Prayer Connection March 2024

This year, February 14th marks two special days in the year: Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Season of Lent. As we combine these two traditions, we are reminded of the love of God for us, and for each other:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Lord of Grace, as we draw close to you in prayer this Lenten Season, open our eyes to see your heart of love all around us, and guide us to share your love with those you place in our paths and lives. Amen.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America offers many resources to support us as we seek to pray more deeply in all situations in our lives! “The Prayers and Blessings For Daily Use” offers prayers for mornings, evenings, workdays and school days; table prayers (including those who eat alone); prayers for times of conflict, crisis and disaster; health of body and soul; those experiencing affliction, trouble, bereavement; those suffering from addiction; the chronically ill and caregivers, support teams and health care providers; recovery from sickness; the unemployed; those who live alone; and prayers attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, Julian Norwich, and Martin Luther.

We close with one of the prayers from this ELCA resource:

Almighty God, your love never fails, and you can turn the shadow of death into daybreak. Help us to receive your word with believing hearts, so that, confident in your promises, we may have hope and be lifted out of sorrow into the joy and peace of your presence; through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Link to The Prayers and Blessings For Daily Use: https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/DailyPrayer_PrayersBlessings.pdf 

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.

‘Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.’ Colossians 4:2

Prayer is on my mind and in my heart as we enter the season of Lent this year.

I have also been thinking about models in my life who have encouraged me in my prayer life. The person who comes to my mind is Betty, a ninety-seven year old friend and mentor who attended the church we went to when we arrived in Tucson and lived on the east side. I spent every Wednesday morning with Betty and others praying for the life of our church. Betty took prayer seriously and was devoted to her practice of praying for each person listed in her prayer journal every day. She often would check in with me to see how things were going with someone I had asked her to pray for. Betty also kept a gratitude journal and encouraged me to do the same. She said that her gratitudes kept her encouraged in her daily prayer life.

I have decided to add a practice of writing down my gratitudes in my journal during Lent this year. Like Betty, I will appreciate the encouragement.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for my prayer partners at Lord of Grace and all of those who have come before who have encouraged me in my prayer life. May I be of encouragement to others as they have been to me.                              

  In the precious name of Jesus I pray, Amen

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.

New Sanctuary Mural

The capital campaign for the church is almost over. Over $290,000 was raised, and this bought the church a whole list of much-needed repairs and upgrades. This includes:

• exterior paint

• mural on the outside wall of the fellowship hall by the playground

• replace roof underlayment

• new air conditioners for the narthex/nursery and sanctuary

• livestreaming equipment

• floor tiles for classrooms, fellowship hall

• repaint the fellowship hall

• new keyboard for the band

• and the sanctuary…..

This last piece came in last, and included a whole list of things:

• new carpet

• repainting walls

• new lights - sconses, stage lights, lights for the stone wall

• build-out of the altar area into a stage-like platform

• pews shortened and made moveable

• mural on the back wall

• replace the audio system (coming this spring)

I feel the need to list it all because it’s so impressive what we’ve been able to do with the generosity of the congregation. While the church is, and always will be, the people, and the building is just a tool we use, it’s important to keep the building in good shape and not kick the can down the road on repairs. Things never get cheaper. It’s also important to think about how your building communicates your mission, your values.

With a big mural outside, and now one in the sanctuary, we convey art, creativity, life, color. We tell people that faith is dynamic and exciting, and invite people in to explore and experience.

So this last piece, the sanctuary mural, came out of the planning process for the whole room. As you may remember, last year a team was gathered to come up with proposals for refreshing and upgrading the worship space. We looked at values, mood, function. We asked questions about what kind of things we would need in the future, so we could leave the next generation in the best place. We came up with ideas like: family, community, creativity, Jesus, welcome. We wanted it to be warm and flexible, to do creative worship and have options for different uses - hence the pews that can be moved. Everything was decided to accomplish our goals and convey our values, not to fit any particular personal preferences of the team members.

In this process the idea came up putting some sort of art on the big back wall. It just sat there empty, with nothing but livestreaming cameras and a big row of organ speakers. Initially, the plan was for a strip of Bible stories along the bottom of that wall, just above the bulkhead and the doors - much like cathedrals have a strip of carvings on the railing of the balcony. But then someone asked simply, “why not the whole wall?” Made sense.

We contacted local Tucson artist Michael Schultz to do the mural. He’s a veteran graffiti artist, and was a leader in Open Space Church before it closed after Covid. Having done church murals in Las Vegas and South Tucson, he was well-skilled for a job this size.

The vision was to do something modern, non-literal, and also tell some of the story of the Bible. This has three parts:

On the left: Jesus healing the woman who touches his cloak.

Middle: all the people coming together at the resurrection

Right: the women appearing at the empty tomb

Artist Michael Schultz with the finished mural

My own preference is always to keep church art a little abstract, a little modern, so we don’t start to take the image too literally and start thinking this is “how it actually looked”. We don’t know what it “really looked like” and can only make a best historical guess. But the truth of the scriptures is about more than the events, it’s about the experience people had of Jesus, and still do. It’s about how the Spirit shows you meanings in it, and the power that comes from that. So I wanted something that would both tell a story, and at the same time draw you in and get you thinking and imagining.

The splash of color is intentional, both to give it life and to contrast with the brown-blue theme of the building. It’s a highlight on your way out of worship.

In case you’re wondering, it was done with Kobra low pressure and Molotow spray paint, along with some Molotow art markers.

Pastor Lars

New Things for the New Year - Pastor's Column February 2024

This last month has been a month of planning for me, and for the church at large. Now that I’m back from the sabbatical and have had some time to catch up on everything, there’s now more energy to look forward. Christmas was wonderful, and the Advent series on “How does a weary world rejoice” was really enjoyable. I enjoyed the art to complement the words of the liturgy, as well as the special night time services, the healing service and the longest night – both of which are still on YouTube. For a long time I’ve felt that we limit ourselves in our connection with God when it’s only words and songs. So many of us, especially in our time, learn as much through visuals as anything. To be able to convey new ideas about the Bible stories, that aren’t only from me, with my limitations, expands everyone’s experience of the season.

So, along those lines we will be doing something similar for Lent. It’s starting early this year; February 14th is Ash Wednesday. Our ashes will have to compete with Italian dinners. But, to make it easier to do both, I’ve added a shorter noon service this year.

Still, we have a great program for Lent called “Wandering Heart” by sanctifiedart. It’s the same outfit that gave us “Weary World”. It all revolves around Peter the disciple and his struggles with Jesus and his teachings. The visuals are striking, and I love the concept of making Lent about exploring the harder parts of Jesus. Peter certainly did. Mid-week services will still go on Wednesdays, much like last year, with visuals, meditatation and open-mic discussion (followed by fellowship in the narthex).

Speaking of that, changes are coming there. One of the goals of the worship committee in the strategic plan is to redesign the narthex. Over the years it’s become a bit of a collection space, with more things than we really need there. It’s ground zero for first-time visitors to encounter our church, and needs to be as welcoming as possible. So, we formed a small team to look into how to make it both more welcoming and more useful. Lots of ideas to be unrolled in stages. The first step was to clean it out, remove old stuff, and start refilling it from there. We have plans to put in a coffee bar, permanent sign-up table, a re-vamped welcome center, and acoustic tiling on the walls to dampen sound. Some other things might come too, money allowing.

Other things are coming as well. The mural on the back wall of the sanctuary is going to get started as soon as we get all the paint. A general design was approved by the council for Michael Schultz, who has painted numerous Lutheran church murals (see Reformation Las Vegas, Holy Spirit Las Vegas, San Juan Bautista and San Juan Bautista). It’s going to cover the entire back wall, and will depict, in a creative and modern way, the following three Bible stories:

Mark 9:14-27 - Jesus heals a young boy who is possessed by an evil spirit and who cannot speak

Mark 5:25-24 - Jesus heals a woman who for 12 years is suffering from a hemorrhage.

John 20:11-18 - Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene as she weeps outside the empty tomb

Other things in the sanctuary are getting finished up – such as getting a second step built, new banner stands, a conductor stand, kneelers, and more. Give a big thanks to my dad, Rev. Paul Hammar, for building all this stuff for us out of the wood from the pews we took out. The audio system is also going to get some reworking so we don’t have problems with buzzing or interference anymore.

So much is going on in the church, the list could go on. At a time when many churches are struggling with decline, we have held steady. Worship attendance is down from before Covid, like almost every church, but has moved up in the last few months. 2023 was better than 2022. And the generosity of this church continues to amaze me. Our general offerings for 2023 came in at $17,211.85 above what we budgeted. I can’t thank you all enough. This puts us in a strong position going into the new year, with resources to keep moving forward instead of having to make cuts. All we do depends on your contributions.

The Honor Guard ceremony this month in the fellowship hall.

In more good news, we welcomed back Boy Scout Troop 219 to Lord of Grace. We’ve sponsored Pack 219 cub scouts for years, and did the troop as well when the church was younger (some time before I came). They’ve been at another church and are now re-chartered at Lord of Grace and will be meeting and having events here. I’m excited to open the doors to the community more. You may see their trailer by the electrical box in the parking lot. We have several Eagle scout projects here as well, so scouting has been a tradition of ours for a while.

Making the Advent lanterns for the Advent tree

And, of course, I have to give a plug for the return of our monthly family fellowship lunches after the 10:30am service. We did these pot luck, once a month, for a while before Covid. Now we’re back with intergenerational activities, food, and things for youth. These will keep going the first Sunday of the month until summer, and you’re all invited. It’s a great chance for us to be a big family, meet or catch up with people, and build connections between adults and kids.

So much is going on at our church, new people and new life and deep spiritual growth opportunities. Things are humming because of your time and support.

Pastor Lars

Lord of Grace Health Information Team

We would like to announce that the new Lord of Grace Health Information Team has recently been developed to provide health presentations to our congregation, as well as lists of resources for many areas of health concerns.   This team consists of Dorothy Green, Darlene Paul, Dianna Repp, and Cindy Stein.

Our first presentation is scheduled for February 18th at 9:30am in the Fellowship Hall.  We have a speaker coming to talk about Advance Directives.  If you have not already thought about or completed documents for your healthcare wishes, please come join us to find out more information. This is available to anyone interested.

Our second presentation is scheduled for March 17th at 2:00pm in the Fellowship Hall.  We will have a speaker and trainer coming to teach CPR.  As you know, any one of us could be in a situation where CPR is needed because someone’s life is in danger.  This is available to anyone interested.  A goodwill donation will be encouraged.

Work on the resource list is just beginning, and this will take some time to put together, but we hope to include helpful information and contacts in the following areas:

Hospice Agencies                           Divorce Care

            Funeral Homes                                Family Counseling

            Grief Support Groups                    Addiction Treatment

            Care Managers & Caregivers       Suicide Counseling

Outreach February 2024

Outreach Team – February 2024 Newsletter Article

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, and Laurie Acker.

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 Food Bank would like to request that we collect pasta, spaghetti sauce (not in glass), cereal, crackers, mashed potatoes, canned tuna or chicken, and canned fruits.

Let’s help re-stock the shelves after the holidays so they can continue to serve our neighbors.

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 has 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.  Every $10 helps provide 50 meals.

Continuing Activities

Butler’s Pantry - Looking for a few volunteers!

As a response to the Lord of Grace Strategic Plan and mission statement, the Outreach

Team decided to be intentional about serving those in our surrounding community. That

is how our partnership with Roadrunner Elementary was born. One of the ways we

support them is with donations and volunteer support at their wonderful community

resource center, Butler’s Pantry! The pantry has been open for a little over 6 months now serving children and families in this special community.  A big THANK YOU to the team of LOG folks who have been helping make this resource center a reality for Roadrunner School.

We are looking for a few more eager members to join our group. Lord of Grace

volunteers are needed to work a Monday evening or a Saturday morning or a work day

(to sort and organize donations) each month.  We travel out in teams and usually

carpool from church. We will also be collecting specific items throughout the year. If

you are interested in helping volunteer with this ongoing outreach project please give

Phyllis Teager a call or email at 520-906-1837 or pteager3@comcast.net. You can also

check out the volunteer sign-up schedule and pictures of the pantry on the bulletin

board near the fellowship hall.

Upcoming Activities

Feed My Starving Children

Thank you to everyone who signed up to work packing food for Feed My Starving Children on February 10th, from 8:00AM to 10:00AM at Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene. You should receive an email from Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene as the event gets closer. If you missed the deadline to sign-up, you still can! You’ll need to go to the following website, https://ovcn.church/fmsc/ to sign-up. If you want to volunteer the same time as other volunteers from Lord of Grace, make sure you select the same date and time. Thank you!

Baby Care Kits

Lutheran World Relief is one of the agencies we chose for our international involvement (in addition to Feed My Starving Children) as we realigned some of our Outreach activities to be in line with the Lord of Grace strategic plan and mission statement.  Lutheran World Relief has several ways to get involved as hands-on service. These include holding drives to collect kits – personal hygiene kits, baby care kits, school supplies kits, and fabric kits; or make quilts. Once the items for the kits are collected and assembled, they are sent to one of the LWR warehouses for processing and shipping overseas. They distribute care kits and quilts to 14 countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. We’ve decided to hold our first drive for LWR Baby Care Kits and have as a goal 10 baby care kits. The Baby Care Kits drive will run from February 4th-February 25th. We’ll assemble the kits together and send them the beginning of March. We plan on having a display with tags, sign-up sheet, and a flyer after both services on February 4th.

Preschool Corner February 2024

Preschool is halfway through the school year!. We will begin enrollment for the 2024/2025 school year in a couple weeks. Current and previous families will be able to enroll Feb 1, 2024. March 1, 2024 will be open enrollment for all new families.

Our annual art show is coming up, we will be displaying several pieces from our preschooler’s artwork in the Fellowship Hall the first week in March we would love for you to come and browse.

The kids have loved our new playground!!! It has been so nice not having to deal with the dirt (thank you to everyone who worked so hard to provide us with such a beautiful playground).

Our Christmas performances were amazing!!!. The children did so good!

We would like to thank Melissa Elias for being so amazing and taking care of weekly chapel lessons and crafts.  THANK YOU!!!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!  Here’s to 2024 being a happy year!!

Prayer Connection February 2024

This year, February 14th marks two special days in the year: Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Season of Lent. As we combine these two traditions, we are reminded of the love of God for us, and for each other:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Lord of Grace, as we draw close to you in prayer this Lenten Season, open our eyes to see your heart of love all around us, and guide us to share your love with those you place in our paths and lives. Amen.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America offers many resources to support us as we seek to pray more deeply in all situations in our lives! “The Prayers and Blessings For Daily Use” offers prayers for mornings, evenings, workdays and school days; table prayers (including those who eat alone); prayers for times of conflict, crisis and disaster; health of body and soul; those experiencing affliction, trouble, bereavement; those suffering from addiction; the chronically ill and caregivers, support teams and health care providers; recovery from sickness; the unemployed; those who live alone; and prayers attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, Julian Norwich, and Martin Luther.

We close with one of the prayers from this ELCA resource:

Almighty God, your love never fails, and you can turn the shadow of death into daybreak. Help us to receive your word with believing hearts, so that, confident in your promises, we may have hope and be lifted out of sorrow into the joy and peace of your presence; through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Link to The Prayers and Blessings For Daily Use: https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/DailyPrayer_PrayersBlessings.pdf 

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.

Let Jesus Be Jesus - Pastor's Column Jan 2024

From there Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go — the demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Probably fewer passages put Jesus in a bad light than this one. Calling a woman a dog, more or less, seems so out of character. Was he just having a bad day? Was he tired or worn out from people incessantly pestering him for healing? That would make sense. If it was your daughter, you’d pester the guy with a cure, even if it meant he didn’t get a day off.

Christian theology, however, is full of explanations to make Jesus not look so mean. He was really just testing her faith – like the state denying your disability claim the first 5 times to make sure you’re serious about it. Or he wanted to make a point to everyone there, and knew she had faith, but just wanted them to see. Or something like that.

I like the Jesus who has a bad day better. The thought of him toying with the poor woman to use her as a “teachable moment” seems more cruel than just snapping. The explanations involve so many layers of 3D chess: I’ll say this, knowing she’ll say that, so I can give this response, so she’ll give this response, and the crowd will get this message. Wow! Jesus could just tell, what’s that called, a parable, instead.

It's one of my pet-peaves with what I’ll nickname “pious apologetics”. It’s that strain of thought that wants Jesus to always be perfect, never have a bad day, never lose his temper (except the tables, I guess) and always have a good moral lesson behind everything. This Jesus is so milquetoast that he's not really much of a person. We assert in the creeds that Jesus is fully and human and fully divine at the same time. But, to the pious apologists, he’s fully divine in a human shell. His humanity is only physical. His mind is pure-God. That smacks almost of possession – or one of those Stargate movies where the alien takes over the human body.

The Bible is full of passages that are, in some way or another, troubling to our modern sensibilities. A lot of them. It runs the gamut from Lot’s daughters seducing him to have kids, to David wiping out whole cities, to the commands for slaves to be obedient even when mistreated (yes, check out 1 Peter 18-19, Titus 2:9, Colossians 3:22). The outsider reads these and gets offended. “How could a good divinity command this stuff?”. Then the pious apologist responds with a lot of theological and hermeneutical (interpretive) gymnastics. David had to do it. Lot’s daughters thought they had no choice. Slavery in Rome was different, and not so bad (different from the US, yes, but definitely bad. Slave owners, by Roman law, could do anything they wanted to people they owned – including raping and killing). All this preserves the sense of perfection of the scriptures, of our heroes, of our Messiah. But pious perfection has never been the point. It’s about God continuing to work in the world when people aren’t perfect. And it makes Christians look ridiculous trying to explain away things that are indefensible, rather than just say, “look, we don’t take every passage literally, we know it was written by people, and some passages are just wrong – like the slavery ones”. Is that so hard? Even to say that Jesus had bad days and spit out some nasty words to get a woman out of his face.

Maybe Jesus was seeing some bigger picture, but the dog reference is so offensive, I can’t help but think he just really wanted her to go away, and thought if he made it sting she’d get the hint.

I can relate to Jesus here, being exhausted is something we all know. Just ask most moms, or rural doctors. Everyone wants something from you, and they’re demanding, because to them it’s urgent, but you only have so much in you. You want to help, but you don’t have any energy left to give. So when you need most to be calm, patient, understanding, you’re just irritated.

There’s a reason why, I believe, so many of the wisest teachers have light schedules. They have to protect their own inner peace so they have peace to give others. They have to have their hearts filled with the Spirit to lead others to it. It’s why I wish our public school teachers had lighter schedules. And social workers. And counselors. And………

It’s why I don’t have services on Christmas Day. It’s why the office stays closed most of the week after Christmas. It’s why I have more healing services in Advent, and fewer programs and events. We need to recharge, so the faith becomes something that builds you up, instead of another to-do on your long list. As if any of us really want more committees to sit on to manage business and ensure compliance with policy directives. We need committees and policies, but less is more in a world where everyone is over-scheduled to begin with. More things does not mean your church is necessarily better. The experience of the Holy Spirit is more important than filling the calendar with programs. And it will have a bigger impact on our faith and evangelism.

So we begin a new year, 2024. Keep time to find your time with God, your space to breathe deep, the spiritual gifts that make serving a delight, and not a chore, and have the patience to be loving towards those who pester and annoy us.

Peace,

Pastor Lars

Outreach January 2024

OUTREACH Ministry – January 2024

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, and Laurie Acker. 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 would like to request that we collect tuna/chicken, tomato sauce (cans not glass), ready to eat meals, mac and cheese, peanut butter, jelly, cereal and oats.

Let’s help re-stock the shelves after the holidays so they can continue to serve our neighbors. 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.

Changing Hands at the Marana Food Bank

The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona decided to close the Marana Food Bank stating that Marana did not have a low-income population that needed a food bank. Fortunately, the Town of Marana jumped into action to protect this vital service for the community. The Town collaborated with the Sahuarita Food Bank to preserve the Marana Food Bank services. As of December 1, 2023, Sahuarita, has taken over the food bank and services will continue uninterrupted. 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. Every $10 helps provide 50 meals.

Past Activities

Adopt a Child – Roadrunner Elementary

Thank you to everyone who donated gifts and food for Adopt a Child for Roadrunner Elementary students and their families. This year we supported 5 families each with 4 children, both for their needs (clothes and shoes) and wishes (such as toys, games or electronics), and gift cards for the parents. The food you donated will help them have an enjoyable holiday meal and have food for their pantry. You’ve made a huge difference at the holidays for these families! Thank you!

Ongoing Activities

Butler’s Pantry – Roadrunner Elementary

We have sign-up sheets to volunteer at the Butler’s Pantry on the bulletin board in the hallway before you go into the Fellowship Hall. Also, a reminder that we need cereal and canned meat, for example, beef stew, canned chicken, and tuna. The donation basket is in the hallway near the fellowship hall. Any questions, contact Phyllis Teager or Carol Buuck.

Upcoming Events

Hygiene Supplies Drive – ICS

ICS is sponsoring a hygiene supplies drive for MLK Day of service, see http://icstucson.org/MLKday. All donations will be distributed through the ICS Food Banks. They are asking for:

• Child/infant diapers and wipes

• Adult incontinence supplies

• Menstrual products

You can leave any donations on the table in the Narthex, donations are due by Sunday, January 14, 2024. You can also make a monetary donation at http://icstucson.org/donate. Thank you!

World Relief – Baby Care Packs

We plan on holding a drive in the new year for baby care packs to send to Lutheran World Relief. In 2022, they provided baby care packs to Angola, Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Poland, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Ukraine. More information to come.

Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children will be coming up at the beginning of February, dates have not been set yet. The sign-up sheet should be available by December 31st. Stay tuned for information about this wonderful event.

Sister José Women’s Center

We plan on offering to cook an evening meal for the residents of San José Women’s Center. Outreach will provide additional information on this new opportunity in the new year. Any questions, contact Chris Kollen.

Christmas Justice and Bike Loops - Pastor's Column December 2023

One of the gems of the city of Tucson is The Loop bicycle path. I hit it fairly regularly for exercise and relaxation. Yes, I know one can relax by sitting, but I find it easier, with the way my mind works, a lot of the times, to be physically active. It’s fun to be in motion, to see things, to know that you’re moving by your own power – it gives a sense of freedom and accomplishment. It also helps get rid of Thanksgiving dinner.

I remember riding The Loop when it was more like The Line, when it went along the Rillito River from Craycroft Road to the train tracks by I-10. That was it.

Now it’s expanded, so you can do over 100 miles if you want. It goes up into Marana and Oro Valley, and all the way down to Valencia along the Santa Cruz River.

One thing you can’t escape on The Loop nowadays is the massive increase in homeless people. In 2006 I don’t remember any. Now it’s inescapable. People are living in the river, along the path, in lots adjacent. They have carts, and often bikes with kid-trailers full of stuff – and often dogs. You can also see a profuse amount of trash in the rivers and, especially, along the west side of the Santa Cruz near downtown. One day when riding along the Rillito River, by the Tucson Mall, I had to actually stop and walk through the homeless because the path was blocked with people lighting their bongs in broad daylight and tripping out. Another day I smelled marijuana four different times. There’s clearly a lot of drug use.

Before I came to Lord of Grace I used to preach once a month at the Gospel Rescue Mission – men’s center. It’s a good test of whether your preaching is relevant in a room with 80-100 homeless guys. They’ve seen it all and been there, and heard a lot of preachers give a lot of testimonials. They have a B.S. meter that’s really, really attuned. Over time I got to know a lot of the guys, hear their stories. It made me a better pastor.

There were as many ways people ended up there as there were people. In general, you had different tracks. Some really just fell on hard times – like the vet who came back from Afghanistan to find his wife had divorced him and cleaned him out because he wasn’t there to go to court and contest it (I believe the laws have changed this somewhat). You had those who got into addiction and lost everything. Then you had those who lost everything and got into addiction. Plenty had been in and out of jail. And, of course, we know employers are all tripping over themselves to hire people with rap sheets. I never understood how making it harder for people to get a job was supposed to solve anything.

But I digress.

The Mission does amazing work, and they can give you stories of people who have actually turned their lives around and gotten better. They can show results. Of course, a lot of the people I see by the river won’t go there because you can’t use drugs on site, have dogs, and you have to follow rules. So they decide that a tent in the wash is better.

-----------------------

One thing I try to cultivate in our church is generosity. We should be, as people of God, giving regularly, not just to the congregation but to those who are doing the work of helping people out of hard times. And we do a lot of these things – from the food we collect to our Christmas present campaign for families. In fact, I don’t have to work very hard for these to be so successful (I must credit the outreach team for their work, for sure), because the value is already there.

However, I am always struck by how random charity is. For example, we collect presents for kids at Roadrunner elementary. We’re going to help some families have a lot more joy at Christmas than they would have otherwise. But we are only scratching the surface. We could serve many times more families before getting all the kids who live in low incomes the same Christmas. It’s more than we can handle.

And then, of course, you have the other factors. Some parents are probably more bold with asking. Some are better at finding where the charity campaigns are.

Others, I’m sure, are not so bold, or confident, or maybe feel ashamed by their finances. Some are just not very sympathetic. They might have a bad attitude, or bad habits, or make choices that seem wasteful. Their kids often get less because they were born with parents who nobody likes. But should likeability be a criteria for kids getting what they need? Shouldn’t resources just be given based on need, and not your ability to work a system or make an ask or appear sympathetic and just likeable enough, and just sad enough, and just humble enough, but just hard-working and responsible enough, and just apologetic enough, but not too pushy or brash………

I’m glad we do what we can for those who need it, with the resources we have. I don’t think we’d be very faithful to Jesus if we didn’t. On the flip side, I don’t see how we can address poverty and drugs and homelessness without talking about money and power and politics. I don’t see any way out of it without using some taxes and government regulation – always controversial in our highly capitalistic society.

For example, part of what’s driving so much poverty and homelessness now is the skyrocketing price of rent. Did you know that banks and private equity firms are some of the biggest purchasers of houses? They are gobbling up real estate. They use the property as equity to get loans, then use those loans to purchase other financial instruments. Aren’t houses supposed to be for people to live in? But since it’s very lucrative, what’s going to stop them, if not the government making some limits? And why are we afraid, as Christians, to talk about the financial system that pushes up rents, pushes people out of houses, pushes families into poverty as rent gobbles up more and more of their money, and we keep spending more and more to try to save the people pushed out? Why not pass some laws that will bring down demand and make housing more affordable? Seems fairly common sense, and just.

Which, by the way, is a theme of Christmas and Advent. It’s the Virgin Mary herself who swore her baby would “cast the mighty down from their thrones and send the rich away empty”. It’s the prophet Isaiah who proclaims that justice is the key to peace – and he predicted the Messiah. It’s part of our time in the church year, and part of who we are. I’m glad to be in a denomination that’s willing to have conversations about justice, even at the holiday season, and systems and how the coming of the Messiah is not just good news for personal salvation, but good news to make a more just world. And I’m glad to be a part of a church that tries to make this world more a more just place to live in.

Peace,

Pastor Lars

Pastor Lars' Sabbatical Presentation and Stories - Dec. 10

Hear some of the stories from Pastor Lars of the sabbatical, things done, and a show of selected photos from his journeys during three months away. Identical presentations after each service on Sunday, December 10th (9:30am and 11:30am). About 30 minutes each.

Morning at the family cabin in Minnesota

To see the more full collections of photos, check out his albums with trip photos in the following sets on flickr.

(note: these albums have photos going back several years, but the sabbatical photos are the most recent)

Sweden

Kalmar

Northern Minnesota

Colorado

McCarthy Beach State Park

Tustin, Michigan

Northern Arizona

Reiman Gardens

Colorado Springs

Utah

Paint Mine

Camping at Crawford State Park in Colorado

How Does a Weary World Rejoice - Advent 2023

A couple years ago I decided that I was going to make Advent into something special, a bit of a big deal. My phrase was to “make Advent a thing”. The initial inspiration came in fall 2021, in the middle of Covid, as we were preparing ourselves for something, but really tired out from everything. It was hard to be giddy and all wassailing with so much stress. We needed a space to step back, reflect, heal. Then, as we were getting more of our services online, the idea came to bring back mid-week Advent services as a time for that healing and processing. If people couldn’t physically come, we could put it online. Maybe someone far away would find God’s presence in the time.

Since then I’ve tried to lean into Advent, making it its own big deal, but finding ways to do that that are relevant. Years ago I gave up preaching the appointed texts in the lectionary (the set of Bible readings that come with each day of the church year). They usually include John the Baptist calling the priests a “brood of vipers”, Jesus prophecying the end of the world; John the Baptist getting his head cut off; and maybe a little Virgin Mary the last week. It was so tone deaf, in a hectic season saturated with emotions, memories, events, we were preaching about “bearing fruits worthy of repentance” so we wouldn’t get burned in the fire. I couldn’t do it anymore.

Advent is not just a time of getting ready for Christmas, not in the church year. Originally it stated mid-November, and could run as much as seven weeks. It coincided nicely with themes of darkness and long night for our northern European friends. They wrote some of the best hymns in the book for it. And, for them, it probably had little to do with John the Baptist either. It was spending lots of time huddled together telling stories, reading the Bible, and eating the dried food you processed in the fall.

This year I’m going with a theme that I got from a Christian art collective called sanctifiedart.org. I’ve used their stuff before, because it’s creative, comes with pictures and poems and lots of really good reflections on life and faith for the season. This year the theme is “How Does a Weary World Rejoice?” It’s not about weariness, as much as honestly finding the space in ourselves to rejoice in the face of it. Too much modern Christianity, in my opinion, glides over topics of grief, loss, struggle, doubt in favor of a manufactured rejoicing that can feel disjointed to the pains of modern life. Yes, I want to celebrate the season, but….my husband/wife/child died around this time and all I have are memories of loss that keep coming up. Yes, I want to smile and laugh and share a warm cider, but…..I’m drowning in anxiety about the state of the world. Of course I want to win the holiday school bake-off, but…..I am worried about my kids’ future. We’re not trying to wallow in grief, but grief finds us, and won’t let us push it aside. We want to sit in God’s presence, feel the warmth of the glow of grace, in the place where we are now.

That’s why I was so excited about this theme. We’re going to rejoice, but do so authentically. We’ll take a look at four different stories in the Gospel of Luke that lead up to Jesus’ birth, and reflect a bit on the people, their stories, their struggles, their joys, and their encounters with God. We’ll walk through with them, and let them guide us to light in the darkness, and hope in the midst of pain.

Each Sunday will be a different story. I’ll give handouts to everyone with the images, poetry, and reflections for the day when you come to the service. December 6th will be a healing service, a space for you to dwell and reflect on the wounds/pains/traumas/stresses you have and bring them to God in prayer. Our prayer team will be there to pray with you. It will be livestreamed, and we will monitor and respond to online prayer requests as well.

On December 17th will be the Longest Night service, specifically tailored to finding space to process grief, loss, and related concerns right before the big Christmas celebrations. The service will follow an order based around the theme of “rejoicing in a weary world”, and will include dedicated chunks of time to sit back, pray, reflect, and bring your grief to the God who loves you and is with you in all things. Also livestreamed.

December 24th falls on a Sunday this year, and we will do a combined service at 10am in the morning, using the traditional/liturgical format – with the children’s sermon, kids chat, and the Advent themes.

Christmas Eve services will be 6pm contemporary and 8pm traditional services.

As usual, no services on December 25th.

The next service is the combined service of lessons and carols on December 31st at 10am.

Family & Youth Ministries At Lord Of Grace

We're forming a new focused ministry area at Lord of Grace called Family & Youth Ministries. If you've been waiting or hoping for more programming in this area, here's your invitation to join in making a difference.

Two ways to serve:
1)  Join the Family & Youth Advocate Team - this team will meet together 4 times a year to evaluate how we're doing and consider ways we can do an even better job reaching out and serving families and youth. This team cares about details, safety, policies, and ministry excellence too. Help develop a long-term strategy to keep kids & families connected to the church for life.

2) Join the Family & Youth Action Team. If the thought of sitting through another meeting leaves you a little queasy, join our Action Team. This team is more boots on the ground in coming up with ideas and making them happen. Serve around your schedule with ideas that you're excited about. We'll meet as needed over text, coffee, or while we're doing what we're doing.

So, which one seems like a fit for you? Email or text Laurie at laurieacker@gmail.com or 520.370.7106 to learn more.

Outreach December 2023

OUTREACH Ministry – December 2023

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, and Laurie Acker. 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 would like to request that we collect pasta, mac ‘n cheese, jelly, peanut butter, canned tuna/chicken, beans, canned veggies, soups, and cereal.

Let’s show our thanks and share God’s love by re-stocking their shelves after Thanksgiving.

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.

Your monetary gift goes a long way.  Every $10 helps provide 50 meals.

Past Activities

Thanksgiving Boxes – Roadrunner Elementary

Thank you for all of the donations to support our Thanksgiving Boxes and a special thank you to the Preschool. Roadrunner Elementary families appreciate your help!

Ongoing Activities

Butler’s Pantry – Roadrunner Elementary

We have sign-up sheets to volunteer at the Butler’s Pantry for December on the bulletin board in the hallway before you go into the Fellowship Hall. Also, a reminder that we need cereal and canned meat, for example, beef stew, canned chicken, and tuna. The donation basket is in the hallway near the fellowship hall. Any questions, contact Phyllis Teager or Carol Buuck.

Upcoming Events:                  

Adopt a Child – Roadrunner Elementary

We have the Christmas tree up for Adopt a Family. Last we checked there were only 3 tags left on the tree! The gifts will need to be returned to the church by Sunday, December 10th.  Roadrunner has asked us not to wrap the gifts, but instead to consider donating wrapping paper and tape so that the parents can wrap the gifts themselves. We are also collecting food to provide holidays meals for the families. The food donations are also due back by December 10th. Thank you for your help!

Lutheran World Relief – Baby Care Packs

We plan on holding a drive in the new year for baby care packs to send to Lutheran World Relief. In 2022, they provided baby care packs to Angola, Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Poland, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Ukraine. More information to come.

Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children will be coming up at the beginning of February, dates have not been set yet. The sign-up sheet will be available by December 31st. Stay tuned for information about this wonderful event.

Sister José Women’s Center

We plan on offering to cook an evening meal for the residents of San José Women’s Center. Outreach will provide additional information on this new opportunity in the new year. Any questions, contact Chris Kollen.

Prayer Connection December 2023

December Prayer Connection

‘Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.’ Isaiah 40:31 NASB

My husband and I are preparing our home to welcome our son, his wife, and our infant grandson for an early Christmas. We are excited to decorate the house, set up the tree, and borrow a port-a-crib for the baby! In the midst of this preparation and the holiday season I am finding myself dealing with a long time health challenge causing need for immediate rest anytime of the day or evening! I’ve dealt with this before occasionally but now it seems to be every day! The scripture above tells us that in our time of waiting we can renew our strength. Through daily prayer and quiet time I can place my faith in Jesus to renew my strength. Prayer does make a difference! For me it can change my attitude, release me from anxiety, and strengthen my faith.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for coming down to Earth to be ‘God in us’. May we sit with you this Advent season to feel your presence and renew our strength. Let us remember that YOU are the reason for the season! In your precious name we pray, Amen

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 close to Him.

Clean-Up Day - Dec. 2 2023

Cleaning Day

List of cleaning needing to be done.

1. Trim bushes/trees around entire property. Includes trying to get all the dead branches and mistletoe out.

2. Cut down the small dead tree in parking lot island.

3. Cleanup up the patio area and entrances (sweep up, blowoff or suck up the leaves and cobwebs; sweep/blowoff rocks in patio)

4. Put up the big Christmas sign at corner of Cortaro and Ina (requires installation of pvc pipe, ropes, and stakes). Put small Christmas sign on existing sing on entry to parking lot.

5. Sweep up floor in the electrical room.

6. Cleanup the storage room. a) Tools need to be put back in the correct labelled tool box drawers, b) determine what paint is no longer needed and throw it out. (for example the old sanctuary wall paint is no longer needed as we changed colors? Another example is paint that is no longer usable. However, need to identified the paint color and where it is used and document it, so can get replacement if needed later.) recommend Sam do this. c) if possible move the communion rails and spare cushions currently stored in electrical and storage room to alternate location d) move spare exit sign parts to alternate location. e) update light list in property book to include what we have where and do inventory of what we have in storage room. Get rid of spare bulbs we no longer need. f) determine if need the remaining dvd/ vcrs. if not take to Best Buy for free recycling. more????

7. Cleanup and clean out the shed. Need assistance to determine what can go and what has to stay for various other groups.

8. Wash outside windows. ????

9. Clean ventilation louvers and exhaust fan suction louvers??

Confirmation Classes - 2023-2024

Now that Pastor Lars is back in town we have the schedule for the remaining confirmation classes for the 2023-2024 school year. All sessions are 5:30pm-7:30pm on Sunday nights in the fellowship hall. Contact Pastor Lars if you’re interested or would like to know more.

December 10

January 21

January 28

February 18

February 25

March 10

March 24

April 21

April 28

Prayer Connection November 2023

Matthew 6:33-34

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,   and all these things will be given to you as well. 

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.   Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Being a morning person, I tend to launch into the day with this and that.  Seems all the little chores and list items get in the way of starting off in a centered way.  If we can begin a day with being grateful to God for what he has done for us, the worries of the day seem not as important.  We can pray to Jesus to help with those immediate concerns which demand our attention. 

Sometimes in the evening,  if the troubles of the day or worries about what will come tomorrow come to mind,  I just say a few prayers to my Lord and the troubles fade away.  

“Father, thank You for your invitation to give up anxiety and embrace the abundant provision You offer me each day. “

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 close to Him. 

Outreach News November 2023

Marana Community Food Bank

The Marana Resource Center would like to request that we collect stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, soups, canned chicken or tuna, ready-to-eat canned meals, and the ever popular peanut butter & jelly.

Let’s show our thanks and share God’s love by giving our neighbors a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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 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. 

Your monetary gift goes a long way.  Every $10 helps provide 50 meals.

Ongoing Activities

Butler’s Pantry – Roadrunner Elementary

We have sign-up sheets to volunteer at the Butler’s Pantry for November and December on the bulletin board in the hallway before you go into the Fellowship Hall. We also need plastic hangers, children’s socks, and canned meat, for example, beef stew, canned chicken, and tuna. The donation basket is in the hallway near the fellowship hall.

Upcoming Events

Thanksgiving Boxes – Roadrunner Elementary

We will need help sorting food that was donated and assembling boxes on Friday, November 3rd starting at 3pm. We will also need help packing the boxes on Saturday November 4th starting at 9am. Thank you! Any questions contact Carol Buuck.

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. The gifts will need to be returned to the church by Sunday, December 10th.  

Lutheran World Relief – Baby Care Packs

We plan on holding a drive in the new year for baby care packs to send to Lutheran World Relief. In 2022, they provided baby care packs to Angola, Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Poland, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Ukraine. More information to come.

Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children will be coming up at the beginning of February, dates have not been set yet. The sign-up sheet will be available by December 31st. Stay tuned for information about this wonderful event.

Sister José Women’s Center

For the past several years, as part of God’s Work, Our Hands and Rally Day, one of our service projects has been to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for women who receive services at Sister José Women’s Center https://sisterjose.org/. I attended a tour this past week to see their Center and find out more about the services they provide. They offer two programs, the Overnight Program and the Day Program. The Overnight Program provides 42 beds where women can safely sleep. They are provided with 3 meals, showers, and a place to do their laundry. The Day Program provides guests with breakfast and lunch, showers, clothing, and a place to do their laundry. Both programs provide women with case management to help them access a variety of services, including housing and employment. One area that we could help them with is to volunteer to cook their evening meal. Outreach will provide additional information on this new opportunity in the new year. Any questions, contact Chris Kollen.

Pastor's Column - November 2023

It’s good to be back. And I really do mean that. I enjoyed the sabbatical immensely, and I will say another “thank you” to everyone who got it set up – the sabbatical team – as well as everyone who stepped up to cover for me while I was gone. I know you were in good hands with Pastor Dew.

It was, of course, a wonderfully relaxing time. I feel detoxed, now, from the stresses of the last few years, and am ready to look at new things. While some people would do one thing on sabbatical – say, meditate at a Scottish monastery for three months – I couldn’t do that. I was busy, but none of it was church work. Moving is enjoyable to me, and reduces stress.

In case you’re wondering what all I did, here’s the recap again:

Took the boys to Show Low for a week. Saw the Renaissance Faire there, Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest, and some of the lakes and woods around.

Flew to Michigan for a Hammar family reunion. Caught up with my sister and all sorts of Hammars I hadn’t seen in a while (or ever).

My old apartment in Sweden - the first floor to the right of the door.

Flew to Sweden for two week, just me and Kristie. We landed in Stockholm, went north to Uppsala and Gävle, where Kristie was an exchange student. Saw her old high school and her host family. Then went to Dalarna for a day (where they make the orange horses), and down to Kalmar where I lived for two years. I got to see the old apartment building, the old church, and the castle I used to bike to as a kid. Went back to Stockholm and home. Did everything by train, bus, and foot.

Got the boys (the two youngest) on the bus for the first day of school.

Kristie and me on Grand Mesa

Jumped in the 4Runner and went to Colorado. Originally, we were going to camp Colorado and Utah, but when we saw the temperatures in Utah, decided to stay in the elevation. Our first stop was to Colorado Springs to visit Kristie’s mom in a nursing home. We then camped in state parks for three weeks (with a few hotel nights to cleanup), and came back home in time to bring Karl up to NAU.

I stayed home for a few days, then, watching the boys while Kristie had to go back to Colorado Springs when her mom was dying. She passed on September 1st.

Then I took off to Mesa Verde National Park for four days, before driving back to Colorado Springs to meet up with the family for Kristie’s mom’s funeral on September 15th. From there I took the 4Runner and my two bikes and headed to the family cabin in northern Minnesota.

Got to try out some kayaking this fall. The lakes were mostly quiet, as it was after Labor Day and all the weekend warriors and jet skiers had gone home.

All in all I got to spend a lot of time outdoors, in woods and parks, places I find a lot of peace. Minus taking care of Kristie’s mom, most things went as planned.

I took a ton of pictures, of course, and am busy uploading them to my account on flickr.com. When that’s done, I’ll give you links to the particular albums with sabbatical pictures, and do a couple forums on a Sunday with a super-abbreviated slide show.

Of course, it was a huge joy to see the sanctuary renovations finished. I really had planned to have them almost done before I left. Things came up, of course, that weren’t predicted, delaying everything. A big thank you to everyone who managed that – especially Sam Lyth who was the project manager – and to everyone for their patience in worshiping in the fellowship hall and moving chairs, and to everyone for your generosity in the capital campaign that made it all happen.

We still have some finishing work to do. The mural on the back wall is undone. I’m working on lining up the artist. We have some things to build – kneelers, banner poles, music stand etc. – that should get made in the next few months. The big dragon to slay at this point is the audio system.

The sanctuary is 21 years old now, and changes have been made in several waves over the years. Most of the time, the solution was to keep adding more cables to more mics and more boards and more speakers. This has left us with a jungle of cables under the front altar area, many of which are unused. In addition, the mass is picking up electrical interference from lights and power cables, and a lot of National Public Radio. The solution, in the short run, was to re-route the speakers and cut out the line from the band to the computer. This stopped the awful buzzing sound, but it means no sound from any instruments goes directly to the computer to go online. The podium and pastor’s mics, however, go straight to the back, so they’re unaffected. What we’ve been doing is putting portable mics in front of the instruments to pick up the sound through the air. Not a great fix, but it at least allows people online to hear. This is why we had a couple weeks of really weak musical audio.

The solution is probably going to involve a laborious cleansing and inventorying of cables and wires, followed by some re-stringing. Our techies have been hard at work, but it could take a bit to fix 20 years of accumulated cable. Thanks for your patience.

But these are just the fine tunings of a big project. The carpet looks wonderful. The lights are bright. The band and choir sit up and can be heard so much better. The shortened pews give us more reasonable seating capacity and flexibility. It all turned out about as well as planned.

Now I move on to things in the future. I’ll be catching up with people, making visits, and planning Advent and Christmas (we have to be early in the office with these things). We have a new strategic plan to start implementing, and a new member class coming up this month. Things keep moving, our church keeps moving, and the Spirit keeps moving.

Pastor Lars