CHRIST Is Risen! WE Are Risen! Alleluia!

Dear Friends in Christ:
On Easter Day, we will gather to worship. If Jesus Christ were not risen, there would be no reason to come see and hear! There would be no Christian faith! There would be no Church!

We will come “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again” (1 Thessalonians 4:14)! “Jesus has been raised from the dead” (Matthew 28:7)! “Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’” (John 20:18)!

Our celebration of Easter is rooted in the testimony of the New Testament’s Easter Event. Easter directs and controls our lives because it happens again and again. The Risen Lord Jesus is with us always!

• She died after a long illness, the loss deeply felt by all who knew her, none more than her children and grandchildren. But what happened then was that each member of her family who had been left behind sought and found a new direction.
• The dismissal from his job was unexpected, unannounced, swift, and cruel. One day he was on the way up, and the next he was out, his career over. He became an author, consultant, public figure and speaker. As he and his wife looked back, twenty years later, both agreed that these years had been the happiest of their life together.
• Before the invention of the new surgical procedure that removed all the cancer from his spinal cord, he was completely paralyzed. Now he was cured, but confined to a wheelchair. The next book he wrote bore the title, A Whole New Life, and proclaimed eloquently and completely that his new life was not only different but superior to the fifty years he had already lived.

The power of the risen Christ is present not just once upon a time, but constantly in new and exciting ways! Our future hope is because Easter happens again and again. Yes, death happens. But after death happens, new life begins!

CHRIST Is Risen! WE Are Risen! Alleluia! Thanks be to God!

—Pastor David Fetter

An Important Message from Our Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America "Proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable ... do the work of an evangelist... " (2 Timothy 4:2a, 5b)

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

"Bishop Hanson, what is your number one priority for the ELCA?" The question was addressed to me recently with great clarity and a desire for specificity. My answer? That we be an evangelizing church. The questioner nodded with what I took to be a gesture of agreement and walked away.

I am curious how my questioner would have responded to his own question. And I am interested in your response. I wish we could have had further conversation, because the question is both important and urgent. The urgency was brought home again this week by the Chicago Tribune headline that read, "Many in U.S. leave their churches."

Research by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life documents a decrease in U.S. adults who identify themselves as Catholic or Protestant and an increase -- doubling to 16 percent -- in those who are not affiliated with a religion. I have growing commitment to, and appreciation for, the fact that we boldly declare that we are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. With that name it's tempting to distinguish ourselves from "those other evangelicals" but I prefer to make a consistently clear and constructive affirmation of what it does mean that we are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

To be evangelical means that:

• We are a church body centered in the good news that we are saved by God's grace through faith for Jesus' sake.
• The Holy Spirit is at work through the proclamation of that evangel and lives are changed -- strangers are welcomed, sins are forgiven, doubt gives way to faith, despair turns to hope, the people living in poverty hear good news, the oppressed are set free.
• The church is "the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is proclaimed in its purity and the holy sacraments are dministered according to the gospel" (AC VII).
• In Christ we are set free and sent into the world to bear witness in word and deed to the evangel -- serving our neighbor, seeking the common good, striving for justice and peace in all the earth. Being evangelicals in a Lutheran key permeates the life and work of this church.
• We read and interpret the Bible evangelically -- listening for "what urges Christ" (was Christum treibt).
• We worship evangelically -- gathering around the means of grace.
• We live evangelically -- forgiving as we have been forgiven, inviting people to new life in Christ, walking together the way of the cross.
• We lead evangelically -- as servants of the Word, bearing Christ to our neighbor.

How are we doing as an evangelizing church? That is an important question to ponder as we seek to hold each other accountable. The challenges of this moment in history can be discouraging, especially if we succumb to the great pressures on us. Rostered leaders serving congregations are expected to attract and hold members in an increasingly competitive and consumer-oriented religious market place. Many of you are serving congregations that have experienced significant losses, which often can lead to a nostalgic longing for an idealized past that depletes energies for ministry today. You face the challenge of supporting mission beyond the congregation when resources are diminishing or inadequate. We can lose ourselves in discouragement when we view ministry as if it were all about us.

Rather than wondering anxiously "how are we doing?" by ourselves, I invite you, as a Lenten discipline, to take a fresh and confident look at where we are by asking the question out of your daily baptismal renewal: "What is God doing with and among us?" On the cross all of our self-absorbed attempts to "survive" or save ourselves were crucified. Through the gospel the Holy Spirit claims, gathers, and sends us into a new life as an evangelizing church for the sake of the world. The Holy Spirit is the source of our power, strength, and gifts as together we proclaim Christ and engage in God's mission for the life of the world. In this mission we follow the way of the cross, losing our lives for Christ's sake and for the sake of the gospel. A cruciform ministry with brokenness, vulnerability, and forgiveness at its center invites us together to seek to discern the mind of Christ and to live as an evangelizing people. As a result, an evangelizing church will be present where people are being persecuted for their faith, where the reality of poverty and violence diminishes abundant life, and where the creation groans in travail. An evangelizing church will be present, proclaiming Christ and bearing witness to all, including
those who claim "no religion."

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is and will be an evangelizing church. I invite you to join me in embracing and celebrating this call with new energy and passion.

In God's grace,
Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop

(I thank Bishop Hanson for his leadership and inspiration!
—Pastor David Fetter)

“The Body of Christ”

Dear Friends in Christ:

In First Corinthians 12:27 St. Paul writes: “You are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

This past Saturday morning, a good-sized group of Abiding Love members experienced the truth of these words as we gathered for inspiration, learning, planning, and communicating as representatives of the ten administrative boards that guide the mission and ministry of our congregation. The following prayer-card was shared at our worship services last Sunday: “A prayer of thanksgiving for the great meeting of the Abiding Love boards and for the many persons who share their time and talents to help provide so many services for our church, the community, and those around the world. Be with each one of our members as we all strive to do more for God and His Kingdom.”

How true, it is the calling of all the baptized to “let our light shine…” and, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” We sang these two songs on Saturday: “This little Gospel Light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”, and “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.”

There are many opportunities for all of us to be Jesus Christ’s “light” and “love”. If any of the following areas of service interest you, please call the Board Director listed:

Children’s Outreach: Mary Fetter 892-3925
Christian Education: Tammy Santos 282-6372
Christian Service: Tom Hokanson 892-4139
Church Properties: Pat Dove 233-0230
Evangelism & Outreach: Steve Kikta 443-8947
Membership Care: Margaret Dove 233-0230
Parish Fellowship: Dolly Atkinson 301-5326
Stewardship & Finance: Erv Merz 282-6785
Worship Life & Related Ministries: J.D. Bostick 750-5442
Youth & Children’s Ministries: Marian Hollien 892-1475
President: Diane Albin 301-9059
Vice-President: Bob Thonhoff 288-4480
Secretary: Karan Heidemann 288-0736
Treasurer: Sheila Koehler 291-0654

St. Paul continues with these words: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

“One in the Spirit” with you,
Pastor David Fetter

The Forgiveness of Sins

Dear Friends in Christ:

The Season of Lent is a time for repentance as we take our sins to the Cross and pray: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!”

The following is a powerful true story from a Lenten booklet of meditations titled, “Different Shoes a Common Path”, published by Forward Movement, an agency of the Episcopal Church.

The Story…

Matthew B. Harper was arrested for murder, tried, and convicted in 1999. He is now serving two concurrent sentences, a thirty-five year sentence for murder and a twenty-year sentence for arson, at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia. With good behavior, he will be eligible for parole in 2029. Of his crime,
Matthew writes:

I am in prison for murdering my older sister, Anne Elizabeth, and for the fire that followed the murder. At the time I was eighteen and she was twenty. The circumstances of the crime are complicated and ugly; they always are. We were very close—you can only truly fight and argue with those you love very deeply. Lent 2008 will mark my ninth year in prison. I was free for three years after Anne’s death before I was arrested. During those three years I returned to college and tried to return to the church (God and I had some serious issues). I also tried to hide from what I had done.

When I was arrested, I pleaded guilty. At the time I was a senior in college, engaged to an amazing woman, and we were expecting a child. All that is gone now, and I do not blame her for her decisions in the face of such a deep betrayal about who I was. The nine years since have marked for me a long passage and struggle of faith and selfdiscovery. There are many good priests, psychologists, and lay people who have helped me become the man I am today.

I grew up in the church and once was a good young man, on a good path, willing to be used by God. It took me many years to become something else and many more to recover from that. What I did nine years ago is a fundamental part of who I am today. Not a day passes that I do not think of Anne or my crime against her and all who loved her. I can only do good with what is left to me. I work for the chaplain here in prison and am a leader and director of the Kairos community here. I have completed my undergraduate work and am working on an M.A. in Christian Theology. This Lent I shall be thirty-one years old. I will be fifty-two when I am released, but God has not wasted the past nine years. I do not believe the next twenty-one will be wasted either.

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!”

—Pastor David Fetter

PREPARING FOR LENT

Dear Friends in Christ:

“Marked with the Cross of Christ!”

This past Sunday we celebrated a Baptism at our 8:30 a.m. Worship Service. We heard these words as the forehead of the child was marked with the anointing oil and the sign of the cross was made: “Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”

On Ash Wednesday, February 6th, at our 6:45 p.m. Worship Service, God’s children of all ages will be marked with the Cross of Christ in the imposition of ashes. The ash cross we will wear is a way of saying, “I am sorry for my sins, and I know I need to be forgiven.” When we look in the mirror, it is a reminder that sin does make a “dirty mark” in our lives and in this world. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

In the Cross of Christ we experience the power of God’s forgiveness. From that cross, Jesus prayed: “Father, forgive them!” The ashes also remind us that we are mortal. Death is an ever present reality. So, as you are marked with the ashes, you will hear these words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)

Although Ash Wednesday seems like a somber, serious day, it is also a hopeful day, because the cross reminds us that God loves and forgives us. Each day is a chance to start over. Nothing, not even sin or death itself can ever separate us from God’s abiding love which is ours through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! “Thanks be to God!”

† † 6 Wednesdays in Lent
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† Pastor Lynnae and I invite you to join us during the six
† Wednesday evenings in Lent, February 6th through March
† 12th, for a special time of food, fellowship, and worship: †
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† 5:45 p.m. — A Meal in the Activity Center
† 6:45 p.m. — Worship in the Sancturary
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— Pastor David Fetter

Start the New Year with Hope!

Dear Friends in Christ:
As God’s people we can face another New Year with the hope that our faith in Jesus Christ gives us.

I share a real-life story with you:

Sarah blew out he candles on her cake—all 35 of them. Her coworkers had planned this surprise party for her. But as she blew the candles out, she thought to herself: “This is not how I envisioned my life at age 35.” She thought back to her college graduation, when she and Immanuel were still dating, when they were still talking about marriage and kids and a lifetime together. Now, it had been three years since they’d broken up, and she hadn’t even gone on a date since then.

Sarah had imagined that by age 35, she would have been married for at least 5 years, have 2 kids, and have started her career as a school administrator. But Sarah’s dreams hadn’t come to reality. And without a husband, Sarah envisioned a difficult road to travel. She had to re-consider her life plans and figure out how to find a different way to the goals and life experiences that she wanted. Would Sarah be a foster parent? Adopt? Mentor a young girl? Babysit? Whatever choices she made, Sarah had to travel another road.

What about you? Have there been times when you thought you had life all planned out, then suddenly a roadblock appeared? Have there been times when you thought you knew exactly what to do, but suddenly encountered a tree in the road? What do you do when your best-laid plans cannot come to pass and you must travel another road? In such circumstances, you could be paralyzed by fear and forced into inaction, or you can let that roadblock lead you to a new path, a different road, a fresh way.

In this New Year, write these words of truth, from God’s Word in your mind:

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

“And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’” (Revelation 21:5)

Let us pray:
“God, guide us in all of our ways. Especially when we face roadblocks or detours in life, show us the best path to take. Help us to see when it is time to change our plans, or to give up what we once hoped for. Help us to see how we can take another road. Amen.”

—Pastor David Fetter
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“A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM!”

Dear Friends in Christ:

This past Sunday at the Children’s Message time, I sensed a joy, anticipation, and excitement in the children that I’ve seen in thepast at this time of year. But, this year these children affected meas never before! Those words from the prophet Isaiah in our first Bible reading on Sunday contain a profound truth: “...a little childshall lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6).

Is this not a reminder to us all that this holy season of Advent and Christmas requires a “childlike” joy, anticipation, excitement, and faith that the coming of God’s love in Jesus brings to us every day? I’ll never think or say again that Christmas is really more for the kids!

This Sunday, December 16th will provide a very special opportunity for all God’s children to celebrate the real reason for this season. At both morning worship services, our Choir and Instrumental Ensemble (composed primarily of young people) will present a musical message titled “Season of Wonders”.

Then, at 4:00 p.m., the children of our Sunday School will lead us in the Christmas Play in our Worship Center. A time of food and fellowship will follow in the Activity Center. (Note: Please bring you favorite finger food. Drinks will be provided.)

For Your “Home Worship”…Also, if you haven’t picked up a special devotional booklet, “In the Presence of the Lord”, for your home use, they are available in the church Narthex. The daily meditations, and suggested activities capture the child-like spirit of faith, hope, love, and joy. I am receiving a great blessing in reading this. So, it’s not just for kids, but the author Caroline Pignat has done a wonderful job inwriting with a conversational tone, child-friendly concepts, and a commitment to encourage children to read and lead family prayer. May God bless you with the “wonder of a child” in believing that “unto us a Child is born!”

—Pastor David Fetter

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