Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen indeed, Alleluia!!

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He isn’t here—he’s been raised!”  (Luke 24:5-6)

The Resurrection.

Rising from the dead.

Life restored.

It is no mistake that we celebrate new life in the Spring.

With the incredibly warm weather we had this past March, plants are sending up shoots of new growth into the inviting warmth from the sun and wet soil from the melting snow.

It is the perfect time to celebrate ways in which life is coming from the earth and from God.  Our hearts, too seem to be warmed by the early taste of Spring this year.

Isn’t it incredible how you can feel your spirits lift when the weather goes from the dark and cold and seemingly unfriendly days of winter, to the colorful, warm, and inviting days of Spring?

Everything just seems more hopeful when new life appears following the dormancy of winter.

I can’t help but think about a lovely song that we sing at Easter that directly relates to the rising green….

“Now the green blade rises from the buried grain, wheat that in the dark earth many days has lain; love lives again, that with the dead has been; love is come again like wheat arising green.”

I love the way, LOVE is highlighted as being reborn after a time of seemingly being absent, perhaps viewed even as being non-existent, as if it has truly died….never to be seen again. It is a truly disheartening feeling to think that love has died. The good news, is that God has the power to overcome death.

Life and love can return to us, too. Life is fluid, cyclical, and there are more chances to get it right in our lives. We all make mistakes.  We can kill by our unkind words, or feed off of gossip at the expense of another person, or try to eliminate something that we don’t understand, or even make them look bad  because they have a differing opinion from ours. If they are right about their opinion, we may think, then we must be wrong, so we want to make others wrong so we can be right. Avoided conflict is like that. When we get to the point where we stand in our corner with people who only agree with us, and guess what the other person thinks, or feels, and place value judgments on the other, then we know we are in trouble. Truth and life and love are all drifting farther away from US, not THEM, when we get to that point.

“In the grave they laid him, love by hatred slain, thinking that he would never wake again, laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen; love is come again like wheat arising green.”

In the midst of these verses, where strong words like ‘love by hatred slain’ it is always tempered by God’s last words, ‘love is come again.’  This is what the resurrection of Christ is all about. Love coming again, where it has been slain. The answer to being restored to life is not in the continued story telling of the latest ways in which you think someone else is falling short…..that only continues the death march to an eternal winter.

The answer, instead goes in the opposite direction. The answer to restoring life lies in the ways in which we risk our very safety and life by reaching out to the ones who we don’t understand and who we fear oppose us. The answer lies in reaching past the barriers that we have set up for our own safety and having the courage to speak our truths to the ones who may potentially have a differing opinion from our own. Only then, can we share in the joy that comes from the life that is restored, from the place from which we fear love has died.  Living in community with one another is the lifting up of one another in love, support, compassion, and sometimes corrective measures. God has the ability to call us all back to life again, in our personal lives, in our families, and even in the Church.

“When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, your touch can call us back to life again, fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been; love is come again like wheat arising green.” 

Touch us, Lord, with your risen life. Call us back again where death has been in our hearts.

May it be ever so as we abide in your tremendous life-giving love for us, O God!

pastor Kathy

Due to increased Scrip Handling Fees, starting in March we will be ordering Scrip once a month. We will be ordering the 3^rd Sunday of the month with our next order being Sunday March 21^st. Please contact Anne Staniforth with any questions at 846-3352.

Also, Uno’s has filed for Chapter 11. Please use any Uno’s gift cards as soon as possible. Uno’s will not be available for sale through our Scrip Program, until they are out of bankruptcy. Thank you!

Council met Thursday, February 11^th, 2010. This was the first regular meeting of the newly elected Council. We discussed and planned for some events including: installation of the Council, the annual Council retreat (i.e. work day) and Ash Wednesday Soup Supper. We also discussed many other items, a summary of some of these items are as follows:  · The potential to reform a nursery during Sunday’s services. Veronica Eicher will work with others to hopefully restart a nursery in fall 2010.· Placing more training and importance on being a Greeter. Betty Olson is planning to lead an initial Greeter training class February 21^st.· The current lack of volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and the potential that this year’s trip may be canceled. Rick Johnson and others will place personal phone calls to our high school youth and hopefully bring more volunteers forward.· The budget, last month’s actuals and other information included in the Treasurer’s Report. Lisa Johnson led an informative discussion.· Assigning the Standing Committees to Council Members, so each committee has a designated “Liaison” to the Council. All standing committees now have a Liaison to the Council.

· Revision of the brick memorial rates to celebrate our 60^th anniversary. The rate was changed to $60.00 a brick for the anniversary year.

Discussion of how to reconcile the budget approved by the Congregation and Pastor Kathy Ulrich’s decision to not accept the reduced salary and continue at the salary stated in her last letter of call. The Synod and Bishop is to be contacted as soon as possible so Council will know what avenues are available to reconcile this difference. (FYI, the Bishop’s office was contacted the next day and the first meeting between members of our Council and the Bishop has not yet been scheduled but will likely be the week of March 7^th prior to our next Council meeting.)Council meetings are open to the public. As always you are invited to join us to bring forth your ideas and enter into the discussion. The Council regularly scheduled meeting is the second Thursday of the month starting at 7:00 pm. If you would like to be included in the Council meeting agenda and information distribution list, please let me know.Please continue to pray for and believe in the leadership of our Council. You have elected what I believe to be another great group of individuals that will continue to do what they feel is in the best interest of our congregation. Thank you for your support and the support you give to each other.

Prepared by Jim Simpson, President, please contact me with any questions or concerns (846-3564, jim.simpson@charter.net), thank you.