After Ash Wednesday, we are in the season of Lent. Lent is about repentance, and repentance is about God’s grace. Grace is yours through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, come for worship at 7pm. On the following Wednesday and all Wednesdays during Lent, come for soup at 6pm and worship at 7pm. Together, we turn away from our efforts to save ourselves, and return to God in Jesus Christ.

And we pray:

It’s okay to feel the weight of the chains. Christ will break them!
Expect the unexpected.

Grace to you this Lent, and peace,

Pastor Clark

God be with you as you read and as your Good Soil group meets!

It’s not too late to form your group. Click here for more information.

God be with you as you read and as your Good Soil group meets!

It’s not too late to form your group. Click here for more information.

Pastor Clark’s Sermon of February 12, 2012

So is the most recent essay from Pastor Clark that appeared in the print newsletter: “Good Soil Stories.”

Counterpoint: “How to Fight the Man” by David Brooks

If I could offer advice to a young rebel, it would be to rummage the past for a body of thought that helps you understand and address the shortcomings you see. Give yourself a label. If your college hasn’t provided you with a good knowledge of countercultural viewpoints — ranging from Thoreau to Maritain — then your college has failed you and you should try to remedy that ignorance.

Effective rebellion isn’t just expressing your personal feelings. It means replacing one set of authorities and institutions with a better set of authorities and institutions. Authorities and institutions don’t repress the passions of the heart, the way some young people now suppose. They give them focus and a means to turn passion into change.

Point: “Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus” by Jefferson Bethke

God be with you as you read and as your Good Soil group meets!

It’s not too late to form your group. Click here for more information.

+ Calendar
+ Pastor’s article
+ ELCA “Hunger Rumblings” blog
+ 20-30s group
+ 39+ group
+ “Faith in Daily Life” seminars

Announcements

Valentine’s Day is Feb. 14.  Be sure to show those you love how much you care and how blessed you are to have them in your life.

Pastor Clark will be traveling Feb. 16 to 19 to Houston with members of the Redevelopment Team for training. For pastoral emergencies, contact Pastors John Grebner and Kristin Berglund: church 563.322.0769 or home 563.388.5944. Pastor Dan Kuckuck will preach and lead worship on Sunday, Feb. 19.

Ash Wednesday is Feb. 22; service will be at 7 pm. The 1st Sunday in Lent is Feb. 26.  The weekly Lenten Evening Prayer will begin on Feb. 29 at 7 pm.

Updated Non-Smoking Policy: We currently have a non-smoking policy for inside the church. The council has approved extending that policy to the entire church property. In the interest of promoting a healthy lifestyle, please refrain from smoking on church grounds. This will include any groups that utilize our facilities. If you have any questions, please contact Mark Collier, Council President, or Pastor Clark. God bless.

Looking ahead, daylight saving time starts at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 13; spring forward an hour.

December “draft” council minutes and ministry team notes are posted on the bulletin board in the administrative hallway.

Confirmation Students’ Winter Clothes Drive 1/1/12 — 4/15/12.     Make a child’s life better! For more information/questions, please see Mandi Linville, Riley Jones, Elli or Mati Robischon, Spencer Jones, or Aleck Reece.  Cash donations are also gratefully accepted, and suitable clothing will be purchased by the confirmation class.

By the Numbers

All Saints publishes attendance and giving summaries in print only. Contact the office for a copy.

In Our Prayers

All Saints publishes its prayer list in print only. Contact the office for a full list.

My Good Soil group grew the other week. My friend and I invited a third friend to join us, because he was talking about wanting to be more intentional in his faith and friendships. We prayed about it one week, “God, is this who you’re inviting us to invite?” and a few days later, that very friend invited us both over on the very same night we had already planned to meet for Good Soil group. “Um, God, is that you?”

As of our January 9 kick-off, 35 people were reading Luke: eight confirmation students reading along in class, and 27 people in 11 Good Soil groups. Now it’s at least 38. Has your Good Soil group grown too? Are you reading along on your own?

Of course, the point of our Good Soil project is to focus on God, which means, paying attention to things we cannot measure. Sure, we will celebrate the stuff we can count. But there’s so much more God is doing—stuff that can’t be show in spreadsheets but only told in stories. Stories, like the ones we’re reading in Luke. Part of the joy and wonder of our Good Soil project is sharing those stories and inviting them.

Here are a few other Good Soil stories.

Tim is glad for the opportunity to read Luke and Acts. He said he’s always thought about reading the Bible and never did. But now, he’s reading along even though he doesn’t have a group yet.

Mary Jo noticed something going on in Luke, since the man, Zachariah, was silenced while the women, Mary and Elizabeth, spoke. “Luke must’ve been a woman,” she said.

The waitress at Village Inn called Anne, Barb, and Trista’s Good Soil group, “Chatty Cathy’s” because they spent so much time getting to know each other and telling their faith journeys.

Telling a story invites other stories. Before worship, tell a story from the past week, when your Good Soil group met. During coffee hour, ask, “How’s your Good Soil group going?” or “Any surprises in Luke this week?”  Tell a story, invite a story.

Our stories don’t have to be flashy, cute, or even particularly “spiritual.” God works in small and unassuming ways, and we may only realize it and what it means when we start sharing and inviting stories. When share and invite, the story changes. It becomes our story, not just my story. As we hear our story grow, we’ll discover connections, themes, surprises—experiences common and uncommon that point the way to God: what God is saying to us, what God is doing among us and in the world.

That’s where this Good Soil project is going. Immersing us in a common story—Luke and Act’s story, yes, but also All Saints’ story.  Unifying and catalyzing us around God’s story with us—who God is for us, what God’s purpose is for us, how we’re going to live it out together.

So I’m excited! I can’t wait to hear your Good Soil stories.

Thanks be to God.

Pastor Clark Olson-Smith