Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer

Celebrating the Spirit as we work for justice, healing and reconciliation on earth.

Pastor’s Page                                    Answered Prayers                               February, 2007

Some of you have heard me tell the story of my three-month long experience in a Pentecostal Christian college ministry.  They held weekday evening, high-energy worship services where time was set aside for people to share about the significant ways in which God was making a difference in their lives.  One night a woman stood up and told a lengthy story about how long she had been praying for a car.  She proclaimed that her prayer was finally answered that week when her uncle decided to simply give her a brand new car.  The congregation applauded with enthusiasm, but I could not make sense out of the God to whom she was praying.  If it were true, how and why would God grant her prayer to receive a car valued at thousands of dollars and not grant the prayers of the tens of thousands of people around the world who were praying for fifty cents worth of food before they died of hunger?  I couldn’t imagine a God who would answer the prayer for a car before the prayer for food and wondered if it was actually the prayers who were getting the priorities mixed up in our choices. The Bible talks about a compassionate God who loves everybody and has a special concern for those who are hungry, poor, ill, hurting, excluded.  It is difficult to imagine a God who would intervene on behalf of a college student’s need for a car and not for a starving child’s need for food.   How does God answer prayers?

On Tuesday, January 9, our council went to work cutting the proposed 2007 budget given that our highest contributing church group had found another place to worship.  They delayed making these cuts for nearly two months hoping that a new church group would share space and costs, but that day arrived with no group ready to sign a letter of agreement.  This was a $14,000 loss of income, and the council worked hard to reduce this gap, getting it down to negative $5500.  Before moving into the much more difficult cuts that might begin to pull the legs out from under our ministry, one council member suggested that the council go to the congregation with this difficulty, share the truth and see how the congregation might respond.  Karen Idler wrote a touching testimonial which was sent out by Email and included in the worship folder; Mario Giacomotto offered a witness as to how and why this ministry was worthy of pledging and deeper commitments from those whose hearts might be moved to give more; Judy Vogt made up supplemental pledge cards for those who desired to add something to their previous pledge; the Gospel lesson led me to preach on the topic of prayer verses control.  Within one week the number of households making pledges went from 24 to 33 with the total amount of dollars growing from $90,204 to $118,278 pledged for the year! 

Granted, many of these dollars would have come in from those who simply didn’t turn in a pledge card, but it represented a deeper commitment and higher levels of planned giving for many people.  Of these monies, $3640 were increases on pledges with the rest being new 2007 pledges.

Then on Monday afternoon, a man from God’s Garden Russian Church saw our sign and brought his pastor over to see the property.  By the next day (and one-half hour before the second council meeting on Tuesday, January 16), this ministry had confirmed that they would like to use our church at available times and agreed to offer $1150.  This was the same amount we had most recently been receiving before the previous ministry left!  I got goose bumps up and down my skin, and found myself saying, “Yes, God, you really are in this with us, aren’t you?  There really is something you are up to with this amazing little ministry, and you really don’t want us to shrink from that to which you have called us, do you?”  I was truly in awe of what God accomplished through the leadership of church council members and the open hearts of those members and friends of this congregation who felt led to offer something more.  I thank God for all of you and what God continues to make possible through this ministry.  If you have not had an opportunity to review what is happening by picking up a copy of our 2006 annual report in the narthex, call or email the church office to have Gail mail a copy to you.

In the meantime, I am giving thanks for how God seems to be moving in this congregation and how God seemed to be moving in the prayers of the Russian church that found their way to us.  (You cannot imagine how happy they are that they will get to worship here.) I have been telling people that I am experiencing prayer in far more of a Pentecostal way this past month.  So if God did move to answer these prayers to meet the needs of our ministry, why was that prayer answered when so many prayers are being offered by and for those who are hungry, hurting and excluded? … unless God was granting this prayer in order to better equip us to be the answer to those other prayers in the world. 

In Awe,  

Pastor Robyn

Lent Begins on Ash Wednesday, February 21^st. In advance of this Lenten time of preparation for our annual renewal of baptism at Easter, we will celebrate “Shrove Sunday” on February 18^th (instead of “Shrove Tuesday”) with a contemporary worship service at 5:30 p.m. and a Pancake dinner at 6:30 p.m.  You won’t want to miss the fun!

Book Club

The book club idea has been floating around Our Redeemer for some time.  Wanda Collins has agreed to get us started by facilitating discussion around one book,

"Faith and Politics:  How the 'moral values' debate divides America and how to move forward together" by former Senator John Danforth, a moderate Republican and ordained Episcopalian priest.

Wanda has five copies of the book and can quickly get more from www.amazon.com the cost for the book is $17.00.  Initially we had thought about having the meeting on Tuesday nights but got a request instead that we meet on Sunday.  So we will have to schedule it after Denyse has finished with her bible study.  I think four weeks should do it. 

Thank you, Wanda for all your help.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR A GREAT

ADULT EDUCATION SERIES!

If a tree falls in a forest with no one around, does it make any sound? Apparently not, to judge from this instance. Read on....

In 1945 a Bedouin boy accidentally came across more than 50 papyrus texts in the Egyptian desert. World War II had just ended, and the evidence of a God seemed thin to many. How miraculous, at that moment, the reappearance of texts as old and as authentic as those of the New Testament should have been. Yet then -- and now -- these texts are little known.

Why so little known? What is their message? What is their place, if any, as holy writings? 

As always when the topic is the Biblical texts, Denyse Curtright knows the answers. Come and join us after worship for the first of our adult education series on "Lost Books of the Bible." And on February 18, our own Egyptologist, Dave Goodman, will give us a feeling for the land of Egypt – including his slides and what he refers to as “meaningful props”!

Every February Sunday after worship

(11:45 - 12:30)

February 4 and 11:   Lost Books of the Bible

February 18:          The Biblical Setting

(a slide show and potluck)

February 25:          Lost Books of the Bible

Ode to Pete Petersen upon completing 6 years of service on the Mutual Ministry Committee

January 10, 2007

When this church extended me a call,

I met a man from Cedar Falls.

His name was Pete Petersen,

or “Immanuel” (the name he was given).

He found out I didn’t drink coffee

And doubted my worth as clergy!

Every Lutheran pastor he’d known

Drank coffee from dusk to dawn.

I thought this would cost me the job,

Until Pete learned I ate corn on the cob.

Being born in his own great state

Might have just saved my pastoral fate.

Soon I met Pete’s beloved wife

and learned of their beautiful life.

They had traveled so far and so wide

and remained at each other’s side.

Then on this new pastor, he took pity

Serving the Mutual Ministry Committee.

His gifts were so strong and so clear,

We kept telling him “just one more year!”

But now that his term limit is up,

We just can’t quite thank him enough.

It seems we can all see so clearly

that we care for this Iowan so dearly.

A strong foundation he’s laid

through the contributions he’s made.

So with reluctance I let him depart

with thanks from the bottom of my heart.

-Offered by Pastor Robyn Hartwig, with deep respect and appreciation for the many ways you are a blessing to this congregation and to me

Redeemer Letter-writing Project for January

Submitted by Judy Vogt

The following is part of a TAKE ACTION piece from BREAD FOR THE WORLD Web Site:

“Broad reform of U.S. food and farm policy is important to progress against hunger and poverty in this country and around the world.  If we are successful in making the kinds of adjustments for U.S. farm programs that strengthen rural communities and struggling farmers here in the United States, we could also improve the ability of small-holder farmers in developing countries to improve their livelihoods and escape poverty.  The current system should be changed in ways that would provide better and broader support for U.S. farmers, strengthen communities in rural America, provide an adequate, nutritious diet for hungry people in this country, and support the efforts of small farmers in developing countries to get their products to market and feed their families.

Bread for the World will urge Congress to take the opportunity presented by the reauthorization of the farm bill to increase its capacity to reduce hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world.  We will urge Congress to make constructive adjustments in the commodity payment programs that would provide more support for farm and rural families of modest means and also help to reduce hunger in our country and around the world.”

We will be writing letters on this subject after worship on Sunday, January 21, 2007.  You can also log on to www.bread.org to read the complete article on this subject.  You will see that as well as joining us on the fourth Sunday of each month, you can also phone your representatives and/or email them with your concerns and your commitment to the importance of solving this problem.  Isn’t it wonderful that there are positive ways that we as individuals can still impact the decisions made on our behalf at the state and national level in order to help no only farmers in the U.S., but farmers around the world?  For me, it is even better that I can sit down with others in my church family to write my legislators with a common concern.  Join us on Sunday.

Science and faith join forces

By RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 15, 6:32 PM ET

Some leading scientists and evangelical Christian leaders have agreed to put aside their fierce differences over the origin of life and work together to fight global warming.

Representatives met recently in Georgia and agreed on the need for urgent action. Details on the talks will be disclosed in Washington on Wednesday.

"Whether God created the Earth in a millisecond or whether it evolved over billions of years, the issue we agree on is that it needs to be cared for today," said Rich Cizik, vice president of government relations for the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 45,000 churches.

Eric Chivian, director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, agreed, saying: "Scientists and evangelicals have discovered that we share a deeply felt common concern and sense of urgency about threats to life on Earth and that we must speak with one voice to protect it."

Chivian and Cizik, both of whom participated in the talks, declined further comment.

In February 2006, 86 evangelical leaders signed a statement to fight global warming, saying that human-induced climate change is real, that its consequences will hit the poor the hardest, and that Christian moral convictions demand an urgent response.

They argued that governments, businesses, churches and individuals all have a role to play. Signatories included presidents of evangelical colleges, aid groups, churches and pastors of megachurches.

The powerful National Association of Evangelicals, however, did not join the initiative. It is unclear whether Cizik's involvement in the new campaign will lead the organization to adopt the environment as a central part of its agenda.

Evangelicals and scientists previously failed to launch a large-scale joint initiative, partly because of differences between evolutionary science and a literal interpretation of the Bible — a rift that dates back to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.

Those who met in Georgia, however, are expected to argue that the threat to life on Earth is too great to let the rift prevent them from working together to combat greenhouse emissions.

Speakers at the Wednesday announcement will include megachurch pastor Joel Hunter, who refused to take the leadership of Christian Coalition of America because the organization wouldn't let him expand its agenda to include the environment and poverty.

Others are Harvard biologist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson and NASA scientist James E. Hansen, who came under fire from the White House after a 2005 lecture in which he called for urgent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to slow global warming.

"The evangelicals have a lot of clout on the conservative side of the political spectrum, and their voice would be a very welcome one," said Jim Presswood of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Stewardship Update

Thank you very much to all who have submitted their annual pledge cards indicating your commitment of time, talents and treasurers to this ministry for the coming year: 

Thanks to the following people who have submitted time and talent cards:

Alonso Ayala	Mario Giacomotto	M.L. Olson
Joan Barrett	David Goodman	Lisa Ouellette
Stephen Baxter	Karen Hartstein	E.J. Petersen
Carol Bowyer	Pastor Robyn Hartwig	Debbie Probt
Jack Bowyer	Marietta Hood	Paula Rushing
Karen Buxton	Karen Idler	Jeff Temple
Judy Carlson	Mike Idler	Judy Vogt
Paul Carlson	Maidell Kohlman	Deborah Wiedeman
Wanda Collins	Tania Love	Dawn Zimmermann
Margie Fair	Renee Meyer

Thank you to the following people who have made 2007 financial pledges:

Alonso Ayala	David Goodman	Debbie Probst
Joan Barrett	Karen Hartstein	Debby Reath
Carol Bowyer	Pastor Robyn Hartwig	Paula Rushing
Jack Bowyer	Karen Idler	Cathy Schwamberger
Karen Buxton	Michael Idler	Paul Sutter
Mabel Butler	Donald Kennedy	Jeff Temple
Ann Carlson	Maidell Kohlman	Barbara Thalacker
Paul & Judy Carlson	Tania Love	Elain Verbarg
Wanda Collins	Renee Meyer	Judy Vogt
Denyse Curtright	Stan & Mary Lou Olson	Charles & Vicki Walker
Margie Fair	Goldie Niehaus	Debby Wiedemann
Emily Gaughenbaugh	Lisa Ouellette	Dawn Zimmermann
Mario Giacomotto	Pete Petersen	Parker Zimmermann

We depend upon this information heavily when making decisions for 2007.  So if you lost track of your cards or simply forgot to turn them in, we hope you will soon renew your commitment to this ministry for the coming year!

LCOR Treasurer Report December Finances

When comparing the 2006 expenses to 2006 income we were in the red by $-3,477.33.  By December 31 we received an amazing $18,071.50.  This generosity in December gave us a positive balance of $440.05.

For a  more detailed explanation of our 2006 year end finances please see the year end report.

         Statement of Activities

     Twelve Months Ended 12/31/2006

				Jan - Dec 06
	Ordinary Income/Expense
		Income
			5000 · Unrestricted Income	125,230.08
			5030 · Other Income	39,434.32
		Total Income		164,664.40
		Expense
			6000 · Administration & General	108,070.00
			6100 · Managerial Expense	934.78
			6190 · Mortgage Expense	7,404.00
			6200 · Office Expense	11,012.03
			6300 · Parish Teams	2,691.03
			6400 · Utilities	10,356.96
			6500 · Maintenance	9,109.73
			6600 · Benevolence	14,645.82
			7000 · Unclassified Expense	0.00
		Total Expense		164,224.35
	Net Ordinary Income			440.05
	Other Income/Expense
		Other Income
			8000 · Unbudgeted Income	5,445.00
		Total Other Income		5,445.00
		Other Expense
			9000 · Unbudgeted expenses	5,445.00
		Total Other Expense		5,445.00
	Net Other Income			0.00
Net Income				440.05

Thank you, Jeff Temple