A season of sharing

Where did the sharing start?

Over the past several months, our church has been taking brave steps in the area of sharing life with the greater Lutheran community. In January of 2009, First Lutheran joined in on partnering with SLYM - Shared Lutheran Youth Ministry. This partnership in youth ministry is the large umbrella in which First, Immanuel, Holy Trinity and Bethel Lutheran Churches participate by gathering on a weekly basis (Thursdays 6:30-8:30 grades 5-12) for faith building, fellowship and of course fun!



The SLYM program started it's second program year in September of 2010. There are group gatherings each Thursday evening, that are sometimes split into two age groups - middle and high school, but often the older students are invited along to assist in leadership and learning right along their Adult leaders. Another benefit of this partnership were two training events for volunteers in the SLYM program nights: Princeton Theological Seminary one day training in Cleveland and the ELCA Youth Minsters of WNY retreat at LCLC with presenter Charlie Roberts from Gettysburg Seminary.


The sharing started in this ministry, has begun to spill over into other areas of ministry and mission in the Lutheran community.

So what happened next?

This fall, two other shared ministries were started with the Shared Lutheran Adult Ministry Book club that meets on Thursday evenings (on a shared location basis.)at 6:30pm. This group has been reading and discussing, "Who Stole My Church?", and as a result of their progress, met with the SLYM youth in November for an open discussion night focusing on what the youth can give and need from the church. The sharing of mission and ministry has a way of bringing people together across all generations.



The other shared ministry that began in September, was our shared Confirmation classes. This group of 7,8 and 9th graders meet Sunday evenings on a bimonthly basis for group discussions, activities and a new curriculum called "Reform". This combined group of twenty-eight students are building a strong sense of community and learning foundational truths about the Lutheran faith. These meetings also rotate their meeting place to a partnership location throughout the program year.



With all this sharing taking place within the Lutheran community, it was only a matter of time before the sharing began to pour into the neighborhood! For the month of October, all SLYM partnership churches collected non-perishable grocery items to be gathered and delivered to Joint Neighborhood Project on Thursday November 11th. The group of twenty eight youth and adults loaded the groceries into JNP, helped to restock and organize the community food pantry and learned more about the work JNP does for the people of Jamestown.



Patty Perle, director for JNP, told the group that in the last year JNP had provided 90,000 meals for 10,000 people, equaling 1/3 of the population of Jamestown that was cared for by their ministry.



How can I get involved?

The youth of our churches were impressed by all the work that JNP does and continues to do in the holiday season and months ahead. Santa's Secret Shop is next on the list of projects for JNP on Saturday, December 11 from 9:00 to 11:30am at Immanuel Lutheran Church. JNP needs help from Santa's Helpers (over age 12) to help the kids pick out gifts for their special adults. She needs help from adults with: purchasing or donating gifts, bags, wrapping paper, tape etc for the shop, and then wrapping the gifts for the kids during the shop. There are about 130 kids scheduled to shop at this time with each child being able to select 8 gifts, so JNP needs lots of presents that these young children can purchase for 25 cents each.

John 15: 5 say this,
"Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

What else can sharing accomplish?
We all have gifts and abilities that God can use, and we must continue in the vine - in Christ - working together to fulfill the picture of a mission sharing Christian community. It just goes to show you that once sharing has started, just how far the ripples can travel, the vine branches can reach and God's love can impact our Lutheran community, our city and even the world. While sharing during this holiday season is very important, it's good to know that the season of sharing isn't limited to the holidays, but is a practice that can be celebrated each day! Thank you for sharing, it's making all the difference in the world.


If you would like to join in helping with any of these or other ministry opportunities, please call me at 969-3950 or contact JNP directly at 664-7101.

Waiting for my real life to begin, again.

The lyrics to the song "Waiting for my real life to begin" by Colin Hay capture the feelings of hoping for more in life. A telephone call with the answer you've been dying to hear, that ship to come in that seems to have the only answer.But with each verse of longing in the song, the speaker is met with the refrain,
"Be still my love, open your heart,
let the light shine in.

It happens that we can start to think that the grass is greener over there, or that if this or that accomplishment when achieved that all of life's difficulty will be resolved. However,this often is untrue. Life is full of challenge, no matter the color of the grass.

Joan Chittester say's this about painful and difficult times in life in her book ' Breath of the Soul',

" The truth is that it is pain and need and vulnerability
that lead us directly to God. We become a prayer. We throw
ourselves on the heart of God. We look for the balm that
does not exist in this world as we know it. Then we trust
our lives to our only salvation - the love and mercy of God."

Learning to be content in all circumstances is something that all Christians are challenged with. Paul writes in Phillippians 4:11-13:
11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I
know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to
have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in
any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,
whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all
this through him who gives me strength.

We can choose to look to the horizon for the moment that our proverbial ship to comes in...
Any minute now my ship is coming in
I'll keep checking the horizon
And I'll stand on the bow
And feel the waves come crashing
Come crashing down, down, down on me.
(Lyrics by Colin Hay/ waiting for my life to begin)

Somehow, I imagine God speaks to all of us these words of
comfort -
"Be still, my love. Open up your heart, let the light shine in.
Don't you understand? I already have a plan."

It can be hard to wait on the timing and means of God, but who's
perspective on life and time is clearer - ours or God's?

Prayer:
God, help us to trust you in all times and circumstances. Help us
to live joyfully in the knowledge that we are truly, fully and wholly
beloved by you. Help us to remember that You created us and the
horizon we find ourselves watching each morning - and we can trust
You in each moment and circumstances each sunrise brings.

SWB: Stuck or rising

Liminality has been defined as the threshold of the betwixt or between phase or the middle of a rite of passage. Liminality is a new word to me, but I feel quite familiar with the geography and experience of it. I'd have to say that there seems to me to a great deal of "middle" space in life. There are times that I've looked at these middle spaces with contempt and frustration and occasionally, I've had the wisdom to live and be in that space that seems to be neither a beginning or end.

Truth be told, I think I'm more comfortable with beginnings and endings than I am the middle spaces. The beginnings are filled with expectation,excitement and hope. Endings (the good ones) are filled with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of reaching a goal. Ultimately though, the middle space is where the lions share of the journey takes place. The middle is where the excitement of a beginning takes shape and leads to the place of connection to each hope and dreams' fulfillment - the end.

There are lots of different individual feelings associated with the middle places. In light of the Sleeping with bread of life, I suppose that the middle place could be seen as the space and time for "raising". Without raising time, bread is not light - fluffy - and satisfying. Without the raising time - life would be flat and without depth. This analogy is one that challenges me to look at the middle spaces of life through a different lens. The resting, waiting, and raising times are necessary for the bread of life to reach it's full potential.

There's nothing as good smelling and tasting as fresh baked bread is there?

What are the spaces of "rising" for you? Are you able to simply rest in those times of liminality or do you want to get busy helping the raising process along. The only problem with touching bread while it's raising is that to falls flat and you have to wait for it to rise all over again. I think I'm beginning to understand that some things are intended to be hands-off - at least for a time.

Patience is a virtue, and one I'm not so good at living into - but just imagine the rich beautiful bread that will be produced, if I just trust God in my liminality by waiting - resting - and allowing it to rise high.

One more thought. We are not alone in the "rising" times - just like this video below states, " I'm stuck in the middle with you!"

G-d is with us in the "rising" time, beckoning us to leave the dough to rise on the stove and sit for a spell to rest with our loving Creator. We can look at this as being stuck or as being given time to grow and rest - knowing G-d is watching over the dough in the kitchen of life.



Let the bread rise...