Greetings!
I'm sending this from Camp Nesodak where I'm spending the week with some soon-to-be 7th grade confirmation students. The weather is great and we're having a blast. Hope you enjoy this week's devotion.
Pastor Tony
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This Week's Devotion 
Evidence of God
by Pastor Tony Haglund
"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?" - Psalm 8:3-4
Driving to camp this week, I was able to take three of our young people in the car with me. It's a three hour trip and I swear, they talked the WHOLE WAY!!! I know...it sounds horrible but actually IT WAS GREAT!! What wonderful, delightful, engaging and fun-loving kids. They talked about friends, about God, about world hunger and even about Hitler. They talked about everything and they talked and they talked and they talked.
Anymore, it seems like when I gather with grown ups, we all clam up or worse we spend our time talking about things that are trivial. Why? Well, we've learned that if we say something that somebody disagrees with, they get angry. They insult us, put us down and disparage not only our opinion but who we are and sometimes even those we love. The risk isn't worth it. Why talk about stuff that really matters. Why ask about the true questions of our heart. After all, we've learned that we can't trust one another to be kind, compassionate and supportive even if we do differ.
Can our 7th graders teach us something? After all, they didn't agree on everything, but still they talked. And when one didn't agree with the other, the other would just shrug their shoulders as if to say "no big deal." Of course sometimes, as grown ups, we do think about things that are big deals (in reality so do kids). But do we need to let our differences divide us? Is someone who disagrees with us really worthy of the violence of our judgment?
Psalm 8 (see reference above) always causes me to ponder the diversity of the universe and how that diversity is reflected in the diversity of human beings. While we can appreciate the diversity in nature and in the solar system, diversity within our human race seems to call forth an anxiety of violence from us. But I wonder if our differences aren't a gift from God? I wonder if God doesn't want to use our differences to help us in becoming the very best version of ourselves? And I wonder if I'll ever be able to glimpse the diversity and beauty that is our heavenly Father? Maybe we can glimpse it in one another?
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What's Happening at the Church
Invitation to 50 Days of Prayer
As the ELCA prepares to meet in Assembly beginning on August 17th in Minneapolis, MN, Bishop Mark Hansen has invited our church to 50 days of prayer beginning on Monday, June 29th. The staff of CLC will be accepting this invitation to prayer and we would invite members of our congregation to do the same. For more information click here: 50 DAYS OF PRAYER |
Serving at the Banquet
CLC will be serving at The Banquet in Sioux Falls on Monday, June 29th. We will be serving the breakfast that day and really need some volunteers to help. Perhaps if you work in Sioux Falls, you could stop by and give us a hand before work or if you're retired, how about giving us a couple of hours that morning before you begin your day's activities? We do need RSVP's so we can organize the volunteers. If you can help, call us at the church office at 764-2429, e-mail Lori at cantonluth@iw.net or reply to this mailing. |
Support our Youth
Our June Mission of the Month is our Senior High Youth who are preparing to go to New Orleans in July for a mission trip and for the ELCA's National Youth Gathering. They are still about $2,500 short of their goal and desperately need our help. Mission of the Month envelopes can be found in the pews or just designate your check "mission of the month" on the memo line. |
Feed My Starving Children Opportunity
The Good Samaritan Society in Sioux Falls is bringing in Feed My Starving Children this week to provide opportunities for people to participate in this exciting ministry that feeds millions of kids around the world. This is a great service project for families of all ages, including kids as young as six years old. We will pack food bags that are sent to feed children that otherwise are not receiving adequate nutrition in countries such as Nicaragua, Guatemala and Haiti. To serve at this event please go to the Sioux Falls Convention Center Exhibit Hall 1 on Wed. June 24 at 8:30 pm or Thurs. June 25 at 9:30 am. Your time there will be 2 hours, most of it working in an assembly line style packing bags with rice, soy with nutrients, and dried vegetables. These bags feed a family of six enough nutrition for one day. If you are interested in carpooling contact Janet Henke by calling her at the church at 764-2429 or e-mailing her at parisheduc@iw.net. |
New Fall Schedule Proposed
One of the fun problems we have at CLC is an abudance of Sunday School students with not quite enough space. This fall we are proposing adding a second Sunday School session to help address this issue - the twist is that this second Sunday School session will be on Wednesday nights! Look for more information in the July newsletter but begin thinking now whether Wednesday night Sunday School might be an option for your family. In addition to Wednesday School we will also be offering an additional worship service that might be really helpful for families that have to travel a lot on weekends. Following is our proposed Fall Schedule that we would like to test:
Saturday
Worship at 5:00 p.m.
Sunday
Sunday School at 8:45 a.m.
Worship at 9:30 a.m.
Wednesday
Sunday School & Confirmation at 6:15 p.m.
Worship at 7:00 p.m. |
