The Season Of Advent
“Advent is the time to prepare the way, Christ was born on Christmas day! Sing and dance children of the Lord, celebrate the seasons of the Son (sun?).” —a random song in my memory that I could not find searching Google, so I have no attribution." Advent has...
Remember & Rejoice
Last week a dear friend of mine suddenly died. Claudia was her name. She went by Aunty Claudia. Technically in Hawaii, you don’t call someone Aunty unless they are 15 years older than you. She introduced herself to everyone as Aunty Claudia. She was one of my Ohana...
Listening To Different Voices
“No one person has all the knowledge or the complete skill set to manage the complexity and the relentlessness of a crisis.” - from The Prepared Leader p. 54 I try to read and listen to a variety of topics. I’m a big fan of Brené Brown and her podcasts on leadership...
Where Are The Kids?
The kids are here, if you want to know them. Our database has 88 children, youth and recent graduates. 25 people have tried the new family Sunday school. Youth group is rebuilding from COVID. We had 25-30 youth between Wednesday and Thursday nights pre-COVID. Over the...
Breath
(So) breathe oh breath of God. Now breathe oh breath of God. Breathe oh breath of God, now breathe. —from Come Alive (Dry Bones) It’s not unusual for a song to get stuck in my head. I’m in the final moments of preparation to take a group to Holden Village. So I’m...
Music To Our Ears
Dear Congregation, I am flattered to be able to take the position of choir director. So, I would like to say a few words of gratitude and commitment. First, I want to say how much I have felt welcomed by everyone here and how much I hope to be contributing to the...
Keeping Watch
The Lord will watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth forevermore. —Psalm 121:8 Psalm 121 is probably my favorite Psalm. But verse 8 has a special meaning these days. At the beginning of August, Isaac moved out of our house and into an...
Summer Outlook
A Beautiful Day You are my rising sun, Lord You are my rising sun Oh! What a beautiful day You are my sunny sky, Lord You are my sunny sky Oh! What a beautiful day You are my setting sun, Lord You are my setting sun Oh! What a beautiful day You are my moonlit night,...
Admin Corner
Recently I finished reading a gem of a book by Shauna Niequist titled I Guess I haven’t Learned That Yet. Being a fan of her work, I'm convinced that if I lived in her Manhattan apartment building we would be friends. Both of us are enneagram 7s (the Enneagram is a...
Crater Lake
If a picture paints a thousand words, Then why can't I paint you? —Bread As a child, the car our family owned only had an AM radio. So there are lots of random songs from the 60’s and 70’s that rattle around in my head. When I saw Crater Lake for the first time a few...
Admin Corner
I started to write something for the Evangel, and then a second mass shooting happened in two weeks. This time almost every casualty was an elementary school-aged child. I immediately thought of my elementary schooled age great-nephews and checked in with my nieces. I...
God Is With You
“I was there to hear your borning cry, I’ll be there when you are old. I rejoiced the day you were baptized to see your life unfold.”—ELW 732 First, I have to admit that the above hymn is not my favorite. When the choir director at my little home church in Conover, WI...