This week's entry will be brief, with a few links for you to check out. This past week, 30,000 youth and adults of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made their way to Detroit, Michigan for the National Youth Gathering. Every three years, this event happens. Back in 1961, a predecessor Lutheran youth gathering happened in Detroit, and Martin Luther King was one of the speakers at that event.
The past few gatherings have focused not just on worship and fun events and study, but service as well. Each day, a third of the group - 10,000 of them - made their way into the city for service projects. The presence and impact was powerful. Not just for the city, but the participants as well.
Social media provided opportunities for us to follow along with all that was going on. I wanted to post some of these items to share with you. My hope and prayer is that you that the church of tomorrow is active and alive today, and that the future is in good hands - God's hands.
Highlights from the Gathering
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
CLOSING SONG FRIDAY NIGHT
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
A WORD FROM THE BISHOP
Thank you to the youth (Click here)
The youth and adults from Epiphany who attended the Gathering will be sharing with us in the coming weeks - don't miss it!
Peace,
Pastor Charlie
Monday, July 20, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
Chosen Child
A staff meeting is held each Tuesday at 11 am at Epiphany Lutheran Church. We begin with devotions, which we take turns leading. A month or so ago, Natalie Heimann, our Administrative Assistant, shared this devotion with us.
1 John 3:1–2
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.
Earlier this month I celebrated my adoption birthday. I was one week old when I was adopted, and my big brother got the best birthday gift EVER (at least that’s what he said at the time – I think he has rescinded that statement in the years since). Though I was blessed to be adopted into the best family I could have ever hoped for, I also realize that I was already a loved and chosen child of God and that there are some amazing parallels of being adopted into a human family and being adopted into God’s family:
Before I even existed, my family was thinking about me and preparing for me to join them. They loved me even before they knew me. According to the story my daddy told me from before I can even remember, Mommy and Daddy had two awesome boys, but they wanted to be able to raise a baby girl, too, and after having 12 and 10-pound children, my mom wasn’t supposed to have any more children. As my dad’s story goes, “We contacted Mrs. Ward (the adoption case manager) and told her we wanted a blonde hair, blue eyed baby girl who was 6 lbs. 7 oz. and 18 inches long. And so Mrs. Ward looked high and she looked low, she looked East and looked West and then she found you!”
Prior to me even being born though, to be accepted as adoptive parents, Mom and Dad had to go through weekly home visits, their financial records were combed through, the whole family (including my local grandparents and 5 & 7-year-old big brothers) had to be interviewed to make sure they were an acceptable family. Once they were accepted as potential parents, they put my room together – pink and bows, of course. And then they waited for this baby they loved already.
That’s a lot like God, isn’t it? The Bible says God knew us when we were being formed in our mother’s womb. He loved us before we knew anything about Him. He has prepared a place for us and it is in Him. He is willing to go to great lengths to get us, and He has paid a great price to make us His own.
Part of the adoption process was giving me a new name. About 15 years ago, I inadvertently “found” my birth mom (and subsequently my birth father as well), and we are friends now. Well, I found out that she had “named” me Carleen (a combination of her and my birth father’s middle names of Collen and Carlisle. How ironic how closely that sounds like Carlin, my husband’s name, right?) In my adoption records, it shows that the hospital staff called my Mandy. And originally my parents really like the name Julie, but decided I looked like a Natalie instead. (My younger sister ended up as Julie five years later.) Legally, their family name became my last name – their home my home. And then a few months later, I was baptized. I became a Christian, one of God’s chosen children, before I legally became Natalie Dawn Christian. As is the case for all of us, as we live in God and God lives in us, we begin to look more and more like God. God’s ways become our ways. We are set free from our old identity and our past and we walk in newness of life.
When they saw me that first day at the adoption agency when I was seven days old, I smelled differently than they did – I smelled like the hospital, not like the Johnsons & Johnsons baby powder they had waiting with my baby bath at home. I was dressed in the clothes the agency provided, not the cute, frilly dress my Daddy picked up for me. Our heavenly father does the same thing for us. When God first finds us, we usually smell like the world. God wraps us in His love, washes us in the blood of Jesus, fills our hearts and minds with the Word, and floods us with the Holy Spirit. We begin to smell and look like we belong to God.
Finally, when I was a year old, we went to court and before a judge, Mom and Dad and Bruce and Chris declared their intention and desire to make me a legal, permanent part of their family. My brothers even had to say how they felt about me becoming their sister – evidently they told the judge I already was their sister and they weren’t going to share. As a side note, my mom, who was a strict rule-follower said that entire year she was ready to bolt to Canada if there was any indication I would be taken away from her! The judge’s finalization and approval meant that I was now a legal heir – I would never cease being their child. Later in our lives when we would get into arguments, I would tell my siblings that I knew my parents wanted me – they had to take what they got with them. Plus, I would remind them that they could be disinherited but legally, I couldn’t. With our entire extended family, I was NEVER treated any differently than my siblings or cousins – we were all equally spoiled!
You know, it’s that way with God. When we become His children we inherit all that is God’s – and it’s forever. God doesn’t have favorites – just like my parents, God cares for all of His children, and there is enough of God’s love for everyone.
Dear God, thank you for making us your chosen children and calling us as your own – for loving us before we are formed, before we are born. Thank you for letting us know that we will be your children forever, no matter what. We ask that you be with us today and everyday as we do the work of your kingdom and that, as your children, we act and look like you in all our dealings with others. We ask all these things in your holy and heavenly name. Amen.
Thanks for sharing, Natalie!
Peace,
Pastor Charlie
1 John 3:1–2
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.
Chosen Child
Natalie Heimann
Earlier this month I celebrated my adoption birthday. I was one week old when I was adopted, and my big brother got the best birthday gift EVER (at least that’s what he said at the time – I think he has rescinded that statement in the years since). Though I was blessed to be adopted into the best family I could have ever hoped for, I also realize that I was already a loved and chosen child of God and that there are some amazing parallels of being adopted into a human family and being adopted into God’s family:
Before I even existed, my family was thinking about me and preparing for me to join them. They loved me even before they knew me. According to the story my daddy told me from before I can even remember, Mommy and Daddy had two awesome boys, but they wanted to be able to raise a baby girl, too, and after having 12 and 10-pound children, my mom wasn’t supposed to have any more children. As my dad’s story goes, “We contacted Mrs. Ward (the adoption case manager) and told her we wanted a blonde hair, blue eyed baby girl who was 6 lbs. 7 oz. and 18 inches long. And so Mrs. Ward looked high and she looked low, she looked East and looked West and then she found you!”
Prior to me even being born though, to be accepted as adoptive parents, Mom and Dad had to go through weekly home visits, their financial records were combed through, the whole family (including my local grandparents and 5 & 7-year-old big brothers) had to be interviewed to make sure they were an acceptable family. Once they were accepted as potential parents, they put my room together – pink and bows, of course. And then they waited for this baby they loved already.
That’s a lot like God, isn’t it? The Bible says God knew us when we were being formed in our mother’s womb. He loved us before we knew anything about Him. He has prepared a place for us and it is in Him. He is willing to go to great lengths to get us, and He has paid a great price to make us His own.
Part of the adoption process was giving me a new name. About 15 years ago, I inadvertently “found” my birth mom (and subsequently my birth father as well), and we are friends now. Well, I found out that she had “named” me Carleen (a combination of her and my birth father’s middle names of Collen and Carlisle. How ironic how closely that sounds like Carlin, my husband’s name, right?) In my adoption records, it shows that the hospital staff called my Mandy. And originally my parents really like the name Julie, but decided I looked like a Natalie instead. (My younger sister ended up as Julie five years later.) Legally, their family name became my last name – their home my home. And then a few months later, I was baptized. I became a Christian, one of God’s chosen children, before I legally became Natalie Dawn Christian. As is the case for all of us, as we live in God and God lives in us, we begin to look more and more like God. God’s ways become our ways. We are set free from our old identity and our past and we walk in newness of life.
When they saw me that first day at the adoption agency when I was seven days old, I smelled differently than they did – I smelled like the hospital, not like the Johnsons & Johnsons baby powder they had waiting with my baby bath at home. I was dressed in the clothes the agency provided, not the cute, frilly dress my Daddy picked up for me. Our heavenly father does the same thing for us. When God first finds us, we usually smell like the world. God wraps us in His love, washes us in the blood of Jesus, fills our hearts and minds with the Word, and floods us with the Holy Spirit. We begin to smell and look like we belong to God.
Finally, when I was a year old, we went to court and before a judge, Mom and Dad and Bruce and Chris declared their intention and desire to make me a legal, permanent part of their family. My brothers even had to say how they felt about me becoming their sister – evidently they told the judge I already was their sister and they weren’t going to share. As a side note, my mom, who was a strict rule-follower said that entire year she was ready to bolt to Canada if there was any indication I would be taken away from her! The judge’s finalization and approval meant that I was now a legal heir – I would never cease being their child. Later in our lives when we would get into arguments, I would tell my siblings that I knew my parents wanted me – they had to take what they got with them. Plus, I would remind them that they could be disinherited but legally, I couldn’t. With our entire extended family, I was NEVER treated any differently than my siblings or cousins – we were all equally spoiled!
You know, it’s that way with God. When we become His children we inherit all that is God’s – and it’s forever. God doesn’t have favorites – just like my parents, God cares for all of His children, and there is enough of God’s love for everyone.
Dear God, thank you for making us your chosen children and calling us as your own – for loving us before we are formed, before we are born. Thank you for letting us know that we will be your children forever, no matter what. We ask that you be with us today and everyday as we do the work of your kingdom and that, as your children, we act and look like you in all our dealings with others. We ask all these things in your holy and heavenly name. Amen.
Peace,
Pastor Charlie
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