August 11th, 2022

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

With the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding abortion, I want to remind you that we are part of a larger church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  We join with nearly 3.3 million members in more than 8,900 worshiping communities across the 50 states and the Caribbean region.  One of the things I appreciate about being a part of this body of faith in Christ is that we do not agree on social issues, but our unity comes through Jesus Christ as the Abortion Social Statement Summary says, “United in Christ and believing that the Bible is the authoritative source and norm for Christian faith and life, Christians are free, and even obligated, to engage in moral deliberation over our disagreements.”  It is an important process for us to articulate what we believe and sometimes it is through what we struggle with where we can fine tune our words about our relationship with God and each other.

The words I speak in our communion liturgy come to mind, it is our duty and delight or joy that we should at all times give thanks and praise to God.  It is in these places of disagreement that the cross comes into focus for us most clearly.  Jesus gave thanks on the night he was betrayed.  He gave thanks at other times but how important it is for us to hear that Jesus gives thanks on the same night he was betrayed.

So, I invite you into the duty and delight of ethical deliberation.  Read the ELCA’s social statement on abortion.  I will have print copies available for you to take at church on the usher’s or use this link:

https://www.elca.org/faith/faith-and-society/social-statements/abortion

Abortion - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - ELCA.org

Abortion. The ELCA’s social statement entitled Abortion is grounded in the conviction that “Christians are united in Christ through faith with both the freedom and obligation to engage in serious moral deliberation.” (Page 1) As ELCA social teaching it draws upon this community’s faith tradition that understands God’s life-giving purposes as pressing “beyond the usual ‘pro-life ...

www.elca.org

Here you will find the downloadable social statement, a summary, and a study guide as well as other helpful links to resources.  Then find someone or a small group you can talk with about God, abortion and what you think.  Invite God into your thoughts and conversations and expect God to show up. 

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

August 4, 2022

Another prayer for National Night Out, August 2nd. A prayer of thanksgiving.

Holy God,

Thank you for your presence with us as we welcomed our neighbors and partnered with the police and fire departments.  Thank you, Holy Spirit, for moving through us, your vessels.  Thank you for the connections made.  Thank you for the courage and curiosity to explore. Continue to nurture these relationships that we may welcome a bit of your kingdom presence here as we aim at getting to know one another and you.  You are faithful and we give you thanks.  Amen.

I’m so proud of you all and give thanks to God for you and your work.  You were a beautiful witness.  You, the people of Christ the King, showed up and welcomed our neighbors and emergency workers.  Well done, good and faithful servants of God.

Those of you involved, please share your stories and your reflections.  I got the opportunity to meet two of our new neighbors from the apartment behind Bryce Apartments.  I invited them to use the park and shelter and they expressed interest in our community garden, and I was given an email for further communication.  I invited them to worship with us.

I also got a big hug from one of our VBS kids from the neighborhood.  It was good to see the family again and the mom took a picture with her boys and me.  Mom and one of the boy’s names were drawn for the school supplies and baskets. It was a lot of fun. I got to reminisce about Tanzania with a Congolese family. Winters are hard to get used to when you don’t grow up with them.  Some good conversations about the luck of the draw as kids anxiously waited for names to be drawn and hoped for a prize.  Some of our youth not only painted nails and faces but trusted our neighborhood youth to paint them as well.  Good partnerships were formed and there were works of art walking around. Kari and Paige from CTK Christian Preschool had an obstacle course for the little ones and the duck pond was a huge success.  We sent a warm and welcoming message out on 200 popcorn bags.  It was a wonderful night out with good music by the request of our friends and neighbors.

Well done.  You are being the best neighbors we can be and the light of Christ is shining through you.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

July 28th, 2022

A prayer for us for National Night Out, August 2nd.

Holy God, be with the community of Christ the King as we host National Night Out for our neighborhood and our police and fire departments.  Holy Spirit move through all those who participate in this event that we may experience a bit of your kingdom here.  Help us to be your vessels in making the world a better place, a place that reflects the intentions of your creation.  Give us courage and curiosity to engage in building relationships with our neighbors so that we may know them, they know us and you.   Amen.

Thank you to all who have been planning for National Night Out.  Thank you to all who are planning to show up and provide hospitality for our neighbors.  Thank you to all who have been tending to King Park, the shelter, and the outside of Christ the King to welcome our neighbors and provide a beautiful place to meet.

As a staff, we are reading and discussing together the book recommended at our synod assembly, “Growing Young: 6 Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love your Church” by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder and Brad Griffin.  In honor and celebration of National Night Out and our ongoing desire to be God’s presence in this time and place, we read the chapter on neighbors, “Be the Best Neighbors:  Loving and Shaping Your World Well.

The chapter begins with a quote from 20 y.o. Isaiah, “Christianity is about the restoration of how it is all supposed to be.  We have been given hope, we have been redeemed, and we have been empowered by the authority of God to go out and change this world.”

We are encouraged even more by Andy Crouch who envisions a positive strategy when he says, “The only way to change culture is to create more of it…something that will persuade our neighbors to set aside some existing set of cultural goods for our new proposal.”

The story of God coming to us in Jesus Christ, the story of his life, death, resurrection, and return to God give shape and context to our biggest questions and dreams. His story shapes our story and how we navigate our world.  We know that God’s got this world and loves this world.  When we are overwhelmed with all that is before us and struggle to discern our way through, we know that God is with us, and God is faithful.  Like our “On the Case Connections” Board for VBS demonstrated through simple but powerful strings of yarn, we are connected to Jesus, and we are connected to each other.  As we move through the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches us about the fine points of discipleship with hospitality and listening to Jesus as we live in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection and return to God.  Because Jesus lives and returns to God, we live life with a hope and freedom found in Jesus that shapes and forms our lives and our world. 

We are called to make the world a better place – through the kingdom of God – the household – where we meet Jesus and walk toward death, resurrection, and return.  God help us to translate this good news in a way that our neighbors, police, and fire fighters can hear and understand.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

July 21st, 2022

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

 Evangelism and Fellowship Committees met this last week to finalize plans for National Night Out.  After a very fruitful discussion regarding the popcorn holder and message we want to send to our neighbors, we decided against the popcorn holder and committed to handwriting some of the shorter messages that have been curated from your creativity.  Thank you.  I have appreciated your input, creativity and the process of delving into evangelism in a concrete way that gets us thinking about what we want to say to our neighbors.  The Holy Spirit prepares us in many ways like these exercises so that when we are more ready, the Holy Spirit will put us in the right place at the right time.

For those of you able to attend, I want to encourage you to step out and introduce yourself to our neighbors.  Pick a number like 5 or 10 people, pray to God, trust the Holy Spirit and then when NNO comes, step out in faith, and talk to 5 or 10 neighbors.  Go with the spirit of curiosity to learn from them and who knows what God might produce in the conversation. 

I would like for Christ the King to partner with our neighbors.  I’m not sure what that might look like, but I do know that our attention to King Park and the Community Garden has welcomed our neighbors.  We have shingled and repaired the shelter and it is being used by our neighbors.  Ask Eric Vigil about his experiences with the Sudanese Neighborhood Association who shared their food with him as he welcomed them one evening after his Stewardship Committee meeting.

Be curious about what our neighbors might like to do in King Park.  I’d still like to host some music and/or comedians to brighten all our spirits.  I would like to welcome our neighbors in the planning of NNO.  It would be good for us to get our neighbor’s input and perspective as we know we can get set in our ways.  What do you think God would like us to do?  What would make God smile as he sees our outreach?

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

July 14th, 2022

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

National Night Out, the first Tuesday in August is fast approaching.  I wonder how God will work through us as we host this event and I hope that you will attend. I would like our neighbors to meet you, the people of Christ the King Lutheran Church who have claimed this corner on Melrose and Mormon Trek.  You are beautiful children of God created in the image of God and shine a radiant light in this world.  I give thanks to God for the gift of this community. 

We continue to work toward a message for our neighbors to be placed on a popcorn holder/megaphone.  Thank you for your responses and concentrated effort infused with prayer.  It is a good exercise for us to do as we think about what we want to accomplish in hosting this event and God working with us in these efforts.  I continue to pray and wonder if the megaphone/popcorn holder is a good idea.  It may be that hosting the event is enough.  This is a community exercise of faith.  Will God show up and what will God teach us through our neighbors? 

God knows how to work with raw material – curbing and directing our proclamation.

In your responses I see your desire to reach out with God’s good news in Jesus Christ. Messaging in simple words is difficult because we have so much to tell and it is a complicated message with many assumptions especially for those of us who know it well. 

We are more than a social service agency.  Called by Christ, we want to help our neighbor but many times we do not know how to help our neighbor in a meaningful way that ultimately helps them to meet Jesus. We turn to the Holy Spirit to breathe the message into us for this time and space.  Here is the raw material that we are working with in this creative process.

· We’d like to get to know you! Is there anything we can help you with? 

· Here to Help

· A Safe Place

· You are welcome to pop in any time, dear neighbor.

This probably says more than what we are willing to do.  The psalmist reminds us that our help comes from the Lord, and we know that God’s help comes through Jesus’ suffering, death, resurrection and not necessarily a quick fix of “help” as our culture understands help.  God took a great deal of time and effort to cultivate a relationship with a people that eventually opened to all people.  We know that living in family relationships and the community of faith does not guarantee safety.  Many wonderful relationships are formed and beautiful fruit is produced and we still miss the mark, sinning against God and one another.  Our relationships are not free of sin, even within the church.

· Pop…pop… pop… pop on into worship!

· We R like popcorn, we need you to season us.

· We will not pass you by.

· We like popcorn need you to season us

· Come & Share God’s love.

· Come and worship with us.

· JOY = Jesus, Others, You.

· Pop in and worship with us!

· Come & Share God’s Love.

· Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you?

These are very invitational with the assumption that the neighbor knows Jesus and wants to worship God.  These ideas express our desire to gain something of value from our neighbor.  Our neighbors have something to teach us.

· You are precious in God’s sight and ours.  Christ the King Members

· God bless our neighbors.

· “Good Exercise for the Heart:  Reach out and help your neighbor.” Mark Twain

· Loving our neighbors asks us to know our neighbor.

· People of Christ the King – Partnering with Police, Firefighters and you, our neighbors.

 · We are dedicated to serving Jesus Christ and introducing you to him.

· Join us in the Journey

A few years ago, when we visited our neighbors, like the businesses, schools, and assisted living residences the word that opened our conversations was, partner.  Our neighbors were suspicious of us, curious of our intentions and what we wanted and why we were visiting.  When we clearly said that we wanted to partner with them and not necessarily do something for them there was an exchange, an energy of peace.  We wanted to get to know our neighbor. 

Evangelism, sharing the good news of God in Christ Jesus is that paradox of simple and complicated. It takes time and we believe that God shows up and works through us.  God is faithful.  Thank you for your creative efforts in getting the ball rolling.  Like our VBS theme, On the Case!, we too will keep searching, investigating and discovering. So keep praying, keep listening and talk to each other.  What simple unified message would we like to share with our neighbor?

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack