SAWC Update

The other day I was asked about how our Synodically Authorized Worshiping Communities (SAWCs) are doing.  I am happy to report that they are doing well!  Pastor Kurt Nordby, our Director of Evangelical Mission, has been working closely with each SAWC and believes their potential for continued growth and community impact is great.

When I first wrote about our SAWCs (July 2010), we had four active worshiping communities.  Much has happened in their lives since then.

Together in Christ, Johnsburg had a short life and merged back into Joyful Harvest when it returned to the ELCA.  Its servant leader, Doug Liston, has served Joyful Harvest during his internship and while completing his seminary studies at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.  We anticipate celebrating his ordination at this year’s synod assembly.

Lord of Love, Galena outgrew its original space and now meets at the Ramada Inn.  Dennis Hill serves as its servant leader.  Hill, a former Baptist pastor, will also likely be ordained at this year’s synod assembly.  He is quick to remind everyone, “At Lord of Love, when we say, ‘All are welcome,’ we mean it.”  Lord of Love will be received as a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at the synod assembly in June.  This will no doubt be a highlight of this 25^th anniversary assembly.

Open Arms' young musicians lead worship

Freedom, Oregon continues to meet at Lutheran Outdoors Ministries Center.  Worship has moved from Freedom Tree Village to the dining hall for the additional space that is needed.  Pastor Frank Lay continues to serve Freedom.

Servant Leader Elizabeth Martin

Open Arms, Rockton has a new space to call home.  It is a storefront in the business district, providing worship, fellowship, meeting and office space.  This replaces a school for Sunday worship and private homes for everything else.  Open Arms’ servant leader is Elizabeth Martin.  Elizabeth is an associate in ministry and is currently studying in the M.Div. program at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

Each of our SAWCs is serving as the ELCA presence in their respective communities and bringing the good news of our resurrected Lord.  Other synods have looked to the Northern Illinois Synod for advice on how to utilize the SAWC concept since we have used it in a way for which it was not originally conceived.  Our SAWCs were first places of healing and solace and are now communities of faith, outreach and service.

Comments?  Go to the blog website or comment on Facebook.   –JC

Links:  Joyful Harvest Lutheran Church; Lord of Love, Open Arms.

Love One Another

The synod’s finance committee recently met to work on the 2013 budget, which must be presented to the Synod Assembly in June.  Bishop Wollersheim led devotions to open the meeting and included a prayer of Bishop Oscar Romero.  At the time of his death, Romero was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador.  We were meeting on the 32^nd anniversary of Romero’s death, March 24, which made Bishop Wollersheim’s thoughts and Romero’s prayer all the more significant.

Romero was murdered at the altar while celebrating the Eucharist in 1980.  He had been fighting for the freedom of the Church in El Salvador and the rights of the poor.  I was in seminary at the time and recall him becoming the topic of conversation.  Liberation theology was a hot topic too.

In my early years of parish ministry, Oscar Romero was quoted often in sermons.  But, until our recent finance committee meeting, it had been quite a while since I had given him much serious thought.  I came home and did a little reading and added “Romero” to our DVD queue.

It was so interesting to watch “Romero” during this Holy Week.  This week we hear Jesus command us to love one another.  We participate in foot washing that symbolizes servanthood.  We hear Jesus’ dying words. We pray for the church throughout the world, Christians in other churches, the Jewish people, those who don’t share our faith, and those who do not believe in God.  We reverence the cross.  The film depicted the life of a servant of God, an imperfect human being, who was assassinated for loving others.

Consider Romero’s words:  We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for peaceful work.  (From The Violence of Love by Oscar Romero, which I found as a free download.)

In this week, when we focus our attention on Jesus and the incomprehensible sacrifice he made for us, it is good to be reminded of the sacrifice others, such as Oscar Romero, have made in Jesus’ name.  May God use us to change the world in the name of our Savior.

On behalf of Bishop Gary Wollersheim and your synod staff, I wish you a blessed Easter.

Comments are always welcome either on the blog website (http://niselca.blogspot.com) or on Facebook.  --JC