Pastor's Page -- January 2021
The magi said, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." -Matthew 2:2
The magi from the East came to King Herod and asked where the new king had been born, because they had seen the new king’s star, they were witness to the Christ’s light shining in a new way: an epiphany.
And so, following that light, that star, they came to Bethlehem, and gave gifts to the Christ: God’s word who had become human. They gave him gold as would befit a king, they gave him frankincense which was a powerful and expensive incense burned when offering to God: a symbol of divinity, and myrrh which was an oil used for embalming: a symbol of mortality. So the gifts the wise men brought exemplified who Christ was: Lord of all, human, and divine. These gifts matched the reality of the Son of God.
As we have left 2020 behind us (praise God!) we look forward to a new year in a new light. At Christmas we opened gifts from those we loved, which were chosen carefully for each of us, as a way to honor and thank just what we mean to one another.
At the end of the year, your council and I asked for your help financially, and I want to thank you for your generous gifts. I thank you not as Adam Arends, but as your pastor, a representative of the larger church or Jesus Christ. Your gifts not only help to ensure that our buildings continue to operate as they should so that we will again gather together to learn of Christ’s love, but your gifts continue the mission of Jesus: to reach out to help those who are in need and who feel lost, lonely, or left behind.
Thank you for your gifts.
As we recognize that Christ’s light continues to shine today, I wonder what other ways you have to honor the Christ who first loved us?
How can you use your gifts to share God’s love? In the new light of 2021, how can your gifts be used in a new way to honor God?
What are the gifts you can bring to your family, your church, and your neighbor, recognizing that it is in our neighbor where we see the face of Christ?
Martin Luther reminds us that though sometimes it feels as if we do not have the Christ child in front of us to honor, that is not true:
“You have Christ in your neighbor. You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor in need you do to the Lord Christ himself.”
Let’s together, in this new year, look for new ways to use our gifts for our neighbors recognizing Christ in one another. Let’s continue to live our lives Faith First in Christ’s light.
+ Pastor Adam
The magi from the East came to King Herod and asked where the new king had been born, because they had seen the new king’s star, they were witness to the Christ’s light shining in a new way: an epiphany.
And so, following that light, that star, they came to Bethlehem, and gave gifts to the Christ: God’s word who had become human. They gave him gold as would befit a king, they gave him frankincense which was a powerful and expensive incense burned when offering to God: a symbol of divinity, and myrrh which was an oil used for embalming: a symbol of mortality. So the gifts the wise men brought exemplified who Christ was: Lord of all, human, and divine. These gifts matched the reality of the Son of God.
As we have left 2020 behind us (praise God!) we look forward to a new year in a new light. At Christmas we opened gifts from those we loved, which were chosen carefully for each of us, as a way to honor and thank just what we mean to one another.
At the end of the year, your council and I asked for your help financially, and I want to thank you for your generous gifts. I thank you not as Adam Arends, but as your pastor, a representative of the larger church or Jesus Christ. Your gifts not only help to ensure that our buildings continue to operate as they should so that we will again gather together to learn of Christ’s love, but your gifts continue the mission of Jesus: to reach out to help those who are in need and who feel lost, lonely, or left behind.
Thank you for your gifts.
As we recognize that Christ’s light continues to shine today, I wonder what other ways you have to honor the Christ who first loved us?
How can you use your gifts to share God’s love? In the new light of 2021, how can your gifts be used in a new way to honor God?
What are the gifts you can bring to your family, your church, and your neighbor, recognizing that it is in our neighbor where we see the face of Christ?
Martin Luther reminds us that though sometimes it feels as if we do not have the Christ child in front of us to honor, that is not true:
“You have Christ in your neighbor. You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor in need you do to the Lord Christ himself.”
Let’s together, in this new year, look for new ways to use our gifts for our neighbors recognizing Christ in one another. Let’s continue to live our lives Faith First in Christ’s light.
+ Pastor Adam
Pastor's Page -- December 2020
Faith First in Waiting
Every year when Advent comes around it surprises me. In my head I still think of Advent as just getting ready for Christmas, because that’s what we do in our popular culture: we get ready for Christmas, as we should!
Yet in the tradition of the church, Advent is a season of waiting. It is a season of waiting for the celebration of Jesus birth, but it is also a season of waiting for Christ to come again.
This throws me off. This gets me a little confused. This makes me wonder what we’re waiting for.
As we’re all tired of hearing by now, this year is unlike any other. This year has thrown me for a loop. This year and this pandemic have me unsure of what to do next, and which decisions to make.
And we’re all waiting for it to be over.
Our public officials, and medical experts are urging us not to gather together to keep the most vulnerable among us safe. This is the exact opposite of what we expect. And it literally makes us feel distant from those we love, makes us question our decisions.
This past week, we were pre-recording the lighting of the Advent wreath. As I looked around the brick church, I thought, “maybe I should put on my robe and my stole.” And so I went into the small room at the front of the church building, put on my robe and my stole with the image of Mary, pregnant with Jesus.
Our online services are casual, and so I hadn’t put on that robe for 8 months. Wearing a robe is not necessary for worship, yet the robe and the stole are representative of the pastor’s ordination and call to serve.
As I put on my robe and my stole, I was reminded of all the people who supported me and encouraged me to choose this path of loving the neighbor, of visiting the sick, of caring for those in need.
As I looked at Mary’s image, I was reminded of how her life was not what she expected. An angel from God changed her life as soon as he announced what God had in store for her and who her child was to be. And Mary also waited.
As we wait in this time that is not what we expected, I hope you put on your own “stole.” Resume a tradition that reminds you of all those in your life who support and love you. Take up a tradition again that reminds you of the light of Christ that continues to shine in the long winter nights.
Hang up some Christmas lights, bake your grandmother’s favorite cookie recipe, sing a Christmas Carol, put up that one special Christmas ornament that always makes you cry.
As we wait for Christmas, as we wait to safely get back together, Christ is still with us in the unexpected. Immanuel is with us in the waiting.
Peace be with you,
Pastor Adam
Every year when Advent comes around it surprises me. In my head I still think of Advent as just getting ready for Christmas, because that’s what we do in our popular culture: we get ready for Christmas, as we should!
Yet in the tradition of the church, Advent is a season of waiting. It is a season of waiting for the celebration of Jesus birth, but it is also a season of waiting for Christ to come again.
This throws me off. This gets me a little confused. This makes me wonder what we’re waiting for.
As we’re all tired of hearing by now, this year is unlike any other. This year has thrown me for a loop. This year and this pandemic have me unsure of what to do next, and which decisions to make.
And we’re all waiting for it to be over.
Our public officials, and medical experts are urging us not to gather together to keep the most vulnerable among us safe. This is the exact opposite of what we expect. And it literally makes us feel distant from those we love, makes us question our decisions.
This past week, we were pre-recording the lighting of the Advent wreath. As I looked around the brick church, I thought, “maybe I should put on my robe and my stole.” And so I went into the small room at the front of the church building, put on my robe and my stole with the image of Mary, pregnant with Jesus.
Our online services are casual, and so I hadn’t put on that robe for 8 months. Wearing a robe is not necessary for worship, yet the robe and the stole are representative of the pastor’s ordination and call to serve.
As I put on my robe and my stole, I was reminded of all the people who supported me and encouraged me to choose this path of loving the neighbor, of visiting the sick, of caring for those in need.
As I looked at Mary’s image, I was reminded of how her life was not what she expected. An angel from God changed her life as soon as he announced what God had in store for her and who her child was to be. And Mary also waited.
As we wait in this time that is not what we expected, I hope you put on your own “stole.” Resume a tradition that reminds you of all those in your life who support and love you. Take up a tradition again that reminds you of the light of Christ that continues to shine in the long winter nights.
Hang up some Christmas lights, bake your grandmother’s favorite cookie recipe, sing a Christmas Carol, put up that one special Christmas ornament that always makes you cry.
As we wait for Christmas, as we wait to safely get back together, Christ is still with us in the unexpected. Immanuel is with us in the waiting.
Peace be with you,
Pastor Adam
Pastor's Page -- November 2020
Faith First in Gratitude
What are you thankful for?
As we prepare for Thanksgiving each year, we often think of all that we have to be thankful for. Sometimes our list is very long!
This year it might be a bit more difficult to see what we have to be thankful for. Our nation’s politics have caused division among communities and sometimes within families. Many of our gatherings may look different this Thanksgiving, as family and friends from out of town may not be able to visit. Our lives have been changed, and when there is change it can be difficult to see the blessings we have.
I can’t say for certain what you are thankful for this month, but I can tell you what I am thankful for.
I’m thankful that my family is healthy. I’m thankful that technology allows me to keep in contact with friends and family who are far away. I’m thankful for popcorn and movies on the couch with my kids. I’m thankful for time to read and learn more about our world.
And this year I’m most thankful for two things: I’m thankful for the community of people at North Beaver Creek Lutheran Church. You have demonstrated that even as we wait to gather in person in our church buildings, you know that the church is more than a building. You are the body of Christ for one another. You continue to worship online or in your cars; you continue to feed those in our community who are hungry through the food bank, and through bringing meals to our older members; you continue to call one another with an encouraging word; you continue to pray and live in God’s word, holding one another up before our God of grace.
And I’m also thankful for the love that is found in our God in Christ. The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ, and in this continuing health crisis, in this politically polarized time, in this new reality, this continues to be true. God’s love still surrounds us.
This month we will be talking in our sermons about thankfulness and stewardship.
I hope that you can share with me the ways that you are thankful for the community of saints at North Beaver Creek. How has life at NBC impacted you? How has the community at NBC been a part of your life? How have you known God’s love through NBC?
Having received this gift of grace through faith in many ways, how are we willing to give back to God through giving our time, talent, and treasure?
May we each find ways to give thanks that strengthen and enliven our own lives, and the lives of our siblings in Christ!
+ Pastor Adam
What are you thankful for?
As we prepare for Thanksgiving each year, we often think of all that we have to be thankful for. Sometimes our list is very long!
This year it might be a bit more difficult to see what we have to be thankful for. Our nation’s politics have caused division among communities and sometimes within families. Many of our gatherings may look different this Thanksgiving, as family and friends from out of town may not be able to visit. Our lives have been changed, and when there is change it can be difficult to see the blessings we have.
I can’t say for certain what you are thankful for this month, but I can tell you what I am thankful for.
I’m thankful that my family is healthy. I’m thankful that technology allows me to keep in contact with friends and family who are far away. I’m thankful for popcorn and movies on the couch with my kids. I’m thankful for time to read and learn more about our world.
And this year I’m most thankful for two things: I’m thankful for the community of people at North Beaver Creek Lutheran Church. You have demonstrated that even as we wait to gather in person in our church buildings, you know that the church is more than a building. You are the body of Christ for one another. You continue to worship online or in your cars; you continue to feed those in our community who are hungry through the food bank, and through bringing meals to our older members; you continue to call one another with an encouraging word; you continue to pray and live in God’s word, holding one another up before our God of grace.
And I’m also thankful for the love that is found in our God in Christ. The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ, and in this continuing health crisis, in this politically polarized time, in this new reality, this continues to be true. God’s love still surrounds us.
This month we will be talking in our sermons about thankfulness and stewardship.
I hope that you can share with me the ways that you are thankful for the community of saints at North Beaver Creek. How has life at NBC impacted you? How has the community at NBC been a part of your life? How have you known God’s love through NBC?
Having received this gift of grace through faith in many ways, how are we willing to give back to God through giving our time, talent, and treasure?
May we each find ways to give thanks that strengthen and enliven our own lives, and the lives of our siblings in Christ!
+ Pastor Adam
Pastor's Page -- October 2020
Faith First in Fellowship
A year ago I laid out plans for my newsletter topics. It was a way to think through the year and discuss the ways that our life in the church changes in details, but remembering that overall we live with our faith first. So each month I’ve focused on a different topic regarding how we can live "Faith First."
A year ago I chose the topic of "Fellowship" for October. I was going to write about how when we come together for the Rite of Confirmation and witness young people make a new commitment to their baptismal promises, we see our faith continued in fellowship with young and old. I was going to write about how when we hold our annual Lutefisk dinner, our entire community comes together to peel potatoes and rutabaga, to stand in a steamy cook shack, to gather together to share a meal with friends and strangers. I witnessed the Holy Spirit moving last year at Lutefisk when people sat down to share a meal, and as people waited for their food and re-connected with old friends and old memories.
So much for plans.
We will not gather in the same way for Confirmation and for Lutefisk as we have in the past. We will keep our distance at Confirmation, inviting only family to gather outside.
We will not sit down together to eat delicious meatballs and somewhat palatable – I mean – fragrant fish; we’ll eat it at home with our families.
What our fellowship looks like has necessarily been changed in order to keep the most vulnerable among us safe from a dangerous virus.
Yet even in this different reality, I want to assure you again that while our fellowship looks different and more distant, the Holy Spirit is still at work. The Spirit is present even at drive-in worship. The Spirit is present even as we worship through social media. The Spirit is present as children read their Story Bibles at home and not in their Sunday School classrooms. The Spirit will still be at work when we pick up fish from our car windows. The Holy Spirit never stops working.
Two of my favorite verses have sustained me, even as we have changed the way we worship and have fellowship:
Jesus promised in John 14:26-27: “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
And Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
The Spirit is still at work. May we recognize God’s Spirit in our lives.
Pastor Adam
A year ago I laid out plans for my newsletter topics. It was a way to think through the year and discuss the ways that our life in the church changes in details, but remembering that overall we live with our faith first. So each month I’ve focused on a different topic regarding how we can live "Faith First."
A year ago I chose the topic of "Fellowship" for October. I was going to write about how when we come together for the Rite of Confirmation and witness young people make a new commitment to their baptismal promises, we see our faith continued in fellowship with young and old. I was going to write about how when we hold our annual Lutefisk dinner, our entire community comes together to peel potatoes and rutabaga, to stand in a steamy cook shack, to gather together to share a meal with friends and strangers. I witnessed the Holy Spirit moving last year at Lutefisk when people sat down to share a meal, and as people waited for their food and re-connected with old friends and old memories.
So much for plans.
We will not gather in the same way for Confirmation and for Lutefisk as we have in the past. We will keep our distance at Confirmation, inviting only family to gather outside.
We will not sit down together to eat delicious meatballs and somewhat palatable – I mean – fragrant fish; we’ll eat it at home with our families.
What our fellowship looks like has necessarily been changed in order to keep the most vulnerable among us safe from a dangerous virus.
Yet even in this different reality, I want to assure you again that while our fellowship looks different and more distant, the Holy Spirit is still at work. The Spirit is present even at drive-in worship. The Spirit is present even as we worship through social media. The Spirit is present as children read their Story Bibles at home and not in their Sunday School classrooms. The Spirit will still be at work when we pick up fish from our car windows. The Holy Spirit never stops working.
Two of my favorite verses have sustained me, even as we have changed the way we worship and have fellowship:
Jesus promised in John 14:26-27: “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
And Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
The Spirit is still at work. May we recognize God’s Spirit in our lives.
Pastor Adam
Pastor's Page -- September 2020
Faith First in Parenting
This past week we sent out kids back to school. As parents we can prepare our kids as best we can. We buy them new shoes, we make sure they have water bottles, we get them masks to make sure they are as protected as they can be.
But anyone who has been a parent knows that eventually children begin to make their own choices.
Being a parent is difficult in that way. Parents want their kids taken care of, and protected, yet at the same time, we know that our children will have experiences out of our control. Children live their own lives.
When Jesus was in Jerusalem and saw people living lives and taking risks, and not always listening for what God had given them as guidelines in the scriptures, he said this, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings” (Matt. 23:37). Jesus wished that he could always keep God’s people close and protected.
Yet we continue to make our own choices and as parents, we continue to guide and protect as best we can.
As school has started up, some parents have decided that the best way for their kids to learn and be safe is to stay home. Some parents have decided, with thought and prayer, that bringing kids together at the school will be okay.
There’s no playbook for operating under a global pandemic, but we do our best and continue to pray for safety.
When we are at a loss as parents, we can always lift up our concerns to God in prayer. We can turn our hearts and minds to Christ who wants to protect us and wants us to walk in the Way of love and hope.
When Jesus was troubled, when Jesus was overwhelmed, the gospels attest that he would find time to go off by himself and pray. He would pray to the one he called, “Abba” or “Daddy.” Jesus looked to his parent too for guidance and assurance.
For those of us who are parents, our children often turn to us for guidance and assurance. And when we are unsure of the answer, we can turn to our parents, and even our grandparents who share their wisdom. We also turn to those professionals whom we trust.
And when we are still unsure, when we still worry about our children’s safety, we can always to turn to our parent God, who is a loving father, and like a mothering hen, always wishing to protect us, love us, and comfort all of God’s children.
During this difficult time, may we continue to trust the best science; may we continue to do what’s best for our kids; may we continue to pray, and trust in our God who cares for us.
Pastor Adam
This past week we sent out kids back to school. As parents we can prepare our kids as best we can. We buy them new shoes, we make sure they have water bottles, we get them masks to make sure they are as protected as they can be.
But anyone who has been a parent knows that eventually children begin to make their own choices.
Being a parent is difficult in that way. Parents want their kids taken care of, and protected, yet at the same time, we know that our children will have experiences out of our control. Children live their own lives.
When Jesus was in Jerusalem and saw people living lives and taking risks, and not always listening for what God had given them as guidelines in the scriptures, he said this, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings” (Matt. 23:37). Jesus wished that he could always keep God’s people close and protected.
Yet we continue to make our own choices and as parents, we continue to guide and protect as best we can.
As school has started up, some parents have decided that the best way for their kids to learn and be safe is to stay home. Some parents have decided, with thought and prayer, that bringing kids together at the school will be okay.
There’s no playbook for operating under a global pandemic, but we do our best and continue to pray for safety.
When we are at a loss as parents, we can always lift up our concerns to God in prayer. We can turn our hearts and minds to Christ who wants to protect us and wants us to walk in the Way of love and hope.
When Jesus was troubled, when Jesus was overwhelmed, the gospels attest that he would find time to go off by himself and pray. He would pray to the one he called, “Abba” or “Daddy.” Jesus looked to his parent too for guidance and assurance.
For those of us who are parents, our children often turn to us for guidance and assurance. And when we are unsure of the answer, we can turn to our parents, and even our grandparents who share their wisdom. We also turn to those professionals whom we trust.
And when we are still unsure, when we still worry about our children’s safety, we can always to turn to our parent God, who is a loving father, and like a mothering hen, always wishing to protect us, love us, and comfort all of God’s children.
During this difficult time, may we continue to trust the best science; may we continue to do what’s best for our kids; may we continue to pray, and trust in our God who cares for us.
Pastor Adam
Pastor's Page -- August 2020
Faith First in Play
Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” And he laid his hands on them and went on his way. -- Matthew 19:13-15
In the middle of a global pandemic, there have been days when things seem pretty bleak. There have been days when I just want this all to be over, and I want things to “just go back to normal, already!” But we will be living with a new reality for the foreseeable future. A new reality in which we are asked to take precautions for the well-being of our neighbors. To wear masks, not so much to protect ourselves, but to protect others, in case we might be infected without knowing it. It is noble and good to do what we can to protect and think first of our neighbor. But it is still tiring and wearying to be asked to live our lives differently and to cancel some of our plans.
So should we despair? Should we hide and be sad? There is a time to be sad, and a time to despair, as Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us.
I hope that in this time of trepidation, you find ways to play.
I know that there have been many opportunities to play in the summer that have been cancelled. Sporting events, concerts, community gatherings have all been taken from the summer of 2020. But there are still ways to get outdoors, enjoy the summer, and play.
I was fortunate to have gone with my family to Sugar Creek Bible Camp in July for a few days. The Camp had planned activities (all outdoors) so that families could have a chance to connect with one another, and with God even for a short amount of time, while keeping distance.
While we were there, I was happy to see my kids and other children find ways to just play, and enjoy their time. They learned new games, they discovered new plants, and saw lots of frogs, they ran in the rain, they made friendship bracelets.
Jesus said that it is to such people as children that the kingdom of heaven belongs. Often we think of this to mean innocence. I wonder if Jesus also meant people who are able to live in the moment, enjoying their time, playing, and appreciating life.
We live in truly cautious times. As you continue to take precautions for the good of our neighbors, I hope you can also find ways to live your faith in play. Living in the moment, enjoying the outdoors, taking life as it comes, and caring for God, God’s creation, and each other.
Find some time to play this month. And with faith like a child, trust that God plays with you.
May it indeed be so, and Amen.
-Pastor Adam Arends
Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” And he laid his hands on them and went on his way. -- Matthew 19:13-15
In the middle of a global pandemic, there have been days when things seem pretty bleak. There have been days when I just want this all to be over, and I want things to “just go back to normal, already!” But we will be living with a new reality for the foreseeable future. A new reality in which we are asked to take precautions for the well-being of our neighbors. To wear masks, not so much to protect ourselves, but to protect others, in case we might be infected without knowing it. It is noble and good to do what we can to protect and think first of our neighbor. But it is still tiring and wearying to be asked to live our lives differently and to cancel some of our plans.
So should we despair? Should we hide and be sad? There is a time to be sad, and a time to despair, as Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us.
I hope that in this time of trepidation, you find ways to play.
I know that there have been many opportunities to play in the summer that have been cancelled. Sporting events, concerts, community gatherings have all been taken from the summer of 2020. But there are still ways to get outdoors, enjoy the summer, and play.
I was fortunate to have gone with my family to Sugar Creek Bible Camp in July for a few days. The Camp had planned activities (all outdoors) so that families could have a chance to connect with one another, and with God even for a short amount of time, while keeping distance.
While we were there, I was happy to see my kids and other children find ways to just play, and enjoy their time. They learned new games, they discovered new plants, and saw lots of frogs, they ran in the rain, they made friendship bracelets.
Jesus said that it is to such people as children that the kingdom of heaven belongs. Often we think of this to mean innocence. I wonder if Jesus also meant people who are able to live in the moment, enjoying their time, playing, and appreciating life.
We live in truly cautious times. As you continue to take precautions for the good of our neighbors, I hope you can also find ways to live your faith in play. Living in the moment, enjoying the outdoors, taking life as it comes, and caring for God, God’s creation, and each other.
Find some time to play this month. And with faith like a child, trust that God plays with you.
May it indeed be so, and Amen.
-Pastor Adam Arends
Pastor's Page -- July 2020
Faith First in Call
This time of year many of you enjoy getting out onto the water. Some of you go fishing in nearby streams or on the Mississippi. Some of you go to cabins near lakes, and get out on your boat there. I don’t own a boat, but I’m looking into getting a kayak or a canoe as a way to exercise and be near water.
For those of you with fishing boats or pontoons, or bigger boats, one of the essential tools you use when you want to stay in one place on the water is your anchor. This simple tool, a big weight really, is dropped from your boat, connected to your boat with a strong rope. Your anchor keeps you pretty close to one spot so that you can fish in the place you want to, or jump off the pontoon without your boat drifting away.
The early Christians, starting right from the start of Christianity, the 1st t0 4th centuries especially, adopted the anchor as their symbol. The anchor reminded them that no matter how hard the wind would blow, how much the storm would rage, the anchor would keep them grounded, would keep them from drifting out to sea, would keep them connected.
As Christians, Christ is our anchor.
On July 15, I will have been serving God with you for an entire year. Looking back on this year, I could not have imagined that a full third of my first year as a pastor would be under a global pandemic.
If I’m honest with you, I was not fully prepared for this! There were not classes in seminary about how to pastor during a pandemic. During this time, I’ve had moments where I’ve felt that we’re doing okay, when I’ve felt connected to you all over Facebook, or over a phone call. There have been other times when I’ve felt at a loss about what to do next.
As Christians, Christ is our anchor.
During the sermon at my ordination service, my pastor and friend, Steve Biegner, pointed out to me all the ways that my skills and abilities could serve Christ and the Church universal as pastor. Even some of my attributes that I don’t think much about have been used by God.
Using our unique skills and abilities to serve God in the world in our work, in our family, with our friends, and in our play can seem overwhelming. It can seem that we are all on our own to help others.
As you go about your days, as you go to work, as you parent, as you keep in contact with family and friends, as you watch the news and wonder how all the anger and violence will be solved, I hope you will remember:
As Christians, Christ is our anchor.
We know that we are not alone, for Christ is our anchor. Rooting us in mercy, and love, and grace. When the world feels like one big storm, remember that you are anchored in Christ.
-Pastor Adam Arends
This time of year many of you enjoy getting out onto the water. Some of you go fishing in nearby streams or on the Mississippi. Some of you go to cabins near lakes, and get out on your boat there. I don’t own a boat, but I’m looking into getting a kayak or a canoe as a way to exercise and be near water.
For those of you with fishing boats or pontoons, or bigger boats, one of the essential tools you use when you want to stay in one place on the water is your anchor. This simple tool, a big weight really, is dropped from your boat, connected to your boat with a strong rope. Your anchor keeps you pretty close to one spot so that you can fish in the place you want to, or jump off the pontoon without your boat drifting away.
The early Christians, starting right from the start of Christianity, the 1st t0 4th centuries especially, adopted the anchor as their symbol. The anchor reminded them that no matter how hard the wind would blow, how much the storm would rage, the anchor would keep them grounded, would keep them from drifting out to sea, would keep them connected.
As Christians, Christ is our anchor.
On July 15, I will have been serving God with you for an entire year. Looking back on this year, I could not have imagined that a full third of my first year as a pastor would be under a global pandemic.
If I’m honest with you, I was not fully prepared for this! There were not classes in seminary about how to pastor during a pandemic. During this time, I’ve had moments where I’ve felt that we’re doing okay, when I’ve felt connected to you all over Facebook, or over a phone call. There have been other times when I’ve felt at a loss about what to do next.
As Christians, Christ is our anchor.
During the sermon at my ordination service, my pastor and friend, Steve Biegner, pointed out to me all the ways that my skills and abilities could serve Christ and the Church universal as pastor. Even some of my attributes that I don’t think much about have been used by God.
Using our unique skills and abilities to serve God in the world in our work, in our family, with our friends, and in our play can seem overwhelming. It can seem that we are all on our own to help others.
As you go about your days, as you go to work, as you parent, as you keep in contact with family and friends, as you watch the news and wonder how all the anger and violence will be solved, I hope you will remember:
As Christians, Christ is our anchor.
We know that we are not alone, for Christ is our anchor. Rooting us in mercy, and love, and grace. When the world feels like one big storm, remember that you are anchored in Christ.
-Pastor Adam Arends
Pastor's Page -- June 2020
Faith First in Creation
Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving to God the creator triumphantly raise
-ELW 881
This past April there was one particular day, it was the first really nice day, when suddenly I realized what it was like to live in rural Wisconsin. I suddenly understood that many of you here live not just by a calendar of week-to-week or month-to-month, but by season. This particular day I woke up to the sound of tractors moving everywhere. And this sound continued all day, into the night. Highway C was not just a shortcut for semis, and a path for local pick-ups, it was suddenly very clear that it was also a tractor speedway! There were tractors everywhere.
On that first good weather day in Spring, the farmers among us got to work, preparing the soil, planting seeds, and working to bring forth food from the earth.
In the weeks that have followed, I know many of you, like Kristen and my kids, have been planting vegetable gardens, and putting in flowers. These past few months we have returned to caring for the earth and in our own ways tending our gardens, small, big, and gigantic. This summer that work will continue.
Even though we are still asked to stay apart from each other during this global pandemic, we still praise God. We aren’t praising God together in our church buildings, but we take the chance to praise God along with all of creation. God is present in all God has made: the flowers, the trees, and all the animals.
Many of the Psalms speak to the way that God is present in all of creation. Take a look sometime this month at one of these Psalms: 8, 19, 24, 33, 65, 74, 95, 96, 102, 104, 121, 135, 139, 146. The Psalm writers were constantly making the connection that God created the earth and all that is in it, and God continues to work in and through creation. Creation in turn, gives glory to God through its beauty, balance, and bounty.
This month I give thanks for farmers and gardeners who deeply know what it means to have respect for the earth, to care for it, to tend it, and to leave it better than we found it for generations to come.
In Genesis we read that God created the earth and gave humans dominion over it. Often that word dominion has been interpreted as “do whatever you want.” But if someone gives you land to tend for a time, and expects it back someday, would you trash it? The root word that “dominion” comes from also gives us the word “domicile,” meaning home. God want us to treat the earth as our home, because it is. We are not separate from the earth, our lives are dependent on this world we call home.
This month I hope we will all take time to rejoice in creation. Go for a walk, a hike, tend your garden, run with your dog, play catch with your kids. Get outside and give thanks for creation.
I also hope you will look into what you can do to work for the protection and cleaning of God’s creation that we all depend on. Here’s a few places to find ways you can help conserve our natural resources (there are many more):
mississippivalleyconservancy.org
Trout Unlimited Wisconsin: wicouncil.tu.org
May the God of all creation, who loves all that they have made, including you, be with you today and always.
Peace + Grace,
Pastor Adam Arends
Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving to God the creator triumphantly raise
-ELW 881
This past April there was one particular day, it was the first really nice day, when suddenly I realized what it was like to live in rural Wisconsin. I suddenly understood that many of you here live not just by a calendar of week-to-week or month-to-month, but by season. This particular day I woke up to the sound of tractors moving everywhere. And this sound continued all day, into the night. Highway C was not just a shortcut for semis, and a path for local pick-ups, it was suddenly very clear that it was also a tractor speedway! There were tractors everywhere.
On that first good weather day in Spring, the farmers among us got to work, preparing the soil, planting seeds, and working to bring forth food from the earth.
In the weeks that have followed, I know many of you, like Kristen and my kids, have been planting vegetable gardens, and putting in flowers. These past few months we have returned to caring for the earth and in our own ways tending our gardens, small, big, and gigantic. This summer that work will continue.
Even though we are still asked to stay apart from each other during this global pandemic, we still praise God. We aren’t praising God together in our church buildings, but we take the chance to praise God along with all of creation. God is present in all God has made: the flowers, the trees, and all the animals.
Many of the Psalms speak to the way that God is present in all of creation. Take a look sometime this month at one of these Psalms: 8, 19, 24, 33, 65, 74, 95, 96, 102, 104, 121, 135, 139, 146. The Psalm writers were constantly making the connection that God created the earth and all that is in it, and God continues to work in and through creation. Creation in turn, gives glory to God through its beauty, balance, and bounty.
This month I give thanks for farmers and gardeners who deeply know what it means to have respect for the earth, to care for it, to tend it, and to leave it better than we found it for generations to come.
In Genesis we read that God created the earth and gave humans dominion over it. Often that word dominion has been interpreted as “do whatever you want.” But if someone gives you land to tend for a time, and expects it back someday, would you trash it? The root word that “dominion” comes from also gives us the word “domicile,” meaning home. God want us to treat the earth as our home, because it is. We are not separate from the earth, our lives are dependent on this world we call home.
This month I hope we will all take time to rejoice in creation. Go for a walk, a hike, tend your garden, run with your dog, play catch with your kids. Get outside and give thanks for creation.
I also hope you will look into what you can do to work for the protection and cleaning of God’s creation that we all depend on. Here’s a few places to find ways you can help conserve our natural resources (there are many more):
mississippivalleyconservancy.org
Trout Unlimited Wisconsin: wicouncil.tu.org
May the God of all creation, who loves all that they have made, including you, be with you today and always.
Peace + Grace,
Pastor Adam Arends
Pastor's Page -- May 2020
Faith First in the Emptiness
Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!
Christ Is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
The church is in the season of Easter for 7 weeks. It is a week of weeks in which we celebrate the Risen Christ. It’s a time when we loudly and proudly proclaim the words above!
And yet this year has been very different. Most years, we proclaim those words above loudly, together, in the same space so that the walls of the church shake, so that we are renewed by the Spirit of the living Christ who is present in and among us as we gather. When we speak out loud that “Christ is risen indeed!” and our hearts can feel the vibrations from the organ playing its loudest, and the brass ringing loudly, we feel in our bones that Christ truly is present, uniting us into one body.
This year is different.
As I record worship each week for broadcast on Facebook or YouTube, I know that many of you are able to watch the recording. I know that many of you have left comments or sent notes saying that our videos connect you to the church you are missing. And I’m honored to bring this word to you. Yet, if I’m being honest with you, I miss being in the church together with you as well. I miss the sound of the organ, the ring of your voices, the firm handshakes, the pats on the shoulder, the smiles on your faces.
This Easter is different.
It is not what we were expecting. This season is not what we had hoped for. This Easter season has sometimes felt like our churches: empty.
Some of you have been able to talk to me about how empty this time has felt for you. It is painful to have to be distant from those we love. It is difficult to have our hopes changed, and sometimes ended. It is difficult to live through having events cancelled. It is challenging to work from home and be a parent, and suddenly be a teacher. It is disappointing to be home, alone, and not be able to visit a spouse in a care facility. It is a burden to have been put on furlough, or to have been laid off, or to have lost your job altogether.
This is a difficult time.
This is a time when things feel empty.
And yet as followers of the Christ, we still proclaim, “Alleluia! He Is Risen.”
In the middle of our feeling empty, we can remember that there was something else in our Christian story that was empty: the tomb.
That first Easter the disciples of Christ, including the women who came to the tomb had hoped for something different. They had hoped to be delivered from the oppressive Roman Empire. And what they found was an empty tomb.
What they found was deliverance from fear and death. What they found was new life, following the Risen Christ, who lives among us still.
This different Easter season, in the middle of our emptiness, know that Christ is still risen. That Christ is still working among us, in the middle of our difficult time, in the middle or our sadness and disappointment, bringing a word of hope, and grace, and peace, just as he did to the disciples, appearing to them after the resurrection:
“Peace be with you.”
Pastor Adam Arends
Join us for worship each week on Facebook Live: Wednesdays at 7pm, Sundays at 10am facebook.com/NorthBeaverCreek
Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!
Christ Is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
The church is in the season of Easter for 7 weeks. It is a week of weeks in which we celebrate the Risen Christ. It’s a time when we loudly and proudly proclaim the words above!
And yet this year has been very different. Most years, we proclaim those words above loudly, together, in the same space so that the walls of the church shake, so that we are renewed by the Spirit of the living Christ who is present in and among us as we gather. When we speak out loud that “Christ is risen indeed!” and our hearts can feel the vibrations from the organ playing its loudest, and the brass ringing loudly, we feel in our bones that Christ truly is present, uniting us into one body.
This year is different.
As I record worship each week for broadcast on Facebook or YouTube, I know that many of you are able to watch the recording. I know that many of you have left comments or sent notes saying that our videos connect you to the church you are missing. And I’m honored to bring this word to you. Yet, if I’m being honest with you, I miss being in the church together with you as well. I miss the sound of the organ, the ring of your voices, the firm handshakes, the pats on the shoulder, the smiles on your faces.
This Easter is different.
It is not what we were expecting. This season is not what we had hoped for. This Easter season has sometimes felt like our churches: empty.
Some of you have been able to talk to me about how empty this time has felt for you. It is painful to have to be distant from those we love. It is difficult to have our hopes changed, and sometimes ended. It is difficult to live through having events cancelled. It is challenging to work from home and be a parent, and suddenly be a teacher. It is disappointing to be home, alone, and not be able to visit a spouse in a care facility. It is a burden to have been put on furlough, or to have been laid off, or to have lost your job altogether.
This is a difficult time.
This is a time when things feel empty.
And yet as followers of the Christ, we still proclaim, “Alleluia! He Is Risen.”
In the middle of our feeling empty, we can remember that there was something else in our Christian story that was empty: the tomb.
That first Easter the disciples of Christ, including the women who came to the tomb had hoped for something different. They had hoped to be delivered from the oppressive Roman Empire. And what they found was an empty tomb.
What they found was deliverance from fear and death. What they found was new life, following the Risen Christ, who lives among us still.
This different Easter season, in the middle of our emptiness, know that Christ is still risen. That Christ is still working among us, in the middle of our difficult time, in the middle or our sadness and disappointment, bringing a word of hope, and grace, and peace, just as he did to the disciples, appearing to them after the resurrection:
“Peace be with you.”
Pastor Adam Arends
Join us for worship each week on Facebook Live: Wednesdays at 7pm, Sundays at 10am facebook.com/NorthBeaverCreek
Pastor's Page -- April 2020
Faith First in the Darkest Valleys
Our entire way of life has been interrupted in these last few weeks. For the health of the most vulnerable among us, we have been asked to stay home, physically distant from our co-workers, our loved ones, and our friends.
As your pastor it has been especially difficult for me to say out loud that we will not be meeting in person to worship while the governor’s “Safer at Home” order is in place. Yet staying at home, and keeping our distance in public places, is the best, most faithful thing we can do right now. When Jesus was asked what the most important law was, he answered:
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40)
The best way for us to love our neighbors in this time is to keep them safe and do what we can to keep them away from illness. And so our church buildings will be closed as long as our government officials ask us to keep our distance. This does not mean that we cannot worship. This does not mean that we are not still the church! The church is the people, the body of Christ, not a building. So as we are physically distant, here are some ways that you can continue to love God and be the body of Christ together:
Worship
North Beaver Creek Online at www.facebook.com/NorthBeaverCreek :
- Wednesday Devotions @ 6:30pm (April 1, 15, 22, 29)
- Maundy Thursday @ 6:30pm, April 9
- Good Friday @ 7pm, April 10
- Sundays @ 10am
Sunday Radio Broadcasts
- 580AM @ 8:30am with Trinity Lutheran in La Crosse. (Pastor Adam will be a part of these services April 5th and 12th)
- 99.7FM @ 10:30am with Evangelical Lutheran in Black River Falls.
Community
Take a moment each week, maybe Sunday afternoon, to call someone from our congregation that you don’t normally call. Ask them how they are. Ask them about family. Ask for prayer concerns. Pray together, starting or ending with the Lord’s Prayer. Check in with your neighbors.
Prayer
Putting our Faith First in scary times means continuing to worship, even from home, checking in with our neighbors, and praying. Here’s a prayer for people in difficult times:
All that I love
into Your keeping.
All that I care for
into Your care.
Be with us by day,
be with us by night;
and as dark closes
the eyelids with sleep,
may I waken
to the peace of a new day.
As Christians, each year about this time, we are reminded of when Jesus faced death and fear, to the seemingly most hopeless of days on the Cross.
Yet it is also, we know, that through the Cross, through death, that Christ led the world to new life. Even in the darkest of times, through Christ we have hope that new life begins again.
And when it is safe to meet again in person, we will rejoice together in that new life.
Peace + Grace,
Pastor Adam
Our entire way of life has been interrupted in these last few weeks. For the health of the most vulnerable among us, we have been asked to stay home, physically distant from our co-workers, our loved ones, and our friends.
As your pastor it has been especially difficult for me to say out loud that we will not be meeting in person to worship while the governor’s “Safer at Home” order is in place. Yet staying at home, and keeping our distance in public places, is the best, most faithful thing we can do right now. When Jesus was asked what the most important law was, he answered:
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40)
The best way for us to love our neighbors in this time is to keep them safe and do what we can to keep them away from illness. And so our church buildings will be closed as long as our government officials ask us to keep our distance. This does not mean that we cannot worship. This does not mean that we are not still the church! The church is the people, the body of Christ, not a building. So as we are physically distant, here are some ways that you can continue to love God and be the body of Christ together:
Worship
North Beaver Creek Online at www.facebook.com/NorthBeaverCreek :
- Wednesday Devotions @ 6:30pm (April 1, 15, 22, 29)
- Maundy Thursday @ 6:30pm, April 9
- Good Friday @ 7pm, April 10
- Sundays @ 10am
Sunday Radio Broadcasts
- 580AM @ 8:30am with Trinity Lutheran in La Crosse. (Pastor Adam will be a part of these services April 5th and 12th)
- 99.7FM @ 10:30am with Evangelical Lutheran in Black River Falls.
Community
Take a moment each week, maybe Sunday afternoon, to call someone from our congregation that you don’t normally call. Ask them how they are. Ask them about family. Ask for prayer concerns. Pray together, starting or ending with the Lord’s Prayer. Check in with your neighbors.
Prayer
Putting our Faith First in scary times means continuing to worship, even from home, checking in with our neighbors, and praying. Here’s a prayer for people in difficult times:
All that I love
into Your keeping.
All that I care for
into Your care.
Be with us by day,
be with us by night;
and as dark closes
the eyelids with sleep,
may I waken
to the peace of a new day.
As Christians, each year about this time, we are reminded of when Jesus faced death and fear, to the seemingly most hopeless of days on the Cross.
Yet it is also, we know, that through the Cross, through death, that Christ led the world to new life. Even in the darkest of times, through Christ we have hope that new life begins again.
And when it is safe to meet again in person, we will rejoice together in that new life.
Peace + Grace,
Pastor Adam
Pastor's Page -- March 2020
Faith First in Turning Around
As we begin the season of Lent, the words from our liturgy come to mind: “In your compassion forgive our sins, known and unknown, things we have done and things we have failed to do. Turn us again to you…”
Each week as we gather in worship we say these words together, admitting where we have fallen short, asking for forgiveness of the harm we have caused through action or inaction, and then we pray that we might repent. The word “repent” has come to sound threatening to some. But repentance is nothing but the simple and often extremely difficult act of turning around and getting back in line with what God hopes for us.
Repentance, turning around, is an act of hope. An act of hope in God’s love and mercy, and an act of love towards a community that will support us.
Repentance, turning toward God, can feel especially challenging when one feels alone, or when it seems that God is distant.
I ran across this passage in a prayer book which has helped prepare me for the season of Lent:
“Our Lord is a seasonal God; God comes, God departs. God’s faithfulness never changes, but God’s seasons do! There are seasons when the tree is green, there are seasons when it is dry, and seasons when, for the life of us, the thing looks dead. Now does this mean you are serving some capricious God who comes and goes by whim? Or, could it be, that it is only through seasons that true growth may come?
Paul said, ‘Does not nature teach us?’ Fruit from a tree comes to us as a result of three or four seasons.
The Christian and the Lord’s body both need rain and sunshine, cold and hot, wind and doldrums.” (Gene Edwards)
Surrounded by the cold for months, wrapped up in my coat and holed up in my house for the winter, I sometimes feel that I’m all on my own. The cold can make me feel far from others and far from God. And in my darkest winter moments this distance can make me feel that maybe it doesn’t matter if I turn around from harmful things I’ve done and ways that I have not acted.
I am reminded that in Faith there are seasons of doubt, and distance. That doesn’t mean that God has gone. In fact, God is always there, surrounding us, and living with us in all seasons. And it matters that we turn around.
As we take a look at our actions this season of Lent, may we have eyes to see the God who is always with us, even when we take the difficult path to turn around in Faith.
Pastor Adam Arends
As we begin the season of Lent, the words from our liturgy come to mind: “In your compassion forgive our sins, known and unknown, things we have done and things we have failed to do. Turn us again to you…”
Each week as we gather in worship we say these words together, admitting where we have fallen short, asking for forgiveness of the harm we have caused through action or inaction, and then we pray that we might repent. The word “repent” has come to sound threatening to some. But repentance is nothing but the simple and often extremely difficult act of turning around and getting back in line with what God hopes for us.
Repentance, turning around, is an act of hope. An act of hope in God’s love and mercy, and an act of love towards a community that will support us.
Repentance, turning toward God, can feel especially challenging when one feels alone, or when it seems that God is distant.
I ran across this passage in a prayer book which has helped prepare me for the season of Lent:
“Our Lord is a seasonal God; God comes, God departs. God’s faithfulness never changes, but God’s seasons do! There are seasons when the tree is green, there are seasons when it is dry, and seasons when, for the life of us, the thing looks dead. Now does this mean you are serving some capricious God who comes and goes by whim? Or, could it be, that it is only through seasons that true growth may come?
Paul said, ‘Does not nature teach us?’ Fruit from a tree comes to us as a result of three or four seasons.
The Christian and the Lord’s body both need rain and sunshine, cold and hot, wind and doldrums.” (Gene Edwards)
Surrounded by the cold for months, wrapped up in my coat and holed up in my house for the winter, I sometimes feel that I’m all on my own. The cold can make me feel far from others and far from God. And in my darkest winter moments this distance can make me feel that maybe it doesn’t matter if I turn around from harmful things I’ve done and ways that I have not acted.
I am reminded that in Faith there are seasons of doubt, and distance. That doesn’t mean that God has gone. In fact, God is always there, surrounding us, and living with us in all seasons. And it matters that we turn around.
As we take a look at our actions this season of Lent, may we have eyes to see the God who is always with us, even when we take the difficult path to turn around in Faith.
Pastor Adam Arends
Pastor's Page -- February 2020
Faith First in Love
February is an interesting month in the life of the church. In our cultural lives we will see bright displays and tv commercials and posts on social media full of red hearts and talking about love. St. Valentine’s Day has become a day when our culture expects us to have a date, buy our loved one chocolates or flowers, and maybe go to dinner and a movie.
In contrast, at the end of February, Protestants and Catholics begin the season of Lent with our worship on Ash Wednesday, which this year is February 26. (You are welcome to join us for supper at 6 and worship at 7 at the white building!) On Ash Wednesday, we remember that our time on earth is temporary with the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
This remembrance is a somber one. Yet I believe that it is also a remembrance full of love. We remember that it is through God that we have our creation. God breathes life into us. God knows us, all about us, and loves us anyway. God wants us to show love and compassion to all we meet.
As we prepare our hearts and lives for the season of Lent, we are wise to focus on love. And with Faith First in our lives, we trust that though our lives are short, God’s love never leaves us. Living in Faith we know that the love that comes from Christ is real, and expansive, and never-ending.
So as you walk past displays of teddy bears with red ribbons, and see commercials which would have you believe that buying things is the best way to show love, remember that beneath all that, God created you from the dust and God loves you and everyone you meet. This is at the core of our Lutheran Christian faith. We are saved by undeserved grace and love through the faith we have in Christ. Let’s put that faith in God’s love first in our lives.
And as we are covered in that undeserved love and grace, we are moved to show that grace and mercy to others. Let’s live this month faithfully in God’s love.
God loves you,
Pastor Adam Arends
February is an interesting month in the life of the church. In our cultural lives we will see bright displays and tv commercials and posts on social media full of red hearts and talking about love. St. Valentine’s Day has become a day when our culture expects us to have a date, buy our loved one chocolates or flowers, and maybe go to dinner and a movie.
In contrast, at the end of February, Protestants and Catholics begin the season of Lent with our worship on Ash Wednesday, which this year is February 26. (You are welcome to join us for supper at 6 and worship at 7 at the white building!) On Ash Wednesday, we remember that our time on earth is temporary with the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
This remembrance is a somber one. Yet I believe that it is also a remembrance full of love. We remember that it is through God that we have our creation. God breathes life into us. God knows us, all about us, and loves us anyway. God wants us to show love and compassion to all we meet.
As we prepare our hearts and lives for the season of Lent, we are wise to focus on love. And with Faith First in our lives, we trust that though our lives are short, God’s love never leaves us. Living in Faith we know that the love that comes from Christ is real, and expansive, and never-ending.
So as you walk past displays of teddy bears with red ribbons, and see commercials which would have you believe that buying things is the best way to show love, remember that beneath all that, God created you from the dust and God loves you and everyone you meet. This is at the core of our Lutheran Christian faith. We are saved by undeserved grace and love through the faith we have in Christ. Let’s put that faith in God’s love first in our lives.
And as we are covered in that undeserved love and grace, we are moved to show that grace and mercy to others. Let’s live this month faithfully in God’s love.
God loves you,
Pastor Adam Arends
Pastor's Page -- January 2020
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:16
“Why are you lighting that candle today? Is it my birthday?” The little girl asked.
“No it’s not your birthday.” Dad replied. “Four years ago we took you to church on this day, and the pastor held you, and put water on your head three times, then made the sign of the cross on your forehead and said, ‘You are marked by the cross of Christ and sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit, forever.’ It was the day of your baptism when we acknowledged in front of all the people, that you are a child of God.”
“Okay. But what about the candle?”
“After you were baptized, one of the people at the church gave this candle to me and your mom, and said that we should light it every year to remind you of the day you were baptized. And they said, ‘Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven,”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that because God shows us love in all sorts of ways, like light from this candle, we should share that love too, like heat from a flame warms people who are close.”
As we enter the season of epiphany, we remember that this is also the season of light. As a kid I thought it was a bit strange that the church talked so much about light at the darkest time of the year. “Why don’t we talk about light when it is very bright in July?” I used to think. But as an adult, it became very clear to me why the church began to focus on light in the darkest time of the year.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. – Isaiah 9:2, Matthew 4:16
We live in a world that is full of darkness, and not just the darkness that descends in December, January, and February.
In a world full of violence, division, cruelty, greed, and sometimes outright evil, we need a reminder of whose we are, and how we have been made. Lighting candles in Epiphany reminds us that we do not walk without light. We walk with the light of Christ within us. We walk as people welcomed into the body of Christ in baptism, made new, light-filled people through the Holy Spirit.
So find a candle, maybe even your baptismal candle, and light it in January, light it in February, and remember that the light of Christ shines in you. You are a child of the light, even when it seems that there is no light. Even when death seems to surround you. Even when sadness overwhelms.
God is with us, reminding us that we are God’s children, full of light.
Light a candle, and know that Christ’s light shines through you. – Pastor Adam Arends
Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:16
“Why are you lighting that candle today? Is it my birthday?” The little girl asked.
“No it’s not your birthday.” Dad replied. “Four years ago we took you to church on this day, and the pastor held you, and put water on your head three times, then made the sign of the cross on your forehead and said, ‘You are marked by the cross of Christ and sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit, forever.’ It was the day of your baptism when we acknowledged in front of all the people, that you are a child of God.”
“Okay. But what about the candle?”
“After you were baptized, one of the people at the church gave this candle to me and your mom, and said that we should light it every year to remind you of the day you were baptized. And they said, ‘Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven,”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that because God shows us love in all sorts of ways, like light from this candle, we should share that love too, like heat from a flame warms people who are close.”
As we enter the season of epiphany, we remember that this is also the season of light. As a kid I thought it was a bit strange that the church talked so much about light at the darkest time of the year. “Why don’t we talk about light when it is very bright in July?” I used to think. But as an adult, it became very clear to me why the church began to focus on light in the darkest time of the year.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. – Isaiah 9:2, Matthew 4:16
We live in a world that is full of darkness, and not just the darkness that descends in December, January, and February.
In a world full of violence, division, cruelty, greed, and sometimes outright evil, we need a reminder of whose we are, and how we have been made. Lighting candles in Epiphany reminds us that we do not walk without light. We walk with the light of Christ within us. We walk as people welcomed into the body of Christ in baptism, made new, light-filled people through the Holy Spirit.
So find a candle, maybe even your baptismal candle, and light it in January, light it in February, and remember that the light of Christ shines in you. You are a child of the light, even when it seems that there is no light. Even when death seems to surround you. Even when sadness overwhelms.
God is with us, reminding us that we are God’s children, full of light.
Light a candle, and know that Christ’s light shines through you. – Pastor Adam Arends
Pastor's Page -- December 2019
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Matthew 11:4-6
“My heart shall sing of the day you bring. / Let the fires of your justice burn. / Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, / and the world is about to turn.” Canticle of the Turning (ELW 723), based on the Magnificat of Mary
Waiting.
I used to think that I was a very patient man. And then my wife and I started a family. And having children has made me reconsider just how patient I really am! If you have children, or have ever met a child, perhaps you know what I mean.
Advent is a time of waiting. A time when we as Christians acknowledge that even as we know that Christ died and rose again, ushering in a new Reign of God, we are, at the same time, still waiting for the perfection of God’s Reign to be fulfilled. And this can try our patience, and make us wonder how patient we really are.
Because what Jesus brought into the world in his ministry: healing the sick, restoring creation, raising the dead, and proclaiming Good News, this is what we are all waiting for again. Jesus brought healing, yet we all know those who are waiting to be healed. Jesus allowed some to truly see with new sight, and we yearn to have that same spiritual insight. Jesus conquered death, yet we still live in fear.
Advent is a time of waiting. Yet it is also a time of hope. Children, while they may try our patience, also bring hope for a family. A new child brings hope and a new way of looking at the world. Children surprise us with their optimism and creativity, bringing a new perspective.
I love the hymn we call the Canticle of the Turning. It is based on Mary’s song she sings when she is called blessed by her friend Elizabeth in the Gospel of Luke. Mary doesn’t just sing about the hope she has for her child. She sings a song acknowledging that the child she brings will bring hope and change not just to her family, but the entire world. She sings about bringing a child whose justice will change the world: whose life, death, resurrection and ascension will bring about a time when all tears will be wiped away, and a new day will dawn. Jesus brings a new perspective and hope not just for Mary and Joseph, but for us all.
This December, as we acknowledge our waiting, let’s also acknowledge the hope we have that a new world is about to turn.
A world where Christ will restore the world to wholeness.
Amen.
Pastor Adam Arends
A world where Christ will restore the world to wholeness.
Amen.
Pastor Adam Arends
Pastor's Page -- November 2019
Giving Thanks
Well my friends, I survived. I had a taste of fish soaked in lye and I am here to tell the tale! My first Lutefisk dinner at North Beaver Creek Lutheran Church was a wonderful experience. Despite needing to wash my clothes multiple times to rid them of a certain aroma, I had a joyful dinner with our community.
There seemed to be a palpable positive energy in the air of the white church as preparations were made in the days leading up to the dinner. The white building was cleaned and decorated. Confirmation students counted out plates and placemats and napkins. Food was bought and prepared. Many of you knew your task (even if that task was getting ready to buy tickets or hanging up a poster) and carried it out to perfection.
On Friday I was invited to peel rutabagas on Saturday morning. At first I was a bit trepidatious about accepting this invitation as I had never before seen a rutabaga, much less peeled one. But I went to peel with a group of men, and in this invitation I found people sharing stories, supporting each other, and inviting new people to the group.
Like many of you as we got ready to go the dinner, I invited my family to eat with us. My parents love lutefisk, so they were excited to join the dinner. My brother and sister-in-law were already planning to join my parents for the weekend, and while they were a bit skeptical of the translucent fish, they were glad to be a part of the gathering. As we got to the dinner, I saw many families gathering together to share a meal.
Sunday morning, attendance at worship in the brick church was a bit lighter than usual as many of our regulars were gathered at the white building and cooking shanty as they prepared for worship of a different kind. They gathered to prepare a meal of simple food reflecting the cultural heritage of many of the ancestors of this area. Tickets were sold, raising funds which will be distributed to feed hungry people, aid those in need, and help young people to hear the Word.
As the Sanctuary of what was once First Lutheran church filled up with hungry diners waiting to go to the basement to eat, people shared stories of the many meals that they had eaten in this basement, and of travel they had taken, and of relatives they now miss.
While the conversation in the lutefisk shanty and the basement around a table might sound a bit different than our conversations on most Sunday morning, when we worship on Sundays, we follow the same pattern: we invite others to worship with us, we prepare ourselves for worship, we gather together as one body, we share the stories of the Word of God, we share a meal, and we give thanks for what we have and for the grace and love which God provides in Christ, and we share our gifts with others, going out into the world to share that love that we have found. May we continue to live lives which give thanks for all we have been given, as we do when we gather to celebrate around some smelly, smelly fish.
Pastor Adam Arends
Well my friends, I survived. I had a taste of fish soaked in lye and I am here to tell the tale! My first Lutefisk dinner at North Beaver Creek Lutheran Church was a wonderful experience. Despite needing to wash my clothes multiple times to rid them of a certain aroma, I had a joyful dinner with our community.
There seemed to be a palpable positive energy in the air of the white church as preparations were made in the days leading up to the dinner. The white building was cleaned and decorated. Confirmation students counted out plates and placemats and napkins. Food was bought and prepared. Many of you knew your task (even if that task was getting ready to buy tickets or hanging up a poster) and carried it out to perfection.
On Friday I was invited to peel rutabagas on Saturday morning. At first I was a bit trepidatious about accepting this invitation as I had never before seen a rutabaga, much less peeled one. But I went to peel with a group of men, and in this invitation I found people sharing stories, supporting each other, and inviting new people to the group.
Like many of you as we got ready to go the dinner, I invited my family to eat with us. My parents love lutefisk, so they were excited to join the dinner. My brother and sister-in-law were already planning to join my parents for the weekend, and while they were a bit skeptical of the translucent fish, they were glad to be a part of the gathering. As we got to the dinner, I saw many families gathering together to share a meal.
Sunday morning, attendance at worship in the brick church was a bit lighter than usual as many of our regulars were gathered at the white building and cooking shanty as they prepared for worship of a different kind. They gathered to prepare a meal of simple food reflecting the cultural heritage of many of the ancestors of this area. Tickets were sold, raising funds which will be distributed to feed hungry people, aid those in need, and help young people to hear the Word.
As the Sanctuary of what was once First Lutheran church filled up with hungry diners waiting to go to the basement to eat, people shared stories of the many meals that they had eaten in this basement, and of travel they had taken, and of relatives they now miss.
While the conversation in the lutefisk shanty and the basement around a table might sound a bit different than our conversations on most Sunday morning, when we worship on Sundays, we follow the same pattern: we invite others to worship with us, we prepare ourselves for worship, we gather together as one body, we share the stories of the Word of God, we share a meal, and we give thanks for what we have and for the grace and love which God provides in Christ, and we share our gifts with others, going out into the world to share that love that we have found. May we continue to live lives which give thanks for all we have been given, as we do when we gather to celebrate around some smelly, smelly fish.
Pastor Adam Arends
Pastor's Page -- October 2019
We Hold the Faith Together
I didn’t want to be a pastor. Not for a long time, anyway! (Don’t worry, I changed my mind.) As a pastor’s kid I didn’t want to just do what was expected and be a pastor like my dad. So I tried out a whole bunch of other things.
Part of what held me back was that I thought I had to know all there was about faith and the Bible before I could teach others about God. I thought that I had to believe everything about God as the Lutheran church believes all the time, without question, in order to be a pastor.
That changed for me when in two separate places, from two different people, I heard the same message: “We hold the faith together, and together we hold the faith.” We don’t do faith alone. There may be days when my faith is strong, and there are other days when I have more questions than trust. And that’s okay! Because together, as a community of faith, as the people of the church, as the body of Christ, we lift each other up, and through our lifting up, we share the love of God in Christ.
This month we have wonderful opportunities to lift each other up and hold our faith together in welcome and thanksgiving. On the 6th we welcome 7 young people into the congregation as confirmed members. These young persons will say “Yes!” to God’s Yes. God, through the Holy Spirit welcomed them in baptism, and now they continue their life of faith by affirming what was promised in their baptism. Young people (and many older people too) have lots of questions about faith. Let us all support each other in our lives of faith.
At the end of the month we welcome hundreds of people into a church basement to serve them fragrant fish, mighty meatballs, and piles of potatoes. This celebration we throw is a way to honor the Scandinavian heritage of many of our members, and it is also a powerful witness to the love Christ first showed us. We eat together as a community, lifting each other up, and then we use the funds raised by this meal to support organizations in our community who feed the hungry, clothe those in need of clothing, and care for those in need. Thanks be to God that we do this together!
God, thank you for community, and that we don’t live out faith alone. Amen
I didn’t want to be a pastor. Not for a long time, anyway! (Don’t worry, I changed my mind.) As a pastor’s kid I didn’t want to just do what was expected and be a pastor like my dad. So I tried out a whole bunch of other things.
Part of what held me back was that I thought I had to know all there was about faith and the Bible before I could teach others about God. I thought that I had to believe everything about God as the Lutheran church believes all the time, without question, in order to be a pastor.
That changed for me when in two separate places, from two different people, I heard the same message: “We hold the faith together, and together we hold the faith.” We don’t do faith alone. There may be days when my faith is strong, and there are other days when I have more questions than trust. And that’s okay! Because together, as a community of faith, as the people of the church, as the body of Christ, we lift each other up, and through our lifting up, we share the love of God in Christ.
This month we have wonderful opportunities to lift each other up and hold our faith together in welcome and thanksgiving. On the 6th we welcome 7 young people into the congregation as confirmed members. These young persons will say “Yes!” to God’s Yes. God, through the Holy Spirit welcomed them in baptism, and now they continue their life of faith by affirming what was promised in their baptism. Young people (and many older people too) have lots of questions about faith. Let us all support each other in our lives of faith.
At the end of the month we welcome hundreds of people into a church basement to serve them fragrant fish, mighty meatballs, and piles of potatoes. This celebration we throw is a way to honor the Scandinavian heritage of many of our members, and it is also a powerful witness to the love Christ first showed us. We eat together as a community, lifting each other up, and then we use the funds raised by this meal to support organizations in our community who feed the hungry, clothe those in need of clothing, and care for those in need. Thanks be to God that we do this together!
God, thank you for community, and that we don’t live out faith alone. Amen
Pastor's Page -- September 2019
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
(2 Corinthians 5:16-17)
Are you starting to see it? Can you see that there are new things happening?
September is a time when things get started again. Our kids are back at school, teachers are back to teaching, parents are able to get back on a regular routine. We will celebrate with our community at Cheese Fest in Blair (you’re invited to community worship at the High School, Sept. 15 at 9:30am). At church, we will soon have Rally Day (September 22) when the children get a fresh start in learning about our God of love; our confirmation class begins again for the year (September 25 at 4:30 – parents invited!); and we get other programs ready to start.
While the fun, busy times of summer begin to come to an end, September is a time of coming back together in community and regular routines.
This September is a particularly joyful time for me as I begin my first year of ministry with and among you. We will celebrate on Rally Day, at a baptism, and a wedding. We will welcome the little children and we will teach them what it is to live lives of faith.
As we begin this year, I pray that we can together live into the promise of new life that Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians. When we gather to learn about God’s word, to worship God, and experience the love of Christ, we are participating in that new life in Christ. We are made new to live out faithful lives in service to God and our neighbors. We can continue to live that life of faith as we go to work, visit friends and families, care for loved ones who are ill, and enjoy our days.
This month in our readings on Sundays we will have some challenging words from Jesus as to how we live a life following his way. As we navigate together what that challenge means for each of us in our own daily lives, may we remember that we are free to live lives of service to one another, because Christ has set us free from all that which weighs us down. We are free to live lives of faith because of the love of God found in Jesus. And let’s remember that we do not do this alone. Our God is with us, and so are our siblings in faith: that great cloud of witnesses, and those we see in worship on Sunday.
Through God’s love, may we live together our new lives in Christ.
Peace + Grace,
Pastor Adam Arends
(2 Corinthians 5:16-17)
Are you starting to see it? Can you see that there are new things happening?
September is a time when things get started again. Our kids are back at school, teachers are back to teaching, parents are able to get back on a regular routine. We will celebrate with our community at Cheese Fest in Blair (you’re invited to community worship at the High School, Sept. 15 at 9:30am). At church, we will soon have Rally Day (September 22) when the children get a fresh start in learning about our God of love; our confirmation class begins again for the year (September 25 at 4:30 – parents invited!); and we get other programs ready to start.
While the fun, busy times of summer begin to come to an end, September is a time of coming back together in community and regular routines.
This September is a particularly joyful time for me as I begin my first year of ministry with and among you. We will celebrate on Rally Day, at a baptism, and a wedding. We will welcome the little children and we will teach them what it is to live lives of faith.
As we begin this year, I pray that we can together live into the promise of new life that Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians. When we gather to learn about God’s word, to worship God, and experience the love of Christ, we are participating in that new life in Christ. We are made new to live out faithful lives in service to God and our neighbors. We can continue to live that life of faith as we go to work, visit friends and families, care for loved ones who are ill, and enjoy our days.
This month in our readings on Sundays we will have some challenging words from Jesus as to how we live a life following his way. As we navigate together what that challenge means for each of us in our own daily lives, may we remember that we are free to live lives of service to one another, because Christ has set us free from all that which weighs us down. We are free to live lives of faith because of the love of God found in Jesus. And let’s remember that we do not do this alone. Our God is with us, and so are our siblings in faith: that great cloud of witnesses, and those we see in worship on Sunday.
Through God’s love, may we live together our new lives in Christ.
Peace + Grace,
Pastor Adam Arends
