“Does God Exist?”

By Pastor Scott Searl

I love podcasts. My phone is full of them! I often run out of storage because I’ve downloaded too many. One of my favorites is called, “The Liturgists” podcast. It’s a refreshing and often inspiring discussion of faith. On the May 2nd episode they begin asking a number of influential theologians the seemingly simple question, “Does God Exist?” None of the answers are particularly straight forward, which I find comforting. It is possible to participate in, even devote your life to, a religious faith tradition and question even one of the most basic beliefs. I find humility one of the most faithful responses to life and theology.

As I stepped out of my car (where I daily listen to almost an hour of podcasts!) I wondered how I might answer the question, “Does God exist?” I wonder how you might answer that question. Surprisingly, for me, a straightforward answer doesn’t seem appropriate. My very first thought was, “I am enamored with kindness and gentleness.” While at first glance that may seem like a tangential answer, it captures something important for me. I experience God’s presence in kindness. I experience the divine presence in gentleness and patience. While I am not always kind, I am often crabby, judgmental, frustrated and impatient; I cherish the quiet gentle moments that I experience from time to time. In those moments of interactions with others, silence by myself, listening to hymns in worship, watching children laugh, a sunset, two people holding hands, acts of forgiveness, reconciliation, and moments of calm within a storm. I experience a Holy Spirit that is both within me and somehow takes me up into something larger than myself. I hear it in Jesus’ voice when he feeds people, heals people, loves people, and forgives people. I see and feel it even in the darkness of the violence of the cross, as Jesus hangs in love, not spite, not power, not privilege, not revenge, not anger, not might… but in silence, in suffering, in love that will not strike back. This depth of vulnerability is the power of gentleness in extreme. I feel it in the story of Jesus birth, the amazing bold powerful tenderness of Mary, and in the bravery of Shiphrah and Puah (If you don’t know who these two women are, Google them now!)

What I can tell you, in answering the question, “does God exist” is that I have experienced a presence of kindness, gentleness and patience, and I am in love with whatever that presence is. And I can tell you I hear it in the voice of the prophets, the songs of the psalms, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the story of creation, and in the daily interactions between human beings, the world, plants, animals and even the wind. It is a transformative presence, like a kingdom or a state of being, that is both close at hand, and yet elusive. Sometimes it grabs me; sometimes I stumble around in the dark and can’t find it. My daily challenge is to rest in the hope that it somehow has me, even when I can’t find it.

So… Does God exist? I’d love to hear your answers. And if your answer is simple, that’s great! Yes or no! Or maybe your answer is sometimes yes, and sometimes no. My prayer will be that kindness, gentleness and patience will surround us all, draw us together and lead us into a more kind, gentle and patient future no matter how we answer.

June 2019

News

Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church

500 Blake Road South Edina, MN 55343 (952) 935-3457

Staff:

Pastors Scott Searl & Joanna Mitchell

Assistant/Visitation Pastor Fred Jensen

Director of Music/Organist David Surdez

Shepherd’s Song Director Emily Koski

Diaconal Intern Brian Henning

Administrative Assistant Shawn Wacholz

Custodian Kevin Wicks

Faith Community Nurse Kaye Wothe

Church Council Members / Officers:

President Todd Biewen

Vice President Julie Luers

Treasurer Steve Hanneman

Financial Secretary Andy Schultz

Secretary Adam Driscoll

Service Nate Lichty

Worship & Music Allie Jensen

Building & Facilities Peter Barott

Learning Joan Dillon

Growing Relationships Robin Beck

Caring Gretchen Marble

LMCC Karla Palmersheim

Evaluation Chris Polston

Telephone & Voice Mail Extensions:

Worship Times 1

Directions 2

Shawn Wacholz 11

Pastor Scott Searl 12

Pastor Joanna Mitchell 13

Brian Henning 14

Emily Koski 15

Emergency Message Mailbox 24

Kaye Wothe 25

Kevin Wicks 26

Shepherd Online!

Pastor Scott Searl scott@sothchurch.com

Pastor Joanna Mitchell joanna.mitchell@sothchurch.com

Shawn Wacholz office@sothchurch.com

Kaye Wothe kaye.wothe@sothchurch.com

Brian Henning brian.henning@sothchurch.com

Church web site www.sothchurch.com

Center for Service www.hopkinsvolunteers.org

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RIH Innovation Grant Proposal continued 3. Contracting a Liturgical Consultant and Musician with the idea to create a new liturgy focused on love and care of our neighbor. We would engage not only Shepherd members, but also two members of the larger community who do not attend church. 4. Deploying our pastors, Deacon and Faith Community Nurse to serve

as a group of “Community Chaplains”. With our strong community relationships, we are seeking to create “pop-up” style conversation opportunities. Specifically, hosting a table at a local book store, bakery, brewery and restaurants where community members are encouraged through a free coffee or treat, to spend 20 minutes with one of these “chaplains”. This offers multiple ways to get to know our neighbors, listen to their experiences, and potentially offer a chance to receive care for their spirit outside the walls of the church. We believe this models Jesus’ ministry when he talked with and cared for people where they lived and worked. 5. Creating a podcast to publically invite dialogue with community

members including city officials, leaders of nonprofits, businesses, schools and others to visit with our staff. Our goal is to share the personal and professional stories of people, the things they’re doing in the community and important ways they experience care for their souls and faith. We hope this initiative would provide opportunities for learning and connection for everyone in our communities. Each of these projects and experiments are meant to help us open meaningful dialogues. We hope to connect to the broader community and continue to build and expand relationships with a variety of people so that we can continue to serve where most needed and care deeply for those in our surrounding communities of Hopkins, Minnetonka and Edina. We want to become more intentional about empowering the members of SOTH to be leaders in their community so that all people might experience wholeness and healing. Innovation Team Members

We have been very fortunate to have Mason Mennenga as our Innovation Coach from RIH to lead and facilitate our team through this initial phase of the project. In addition to staff leadership and engagement from Brian Henning and Pastor Scott Searl, the team consists of Shepherd members with a variety of faith journeys and church experiences: Greg Frey, Jill Miller, Stephanie Nordin and Kathy Wiemer.

News

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RIH Innovation Grant Proposal cont. Our Innovation team strongly believes that these three statements serve to call us out into our community to become a Public Church. Through our grant proposal, we believe we have the opportunity for our faith community to live more intentionally into these statements to have a deeper relationship with our broader community outside these walls. We are proposing 5 experiments to

work on during the two years of the

grant funding to move Shepherd

toward becoming a more “Public

Church”. These include:

1. Engaging a leadership consultant to help our Church Council members, teams, members and staff to envision their roles as both internal and external leaders. We would create goals for community engagement and continue to explore who the young adults are in our community and what they are doing related to their faith development and community formation. 2. Engaging a Community Engagement

Consultant. We envision expanding our current partnership with Ann Beuch, who is a local grassroots organizer and Executive Director of the Blake Road Corridor Collaborative. Ann has been creating strong relationships with young adults and the diverse community locally for several years. We would want her to work with our Serve Team to identify needs in the community and what SOTH can do to help meet them. We would also want Ann to help us as a congregation more effectively engage in our diverse community and create relationships with our neighbors. Continued on page 2

RIH Innovation Grant Proposal Submitted by Shepherd Innovation Team Background

The Innovation team was formed in August 2018 in response to an initiative called the Riverside Innovation Hub (RIH) at Augsburg University. The RIH is a 5-year project designed to help faith

communities innovate new connections with young adults at the intersection of their faith and their public lives. It is one of 12 innovation hubs around the US and is a collaborative effort sponsored by Augsburg University and supported by the Lilly Endowment. Through research that RIH and others from across the nation have done, it is clear that there is a significant shift in the approach taken by today’s young adults to engage in a faith community. While many may not be involved in an organized church (like Shepherd) or other institutions, we do know young adults are not rejecting faith or religion. They do seek meaningful community, often classified as the Public Church. We know many are living out their faith in vibrant ways at innovative intersections such as: faith and political activism, faith and the arts, faith and environmental stewardship, and interfaith engagement. SOTH is being coached by RIH on the Public Church framework, which is a method that describes the work in four movements: Accompaniment, Interpretation, Discernment, and Proclamation. The framework is designed to help us discern how God might be calling us to be proclaimers of good news into our neighborhood and with our neighbors. Innovation Team Focus and Proposal

Since the Shepherd Innovation team formed last August, we have focused on learning more about young adults (predominantly Millennials) and their ministry needs, and their dreams and priorities regarding faith, church and community. Our team reviewed and discussed available research, conducted interviews with young adults representing a spectrum of current members and non-members, as well as community leaders and business owners in Hopkins and other communities. We also interviewed faith practitioners engaged with young adults in new and innovative approaches, both locally and nationally. As a result of the work our team has done to date, we have submitted to the RIH a grant proposal for $25,000 to $30,000 over the next two years. This proposal builds on the strategic planning work that Shepherd has done since 2017 through our Engagement Appeal. It also embraces and reflects our Vision, Mission and Welcome statements as the three foundational pillars defining our theological belief of who God is and what we believe we are called to do as partners with God in God’s Kingdom. You can reference these three statements on the front of your bulletins (and on our website).

Learning

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL Power Up: Raise Your Game

June 24-28, 2019

9:00 am—11:30 am

We are getting excited about VBS this year. Power Up, Raise Your Game. Join us as we discover the story of Jesus through the lens of an exciting video game adventure.

Registration is now available. Go to sothchurch.com/vbs to register your family.

Child must be 3 years old by January 1, 2018 - 5th Grade Cost: $20 per child (Scholarships are available. Contact Brian Henning or Pastor Joanna)

Join us on June 23rd for

the Pride Parade Those interested in attending Pride are invited to wear your Shepherd of the Hills t-shirts to worship. The parade runs from 11am until 2pm downtown. We will gather in the Adult Forum room following worship to coordinate carpooling and to discuss logistics and expectations. Please let Pastor Joanna Mitchell or Brian Henning know if you plan to attend.

CAMP SUNDAY Camp Sunday is June 2nd at 9:30am Our kids who will be attending or have attended Luther Crest Bible Camp will be leading worship for us on Sunday, June 2nd at 9:30am. We are fortunate to have been able to send a growing number of kids to camp each year. This year, I believe we will have 12 kids at camp in July. We are also thankful because Shepherd has had a generous scholarship fund, which allows all kids regardless of financial means to attend camp. We have gifted a number of partial and full-ride scholarships over the past three years. We want the faith experience that happens at camp to continue into the future and so we are asking for donations to the camp scholarship fund. We will be taking a free-will donation during worship on June 2nd. We will also have a talent show and Sloppy Joe luncheon upstairs following worship. We hope you can attend this event and support our children. Thanks so much!

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Learning & Service

Congratulation to our Confirmation Students! We are so thankful for our confirmation students who affirmed their baptism on May 19th. We pray that you continue to feel the love of God and the strength of the community that surrounds you. 2019 Confirmation Class: Dylan Ray Braun, Hayden Marcus Buss, Julian Paul Carlson, Marcus Andrew Carlson, Jack Stanley Hanson, Nathan Alexander Miziorko, Louis Phillip Nelson, Rowan Michael Nordin and Cameron Lee Scott

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LOAVES & FISHES Monday, June10

Mark your calendar for our next serving date of Monday, June 10. We

prepare and serve an evening meal at St. Gabriel's Church (1310 Mainstreet, Hopkins). Timing is as follows: 4:00 to prepare, 5:00 to serve and 6:00 for clean up. We are finished by 6:45. If you would like more information or are able to volunteer, please contact the church office.

MENTAL HEALTH CONNECT HOW DO I CONTACT A NAVIGATOR

FROM MENTAL HEALTH CONNECT IF

I NEED HELP?

Call 612-312-3377 and ask for Mental Health Connect staff or call 952-212-8051 to reach a navigator directly.

Worship

WORSHIP ASSISTANT SCHEDULE

COMMUNION COMMUNION ALTAR

DATE TIME LECTOR PRESENTERS ASSISTANTS GUILD USHER June 2 9:30 John Perry E Edmundson & B. Nelson E Edmundson & B Nelson L Rosendahl Olsen Team June 9 9:30 Sue Bohnsack A Horsman & S Peterson A Horsman & S Peterson L Walker Olsen Team June 16 9:30 Tracey Anderson K & J Wicks K & J Wicks K Wiemer Olsen Team June 23 9:30 Gretchen Marble P & S Bohnsack R Rinker & H Nelson S Nash Edmundson Team June 30 9:30 Fred Jensen R & N Shaeffer R & G Morseth G Morseth Edmundson Team

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Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2 9:30 Worship 10:30 Coffee & Fellowship Camp Sunday

3 7:00 SMART Recovery 7:00 Troop Meetings

4 10:00 Staff Meeting

5 6:00 Shepherd’s Song

6 5:45 TOPS Group

7 Office Closed

8

9 9:30 Worship 10:30 Coffee & Fellowship

10 Newsletter Deadline Loaves & Fishes 2:00 Caregivers Mtg. 7:00 SMART Recovery 7:00 Troop Meetings 7:00 Comm. Team Mtg.

11 10:00 Staff Meeting.

12 6:00 Shepherd’s Song

13

5:45 TOPS Group

14 Office Closed

15

16 Fathers’ Day 9:30 Worship 10:30 Coffee & Fellowship

17 7:00 SMART Recovery 7:00 Troop Meetings

18 10:00 Staff Meeting 6:00 Council Supper 6:30 Council Meeting

19 10:00 Bible Study 6:00 Shepherd’s Song

20

5:45 TOPS Group

21 Office Closed

22

23

9:30 Worship 10:30 Coffee & Fellowship MHC Navigator at SOTH

24

7:00 SMART Recovery 7:00 Troop Meetings

25

10:00 Staff Meeting

26 6:00 Shepherd’s Song

27 5:45 TOPS Group

28

Office Closed

29

30 9:30 Worship 10:30 Coffee & Fellowship

June 2019

Worship Schedule

Summer Worship Schedule One service at 9:30 am

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God’s Radical Welcome continued I think it can be easy to hear some Gospel truth from the Holy Spirit when we are in the walls of the Sanctuary. What does it look like for you to be open to getting smacked across the face by the Holy Spirit when you are at work or at play with family, friends, or colleagues? What does that feel like? What does look like? I’ll admit that it is not an easy thing to have that open stance to the movement of the Spirit. I can feel incredibly vulnerable and it might even feel impossible out in the public sphere. But, God is moving and doing things and we can continue to show the importance of a God who gathers, connects, inspires, and radically welcomes all into relationship. This month, perhaps more than ever, I wonder what it looks like to radically welcome all into a deep connectedness that transcends every boundary, every barrier, and every wall which build to artificially protect ourselves. I wonder what our world would like if more and more people welcomed instead of excluded for whatever reason. Thanks be to God for you and your love and welcome of me. This is a place indeed where I get to be me and where you get to be you and I am excited that I get to join you as we show everyone just how radically amazing God’s love is for all people so that they too might be able to just be them wherever they are!

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God’s Radical Welcome By Deacon Brian Henning Wow! What a month May was for me! From the annual meeting where you all voted to call me as your Deacon, to Graduation from Luther Seminary, to my Consecration…it has been an amazing few weeks and I am so grateful to everyone who made all of

these things so special for me! Thanks be to God! However, in the midst of the obvious excitement of the past month, what stood out to me most actually happened on a Sunday morning where nothing else was going on. It is always a little humorous to me when the Holy Spirit smacks me across the face with a bit of Gospel. It is even more humorous when she does it when I am least expecting it. This time it happened when I was told, “Shepherd is a place where you can just be you and that must feel really good!” This is one of those things that I am, of course, definitely aware of, but when someone says it to your face it just makes it feel so much more real. Yet, I really do think this is true of this family. Shepherd is a place where you can just be yourself - no matter your age, status, etc., etc. This comment caught me off guard because of its deep truth and because it’s not something you hear everyday in some other congregations that I have participated in or experienced. I’ve said it a million times, but I still think it is true - Shepherd is a special place that truly practices a radical welcome to all and I give thanks to God for that. I especially give thanks for that welcome this month more than any other. As you may be aware, this month is Pride Month. This year’s Pride month is deeply special because this year commemorates 50 years since the riots at Stonewall Inn in New York City. These riots were sparked after an incident of police brutality against the LGBTQ community in that place. These riots are widely attributed as the genesis to the worldwide Pride movement. This month we recognize our LGBTQ sisters and brothers who died by murder, brutality, suicide, or by every other means. However, we also lift up and give thanks for everyone who continues to work towards an environment where all people can simply exist just as they are. This is why Pride month continues to matter. Shepherd and the vast majority of the Twin Cities metro are incredibly accepting and affirming of our LGBTQ community. However, there are far too many communities and places where this is not true. There are too many who are harmed spiritually, emotionally, and even physically because they dare to live wholly into the beloved children they were created to be. I am grateful for this place that proclaims Gods love for all, but I continue to wonder what else we can do to be a voice of love and wholeness for all people everywhere. I wonder what our next steps are to be the radical truth-tellers in whatever community we find ourselves.

Continued above

Staff Reflection

Staff Reflection

Affirmations and expectancy By Emily Koski, Shepherd’s Song Director Does your life ever feel like a crazy stress mess? Like you’re barely hanging on? I’ll admit that often I feel like my attention is being pulled in so many different directions that I literally have to say to myself out loud “Stop! Concentrate!” in order to focus on one

thing long enough to get anything done. And when I do have a moment to think, in come the unpleasant thoughts: “I can’t do this much longer,” “How am I going to get through the week?” “This person is making me crazy!” “I can’t believe I did that,” and the list goes on. Between the dizzying demands of daily life and the negative internal dialogue that seeps in between the madness, it can be a lot to handle. I truly believe that we humans just weren’t meant to live this way! So, to combat the swirl that can be daily life in the modern age, I’ve been practicing a few different techniques that have helped me relieve stress and train my thoughts to be positive and constructive. Take a walk. I’ve heard this forever and I thought it was bologna - if I have a lot to accomplish, taking a break is the last thing I should be doing! But lately, as soon as I start to feel myself spinning out (this happens especially when I’ve been at my computer at work for too many hours in a row!), I take a 10-15 walk and breath. By the time I get back to my desk, I’ve inevitably recharged and re-focused myself enough to dive back in with a clear head. Huh, turns out this age-old advice is pretty darn good! Meditate on affirmations To combat the negative self-talk, I’ve been turning my doubts and fears into positive affirmations that I can repeat anytime throughout the day - especially on my walking breaks! If you’ve never done this before, you can find really good ideas online for anything you want to focus on, but here are a few of my favorites: • I am impeccable with my word and positive in every situation. • People respect me and rely on me to get stuff done. • Eating right is easy and fun for me! I love my body and take good care

of it by eating correctly. • And my new favorite, which is a quote by MLK, Jr. (not exactly an

affirmation, but a great mediation prayer): “Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be and what I can do and use it for a purpose greater than myself.”

Pray with expectancy “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” Mark 11:23 Continued above

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Affirmations continued

Before I was introduced to the concept of praying with expectancy, this is how I used to pray when I was stressed about something: “Oh, God. Please protect my family from [this or that].” “God, pleeeeease help me today. I need you to walk by my side so I can get through [this or that].” What I came to realize is that the way I was framing my prayers was amplifying my stress - I was pleading for some help as if I wouldn’t get it unless I begged. But praying with expectancy triggers calmness and becomes a soothing mantra in and of itself: “Thank you that you’re sending your angels to protect my babies throughout this day and every day.” “God, thank you that you are walking with me every step today, all the time blessing my words and focusing my mind.” The difference is subtle, but so impactful once I started training my thoughts to expect that God already gives me exactly what I need every moment of every day! So, there you have it. When life becomes a stressful swirl, I stick to these few tricks to get myself back on track: My trusty friends walks and breaths, affirmations and praying with expectancy.

Pastor’s Reflection

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Bathroom Signs, a Rainbow

Flag and a Parade By Pastor Joanna Mitchell

Over the past few years we have seen significant changes in our acceptance of people who are LGBTQ. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into Target the other day and saw an entire section dedicated to Pride and filled with rainbow flags. June is coming and so is Pride Month, where the Queer Community celebrates their identity and their love. For a while now, the Learn Team at Shepherd of the Hills has been talking about how we might grow in our support and our visual welcome to our LGBTQ sisters and brothers. This month you will notice a couple of new visuals and changes at Shepherd of the Hills along with an invitation to go to the Pride parade with us on June 23rd immediately following our worship together.

The first change you might notice is that our bathroom signs are changing. On the single use bathrooms, signs will be changed from being gender-specific (women, men) to being gender neutral. The main bathrooms outside the office where there are multiple stalls will remain the same (gender-specific). But the ones upstairs and near the nursery will soon be displaying new signs. There are a number of reasons we made this change. First of all, it allows anyone to use either bathroom. At times this will be helpful especially when we have a men’s or women’s event. But also, it allows parents to use the bathroom with their children who may be of another gender. But the main reason we made this change is because bathrooms are a big issue for our transgender brothers and sisters. Gender-neutral bathrooms allow our bathrooms to be accessible for all people.

Over the past few years, many states have considered bathroom laws. These potential bathroom laws come in one or two forms. The first is to protect people who are transgendered stating that you can use the bathroom that is consistent with your gender identity (California is the only state to actual have this law). The second type of bathroom law bans people from using public bathrooms that don’t correspond with your biological sex or your assigned gender at birth. While advocates for the second type of bathroom bill claim it keeps people safer and stops sexual assaults, this is not true. Studies have shown that the most vulnerable people in bathrooms are actually transgendered people and they often become victims of abuse.

I will admit that I have never wondered if I would have access to a bathroom at any public location. Bathrooms have always been there for me as a white cisgender woman. But taking away a person’s access to a bathroom sends the message loud and clear, you are not welcome here. Everyone needs a bathroom, without one you aren’t allowed to fully participate in the life of the community. Bathrooms are a necessity.

Continued above

Bathroom signs continued

Bathrooms have long been used as a form of discrimination. This was the case for years when there were separate bathrooms for white people and for people of color, and it is true today when our schools or our buildings don’t have gender-neutral bathrooms for people who are transgender. Our church council voted months ago to change our bathroom signs and so at long last, our bathroom signs will go up and be a marker of our inclusion, acceptance and welcome to our brothers and sisters who are trans. Since June is pride month, we have also ordered a rainbow flag banner to be hung outside of our church to let our neighbors know that our church is affirming and welcoming to the Queer community and we will be celebrating Pride along with them. Finally, on June 23rd, a group of us will be attending the Pride Parade in Minneapolis following our worship. We hope to wear Shepherd of the Hills t-shirts and go in order to show our support. Our group will be blessed and sent after worship. I hope you will consider attending. I am incredibly thankful for Shepherd’s desire to include all people not only in welcome, but also in leadership. I am also thankful for the Learn Team’s commitment to making sure that we don’t just talk about things, but we participate, we advocate and we change the ways we operate in order to be more inclusive and accepting. Blessings, Pastor Joanna Mitchell

Endings, Beginnings and

Identity By Kaye Wothe, Faith Community Nurse In the month of May I have been to graduations and confirmations. I have found myself making notes as I consider the speech, sermon or

music for those events. For my daughter’s small department college graduation the language professor reminded the graduates how speaking more than one language calls them into the world in a more welcoming way. Then for the big university graduation ceremony of thousands, I saw each person claim their own identity through their major, what they were choosing to do with that degree of study, and even how they celebrated it. It was also a felt less “me” focused and more world service focused than some past years. Yet clearly at graduations, confirmations, and big life events we often find ourselves reflecting on what was learned, how it changed us and as a result what our identity is now. Like many of you, I grew up in the Confirmation class era of memorizing the Small Catechism and with the ability to recite it back being the proof of being allowed to be confirmed. For me that was followed by being a volunteer leader in confirmation classes during my kids confirmation years where I really struggled with what the content and goal should be. This year at confirmation at SOTH I finally felt like I found my answer and that it had some continuum in my eyes to what I experienced at a large public University graduation. After all, doesn’t God call us to be in the world? What I found was our confirmation kids learned about what it is to be called by God into a complicated world they will live in. I think the hymn we sang that day summed it up very well. Hymn 720 in the cranberry book is “We Are Called”. Come! live in the light!

Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!

We are called to be light for the kingdom,

to live in the freedom of the city of God!

Refrain: We are called to act with justice.

We are called to love tenderly.

We are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God.

Come! Open your heart!

Show your mercy to all those in fear!

We are called to be hope for the hopeless,

so all hatred and blindness will be no more!

Sing! Sing a new song!

Sing of that great day when all will be one!

God will reign and we'll walk with each other as sisters

and brothers united in love!

I believe this is the essence of our faith, this is how we are called to act in good times and in bad. This is what Jesus’ life on earth modeled for us to see Continued above

Faith Community Nurse

Endings, Beginnings continued and learn from. We need faith to have the call and courage to act with justice, love tenderly, serve one another, open out hearts, show mercy, be hope and work with the hopeless, stand up against hatred, care for ALL Sisters and Brothers equally. We do this because we live in the light that is God! We can not do it alone, God gifts us the community that is the church. I pray that I, my and all college graduate young adults, confirmation kids and all communities of faith can hear this call and find communities and courage to act justly in for the days ahead. I pray this can become an important part of identity formation at all ages and for all people. Thankful to Stand Together as Children of God, Called by God to Act Justly, Kaye Wothe Faith Community Nurse

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Dated Material

Thank you SOTH gardeners! Photo credit: Brian Henning