The Grace Newsletter February 2008

Lent—
A Season for New Life

Making the most of this time of renewal

Lent “goes against the grain” of the up-beat, orthodox optimism of American consumer culture. It is a season for cutting back, doing without, taking time to reflect and relax. It is a quiet season for renewal—a time to “let go and let God.” Many people are convinced that Lent is simply a “downer,” but really that misses the point. Most of all, Lent is a season for spiritual training. It is the time to get ready for the joy of Easter. Yes, some of the hymns of Lent are in a minor key—but not all of them. Many of them sing about deepening our roots in baptismal life. The readings appointed for Lent ask us to get serious about sin and our complicity in it. They ask us to take stock of what we might be doing to frustrate God’s attempt to raise us from the dead. There is a seriousness about Lent, and that makes it a wonderful antidote to “Christian-lite” religion that compromises and thwarts God’s good news.

Do you want to make the most of this season? Then here are some suggestions to help you get off to a good start:

• Take time for prayer and devotion. Be intentional about giving God a chance to speak to you, and deepen your relationship with God by honest conversation.
• Read your Bible and reflect upon it. The Daily Lectionary is a wonderful tool. The readings for this season begin on page 1123 of the ELW. If you don’t have your own copy, photocopy the pages from a hymnal at church. Did you attend last fall’s spirituality retreat and you still haven’t used lectio divina or nature walks? Now is the time to do it!
• Get a spiritual partner. Find someone who will take the Lenten walk with you. Pray or read the Bible together. Pray for each other. Check in with each other at least once a week.
• Be regular in your worship attendance. Be at church every Sunday in Lent and take advantage of the Midweek Vespers and all the liturgies of Holy Week.
• Make the news a spiritual discipline. Pray your way through the morning newspaper. Set aside time for prayer after you watch the news at night. Be aware of the needs of those around you.
• Offer yourself to your neighbor in public service. Make a difference in the world. Visit a shut-in in your Shepherding Group. Learn more about how you can get involved in an agency that addresses an issue that matters to you.
• Take a risk. Jesus is inviting you to die and rise with him. What would it mean to trust God more fully, to open your life to the workings of God’s grace and forgiveness?

Lutheran Family Services of Colorado
Our Partner in Mission for February

God’s good news in Jesus is meant for new life. Jesus gave himself to the poor, the hungry, the sick. He said that he would meet us in those around us who are most easily overlooked

Lutheran Family Services of Colorado focuses the resources of ELCA and LC-MS Lutherans to address those who need to see God’s good news in action. Under the motto “Services that heal, strengthen and provide hope,” LFSCO meets human need with the love of God expressed in caring community. The programs of LFSCO are as varied as the needs of hurting people:
Foster Parenting provides safe places of refuge for children whose lives have been harmed by a parent or caregiver. LFSCO is the largest foster care provider in the state of Colorado—an exciting incarnation of Jesus’ commitment to God’s little ones.

• Adoption services create more permanent relationships between children and adults and make homes for the homeless.
• Care management solutions provide support and counsel for those who are working with older adults. Special programs address the needs of African-American caregivers.
• Disaster response makes God’s love real for those who have suffered unexpected loss—for example, helping to resettle victims of Hurricane Katrina.
• Refugee and asylee programs provide a safe haven and new hope for people who have been uprooted from their native lands.
• Teen pregnancy prevention helps young people to learn about the realities of parenting and encourages them toward responsible adulthood.

Farewell to Grace
Wendi and Will Bevins say good-bye

Many people in the congregation have asked about our upcoming Peace Corps service—we sincerely appreciate your interest and prayers. Our last Sunday at Grace will be February 24. On February 29, we will move our belongings and our dog to Wendi’s parents’ home in Indianapolis and then in mid-March we will head to Albania to begin three months of in-country training. This will include language study and cultural lessons. After the training period, we will move to our Albanian hometown (whichever it may be) and live with a local family as we make professional contacts and build friendships. Will will be instructing high school teachers, and Wendi will be working with an NGO or a municipal office. If you would like to be added to our email list, please send an email to wendi.bevins@gmail.com. We hope to send regular news of our work and travels, though we may have limited internet access.
After our time in Albania, we hope to relocate somewhere on the East Coast for Wendi’s turn in graduate school, to study International Economic Development. We hope to visit Boulder from time to time, and will always head straight for Grace!

We cannot express how thankful we are that we found our church home in your congregation. When we are away, our hearts will long for the wonderful music, the sermons that enliven and challenge us, and, above all, the Christian community that makes Grace what it is. We moved to Boulder shortly (four days) after marrying, and found more culture shock in Boulder than in any of the “foreign” places either of us has lived. Grace was an oasis that offered spiritual growth and fellowship greater than anywhere else we have been. Thank you for letting us learn, share, teach, and administer with you. We leave here a piece of our hearts.

Reflections from Worship Committee
by Lois Ward, Worship Committee Chair

Do you feel a new growing spirit at Grace with more energy and enthusiasm during worship? Does our Sunday experience influence our everyday spiritual life including prayer? Is there new excitement among our members and are we sharing more openly with each other? As we quietly pray and commune with others, do we feel God’s presence and a change in our lives?

Many Sundays I feel a stirring among us, especially during special services such as festivals, All Saints Sunday, Cantatas and Jazz Masses, as the choir and instrumentalists lead us in praise and song. Sometimes, though, this connection happens as we kneel and pray or listen to our Pastor’s sermon or receive communion together. Somehow God himself and our Christian community seem to be connected about the loneliness and pain of one another as well as the world’s problems. Do we carry these concerns into our weekday lives? I feel like we are saying “Here I am, Lord!”, “Help us, Lord!”. Perhaps this stirring is God himself, even when we feel undeserving of love and forgiveness. He is with us!

I asked Pastor Roschke to comment on the introduction of our new hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Here is what he said: “It’s hard to believe that we have lived with the new ELW for a year now. Thanks to the help of Joyce Shupe Kull and the choir, we have already used five of the ten settings of the Eucharist, plus Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and other smaller rites. We are becoming more familiar with the many kinds of hymns available for us to sing week after week. Now that you have had some time to get know ELW, Worship Committee would like you to help us assemble a new list of favorite hymns. The list is on the bulletin board by the office; add your favorites to the list! That will help us immensely as we plan worship, so that we can continue to expand our repertoire of the music and texts that feed our souls.”

When asked for her reflections on music in worship, Music Director Joyce Shupe Kull writes: “I am struck by the ways music can intensify our worship experience. Often it is a special piece that triggers our reaction, such as the contemplation of the birth of Christ in the anthem,
 
“O magnum Mysterium” (O Great Mystery), an ancient text set by Morten Lauridsen, who was inspired by a symbolic Spanish Renaissance painting now in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. Or we may be moved by the joy of the shining star of Epiphany as in Moses Hogan’s arrangement of the spiritual “This Little Light of Mine” (his last composition). Perhaps we felt pride in commemorating the 300th anniversary of the death of the outstanding Danish/North German Lutheran composer, Dieterich Buxtehude (d. 1707). In the silence before and after those musical moments, we can both anticipate and react to the offerings of the musicians of Grace.

“Our increased energy in worship is reflected in a larger Adult Choir, with its growing excellence in leading new liturgies and interpreting the texts of the day. We are also grateful for the musicians with special gifts, such as those who play recorders, flute, and strings. Our gifted section leaders—Emily Murdock, Megan Marino, Stephen Campbell and Mario Diaz-Moresco, along with regular outstanding substitutes—add much to the sound of the choir in worship. As music assists our worship, may it lift us out of ourselves and give us inspiration and courage to serve in the weeks ahead.”

In our church community, there is a lot to do, especially since we are a small congregation. It has been a powerful experience for me to serve on the Worship Committee as we pray, think, plan and evaluate. We meet on the 2nd Sunday after church and we would welcome you and your ideas. Also, we need your prayers for the Grace worshipping community, the ELCA and the world church. Thank you all who help, for you give generously.

As we move into 2008, God is with us! We ask him again and again for his mercy, love and forgiveness. From Christmas to Easter, as we change our hymns from “Joy to the World” to “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today”, we ask for God’s blessings for each of us—his love, peace, patience and gentleness—as we continue to serve him and one another. God is with us!
 

Holy Week Fair
A celebration for Christians of all ages—March 16 at Atonement

Mark Sunday, March 16 on your calendar now. That is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. After worship that morning, members of Grace and Atonement are invited to enter Holy Week with a Holy Week Fair at Atonement from 11:45 AM to 1:30 PM. Plans are still under development, but some of the ideas are already being worked out. There will be a simple lunch available that will introduce us to the Passover Seder and its traditions. There will be three different hands-on activities that will help children and adults explore the meaning of the Three Days that form the climax of Holy Week—Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. Watch next month’s Goodness Gracious for more information, but plan now to join us at the fair!

Learning preview for February

Adult Forums for February, Sundays, 8:45 AM—

• February 3: “The Theology of Accompaniment, Part II”—Learn about the theological principles the Evangelical Lutheran Church is using to carry out mission in a post-colonial world. These groundbreaking ideas shape the way we minister, from Madagascar to thinking about our witness here in Boulder.
• February 10: “Report on Kenya”—Will and Wendi Bevins share slides and stories about their trip to Kenya over Christmas, with eyewitness accounts and analysis of the elections civil strife there, and an update on Bill and Jan’s ministry.
• February 17: “Our Mission Partners: Lutheran Family Services of Colorado”—Grace member Jim Swaeby is currently serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors of LFSCO. He presents an informative look at how Lutherans care in Colorado. Please also see the article on page 5.
• February 24: “How’s Lent?”—We’ll talk about how our Lenten discipline is unfolding and give each other encouragement and ideas on how to make the most of the Forty Days.