I enjoy leftovers. Not only does eating the scraps help me make room in the fridge, but it also forces me to come up with creative ways of reimagining the remnants of a previous meal. Baked potato bar leftovers from last night stirred into a morning omelet turns my measly scrambled eggs into a First Watch kind of breakfast creation. A pork roast from earlier in the week turns up my nacho game when drizzled with a swirl of BBQ sauce, a dollop of sour cream, and a handful of cilantro. Even the lingering fruit from my lunchbox is perfect atop a bowl of cereal or ice cream for a late-night snack. It’s fun to pull out the good stuff and discover a second life.

This time of year is always interesting in church life. It feels a bit like cleaning out the fridge to prepare space for what is next. Church staff and ministry leaders spent the summer looking at the leftovers from the previous year, not only the Bibles, crafts, and other physical items, but also the lingering ideas, hopes, dreams, and patterns of learning and serving. What should we keep? What should we pitch? What are the items we can recycle and use right now as part of something new?

In a few weeks, as we leap into our fall schedule, there will be many things that you will recognize. We will return to our Sunday rhythm of three worship services, with learning for all ages at 9:30 am. Sprinkled throughout the week, there will be a variety of opportunities to serve and learn and gather together as we continue to ground our lives in the promises of God.

Drawn from conversations with many of you and our recent survey results, there will also be some things that will be switched up a bit. One of the most exciting shifts will be our pattern of learning for children on Sunday morning. We will invite everyone in fifth grade and below to begin with us in worship as we sing, pray, and share a children’s message together. Following that time, the children will zip down to the fellowship hall space for the remainder of worship, spending time digging deeper into the Bible verses and themes of the day.

Why the shift? Over the last few years, we realized that many children were dropped off for Sunday learning, while their parents or grandparents went to worship. After worship, the adults grabbed the little ones and departed. Unintentionally, we have been creating a generation of children who don’t know what it is to be part of worship and families haven’t been in worship together. This is a crucial misstep in faith formation that we need to correct.

Along with our mission to live, share, and celebrate with all people in Jesus, Lord of Life’s core values of outreach, diversity, faith formation, and worship all pivot around intentional time in Scripture and community. We hope that welcoming these little ones into worship moments will:
create a cohesive, multi-generational worship experience for all.
empower families to sing, pray, and share together.
challenge us to think about what a welcoming and inclusive space can be.

This fall is an excellent season to try some new things and look forward to how it will enrich all of our Sunday morning experiences.

There is a precedence for this. Over and over, Jesus made room for others and welcomed children into worship. He was continuously looking ahead, reimagining not only what the church was, but what it could be! With things like bread, wine, water, oil, and more, he was always gathering the extras and serving up another delicious plate of nourishing Grace.

I’ll meet you at the table,

Pastor Lowell

Come find out more about plans and how you can be part of this exciting time this Sunday, August 28 after the 10 am service at the Parent/Child meeting or contact our Director of Faith Formation, Angie Seiller.

I had planned on writing my blog about ice cream and its many flavors and consistencies, but God had other plans. 

Over the last couple of Sundays, I have read and listened to the scripture readings, heard the children’s message from Pastor Lowell and Angie, and absorbed the messages from Pastors Lowell and Joan. What I read and heard drew me to a memory. 

Many years ago, I received a gift for my confirmation. It was a necklace with a small mustard seed encased in a pendant. I looked for it today but unfortunately couldn’t find it – after 50+ years it is only a memory now.  But what I do remember is the following verse:

Jesus said to his disciples “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17: 20-21 

That mustard seed is a reminder of the strength of one’s faith. I think that faith comes to us in three parts: to hear the word of God, to believe in what we hear, and to follow the word of God as God uses it to do holy work here on earth.  

Just as the biblical heroes we learned about in Sunday School (like Noah, Abraham, Joshua, and Rahab in the Old Testament and Mary & Joseph, John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul in the New Testament) heard God’s direction, trusted/believed in God’s direction, and followed that direction – then that is what it means to have faith.  

We all have our “cloud of witnesses” (thank you Pastor Joan for that powerful language) that have helped us nurture our faith and lead us along the paths to stronger faith. Our parents, our Sunday School teachers, our VBS leaders, our pastors, and our peers as we struggled together.  We have them today – look around you in the gathering space, in the sanctuary, in the fellowship hall, and in the various ministries Lord of Life offers for us to join, participate in, and lead.

Each of us has a call to share our faith journey with others. There are so many opportunities to step into here at Lord of Life. Gather the 3 & 4 year-olds during Sunday School and tell them the story of Noah or teach them a simple song that they can share. Spend a Sunday morning with the youth (elementary, junior high, and senior high) as they begin/continue on their journey of faith.

Be a greeter for the visitors that join us on Sunday morning. Help with communion or usher if you attend worship in person. Join one of our ministry teams – Evangelism, Stewardship, Outreach, Worship, Fellowship, Youth Education, Adult Education, and Care – these are ways to grow your faith.

You are gifted for ministry and your unique talents are essential to God’s plans. Listen to that voice telling you that you are special and you have something special to share and offer to others. 

Yours in Christ,

Denise Krallman, Council President

When I was growing up, I couldn’t wait for the holiday season when all the Peanuts specials would air. Most of the original Charlie Brown era happened between 1969 and 1980, so by the time I can remember in the mid-1980’s, the networks were only showing It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown around Halloween, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. VHS tapes were just coming around and streaming services were decades away, so if I missed them when they aired, I would sulk and then wait another year for the next airing. 

One of the things I loved most was the music. A combination of catchy modern jazz and classic holiday hymns and folk songs, it never failed to captivate me and make me want to be part of the gang. The singing wasn’t good. But it was joyful and familiar and full of holiday spirit.

That kind of wide open, joyful singing is what I think about when I think of church music. Some of the logistics have evolved over the last several years - sometimes we have a hymnal in our hands, sometimes we’re looking at a screen. Sometimes we’re led by a piano and a soloist, or a youth ensemble, or a praise band. Whether we’re singing from the hymnal or a newer praise song, the idea that everyone can sing along is important to me. 

We all have a different level of skill, but that doesn’t mean you can't or shouldn't sing during worship. There is nothing like the feeling of being in the middle of 50 or 100 voices singing A Mighty Fortress is Our God or Blessed Be Your Name. 

The best thing is,  if you miss singing one Sunday,  you don't have to wait another year before you get to sing along again. In another week,  we'll sing another set of songs that you can sing along with,  too. If there is something we can do to make it easier for you,  let me know. I want that part of worship to be as participatory as possible. 

As we prepare for the new program year beginning with Rally Day on September 18, we're finding ways to bring back some of the ensembles we haven't been able to have the last couple years. Versions of choir, youth band, and children singing will all return. 

If you’d like to participate in an ensemble let me know. Play an instrument? We’ll find a way to include you in worship. I can’t wait to hear what kind of sound we can make this season.

Yours in music,

John Johns

Director of Music (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

This photo my brother-in-law posted from the beginning of the Inca Trail resonated with me as I struggled with holding on to tangible objects that are hindering my path.

I have been feeling overwhelmed with stuff these days. Lowell’s 47 pairs of socks are nothing compared to my drawer (watch the children’s sermon this past week). For the past 6 months, we have been cleaning out my mom’s condo to get it ready for sale. That combined with my daughter moving home during a time of school transition and our own stuff of 32 years of marriage, are weighing heavily on me.

I feel like I have a healthy relationship with purchasing and collecting. We don’t value our possessions over relationships or experiences, but we live the typical, suburban, American life which includes so much stuff. There is stuff like the old coffee pot that we used as kids to play in the water at my grandma’s lake house that brings priceless memories? Then there are the boxes and boxes of old photos, yearbooks, and cards? My mom had 3 Christmas trees from when we downsized each year because it was too much to put up the big one when she wasn’t feeling well. However, we never let go of the bigger ones because we might want to put them up again in the future and trees are so expensive, we wouldn’t want to buy a big one again. They will fit in our garage…but do they really?

Throw in the guilt of adding to a landfill or trying to figure out if Goodwill or St. Vincent’s will even take an old metal filing cabinet or whether grandma’s china has any value? It is overwhelming.

There are wonderful moments of our lives that are intertwined with an object, a photo or a memento. However, there is a point when all the stuff pushes out the ability to live in the fullness of God’s plan for us. What if I just rest in the knowledge that my mom’s life, my life, are lives well lived? We don’t need to wrestle with losing a memory or making the “right” decision on the future of a possession because if we live with our heart and mind set on Jesus, all else falls in place.

Sharing with my children that their grandma was the welcoming force everywhere she went or that every batch of cookies she made was usually for someone else to brighten their day or contribute to a bake sale creates a world that follows the example of Jesus. It’s not whether we have that old coffee pot to remember her. They felt her love, they saw her living out her faith and could easily envision the stories told. Trusting that when we let go, our lives can be filled with a bigger purpose.

Are there things you can let go of to make room for God to work more fully in your life? Can you trust that empty space will be filled with different but better goodness?

God knows our needs, holds our loved ones, and our memories in the hands that will never let us go. It’s time for me to release the overwhelming responsibility of all the stuff. I need to move forward, trusting the decisions I am making are the best I can make at this moment in time.

“Take only memories, leave only footprints” seems like the path Jesus would be walking with me.

God’s peace always,

Angie Seiller, Director of Faith Formation

P.S. Shameless plug … Didn’t even think about it until after I wrote the blog, I promise! I know some people actually enjoy sifting through stuff and giving it new life and meaning. How about helping with the Lord of Life Rummage Sale in the fall? We need co-chairs! Talk about a bigger purpose. You would be investing in the faith and community of our youth. Let’s talk! The sale is tentatively set for Saturday, October 1. 

One of the best things about being a kid is making stuff up. Playing pretend and exploring the land of make-believe can provide hours of entertainment and stir creativity on play dates, road trips, and rainy days.

I can’t count the hours I spent building LEGO creations from all the leftover bricks, playing Starsky & Hutch in the backyard with friends, drawing fantastical scenes of outer space people and places, and constructing all kinds of forts with neighbors. Tree forts and couch cushion forts were almost an Olympic sport in our part of the neighborhood. Imagination dominated our lives!

So what happened? Why did our imaginations begin to evaporate when we hit adolescence? Why did we trade in our fictitious frenzy for a more “mature” life grounded in reality? We didn’t, really. Instead, we shifted how it operates in our lives.

We’re still pretending. We don’t call it make-believe, but we spend much of our adult life feigning to be someone or something that we’re not. We give the illusion that we have everything figured out and have the solutions to life’s greatest problems. We want to portray that our job, family, health, and relationships are all perfect. If you don’t believe it, take a look at how we curate what we share on our social media or choose to write about in the Christmas letter.

As people of Christian faith, we don’t have to pretend that we’re something we’re not. Jesus meets us where we are, loves us for all that we are and are not, and chooses to call us friend. Even more, he invites us to rekindle that child-like wonder and faith.

Jesus often showed a preference for hanging out with children and encouraged adults with sclerotic hearts to become more like children. He welcomed the children to the adult meetings, hoping to infuse a bit of awe and wonder into the conversation. Jesus celebrated when a boy was willing to share his sack lunch of fish and bread to help feed the crowd on the hillside. When asked about salvation, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” I wonder if part of his reasoning was to encourage practical, no-nonsense grown-ups to expand their ideas about life, faith, dependence, gratitude, and hope?

I remember a time when a friend accused me of playing with my make-believe friend named Jesus. It wasn’t when I was little, but when I was in college. They thought it was strange that I hadn’t jettisoned what they saw as futile, fairy tale faith in the God who chose to come and walk among us, speaking a word of forgiveness, lobbying for justice, and selflessly giving his life so that others might live. If God could do this through the person of Jesus, imagine what God can do through us?

Artist Makoto Fujimura in his book Art and Faith: A Theology of Making, argues, “To be human is to be creative…Cultivating our imagination is essential to fully realizing our potential as God’s creatures…It is impossible to have faith without imagination…Our ability to dream, to envision, the future in which justice reigns, is one of the great gifts of God to us.”

As you savor the final weeks of summer, take some time to dream and wonder. Walk, run, read, paddle, nap, daydream, or whatever it is that allows you to release the tension and stress of pragmatism and drift into the realm of imagination. This is not a disconnect from reality or a departure from your real life, but rather an essential component of your essence as both creature and creator. Imagine how God might be using your creativity and passions to rejuvenate you and plug into the world’s deepest need.

Wondering what God is up to next,

Pastor Lowell

I’ll admit, I often take the easy way out when I write one of these blog posts. Sure, I might tell a deeply personal story, or talk about a difficult recent event, but I tend to wrap it up in a neat little package that ends with “... Jesus loves us and we’re supposed to love each other” and sign off with “Yours in Christ.”

And Jesus definitely loves us, and we are definitely supposed to love each other. But digging into what it means to love each other can make people feel uncomfortable.

On Tuesday night, I went to see a Mavis Staples concert. I hear she was followed by Bonnie Raitt, but I didn’t stay for that part. I was there to hear the Chicago Blues and Gospel sound that she’s been famous for since she was a member of the Staple Singers at 11 years old. You might remember some of her oldies like “Let’s Do It Again” and “I’ll Take You There.”

Mavis is also known as an activist. Her father’s Chicago apartment was a regular host to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and he decided early on that “if [MLK] could preach it, they could sing it.” So freedom songs and protest music became part of their regular concert repertoire.

As I was sitting in a crowd that was split between people who were there to see Mavis Staples and Bonnie Raitt, I became acutely aware how uncomfortable some of the spectators might have been. Especially when lyrics started decrying the politics of gun violence and killing children. It isn’t quite as easy on the heart as “Let’s Give ‘em Something to Talk About.”

But in his time, Jesus wasn’t very palatable, either. Even his followers, who truly believed what he taught, tried to get him to be less abrasive among the politicians and law-driven clergy he was speaking out against. Flipping tables in the temple was the least of it - he was asking for crazy things like feeding and clothing the poor without asking how they got that way, tending to the sick with asking for repayment, treating women as equals, not abusing children … honestly, it seems like activism hasn’t changed much in 2,000 years. 

Yes, the bottom line was loving your neighbor, but loving everybody meant a political shift as much as a religious one. 

Just like some of the activists of our own time, Jesus was arrested and killed. For being a delinquent. A rabble-rouser. For stirring up trouble and making it difficult to maintain the status quo for the people who had it easy. 

Love isn’t always easy. But we are lucky enough to live in a free place where we should be able to rouse some rabble and ask for the things Jesus taught us to ask for. 

Yours in delinquency,

John Johns