As we approach Pentecost Sunday, I have 2 more prayers from Prayer for a Privileged People that I must share....
By Walter Brueggeman:
"Blown by the Spirit ..... We Know Not Where"
We hear the story of the wind at Pentecost,
Holy wind that dismantles what was,
Holy wind that evokes what is to be,
Holy wind that overrides barriers and causes communication,
Holy wind that signals your rule, even among us.
We are dazzled, but then - reverting to type -
we wonder how to harness the wind,
how to manage the wind by our technology,
how to turn the wind to our usefulness,
how to make ourselves managers of the wind.
Partly we do not believe such an odd tale
because we are not religious freaks;
Partly we resist such a story,
because it surges beyond our categories;
Partly we had imagined you to be more ordered
and reliable than that.
So we listen, depart, and return to our ordered existence;
we depart with only a little curiosity
but not yielding;
we return to how it was before,
unconvinced but wistful, slightly praying for wind,
craving for newness,
wishing to have it all available to us.
We pray toward the wind and wait, unconvinced but wistful.
But I personally say, NO! Do not settle for that kind of living. Instead, be "Blown by God toward Newness"
The news is that God's wind is blowing.
It may be a breeze that cools and comforts.
It may be a gust that summons you to notice.
It may be a storm that blows you where you have never been before.
Whatever the wind is in your life,
pay attention to it...
and the blessing of God,
Father, Son, and Spirit,
will abide with you always. Amen.
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Synod Assembly is less than a month away!
Please stop by our display table and meet our Advisory Board and staff!
As we enter the digital arena, we will showcase our Facebook page, and we will have a
"Must be present to win" raffle for a brand new ASUS Chromebook Flip.
Stop by, sign up to win, and have a conversation with us.
We want to put faces with names and say "Hello!"
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What is new and thought provoking at the Resource Center??
We have a new and innovative book, Declaration of the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist.
This resource celebrates fifty years of international and regional Lutheran-Catholic dialogues and harvests the results of those efforts into Statements of Agreement on the church, ministry and Eucharist. It invites both communions to affirm the unity achieved through these agreements and establish church practices that reflect this growth. Because this is a declaration "on the way" not all differences have been reconciled at this time, but it certainly is a starting point for future openness and change! This book makes a great adult study, affirming and celebrating these Lutheran - Catholic agreements is a step toward greater unity in our neighborhoods and communities.
And another new resource, Embracing Stewardship: How to put stewardship at the Heart of your congregation's Life, by Charles R. Lane and Grace Duddy Pomroy.
This book will help you strengthen your congregation's stewardship ministry.
Mindful of generational perspectives and attuned to the world in which congregations live, this book provides eight pathways your congregation can follow to deepen your members' understanding of themselves as stewards of the bounty of God.
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Embracing the Prophets, DVD and Workbook curriculum by Walter Brueggemann
Do the Prophets speak to contemporary culture?
Walter Brueggemann, arguably America's leading Old Testament scholar and theologian, takes us on a wild ride through the poetic prophecy of the Hebrew Scripture, identifying cultural contexts, putting a framework to Israel's history, and most significantly (and at times most challenging) drawing connections between Israel's sociological, economic, and spiritual status and that of America today.
Session 1: Moses, Pharaoh, the Prophets and Us
Session 2: The Prophets as Uncredentialed Purveyors of Covenant
Session 3: Moral Coherence in a World of Power, Money and Violence
Session 4: The Shrill Rhetoric that Breaks Denial
Session 5: The Grief of Lass as Divine Judgement
Session 6: The Promissory Language that Breaks Despair
