February 6th, 2025

Greetings to the Children of God,

As you know, I have been in the wake of extended family grief with my father-in-law’s death in June, my father’s death in November and my brother-in-law’s death in January.  The seasons of Advent and Christmas were very difficult for me.  At the January council meeting I requested a week of bereavement leave for the last week of January and was graciously given this time off.

I am very grateful to our council for this time off.  I spent the week with my brothers and sisters going through our childhood home and finalizing the sale of this home to my niece. 

The home was purchased by my grandfather and my mother never left her childhood home which translates to many treasures being found in the three attics, hall closet, plus all the hutches and cupboards.  My car was full for the return trip.  It was a lot of hard work, and we only touched the tip of the iceberg.  I am grateful to my brothers and sisters who will do the lion’s share of the work.

In my rummaging, I found my dad’s dog tags that now reside with his flag.  I was surprised to find his social security card that was made of metal.  Many other discoveries and way too much stuff, purchased and never used.  Stashed away and forgotten.  But the time with my siblings was delightful as memories were shared and challenging at times as we tried to figure out a system of dispersal.

It was a time of meals shared and for us to be together in a way that we haven’t for a long time.  Thank you for this opportunity to tend to extended family and to grieve. Those who have walked this path know of its turns and twists.  It’s hard.  Thank you for the grace you have extended to me.  Thank you for your prayers and care.  It is felt and well received. 

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

 P.S.  Epiphany words are still available in a basket on the table at the entrance.  Grace is our community Epiphany word.  Mine is prayer.  Good words to lead and guide me.

January 9th, 2025

Greeting Holy People of God, 

Happy New Year!  I am grateful to welcome 2025 which I think will prove to be a very interesting year because God goes ahead of us and it’s always interesting when God is in the mix of things.

I think for 7 years we have celebrated Epiphany with Epiphany words.  These words act like a star to guide us through the season of Epiphany or through the year.  These words give us another talking point for our faith as well as a word for us to focus on as a community.

In 2024 our Epiphany word for our faith community was INSIGHT.  I immediately went to the Bible and shared with you the places where the word insight was used.  Not surprisingly, the word showed up in Proverbs most often. 

Proverbs 3:5 advises us not to rely on our own insight but rather trust God. Learning about wisdom and instruction is paired with understanding words of insight in Proverbs 1:2.  Crying out for insight leads us to articulate our understanding (Proverbs 2:3). Proverb 7:4 invites us to think of wisdom as our sister and insight as our intimate friend.

So I will visit with my intimate friend, Insight in my annual report.  I will use this word to guide me as I reflect back on 2024 and our life together.  I will confess now, this has been a difficult word.  I placed the word on our staff agenda, so we would look at it each week.  It is a word that speaks of discovery as patterns emerge to reveal something we have not seen in a focused way.  Looking back over the year and through our committee reports I will sit with Insight.

On Sunday, January 5 at the 8:30 worship service, I invited Grace Ode to select our community word for us and she pulled out the word, GRACE, her very name and we all chuckled with delight.  GRACE will be a very good word for us in 2025.  In preparing for Confirmation Class, I came across a flash card definition from Luther House of Study resources; GRACE- the way God looks upon you with favor; the Lord’s disposition towards you as His loved prize.

We are off to a good start.  After worship, I asked Grace what word she drew for herself and it was NAME which stirred her curiosity.  I immediately thought of Adam and his naming of the new creatures in creation.  I hope Grace will have fun and discovery as her Epiphany word guides her.  In this Mini Bits, Carolyn Laxson will share with you her new word.  Carolyn has used Epiphany words to not only share with us but she also posts her articles on Facebook and then it becomes a tool of evangelism as she shares God’s good news in Jesus Christ beyond our walls.

This year, I drew the word, PRAYER for my Epiphany word.  I’m looking forward to spending time in this word.  What’s your word?  If you haven’t drawn your word, you can find a little basket on the table near the entrance.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

November 21th, 2024

Greetings to the Holy People of God,

I give thanks to God that we at Christ the King feed people with our meal packing event with Take Away Hunger, surrounded by worship as we celebration Christ the King Sunday and then come together for a meal of Thanksgiving.  I so appreciate that I get to celebrate Thanksgiving with you and then drive to family in Minnesota and share a meal with extended family and friends on Thursday.

I typically can’t wait only for the season of Thanksgiving for giving thanks.  I am sure you don’t either.  I have a little paper note book that I try to jot down 3 things or people that I am thankful for each day.  It helps me keep my bearings so that I don’t become bitter, discouraged or arrogant.  It helps me to notice things and people I might have overlooked.  And giving thanks to God is a great way to begin conversing with God.

In all things we give thanks to God even when we find ourselves struggling to find words of thanksgiving.  Some of the most intense moments of thankfulness come not at the times of plenty but when struggles are all around.  Think of the Pilgrims as they celebrated their first thanksgiving.  Half of their number dead, without a country and the winter ahead and they gave thanks to God.  Their gratitude was not for something but in God.  It was that same sense of gratitude that led Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the first Thanksgiving Day in the midst of national civil war, when the list of casualties seemed to have no end and the very nation struggled for survival.

The hymn, “Now Thank We All Our God” is another example of thanksgiving arising out of difficult times.  The hymn was written by Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in the town of Eilenburg in Saxony during the 30 Years War in Germany in the early 1600s.  The walled city of Eilenburg became a place of refuge from the fighting.  The city grew too crowded, food was scarce, bringing on a famine and a terrible plague.

In one year alone, Pastor Rinkart conducted funerals for 4,500 people, including his own wife. The war dragged on; the suffering continued and so did the creation of the hymn we still sing.

Now thank we all our God,
with hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom the world rejoices

… and keep us all in grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.

When Bishop Current held her evening of gratitude here, she asked us to define gratitude and generosity and share with one another the people who taught us what these words mean.  Who are the people in your life that have taught you the meaning of these words?  Tell the
story of how God worked through these people.

I give thanks to God for you all and how God teaches me about gratitude and generosity through you. Happy Thanksgiving!

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

November 7th, 2024

Greetings to the Holy People of God,

The widows in my extended family are growing. My middle sister’s husband died in August of 2023 and my mother-in-law’s husband died in June and our oldest sister’s husband is in the care of hospice and will soon be a widow herself. And now this week, we will encounter two widows from our appointed bible lessons for this Sunday. Widows are on my mind.

Both widows in their own way are preparing for the last things.  The poor widow from Mark’s gospel is throwing two coins into the treasury giving out of her poverty, giving it all as Jesus tells us preparing us for his own giving of his life.  In I Kings 17:8-16, Elijah after his wadi dries up and the ravens no longer bring him food to eat, is directed by God to find the widow in Zarephath to feed him.  This widow is gathering sticks at the city gate so she can prepare the last meal for her son and herself.  A last meal that reminds us of the last supper that Jesus prepared for his disciples.  A simple meal that gives us a little taste of the feast to come.

It is in these last things, the sharing of their last things, rather than hanging onto them that God cultivates the landscape for us to let go, to open our hands, to open our hearts for God’s invitation to participate in what God is up to among us.

Oh, and this is the most difficult of places to be in not only for these widows but for us as well.  Can we really trust God when we are preparing our last meal or throwing it all in?

YES, yes we can! Not only have these widows and all the witnesses before us but also Jesus, God’s own Son, didn’t hold his life back but gave himself to life and to death to show us the way through life and death and the meeting of heaven and earth and all that God desires for us.

It is amazing what God does with our nothing, with our lack, with the last of what we have to offer, with our desperation, with what little we have to offer.

Why are widows so important in the biblical witness?  The ones who have lost their partner and have to figure out how to live in a world where they are so very vulnerable and yet they are witnesses to us
along with Ruth and Naomi.  They remind us that even when we feel like a part of us is missing, we are not alone.  God is faithful and present in our families, friends and neighbors.  God is with us and up to something and inviting us to participate.  Let’s open our hands to receive what God longs to give us and work through us.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

October 31, 2024

Greetings to the Holy People of God,

Why do we vote on Tuesday?  It’s a tradition that reminds us of our history.  Before 1845, election days varied by state but then a law was passed to set a single election day for the election of the President of the United States and not long after it applied to congressional elections as well.  At that time the majority labor force consisted of farmers.  So early November was chosen because harvest was over but the weather was still mild. 

So why Tuesday?  Two days were out of the question.  Sundays and Wednesdays because most Americans were Christians and observed a day of rest and worship on Sunday. Wednesday was market day, when farmers sold their crops in town.  With horse and buggy, travel took time.  So Monday for travel and voting on Tuesday.

Election day is set for the first Tuesday after the first Monday to avoid election day from falling on November 1, All Saints Day as well as giving merchants time to settle their books from the previous month.

Tuesday was chosen out of the context of the time.  Now less than 2% of Americans farm and many people work on Tuesdays throughout the year, a new context is arising. (material sourced from Britannical.com)

Now we have many opportunities to vote besides Tuesday with satellite voting at libraries and mail in voting.  So even if you have already voted or will be voting on Tuesday, here is a prayer from ELCA Worship Resources.

Everlasting God,

source of all liberty, before whom every earthly ruler must bow and bend the knee, we lay our nation before you as we prepare for an election. Breathe upon us your Spirit of wisdom and discernment.

Grant all who seek public office the mind of Christ, who came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life for the freedom of the oppressed. Hold before us those who face uncertain futures, or who have no voice in our political process.

Uphold and safeguard poll workers and election officials in their work. Spare us from the crushing weight of cynicism. Give us grace to speak courageously, but with love, without which our words are noise and we are nothing.

Gather us together under the cross, where, in all of our difference, we can stand as one people, redeemed in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Whatever day we vote on, we can give thanks to God for this opportunity to participate in the community of this nation with all neighbors near and far.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

 Pastor Connie Spitzack