Toolbox For Faith

I came across an interesting website this week called, Women in the Bible: http://www.womeninthebible.net/index.htm. The site was created by Elizabeth Fletcher, a professor at University of Sydney, Australia, as a way of making available the information published in her 1997 book, “Women in the Bible”. The book went out of print, so she published all the information online. It provides fairly complete background information, key events in the lives of the women profiled and a general overview of the conditions women face in ancient times. At the bottom of the page are links to several other sites she has created including: Bible People: http://www.bible-people.info/index.htm and All About the Bible: http://www.allaboutthebible.net/. Obviously, I haven’t read everything she has posted, but the majority of what I’ve seen so far looks helpful, well organized and fairly well researched.

At times Lutheran worship can be a little difficult to understand for people who come from a non-liturgical background. From robes to Lutheran aerobics (stand up, sit down, kneel, repeat) to the hymnals, a word of explanation can be helpful for new worshipers. My father put together an introduction to worship for the congregation he is currently serving to help a new group of worshipers. I liked the approach and adapted it for use at St. Michael. The modified version is currently posted on the “Worshiping at St. Michael” page on our website. Here is his original document and my modification to fit the practices at St. Michael. If you find the document to be helpful, please feel free to adapt it and use it in your congregation.

Understanding Worship at Mt Calvary

Understanding Worship at St. Michael

Since the 10th Anniversary of the September 11th attacks occurs on a Sunday, the question which naturally arises is - “What is the church going to do to mark the anniversary?” My initial reaction was simply to focus on themes of forgiveness, peace and grace, but as I talked to Don Lorfing, pastor of Good Samaritan Lutheran Church in Las Vegas, NV, he shared an idea for putting those themes into action. On September 11th at Good Samaritan, the congregation is going to sign cards of appreciation for first responders in their community - police, fire, rescue, etc. The cards (and if I remember correctly cookies) will be delivered to these agencies by folks from the church on Sunday. To me, recognizing the sacrifice, caring and commitment of those who serve in our community seemed like a helpful and positive way to acknowledge the anniversary. On a day when many folks will be reliving those tragic events, this seems like a positive way to focus on caring, compassion and hope.

Each year, St. Michael does a Blessing of the Backpacks the week before school starts. We gather all the teachers and students together before worship, offer prayer for them and for the year ahead and then give them something to place on their backpack or bag as a reminder of God’s presence. In addition, we usually offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the school supplies we have collected. The blessing is brief, but powerful. Here are the prayers I typically use Blessing of the Backpacks 2011. We usually order the backpack tags from Oriental Trading Company. If you are looking for another example, here’s a post on the Lutheran Confessions blog: Backpack Blessing.

Back in February, I came across an excellent article from the Alban Institute entitled Tending the Vineyard by Paul E. Hopkins. In the article, Hopkins makes the case that there are four elements which are keys for creating what he calls “enduring pastoral fruitfulness”. I decided to take the four key elements he described (1) a systematic commitment to livelong learning, (2) an intentional connection to communities of shared practice, (3) a careful stewardship of the leader’s own self, and (4) strong roots and active exercise in a growing faith and create a tool for self-evaluation. I used the tool for the first time this week and shared the information with my Mutual Ministry Team. Overall, I found it to be a helpful way for me to evaluate where I have been and to look toward the future. If you would like to see what I developed, I have posted it here: Keys to Long-term Healthy Ministry Tool 2011.