Celebrating One Year!

Friends, 

Today is the one year anniversary of my service at the First Congregational Church of Ripon, and, in an official way, of my service to God's church in general (though I hope I can say I've been serving God's church for much longer than that).  The anniversary of my ordination was also a week ago, August 26th.  In all the hubbub of my life right now-- full-term pregnancy and purchasing a house-- I haven't really taken time to celebrate either of them.  But when I take a moment to stop and think about how important both of these dates are to me, it's clear that they're dates I should celebrate!  

For now, I will simply say in prayer: 

Thank you God for a beautiful year of service to you and your people, for the way this congregation has blessed my family, for partnership, for Grace, for learning and growth, and for potential.  May this year be one of many.  Amen.  

And share a passage of scripture that has been speaking to me as I look back on the year:
1 Corinthians 3:5-10
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.

Thank you friends for working with me, for listening to my ideas, for challenging me, and for encouraging me.  

Sermon Reflection | July 28, 2013

Hello Church! 

Let me tell you some things that are exciting me:

• Our youth had a brat fry fundraiser on Saturday and they raised $637.35!!  Along with a Matching Grant from the Webster Foundation, which matches up to $500, we were able to just barely break our goal of $1100!  How cool is that?  I'm really proud of them.  
• With this money, they will be going to Chicago to participate in a weekend of mission experiences including serving at soup kitchens and food distribution centers, witnessing the wealth disparity in the city of Chicago as they drive through both wealthy neighborhoods and neighborhoods in poverty, and on Sunday morning attending worship at Lawndale Community Church, a church much different in worship style and size from our own.  The program that is leading this trip is called Center for Student Missions.  You can learn more about it here.
• The community-wide VBS is coming up! I'm anxious to see how this goes, as it will be my first year seeing it in action.  The goal is to host 200 of the communities children in this way, and so far there are already 133 registered!  If you're interested, go here to register: http://www.riponvbs.org/
• We have officially hired our new, permanent Christian Education director, Olivia Wetzel!  Her job at the church is to work with the Sunday School kids and help develop opportunities for fellowship for everyone, but especially for young families, in the church (ie: ice skating, trivia nights, movie nights, retreats, etc.).  Olivia is a recent graduate of Ripon College and is going on to get her Master's Degree at the University of Oshkosh in professional school counseling.  She'll be posting here on the blog once a month, so look out for her posts!

Okay, what's really cool is that this is a lot of stuff about youth and children!  I like that kinda stuff because it's an area where I see our church evolving in the next few years, and I'm feeling confident that we have the right people-- from volunteers to paid staff like Olivia-- to lead the way.  

Now, sermon reflection. 

Read: Psalm 85 and Luke 11:1-13

Listen: Help me and Thank you

Dig a Little Deeper:  

     The book that I referred to during my sermon, "Help Thanks Wow" by Anne Lamott can be found here on Amazon.  I might suggest checking your local bookstore first (I see nothing wrong with Amazon, but I always try local first!) but if you don't find it there or don't have a chance to get out anytime soon, now you have the link.  Also, Amazon has a Kindle Edition. 

     There are about 10 million ways to talk about this passage from Luke.  I do have an appreciation for the preachers who dissect the Lord's prayer and help us remember why we say it every single Sunday.  I even appreciate the preachers who do a sermon series on it, using one line from the Lord's prayer each Sunday for several weeks.  But it didn't seem like quite the right time for that here, this week.  Instead I wanted to talk about asking God to help us in times when we feel completely overwhelmed.  I've met a lot of overwhelmed people since coming to Ripon.  This is a town full of people who DO THINGS.  Lots and lots of things.  And while I know they are often fulfilled and glad to serve, I also see people get overwhelmed more often than not. 

     So I wanted to share my image of God the Organizer.  My new favorite image, at least for this point in my life.  This is the God who sorts and stacks and arranges and helps to make our lives make more sense.  I hope you like this image of God too.  

Saying Thank You

As my time away from home is nearing an end (I'll in Ripon for the summer!), I am excited to share a recent experience that provoked classic, college kid introspection. Last week at my sophomore women's Bible Study, my minister invited a student from "Ask Big Questions UW-Madison" to facilitate a special discussion with my group. "Ask Big Questions" is an international organization whose mission is to engage college students in asking "big questions," in an effort to promote conversations that help us understand ourselves and others. Through these conversations that goal is to ignite positive change in the world.

http://askbigquestions.org/

UW-Madison began its own "Ask Big Questions" organization this year. The student representative from the group began our session by asking us what this quote mean to us: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us." --Marianne Williamson. This quote got us thinking about the tremendous power we possess and how we can use this power to impact our community and world.

Next the leader showed us this "Ted Talks"video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVCBrkrFrBE

In summary the video highlights the impact each of use can have in one another's lives in ways we do not realize. We can all think of people who have shaped who we are or who have positively impacted us at some point. But, we all too often do not bother to let these people know they are appreciated. The take home message from the clip was the importance of acknowledging those people who have positively changed us by thanking them. They may very well not realize what an impact they have had in our lives and a simple thank you may, in turn, change their life. 

Earlier in the day, I was carbon copied in an email my dad sent to a friend who was soon to retire. He had heard that she was retiring from another friend and simply wanted to thank her for the profound impact she had had on our community and let her know her work over the years was greatly valued by him. His message was short and nothing spectacular was written. However, I am sure the woman found it meaningful that he would go out of his way to say thank you for her hard work.

I hope that I can embody the example my dad set last week by reaching out to those who have impacted my life and letting them know how much they mean to me. I say thank you often for small things people do for me, but seldom do I take time to reach out to those people who have radically changed my life. I think part of God's hope for us as a community of Christians is to share the deep gratitude we have with one another. If we are the body of Christ, shouldn't we strengthen ourself by forming stronger bonds through gratitude? The act of saying thank you can feel uncomfortable, but the difference it can make in the life of the recipient is extraordinary.

The message from that night had a strong impact on me, and I hope you can consider ways to reach out to others in thanks as well.