I heard they were going to have “Holy Humor Sunday.” I have heard about such celebrations for years but have never had the opportunity to experience it. Now it was happening on a Sunday when I had no other responsibilities and, in a congregation with which I serve. Perfect!

It was a great morning of seeing people I haven’t seen since they called their new pastor. Having worked with them through that process I had gotten to know many of the leaders and members. And then there were those who had ties to beloved members of the congregation I served before coming on synod staff. Catching up is always a joy. But this morning was to hold more than the joy of jokes and songs and renewed relationships.

Just two pews in front of me sat a family.

What happened in your part of the synod this weekend? Where did you see God on the move?

As a synod staff person, I was blessed to witness – or know about – some amazing things that took place in our synod this past weekend – and they are all stories worth sharing. I hope you will share your experiences here – in the comment box below – of where you saw God on the move in your area of the synod recently.

THURSDAY: SECRETARY LUNCHEON - The long weekend started on Thursday when the secretaries

Check out our synod’s YouTube page where, among other things, the Lutheran Youth Fellowship interviews of synod assembly attendees are posted. Interviewers asked the question, “Where do you see God loose or on the move in the world?” Listen to the different responses. Most are short (less than 30 seconds). Pick one a day for the next 40 days to get your daily dose of  “God sightings!”

Here is one to get you started….check out what 300 year old Henry Melchior Muhlenberg had to say about where he has seen God:

 

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod Assembly, Lutherans in Faith Together (LIFT) and the Lutheran Youth Fellowship (LYF) assembly were held this past weekend, June 17-18, at Muhlenberg College. On Friday, some members of the LYF  videotaped interviews with folks who were there. The question they asked was “Where have you seen God on the loose/on the move?”  They interviewed over 60 people!

One interviewer said, “I saw God at the LYF & Synod assembly because I was walking around interviewing people and it just made me realize, God is seen in so many different ways to so many people.” (See this post and more at “God Sightings in Northeastern PA Synod“).

Some of the interviews were blended to make the following video, which was shown at the end of the synod assembly. The other video clips will be posted – one a day – at “God Sightings in Northeastern PA Synod.” Check it out!

A week ago yesterday, I went to visit my physical medical physician with the idea that I was going to let him know that I was being scheduled for back surgery the following day at a hospital near Philadelphia. After the doctor came in and we talked about my situation regarding issues with my back, I told him that my plan was to have this surgery done the following day. I asked him what he thought about that.  

His response was very positive and supportive. He then asked me what I thought about it and how I was feeling about the fact that I was going to have back surgery the next day, knowing full well that this was something I did not want to do – that this was my absolute last resort.

I told him that I was feeling somewhat anxious about the whole thing. The nurse confirmed that my level of anxiety was high in that when she took my blood pressure, it was higher than it has probably ever been!  

I sat on the examining table. My doctor sat on a stool in front of me. He looked up at me and said,

I saw God at work this week at the Allentown Center of Kathryn’s Kloset, a Diakon ministry coordinated locally by Lutheran Congregational Services.  It’s a ministry that provides donated items like laundry detergent, fabric softener, and personal care items to shelters and food pantries for them to distribute to the people they serve.  Up until this week the truckloads of detergent and fabric softener had always come to us packaged in cases holding anywhere from 4-12 bottles depending on the size.

This time, however, the shipment came in 21 “gaylords,”large triple thickness corrugated cardboard open containers about four feet square and four feet high.  Each Gaylord was filled with a variety of different sized bottles, all mixed together with minimal organization to the way items were packed in the containers.

Fortunately, we had a good-sized crew of volunteers, but it was still overwhelming.  We wondered how on earth we would be able to sort all the different sized bottles and divide it up between the more than thirty agencies that pick up items at the Allentown Center.

Then one of the volunteers who helping that day said, “I used to work at a packaging corporation near here. They manufacture cardboard boxes.  I bet I could get some boxes from them.    Sure enough, she had to make more than one trip, but she came back with more than 200 flattened boxes that had been rejected by quality control, but worked wonderfully for our purposes as we sorted the material so that it could be staged for later distribution and pick-up.

We had no idea that we would receive that kind of shipment from the warehouse down in Baltimore and we had no idea that we had such a wonderful resource person working with us.  She had volunteered many times before and never mentioned her former employer.   But God worked through her to provide us with the materials we needed so that we could bring order out of chaos.   God provided so that we could provide detergent and fabric softener to those in need.

Glenn Simmons (husband of Mary Simmons, who along with Virginia Goodwin, co-manages the Allentown Kloset)

For at least a dozen years now, at 9:30 each morning I’ve sent an email to the synod staff. It contains a short prayer and a few names each day: rostered leaders, congregations, ELCA staff and offices, and ecumenical partners. Notices go out to those on the prayer list a week or two in advance, asking if they have any special prayer requests. And they do—gratitude for blessings and requests for strength, for healing, for discernment, for wisdom. I’ve always felt that those daily prayers are one of the most important ways we support our partners in ministry.

About two years ago, I invited everyone on the synod’s email list to join us in prayer. About seventy-five people replied and asked to receive the daily mailing, and many have continued to tell me how much they appreciate getting it. Last Monday I repeated the invitation. I was amazed when an additional 130 people asked to be part of this circle of prayer. Today our daily prayer went to over two hundred people in five synods and three states.

I’m sure that people had lots of reasons for joining the mailing list. Here’s my guess at several of them:

• Prayer is important to us, but it isn’t always easy. We need some structure to encourage us to pray regularly. Something as ordinary as email can be that structure.
• Sitting at a computer every day can be numbing—or it can bring us moments of grace when an email message calls us to focus on what makes us truly alive.
• We want to be part of a community of love. We so often feel powerless in the face of pain, sorrow and despair. Praying for one another reminds us that we are not powerless, that we can bring God’s light into the darkness.

Why do you pray? How do you make prayer a part of your daily life?

You can join our circle of prayer by going to the synod’s website at www.godslove.org. Click on “Sign Up for Our Email Newsletters” on the right side of the page and follow the instructions.

Every year on the next to last Saturday of January, the Faith Formation Resource Team sponsors “Learning Ministries Day.” I feel privileged to work with such resourceful leaders in our synod! Each year, this group:

• locates a site that can handle 150-200 people
• makes arrangements for food
• plans the theme for the day
• recruits a key-note speaker and handles housing and meals for the speaker
• recruits workshop leaders
• plans and leads some of the workshops
• evaluates each event

We invite all church leaders to this event, although the main audience seems to be Christian educators/leaders. My hope each year is that more congregation council members, committee members, youth and youth group leaders and worship leaders will attend.  There really is something for everyone at these events.

If you were to ask me what my favorite thing is about LM Day, I would have to say that I like watching people networking with one another – talking around tables at lunch, sharing ideas with one another in workshops, and gathering around display tables for conversation. It is wonderful to see people make connections with one another!

If you were at Learning Ministries Day this year, what did you like? Please share your “highs” from this event in the comment section so that those who haven’t attended LM Day in the past might be inspired to attend it next year! 

• What did you learn?
  
• What did you like most?
  
• Why should people attend Learning Ministries Day?

God is on the move in our churches, in our synod, in the world!

When a group of over 70 synodical leaders (youth and adults, members of synodical teams and groups, deans, synod staff and more) met on December 11 with Kelly Fryer (A Renewal Enterprise), we had an opportunity to work in smaller groups to look at how – as leaders in the synod – we might do “what matters.”

One smaller group that gathered were members of the new synod Youth, Young Adult, and Family Ministry Team and leaders from the Lutheran Youth Fellowship. They decided that they would like to encourage people in our synod to tell their stories of where they see God at work in their churches, schools, work places, communities, synod – in everyday life!

The group developed a Facebook page to do just that! “God Sightings in the Northeastern PA Synod” is the name of the page. As of January 15, 82 people have chosen to “like” this page.  If

Sometimes I get lucky and find the most wonderful things to share!  That happened just the other day. By chance, I learned about “The Calling,” a film which will be shown on the PBS’s, “Independent Lens.” It will air in two parts on December 20 and 21.

According to the “What’s Your Calling?” website the film, produced by Kindling Group, is a

“four-hour documentary series that follows seven young Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim Americans as they prepare for religious leadership. Taking a leap of faith to pursue their vocations, these young people struggle with life’s myriad challenges – relationships, family responsibilities, uncertainty, and fear – as they become leaders who serve their communities.”

As it turns out, “The Calling” is not only a film, but it is also a website where people can share their stories of call. While you are waiting for the film to air on PBS (9 PM both evenings), check out the website for the following information:

• Learn about “What’s Your Calling?”
• Meet the characters
• See a trailer
• Check out videos of real people based on a theme
• Watch the introductory video on the meaning of “calling”

In the previews I have seen, I am inspired by what young adults are thinking about ministry. Martin Luther talked about vocation as our call. Whether we are ordained or lay leaders, God calls us to use our gifts to serve God and others.

To what ministry has God called you and what are its joys and challenges?