In the Loop; In the Spirit

Join us for Ash Wednesday worship at 7PM.

The following Sunday we kick off our new Sunday morning series called, “The Great Grace Giveaway.” Grace is always free, just like all those chairs and fans at STEP. We explore the gift of grace, but also its cost.

Saturday, our partner congregation, Westwood Lutheran packaged 100,000 meals for Dodoma, Tanzania. Working together has a global impact!

Lent Worship Schedule:

NO ESCAPE: EMBRACING A THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS
As God’s people ‘return to the Lord’ during the Lenten season we are confronted with the question of the cross. Is the cross merely an architectural adornment in our sanctuaries and an attractive shape for jewelry? Or, can we face the cross honestly as one of the most painful methods of capital punishment ever devised? But what if the way of the cross is also the way of life, especially for Lutherans who embrace what we call a “theology of the cross.”

Martin Luther ‘smelled a rat’ whenever he met theologians and believers who seemed to know so much about who God is and what God does that they were able to find ‘convenient’ ways to please God and ways to ‘escape’ the crosses life sends our way. But what if we meet God most squarely in the middle of the dark nights that stem from those experiences of the cross? What if “living by faith” means ‘finding by losing’ and ‘holding fast by letting go?’

During this season of the Lent, the people of Ascension, First, Reformation, and Wooddale Lutheran Churches will focus during our 7:00 p.m. Wednesday joint Lenten worship on those experiences we cannot escape and reflect together on whether these might not be, instead of negative challenges, the very best and fertile environments for meeting God and growing in faith.

Our Wednesday service schedule will include:
March 4—Lutheran Church of the Reformation –“No Escaping Interruption”
March 11—Ascension Lutheran Church—“No Escaping Doubt”
March 18—Wooddale Lutheran Church—“No Escaping Failure”
March 25 –First Lutheran Church—“No Escape from Moving into the Unknown”
April 1 – To be announced

17 people from Adath Jeshurun and the Spark churches gathered for an afternoon of putting faith into action at the Saint Louis Park Emergency Program (STEP). The team sorted donations for the food pantry and helped prepare STEP for their upcoming move. Great relationships were continuing to be formed! interested in the next event: connect@sparkchurches.org

Our sermon series on Messy Work continues this week with exploring community and loneliness. Jesus reaches out in a powerful way to touch and restore to community a leper (now known as Hansen’s disease). Music has a powerful way to convey feeling; Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel sang of knowing loneliness. This week we hear of a God who reaches out to not only heal, but also restore to being in community with one another.

Also…
Kids Against Hunger packing event, this Saturday, Feb 21st, info@churchinthepark.org
Every five seconds, a child dies from starvation and hunger-related diseases. A simple nutritious meal can help stop this tragedy. The meals we will be packing are highly nutritious rice, protein-rich and vitamin-fortified meals, which when boiled with water, provide nourishment for the starving. 100,000 meals will feed 275 people once a day every day for one year. Meals for the orphans will be distributed by our sister congregation in Dodoma, Arusha Road Lutheran Church.

Individuals between the ages of 8 and 108 can volunteer. Younger children can help alongside adults. Childcare for children under three will be provided for some shifts. Groups (circles, scout troops, teen groups, etc.) are encouraged to volunteer.