord of Grace and San Juan youth groups in 2016 in front of the main mural on the education building.

Which brings me to my shameless plug for volunteers to help me repaint the San Juan fellowship hall. The room has been rebuilt and repainted several times, and has some marks of wear, as any heavily-trafficked space does. I’ll be going down April 10th to prep the walls and tape, and then paint on April 12 and 13. I could use help to make it all go faster. It’s not a huge room, but it does take time and effort to get things done with detail. Sign-up sheets are in the narthex, and you can pick the day you can come. I hope to see you there.

Pastor Lars

Easter Lilies

Why the lily? The lily is representative of Christ’s resurrection, and its white color speaks of purity and innocence, being untainted by the world. It also represents a new season, a new birth!

This Easter you have the opportunity to purchase lilies in memory or in honor of a special person. These Easter Lilies will help beautify our Sanctuary. Those interested may use the purple envelope located in the narthex beginning March 19.  The cost is $11 each and the deadline for returning the envelope to the church office is April 2. 

Contact Angie Wilkinson, our Office Administrator at (520)   744-7400. 

Capital Campaign News March 2023

Capital Campaign Update

 

The final large project of the campaign is the sanctuary refresh.  A team is looking at new flooring, painting, lighting, and possibly a raised area across the front of the sanctuary to raise the choir and Praise team up for better visibility and sound. How exciting is all of this! 

The Capital Campaign started in April of 2020.  Due to the generosity of our members, many capital improvements have been made that will ensure our building is sound and welcoming for years to come.   

The church council wants to thank the congregation for their generosity.  There will be a Campaign Completion Celebration luncheon for the congregation on March 26th immediately following the second service.  Lunch will be a Mexican Buffet and all food will be provided so please plan to come and celebrate  your generosity and the many church improvements your generosity has funded.  A signup sheet will be available in the Narthex (on credenza).  Please sign up so we can have an accurate count for the event.

 

 

 Carolyn Bernheim, Treasurer. 

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Experiencing God in Wilderness -pastor's column March 2023

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These past few weeks I’ve been doing an online study of selected passages from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters from Prison. It’s been a fun experience to go back and look at one of my favorite writers and theologians, as well as someone I feel pretty comfortable recommending as a model of Christian faith. In case you aren’t familiar with him, he was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian in the 1930’s and 1940’s. He taught for a while at Union Seminary in New York City, and decided to go back to Germany with the rise of Hitler. He could have stayed out the war, but he felt his Christian calling was not to avoid the cross of discipleship, but embrace it. I’m not sure I would have been as bold.

When he got to Germany he joined the Abwehr – German military intelligence. It gave him clearance to travel to gain secrets about the Allies, while also working as a sort of double-agent. He ended up joining a plot to kill Hitler, and when he was found out, was sent to the Tegel prison in Berlin. He stayed there 18 months before being quietly transferred to an SS camp, where he was interrogated, tortured, and, eventually, hung naked with piano wire a couple months before the war ended.

All this sacrifice has put a credibility behind his writings that most theologians don’t have. But there’s one part of him that is getting renewed attention these days, from an unlikely source: American fundamentalists.

When Bonhoeffer was in New York, there was a theological movement at the time in mainline churches called “liberalism”. Nowadays we call it “classical liberalism” because it isn’t the same as today. The word means different things. But back then it was about how we could build the kingdom of God here on earth through social programs and science, and that doctrine and beliefs were largely unimportant. What mattered was the social outcomes. This was a reaction to the “quietism” of so much of American Christianity then that taught, basically, forget about the world and prepare yourself for heaven. Actions have reactions.

What Bonhoeffer found disillusioned him on classical liberalism, as he felt it didn’t address the issues of discipleship and personal responsibility for one’s faith. But this is not to say he was a quietist, or against churches taking social stands. Here’s just one quote

“Things do exist that are worth standing up for without compromise. To me it seems that peace and social justice are such things, as is Christ himself.”

He was not a social conservative, he just had issues with this particular brand of liberal Christianity.

Fast-forward to the early 2000’s, and suddenly you see his name being trumpeted by American Christian fundamentalists as one of their own. He’s now the doctrinal evangelical who died resisting the weak-kneed liberals who wouldn’t stand up to Hitler. So many things are wrong here, but most people wouldn’t catch them. In Germany, the Protestant “Lutheran” church actually calls itself the Evangelische Kirche. They don’t use the word “Lutheran”. In fact, our own doctrinal book, the Book of Concord, says “These are the writings of the Evangelical churches”. Lutheran was a nickname.

To conflate Dietrich Bonhoeffer with the modern evangelical movement, and all its literalism and politics, is simply wrong. He was anything but. Today he would go to a mainline Lutheran church, talk about “social justice” and “systemic injustice” along with the individual’s call to discipleship. He would in no way support the evolution-denying or science-denying politics of today’s evangelicals. But you have to dig a little to find that.

His earlier books, the Cost of Discipleship and Ethics have a heavy focus on the individual and the personal cost of being a follower of Jesus. They don’t delve as much into systemic and social things. It’s in his later writings, where he’s sitting in prison, with lots of time on his hands, that he starts to really rethink a lot of the Christian faith. It isn’t that he loses faith, even seeing WW2, it’s just that he gets disillusioned with how faith did not lead to action where it mattered. And so he begins to wonder if maybe the “religion” of his time – the practices, theology, unwritten belief systems, need to get jettisoned to get back to following Jesus. This is what he calls “religionless Christianity”, and this is what I’ve been exploring in the video series.

And yet, even here, his words got spun. You have fundamentalists talking about how they’re getting rid of “religion” to get “back to the heart”. And when pressed what that means, it’s something along the lines of: traditions, denominations, liturgy, robes, communion, written prayers – anything that might resemble Catholicism. They’re going to just sing and pray and listen to a sermon, and that’s “getting rid of religion”. The problem was, Bonhoeffer’s exploration of religionless Christianity has nothing to do with liturgy or bishops or robes, and everything to do with questions like:

  • How can you talk about the cross if people are not believing in sin?

  • Why is so much of “religion” just focused on life after death, instead of this world?

  • What do we have to say that adds Christ to the world of experience and science, instead of saying that God is either not working in the world, or only is there to answer the questions we can’t (the God of the gaps)?

  • Is it ethical to encourage people  to have an existential crisis so that you can solve it?

  • What does it mean to talk about redemption if the world doesn’t think they need to be saved?

These are questions driven by the rise of secularism, science, atheism, philosophy. Nothing about robes or hymns or weekly communion. Nothing about Jesus “in your heart”. Much more deep.

Where I find the questions the most convicting and engaging for me center around the idea of finding God in the world, and not in what’s after or beyond. If God is only the answer to questions we can’t answer, the more science answers the less room there is for God. And in a world that could care less about hell and heaven, do we have something to say about life now?

There’s this common phrase I hear among my fellow wilderness-hiking-types that they don’t need to go to church because “nature is my church” and “I find God in nature/mountain/stream/rainbow/sunset”. I have spent a lot of time in nature, and while I feel that I can better connect with God there, because there is more beauty and less distractions, I have not found God. I missed the community, the Word, the communion, the songs. Just me and nature eventually got kind of lonely.

Ragged Top Mountain, in Ironwood Forest National Monument.

But I see where they’re coming from, and because of Bonhoeffer I understand it better. They’re not denying that God exists, or that there is more to life than the physical world, or that there is transcendent experience. They’re just placing it IN THE WORLD. Church, they believe, is all about after death and outside of experience. They want a richer experience of God IN NATURE, not a God who tells you to destroy it because it’s all going to hell in the rapture anyways. They want to find God now, not just after death. And they want more life now, not a deprived life now in order to prepare for the good one later.

With that, I can’t disagree.

But our music, our hymns, so much of what we do is not geared towards finding God IN the pleasure and beauty today. If anything, pious Christianity has viewed pleasure as the first step on a slippery slope to debauchery and hell. Better to hold it all in. And if you listen to the songs about after I die, they go on and on about the “far side of Jordan”, but nothing about the near side of my life.

It's made me rethink how we can talk about God with no reference to heaven and hell, afterlife, punishment. It’s made me rethink how to talk about Jesus as someone to find IN the experience of the world, not as an escape from it.

Jesus being tempted to rule the world by The Tester

And how do we do that, and keep Jesus distinctly Jesus, and not fall into “God is in everything, so everything is God” sort of mushy-ness? Bonhoeffer suggests going back to the Old Testament, where no one believed in hell or an afterlife, and where Jesus, he believes, considers that of minor importance (though he does believe in resurrection). The message is there, the way is there, but it will involve some re-experiencing the world around you.

My thoughts meander, but let me bring it all back. This Lent our theme is “wilderness”. You can take that a couple ways. One is that it’s a place of emptiness, disorientation, deprivation. In those places, like Jesus, we can hear the Spirit more clearly because of our lack of distractions. The other way is to look at the wilderness as a place of rich experience, peace, harmony, and presence of mind – a place where God is MORE present, and deprivation is less. In both cases, we can go on our journeys away from the endless to-do lists that kill any experience of holiness and transcendence, that separate us from daily experience of God.

We’ll explore this theme in our mid-week services through the use of meditation, conversation, and contemplation of visual art. God will be present in both the non-seeing, and in the rich visuals. The sermons on Sunday will emphacize this two-sided journey, and, I hope, we will all have a new perspective on faith as followers of Jesus in this world.

Peace,

Pastor Lars

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Vase-Making for Lent

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This lent we’re following a theme of “wilderness” throughout our mid-week services, and our sermons. In preparation, we put together all these vases (based on an idea from sanctifiedart.org) to place in front of the sanctuary for the Lenten season.

To build them we had a lunch after the second service, and then had a little liturgy where we would read a poem, based on the idea for each part of the vases, complete that part, and read again and so on.

All ages were there, kids through seniors, and we made some really cool additions to our sanctuary. A big thanks to the liturgical arts team for all the work of hunting down all the supplies, especially finding all those big vases at thrift stores.

Outreach News - February

OUTREACH Ministry – February 2023

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Corliss Jenkins-Sherry, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, and Patty Clymer. 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.

Marana Community Food Bank

This month the Marana Resource Center is having a “Souper Bowl” theme.  So, we are going to be collecting low-sodium soups and crackers for February’s Super Bowl.

The Marana Food Bank will need help re-stocking their shelves after the busy holiday season.  Let’s show our neighbors how much we care and get them off to a good start in the new year, as we are thankful this season for all we have.

 Donated food can be place in the wooden cabinet located in the Narthex.  Please remember that the food bank cannot accept any food items that has been opened/used or expired.  Also, please no glass containers.  If you prefer to make cash donations, they are always welcome, and can be mailed to Marana Food Bank, 11134 West Grier Road, Marana, AZ 85653.  Every $1 helps provide 4 meals.

 

Roadrunner Elementary School – Family Resource Center

The Outreach Team is excited to share that Lord of Grace has formed a partnership with Roadrunner Elementary School, which is part of the Marana Unified School District.  Roadrunner is located at 16651 W. Calle Carmela in Avra Valley, and is led by Kristina Brewer the school’s principal and chief advocate!  Roadrunner Elementary has 383 scholars enrolled and a staff of 47.

It is a Title I school which means that 75-80% of the scholars qualify for the free or reduced lunch program as well as additional academic support. An exciting way that Roadrunner builds pride within their scholars is around the idea of continued education and college.         

They do this by incorporating the language of college in daily practices, which builds a belief that college is an option for everyone, no matter their resources. One way we are looking to support the scholars and their families at Roadrunner is to assist in maintaining a Community Resource Center on the school’s campus. 

This resource center will have a food pantry and clothing as well as necessities. 

The first order of business for Lord of Grace volunteers will be to organize clothing that has been donated. If you are interested in participating in this outreach ministry, we will be meeting weekly, beginning January 24. 

Sign up in the Narthex.         

Any questions contact Phyllis Teager or Carol Buuck.

·        Time: 8:30am

·        Meet and Carpool: Lord of Grace Work at Roadrunner: 9-12 noon

·        Return to LOG: 12:30 PM

 

Feed My Starving Children

We will be participating in Feed my Starving Children again (for general information see https://www.fmsc.org/). The meals are shipped worldwide to partner charities addressing other areas (disaster relief, education, water access, agriculture, etc.) so people are fed first. Volunteers pack bags of rice, soy protein, dehydrated vegetables, vitamins and nutrients. Their stretch goal for 2023 is to pack 1 million meals.

Thank you to all who signed up for the mobile pack event at Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene on Saturday February 12th from 8-10am, we’ll be joining other Tucson Lutheran churches.

Council News February 2023

Council News

Dear Church Family:

COUNCIL MEETING INFORMATION

The Council met briefly on Sunday, December 18th and the agenda items are summarized below:

·        Pastor Lars presented an overview of what the sanctuary remodel team has developed.  The team’s suggestions include: 1) removing the altar railings and storing them; 2) removing the two pony walls and building out the altar floor; 3) adding new paint to match the brick wall; 4) improving lighting in both corners for the praise team and choir and the altar and brick wall areas; 5) installing new carpeting; 6) raising the flooring in the choir and praise team areas; 7) adding window treatments to the side windows; 8) moving the eternal light; 9) adding art work to the back of the sanctuary; 10) installing pulleys on beams for special events; and 11) hiding the outside AC units.  The Council agreed that the team should move forward obtaining estimates on the suggested work.

 

·        Carolyn presented the budget as recommended by the Finance Committee.  After discussion, the Council agreed that the budget should be presented as proposed to the congregation for congregational budget meeting.    

CONGEGATIONAL BUDGET MEETING

Forty-three church members attending the meeting on January 8, 2023.  A variety of important information was provided, and these included the following:  Mission Priorities 2022; the 2022 Budget and Result: Mission Priorities and Budget Projections 2023; Preschool Grant Update; and Capital Campaign Highlights.  A vote on the new budget was taken, and it was approved unanimously.  We greatly appreciate the work done by our Finance Committee and thank those who attended.

The minutes of both meetings will be posted on the LOG bulletin board and a copy can be obtained by contacting Angie Wilkinson, our Office Administrator at (520) 744-7400.  Our next scheduled meeting will be February 21, 2023, in the Fellowship Hall at 6:30 PM.  If you are interested in attending a Council meeting, please let me know. 

Peace and blessings,

Linda Merritt, Council President

Council Members

Linda Merritt – President

Joy Folkvord – Vice President

Carolyn Bernheim – Treasurer

Laurie O’Brien – Member

Richard Green – Member

Casey Andrews – Member

Sue Justis – Executive Committee Member

Recording Secretary - open

Strategic Planning Committee Update

Strategic Planning Committee Update

Following the congregational meetings in October, that reviewed the strategic planning

committee’s progress and draft of the mission statement, we would like to share the

new LOG Mission Statement:

  • Love God and celebrate God’s Love for us in vibrant and creative worship.

  • Open our Hearts and Minds through diverse individual and group connections - to guide us on the path God calls us to follow.

  • Live Graciously Towards All through outreach and mission to our local, national, and international communities.

Over the coming weeks members of the strategic planning committee will be meeting

with ministry groups to pray and discuss how the work of each particular ministry

reflects the new mission statement and will create ministry objectives as part of the

larger LOG Strategic Plan.

We would like to thank everyone for their participation and working to do God’s work

with our hands.

LOG Prayer Connection February 2023

Psalm 63: 6-7     6  On my bed I remember You; I think of You through the watches of night.  7  Because You are my help, I sing on the shadow of Your wings.

Sometimes we are in need of encouragement.  Sometimes the worries of the day come and seek us at night.  Or maybe something weighs on our heart.  If we turn to God in prayer, He sustains us.  It does not have to be a formal prayer.  It can just be a conversation, telling Him what the problem is.  God listens to our fears and troubles.  He can relieve the worries and can open a door for peace.  If we can listen to God, He may have a solution.  Praise be our awesome God.

Please know that Lord of Grace 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.  We strongly believe in the power of prayer and that a continual connection with our God will keep us all closer to Him.

Wilderness - our theme for Lent 2023

Have you ever felt like you were out between things, where you didn’t have a direction for your life, where you didn’t feel certain anymore about what you believed, or where God was anymore? Have you ever felt like, instead of being on a straight highway to heaven, you were more like wandering in a wilderness?

This has probably been the experience for most of us at some point in our lives. Faith is often described as either a clean break – i.e. I went from a non-believing sinner (let me tell you how many sins I did) to a Christian – or as a line up to heaven? But isn’t it the case that our faith journeys more often resemble paths of ups and downs, loops of going back and forth to the same things over and over, long periods of not going anywhere?

When Jesus started his ministry, the first thing the Holy Spirit did was to lead him out into the wilderness for 40 days. His wilderness looks a lot more like Nevada than the redwoods – lots of heat, emptiness, few things to eat. It says Jesus didn’t. Then he was tempted by a figure called “the satan” – which in Hebrew just means “the tester”. And why? He could have died. He could have run. He could have gone crazy. He could have given in to temptation and become a megalomaniac – ruling over the world like a dictator. Why would God the Father take a chance like that, that Jesus would fail? Why take off the safety rails, and risk him not fulfilling his destiny?

Could it be that Jesus needed to spend some time in the wilderness, on his own, with the risk and the temptation, the struggles and deprivation, to fully understand his mission, and embrace his calling? Could there be something here for us?

This Lent we’re going to follow the theme of “Wilderness”. It won’t be all about hiking in trees, but about walking in faith through places and times when faith is not as obvious or easy. It’s faith without safety rails. We’ll start with Jesus’ 40 days, and take time to reflect on finding God’s presence when that presence doesn’t feel so obvious. We’ll use ideas from a web site called sanctified art, the people who made the program for the Advent services. There’s art, poetry, meditation – all different ways to explore God (or the lack of God) for the 40 days before Easter.

First, there’ the Intergenerational Craft and Fellowship Sunday, February 19th at 11:30am, where we’ll have some lunch, do some short meditations, and work together to build a wilderness-themed altar-table for Lent. All ages. No experience necessary.

Then we have Ash Wednesday service February 22 at 6:30pm. Come for the imposition of ashes and the beginning of Lent.

Come worship and pray each Wednesday (March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29) at 6:30pm with mid-week Lent services. We’ll do a special liturgy with prayer, poetry, art, discussion, and meditation on images from scripture. After, we’ll gather for fellowship and refreshments in the narthex, so we can catch up with each other as well as with God.

Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday on April 2nd, procession and all.

Maundy Thursday will be different this year. Instead of a  traditional worship with communion, we’ll do an agape meal, much like the early Christian churches did when they met for food and fellowship each week – where communion was a full meal. April 6, 6:30pm in the fellowship hall. It’s a full meal with dates and meats, much like in ancient Israel. You’ll have to sign up before, so the cooks can prepare enough for everyone.

Good Friday is April 7th, 6:30pm with our stations of the cross liturgy.

And, of course, Easter on April 9th.

I hope you’ll take advantage of Lent as a time to explore and grow your faith, try some new faith practices, and reconnect with God. It’s not 40 days of punishment, but 40 days to be honest with ourselves, and God, and grow in faith and prayer.

Pastor Lars

Blue Ocean Evangelism - Pastor's Column Feb 2023

It’s been a couple months since everyone got an update on the strategic planning process, with Christmas and all, but we’re back and continuing our work. The committee met in January to start talking about implementation of the new mission statement. In case you can’t remember it:

Love God

Open our hearts and minds

Live Graciously toward all

The focus of our community is always first on the Lord, deepening our relationships with him, and being disciples. Then we open our minds and hearts to exploring and experiencing God’s truths and God’s will for our lives. Finally, there’s grace, God’s free gift, which we live with each other and which we want others to experience. In other words (my personal paraphrase)

·       Relationship/Spirituality

·       Exploration and Experience

·       Acceptance and gracious living

Now comes the next step: to go to our ministry teams and have everyone do brainstorming, and develop plans for how to implement these things in their areas. Some groups will focus more on one part than another, of course, but we’ll be most successful with the most ideas, ownership, involvement. Look for members of the Strategic Planning Committee to set up sessions with your ministry, and go through the process with you.

These are the nuts and bolts of process, of working things out, getting decisions made. But I also want to step back and share a few reflections on how to go about mission today.

I shared this little spiel with the committee, and thought I’d share it with you. It’s based on a book from the business world called “Blue Ocean Strategy” by Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. The basic premise is that businesses operate in one of two markets. In the “red ocean” lots of different companies compete for a finite market. The competition is intense, so prices have to go down. You also have to spend lots of energy trying to beat the competition at quality, often investing hugely in small differences that only the most savvy consumers notice. Think of wines: if you want the connoisseurs,  you have to make really good wines, with very specific tastes, to people who are very picky. It’s called the “red ocean” because the competition is bloody. Lots of failed businesses and “cut throat” competition.  

In the “blue ocean” you don’t have competition, and you’re not even really competing with the other businesses. You’re creating a new market. Think of those wines with the kangaroos on them. They’re not super expensive, don’t have fancy French names, the bottles are easy to read, and they’re just sweet enough that ordinary people who have never swished a goblet under their noses can appreciate. The company is raking in millions selling wines to people who identify as “not wine people”. It’s a blue ocean success.

Where this matters to us is how closely this resembles the religious landscape of our NW corner of Tucson. When Lord of Grace was new, growth was fast and churches were few. We were one of the only ones. We were an island in a blue ocean. Now there’s one in every strip mall and school. We got huge. Now it’s bloody red, with a church on every corner. In addition, interest in religion is dropping, so a smaller percentage of people are looking for a church. This means more churches competing for fewer people – even factoring in recent development and housing growth. So, they all have to get better bands, more exciting youth groups, better signage, more savvy marketing, more programs….to grow in the market of church-shoppers.

Looking out over the Continental Ranch area, they all look pretty similar, to me at least. Little or no liturgy: just songs-sermon-go home. Praise bands playing the same songs. Pastor with jeans and untucked shirt with carefully sculpted hair to look “hip”. And a theology that’s solidly old-school and not up for debate. The differences between them are subtle – one pastor’s preaching style may be more animated, another more didactic, another does better jokes. The bands will be subtly different and try to get better singers and one might have a more charismatic “worship pastor”, but 90% is the same thing cloned over and over. It’s religious red ocean.

One effect of red-ocean church world is that size becomes a key asset in market positioning. To offer the best band, best programs, best parking, best media, best youth group etc. it helps in every way to have more people and money. Don’t have a volunteer for VBS? Just hire someone. Your kids don’t have a lot of friends at the small church? Go to the big one where they know everyone from school, and have cool mission trips and white-water rafting. As a smaller congregation, you simply can’t compete with the big players in a red ocean market. They can out-perform you in every category – except if you want to not be anonymous or want to get really involved. The whole scene gets disheartening, frustrating, and demoralizing.

Then you throw in those churches and pastors who decide that the quickest and most cost-effective way to build a church is to poach active members from somewhere else. Maybe you can out-visit the local pastor, or invite his members to ball games, or have your members invite people from other churches to your small groups. If a person is already a good giver and volunteer, when they switch you get a lot of money/volunteer time quickly.

And then you ask if this is really what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about – trying to compete for the business of religious customers.

Of course, there are many very good reasons for switching churches. Many of us here have done that. Maybe the theology or social positions here better align. Maybe you were hurt at the last place. Maybe you just moved across town. So it’s not all just cynical “sheep stealing” as we call it in the business. But I’ve seen enough to know that it isn’t that uncommon, unfortunately.

But what if we decided that we weren’t going to play the game, that we weren’t going to spend our energy trying to provide better religious services to Christian customers, and instead did what Jesus said to “make disciples of all nations?” When you hear pastors talk about evangelism, we always talk about “those who have not heard” and “those who do not know God”. Nobody says, “those who are good members somewhere else”. What if we decided to abandon the red ocean, and focused our mission on the blue ocean – the 80% of the population that doesn’t go to church, or that isn’t fundamentalist? What if we decided that instead of trying to out-do these big places with fancy programs and big staffs, we did unique things that they don’t, so that we’re not interchangeable products? What if we went our own path, and deliberately positioned ourselves as an alternative to everyone else?

That’s what I’ve been thinking about for years. And I believe it’s a far better strategy for Lord of Grace.

Within greater Continental Ranch area, we stand out for a few things. We have a building; liturgy; an open-minded theology, that’s both rich and conducive for questions and doubts, a denominational history and accountability. We also have a welcoming community, energetic worship, etc. etc. We should highlight our differences, lean into them, and find ways to use what we have to connect with the huge blue ocean mission field.

When we meet as ministry teams, to do our dreaming and planning, I’ll be asking questions like: how can we build relationships with people outside our church? How can we connect people with God who don’t know, or who have fallen away? How can we impact lives of those around us? How is what we do and are different, and how can we use that as an asset?

It's a fun process, I think, to open yourself to the Spirit to see new opportunities. It’s also a lot of fun to do some dreaming again, after spending so much energy the last two years on survival and adaptation.

God has a place for different churches in the kingdom of God. It isn’t one size that will connect with everyone, no matter how much I may disagree with the stances of some others. They are bringing people to Christ who may not come here. But, still, God has a special calling for us, in this time and place.

God Bless,

 

Pastor Lars

LOG Prayer Connection - January 2023

LOG Prayer Connection

 

Psalm 119:169 – Let my cry come before you Lord, give me understanding according to your word.

There is so much more to prayer than just telling God what you want and quickly saying Amen.  The Psalmist in this verse is pleading with God to listen to him and to give him understanding.  Prayer is a conversation with God, a sharing of dialogue.  There is listening involved as well as asking.  When you speak of a concern to someone you love, you open up your heart to that person.  You expose your feelings through trust.  And, you expect that person to listen and respond lovingly. This is how prayer works with God. Not only does He listen intently, but he responds in love.  Sometimes we don’t get the answer we are expecting and it’s important to ask God to help us understand whatever that answer may be.   Prayer then goes beyond the asking for something.  Prayer is the constant dialogue back and forth to understand and accept what you’ve been told or given, as well as to praise and thank God.  Don’t let your amen be the end.  Keep the conversation going.

Please know that the Lord of Grace 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.  We strongly believe in the power of prayer and that a continual connection with our God will keep us all closer to Him.    

Remember, God can bring the peace you seek.  Seek Him in prayer.