On Sunday August 9th I shared a table grace that I learned from Pastor Lindean.
A number of Christ the King members and friends have asked for a copy.

Your wish is my command…..

Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed.

Blessed be God, who is our bread. May all the world be clothed and fed.

Amen!

Blessings, as you gather around the table to give thanks.

In Christ,
Pastor Grant

Staying in Touch with the Churchwide Assembly - the MT Synod Blog

We received this email from the Montana Synod office earlier today. Please do keep our Churchwide Assembly in your prayers as they meet next week.

Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Montana Synod,
The ELCA Churchwide Assembly starts on Monday, August 17. I have asked our Synod to join the Presiding Bishop's call for 50 Days of Prayer preceding the Assembly, and I am grateful that so many of you have participated. I ask you to continue your prayers for the Churchwide Assembly, the Montana Synod's Voting members, and the whole Church throughout the 7 days of the Assembly, and afterwards.
A Churchwide Assembly is many things. It is the highest legislative body of the denomination. It is an opportunity for people from all across the church to get together and pray with one another, learn from one another, work with one another. It is a time to hear from the ministries in which this church is engaged--from disaster relief and refugee resettlement, to early childhood education, to global mission. It is a time when carefully thought out documents and proposals are debated and revised. And it is a time when new ideas come forward and sometimes bear fruit.
At this upcoming Churchwide Assembly, human sexuality is one of the issues being discussed. We will consider a social statement on human sexuality and vote on whether or not to adopt it. That is how these things happen in our denomination--not top-down. Voting members at a previous Churchwide Assembly asked to have a social statement on human sexuality, and voting members at this assembly will vote on whether or not to adopt it as policy. (If you have not read it, you can find it online at http://www.elca.org/.) And voting members will also consider proposals to change the ELCA's standards for rostered ministers. (Again, if you have not read the proposals, do so.) If you look in the newspapers or on TV for news of the assembly, they will probably only report on these issues.
But the Churchwide Assembly is so much more. We will be considering a full-communion agreement with the United Methodist Church. This could have real impact in Montana. After Lutherans, Methodists are the largest Protestant group in Montana. A full-communion agreement with United Methodists could help both our denominations serve our communities better, through sharing. We will be considering the Lutheran Malaria Initiative, an ambitious program dedicated to tackling one of the most prevalant and preventable diseases in the world. We will adopt a budget, elect members of boards and committees, worship, pray, study, and so much more.
I am asking the 12 voting members from our Synod to be available to clusters and congregations to give reports and reflections on the Churchwide Assembly. Invite them! Thank them. Listen to them.
There are ways to keep in touch with what is happening at the Churchwide Assembly. I will be doing a daily blog from the assembly. You can find it at http://montanasynod.org/blogs/blog2.php.
And the ELCA will be providing streaming video of the Assembly as well. http://www.elca.org/livevideo. Below are a whole host of links for assembly materials.
Feel free to contact the Synod Office if you need additional information or assistance.
Thank you for your prayers and your support. It is good to be the church together. And we will continue to be the church together, embracing our differences in God's expansive love.

Your partner in Christ,

Jessica Crist, Bishop


Here are some URL shortcuts for the 2009 Churchwide Assembly Web pages.

2009 Churchwide Assembly links:
* Assembly main page: http://www.elca.org/assembly

* Blessing and Sending for CWA09 participants: http://www.elca.org/assembly/blessing

* Live Web stream: http://www.elca.org/livevideo

* Memorials Report: http://www.elca.org/assembly/memorials

* Multimedia section: http://www.elca.org/assembly/multimedia
CWA09 blog: http://blogs.elca.org/assembly
ELCA Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/ELCA
ELCA Facebook page: http://facebook.com/Lutherans
* Pre-Assembly Report (includes all reports and memorials): http://www.elca.org/assembly/report

* Schedule: http://www.elca.org/assembly/schedule

* Summary of Actions: http://www.elca.org/assembly/voting

* Voting Results (when the assembly starts rolling): http://www.elca.org/assembly/actions


Other relevant links:
You can find an alphabetical listing of topics with URL shortcuts at A-Z Index. But here are a few highlights:

* ELCA News Service: http://www.elca.org/news

* ELCA Studies on Sexuality: http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney

* Lutheran Malaria Initiative: http://www.elca.org/malaria

* HIV and AIDS: http://www.elca.org/aids

* Full Communion partners: http://www.elca.org/fullcommunion

* Justice for Women: http://www.elca.org/justiceforwomen

Mary, the Mother of our Lord

I don't travel to Europe in mid August. You can never find an accomodation around August 15th.

Europeans travel during the month of August. For people who still practice the faith, there is a reason why they travel during the middle of the month.

August 15th is the day the Christian Church remembers Mary, the Mother our Lord.

I would like to share with you the words attributed to Mary from the Gospel according to Luke.

I will let the words speak for themselves.

Happy travels during these warm August days.

And may the world God created be a better place because of what God has done for Mary and for the whole human race.

Luke 1:46-55

Mary’s Song of Praise
46 And Mary* said,‘My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, 48for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

A collection of prayers

Recently I was asked to make a presentation to my fellow chaplains at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital about the spiritual practices of Buddhism. There is a Buddhist temple in Bozeman and chances are at some point, a Buddhist may become a patient at the hospital and request spiritual care.

We try to honor everyone who comes to Bozeman Deaconess for treatment, and we try to honor their "spiritual journey," whatever it may be.

I have a collection of prayers called "The Oxford Book of Prayers." It contains prayers from the Western Christian Church, as well as other faith traditions including Buddhism. I use prayers from this book as I make my rounds at the hospital. Many patients draw comfort from prayer, especially when it is sensitive to their faith journey.

The collection of prayers has enriched my own prayer life, at home and in my community of faith-Christ the King Lutheran Church.

Here is a prayer from the "Oxford Book of Prayer."

A Buddhist Litany for Peace

As we are together, praying for peace, let us be truly with each other.
silence
Let us pay attention to our breathing.
silence
Let us be relaxed in our bodies and our minds.
silence
Let us return to ourselves and become wholly ourselves. Let us maintain
a half smile on our face.
silence
Let us be aware of the the source of being common to us all and to all living
things.
silence
Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion-toward ourselves and towards all living things.
silence
Let us pray that all living beings realize that they are all brothers and sisters, all nourished from the same source of life.
silence
Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be the cause of suffering to each other.
silence
let us plead with ourselves to live in a way which will not deprive oth3er living beings of air, water, food, shelter, or the chances to live.
silence
With humility, with awareness of the existence of life, and of the sufferings that arwe going on around us, let us pray for the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth.
Amen.

Asking Why

According to my parents, like lots of kids I asked a lot of questions when I was younger. And I still do. I love it when long-held questions find new answers. In this case, the question is "What's up with teenagers?"
One stab at an answer comes from John Medina, one of my professors at the University of Washington. (He's also very active at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle, and was always one of my favorite speakers).
Prof. Medina is still doing tons of research and consulting, and now has a book and blog as well, both called Brain Rules. His latest blog entry is the first of two articles on adolescent brain development and psychopathologies. If you can get past some of the big words (I read several sentences twice) it's pretty interesting stuff!

FLBC

Wnat to learn more about Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp? Check out their website. Watch this video (yes, it's a couple of years old, but it's all still true)!! Maybe next summer we can have a CtK group head to family camp all together?!

Sent to Serve

Here is the final Daily Update for VBS this year. It has been a wonderful week, with great children, amazing volunteers and fantastic staff from Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp.

Thanks again to everyone who has made "Love to Serve" possible. And be sure to check back, we'll try to get photos posted here sooner than later!

Saved to Serve

Here's yesterday's VBS update. It was another great day, and we had a fabulous time at the VBS Songfest and Ice Cream Social last night. There were about a hundred people here (maybe more - with all the kids hyped up on sugar they were moving too fast to be counted...) and the build your own sundae bar was a complete success! Just about everything you'd ever want to put on your ice cream was there... I was too busy eating to take a picture.

Best of New Orleans.com

Check out this article on Best of New Orleans.com - all about the great impact the ELCA National Youth Gathering had on the city.

Called to Serve

Day three of VBS was another fabulous day! We learned that God calls us ALL to serve - even young kids like Samuel - and that God calls us where we are, often through the people around us. Here's today's VBS Daily Update.
Don't forget, tomorrow is the ICE CREAM SOCIAL and VBS SONGFEST! We'll gather at 6:30pm to hear some great VBS songs and hear from our FLBC counselors, then eat ice cream! The ice cream will be provided, please bring your family's favorite topping to share!

Created to Serve

We are ALL created by God, for God, and for relationship with each other. Today at VBS the kids heard the creation story and learned that ALL of us are important and have a part to play in God's world; ALL of us can serve. It doesn't matter how old you are, how big (or small) you are, how much you know or where you've been: God can use YOU to make a difference in the world. Not a bad thing to start learning at age 3. Or age 93, for that matter.
VBS continues to be a huge success, thanks to so many fabulous volunteers giving so freely of their time, energy and faith. This week simply wouldn't work without them!
Here's the VBS Daily Update for today. We're hoping to get pictures of each age group taken before the week is out. In today's edition: the 5th & 6th grade group.
Love to Serve!

And We're OFF!

Today was the first day of our 2009 Vacation Bible School. There are 79 children in attendance!

Needless to say, it's a little busy and occasionally on the chaotic side...

If you're available to help out sometime this week, please send me an email and let me know!

This is our daily VBS newsletter, which goes home with parents so they know what we've been up to all day. (It might take a little while to load - be patient!!) Enjoy!