Dear Messiah Congregation,
This has been a truly amazing week. Unless you have been present, it is hard to describe exactly what the week of Vacation Bible Camp has been. We have welcomed over 125 children with nearly as many youth and adults providing leadership. Carol Erickson, our children’s director, and her leadership team have outdone themselves. Every available space within the building was utilized. We were even able to use the new space that the building construction created on the lower level.

You have touched many lives in a powerful way. And in two weeks, Carol and three families from Messiah will take this Vacation Bible Camp experience to over a hundred children in Jamaica. Would you take a moment today to say a prayer of gratitude, thanking God for the way this church has been a vessel of God’s love all week long?

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Dear Messiah Congregation,
Another new construction project is now underway! Walk to the lower level and you will enter a worm tunnel. How many churches have an actual worm tunnel! And by Sunday afternoon, the upper level will be transformed into an outdoor garden. On Monday morning, anyone who enters the building will miraculously become bug-sized to experience the wonder of God’s creation. Yes, it is time for this year’s Vacation Bible Camp. The creativity of our children’s ministry is working day and night to provide children with an amazing Bible adventure.

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Dear Messiah Congregation,
I am writing to you on the final day of Annual Conference. For the past three days, United Methodists in Minnesota have been together giving testimony to what God is doing through the church while also examining the challenges before us as Christians and as a denomination. Annual Conference is also where the congregation of United Methodist clergy gather to pray together, to honor accomplishments, support those in need, ordain new pastors, and receive our annual appointments. There was a time when pastors did not want to miss the final moment of Annual Conference because that’s when the first announcement was made of where each pastor would be assigned for the coming year. Fortunately, the surprise announcements have been replaced by a consultation that determines appointments for the coming year months before Annual Conference meets. For the year that begins July 1, all three of your pastors have been reappointed to Messiah Church. We look forward to the opportunities before us as we serve together with you.

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Dear Messiah Congregation,
Paul begins his letter to the new church at Philippi with these words: “I thank my God every time I remember you.” As I entered the building this morning, these words came to mind. The building is an important tool for ministry, but the church is really the people - you. We are in the midst of an exciting transition. I am grateful for the spirit with which you are adjusting to change. Last Sunday, we tried communion in Heritage Hall, and we learned some things that will help us in June. We are learning to sit very close together and fill every seat for worship. And God’s Spirit is at work! As we worship in Heritage Hall, I hope you notice the altar at the front. It was hand carved by Peter Winnen (relative of Steve Frick of our congregation) in 1869.

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Dear Messiah Congregation,
Last night, Amanda and I returned from a few days of vacation. As we planned this vacation, Amanda had two expectations: warm and ocean. My expectation: quiet and as cheap as possible. We agreed on Florida and had five beautiful days of walking the beach, reading, rest, and lots of time for conversation. When we plan a vacation, our focus is on the destination, but I realize that the process of getting there and getting home again has the power to make the vacation or destroy it. After arriving in Orlando, we waited in line for a rental car. It was a very long wait. The person ahead of us in line was not happy about waiting. He made that obvious to everyone, and when he reached the counter he directed the full fury of his anger at the agent.

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Dear Congregation,
This is Holy Week. The Latin term is maior hebdomata or “greater week”. From the weather forecast for the weekend, we might call this the greatest week! Every year by about the first of February, I say to Amanda, “We’ve got to move south. I can’t take another winter in Minnesota.” But then we get a week like this one – and I think there’s no place else I’d rather be. Easter is a little like that. I took the dog outside this morning and noticed the tulips poking up through the ground. Life is bursting forth, and it feels good. Easter is an inner bursting forth of life. There is so much hurt and uncertainty around us that many wonder whether they can make it through another year. Easter comes with the announcement that God’s presence and power is closer than we thought. My Easter message will focus on the living hope we have in Easter. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t need the gift of hope that Easter offers. Our Easter worship will be awesome. Invite someone to come with you.

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Dear Messiah congregation,
This morning I read a copy of the April newsletter that will reach you either by email or regular mail at the end of the month. It provides several amazing stories of ways God is working through this church to touch lives of people. If you ever wonder what this church accomplishes and whether it makes a difference, look for this newsletter. When I finished reading, I took a few minutes to pray for the people mentioned, thanking God for using them to reach you with an important message. This is a church where lives are filled with the power of God’s love through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Dear Messiah congregation,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

These words have come to mind over and over again in recent weeks. The proverb is not a promise that life will be without challenges. It does not offer the answer to difficult questions. It points out the way to live through the challenges and difficult times.

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Dear Messiah Congregation,
I have never been to the Holy Land, but on Ash Wednesday Pastor Carrie introduced us to the Western Wall. We now have a version of the Western Wall on the southern wall of our sanctuary. The Western Wall is all that remains of the Temple in Jerusalem. This was the second Temple constructed during the time of King Herod in the years before the birth of Jesus. They believed the Temple to be the place where God was present. There was no holier place than the Temple. And today, the Western Wall (also known as the Wailing Wall) is the presence of God. Prayers are written on slips of paper and stuffed into a crack in the wall. It is an act of placing one’s prayer before God.

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Dear Messiah Congregation,
One of the ways that I serve our Minnesota Annual Conference is by serving on the Board of Ordained Ministry. Last week, we conducted our annual retreat where candidates for ordained ministry are interviewed. Those whom we interviewed had completed years of formal education including a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, completed a series of psychological testing, submitted written papers addressing many theological questions, submitted a recording of a sermon, provided reference letters as well as approval from a local church and a district committee. After all of this preparation, they came to last week’s interviews and a final vote by the Board of Ordained Ministry. It is not at all a formality, and not everyone who has completed the work is ultimately approved.

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