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| North/West Lower Michigan Synod |
December 1, 2010 |
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Monday, December 6
11am - 3pm
St. Luke's Lutheran Church
3215 Four Mile Rd. NE
Grand Rapids MI 49525
616-363-2381
Tuesday, December 7
11am - 3pm
Messiah Lutheran Church
1470 W. Maplehurst Dr.
Roscommon MI 48653
989-275-8820
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Through bulletin inserts and in Mission Support Consultations this fall we have been bold to invite every congregation to give 10%, to send a tithe of their undesignated offerings for the ministries of the North/West Lower Michigan Synod and the churchwide expression of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We have also invited you to tithe future undesignated bequests to these two expressions of the ELCA. Between now and February 15, 2011 we await your "statements of intent" for the coming year as stewardship decisions are finalized at congregational meetings.
From a Grateful Heart
Having just celebrated God's goodness on Thanksgiving Day and heard God's call to preparedness on the First Sunday in Advent, I am newly grateful for the breadth of God's provision. I am truly given everything I need, maybe especially the capacity to repent of efforts to make it on my own. I cannot think of a single day of late in which God did not provide the Word needed for a life "well lived." There are people all around me, in the flesh, or accessible electronically, or through words written long ago, through whom God announces judgment and hope, law and gospel, death and life. In response I want to tithe, I want to give of myself and my resources enough to make a difference in the lives of others (and in my own life). I want to do this as an expression of gratitude to the triune God who has thought of everything, given everything.
For a World That God So Loved
Should we ever wonder why we would engage the discipline of tithing, we need only remember the center of our faith, what God revealed and accomplished in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was given for the world, which currently includes over six billion people. Tithing is a substantive way to deliver that gift, to assure that we, who are graced to be members of the body of Christ, don't cut corners on liberally sharing the gift. Without apology, I encourage you to tithe to the ministries of the church. Though surely not a necessary indicator of discipleship, it may well be a sign of a growing love for the God who in Jesus has indeed thought of everything, given in abundance all that we need.
May God grant you a richly blessed Advent and Christmas,
Bishop Schleicher
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Trinity, Saginaw Announces Closing
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,31 December marks the beginning of yet another new chapter in the story of mission and ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the neighborhood of 9th and Cherry Streets in Saginaw, Michigan. On that day the congregation of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church will officially cease as a constitutionally organized congregation of the ELCA.Yet, this is a beginning. To all who live in Christ, death brings new life. Plans and provisions are being made for a new East Side Saginaw Mission Development focused on ministry to the community. This mission will be started utilizing remaining financial resources from Trinity and people from the neighborhood, the Saginaw Metro Ministries, the Bay Conference, and the synod at large.On Sunday, December 26, 2010, at 3:00, Bishop John Schleicher will lead us as we gather at Trinity Church to begin a liturgy for the closing of a congregation. Because the building is unheated, we will then travel to nearby St. John Lutheran to complete the liturgy, including the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Thus we willhonor and celebrate the ministry of Trinity over the past 127 years and open our hearts and minds to the call to God's mission yet to be engaged in this eastside neighborhood.People like you from all over our synod and indeed in other expressions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have faithfully supported the ministry of Trinity, literally for decades. So we invite you to be with us on this sacred occasion as we remember what God has done and anticipate what God will do in this community through our hands. Refreshments will follow the service at St. John.In Christ,
Ruth Sharper, Lay Minister, andBishop Schleicher
P.S. To help us plan for the refreshments, please reply to this e-mail by December 23 (<
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AND <
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)
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Caring for One Another
This summer a first meeting was convened, gathering those who presented the resolution at our synod assembly asking to create a non-geographic conference as a support group and a voice in this synod for those struggling with the ministry policy decisions and the social statement passed at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly. As you know, that resolution was not adopted. But as we are called to bear one another's burdens, we seek to honor the struggle in which we are engaged.
All pastors whose congregation's witness to Christ in their communities has been challenged or compromised because of an ongoing struggle to either embrace or dissent from the social statement and/or ministry policies are invited to participate in one of the gatherings listed below.
We'll begin with worship and a forum presenting both "traditionalist" and "non-traditionalist" positions. Pastor Frank Rothfuss and I will lead the conversation. Following lunch we'll open the conversation to questions and answers,concerns and perspectives as long as our time together allows. A freewill offering will help cover the cost of lunch.
Respond by November 30 (517-321-5066 or
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) so that appropriate quantities of food can be prepared.
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Your synod office is currently addressing security issues that necessitate some flexibility in office hours and possible delays in responding to email messages. Several break-ins have occured in the past two weeks, and it is necessary to secure our server and computers at the end of the work day. Also, until the situation has been resolved, we are coordinating schedules so that no one enters or leaves the building alone.
Rest assured that every effort will be made to respond to your voicemail and email messages in a timely manner. As always, we appreciate your prayers and support.
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| North/West Lower Michigan Synod October 4, 2010 |
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Parish Nurse Network Holds Annual Retreat
October 15, 2010
Christ United Church
Dewitt, Michigan
Attention all Parish Nurses, those interested in Faith Community Nursing and Healing Ministry: The NWLM Synod's Parish Nurse Network will hold its10th Annual Retreat on Friday, October 15 from 8:30am to 4:00pm at Christ United Church in DeWitt.
You are invited to share our ministries and dreams for ministry, meet others in health ministry and enhance our spiritual journey. Sister Nancy Brousseau, OP, Center for Mission & Ministry Facilitator, will be with us in the morning. As a Spiritual Director, she will lead us in worship and explore the disciplines of Spiritual Direction as a way of deepening and sustaining the spiritual journey.
We also will receive updates on the ELCA Parish Nurse Association, the Westberg Symposium, and other items of interest to all of us. We will make plans for the 2011 Synod Assembly as well. Please contact Karen Eichelberger at 231.799.9232 or <
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And please invite others who might be interested in what we are doing as Parish Nurses in our faith communities. Cost is $20 and includes lunch, payable at the retreat. But please register in advance with Karen so we know how to plan.
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Where Grace Leads Us
John David Schleicher, Bishop
I can still picture it clearly. I'm on internship, wet behind the ears, standing amidst the pews at Hope Lutheran, Middleborough, MD, leading a twelve-session course on grace. I remember especially the liberating conversation around the last chapter of the study book: "All is Grace."
I visited recently with a pastor whose congregation is in the process of making decisions about leaving the ELCA. I shared with him my lament about the generalizations, misrepresentations, or false allegations hurled about or against our denomination these days. His response to me was balming, a true blessing in the midst of my lament.<Read more
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