September 22nd, 2022

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

The celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Community Garden is coming soon - Sunday, the 2nd of October.  I hope you will come and celebrate this milestone. Ten years ago, a couple of people thought it would be a good idea to host a community garden.  As I went around our neighborhood with VBS fliers that summer, I noticed many tomato plants on patios and agreed that this would be a good idea and a wonderful welcome to our neighbors. King Park is a little oasis in our neighborhood with a garden that invites those with green thumbs to grow vegetables, flowers, and relationships.

God has richly blessed us and our gardeners with good healthy food.  Relationships have formed and gardening methods shared from around the world.  New foods discovered from different lands and of course a good fence to keep rabbits and deer from feasting on the buffet of garden delights.  Many conversations about weed management, mulch, water and the closing of the season for the garden were navigated.

I remember the requests for a water pipe to be run down to the garden.  Talking it over with Mission and Justice and Property Committees and Council.  I confess that I was reluctant to have us invest in something I wasn’t sure was going to be around and of course all the worst-case scenarios ran through my mind with an open pipeline to water.  And now 10 years have passed, and the garden has grown and so have we with God’s nurturing presence.  Gardeners are the creative sort, and the solution was to run a hose from the church down to the garden so that plastic tanks could be filled, and gardeners could draw water from the tanks.  We have added tanks over the years and have recruited people to fill them throughout the week.

I give thanks to God for these ten years and all the ways God has helped us to share this garden with our neighbors and each other.  God has blessed us through this garden and the many hands that help to make it possible.  God does some of his best work in gardens and with us.  To God be the glory!

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

September 15th, 2022

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

Our hymn of the day for this Sunday is the African American Spiritual, “There is a Balm in Gilead” (ELW # 614).  This hymn is an answer to God’s question in Jeremiah 8:22a, “Is there no balm in Gilead?”  This spiritual proclaims YES, yes there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul. 

Refrain

         There is a balm in Gilead

         to make the wounded whole;

         there is a balm in Gilead

         to heal the sin-sick soul.

1 Sometimes I feel discouraged

and think my work's in vain,

but then the Holy Spirit

revives my soul again.  Refrain

2 If you cannot preach like Peter,

if you cannot pray like Paul,

you can tell the love of Jesus

and say, "He died for all."  Refrain

3 Don't ever be discouraged,

for Jesus is your friend;

and if you lack for knowledge

he'll ne'er refuse to lend.  Refrain

Text: African American spiritual

It is not an aromatic medicinal ointment like Vicks Vapor Rub but the response tells us that this balm is not located in Gilead or any place in the world but rather it is the Holy Spirit that revives our soul and Jesus is our friend who died for us.  Our hope, our balm is found in God who acts, and we respond and answer, yes, there is a balm, a hope and we are the ones who get to answer and respond to God’s gift of grace. Rub this balm of grace into our lives with its sweet aroma radiating from us.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

September 15th, 2022

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

Our hymn of the day for this Sunday is the African American Spiritual, “There is a Balm in Gilead” (ELW # 614).  This hymn is an answer to God’s question in Jeremiah 8:22a, “Is there no balm in Gilead?”  This spiritual proclaims YES, yes there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul. 

Refrain

         There is a balm in Gilead

         to make the wounded whole;

         there is a balm in Gilead

         to heal the sin-sick soul.

1 Sometimes I feel discouraged

and think my work's in vain,

but then the Holy Spirit

revives my soul again.  Refrain

2 If you cannot preach like Peter,

if you cannot pray like Paul,

you can tell the love of Jesus

and say, "He died for all."  Refrain

3 Don't ever be discouraged,

for Jesus is your friend;

and if you lack for knowledge

he'll ne'er refuse to lend.  Refrain

Text: African American spiritual

It is not an aromatic medicinal ointment like Vicks Vapor Rub but the response tells us that this balm is not located in Gilead or any place in the world but rather it is the Holy Spirit that revives our soul and Jesus is our friend who died for us.  Our hope, our balm is found in God who acts, and we respond and answer, yes, there is a balm, a hope and we are the ones who get to answer and respond to God’s gift of grace. Rub this balm of grace into our lives with its sweet aroma radiating from us.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

September 8th, 2022

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

Carole and Ray Hegtvedt were very faithful servants of God at Christ the King Lutheran Church and in all they did.  They recently died. Both within a day of each other. 

Carole would so faithfully come and help us to assemble the newsletter when we used to do that, and Carole and Ray helped us count the offering.  They had their quiet behind the scenes serving.  Neither wanted to draw attention to themselves or be “a bother” to others but loved to serve and care for others in a quiet and behind the scenes manner.

It is that attitude of not wanting to be a bother and just plain trying to get through each day for the Hegtvedts that left our community surprised to hear of their deaths although we knew they were struggling with their health.  Some of the residual results of being disconnected from one another for such a long period of time and getting swept up in the challenges before us. I am grateful for the care they received through hospice.

Carole and Ray were a gift to us and we give thanks to God for them and the opportunity to walk together in faith for a period of time.  Ray once shared with me something he observed in worship in the park.  He was wondering if I had noticed the snow egret flying over us.  I had not as my attention was on the order of worship.  But Ray’s attention had been captured by that bird.  Egrets are symbolic of purity, strength, balance, concentration, longevity, and piety.  Egrets tend to enjoy solitude, freedom, and independence.  Maybe in sharing this observation of this beautiful, rare bird, Ray revealed a bit about himself and Carole.

That same worship service, he also noticed that as Bekah Ode was making her way to communion, she said, “We are blessed.”  I loved that Ray shared that with me as he was encouraged by Carole to do so.  Yes, how true, we are blessed.  Thank you, Bekah.  Thank you, Ray.

What a beautiful gift.  This is the gift of the community of faith.  We help each see how we bear the image of God in this world.  We give thanks to these servants of God, Ray and Carole as they now cheer us on in the communion of saints.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

September 1st, 2022

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

It’s Labor Day weekend and a good time to reflect historically as we take a day off from work to celebrate work while we notice the many “Now Hiring” signs on businesses.  This 3-day weekend rose out of the industrial revolution of the late 1800s.  The average American worked 12-hour days, 7 days a week for basic living.  In some places, children as young as 5 or 6 worked in mills, factories and mines earning a small wage.  Workers often faced unsafe working conditions, access to fresh air, unsanitary facilities, and no breaks.

In response, labor unions organized with rallies and strikes to protest poor working conditions and negotiate hours and pay. The first Labor Day parade took place on September 5, 1882, with 10,000 workers taking unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square. Many of these events turned violent such as the Chicago Haymarket Riot of 1886.  Many states passed legislation recognizing a “workingmen’s holiday”. Congress finally recognized and passed legislation after the May 11, 1894, Pullman Palace Car Company strike in Chicago resulted in a boycott called by the American Railroad Union on June 26 that crippled railroad traffic nationwide.  The federal government dispatched troops, riots ensued, people died.  To repair ties with workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and territories and on June 28, 1894, President Cleveland signed it into law.

Take some time to reflect upon this day that arose out of human brokenness, a little resurrection and sign of hope. Left to ourselves, we work ourselves beyond what is good for us. We neglect to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Our need for rest, for boundaries on work, and for Sabbath reminds us of God’s love for us and the world. 

Consider revisiting the Exodus story and Pharoah’s treatment of his labor force.  Had he only cared for his workers rather than being threatened by them, the blessings that could have come forth were never known. Think about how you take work into your own hands and your failure to share it with God and others and what happens.  What protests, strikes and riots emerge?  What does your brokenness show you?

Reflect upon your own Sabbath day practices.  How do you remember the Sabbath and keep it holy?  Does your rest include remembering God’s rest at the end of creation?  Does your remembering include that you are more than what you do or accomplish?  You are a human being, so remember to BE and rest in your being as you rest from your doing.  Sabbath is a time to remember and to rest.  Rest from worry and anxiety.  Rest in hope of what God brings forth from death, suffering and brokenness.  Remember, we celebrate our sabbath on Sunday, the day we remember the power of Jesus’ resurrection. 

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack