Power in the Spirit

offers 25 years of storytelling

           Plans are shaping up for the 25^th anniversary of Power in the Spirit, featuring the theme, "25 Years of Telling the Story" and keynote speaker Walter Wangerin Jr., at Roanoke College July 14-16.

            Wangerin, former longtime columnist for The Lutheran magazine, teaches literature and creative writing and is writer-in-residence at Valpariso University in Indiana. A widely known storyteller and author of more than 30 books, he has been a radio announcer and book reviewer, he has traveled with migrant farm workers, participated in an Indian sun dance and served as pastor of an inner-city church.

            Pastor John Largen, a Virginia native who is pastor to the community at Southern Seminary, will be the Bible leader. He grew up in St. John, Roanoke, served the former Quicksburg Parish in Shenandoah County and is a member of Gladesboro, Carroll County. The music presenter will be Kevin Barger, music director at Epiphany, Richmond, and a singer and assistant accompanist with the Richmond Symphony Chorus.

            In a service project, Books for Children, participants will collect new and used books for the West End Center, a Roanoke facility offering after-school programs for children of low-income families. Pastor Cynthia Long, a grief support specialist with Lutheran Family Services, will offer free grief consultations on Friday, July 15. Workshops will be offered on prayer beads, making homemade paper and bookbinding.

            Thirty-nine workshops are planned in four sections during the three-day event. Among them are sessions on developing a regular devotional practice, use of hand puppets, a look back at 18^th century stewardship,  events of the past 50 years observed by Pastor Jean Bozeman, learning to listen, comedy and comedians in Scripture and a history of God's people.

Keyser

          Pastor Cynthia Keyser has accepted a call to serve as a pastor of Christ, Roanoke, focusing on Christian education and evangelism in addition to sharing general  duties with Pastor David Skole, starting July 1. She has been a pastoral associate at Christ since last August. A graduate of Luther Seminary, she was ordained in 1999 and served at churches in Des Moines, Iowa, and Largo, Fla. Her husband, Eric Rothgery, is assistant professor of religion at Roanoke College. They have three sons.

            Dr. Paul Hinlicky. A Roanoke College professor since 1999, has received the 2011 Dean's Award for Professional Achievement at the college. As Tise Professor of Lutheran Studies, he has written three books in the past four years with "Luther" in the title. Hinlicky has written or contributed to 17 books and over 75 academic articles. A faculty colleague said the professor's work "is at the forefront of scholarship" and a student said Hinlicky "does big-boy scholarship, battling with the highest order questions."

Gunsten

           Pastor Chip Gunsten, assistant to the synod bishop, and his wife, Kris Gunsten, are grandparents for the first time!  Their granddaughter, Meredith Anna Krell, arrived at Ann Arbor, Mich., on April 20, weighing 7 pounds and 13 ounces. Her parents are Sarah and Robert Krell.

            Mike and Tammie Neeble, Luther Memorial, Blacksburg, have been chosen as the Virginia State Ambassador Family for the March of Dimes. The Neebles set a goal of each running 475 miles to raise awareness and support for the March of Dimes. The financial goal is to raise a mile of dimes, close to $10,000. The March emphasis on research and services for premature birth hit the Neebles when their son, Cooper, was born three months early, weighing only 2 pounds and 6 ounces, the equivalent of 475 dimes, and this led to the 475-mile goal.

            Faith, Suffolk, reported 17 families enrolled in a Financial Peace University session during which more than $104,000 in debt was paid and over $16,000 was accumulated in savings. Several Navy and Coast Guard families became debt free, marriages were strengthened and participants learned to live on less than they earn.

            Members of Bethel, Winchester, spent Good Friday morning "returning thanks to God by participating in simple repair and clean-up work for those needing helping hands within our community, in recognition of this most holy day."

            A Norwegian service at Our Saviour, Virginia Beach, was led by the Rev. Cecilie Strommen, wife of  Wegger Christian Strommen, Norwegian ambassador to the U. S.  The service was held because the Norwegian government wanted to provide an opportunity for its military personnel serving in NATO to worship in their native language. Also at Our Saviour, Bruce Prichard and his firm designed a building, the Williams Mullen Center, chosen as Richmond's Best Project in a commercial real estate awards ceremony. And Karen Bauer was named Diabetes Educator of the Year by the Eastern Virginia Association of Diabetes Educators.

             More than 40 youth and adults met at St. Michael, Blacksburg, on April 1-2 for Fools for Christ, an overnight retreat and service project. The event was "a great experience uniting youngsters from Luther Memorial, St. Michael and Shiloh, Blacksburg;  Our Saviour, Christiansburg, and Trinity, Pulaski, to worship, learn and serve Christ," according to Pastor John Wertz of St. Michael.

Pastor Lynn Bechdolt of Holy Trinity, Martinsville, has helped create a model Good Gifts catalog outlining ways to present "special gifts that make a difference for local families and children in need."

            Her local catalog tells how gifts of $25, $50 or $100 can help local service organization projects, such as the United Way Crisis Fund providing food and shelter, counseling high school students about risky behavior, offering money management classes for single mothers and Boy Scout seats along trails at Philpot Lake in Henry County.

 Gifts also can be designated for Grace Network, a local first-stop center for people in crisis, supported by more than 80 congregations and many individuals and civic groups. The network helps pay bills for housing, utilities and supports a food pantry, providing a two-week supply of food. 

            A catalog of reasonably priced gifts has been used by the Heifer Project and other organizations but Bechdolt said her plan came from a family problem. "I was trying to figure out what to give as Christmas gifts to my two brothers who manage to get for themselves the things they really want. How could I say, 'I love you' with a Christmas gift that was truly meaningful?" In her part-time work for a non-profit social service organization serving low-income people, she saw "the immense need of the people in my own community."  So she challenged herself to give to local causes as much as she spent for Christmas presents.

            Her plan led the Non-Profit Leaders Network of the United Way of Henry County and Martinsville to sponsor the Good Gifts Catalog, partially funded with a $1,500 grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. In a community hard-hit by furniture and textile company closures and unemployment, the catalog provides a way to make small contributions to help the hungry and homeless who need medical care and children who need assistance.

            The catalog tells how to use a coupon with a check or a visit to a website for a credit card contribution directly to the agency in the catalog.  Other congregations are using the catalog along with Bible studies. Reports are provided by the United Way on the number of people served by the gifts.

Virginia pilgrims.

           Seventeen Virginia Lutherans were among a group of 34 who took a recent ELCA Book of Faith tour of the Holy Land, led by Dr. Diane Jacobson, the Bible study leader for Power in the Spirit last year and recently retired faculty member of the Luthean Seminary at St. Paul, Minn. The group photo was made in front of the Treasury Building at Petra, Jordan. The tour was described as "a special spiritual pilgrimage, being in the Word as they traveled."

 The traveling Virginians were John and Ann Hess, Steve and Kay Ritchey, Our Saviour, Christiansburg; Pastor Scott Benson, Faith, Suffolk; Peggy Bizjak, Leroy Hamlett, Pastor John and Leslie Herman, Ed and Deb Meyers, David and Ruth Poole, Barbara Price, Bill and Linda Roberts and Nancy Schmitz, Peace, Charlottesville.

An outstanding performance of "A Symphony of Psalms" was presented by the Salem Choral Society, led by Aaron Garber, its music director and director of music at College Lutheran, Salem, on Sunday, April 10, at the Jefferson Center in Roanoke.

The settings for more than a dozen psalms were composed by Garber. Instrumentalists were Melia Garber, piano and organ, the College Lutheran handbell choir and Roanoke Chamber Brass.

            The Rev. Ruben Duran, an ELCA official, and Prof. Mary Sue Dreier of Luther Seminary are leading the Spring 2011 ACTS course, "The Christian's Call Today." Saturday lecture sessions are held at Grace, Waynesboro, on April 16 and May 21 and small-group sessions are held other churches.

            At least one ordination is expected to occur during the Virginia Synod Assembly at Roanoke College on June 3-5. Three candidates have been approved for ordination by the Synod Candidacy Committee.

Bozema

             As Dr. Jean Bozeman marks her 50^th anniversary of service to the Lutheran church with her retirement scheduled for June 30, the Synod Council has established a Christian Formation Fund in her honor. All Council members have contributed.

            A $2.5-million fund is intended to endow synodical reinforcing of congregations and families in forming Ambassadors for Christ for children until they leave home for school, for military service, employment and for adults who are learning faith and to be a mentor more profoundly for their children, younger sisters and brothers of the congregation and their neighbors.

 Pastor Bozeman has served as a synodical youth staffer, director of Christian education in a parish, in churchwide offices for youth ministry, as dean of students and teacher of  Christian education and Christian formation at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago and in church relations with Lutheran Family Services. Since 1989, she has been an assistant to the bishop, serving the eastern part of the Synod from Norfolk, her home city. Working with lay and clerical leader, she created the ACTS (Ambassador Community for Theological Study) program, Roots & Wings for parents and grandparents raising infants and children in the faith and Power in the Spirit for lay leadership in Christian formation..

            Bishop Jim Mauney said Bozeman "has touched the lives and hearts of us all" so this is an opportunity to honor her at her retirement.

The ongoing foundation stones for the Christian Formation Fund are adult education, young parents and grandparents sharing faith at home, forming young children of faith, youth and youth servant events and healthy families.

Elijah and friends sing in musical.

            An eager cast of more than ??? children and youth presented an "unforgettable" musical performance of "Elijah! God's Faithful Prophet," at First Lutheran Norfolk, on Sunday morning, April 10. They sang, danced, joined the chorus, stage crew, played hand bells and worked on costumes and lighting.

            Keyton Springer, an 11-year-old Elijah, said he was "really nervous" in the lead role, "but I just kept on praying." His favorite song in the production was "Waiting to Decide," telling about the time when the Israelites "had to pick between Baal and God."

            Co-director Ginny Fox said the musical was chosen for its "beautiful music and clever lyrics written by Mark Patterson." She said theme of "God Will Provide" was moving and stayed on her mind. Auditions were held on two Sundays to select a cast of children and youth of all ages. Many adult members had forgotten or weren't familiar with the story of Elijah so it became an education venture for the congregation.

             Co-director Janine Brown said this was a first for First Lutheran, "an attempt to teach an important Bible story in a totally new way, through teaching the story, doing crafts, making sets and creating a musical production within the time frame of Sunday School." Getting older youth and younger children to work together was previously unheard of, she said. Brown called the performance "a day I will never forget, a true gift to our congregation from our children and youth."

            Pastor Rick Goeres said the wide spectrum of children and youth in the project "was fun to see and beneficial to all in learning and serving together. The children and youth learned the important truth that God does provide even as they celebrated learning it with new 'big' and 'little' sisters and brothers in the faith. Our congregation was blessed by the enthusiasm generated in the project and by teaching this mighty act of God in an exciting way to a new generation."

Bel

 What does it means to say we are "justified by his blood?"  Daniel Bell, professor of theological ethics at Southern Seminary, addressed that question during his recent time as the visiting theologian in Blacksburg.  The visiting theologian, an endowed program of Luther Memorial congregation and Lutheran Campus Ministry at Virginia Tech, seeks to enrich the intellectual and spiritual climate of both the congregation and the greater Blacksburg community.

            This year's presentations explored how the church has understood the saving work of Christ.  Through preaching, teaching, and table conversation, Bell helped audiences understand how atonement has been understood in a variety of ways, both in Scripture and the Christian tradition.

 One of Bell's major foci was rethinking blood sacrifice as it relates to Good Friday.  "Although Christians have never practiced blood sacrifice, the logic of blood sacrifice often shapes the way Christians think about God and, consequently, how we act in the world...Christianity is permeated with images of a wrathful, angry God who demands blood and suffering and threatens to inflict terrible violence as the just punishment for sin."

            Bell suggested that the substitutionary mode of the atonement, generally associated with St. Anselm, has often been erroneously interpreted, so that the problem becomes an angry God, rather the broken relationship between humanity and God.  "Read rightly, Anselm's account of how humanity is redeemed is not about diverting the arrows and appeasing wrath of a bloodthirsty, angry god.  Instead, it is a story about the depths and lengths to which God goes so that we might share in the triune life of God (John 3:16)"

            It is not blood sacrifice which saves us, said Bell, rather it is Jesus' obedience and fidelity.  "Christ is our substitute, not in the sense that he takes our place in the execution chamber and suffers our punishment for us, but in the sense that he offers God the fidelity, devotion, and obedience that we should have but did not, and subsequently could not."

Shenandoah LFS office wins award

            The Northern Shenandoah office of Lutheran Family Services won top awards from The Arc, the Winchester-based chapter of a national organization that works to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities and from the Community Commitment for Change Conference, a group of child-serving organizations that collaborate to create the best systems of care for children and their families.