At First Lutheran, giving is up 4.5% as compared to last year at this same time. In-person attendance is up, as compared to last year as well. Recently, two separate large legacy gifts were given (stay tuned for details) that allow us to bring on youth ministry staff as well as new music ministries staff—including a new choir director, Cori Vought-Carey. Cori hopes to lead a September-May senior choir that sings all but one Sunday a month. We’re also able to ask her to create something new: a Youth Choir for 5th–8th graders who will rehearse most weeks and sing in worship once a month.

When I was a new pastor, I had a friend who would always try to find the best possible way to explain someone else’s behavior. She would, as we came to call it, eighth commandment something. It was annoying a good amount of the time, to be perfectly honest.

As the 2023/2024 program year comes to an end this month, I see plenty of reasons to celebrate. Our weekly worship attendance continues to creep up as we slowly build our in-person worship numbers from the post-shutdown lows that we and every other church experienced.

This last week, the opportunity presented itself to reflect on the history of music I learned about while on sabbatical. You see, as much as my time in the South was focused on Civil Rights and the African American experience, you can’t learn about those things without learning about the art that was created out of these experiences and the deep impact that art had on our country and the world…

This year, the committee is awarding 11 scholarships to area high school seniors, who are moving on to post-secondary learning this fall.

It’s been a month and a half since I returned from sabbatical, and while December was filled with all the things Advent and Christmas are full of, I continue to reflect on my time away. Over and over again, I remember the stories of how human beings are born to be in community.

Sometime during the past year, I had a conversation with someone who didn’t go up for communion. I asked if she would like us to bring communion to her; she declined, telling me why. I was delighted that she told me, and I told her it was perfectly fine and was so glad she was here with her husband. This couple later joined our church.

On First Fest Sunday, back in September, First Lutheran tried something new (to us). The idea was to invite every kid and every adult into a Faith Web. On poster paper, we drew five lines. On the top went the name of a child who, in 2024, plans to experience a faith formation event by attending a Christian camp, our middle school mission trip to Rapid City, SD, or the ELCA Youth Gathering to New Orleans. On the next line down goes the name of the child’s family. That family is “supporting household #1” for that child. There is space under that first supporting household for three more. Each supporting household commits to connecting with that child in whatever way(s) they choose. It could be as simple as getting to know each other’s name, keeping the child in prayer and perhaps receiving a note of thanks at some point after the faith formation experience. The ‘thanks’ is for the other big commitment made by each supporting household: $300 toward their faith formation experience…

Embracing the Wilderness. This is the “theme” of my sabbatical this year. I am so thankful for this time away to spend intentional time in the “wilderness” (literal and figurative) to more deeply connect to my self and my passions so that I can navigate the next five years with integrity, joy and strength.

There is no space like that of a hospital room—all is quite literally stripped away and we are at our most vulnerable. News of a life-altering or life-ending diagnosis, a sense of loss after surgery, chronic or extreme pain, an emergency that will change things forever: the hospital is a place of the unexpected and inevitably a place of suffering. And it is most certainly a place where God’s presence is most poignant.

St. Augustine once said, “Solvitur ambulando.”

Solvitur ambulando: “It is solved by walking.”

I am positive that Augustine didn’t know all the brain science behind why walking helps our body think better, but he knew there was something there.

ELCA Lutherans are spiritual descendants of reformers. From Martin Luther in the 1500’s calling for the church to stop selling indulgences, to our own grandparents calling for the ordination of women in the 1960s, our ancestors in faith have practiced ongoing discernment regarding how the fruit of God’s Spirit is feeding the Church for its work in the world today. In 2023, First Lutheran lives more fully into this reforming tradition by seeking to become a Reconciling in Christ congregation, for the sake of the world.

Regarding financial stewardship and meeting ministry goals at First Lutheran, 2022 was the best of times and the worst of times. Compared to 2021, our congregation increased giving to the general fund by more than 5%. This allowed us to not only meet our obligations, like keeping the lights on, paying staff and clearing snow from the parking lot, but also two of our dreams. We cut a $10,000 check to the Hunger Task Force and another $10,000 check to REACH as they know how to address homelessness in our communities.

I love Disney. Almost as much as I love Jesus…

Greetings and peace to you in the name of Love!

I wanted to give you a brief introduction to myself and my involvement at First Lutheran. My name is Kathryn Thompson and I am a seminary at Wart burg Theological Seminary. I am in the ordination process for Word and Sacrament ministry to become a pastor in the ELCA. I have completed two years of seminary and this year is my internship year. The bulk of my internship is being done as a Chaplain Resident with Gundersen Health System. However, I also have some congregational touch points that I will complete with you at First Lutheran. I was grateful for the opportunity to help lead and preach at the Thanksgiving Eve service. I have been able to meet some of you as my family attends worship and I look forward to meeting more of you as I help with other worship services and events throughout the year.