Author: Pastor Aleese Kenitzer

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Worship: Be Prepared

Matthew 25:1-13, Amos 5:18-24 | Throughout Scripture we’re encouraged to “be prepared” for the coming of Christ in our midst. But what does it really mean to “prepare”? Often in our lives and in our world, to be “prepared” implies having things under control, having loose ends tied up, and having a road map directing us forward. But, as we approach a parable of 10 bridesmaids this weekend, we’ll be challenged to consider that preparation goes beyond having our ducks in a row (which, perhaps is good news for some of us!). Instead, to “prepare” pushes us to be obedient to the call and the role that God has entrusted to us: to be the light of the world. So this weekend, join us for worship as once again we are invited to partake in a foretaste of God’s feast to come, and as we are sent forth by the power of the Spirit to participate in God’s mission.

Sunday, November 12, 2023, Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost Bulletin

Copyright acknowledgments: Music covered under Augsburg Fortress License #SB135131, CCLI License #1141706, One License #738128-A. Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Bible, © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.  Prelude: Wayfaring Stranger. Text and Music: Mark Hayes. Text and Music: © 2011 The Lorenz Publishing Corporation. Covered under One License subscription. Gathering Song: Blessed Assurance. Text and Music: ASSURANCE, Phoebe Knapp, Fanny Crosby. Text and Music: © OCP Publications. Covered under One License subscription. Hymn of the Day: Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning. Text and Music: African American spiritual. Text and Music: Public Domain. Offering Song: Grateful. Text and Music: Mark Hayes. Text and Music: © 2016 The Lorenz Publishing Corporation. Covered under One License subscription. Communion Song: Full Attention. Text and Music: Jeremy Riddle. Text and Music: © 2007 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing (Admin. by Integrity Music). Covered under CCLI subscription. Sending Song: Soon and Very Soon. Text and Music: Andraé Crouch, b. 1945. Text and Music: © 1976 Bud John Songs, Inc./Crouch Music, admin. EMI Christian Music Publishing. Covered under CCLI subscription.

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Blog: It All Starts with Blessing

A few weeks ago, I attended a conference in the Twin Cities: Evolving Faith. It was a gathering of people who were seeking refreshment and renewal while also recognizing that their faith, and even their perception of the church, had shifted. There were other church leaders and ministry professionals there as well as people of other professions. There were people who identified on a spectrum of sexual identities,  people of color and indigenous descent, and people like me: white, middle-class. 

I paint this picture for you because it truly a beautiful gathering. And for about 36 hours or so, rather than being identified as one thing or another, together we became fellow pilgrims with one another, accompanying each other on our journeys. 

At the close of the conference, we worshipped. And before being sent forth, the leader of the whole endeavor stood on the stage and offered a 5-minute long blessing. I’m not kidding you! Perhaps that seems abnormally long, but in that time, I felt a renewed sense that I was one who was seen by God. And even amidst my foibles, doubts, wanderings, and wonderings, I was still one who was uplifted as chosen…and blessed. 

I left that space with a renewed outlook on myself, my life, and the calling which God has entrusted to me. But the thing was, it wasn’t just about me. It was also about all those others in the room with me. Each and every one of them were also blessed. So as I – as we! – left that conference ballroom, we couldn’t help but see one another as fellow blessed-ones in God’s sight. 

The moment (obviously) hasn’t left me. And it makes me wonder: what would it be like to leave for our spaces of worship – and even our work offices, our schools, and our community gathering spaces – trusting and remembering that it’s not just ourselves who’ve been blessed by God. Indeed, it’s been each and every person around us? 

I wonder, if remembering our own blessing, and remembering that those around us are also blessed in God’s sight would make a difference. 

So try it out this week: receive God’s blessing on you: you who are a beloved, blessed, chosen, honored child of God. And as you look up from receiving that blessing, look around at all those whom God has also deemed worthy and loved in the sight of God’s Kingdom. 

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Worship Services

Worship: Blessed

Matthew 5:1-12; Psalm 34:1-10, 22 | It’s common to hear words like “blessed” and “blessing” in everyday conversation. Look online and you might find people attributing what they experience to being #blessed. But what, really, is blessing? Where does it come from, and how does it relate to our lives as saints in God’s Kingdom? Join us this weekend for worship as we give thanks for all the saints – past, present, and future – and as we claim our own blessedness in God’s sight, going forth to live into our holy vocation as saints in God’s Kingdom.

Sunday, November 5, 2023, All Saints Sunday Bulletin

Copyright acknowledgments: Music covered under Augsburg Fortress License #SB135131, CCLI License #1141706, One License #738128-A. Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Bible, © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. Prelude: This Little Light of Mine. Text and Music: Mark Hayes. Text and Music: © 2011 The Lorenz Publishing Corporation. Covered under One License subscription. Gathering Song: For All the Saints. Text: William W. How, 1823-1897. Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958. Text and Music: © Oxford University Press. Covered under One License subscription. Hymn of the Day: Give Thanks for Saints. Text: Martin E. Leckebusch, b. 1962. Music: C. Hubert H. Parry, 1848-1918. Text and Music: © 2003 Kevin Mayhew Ltd. Covered under One License subscription. Offering Song: Wade in the Water. Text and Music: Mark Hayes. Text and Music: © 1993 Alfred Sacred. Covered under One License subscription. Communion Song: Taste and See. Text and Music: James E. Moore Jr., b. 1951, based on Ps. 34. Text and Music: © 1983 GIA Publications, Inc. Covered under One License subscription. Sending Song: Oh When the Saints Go Marching In. Text and Music: African American spiritual; arr. hymnal version. Arr.: © 2020 Augsburg Fortress. Covered under One License subscription.

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Blog: Happy All Hollows Eve!

Or, shall we say, Happy Halloween!

Across the Christian church, different church bodies have different approaches to the celebration of Halloween. Much like many other traditions, various denominations have different interpretations of what Halloween is…and is not. 

But, did you know that Halloween and the celebration of All Saints Day (on November 1) actually are connected? 

Halloween is actually a mashed-up version of “All Hallows Eve” (Hallowe’en). Especially in the middle ages, Hallowe’en would be a night that church goers would attend worship and light a candle on the graves of those who had died in the past year. We observe this practice as we celebrate All Saints Day. In addition to that practice, other traditions developed, some of which are similar to Halloween practices today (wearing costumes, making jack-o-lanterns, etc.)

So as you celebrate Halloween today (have some fun with it!), I also encourage you to think ahead to our celebration of All Saints Day. Consider for yourself:

  1. If you were to describe what a “saint” is, what would you say? 
  2. What saints have impacted you and your life of faith? How have they made an imprint on your life?
  3. As you approach All Saints Day this year – remembering those who have died and those who have been baptized in the past year – do you feel a sense of loss? of joy? of hope? something else? 

As we’ll hear this coming Sunday in 1 John 3, we have all been called children of God. And as such, YOU have been named and claimed as a saint in God’s Kingdom. May you claim your title as saint this week, and may you embrace what it means to live as a saint in God’s Kingdom today!

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Worship Services

Worship: The Paradox of Reformation

Psalm 46 | Each year, the church honors Reformation Day – a day to remember reforms within the church throughout history, and a day to pay attention to how the Spirit is continually re-forming and re-shaping us to live in the kingdom of God. And yet, based on where each of us find ourselves, the very notion of “reformation” might sit quite differently. For some, life – and even faith – may feel chaotic, confusing, and stirred up. While for others, there may be hunger for a long overdue shift in thinking, shift in society, or shift in faith that more clearly resembles the whole of God’s Good News. Point being: we approach “reformation” based on where we find ourselves, and where we find ourselves as the church. So, as we gather in worship this weekend, join us as we recall the changing and shaking that is happening, and perhaps the changing and the shaking that needs to happen in our lives, the world, and the church as we join with Christ in mission.

Sunday, October 29, 2023, Reformation Sunday Bulletin

Copyright acknowledgments: Music covered under Augsburg Fortress License #SB135131, CCLI License #1141706, One License #738128-A. Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Bible, © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. Prelude: Blessed Assurance. Text and Music: Mark Hayes. Text and Music: © 2011 The Lorenz Publishing corporation. Covered under One License subscription. Gathering Song: A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Text: Martin Luther, 1483-1546; tr. Lutheran Book of Worship. Music: Martin Luther. Text and Music: © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship, admin. Augsburg Fortress. Covered under One License subscription.
Hymn of the Day: The Church of Christ in Ev’ry Age. Text: Fred Pratt Green, 1903-2000. Music: William Knapp, 1698-1768. Text and Music: © 1971 Hope Publishing Company. Covered under One License subscription. Offering Song: Reflection. Text and Music: Mark Hayes. Text and Music: © 2016 The Lorenz Publishing Corporation. Covered under One License subscription. Communion Song: Reformation Song. Text and Music: Bob Kauflin and Tim Chester. Text and Music: © Sovereign Grace Praise (Admin. by Integrity Music). Covered under CCLI License subscription. Sending Song: Send Us Out. Text & Music: James Hersch. Text & Music: © 1994 Dakota Road Music. Covered under One License subscription.

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Blog: Give to God what is God’s

Recently in worship, we’ve been using the following prayer after we collect our offering and before we begin our communion liturgy:

Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us and what we have gathered, in feeding the world with your love, through the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. 

All that we are, and all that we have, belongs to God. It’s one thing to say that…and it’s a whole ‘nother thing to live that. Because if we live knowing and trusting that all that we are belongs to God, in the words of Pastor Brian Stoffregen, “we cannot say about our lives that ‘this part belongs to God, so I will give it to God. Everything we are and everything we have belongs to God. Everything we are and everything we have we are to give back to God.” And that includes our very being. As people made in the image of God, and gifted with the gifts God has given each of us, God is at work in each of you to bear the image of God’s Kingdom to the world. 

So this week, consider for yourself:

  1. When people look at you, how might they see you as an image of God? 
  2. And, how might your presence re-present God to others? 

In all that we are, we are image bearers of our God who desires to live in relationship with us, and in relationship with all creation. We might restrain ourselves from giving our whole selves to God as a sacrifice of praise. But even still, God’s light within us will shine through as the Spirit moves us to join in God’s mission today. 

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Worship Services

Worship: You Have Heard It Said-Give to Caesar

Matthew 22:15-22 | You have heard it said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God the things that are God’s.” All well and good when the “Caesar’s” of our time are well-intentioned rulers! But how do we approach this phrase when leaders, and powers, and authorities lead without any concern for their people? Or, when leaders perpetuate a system of injustice and destruction? Join us this weekend as we wrap up our stewardship series and as we are summoned to give ourselves, fully, to God as Christ’s ambassadors within the world.

Sunday, October 22, 2023, Twenty-first Sunday of Pentecost Bulletin

Copyright acknowledgments: Music covered under Augsburg Fortress License #SB135131, CCLI License #1141706, One License #738128-A. Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Bible, © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. Prelude: Amazing Grace. Text and Music: Mark Hayes. Text and Music: © 2006 The Lorenz Publishing corporation. Covered under One License subscription. Gathering Song: God of the Fertile Fields. Text: Georgia Harkness, 1891-1974, alt. Music: Felice de Giardini, 1716-1796. Text and Music: © 1955, ren. 1983 The Hymn Society, admin. Hope Publishing Company. Covered under One License subscription. Hymn of the Day: Give Thanks. Text and Music: Henry Smith. Text and Music: © 1978 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music. Covered under One License subscription. Offering Song: Spirit Of God, Descend Upon My Heart. Text and Music: Frederick Atkinson, Mark Hayes. Text and Music: © 2006 The Lorenz Publishing Corporation. Covered under One License subscription. Communion Song: 10,000 Reasons. Text and Music: Matt Redman. Text and Music: © 2011 Columbia Music Company. Covered under One License subscription. Sending Song: For the Fruit of All Creation. Text: Fred Pratt Green, 1903-2000. Music: Welsh traditional; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958. Text: © 1970 Hope Publishing Company. Music: © Oxford University Press. Covered under One License subscription.

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Blog: Mission Moments and You

Throughout October, you’ve been hearing a variety of individuals share testimonies of how the mission of Jesus through SOTC and our shared ministry has impacted them. In so many ways, lives are being touched by what happens both inside our walls and out in the community!

But why have we been sharing these stories? For a variety of reasons. At the core, we’re sharing these stories to uplift the fruit that has been born within individuals lives, within the congregation, and within our greater community, by the work of the Spirit. And beyond that, we’ve been sharing these stories for you to consider how you’ve been impacted by SOTC and our shared ministry, and for you to consider how you are being led to be a part of the mission of Jesus through SOTC in your participation and in your financial gifts.

So this week, as you consider how you’ve been impacted by the ministry of SOTC and your response, consider these questions:

  1. How have the testimonies of Mackenzie, Joseph, and the Thoma’s within worship impacted you? 
  2. Thinking about yourself: have you grown in faith in the past year(s)? How? What has assisted your growth? 
  3. How might God be calling you to participate in continuing to share the Good News of Jesus Christ within our congregation and broader community?
  4. Thinking of your financial budget: can you commit to financially supporting the mission of Jesus through SOTC? If so, would you be willing to make a commitment to yourself by utilizing the Estimate of Giving Worksheet?  

We thank you, in advance, for your continued partnership with us as we live on purpose for a purpose in the name of Jesus. Together, we form this unique body of Christ; and together, we are a part of the whole living body of Christ within the world…called and sent to spread God’s liberating love with all the world. 

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Worship Services

Worship: You Have Heard It Said – Stewardship is Only About Money

1 Timothy 6:17-19 | You’ve likely heard about “stewardship” in reference to money. But, in the words of Grace Pomroy Duddy, “stewardship is everything we do after we say ‘I believe.’ Stewardship is the way we love God and neighbor with our whole lives. Understood this way,…stewardship is about justice – justice for our neighbors and for our world.” Join us for worship this weekend as we pray the Scriptures using the model of Lectio Divinia, giving space for the Spirit to speak to us as we live out our calling to justice and generosity.

Sunday, October 15, 2023, Twentieth Sunday of Pentecost Bulletin

Copyright acknowledgments: Music covered under Augsburg Fortress License #SB135131, CCLI License #1141706, One License #738128-A. Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Bible, © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. Prelude: Pass It On. Text and Music: Kurt Kaiser. Text and Music: © Lutheran Church of Australia. Covered under One License subscription. Gathering Song: We Come to the Hungry Feast. Text and Music: Ray Makeever. Text and Music: © 1982 Ray Makeever, admin. Augsburg Fortress. Covered under One License subscription. Hymn of the Day: We Give Thee But Thine Own. Text: William W. How, 1823-1897, alt. Music: L. Mason and G. Webb, Cantica Lauda, 1850. Text and Music: Public Domain. Offering Song: Interlude. Text and Music: Mark Hayes. Text and Music: © 1981 Harold Flammer Music (Admin. by Hal Leonard LLC) (Admin. by Tom Cat Music). Covered under CCLI subscription. Sending Song: We Are Called. Text and Music: David Hass, b. 1957. Text and Music: © 1988 GIA Publications, Inc. Covered under One License subscription.

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Blog: To Know Christ and Become Like Him

If I were to ask you, what are you pursuing in your life right now?, what would you say? 

At various stages of our lives, we likely find ourselves pursuing different things. In young adulthood, we may pursue a degree, a partner, or begin a family. In time, we may pursue a change of job, or we may pursue a healthier lifestyle. We may pursue a passion project, or we may pursue something to help us grow. 

Point being: throughout life, we pursue many, many things. And this past week, we heard encouragement from Paul of what to pursue, and what not to pursue. Calling a spade a spade, Paul reminds the Philippians that it is not worth our time to pursue wealth, possessions, status, or even merit-badges. Instead, what is worth our time and our pursuit is 1) to know Christ, and 2) to become like him. 

So as you enter into another week, consider for yourself, what is it that you are pursuing in your life right now? Reflect on your pursuit, and consider how it does or doesn’t intersect with your life of faith. 

If you’re looking for more questions to reflect on following this past Sunday’s focus, consider the following:

  1. You may have heard people refer to money or other material possessions as “blessings” from God. Do you agree? What makes this mindset dangerous? 
  2. Is there an aspect of your life you are hesitant to give to Jesus? What do you need to do to submit your whole self to Christ and to your neighbors in humility and service? 

For any one of us to fully give ourselves to Christ and to one another would be impossible without the work of the Holy Spirit. But transformed by the Spirit, and led by Christ, we can go forth into our daily lives as stewards: serving one another in humility and servitude.