November 16, 2014
Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7; then 2:1-4
One of the main characters in today’s story is fear. Fear that the threats from King Sennacherib are accurate and true and nothing can be done about Jerusalem’s impending doom to be toppled. Fear that this belief in the God of Israel is a sham. Fear. Pure unadulterated fear.
What are you afraid of? If you had to name your real and imagined fears, what would they be? [Read more…]
These 2 are called Chelsey and Nate Crary. They’re kind of a big deal. They lived in Palestine last year through a program of the ELCA called Young Adults in Global Mission or YAGM. That’s lots of initials in one sentence. For more about the ELCA click here. For more about YAGM click here.
Anyway, they came back to the states and got jobs in the school district here in Hutchinson and have been part of River of Hope. It was due time for them to share their experiences with River of Hope and so they did just that this last Sunday. They gave us a brief history lesson of the area, which is pretty hard to do. They did it. Then they simply told us stories of life there through the people they met and lived with, through students they worked with, and through their daily lives. It broke my heart wide open in that painful and even beautiful way that Good News can.
Do you have questions for them? Do you want to hear more? You have 2 opportunities to join them in an informal setting to hear more about their lives and to ask questions:
This Sunday, (Oct 19), after worship at Madcake. Bring your lunch money and your questions.
OR
Tuesday, Oct 21 at 7pm at the VFW. (Once inside, go down the ramp to the door without the door bell.)
The new ELCA church that is starting in Montrose has its first official worship service on Sunday, September 28! Many of you remember how it felt to have people from ELCA churches in the area show up. Let’s show up for House of Grace! We can meet at the Event Center at 4pm that day to figure out carpools and then hit the road for the 5:30 worship service in a Methodist church. (Sound familiar to any of you?)
Here’s the address:
United Methodist Church, 230 Center Ave, Montrose, MN.
Genesis 12:1-9 (The Call of Abram and Sarai)
The song, Blessed, by Lucinda Williams was played as part of the prelude to worship today. You can listen here. [Read more…]
Matthew 25:14-30
I don’t know about you, but throughout the end of the summer and into the fall, I drove around Hutchinson with my eyes peeled. Looking in a few abandoned lots, a round about, a roadside ditch, the field out in front of my house. This past summer many of us left the worship service down by the river in July with seed bombs in our pockets.
What’s a seed bomb? Well, it was clay that surrounded some native seeds and dirt and then was rolled in dirt. The instructions were to launch them – after all, they’re called seed bombs and it’s the only kind of bomb I’ll ever tell you throw. And so I don’t know about you, but it changed the way I looked at Hutchinson. I looked for new spots, places I’d not seen before. Abandoned places, neglected, open spaces, unexpected places. And then, if the timing was right, and I wasn’t going to cause an accident, I’d roll down my window and send a seed bomb into the unknown. Sometimes I’d pull over and stop but most often, I’d let one fly while I was still driving. A few didn’t land where I’d intended and I fought the urge to pull over and run back to correct it. I’d see it bounce in the road and then, you know, land there, stay there. And I thought, well, who knows what could happen? [Read more…]
