The Echo UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 2122 University Avenue Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203

Transcription

1 MAY 2016 The Echo UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 2122 University Avenue Grand Forks, North Dakota People often look back with fondness about the good old days. I recently listened while one of my elders spoke passionately about life in the United States during the 1950 s. His perspective was from a white, middle-class, mainline Christian experience, and indeed, that decade was really good for someone like him. For such a person, the economy was booming, jobs were plentiful, people were having lot of babies, new technologies were making life better, church pews were full, and in general, life was going in a great direction. However, things on the other side of town were not so wonderful. In other words, the perspective of a black person in the 1950 s was quite different. Black schools were separate and unacceptably substandard. Wages were at best half the wages of whites. In many cities, black people could not use white bathrooms or drink from the white water fountains, blacks could only sit in the back of public buses because the better seats were reserved for whites, and even sadder, there were white only restaurants and Coca Cola machines. Maybe what was the good old days for one group of people in the 1950 s was just the opposite for other people. Now I am not attempting to make a statement about race or poverty here. Instead, I am critiquing the temptation to look at the past as better times. There may indeed be times where it seems like our best days are behind us, but when it comes to being Christian people, it is our joy to proclaim that the really awesome days are still ahead of us. I am not just speaking about heaven either. I am speaking about how the Holy Spirit, who is present with us today and in the future, brings us love from God, help for our challenges, gifts to do great things, and yes, joyful reunion with Jesus in heaven. One of my favorite resurrection stories is from John 20, where Mary is loitering around the tomb, deeply grieving the death of Jesus, her eyes flooded with tears. Everyone who sees her, including angels and Jesus himself say, Why are you crying? She must have wanted to cry out, Stop asking me why I am crying. Isn t is obvious? I m standing in a graveyard. I really believe it is one of the reasons she did not recognize Jesus at first when he finally showed himself to her. Not only did she not expect him to be there because he died, her eyes were so full of tears that she literally could not see him. At any rate, once Mary recognizes Jesus, she did what any person would do, she reached out and took ahold of him. Then Jesus speaks words which sometimes trouble us. He said, Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. We may even ask the question, if Thomas gets to touch the holes in Jesus hands, then why can t Mary take ahold of him, and perhaps even give him a hug. My answer to that question is this: Mary can and did touch Jesus, and she probably even hugged him. Jesus was actually telling her something quite different than that. The Greek phrase here spelled phonetically is may moo ap-toe, which literally means, stop clinging to me. This phrase implies that Mary is already touching him, probably seizing his legs or feet. It seems that Mary is trying to recapture the past, to return to the good old days where Jesus was alive and with Mary and all the disciples in an earthly, physical way. This is what Jesus no longer wants her cling on to anymore, because as he told her, he will soon be ascending to the Father. While this may seem like bad news at first, like the good old days are over, it actually means something really wonderful. The Holy Spirit is coming! Jesus had told his followers this day would come. He said, It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate (Helper) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. In other words, there is no need to cling as Mary did to the past any longer, because when Jesus ascends to heaven to be with God, God s Holy Spirit will be given to us. And this is what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit: The Father will give you another Advocate (Helper) to be with you forever. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. This is meant to be good news for us, countering the reality that Jesus is physically no longer with us. He is, however, here with us through the Holy Spirit, helping us through the challenges of our lives. This means that we are never alone, since the Holy Spirit is always living with us and in us. Furthermore, this same Holy Spirit teaches us all we need to know, guides us through the darkest moments of this life, gives us peace when we are stressed or distressed, and helps us to face all our fears. Indeed, through the Holy Spirit, good days, the best days are still ahead of us! You are in my prayers,

2 Worship NOTES Church School Music May 8 and 11 Can you believe it the Church School year is drawing to a close! We will celebrate another great year of sharing the Gospel with our ULC children by having them share some music at our worship services. Here are the dates: Sunday, May 8, we will feature our Sunday School Children Wednesday, May 11, we will feature our WWJ Children Mother s Day May 11 We hope you will join us for worship on Mother s Day! The day will include a Mother s Day Litany of Thanks, the ULC Chapel Choir, and a special gift for moms and all adult women of ULC. Get your mom off to the right start on this special day! The Day of Pentecost May 15 The Day of Pentecost is the third great holy day of the Christian year. It is, however, often surpassed in recognition by the more popular celebrations of Christmas Eve and Easter. Pentecost is the day we celebrate the coming of the promised Holy Spirit with power to the church and to each one of us who follow the Lord Jesus Christ. This day is really the birthday of the Christian church. As part of the celebration, we encourage people to dress in red, the color of the day. We will also have red balloons, red flowers, and other Pentecost fun. Other Worship Notes Holy Communion will be celebrated this month on Sundays, May 1 and May 15, and Wednesdays, May 4 and 18. Wednesday, May 4 and Sunday, May 8, our ULC Chapel Choir, will sing its final times until next September. We will worship with Chicago Folk Service (guitar, bass, piano and flute) on Sunday, May 15. Wednesday worship will take a little break in May. There will be no midweek service on May 25. New Member Sunday We are exploring the possibility of hosting a new member Sunday on May 22. If you would like to become a member of ULC or you know someone who would, please speak with Pastor Tom. If this is a good Sunday for people, we will go ahead and receive new members and have a potluck after worship. Stay tuned for further details! Graduate Recognition Service Yes, it really is high school graduation time once again! As usual, we will be honoring Community, Central, and Red River graduates who are ULC members the morning of the graduation ceremony. This is Sunday, June 5, at our 10:00 am worship service. On that day, we will celebrate the accomplishments of these students at worship, as well as give them a graduation gift, and host a cake reception in their honor.

3 Picnic and Praise Feed the Body, Feed the Soul Summer Wednesday Worship will begin on June 1. As is our custom, we will worship at 6:00 pm, with a picnic style lunch served beforehand at 5:00 pm cost is $1. During the month of June we will worship with Holden Evening Prayer and the sermon series called, Psalms of Praise. We hope you will worship with us and invite coworkers, neighbors and friends! Adult Education Sunday Adult Class Sunday morning Adult class meets at 8:45 a.m. The class will continue its study called, Justice: One Judge s View. It is being taught by former judge and ULC member Bruce Bohlman. The question is, What is justice, and how should it be applied in this world? Our conversation continues, and of course, the coffee pot is always on! Thursday Morning Bible Study The Thursday morning Bible study this month will be about the Holy Spirit. Pastor Tom has entitled it, The Holy Spirit: Comforter or Ghost? The class will meet on Thursdays, May 5, 12, 19, and 26. Jesus has promised the Holy Spirit will be there all four weeks! Please join us at 9:30 a.m. in the lounge. WELCA Bible Study WELCA Bible study in May is, Mary and Elizabeth: Sisters across the Generations. We will meet Mary and Elizabeth in Luke 1, reflect on their relationship, and on how women today relate across generations. As women support each other, they help each other bear Christ for the world. Class meets Friday, May 13, 10:00 am in the lounge. Calling All Men Hey you guys! Please join us Saturday, May 14 at 8:30 a.m. at church for prayer, breakfast pizza, conversation, and a short study. Our topic this month is (drum roll, please) the Holy Spirit. Come to discover how this holy and awesome, real and yet invisible, presence of God has made its home right in the center of your life! 55+Over Fellowship will gather on Tuesday, May 10 at 1:30 p.m. Cynthia Shabb will be the guest speaker. She is head of the Grand Forks Global Friends Coalition, a group that is an outgrowth of Lutheran Social Services New American resettlement program in Grand Forks. Host and Hostess for the day will be Roger and JoClaire Paulson. Please join us and invite a friend or neighbor to come with you! Men Serving West School 5 th Graders ULC men will be helping to serve the West School 5 th grade breakfast on Tuesday, May 31. This event marks the end of elementary school for these children, and the beginning of Middle School. Our ULC men have served this event for about 15 years. If you would like to help with the breakfast this year, please contact the church office. Financial Update Our general fund shortfall is $15,766 at the end of March. If you could possibly give a HIGH 5 or CATCH UP contribution in addition to your regular offering, we would be very grateful! We also encourage ULC members and friends to consider giving their offering through automatic withdrawal. Then our giving goes on whether we are at worship or off on summer vacation. Thank you for being a generous people!

4 ULC Mission Endowment Fund The ULC Mission Endowment Fund Committee met on Tuesday, April 26, and awarded the following grant request: $1,000 was awarded to Dave and Erin Simon, who are serving as missionaries to the Mission Aviation Fellowship. Dave, Erin, and their three children, Elsie (6), Samuel (3), and Isaiah (1), will be moving to Haiti this year to serve there for 8-12 years. Dave is an airplane mechanic, and Erin is a nurse. The Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) began 70 years ago. They have 51 aircraft which carry missionaries, relief workers, medical personnel, and teachers, to remote parts of the world. People who serve through MAF are responsible to fund their own work, and anyone who contributes becomes a partner in their missionary work. Lauri Shimpa brought this request to the Endowment Fund. She said that one way, we lift high the cross of Christ through service is by supporting the Simons and their missionary work in Haiti, as they connect people in remote areas with people who want to help them and share God s good news with them. If you have a grant request, or would like to make a contribution to the Mission Endowment Fund, please contact one of our board members: Betty Bloomquist, Les Howard (president), Teresa Kuhens, Dave Larsen, Dave Masterson (treasurer), Clarice Urness (secretary), or Pastor Tom. Feed My Starving Children Our FMSC event in April was a huge success for the sixth year in a row! Greater Grand Forks raised $105,654, which was well over the $88,000 we needed for the event. This money paid for the over 400,000 meals we packed for hungry children in Nicaragua and Haiti. The extra will be kept separate and go toward our packing event for On our part, ULC members and friends contributed $3,393 toward this event, and provided many packing volunteers as well. Thank you to everyone who helped with our fundraising efforts and with packing food, as well as to Ann Shallman who serves for us on the local FMSC committee. Well done good and faithful servants! Ecuador The mission team heading to Ecuador this summer has completed its fundraising. We raised $5,161 in the recent rummage sale, and now may spend the next several months simply preparing to go. There is much to do yet, like doctor visits and vaccinations, devotions and prayers, purchasing and gathering gifts to bring, preparing puppet shows and music to sing, and even a little work on learning some Spanish. We are very likely to ask you to help us gather gifts to bring over the course of the summer. Remember we are going August We might even have a role to play in some earthquake recovery, but this part is not clear yet. For certain, we will be caring for orphan children, spending time with older folks in nursing homes, reaching out to some of the poorest people in Latin America, and even more. Just a reminder that everyone who is traveling to Ecuador has committed to $1,150 of their own resources, which means we had to raise only $600 per person to go. Costs were a little lower this time. We did raise a little more than that, which means we are able to do some extra things which will benefit the people we are going to serve there. We thank you so much for your willingness to be generous and help us! Your Ecuador mission team is: Margo Colenso, Tom Colenso, Emily Dencker, Brad Gunderson, Heather Kallestad, Diane Magnusen, Matthew Melberg, Josh Muckenhirn, Ann Shallman, Anna Shallman, Emily Shimpa, Lauri Shimpa, and Jane Traub.

5 Psalm 25: 4 Teach me your ways, O Lord; make them known to me. Confirma on Pizza Party: Sunday, May 15th at Happy Joes Pizza at 6:00pm. This will take place of our last confirmation class for the year. Please bring $3 to help with the cost. If you want to play at the arcade be sure to bring extra money. Let Heather know if you will need a ride. Hope to see everyone there. :) High School Graduates: We will be honoring the graduating seniors on Sunday, June 5 during worship. Please turn in a senior picture and information on your plans for next year to Heather or the church office by Wednesday, June 1st. We would like to display your picture on this day. We will also be having a cake reception after worship. Is your child going to bible camp this summer? We would like to know who is going to camp so that we can provide you with scholarship information, pray for the kids and also so we can send them a care package. Fill out a form from the FYI youth board. Completed forms can be given to Jen or Heather. Bible Camp time is fast approaching. Please check out some of the fine camps listed below. There is also a display at church with brochures available. If you have any questions please contact Heather or Jen Sunday school students will sing on May 8 th. WWJ students will sing on May 11 th. The last day of Sunday school is May 15 th and the last day of WWJ is May 18 th. Last Day of BLAST: Wednesday, May 15 First Day of MELT: Wednesday, June 5 at 7pm Grades 7-9 confirmation is drawing to a close for Our Wednesday classes will meet May 4 and 11, and our Sunday classes on May 1 and 8. Students, please join us for our year end party on Sunday, May 15, at 6:00. We will meet, eat, and play at Happy Joes! Please bring $3 to help with the cost for this night. Oh, and if you have not completed all 15 worship notes during the school year, you must catch up over the summer. Please do so before next September. for E rin Colenso Sunday, M ay 15, 2016 O pen H ouse 2:00-4:00 p.m. U niversity L utheran Church E rin and Parker are registered at Target and B ed, B ath & B eyond.

6 ULC Women of the ELCA MAY 2016 News and Events My heart is glad, and my soul rejoices. Psalm 16:9 I have always loved the word Rejoice! It seems like such a happy, hope-filled word that should have a celebration of some sort to go along with it. As women of God, we have reason to celebrate. We stand in the shadow WOMEN OF THE ELCA Purpose Statement As a community of women created in the image of God, called to discipleship in Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, We commit ourselves to grow in faith, affirm our gifts, support one another in our callings, engage in ministry and action, and promote healing and wholeness in the Church, the society, and the world. of Jesus cross, completely forgiven and dearly loved. And the best is yet to come! Celebrate our risen Lord by sharing His love through word and action. As He works through us, our lives become filled with reasons to rejoice! Mother-Daughter Event Sunday, May 1 st 2:00-4:00pm This event is for women of all ages of ULC - mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters and friends. Our theme is All Dolled Up. The day will include a program of devotions, music, a demonstration on porcelain doll making, and a dessert buffet. We will also be displaying any dolls that people would like to share for the afternoon. A story sheet is available on the display in the narthex. Write a paragraph or two about your doll and then bring it to the event. Please invite a special woman in your life - perhaps a sister, friend or neighbor - to join you this day. THANK YOU for your participation in our Spring Salad Luncheon. We had a great day, the salads were delicious and people went away well-fed and happy. We raised $3,250 to be used for our benevolences and day-to-day expenses. Well done! RHUBARB? The signs of spring are here - gentle rain, sunshine, green grass and rhubarb poking through the ground. The gardeners in our midst are telling me that the rhubarb will be ready for a first picking soon. The Rhubarb Festival is scheduled for June 11. We will start with preparations as soon as the rhubarb is ready, so please watch bulletins for information on baking days. Sign up sheets for baking bars and volunteer opportunities will go up in late May. We are truly blessed by your willingness to participate in this event. Many hands make light work and a really successful fundraising event! Rhubarb Festival Saturday, June 11, :00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. All Rhubarb Bake Sale, Craft & Quilt Sale WELCA Bible Study Mary and Elizabeth: Sisters Across the Generations Friday, May 13 10:00 a.m. in the lounge. Naomi Rachel Circle Friday, May 13 11:30 a.m. at the church Mary Martha Circle Wednesday, May 18 9:30 a.m. at Marge Dawes th Avenue N Ruth Circle Tuesday, May 17 6:30 p.m. at the church Rejoice in the Lord! Seanne Voracek, WELCA President

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8 UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 2122 UNIVERSITY AVENUE GRAND FORKS ND NON-PROFIT US POSTAGE PAID GRAND FORKS ND PERMIT #330 WORSHIP & CLASS SCHEDULE Wednesday With Jesus Supper 5:00 p.m. Worship & WWJ 6:00 p.m. Grade 7-9 Confirmation 7:00pm Sunday Mornings Sunday School & Adult Class 8:45am Grade 7-9 Confirmation 8:45am Worship 10:00am Fellowship 11:00am Check inside for much more!! Mother -Daughter Event Sunday, May 1 2:00-4:00 p.m. Bridal Shower for Erin Colenso Sunday, May 15 Open House 2:00-4:00pm Confirmation Pizza Party Sunday, May 15, 6:00pm at Happy Joe s UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 2122 University Avenue Grand Forks ND Phone: ulcoffice@midconetwork.com Ministers: Every Member of the Congregation Missionary: Susan Smith Pastor: Thomas W. Colenso Education Coordinator: Jen Hanson Youth Minister: Heather Kallestad Administrative Assistant: Seanne Voracek Choir Director: Katie Holleman Organists: Lauri Shimpa and Jane Traub Custodians: Harold and Cindy Stoller Stephen Ministry Leaders: Bonnie Peterson, Wayde Anderson Evelyn Clark, Jane Traub