July 13th, 2023

GREETINGS FROM ISRAEL,

Thank you so much for this opportunity to explore the Holy Land through this Tantur program.  I hope you have been able to browse through the pictures I’ve been sharing on our CTK group Facebook. We are a community of 12 pilgrims with 3 guides that know well how to shape, support and encourage community.  They have partnered with wonderful people in this larger community to share the many complexities of this holy place.

We begin each day with mass or morning prayer and end the day with ecumenical prayer which each of us takes turns leading and sharing from our respective backgrounds.  There is a good mix of Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans.  The food is very good and westernized to fit the college student’s tastes.  I was hoping for more hummus but there is lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. 

Each Monday afternoon we share our reflections as well as when we have our meals together.  Our time is interwoven with lectures and outings.  We explored how the cannon of the Bible was put together and how we weave our lives with God’s story to share God’s good news.  Our evangelism, our good news telling is wrapped up in the books of the Bible.  The beauty and complexity of community and how God slowly works through us, desiring us to bear God’s name faithfully in our lives and communities.  It took a long time for the cannon, the 66 books of the library of our Bible to come together and shape our communities of faith.

We have explored the churches that have been built upon holy sites.  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre that is shared by Christians and claims the place of crucifixion and tomb.  The Chapel of the Ascension that claims the place of Jesus’ feet leaving the ground as he ascends back to his Father. We worshipped and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and explored the churches and chapels. I am learning more about the Eastern Christian Churches – Armenian, Syrian, Coptic.  There are 14 leaders in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Christ Church is the oldest Protestant community in the Middle East and is a center of prayer for all nations with worship reflecting the Jewish context of the gospel and was influential in providing health care and education which the Lutherans also followed suit which helped to transform the society encouraging more religious communities to reach out to those in greatest need.

We had an introduction to Judaism from three different Jews, two who served in the Israeli military as young adults.  It is so good to hear first-hand stories and explanations of their faith, ethnicity, and practices.  I finally have the Jewish lectionary laid out for me and have gathered some wonderful resources to tap into Midrash, Mishnah and Talmud which Jesus would have been familiar with.  I’m getting my bearing in a whole new way and meeting Jesus again and anew.  It’s like discovering a whole new part of a friend you’ve known for a long time.  It’s a wonderful surprise. 

Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity.  I am so grateful. 

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

July 13th, 2023

GREETINGS FROM ISRAEL,

Thank you so much for this opportunity to explore the Holy Land through this Tantur program.  I hope you have been able to browse through the pictures I’ve been sharing on our CTK group Facebook. We are a community of 12 pilgrims with 3 guides that know well how to shape, support and encourage community.  They have partnered with wonderful people in this larger community to share the many complexities of this holy place.

We begin each day with mass or morning prayer and end the day with ecumenical prayer which each of us takes turns leading and sharing from our respective backgrounds.  There is a good mix of Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans.  The food is very good and westernized to fit the college student’s tastes.  I was hoping for more hummus but there is lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. 

Each Monday afternoon we share our reflections as well as when we have our meals together.  Our time is interwoven with lectures and outings.  We explored how the cannon of the Bible was put together and how we weave our lives with God’s story to share God’s good news.  Our evangelism, our good news telling is wrapped up in the books of the Bible.  The beauty and complexity of community and how God slowly works through us, desiring us to bear God’s name faithfully in our lives and communities.  It took a long time for the cannon, the 66 books of the library of our Bible to come together and shape our communities of faith.

We have explored the churches that have been built upon holy sites.  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre that is shared by Christians and claims the place of crucifixion and tomb.  The Chapel of the Ascension that claims the place of Jesus’ feet leaving the ground as he ascends back to his Father. We worshipped and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and explored the churches and chapels. I am learning more about the Eastern Christian Churches – Armenian, Syrian, Coptic.  There are 14 leaders in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Christ Church is the oldest Protestant community in the Middle East and is a center of prayer for all nations with worship reflecting the Jewish context of the gospel and was influential in providing health care and education which the Lutherans also followed suit which helped to transform the society encouraging more religious communities to reach out to those in greatest need.

We had an introduction to Judaism from three different Jews, two who served in the Israeli military as young adults.  It is so good to hear first-hand stories and explanations of their faith, ethnicity, and practices.  I finally have the Jewish lectionary laid out for me and have gathered some wonderful resources to tap into Midrash, Mishnah and Talmud which Jesus would have been familiar with.  I’m getting my bearing in a whole new way and meeting Jesus again and anew.  It’s like discovering a whole new part of a friend you’ve known for a long time.  It’s a wonderful surprise. 

Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity.  I am so grateful. 

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

July 6th, 2023

GREETINGS FROM ISRAEL,

 Just as you were worshipping in a different place, I too was worshipping in a very different place.  On Sunday from 9 am till 9:45 pm I was at the Paris airport, having missed my connecting flight due to delays in Minneapolis and Boston.  I was lucky to have my little ELW and Bible with me and found a place on the floor and worked my way through the liturgy, lessons and hymns.  Worship was just what I needed.

I haven’t traveled internationally by myself since college. Some of my fears about traveling alone came true.  The well laid plans of meeting up with a couple of others arriving in the afternoon at the Tel Aviv airport to catch an airport shuttle to Jerusalem soon fizzled and I would be arriving at 4:00 a.m. and worrying and wondering how things would unfold.  I ran through a bunch of emotions; frustration, anxiety, fear, worry.  It took me a long time to get my bearings and what my new flight plan would be.  Once my flight to Tel Aviv was confirmed, I had the whole day ahead of me.  I found a comfortable chair and slept.  Then I double checked trying to find out when I would arrive in Tel Aviv.  “Keep checking the gate as it might change” was the advice given. It was good advice. I was tired and frustrated and having a pity party of great magnitude.  The internet was terrible and besides I had to wait before communicating back here because of the time difference.

So, I found a carpeted place where the sun light shone and worshipped. I sang quietly through the liturgy and a couple of hymns.  Oh, the power of song to soften the heart and quiet the mind.  I read of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son and God providing a way out.  Powerful words that hit my worries and frustrations to turn it over to God and trust that God would provide.  Psalm 13 was a beautiful psalm for a day of waiting.  Romans 6:12-23 reminded me that God is worth the wait and Matthew 10:40-42 reminded me to welcome the words of the prophet and I remembered my Epiphany word – JOY – a spirit of joy.  There was a spirit of joy that is God given and it is beautiful, the best kind of joy.

Another night on a plane, good food, a little wine and a little sleep found me in Tel Aviv, tired and taking each step slowly, finding my way through the passport station and getting my visa, picking up my luggage and finding a shuttle almost full welcoming me to get on board.  I gave thanks to God for good instructions from Tantur and a Jewish group of six travelers that did the haggling before me for the transport shuttle and off we went.  The security guard at Tantur quickly opened the gate as my driver was trying to convince me to get out at the security gate.  I was dropped off at the tower entrance swiftly met by a professor from Boston College who was out for a morning stroll and quickly offered to help me with my luggage.  I had arrived 15 minutes before breakfast was served, shown to my room and then to fight with jet lag during the rest of the day’s orientation.  With the help of God and your prayers, I made it safe and sound.

I’m here and it was worth the wait.  I am learning about community in a place that wrestles with community every day.  They will be wise teachers.  I am with a group of wonderfully diverse people in a safe and welcoming environment.  Thank you for giving me this gift of continuing education.

This last picture is from our orientation to Bethlehem checkpoints.  We walked along the wall that used to be the road of the Patriarchs.  Inside Bethlehem the wall carries art, graffiti, stories, memorials, and the jester’s humor as the “Walled Off Hotel” word plays with The Waldorf Hotel and is owned by an artist who is featured many times on the wall.  One of his pictures is of a dove dressed in a bulletproof vest. The wall I can see from the outside has nothing on it.

I wonder what God is up to with us and this world God loves so much.  Miss you all.  On Sunday I plan on worshipping in Old City Jerusalem at Redeemer Lutheran Church.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

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