June 27th, 2024

GREETINGS HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

It is Lamentation after all, a book named for lamenting, and we will hear on Sunday a reading that does not at all sound like lamenting from Lamentations 3:22-33.  When I first read it, I thought of the hymn, Great is your Faithfulness.  We get ten verses of hope spilling forth.

So open your Bibles and read the 21 verses that come before Lamentation 3:22-33.  Verse 21 says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:” What calls forth hope to your mind?  Read the 21 verses and ask yourself what words of hope would pour out of your mouth.  Or write up your own 21 verses of lament and see what you call to mind and the measure of your hope.

What is our go to theology of suffering?  Does God punish? Where is God in the suffering of our world?  Where is God in our dark night of the soul when hope is illusive and cannot be found? Pat and easy answers tend not to quench the depth of our wondering about God and suffering. 

We keep turning to God and each other.  We keep turning to God’s word and worship.  We keep living trusting God’s faithfulness.  This is the relationship we live in.  The relationship we have with God is complex for we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God. We will struggle.  We will question and doubt.  We will wonder and ponder.  We will lament the happenings of our lives, our relationships, our community, our nation and government.  And we will grow along with our biblical witness who after 21 verses of lament can also pull to mind great hope in God’s enduring faithfulness.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

June 20th, 2024

YOUTH GATHERING UPDATE

We are close to completing our getting ready materials as we have focused on BRAVE, AUTHENTIC, FREE and now – DISRUPTIVE.

We were introduced to Ruby Bridges and her family who fought for civil rights in New Orleans.  We explored moving from being mad, sad and overwhelmed by what goes on in this world to understanding that justice work is part of our baptismal call, following the example of Jesus. Prayer and action are a part of who we are created to be.

New Orleans has a history of disrupters. The city builds community through diversity. Through people such as Ruby Bridges, its history challenges us to reject the things that separate us. On Nov. 19, 1960, at age 6, Bridges became a civil rights leader by taking the first step toward desegregating William Frantz Elementary School.

The image above records the historic moment when she was escorted to school by federal marshals. The significant difference in height and stature between Bridges and her escorts captured the absurdity of the European-descent parents who withdrew their students from school and left Bridges all alone on that first day, six years after desegregation had been mandated in the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.

Her parents answered a call by the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to challenge school segregation. This cost them — her grandparents were forced off the land they tilled as sharecroppers, and her father was fired from his job. But they stayed the course, and Ruby Bridges continues to call New Orleans home.

Gathering Connections

Like the church, the Gathering should be a place where we can practice living in a community that is growing, forgiving and infused with God’s grace. Far too often our communities choose comfort as their primary goal, thinking, “If we just keep everyone comfortable, everyone will be happy.” Centering on comfort keeps us from experiencing growth. At the Gathering we will experience disruption. Our normal routines will look different. Our normal thought patterns will be challenged. Our thoughts about who God is will be disrupted — and, we hope, expanded.

There is grace in each disruption. By God’s grace we were created to sit and wait in that uncomfortable space, trusting that God will stir something new — a new relationship, new imagination, new hopes, etc.

As disciples of Jesus, we know that disruptions don’t end there. They are an invitation from the Holy Spirit to be part of God’s creative, redeeming, disruptive work in our world. When we witness injustice, we are invited to disrupt, challenge and embody change. Beloveds of God, the world is waiting for us to move beyond our comfort to disrupt injustice. We were created to be disruptive.

June 13th, 2024

GREETING HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

Next week, I get to spend a week at Ewalu Camp with our confirmation students, Bekah Ode, Emily Rothfuss and Amita Nelson and other campers from our congregation include Laina Nelson and Abby Rothfuss in Trail Blazers Camp.

Thank you for this gift to our confirmation students.  They have worked hard in class and now get to spend some time apart at Ewalu to nurture and explore their relationship with God, each other and the wonderful camp staff.  Thank you for your support through Thrivent Camperships which gives $200 for our campers.  Keep us in your prayers for God’s rich blessings during this time apart and drop our youth a note as it’s always fun to get mail at camp.

 Ewalu’s address: 37776 Alpha Ave., Strawberry Point, IA 52076

Giving thanks to God for camping ministry of Ewalu and your faithful support. 

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

June 6th, 2024

GREETINGS HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

In his book, The Song of the Bird, Anthony de Mello tells a little parable about those who continually hunger for more in life.

It's a story of a humble barber who was passing by a tree that turned out to be haunted. From out of the tree the barber heard a voice: "Would you like to have seven jars of gold?"

Looking around, he saw no one. He couldn't imagine where the voice was coming from. But his greed had been aroused, so he shouted eagerly, "Yes, I certainly would."

"Then go home at once," said the voice. "You will find them there."

The barber ran all the way home, and it turned out to be just as the ghostly voice had promised. There, sitting by the hearth, were seven jars, six of them filled to the brim with gold -- and the seventh, which was only half-full.

Of course the barber was delighted with the unexpected gift, but something bothered him. He couldn't bear the thought of having a half-filled jar. He knew that, somehow, he had to fill it. If he didn't, he could never be happy.

So he took all his wife's jewelry, and begged his family and friends to loan him theirs. He threw them into the half-filled jar. But the jar was enchanted. No matter how much treasure he threw in, it remained half-filled, as before. He saved and scrimped and starved his family, but he could never bring the level of that seventh jar any higher.

One day, he asked for an audience with the king and demanded that his salary be doubled. The king agreed, but still it was no good. The jar devoured each piece of gold he flung into it.
When the king summoned the barber to cut his hair, he noticed how desperate and unhappy the man looked. "What's wrong with you?" he asked. "You used to be so happy when your salary was smaller. Can it be that you have been given the seven jars of gold?"

The barber was astonished to hear this. "Who told you about that, Your Majesty?"

The king laughed. "I know the symptoms. The ghost once offered the jars to me. When I asked if the money could ever be spent, or was merely to be hoarded, he vanished without a word. Take it from me: that money can never be spent. It only brings with it the compulsion to hoard. Go and return the seven jars to the ghost this very minute. You will be a happy man once again."

So he did and so he was.

The story invites us to explore the attitude in which we hold our treasures.  Last week, Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 had us purposefully imagine ourselves as clay vessels to remind us that we carry the extraordinary power of God.  We are vessels privileged to carry God’s good news made known to us in Jesus.  This week Paul continues (2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1) reminding us to speak of what we believe.

God raised Jesus and will raise us and bring us into God’s presence and this is good news worth talking about.  It’s not just about our hope for the future but keeping life with God now and eternally helps us to increase our thanksgiving and giving glory to God now.  For we know that God has created us and created us good, and we know that God has built a way for us into eternity.  So what is holding us back from speaking of what we believe and trust to be true?  God has a hold on us that will not let us go and because God holds onto us and wants to work through us, we are a very powerful lot indeed. 

So how are you holding your treasure?

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

May 30th, 2024

GREETINGS HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

You probably already know this but sometimes it is good to hear someone else affirm some of the fruit that God produces in us.  Houses of worship and other religious institutions play an essential role in promoting social connectedness, mutual aid and community building.

As Daniel A. Cox, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, reported in a 2021 paper: “Americans who are members of a place of worship are much more likely than those who are not to volunteer in the community at least a few times a year (47 percent vs. 23 percent), talk to someone in their community they do not know well (64 percent vs. 54 percent), and attend a community meeting or local event (60 percent vs. 41 percent).” They are also “more likely than others to feel connected to their neighborhood and the people who live there (58 percent vs. 46 percent).”

—E.J. Dionne, “We need a truce in our wars over religion. Here’s a glimmer of hope,” The Washington Post, September 10, 2023, www.washingtonpost.com

This summer there are many ways to be the vessel of God’s presence in our world, as we gently hold God’s love and goodness within our lives, trusting God to work through us.

At the Parade of Homes, our youth and other volunteers will not only raise funds for the July youth gathering in New Orleans, we will have the opportunity to share our story with those who are looking to build a new home.

Working with St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in their summer “Lunch Bunch” program which starts on June 10 and serves through Aug. 16 (except June 19 and July 1-5), we get the opportunity to serve our neighborhood children and work with another Christian community, our neighbors at St. Andrew.

Our Mission and Justice Committee is seeking your interest in hosting a blood drive on Tuesday, August 6.  Please sign up if this is something you can do.  If we have enough interest (30 people) then we will invite our neighbors through the Westwinds Housing Association and the Wonderful Westside Neighborhood Association.  Having a blood drive in our neighborhood may plant the seed for future blood donors when they can actually see what is being asked.  It is a beautiful extension of the National Night Out theme that promotes good relationships with our police and fire departments.

Our VBS theme this year is “Who is My Neighbor?” which will be paired with the July food drive helping us again to live in relationship with each other and our neighbors as we trust God’s presence in the midst of it all.  “Who is My Neighbor?” invites us to re-imagine what it means to be neighbors in Christ based on the Good Samaritan story that calls us out into the world to love and serve our neighbors. 

This week we hear Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 remind us that we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as slaves for Jesus’ sake and we have this treasure in clay jars to make it clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.  In Jesus, we have the best slave master.  So take a look at your summer calendar and talk with God and see where God might be nudging you to step into the many opportunities ahead of us.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack