Go & Tell the Story

 Sent in by Lord of Love in Omaha “Loads of Love” laundry, hygiene supply pantry fills a need for local families   As early as two hours before the event began, on June 26, 2021, cars began to line up at Lord of Love Lutheran Church in Omaha. Neighbors were waiting to receive free laundry and paper products. Since 2019, Lord of Love has held “Loads of Love” several times per year to provide items such as laundry detergent and toilet paper for those in need. These items, though part of the grocery shopping list for many of us, are not eligible for SNAP benefits, meaning some families struggle to get these necessities.     Kathy Christensen and Paula Foster of Omaha realized this through volunteering with neighboring church Holy Cross at their monthly food pantry. In addition, Lord of Love youth and leaders had recently attended a youth gathering in Kearney, where they prepared baskets of laundry and paper hygiene supplies for First Lutheran, who has hosted a simi...

 By Rev. Suzanne How, pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Wymore So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  -- 2 Corinthians 5:17 Like that “new car” smell? Or perhaps you were in the store standing before hundreds of toothpaste choices and a box with “new and improved” emblazoned on it caught your eye. Ever watch a show where designers go in and completely change a house and you wait patiently for the end of the program where the shiny, new changes will be revealed? There’s a part of human nature that likes new, bright, different, improved – transformed. Until we’re talking about the way we do church, that is. Then it is less excitement and more consternation. The questions come hard, and fast: what’s wrong with the way we’ve been doing things? What things need to ‘pass away’ and who gets to decide that? Who is going to be upset? How in the world do we come up with the vision of what the “new” wi...

 By Lisa Kramme, Director for Faith Formation “There’s a pin prick of light,” the pastor told me as we visited about the work their congregation is starting.  Concerned about the number of young people involved in their church, the pastor issued an invitation during worship one Sunday:  Let’s have a meal together and then visit about what we can do to make a difference. About fifteen people, mostly Baby Boomers, came together and learned that there’s no magic wand to wave that will cause young people to appear in their pews, and pied pipers are found only in fairy tales.  The hands of time can’t turn back to when there were more children in Sunday School, and much to the dismay of many, there is no ONE strategy that will lead to engaging more young people in the life of the congregation.   But then this group learned that there are practices that churches of varying sizes and settings have in common where young people are thriving.  The book Growing Yo...

 By Brenda Rivas, Communications Manager When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.      --Viktor E. Frankl Change is not an easy thing for people. We are hard wired to resist it. Even our physiology finds change difficult; just think of how much our bodies put up a fight when we want to lose a few extra pounds.  Still change happens everyday, all around us. Day turns into night and back to day. Summer becomes fall, then winter, then spring, and the cycle begins again. Every year we grow older. Eventually our hair grows whiter and our skin grows more wrinkled.  So, with all the change going on around us, why do we still fight to keep so much of our lives the same? Why do we hold on so tight to so many of the things we could let go? Is it fear? Is it a desire to avoid what makes us uncomfortable? Does it really matter why, when the world will continue to shift and change and progress whether we want it to or not?...

 By Bishop Brian Maas 2 Corinthians 5:17--So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! Paul proclaims good news that is doubly good.  On the one hand, Paul is calling us to look at our fellow believers (those who are “in Christ”) not according to the world’s measure, standard or expectations, but rather to see them as new creations, whose primary identity is Child of God. That’s great news for the others with whom we live, though it can prove challenging for us. I have no problem seeing everyone in the sanctuary on Sunday as a Child of God. But if one of them happens to cut me off on the way out of the parking lot, “Child of God” isn’t usually part of what pops out of my mouth. It’s hard to sustain a view of others as new creations, especially when we know so much of their old behaviors, old patterns, old ways of being—their history in relationship with us.  But Paul says we’re to see past that, to see...