Hello All!
Sorry it's taken me a while to catch up on this. On Reformation Sunday, 10/31, we went to St. Mark Lutheran in Wes Des Moines, IA. http://www.stmarkwdm.org/. We went to their 11:00 service and found out it was Confirmation! Now, when other visitors might have seen the crowd of teenagers in their robes and ran out the door, I was so excited! We headed in and Sawyer found himself the busy bags right away. Prior to the processional the pastor collected written prayer requests to use in the prayer of the church. I thought this was fantastically symbolic and meaningful since the prayers of the church actually came from this congregation. (I know, crazy revolutionary.)
The sanctuary of St. Mark's looks kind of like you're in the hull of a big ship. It's pretty neat. They have a cross at the front and a projection screen that they used for the sermon outline and videos. The sermon had a sermon outline on the front of the bulletin, which I really liked, because I tend to be a sermon note-taker myself and it kept my kids attention which I appreciate. Sawyer was able to receive communion. The affirmation of baptism part of the service went well, each youth was individually prayed for and acknowledged. They had a nice video at the end of the service, reminding us that our faith lives carry on to Monday and don't just end on Sunday.
This congregation just added a discipleship center next door as well as have plan to combine the space that they're currently in with the discipleship center. They have a full staff and a lot of opportunities for participation within the congregation.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
St. Stephen's Urbandale 10/24/10
This past Sunday we worshipped at the St. Stephen's www.ststephenlutheran.org 10:45 contemporary worship service. This is the first contemporary service that Ryan and I have attended together on this journey. It turns out as a discussion point, we really like both contemporary and traditional. As we entered into St. Stephen's we were in the door just a second when we were greeted by a Peter Larsen. He welcomed us joyfully and directed us in. We entered into the sanctuary and saw that they had a projection screen for the words for worship. I have not worshipped with a screen for sometime and found that I really liked it. I mostly liked it because it got me looking up. I was able to see that the paramounts said 'Feed them' and spend more time looking at the people, rather than my bulletin, hymnal, and Bible. It was like when you go on a good strenuous mountain hike and find that you've spent most of the time looking at the ground so you don't fall that you have to be conscious that you look up and see the view or you could miss it.
Sawyer got a preschool play bag and again we were welcomed by the people around us. The music was well done and I believe the singers had fun singing it. I know, like, and respect Pastor LeAnn who is at St. Stephens, but I didn't know that she was off this weekend. So who comes up during the processional, Pastor Diana Sickles and Pastor Fritz Wehrenberg. Here's the fun part (now I don't believe in coincidences) Pastor Diana and I worked together at Faith for 3+ years and Pastor Fritz is one of my best friends from college's dad. Small, tiny, Lutheran world. We enjoyed the music and how Pastor Fritz read from the world almost theatrically. The Gospel was on the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. He challenged us to think of who we are in this story. Most would say that they are the repentant sinner tax collector, but often we're the Pharisee. There was no communion at this service. I would of liked to see how they did it. But we certainly felt welcomed and it was good to hug Diana. They are in a call process for a new Associate Pastor, I'm excited to see what that brings for St. Stephens.
Sawyer got a preschool play bag and again we were welcomed by the people around us. The music was well done and I believe the singers had fun singing it. I know, like, and respect Pastor LeAnn who is at St. Stephens, but I didn't know that she was off this weekend. So who comes up during the processional, Pastor Diana Sickles and Pastor Fritz Wehrenberg. Here's the fun part (now I don't believe in coincidences) Pastor Diana and I worked together at Faith for 3+ years and Pastor Fritz is one of my best friends from college's dad. Small, tiny, Lutheran world. We enjoyed the music and how Pastor Fritz read from the world almost theatrically. The Gospel was on the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. He challenged us to think of who we are in this story. Most would say that they are the repentant sinner tax collector, but often we're the Pharisee. There was no communion at this service. I would of liked to see how they did it. But we certainly felt welcomed and it was good to hug Diana. They are in a call process for a new Associate Pastor, I'm excited to see what that brings for St. Stephens.
10/17/10 - St. John's Lutheran Church
On the morning of the 17th we ran to Drake University to pick Chase up from Reggie's Sleepout event supporting Iowa Homeless Youth Center www.reggiessleepout.org. Chase raised funds to support the center by sleeping in a cardboard box that night. Then as mean parents we put him back in the car with the other kids and headed downtown to St. John's Lutheran. I love that on the side of the building is written, "In the city for good". It's a reminder of their purpose right as you come in. www.stjohnsdsm.org. We were welcomed before we hit the entrance door and in the parking lot by others entering church. That was a neat feeling.
Ryan admired the architecture of this old building and commented on different features of it as we entered. It turns out we sat right behind Denise Corron (who's married name escapes me right now). So now, 2 seconds to a familiar face. If you've been reading this blog, that is a common theme. We really enjoyed worshipping in the full sanctuary with people of all ages. The music and liturgy were familiar. Pastor Rachel began with announcements and stories of people stopping her on the street before they ran the Des Moines Marathon asking for her prayers. The theme for her sermon was 'Believe Out Loud' which is something I can see that St. John's takes seriously. It's mission and advocacy in the world. She challenged all in the congregation to committing to pray for St. John's daily as a part of their stewardship and their 'believing out loud.' She asked members to place their name into a pitcher as they came up for communion if they were committed to doing this. The children's choir sung from the loft like little angels, I wished that I could see them from where I was sitting. We went for communion and Sawyer had trouble with kneeling on the kneelers, which are clearly made for bigger people receiving communion. However, he was able to receive communion.
As we were walking out of the church, Chase noticed someone else with a Reggie's Sleepout Tshirt and they commiserated in their exhaustion and mean parents :). We talked to Pastor Bob, who I had attended First Call Theological Education with. Then we were able to see the Schrof family, who's son I had in confirmation, and George Noble, the surgeon who operated on Sawyer an hour after his birth. It was amazing how quickly the connections were. We went down for donut time (Sawyer's favorite time) and there were many gathered for fellowship. We truly enjoyed this worship service and felt that community was an important part of St. John's.
Ryan admired the architecture of this old building and commented on different features of it as we entered. It turns out we sat right behind Denise Corron (who's married name escapes me right now). So now, 2 seconds to a familiar face. If you've been reading this blog, that is a common theme. We really enjoyed worshipping in the full sanctuary with people of all ages. The music and liturgy were familiar. Pastor Rachel began with announcements and stories of people stopping her on the street before they ran the Des Moines Marathon asking for her prayers. The theme for her sermon was 'Believe Out Loud' which is something I can see that St. John's takes seriously. It's mission and advocacy in the world. She challenged all in the congregation to committing to pray for St. John's daily as a part of their stewardship and their 'believing out loud.' She asked members to place their name into a pitcher as they came up for communion if they were committed to doing this. The children's choir sung from the loft like little angels, I wished that I could see them from where I was sitting. We went for communion and Sawyer had trouble with kneeling on the kneelers, which are clearly made for bigger people receiving communion. However, he was able to receive communion.
As we were walking out of the church, Chase noticed someone else with a Reggie's Sleepout Tshirt and they commiserated in their exhaustion and mean parents :). We talked to Pastor Bob, who I had attended First Call Theological Education with. Then we were able to see the Schrof family, who's son I had in confirmation, and George Noble, the surgeon who operated on Sawyer an hour after his birth. It was amazing how quickly the connections were. We went down for donut time (Sawyer's favorite time) and there were many gathered for fellowship. We truly enjoyed this worship service and felt that community was an important part of St. John's.
Sunday 10/10/10
This Sunday Ryan and I were in Asheville, NC for a friend's wedding. We had the very cool opportunity to attend The Cathedral of All Souls Episcopal Church www.allsoulscathedral.org. This church was built in 1896 funded by George Vanderbuilt. The whole thing is original, glass, pews, flooring. It's really incredible to look at, you can just feel the years and years of prayers in this building. The wedding was at noon so we went to the 7:45 a.m. worship service. Since it's in a beautiful area of North Carolina and an old building all of their fellowship announcements and sign ups and things were outside of the church building in the outside entrance way. I thought this was symbolic because it's all those things that connect you with the world outside the church building. Being the earliest service there was no music at this service, which was really different for Ryan and I (being Lutheran). It was also different because we were carrying no children to worship.
The service mirrored the Lutheran liturgy as we would expect, however the Confession and Forgiveness came after the sermon and prayers. I'd be interested to find out how it got to its different points in the worship service. The sermon was given by Lauren Winner, professor at Duke Divinity school and author of Girl Meets God. She preached on the exile text in Jeremiah 29. She first talked about how it's easy for us to connect with the Israelite, but sometimes we may be the Babylonians. Then God used her to hit Ryan and I straight in the heart. She talked about metaphorical exiles. She named infertility as one of those. Ryan and I experienced our fourth miscarriage on August 30th. The fact that it was mentioned by name caused Ryan and I to turn to each other, grasp hands, and drop tears. Next she reminded us of God's promise to care for us, even when we're in exile. We needed to hear that.
We had communion, which was interesting in the quiet, and really, very nice. And we left in silence. It was a very reflective, meditative service. I enjoyed it. Ryan and I laughed as we walked back to our hotel knowing that God is messing with us down to our very core. It's comforting to know that God is working in the tough situations and nice that He is clearly making it known to us. It's also aggravating, because of my very nature that would like to have the answers right now. I know that's not possible, so until those answers reveal itself, I will remain renewed in the promise.
The service mirrored the Lutheran liturgy as we would expect, however the Confession and Forgiveness came after the sermon and prayers. I'd be interested to find out how it got to its different points in the worship service. The sermon was given by Lauren Winner, professor at Duke Divinity school and author of Girl Meets God. She preached on the exile text in Jeremiah 29. She first talked about how it's easy for us to connect with the Israelite, but sometimes we may be the Babylonians. Then God used her to hit Ryan and I straight in the heart. She talked about metaphorical exiles. She named infertility as one of those. Ryan and I experienced our fourth miscarriage on August 30th. The fact that it was mentioned by name caused Ryan and I to turn to each other, grasp hands, and drop tears. Next she reminded us of God's promise to care for us, even when we're in exile. We needed to hear that.
We had communion, which was interesting in the quiet, and really, very nice. And we left in silence. It was a very reflective, meditative service. I enjoyed it. Ryan and I laughed as we walked back to our hotel knowing that God is messing with us down to our very core. It's comforting to know that God is working in the tough situations and nice that He is clearly making it known to us. It's also aggravating, because of my very nature that would like to have the answers right now. I know that's not possible, so until those answers reveal itself, I will remain renewed in the promise.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
A little girls lament
Last night Mackenzie, our 9 year old, went to Awanas with a friend at Valley Church. She had a wonderful time, but came home lamenting. As a concerned mom, I sought to find out why. She told me how much she missed Faith. She felt at home there, it was all she had ever known, all her friends were there and that is where she wanted to worship God. She was fine with sharing her mother on nights and weekends if she would still get to be there in her community. The mother's guilt I'm experiencing is similar to what I felt when I got divorced. Although I knew it was the right decision, it was so difficult for my kids, and impossible to explain in a way that they would understand. Sometimes trusting God is difficult. You go in a direction you believe He is leading you, but it's not without its Red Seas, Egyptians, and plagues, then when you get there you might complain too. Please pray for Mackenzie and our family through this journey. Thanks.
Sunday, October 3
On Sunday Ryan and I attended Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines. It came after a surprise birthday party Saturday night for my parents. So the kids stayed with their aunts and uncles during church. This was ok for Ryan and I because it gave us an opportunity to worship together. We headed to Grace's 10:45 worship service. We were late (again) and snuck in the back door. I don't like being late so that already gave me some anxiety. However, the one person I know that attends Grace is their former youth director, Beth. She waved and welcomed Ryan and I next to her and got us all set up with the bulletin and hymnal. This hospitality was great and truly helped us feel less bad about being late and better about the service.
The first thing I noticed in service was that the bulletin is written in both Spanish and English. This was impressive, especially since we're Lutheran. Grace hosts another congregation within it's walls, La Vos de Esperanza. Immediately under their welcome in both languages is the acknowledgment of their companion congregation in Tanzania. The visual outreach seems amazing and really a core part of this congregations identity. As the Hymn "Here I Am, Lord" (tear) concluded the Pastor gave the greeting. Instantly I recognized the voice as my friend Pastor Ken Jones. Ken was filling in for the interim pastor that is currently serving Grace during their transition. I cannot tell you how excited I was when I knew the pastor in the room. I also knew his wife Mary was likely there too. I was so excited to see them.
The service was beautiful. Brass music, red book liturgy, you could feel the Spirit. Not to suck up to my friend, but Ken said exactly what I needed to hear that Sunday. He reminded that Jesus' love for me never depends on how I feel or what I accomplish. Through this transition in my life, I have felt like I'm not accomplishing anything and loaded with grief. I needed desperately to be reminded of Christ's love for me no matter how I feel or how much faith I have on a given day. Even in those low-points or those transitional points, Christ loves me the same. It's crazy how earthly messages of accomplishment and worth can get in the way of the truth.
There was no communion at the service I attended, however they offer it every week at alternating worship services. The sign above their entrance door says, Come to be fed, leave to feed others. I felt spiritually fed by this congregation.
Upon leaving Ryan and I were able to hug Ken and Mary and talk with them. It made me realize what makes a church feel like home are the people. We have walked through this faith journey we're all on together for a while. I knew Mary's sister when she died and spent time talking with their son, Sam. Ken and Mary listened, prayed for, and comforted me when we had our first miscarriage. It felt so good to have someone who has walked with you in a worship setting. I was glad God re-intersected our paths this particular Sunday. That inter-personal connection is a lot of what church is all about.
The director of Music Ministries at Grace also made it a point to come and talk to us following the service, recognizing us as visitors. He explained of some of the other programming opportunities at the beautiful church and where the congregation is in the call process. We really enjoyed worshiping at Grace and will probably return when their new pastor is called.
The first thing I noticed in service was that the bulletin is written in both Spanish and English. This was impressive, especially since we're Lutheran. Grace hosts another congregation within it's walls, La Vos de Esperanza. Immediately under their welcome in both languages is the acknowledgment of their companion congregation in Tanzania. The visual outreach seems amazing and really a core part of this congregations identity. As the Hymn "Here I Am, Lord" (tear) concluded the Pastor gave the greeting. Instantly I recognized the voice as my friend Pastor Ken Jones. Ken was filling in for the interim pastor that is currently serving Grace during their transition. I cannot tell you how excited I was when I knew the pastor in the room. I also knew his wife Mary was likely there too. I was so excited to see them.
The service was beautiful. Brass music, red book liturgy, you could feel the Spirit. Not to suck up to my friend, but Ken said exactly what I needed to hear that Sunday. He reminded that Jesus' love for me never depends on how I feel or what I accomplish. Through this transition in my life, I have felt like I'm not accomplishing anything and loaded with grief. I needed desperately to be reminded of Christ's love for me no matter how I feel or how much faith I have on a given day. Even in those low-points or those transitional points, Christ loves me the same. It's crazy how earthly messages of accomplishment and worth can get in the way of the truth.
There was no communion at the service I attended, however they offer it every week at alternating worship services. The sign above their entrance door says, Come to be fed, leave to feed others. I felt spiritually fed by this congregation.
Upon leaving Ryan and I were able to hug Ken and Mary and talk with them. It made me realize what makes a church feel like home are the people. We have walked through this faith journey we're all on together for a while. I knew Mary's sister when she died and spent time talking with their son, Sam. Ken and Mary listened, prayed for, and comforted me when we had our first miscarriage. It felt so good to have someone who has walked with you in a worship setting. I was glad God re-intersected our paths this particular Sunday. That inter-personal connection is a lot of what church is all about.
The director of Music Ministries at Grace also made it a point to come and talk to us following the service, recognizing us as visitors. He explained of some of the other programming opportunities at the beautiful church and where the congregation is in the call process. We really enjoyed worshiping at Grace and will probably return when their new pastor is called.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26
This Sunday we woke up early to head to Grace Lutheran Des Moines' 8:15 worship service. We got dressed and went to wake up our youngest, Sawyer (2). Upon waking him up we discovered a fever and severe cough. So out of the church clothes and off to the walk-in clinic. It turns out the strep he had developed a couple of weeks ago has not resolved itself and came back after he completed the first round of antibiotics. So we got some new antibiotics and returned home.
While it was sad to me to miss church, I was glad that I was able to go with my husband to take our sick child to the doctor on a Sunday morning. Something that previously I would have had to just leave up to him. Mom's feel good when they're caring for their kids, and usually guilty when someone else (even though they are wonderfully capable) are. I am learning to be grateful for this time off. So hopefully more updates on finding a church soon.
While it was sad to me to miss church, I was glad that I was able to go with my husband to take our sick child to the doctor on a Sunday morning. Something that previously I would have had to just leave up to him. Mom's feel good when they're caring for their kids, and usually guilty when someone else (even though they are wonderfully capable) are. I am learning to be grateful for this time off. So hopefully more updates on finding a church soon.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Larson's Find a Church
Hello!
I have recently begun my 'Mommy-sabbatical" from over ten years of professional ministry. Meaning, I have taken a leave from call to raise my kids for a few years. Due to this, my family has had to leave the congregation which I served for the past seven years. I began professional church work right after college and previously to this would just attend the congregation that my parents belonged to or campus ministries. My husband, Ryan, attended Faith Lutheran www.faithlc.org (the congregation we just left) since he was in 4th grade. Subsequently, neither of us have ever sought out a new congregation. I had my farewell from Faith on August 26th. Ryan and I are excited for the journey and believe God will lead us to our next church home. It's a little anxiety producing as we kind of feel like church orphans right now since it has been such a big part of our lives. We'll see where the Spirit leads us and thought you might want to come along with us.
My hopes for this blog are the following:
1. To see that churches, even though different can glorify God in so many ways. How fun it is to seek out what the Spirit is doing in different settings.
2. To see where God is calling our family next. Is it a place that most needs us or that we most need? What is important to our family as we journey through this? I hope that this will help us to discern what our family values in a congregation. There are a couple of things that I know for sure. Ryan and I want Sawyer to be able to receive communion. He's chosen to already do that and we won't take it away from him. Also that there needs to be a place for our kids to feel as an important part of the congregation.
3. Our family needs to honor our grief of leaving Faith. This will take time, yet we need to continue to worship with the people of God. Visiting other congregations will help us to honor our grief by not jumping in right away and continue to worship with a community.
Ok, here we go...
Sunday, September 5th (Labor Day weekend)
We went to St. Peter's Lutheran in Grimes, IA www.stpeterofgrimes.org. We attended their 10:30 worship service. Since it's country roads to get there, it took us only 10 minutes. The church building is beautiful and it seems it's their third building. I don't know the story here. We were greeted by the greeters and then passed through the fellowship hall into the commons. Their fellowship hall was filled with canned goods in different bins that represented Iowa sports teams, Iowa State, UNI, University of Iowa. Congregants placed their food donations into their team's bin to route them on. The congregation's commitment to outreach was apparent. Additionally, they had plans for their building expansion in the commons. This immediately attracted Ryan, an architect. They're adding classrooms, which tells us that their children/youth programs are growing.
Upon entering the sanctuary, we received our bulletins and announcement sheets and went to sit down. Ryan and I noticed immediately that they had a banner representing their Tanzanian partner congregation, something we both had been involved in previously. Additionally, I noticed they had a youth director (something I didn't know) according to their announcement bulletin. To start, Pastor Grant, welcomed prayer requests. As people raised their hand, it seemed he knew all their names (impressive). He wrote the requests down and included them in the prayers of the church later in the service. The service was easy to follow and they used the old 'green book' for their hymns. Pastor Mark did the sermon, it was about the 'God of second chances'. Really solid, easy to follow sermon, we left feeling good. For communion they served in tables, so that a group goes up receives then receives a group blessing before returning to their seats. A huge point for Ryan and I is that Sawyer (our two year old) can receive communion. He put his hands out to receive and neither pastor blinked an eye and were happy to give him the sacrament. Sawyer is used to intinction however and tried to place the wafer into his grape juice cup. The church did the entire liturgy, communion, and a baptism in 70 minutes, but it didn't feel that long. It flowed beautifully.
Following service we talked to the Pastors briefly. We found out that Pastor Mark is leaving the congregation. I think we'd like to attend again to hear Pastor Grant preach. I can see many exciting things happening to St. Peter. The growth of their congregation in an expanding community. It'll be cool to watch.
September 12 Grace Lutheran, Adel. (www.graceadel.com)
We arrived this Sunday a little bit late. The church is beautiful, light, and airy. The congregation has a forward thrust chancel making it U-shaped seating. Since we were late, we missed greeters. The bulletin was sitting on a table in the commons area. We stood in the back trying to see where to sit in the full sanctuary and a nice woman came out and welcomed us and showed us some seats. We headed in and found the liturgy for the day was 'Now the Feast', which we love. The entire worship was printed in the bulletin with exception to the lessons. This made it easy to follow along. They used the 'Red book' for their hymns. Sawyer went up for the children's sermon which was about Denmark since they were celebrating their Danish Heritage. Pastor Bernau's sermon was wonderfully delivered and included serious points and laughter. Sawyer got restless during worship so the nice people in front of us passed back a coloring kit from the church that we had missed on our way in.
When it came time for communion, they served it continuously with bread and small cups. Sawyer was served communion. Following the service the couple in front of us talked to us for a while and introduced us to their daughters. They invited us to stay for their Danish brunch which was being served that day. So we did. I was glad God had brought us to Grace on this particular Sunday because it was delicious! The people were inviting and Pastor Bernau sat down with us during brunch and he and Ryan talked about the architecture of the building. I was only able to see of their additional programming from their monthly flier that I picked up, but the Pastor and parishioners were willing to answer any of my questions. It seems to be a pretty young family congregations, yet with people of all ages. There were lots of kids, which of course we like a great deal since we have three.
September 16 - Ledges State Park
This Sunday we went camping up at Ledges state park so we had Family Church. Chase led us in opening prayer, then Sawyer led us in 'We are marching in the light of God' with actions. We read a couple of verses then talked as a family what we thought God was speaking to the people at the time and what God was speaking to us now. No communion at this worship service though. It was about 35 minutes.
Well, I'll keep posting as we figure out where to go on this journey. I have no idea where we will go this week, but I'll let you know when we do.
Peace in Christ, Angie
I have recently begun my 'Mommy-sabbatical" from over ten years of professional ministry. Meaning, I have taken a leave from call to raise my kids for a few years. Due to this, my family has had to leave the congregation which I served for the past seven years. I began professional church work right after college and previously to this would just attend the congregation that my parents belonged to or campus ministries. My husband, Ryan, attended Faith Lutheran www.faithlc.org (the congregation we just left) since he was in 4th grade. Subsequently, neither of us have ever sought out a new congregation. I had my farewell from Faith on August 26th. Ryan and I are excited for the journey and believe God will lead us to our next church home. It's a little anxiety producing as we kind of feel like church orphans right now since it has been such a big part of our lives. We'll see where the Spirit leads us and thought you might want to come along with us.
My hopes for this blog are the following:
1. To see that churches, even though different can glorify God in so many ways. How fun it is to seek out what the Spirit is doing in different settings.
2. To see where God is calling our family next. Is it a place that most needs us or that we most need? What is important to our family as we journey through this? I hope that this will help us to discern what our family values in a congregation. There are a couple of things that I know for sure. Ryan and I want Sawyer to be able to receive communion. He's chosen to already do that and we won't take it away from him. Also that there needs to be a place for our kids to feel as an important part of the congregation.
3. Our family needs to honor our grief of leaving Faith. This will take time, yet we need to continue to worship with the people of God. Visiting other congregations will help us to honor our grief by not jumping in right away and continue to worship with a community.
Ok, here we go...
Sunday, September 5th (Labor Day weekend)
We went to St. Peter's Lutheran in Grimes, IA www.stpeterofgrimes.org. We attended their 10:30 worship service. Since it's country roads to get there, it took us only 10 minutes. The church building is beautiful and it seems it's their third building. I don't know the story here. We were greeted by the greeters and then passed through the fellowship hall into the commons. Their fellowship hall was filled with canned goods in different bins that represented Iowa sports teams, Iowa State, UNI, University of Iowa. Congregants placed their food donations into their team's bin to route them on. The congregation's commitment to outreach was apparent. Additionally, they had plans for their building expansion in the commons. This immediately attracted Ryan, an architect. They're adding classrooms, which tells us that their children/youth programs are growing.
Upon entering the sanctuary, we received our bulletins and announcement sheets and went to sit down. Ryan and I noticed immediately that they had a banner representing their Tanzanian partner congregation, something we both had been involved in previously. Additionally, I noticed they had a youth director (something I didn't know) according to their announcement bulletin. To start, Pastor Grant, welcomed prayer requests. As people raised their hand, it seemed he knew all their names (impressive). He wrote the requests down and included them in the prayers of the church later in the service. The service was easy to follow and they used the old 'green book' for their hymns. Pastor Mark did the sermon, it was about the 'God of second chances'. Really solid, easy to follow sermon, we left feeling good. For communion they served in tables, so that a group goes up receives then receives a group blessing before returning to their seats. A huge point for Ryan and I is that Sawyer (our two year old) can receive communion. He put his hands out to receive and neither pastor blinked an eye and were happy to give him the sacrament. Sawyer is used to intinction however and tried to place the wafer into his grape juice cup. The church did the entire liturgy, communion, and a baptism in 70 minutes, but it didn't feel that long. It flowed beautifully.
Following service we talked to the Pastors briefly. We found out that Pastor Mark is leaving the congregation. I think we'd like to attend again to hear Pastor Grant preach. I can see many exciting things happening to St. Peter. The growth of their congregation in an expanding community. It'll be cool to watch.
September 12 Grace Lutheran, Adel. (www.graceadel.com)
We arrived this Sunday a little bit late. The church is beautiful, light, and airy. The congregation has a forward thrust chancel making it U-shaped seating. Since we were late, we missed greeters. The bulletin was sitting on a table in the commons area. We stood in the back trying to see where to sit in the full sanctuary and a nice woman came out and welcomed us and showed us some seats. We headed in and found the liturgy for the day was 'Now the Feast', which we love. The entire worship was printed in the bulletin with exception to the lessons. This made it easy to follow along. They used the 'Red book' for their hymns. Sawyer went up for the children's sermon which was about Denmark since they were celebrating their Danish Heritage. Pastor Bernau's sermon was wonderfully delivered and included serious points and laughter. Sawyer got restless during worship so the nice people in front of us passed back a coloring kit from the church that we had missed on our way in.
When it came time for communion, they served it continuously with bread and small cups. Sawyer was served communion. Following the service the couple in front of us talked to us for a while and introduced us to their daughters. They invited us to stay for their Danish brunch which was being served that day. So we did. I was glad God had brought us to Grace on this particular Sunday because it was delicious! The people were inviting and Pastor Bernau sat down with us during brunch and he and Ryan talked about the architecture of the building. I was only able to see of their additional programming from their monthly flier that I picked up, but the Pastor and parishioners were willing to answer any of my questions. It seems to be a pretty young family congregations, yet with people of all ages. There were lots of kids, which of course we like a great deal since we have three.
September 16 - Ledges State Park
This Sunday we went camping up at Ledges state park so we had Family Church. Chase led us in opening prayer, then Sawyer led us in 'We are marching in the light of God' with actions. We read a couple of verses then talked as a family what we thought God was speaking to the people at the time and what God was speaking to us now. No communion at this worship service though. It was about 35 minutes.
Well, I'll keep posting as we figure out where to go on this journey. I have no idea where we will go this week, but I'll let you know when we do.
Peace in Christ, Angie
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