June 22nd, 2023

GREETINGS,

At council on Tuesday, I passed around a picture of the group I will be spending time with in Israel at the Tantur Institute. I will be joining four other people from the United States, three from New Zealand and others from Australia, Korea, UK, Canada and Vietnam.  A wonderfully diverse group of people.  We have already begun to make connections for train or bus travel from Tel Aviv to Israel.

If you would like to get a hold of me while I am in Israel this is how you do it.  Download the app, “WhatsApp” on your smartphone and make an account.  You can text me using the same number as my cell phone, 319-631-8858.  This is a free way to communicate internationally.  Another option would be to send a message via Colleen or Kevin. I will be checking my email as well.  I hope to share with you my experiences as they unfold.  I will be in Israel from July 2 through July 31.  I hope to see you at National Night Out on August 2, God willing.

This next week, June 24 -June 30, I will be in Northern Minnesota with my extended family on the beautiful shores of Little Cut Foot Sioux Lake at Williams Narrows.  It’s a family tradition for over 50 years and a four-generation event. I give thanks to God for this time of gathering with my family.

Pastor John Meyer and his wife Fran will be with you on Sundays and keeping you posted as well.  We are moving ahead with painting the sanctuary and narthex beginning on Monday, June 26.  We are rounding up a group to take down the wall hangings in the sanctuary on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. and the large bulletin board.   We will also need help to stack and remove chairs in the sanctuary for the painting. This may mean that Sunday worship on July 2 may take place in the Narthex or outside depending on the progress of the painting.  We will try to communicate as best we can and you are always welcome to call the office to check or Deb Heath or Kevin Edens.

Thank you for this opportunity to go to Israel for continuing education and a life-long dream of being able to study in the land that Jesus roamed about and has a long and complex history.  I am a farm girl and have an attachment to land, playing in the dirt and roaming the pastures.  I am hoping to do some of that same kind of roaming of the terrain in Israel while studying with Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scholars.  Please hold me in prayer as I travel and explore.  I too will be holding you in prayer.  We are all in good hands, God’s hand and that is the best place of all.  God has amazing things for all of us to discover and I am grateful to be with you on this journey.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

June 16th, 2023

GREETINGS FROM CAMP EWALU,

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”                                                  Revelation 22:13

This is the theme Bible verse for our week at Ewalu as we explored, “Holy Trinity, Wholly Love.”  Father, Son and Holy Spirit begin and end the circle and we know and discover God in this beautiful setting that is so green and so full of life. Sometimes we need to step away from our routine and what we know for God to show us more and help us to discover what God is up to in our lives and the lives of those around us.

It is a pleasure to be with our Confirmation students at Confirmation Camp as they challenge themselves to try new things like canoeing, camping in a tent, high ropes and serving each other.  We learn together, encouraging one another as we play and live together for a week.  We’ve learned some new and sometimes silly songs.  Ask our campers about the bean song and the bog song.  Ask them to tell you a story from their camp experience.

Here's one of my stories.  One of the camp counselors for Confirmation Camp is Marika.  She is from the country of Guyana, South America which I got confused with an African country, when I just heard the name. Guyana is on South America’s North Atlantic coast with dense rainforest.  Marika is here for the camping season which is made possible through the larger church body. She is a bubble of energy and enthusiasm. Marika showed me her country’s flag and told me it’s symbolism.  She told me about the foods she eats and misses. 

She is so brave to be in another country.  I saw this bravery as I watched her canoe the Turkey river.  This was her second time canoeing ever and here she was leader and learner at the same time.  It was beautiful to behold and a lovely witness for all of us, the seasoned and novice canoers.

I thank God for our paths crossing as I am getting ready for an adventure in Israel.  It was good for me to see the bravery of an adventurer before me to wet my appetite and tap into my courage and bravery of exploration as I learn more about our amazing God of circles, beginnings and ends, Father, Son and Holy Spirit who comes to us and wakes us up to this amazing creation and amazing people.

I thank you for supporting our confirmation students and camping ministry partnership. If you haven’t tried camping ministry, I invite you into the circle to explore.  If this isn’t for you, then explore and imagine yourself in the circle of wonder and creation that the Holy Spirit lays before you.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

June 8th, 2023

We are part of God’s beloved family.  We are included into the circle of the Holy Trinity.  God welcomes us and invites us in to be a part of what God is up to in our world.  Use your imagination with God’s holy imagination and see what will be produced.

Last Sunday, David and Susan Whitebread and I attended the Rededication Recital of the Swedesburg Evangelical Lutheran Church’s organ.  The morning worship service was full of hymns and the recital, “Celebrating Heritage and Looking Forward”, demonstrated the many voices of the organ’s palette.

Dr. Jan Kraybill did a wonderful job of welcoming and introducing us to this new organ.  It was easy to see how her imagination, gifts and love for playing the organ stepped into the circle of the Trinity and there was a beautiful creation we all enjoyed.  God was glorified and we were filled with God’s life giving spirit.

The first piece, Psalm XX: Exaudiat te Dominus (May the Lord hear you) by Benedetto Marcello was the opening piece for the 2nd dedicatory recital on March 31, 1963.  It was from a collection that was never intended for use in church but rather to inspire and enhance literary and intellectual discussions in the exploration of ancient cultures. Marcello took what he loved and invited others to witness and join in. I pulled out the hymnal and turned to Psalm 20, reading while the music accompanied and translated the voice of  Psalm 20 into music.  That was just the beginning as she played all of her recital off of a large electronic device.

Of course there was Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 which many of us associate with The Phantom of the Opera in the 1962 film or other performances, movies, video games, rock music or phone ring tones.  The rich, deep tones filled the room.  Dr. Kraybill did a wonderful job of playing pieces that introduced us to the individual voices and other pieces that pulled them all together. 

And then in celebration of the Swedes, Elfrida Andree’s Organ Symphony No. 1 in B minor was played.  None of us had ever heard of her but she was the first woman to earn a diploma at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and persistently fought for everything she accomplished with her gifts in music in the late 1800’s when women were not allowed in any of these circles.  Not well known but we celebrated her hard work and persistence, and I could see her in God’s circle of creativity and imagination. 

Kraybill’s encore was “Here Comes the Sun” which brought smiles to us all as a needed rain shower had just passed through.  God was glorified, we were blessed and welcomed into God’s creativity and imagination and now we just might see where we fit into God’s holy circle of imagination and creation.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

June 2nd, 2023

PROCLAIMERS OF CHRIST,

Holy Trinity Sunday is that Sunday when the whole package comes together wrapped up in a neat little bow and of course we celebrate, opening this gift of the Trinity.  Beginning with the Holy Trinity as the foundation, the infrastructure that provides the base upon which we build and explore the mystery of God.  We worship and praise this amazing God who desires to be revealed to us and invites us into relationship.  Holy Trinity Sunday we celebrate God known to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is not the ending point but the beginning from which we start to build and frame our relationship with God.  It is truly amazing that we get to be part of what God is up to in this world and invites us into.

God creates the cosmos and does not step away from this creation but continues to actively engage with us.  How sad and despairing for us when we neglect to engage with God and all God offers.  Engagement with this mysterious God is not an “easy button” but the way of life that is more than just life.  Life that is abundant and meaningful even if the meaning takes time to develop and mature. 

God’s amazing love continues reaching out to us.  God came down as Jesus to show us how to live, love, die and opened the way to God. When Christ returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit came to us, calling us to God, gathering us into his body, enlightening us to God’s truth and keeping us in the true faith. God is three, God is one, a beautiful mystery that keeps us exploring and wondering and worshipping and delighting in our magnificent God.

C. S. Lewis says, “All are found by the one they truly seek”.  We celebrate this wonderful glimpse of God, known to us as Trinity and God helps us to see more, to explore more, to be a part of more. 

 Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

May 26th, 2023

FOLLOWERS OF THE RISEN ONE,

On Wednesday, May 17, 2023 a Hebrew Bible sold for $38.1 million at auction at Sotheby, New York.  How much would you pay for a bible? 

This special Bible is the Codex Sassoon, named after book collector David Solomon Sassoon who purchased the book for $450 in 1929.  The handwritten 792 page Bible is made of sheepskin and includes 24 books of the Old Testament with 8 pages missing.

It was carbon dated to the late 9th to early 10th century and measures 12 x 14 inches.  In the first centuries of its existence the book switched hands throughout the Middle East.  In the 13th century it was dedicated to a synagogue in Markada in Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria.  After the destruction of the synagogue, either by Mongols (13th century) or Timurids (15th century), the codex was owned by Salama ibn Abi al-Fakhr as the synagogue awaited reconstruction which never happened.

600 years later the codex came into the hands of David Solomon Sassoon.  It stayed in private ownership until Sassoon’s descendants sold it in 1978 to the British Rail Pension fund and then in 1998 the manuscript was auctioned again and sold to Jacqui Safra. (Wikipedia).

The former U.S. Ambassador to Romania Alfred H. Moses purchased the Hebrew Bible on behalf of the American Friends of ANU and donated it to the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.  According to APNew.com it is one of the highest prices for a manuscript sold at auction.  A rare copy of the U.S. constitution sold for $43 million in 2021. 

What is unique about this Bible is that it is thought to have been transcribed by one person and is the earliest known complete Hebrew Bible manuscript.

On Pentecost as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit that empowers our faith into action and sharing God’s good news in Jesus Christ.  In celebrating Pentecost we enter into the ancient Jewish festival of harvest and the giving of the teachings to the Hebrew people at Mt. Sinai.  God’s word is such a beautiful gift to us and has moved through time to us today.   Cherish this holy and life giving word of God that reveals God to us.  The Holy Spirit continues to breathe God’s abundant life force in each and everyone of us.  A harvest celebration grows into a celebrate of God’s fruitful people who have grown and spread throughout the world.  Happy Pentecost!

BIBLE - Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack