08
Dec 2017
Advent begins our liturgical year and is a season of anticipation as we look forward not only to Christ’s birth, but also to his triumphant return in glory. As we look for the light of Christ to break into our community with love, hope and healing, we lean into the hope we have in Christ’s transforming presence. Our sermons this Advent will focus on what happens when we allow our longing for the King of Glory to actively shape our relationship with God. Adult Sunday School In adult Sunday School we......
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08
Dec 2017
Christmas Eve 2014 Dearest Upper Midwest Family: Merry Christmas! I have just returned from a most remarkable two weeks in the Archdiocese of Jos in Nigeria. It was a time of such rich Kingdom experiences that I am sure I will be absorbing them for months to come. We had the privilege of visiting a church under siege–truly a persecuted church. Indeed, even in our time there a bomb blast occurred in downtown Jos. But our brothers and sisters there carry on with a Gospel courage and focus–a focus on the lost......
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08
Dec 2017
Looking for a Lenten discipline? Here are some resource suggestions from a few of your fellow LOC parishioners: I. Books: The Lenten Journey; Notes, Prayers and Devotions for Lent and Holy Week (Olsen, Eirik, available at Light of Christ; look for the “little red book” on the Information Table) Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation (M.R. Mulholland Jr); Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings (H. Nouwen) Lent and Easter: Wisdom from Henri Nouwen (J. Bauer); For Kids/Family, Good Dirt: Lent, Holy Week and Eastertide (L.F. Borgo & B.......
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08
Dec 2017
Father Eirik inspired my husband and me to get active and try to implement the Daily Office into our lives. Then we saw the array of ribbons that laced Fr. Eirik’s Book of Common Prayer and thought about creating our own so that we could get organized and efficiently flip back and forth between the lectionary and the various prayers and elements of the Daily Office. Unfortunately this seemed like a lot of work. We checked into it and were dismayed at the thought of spending over $100 to get the special two volume prayer book set that had......
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08
Dec 2017
October 10, 2013 Feast of Paulinus, First Bishop of York (644 AD) Dearest Brothers and Sisters of the Upper Midwest Diocese: What a remarkable gift of joy we were given as a diocese over the Consecration Weekend. Many of you did so much for this event, and I am grateful. I realize, of course, that not everyone was free to attend this event. You were missed! I want to encourage you to listen to the teachings of my Friday Vision Cast and Friday Vision Cast Notes, watch some of the video of the Consecration, and......
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08
Dec 2017
Dan Cornelius and Karen Cassiday will be departing on February 8 for a ten day trip to Guatemala as part of a medical missions team–joining physicians, nurses, physician’s assistants, dentists and optometrists to provide medical and mental health care for the poor. (Karen is the first clinical psychologist and Dan the first massage therapist to join the team.) Dan recently provided this list of specific prayer requests for them as they depart: “Thank you” prayers to God for all of those who have already help us financially and also with prayer for this journey. To have a safe......
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08
Dec 2017
Thanks be to God for the amazing work he is doing in our congregation! We are awed by how many of our congregation came and shared whatever word they had heard during Lent, from Denethor and Lord of the Rings to crows flying in tandem to our usual themes of light and darkness. Some common notes sounded during our gathering: We are called to be light in the community of Kenosha and that each of us is called to embody Christ’s light in our own unique way. (Collin C: “You gotta let the......
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08
Dec 2017
A good vision statement pulls people together, keeps them coordinated, helps them to be faithful stewards of who God has gifted them corporately to be, and how He has especially inspired them to minister in their time and place. Like a good sermon, it is an application of a timeless call, a helpful and encouraging interpretation of the particular way a local gathering is to carry out the universal calls to make disciples, break bread, pray, fellowship with one another, live out the teaching of the Apostles, collaborate in the miraculous power......
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08
Dec 2017
Providentially, at the same time we were collecting our Good Friday offering, Makor HaTikvah has encountered a very difficult legal challenge to its existence. For those reading for the first time, it may be difficult to understand the context. It is not uncommon, unfortunately, for Messianic entities to be subject to legal threats from those in the Jewish community that despise them. It is a form of harassment that Jewish believers face in many areas of civic engagement. In this case, a loophole was found in the highly regulated registration framework, as the......
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08
Dec 2017
On Saturday, a group of 90+ delegates and other congregational representatives gathered at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, IL to sign the proposed Constitution and Cannons of our Diocese in Formation, the Diocese of the Upper Midwest. Bp. Nathan Gasatura of the diocese of Butare, Rwanda delivered a message to from Nehemiah, chapter 1. Bp. Nathan emphasized that when our walls are broken down, we are driven to our knees in prayer. Nehemiah prayed first a prayer of repentance and from there found the strength to go before the King allowing that contrition to show......
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