| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jun | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
- General (11)
- Uncategorized (9)
- 27. June 2008: News
- 27. June 2008: Have you laughed today?
- 15. June 2008: News
- 15. June 2008: Have you laughed today?
- 15. June 2008: Pelle’s Thoughts
- 13. May 2008: Have you laughed today?
- 13. May 2008: Pelle's Thoughts
- 13. May 2008: News
- 6. May 2008: Smiles from the Bible
- 19. April 2008: By the way ...
Lutheran links
News
27. June 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
Lease for new location finally signed!
After months of hard work the location finding team of All Saints Lutheran Church (ASLC) finally succeeded in securing a location for their additional site.
On Friday June 20th, 2008 council president Bill C. signed the lease for the storefront on Lafayette Street which will become the new center for sharing God’s love in the South Lyon area.
The only comments South Campus News got from ASLC members were broad smiles on their faces.
The storefront seems to be smaller and in less good shape than the one ASLC tried to secure before. But an interior decorator is already at work, and the south campus pastor is optimistic that this storefront will soon be a wonderful and bright place.
Posted in General | No Comments »
Have you laughed today?
27. June 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
This does sound familiar somehow:
In the year 2008, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said, ‘Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me.
Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans’
He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, ‘You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights.’
Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard - but no Ark.
‘Noah!’ He roared, ‘I’m about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?’
‘Forgive me, Lord,’ begged Noah, ‘but things have changed. I needed a building permit. I’ve been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I’ve violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision.
Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lin es and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark’s move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.
Getting the wood was another problem. There’s a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls - but no go!
When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me.
They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space.
Then the EPA ruled that I couldn’t build the Ark until they’d conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood.
I’m still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I’m supposed to hire for my building crew.
Immigration and Naturalization are checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work.
The trades unions say I can’t use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark-building experience.
To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I’m trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species.
So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark.’
Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, ‘You mean you’re not going to destroy the world?’
‘No,’ said the Lord. ‘The government beat me to it.’
Posted in General, Uncategorized | No Comments »
News
15. June 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
Barbecue and fellowship instead of batteries and light bulbs
As you can see in the pictures: the “Power & Light” meetings in June, held by South Lyon Power & Light and All Saints Lutheran Church, didn’t have anything to do with batteries and light bulbs. But they had a lot to do with fun, fellowship and FOOD! One participant said: “I can still smell the barbecued chicken, steaks and burgers” J
And of course these meetings had also to do with exchanging information and ideas about All Saint’s South Campus: South Lyon Power & Light.
Thanks to everyone for their interest, offered help and great ideas!
South Lyon Power & Light about to secure location
South Campus pastor Pamela H. is excited and looking forward to go to South Lyon together with a “dream team” and brighten up their new place, start regular worship, bible study, Big Questions with “Fat Tuesday” - their new outreach band, and get busy in the community “with a lot of crazy outreach activities” as she says.
Everybody is waiting for the good news that South Lyon Power & Light finally has a location in South Lyon. And the question is out there: Could South Lyon Power & Light secure the neat location we introduced in last months South Campus News? The sad answer is: No.
After the planning commission of the City of South Lyon had approved a drawing of the place with all the required changes, this was presented to the landlord who didn’t agree with putting in emergency exits in a certain back area of the building. South Lyon Power & Light was forced to present another idea, but has not heard from the owner of the building since. A representative of South Lyon Power & Light mentioned that there is some other space available for lease which seems to be very intriguing: It is located in a great downtown location; although a little smaller than the other place it would provide enough room for worship services, meetings, and even for hosting a coffeehouse event; there is parking right in front of the building, public parking is close, and the cost is a significantly less. To get approval from the City of South Lyon doesn’t seem to be a problem, and the location finding team of South Lyon Power & Light is optimistic to sign the lease very soon.
During an interview with the South Campus News Pr. Pamela H. said: “When I started looking for a location in South Lyon I had no idea how difficult this would be. Being a pretty naïve German pastor I really thought: we find a place, purchase or lease it, and get started with our ministry. But the last few months taught me that this whole process isn’t that simple. For example: If you want to have worship services going on you need a permission to hold assemblies – in our case from the City of South Lyon. You only get this permission if you fulfill certain requirements. Did you know that if you can seat more than 50 people in one room you must have at least two bathrooms, one for ladies and one for gents. Emergency exit lights must be inside the rooms and visible of course. Handicap accessibility is also important. And then there is the zoning. But I must admit that I never really understood this “zoning” thing. I am only glad that I have people helping me who do know what they are doing in terms of real estate.
However, the whole South Campus process sometimes feels a lot like being in roller coaster. So many ups and downs and twists that I sometimes get dizzy with everything that is happening. Like in a roller coaster it also gets a little scary once in a while. But most of all it is extremely exciting. I find that roller coasters are a lot of fun, and so is our South Campus Ministry!”
The “South Campus News” is looking forward to report about South Lyon Power & Light’s grand opening soon.
South Lyon Power & Light about to lose location opportunity again?
We just received the information that South Lyon Power & Light is again having difficulties with securing a location for their outreach ministry. The problem this time is obviously the zoning of the area where the building is located. In this case the zoning requires more parking than is available. A speaker of the location finding team said: “We are not willing to give up. We will do all we can to come up with a solution!”
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Have you laughed today?
15. June 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
One day Jesus and Moses were on the golf course and decide to have a contest over who can make the most outstanding shot.
So, Moses goes first. He settles up for the shot and hammers it straight for the green. Unfortunately, the ball falls into a water hazard. Undaunted, Moses raises his arms to the sky, and the water parts where the ball dropped in. The ball rolls out of the water and onto dry land, only a foot away from the hole.
Jesus looks at Moses and says, “Hey, Moses, that was a pretty good shot. Now let me see what I can do.”
So Jesus settles up for his shot and sends the ball screaming toward the green. Unfortunately, Jesus has the same luck as Moses did. The ball heads straight for the water hazard. Jesus holds out one hand and, instead of dropping into the water, the ball bounces on top of it and rolls onto dry land only three inches from the hole.
Moses says, “Wow, that was an incredible shot!”
No sooner has Moses said this, than the skies grow dark. The wind starts to pick up, lightning and thunder crackle through the sky. Suddenly, a ball falls from the heavens into the same water hazard where Jesus and Moses hit theirs. A fish swims up and swallows the ball. An eagle swoops down, grabs the fish in his talons, and heads for the now darkened sky. Lightning strikes the eagle, and he drops the fish onto the green. The fish opens his mouth, the ball rolls out, and drops into the hole.
Moses turns to Jesus and says, “Man! I hate it when your dad plays!”
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Pelle’s Thoughts
15. June 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
|
Do you have childhood heroes? I know that Pr. Pamela has at least one childhood hero. And no: That’s not me. I wasn’t around at that time. I became a hero in her life many years later. Pr. Pamela’s childhood hero is a little witch. This little witch is the main character in a book called “The Little Witch” by Otfried Preußler. Pr. Pamela’s mom used to read stories from this book to her as bedtime stories. And on many other occasions as well. The witch in the book is a “little” witch because she is only 127 years old – quite young for a witch. Too young to attend a witches’ dance on the Brocken mountain. But as you can imagine she goes anyway. Her plan is to arrive late and leave early so that the other witches won’t know that she was there. But her plan doesn’t work and she gets caught. The other witches threaten her with all kinds of punishments. The Head Witch finally agrees to let her attend next year’s witches’ dance if she has become a good witch within a year. What the Head Witch means by becoming a good witch is to actually become a bad witch by learning all the spells and potion ingredients, and using them to do bad things to people. But the little witch has a different idea about becoming a good witch. She studies hard and does a lot of good things to people: helping the chestnut man for example who gets a bad cold every time he is out selling roasted chestnuts in the middle of winter. She also helps a little girl who isn’t able to sell her paper flowers at the weekly market. The little girl’s family is very poor and badly needs the extra money but nobody seems to be interested in paper flowers. So the little witch makes the paper flowers smell like real flowers, and suddenly everybody wants to buy these paper flowers. And: the flowers in the little girl’s basket never come to an end. You can imagine that the other witches are not pleased about the little witches behavior. The worst is her aunt Rumpumpel, a mean storm-witch, who doesn’t like the little witch at all. She spies on the little witch all the time to find evidence against her. I must say that I admire the courage of the little witch. She does what is right, no matter what others think of her. She does what is right even if others threaten her for helping people in need. For her there is no doubt what a good witch is supposed to be doing. On one hand this is very naïve but on the other hand it is also very powerful. Naïve because she will eventually get into trouble with the other (bad) witches, and powerful because it makes her change the world a little. She makes her part of the world a better place. Only her methods in dealing with the bad people may be questionable nowadays. The little witch would probably approach the “bad guys” differently in 2008, being 178 years old by now and a lot wiser than she used to be in 1957, when the book first was published. And you know what: There are some stories in this book which remind me very much of stories in the bible. I don’t know if Pr. Pamela is aware of this (as a pastor she should be!), but I (as a highly theologically educated teddy bear!) saw the parallels right away. Take the story with the paper flowers for example. There is a miracle happening: the little girl sells the flowers and the flowers in her basket don’t come to an end. People buy and buy but the basket is still full. And: this story is not only about helping a little girl. This story is also about sharing, making sure that everybody gets some of these wonderful paper flowers. Does that ring a bell? In Matthew 14 there is this story about Jesus feeding 5000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. O.k. in case of the little witch there is definitely magic involved. In Jesus’ case the willingness of the disciples to share the little they had may have caused all the others to look closer into their bags, and share what they had. And that was eventually enough to feed all of them. Although the stories are different, there is still a common message: Miracles can happen where somebody simply does the right – GOOD - thing. There is another story that has a parallel in the bible. In Otfried Preußler’s book the little witch casts spells on a Friday to cheer up two very upset children who got lost in the woods on their way home. Casting spells on a Friday is strictly prohibited because for witches the Friday is the Sabbath day. Does that sound familiar? Matthew 12 tells us about Jesus healing on the Sabbath which in the opinion of the Pharisees is against Jewish law. But Jesus doesn’t care about the Pharisees. He simply does what’s right – what’s GOOD – in this situation. Being good, doing the right thing, is always worth it. Being a good witch leads the little witch finally to getting rid of all the bad witches. She finally wins the fight against evil simply by being who and what she is: a GOOD witch! Jesus finally overcomes death – not only his own but ours as well - simply by being who and what he is: the manifestation of God’s love! And God wants us to follow this example. God wants us to be good and to do good. God wants us to change the world. If we are willing to just do what’s right without caring what others think about us, we will be able to perform miracles in this world. It doesn’t need magic to do this. It only needs the courage to sometimes NOT do what others want us to do. It only needs the courage to do what’s right. By the way: Did I mention that Jesus is one of Pr. Pamela’s childhood heroes as well? And now as I think about it: Maybe Jesus is THE childhood hero - but the little witch is certainly not far behind J
Yours Pelle |
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Have you laughed today?
13. May 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
Here is one that has been forwarded to me by a member of our congregation. Thanks!
In Florida, an atheist became incensed over the preparation of Easter and
Passover holidays. He decided to contact his lawyer about the
Discrimination inflicted on atheists by the constant celebrations
Afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays while atheists had
No holiday to celebrate.
The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the long
Passionate presentation by the lawyer, the Judge banged his gavel and
Declared, ‘Case dismissed!’
The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and said, ‘Your
Honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have
Christmas, Easter and many other observances. Jews have Passover, Yom
Kippur and Hanukkah…yet my client and all other atheists have no such Holiday!’
The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said, ‘Obviously your
Client is too confused to even know about, much less celebrate his own
Atheist’s holiday!’
The lawyer pompously said, ‘Your Honor, we are unaware of any such
Date—April 1st! Since our calendar sets April 1st as ‘April Fools Day,’
Consider that Psalm 14:1 states, ‘The fool says in his heart, there is no
God.’ Thus, in my opinion, if your client says there is no God, then by
Scripture, he is a fool, and April 1st is his holiday! Now have a good
Day and get out of my courtroom!!
Posted in General | No Comments »
Pelle’s Thoughts
13. May 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
Did you know: Many teddy bears can accomplish a lot more than just one!
Many teddy bears can keep you a lot warmer than just one. Many teddy bears can absorb a lot more tears than just one when you are sad.And people are not that much different. O.K they are a little different: Real people are not as cute as we teddy bears are – in my opinion at least. But if it comes to teamwork we are pretty much the same. Many people can accomplish a lot more than a single person if they work together. TOGETHER is the key word!
I remember Pr. Pamela telling a story about an experience she made when she used to be a missionary in Papua-Newguinea. Together with two other women she went to Mount Hagen, a little city in the highlands of Papua-Newguinea, to do some grocery shopping at an outdoor marketplace. (By the way: You need to know that the roads in Papua-Newguinea are even worse than they are in Michigan.) After finishing the shopping the three women got back into the car – a very light weighed van - to drive back home. Pr. Pamela wanted to drive the van backwards out of the parking lot. What she didn’t know: There was big and pretty deep pothole right behind her. And: She drove right into it. The car got stuck halfway in the pothole and was about to tip over on its side because it was so light weighed. The two other women jumped out of the car and tried to keep it from falling over. But it was only the two of them and although they were clinging on the front of the van it was still swaying and about to tip over. Then suddenly a crowd of people came running toward the car. They were just around doing their shopping. But when they saw the swaying car in the pothole they came to help. Together they managed to get the car out of the pothole easily.
I know Pr. Pamela is still embarrassed about this but she is also very grateful for the help. Without that help the three of them would not have been able to keep the car from tipping over - let alone get it out of the pothole. But with so many other people lifting and pushing it was not a big deal.
You see: if people work together problems can easily be solved. If we put the weight of a problem on many shoulders instead of just one the problem isn’t so much of a problem anymore. Many people sharing what they have – strength, talent, ideas, resources – can make a great impact. I recently overheard Pr. Pamela talking to Kate Zywicki, our Director of Lay Ministries, about building teams. During that conversation Kate mentioned a wonderful acronym for the word team. I know: You are tempted to think that T.E.A.M. would stand for Teddies are most Exquisite, Adorable, and Magical. But that was not what was mentioned. (Too bad, I really like this one.) Kate said that T.E.A.M. stands for: Together Everyone Achieves More!Teamwork – working together - makes us all a lot more powerful than working alone. But “together” is not only about accomplishing more. “Together” is not only about accomplishing things faster. “Together” is not only about accomplishing things better. “Together” is also about having a lot more FUN in accomplishing things.
Pr. Pamela and her husband for example found out that they have a lot more fun when they cook together instead of taking turns. Even I am part of their cooking TEAM. Together everyone of us achieves more: more food, better taste, and of course more fun. When they start cooking together I usually take my place on the windowsill and give important advice about ingredients, or I just make them laugh. I would do all the chopping, peeling, seasoning, and frying as well, but I am too small for that. I wouldn’t even be able to hold the kitchen knife because it is bigger than I am, but still: I’m there, and I help with the little I can give.
And you know what: Even Jesus didn’t do everything by himself. He had help. He had his disciples. And there were not only the twelve disciples who were closest to him. There were the seventy-two he sent out after sending out the twelve. And Jesus was asking for even more because he knew that more people can achieve more: “The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” (Luke 10:1-2, New Living Translation)
I don’t know if you realized something else in this text except from the fact that Jesus wanted to have as many people as possible for the work in the Lord’s fields. I went through the text a few times before I noticed two little but very important words. Jesus didn’t send the seventy-two all by themselves! He sent them in pairs! Everyone of the seventy-two had someone else to walk with! They went in TEAMS of two. Remember: Together Everyone Achieves More!
Jesus still wants this TEAM to grow because the bigger the working team the greater the harvest in the Lord’s fields. A single person cannot take care of a whole field, let alone several fields. But many people can. A whole team can. The more we are the more we can get accomplished. But: it only works if we do it together.
So, whatever it is that needs to be done in the Lord’s fields: Let’s do it TOGETHER as a TEAM!
Yours Pelle
Posted in General | No Comments »
News
13. May 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
We are closer than ever!
Greetings,
Pr. Pamela
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Smiles from the Bible
6. May 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
It doesn’t hurt to have a little Biblical humor to start the day …
Q. What kind of man was Boaz before he married Ruth?
A. Ruthless.
Q. What do they call pastors in Germany ?
A. German Shepherds.
Q. Who was the greatest financier in the Bible?
A. Noah He was floating his stock while everyone else was in liquidation.
Q. Who was the greatest female financier in the Bible?
A. Pharaoh’s daughter. She went down to the bank of the Nile and drew out a
little prophet.
Q. What kind of motor vehicles are in the Bible?
A. Jehovah drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden in a Fury. David’s Triumph
was heard throughout the land. Also, probably a Honda, because the apostles
were all in one Accord.
Q.. Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible?
A. Samson. He brought the house down.
Q. What excuse did Adam give to his children as to why he no longer lived in Eden ?
A. Your mother ate us out of house and home.
Q. Which servant of God was the most flagrant lawbreaker in the Bible?
A. Moses. He broke all 10 commandments at once.
Q. Which area of Middle East was especially wealthy? A. The area around Jordan. The banks were always overflowing.
Q. Who is the greatest babysitter mentioned in the Bible?
A. David. He rocked Goliath to a very deep sleep.
Q. Which Bible character had no parents?
A. Joshua, son of Nun.
Q. Why didn’t they play cards on the Ark ?
A. Because Noah was standing on the deck. ( Groan.)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
By the way …
19. April 2008 by Pastor Pamela.
… you can click on the pictures to enlarge them (most of them).
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »