Emergency Response Training Offered

From CtK member, LeRoy Luft:
Could you be faced with a natural emergency, like a major earthquake or a major flood should Hyalite Reservoir be breached? Or a flu pandemic? Would you be prepared to take care of yourself and your family, or to assist others? If the answer is no, please consider a FREE Emergency Response Training course offered June 4, 5 and 6. The 20 hours of training will be held at the Stadium Club at the MSU football stadium. Training runs from 8am-5pm on Thursday and Friday; and from 8am-12noon Saturday.
Lunch and snacks will be provided at no cost as will be materials and a pack of survival supplies.
Several members of Christ the King Lutheran attended this training last summer and it is excellent. There is a lot of information for what you can do in your home to get prepared for almost any emergency.
To register, contact Lori Brown, 406-444-1718 or 406-422-2261, or email lbrown@mt.gov. If you have questions, give me (522-9668) or Dawn Byrd (who also took the course and can be reached in the church office at 587-4131) a call. I can forward the workshop agenda to you if interested. Register as soon as possible as they will only have room for approximately 30-35 people.

Online Devotions

We are nearing the end of The Great Fifty Days - the season of Easter. This Sunday, May 31st, is the Day of Pentecost, and then we enter the "long green season" of Bible readings about life as disciples of Jesus (from Advent - Easter our lectionary mostly focuses on the life and ministry of Jesus. Druing the second half of the year there's more of a focus on the life and ministry of the Jesus's church. That's us).
A seminary classmate of mine writes a weekly "e-vo" - an electronic devotion. You can find it here.
And if you're still trying to get into a rhythm of daily Bible reading, know that you are in my prayers this week!

Journey to Wellness

Grant and I have been invited by our bishop, the Rev. Jessica Crist, to join a small group of Montana Synod colleagues on a year long "journey of renewal." It's all about wellness, in every aspect of life. Our church (the ELCA) is placing growing emphasis on healthy leaders - the slogan is "Healthy Leaders Enhance Lives." It's good timing - over the last few months Grant and I have renewed attention of issues of health, and we accepted Bishop Crist's invitation. Please keep us in your prayers as we begin this year-long journey.
One of the tools that we'll be using is The Wholeness Wheel, which has seven components - seven areas of well-being which contribute to a healthy life. Here's what it looks like:

And here are the explanations for each area of well-being:
Emotional well-being: Being emotionally well means feeling the full range of human emotions and expressing them appropriately. Selfawareness is the first step. Recognizing and honoring your own feelings and those of others — stress, contentment, anger, love, sadness, joy, resentment — will help you live life abundantly.
Financial well-being: In all aspects of well-being we are called to be stewards. Good financial stewards make decisions based on their values, which is evident in the way they save, spend and share. This understanding of stewardship embraces resilience, sustainability and generosity.
Intellectual well-being: A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Using our minds keeps them alert and active. Stay curious, ask questions, seek answers. Explore new responsibilities, experience new things and keep an open mind. And remember, knowing when and how to let your mind rest is as important as keeping it active.
Physical well-being: While we are not all born perfectly healthy or able to live life without injury or illness, we can live well with tending and nurturing. Honor your body as a gift from God. Feed it healthy foods, keep it hydrated, build your physical endurance through regular exercise and respect your body’s need for rest.
Social well-being: We were created by God to be social beings, living in community and instructed to help and love each other. Make time to build and maintain social well-being through interaction, play and forgiveness. Take time to nurture your relationships with family, friends, congregation and coworkers.
Spiritual well-being: Living a centered life focused on God affects each aspect of our well-being. Turn to God for strength as you seek to live well in Christ. Nurture your relationship with God through prayer, devotions, worship, nature, art and music. Explore who you are and know whose you are.

Are you more "well" in some of these areas than others? What would help you increase wellness? Who helps you find well-being? What practices help? Leave comments below...

Nearing Mother's Day

Tomorrow is Mother's Day here in the U.S. - "Mothering Sunday" was celebrated on the 22nd of March in the UK this year. To be honest, I like the sound of "Mothering Sunday" better, because anyone can be "mothering," nurture happens regardless of age, gender, or reproductive status.
The older I get and the more stories I hear, the more I find that for everyone who just LOVES Mother's Day, there's someone for whom the day just plain HURTS. Some among us have lost their moms in the last year, and tomorrow will sharpen the point of piercing grief. Others among us have lost children in the last year, and finding the energy to celebrate amidst tears will be equally difficult.
Some among us long to be mothers and are not, or cannot be. Others have relationships with mothers so strained that tomorrow serves largely as a reminder of brokenness, not harmony and joy.
If you find yourself feeling a little ambivalent about Mother's Day this year, it's okay. Rachelle Mee-Chapman has a great post on her blog which includes a variety of resources for dealing with loss and grief on this day of the calendar, and any day.
If tomorrow will be a day of great gladness for you, rejoice! And be thankful.

Julian of Norwich

Today is the feast day of Julian of Norwich. There's plenty we don't know about her, though tradition says she lived from about 1342-1416, in Norwich, England. She may have been a Benedictine nun, or an anchoress - a woman devoted to the solitary life, but anchored in the world, not cut off or separated from it. To learn more about her life and work, check out this site or this one.
One thing we do know about Julian, is that at about the age of 30, she reported having divine visions, which she later complied into a book: Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love, a classic of medieval mysticism.

The visions declared that love is the meaning of religious experience, provided by Christ who is love, for the purpose of love. (Compare that with the second lesson for this Sunday, 1 John 15:1-8).

One of Julian's prayers will be included in our Prayer 101 anthology. It's one of my favorite "cover prayers":

In you, Father all-mighty, we have our preservation and our bliss.

In you, Christ we have our restoring and our saving.

You are our mother, brother, and savior.

In you, our Lord the Holy Spirit, is marvelous and plenteous grace.

You are our clothing: for love you wrap us and embrace us.

You are our maker, our lover, our keeper.

Teach us to believe that by your grace all shall be well,

and all shall be well,

and all manner of things shall be well.

Amen

The icon above was written by Lu Bro.

We did it!

Dear friends and members of Christ the King,

Grace and peace.

We did it! We raised over $3000 through donations and matching funds from Thrivent Financial Services at the fundraiser held here yesterday evening for the Gallatin County Regional Park.

It was a group effort. Members from Christ the King, Hope, and Peace Lutheran made donations and volunteered to set up, cook, serve, and clean.

It could not have happened without your help. I can't thank you enough.

THUMBS UP!