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June 2009 Blessings We have been blessing things again, bicycles, motorcycles, adult people, young people, sick people, babies, even a box for collecting food for the food shelf. As always I’m looking forward later this summer to blessing animals again. This is fitting work for the Church, we people who have been grafted on to the community of Abraham. Listen to the original promise God made to Abraham in Genesis Chapter 12, “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. God’s original intention is that the people of God would be a blessing! I am sure that includes the many ways that we do blessings in our worship service, but it seems like God’s idea is even bigger than that. God’s word to Abraham finishes this way, “…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”. The whole earth! That’s a pretty big job, it is a good thing that before we even got started God began by blessing us. One thing is for sure. If we are going to take responsibility for blessing the whole world, what we do in our worship on Sunday mornings will have to be just a start. We are going to have to think about how we bless others in each thing that we do throughout the week. One of the new things St. Matthew’s has begun is a ministry we call “Spirit of Truth”. This is an outreach ministry for the purpose of blessing those who are not in our Church or another congregation. This summer Pete Marincel is beginning this work on our behalf. He is setting up one on one conversations with people who are not in the Church to explore questions of faith and values with them. This is a great opportunity at St. Matthew’s. Most of us have friends and family members who have drifted away from the Church for whatever reason. Beginning a ministry like Spirit of Truth is an opportunity for us to talk to them about being part of creating something. As the summer progresses you will hear about events that are being planned for the fall for people to “come and see” what Spirit of Truth is all about. This is another opportunity to invite people to a creation event. This summer turns out to be a great time to begin talking about our faith, at home and with our friends. That can be a frightening thing, but it doesn’t have to be. Nobody wants to be the sort of person that “shoves religion down your throat”. I don’t want to be that kind of person and I don’t much care for it when others are that way with me. But there is another way. We can learn to share with each other what we think, what we feel, what we believe, in a way that is natural and respectful. We could have an uncommon conversation about life and faith together. Now that would be a blessing! Maybe what gets in the way for most of us is that we don’t really believe we are called to be a blessing. We think other people are but not us. We think there must be experts or professional people that bless who would be better at this, but that is not the plan God laid out to Abraham. God created you to be a blessing. During this Pentecost season we will be talking about how to do this and where to get the courage. In the mean time, God bless you, Vibe June 29th 9am - 4:30 pm VIBE Summer Camp 2009 Confirmation/6th-8th Grade Camp *VIBE is committed to have all participate. If this payment is an issue for you, there are scholarships available. Talk to your Pastor or Justin Dittrich at 651-224-3371 or justin@vibeyouth.org for more information. Camp is a ministry of VIBE Urban Youth Ministry and Bay Lake Camp. Music Ministry I am very appreciative of the many faithful committed musicians at St. Matthew's who are members of the various musical groups & ensembles. I would like to profile one such member: Anne Halgerson.
Anne is married to husband Jim, has 2 grown children and 3 grandchildren. She is a Special Education teacher at Highland Park Senior High and received her Master's Degree in Special Education--with an emphasis on children with learning disabilities. Hobbies include fishing with her husband & other family members and reading. Her favorite Bible verse: "I will make you fishers of men." Jane Hanson FIRST COMMUNION CLASSES
Over 4 weeks, we learned about communion and how it works at St. Matthew's. One week we visited Eleanor and Helen while they were cleaning the communion vessels. They explained what happens with the left over bread and wine. Some other adults joined us when we made communion bread under the guidance of Jane Hanson. She explained the significance of the special ingredients and how they are best mixed together. We all had ingredients to add to the bowls, then we mixed, rolled and baked. Hair nets were worn for sanitary reasons (pictures of this event are on the board in the Narthex). As a reminder of this special time, each of the children painted their own wine goblet that they will take home. I enjoyed working with the children. What I like the most is the friendships that were strengthened around this event. Diane Brennan What a wonderful Music Sunday on May 3rd!
Saint Paul Area The Saint Paul Area Synod of the ELCA met Friday and Saturday, May 29 and 30th at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville. Delegates from St. Matthew’s were Kjersten Nelson and Mike Banks, with Margaret Bonsack attending as a member of the Synod Council and Executive Committee. Pastors Grant and Karen Stevensen also attended. Piano Recital Jane Hanson presented her piano students in a recital on Sunday, May 17th followed by a reception. Students include Sarah Erickson, David Erickson, Sean Biessener, Zach Biessener, Oliver Thul, and Katie.
2009 High School Graduates Brooke and Mark Schlotterback graduated from West High School, Metra Park, Billings, Montana on Sunday May 31, 2009. They are the children of Jane Hanson. First Wednesday It was a wonderful, entertaining year for the program and we look forward to seeing everyone this coming September. Elsie Nelson was the wonderful person who planned all our programs. She called the entertainers and set up the dates for each one during the year. This was done by August 1 so we could get the First Wednesday flyers out in August. Elsie would like someone else to take this over for her and Karen and Elsie will train the new person and help them out this year. Please call the office as soon as possible and let us know if this is something you would like to do. 651-645-6700. Thank you
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Anne Halgerson has been a member of St. Matthew's for 32 years, and is a current member of the Handbell Choir. Anne has served on the Church Council (for 14 years!), has taught VBS, and is on the usher team. Anne loves music! She likes being in the bell choir for a few reasons: it keeps her sharp in reading music, she enjoys playing with the other handbell members, and it's fun! Anne took piano lessons through 8th grade and has played piano for Sunday School. Anne's mother was a church organist. One of Anne's favorite hymns is "Children of the Heavenly Father." She has fond memories of singing that hymn in Swedish at various family get-togethers.
The St. Matthew's Choir in a unique collaboration with the Chancel Choir from Transfiguration Lutheran in Bloomington joined to present the joyous "Te Deum" by Haydn. A guest orchestra comprised of professional musicians from the metro area accompanied this work, as well as the hymns and other choral anthems. Thank you to all the musicians who put in countless hours of rehearsals and practicing to ready themselves for this performance.
