Shrove Tuesday Slide Show

Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras here at CtK was a big hit once again. Many thanks to Courtney Yovich for taking all the fabulous pictures! See more on the bulletin board in the social hall!

Friday of the First Week in Lent - Prayer

A prayer for loneliness, from Occasional Services, A Companion to Lutheran Book of Worship

Merciful God, our Father, in the stillness of our souls we listen for your voice to know again that you are God. Quiet our restless hearts with the knowledge that you stand within the shadows, keeping watch over your own. Rekindle our faith and light the lamp of hope within our hearts. Then deal with us as seems best to you, for where you lead we can confidently go with Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Thursday of the First Week in Lent - Prayer

A Prayer of Comfort & Reassurance from Guerillas of Grace by Ted Loader

I Want So to Belong
O God, I want so to belong;

teach me to accept.
I want to be close;
teach me to reach out.
I want a place where I am welcome;
teach me to open my arms.
I want mercy;
teach me to forgive.
I want beauty;
teach me honesty.
I want peace;
show me the eye of the storm.
I want truth;
show me the way to question
my unquestionable convictions.
I want joy;
show me the way of deeper commitment.
I want life;
show me how to die.

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent - Prayer

A prayer of Ephrem the Syrian - Fourth century

O Lord and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth, vain curiosity,
lust for power, and idle talk.

But give to me, your servant,
a spirit of soberness, humility,
patience and love.

Yes, Lord and King,
grant me to see my own faults
and not to judge my neighbor,
for you are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen

The First Sunday in Lent - Prayer

A prayer of Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow human beings throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give peace and joy. Amen

Saturday after Ash Wednesday - Prayer

Prayer for the Holy Spirit's Guidance

Gracious God,
Send your Holy Spirit to deepen our worship life.
Open our hearts to the gifts and cultures which surround our church.
Open our hearts to the people who are different from us.
In Jesus' Name.
Amen

Friday after Ash Wednesday - Prayer

A seminary classmate of mine serves a congregation in the Southeast Minnesota Synod. She and her colleague have begun an interesting journey this Lent. For 40 days they are living out of one suitcase each, to build awareness of the struggles of refugees. They're writing a blog about the project. You can check it out here at Lenten Refugee.

A Prayer for Refugees

Almighty and merciful God,
whose Son became a refugee
and had no place to call his own;
look with mercy on those who today
are fleeing from danger,
homeless and hungry.
Bless those who work to bring them relief;
inspire generosity and compassion in all our hearts;
and guide the nations of the world towards that day
when all will rejoice in your Kingdom of justice and of peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday - Prayer

A Prayer of Thomas Merton

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen

Disciplines of Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday, and we'll gather for a simple soup supper here at CtK at 6pm, and worship together, with imposition of ashes, at 7:00pm.
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent - a season of journeying with Jesus toward the cross, crucifixion. Lent is often marked by special disciplines - perhaps you've heard of people "giving something up for Lent." Wonder what all that's about? Check out this great page by another Lutheran pastor, which explains Lent and the disciplines that go with it: repentance, prayer, fasting, and works of love.
As part of my Lenten discipline this year, I hope to share a prayer on the blog every day. Some will have been written by me, others will be "classics" or come from a variety of sources.
May God bless you during this season of focus on our lives of discipleship and the great gifts Jesus gives to us.

An Ash Wednesday Prayer from Evangelical Lutheran Worship--

Gracious God,
out of your love and mercy
you breathed into dust
the breath of life,
creating us to serve you and our neighbors.
Call forth our prayers
and acts of kindness,
and strengthen us to face
our mortality
with confidence in the mercy
of your Son, Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen

ELCA Gifts to Support Recovery Efforts in Haiti Exceed $4.6 Million - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Check out this great link to the ELCA News Service - way to go Lutherans!

ELCA Gifts to Support Recovery Efforts in Haiti Exceed $4.6 Million - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Super Bowl might be over, but the caring continues!

The New Orleans Saints were victorious last Sunday evening. We have yet to see if we will be victorious here at CtK with our challenge to collect 300 cans of soup during the month of February.

If you haven't brought any soup for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank lately, there's still LOTS OF TIME! Bring a can or two this Sunday and add it to the "canstruction" happening in front of the altar.

Together we can make a difference in the lives of our neighbors struggling with food security!

Table Graces and Mealtime Prayers

A week or more ago, I was asked by a member of CtK to suggest some new (or new-to-him) prayers to be said before meals. Evidently his family is stuck in a rut of,
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest,

and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen

As the question was posed in the middle of things on a Sunday morning, I deferred. Well, here's the beginning of an answer:

At our house, we still pray the old-favorite grace, but with a second stanza added:

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

And here are some more:

God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for our food.

By God's hands we all are fed. Give us Lord our daily bread. Amen

Be present at our table, Lord.

Be here and everywhere adored.

These mercies bless and grant that we

May strengthened for thy service be. Amen

We give you thanks, O Lord,

For all things bright and good,

The beauty of your world,

The bounty of your food. Amen

Good food.

Good meat.

Good God, let's eat!

For food and drink and happy days

Accept our gratitude and praise.

In serving others, Lord may we,

Express our deepest thanks to thee. Amen

(Sung to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me")

Come, Lord Jesus be our guest,

Let this food to us be blest.

With your daily bread impart

Love and peace to every heart.

Come, Lord be with us.

Come, Lord be with us.

Come, Lord be with us.

Come, Lord be with us. Amen.

(Sung to the tune of "Edelweiss")

Bless our friends, Bless our food,

Come, O Lord, and sit with us.

May our talk glow with peace.

May your love surround us.

Friendship and love, may it

Bloom and grow,

Bloom and grow forever.

Bless our friends, Bless our food,

Come, O Lord, and sit with us.

Amen

Of course this list is by no means exhaustive. Do you have a favorite mealtime prayer to share? Post it in the comments!

QuakeZone is coming!

We've got five youth and two adults heading to Billings February 26-28th for a fun-filled weekend at QuakeZone!

Here's the Billings QuakeZone website - with more information for youth and parents, and everyone else interested in what our youth are up to.

Not forgetting

A friend of mine from seminary, who now serves a congregation in Minnesota, sent out a group email a couple of weeks ago. She wrote about a gathering of folks in her neighborhood to respond to the earthquake in Haiti. The text of the email is below, and following that is a letter the group penned to send to their representatives. I've used it as a guide to prayer, to be a little more specific than "be with the people in Haiti." Perhaps it will inspire your prayer - and perhaps action - as well. (Don't forget, the Souper Bowl of Caring is this Sunday - we'll have a noisy offering for Haiti Relief - and a growing pile of cans of soup and boxes of cereal for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank!)

We organized a party on Friday night for our neighborhood to be able to respond to the earthquake in Haiti. We raised money for Partners in Health, an organization that has the best model for sustainable health care and has been working in Haiti for over 20 years. But since we had 3 Haitians with us, we also did a lot of listening and ended up drafting a letter of their major concerns, to tell our elected officials where their priorities need to be as we respond to this disaster. We know what a difference several letters on the same subject can make.
The letter we drafted as a result of our neighborhood gathering is below or attached. If you would also like to add your voice, edit as necessary and send it with a simple cut and paste into an e-mail at your congresspeople's websites. Lee Ann

January 23, 2010

Dear Representative,

A group of 24 friends, strangers, neighbors, but all partners of Haiti gathered last night to celebrate the Haitian spirit and to plan for the future of Haiti. Many of us live in Dayton’s Bluff, one of the most depressed areas of Minnesota; we feel a deep connection with Haiti in its impoverished resources. Several of us have gone to Haiti to work in medical care, adopt children, or do relief work. Three Haitians were also present and gave us accounts from their relatives in Haiti. They shared with us stories of the ground opening up and swallowing 30 people; they knew aid and food were not being distributed in a timely fashion; one woman had 11 relatives killed.

We write to you requesting your impassioned support of even greater and more immediate aid to the Haitian people. This list has ultimate development in mind, and is informed and inspired by the Haitians that were present with us.

1. Housing – February brings harsh rains that will further exacerbate aid distribution by turning dirt roads into mud pits, pinning aid trucks, and making fertile ground for mosquitoes in tent cities. We request urgent rebuilding of permanent dwellings in mixed-class neighborhoods, not tent cities.

2. Education – Building schools is of great necessity in the reconstruction. For decades the Haitian government has been unaccountable to the people as serious class divisions exist. In 10- 20 years Haiti will have an informed and democratically active society if education is placed at the forefront of development. Education will decrease fertility rates, increase the median age of the population, increase long-term goals for infrastructure, and result in less government corruption.

3. Reconnection of people in Haiti with Haitian-Americans – As with all immigrant groups, remittances are a major form of aid for the Haitian people. We need the US government to continue to help facilitate finding relatives in Haiti so that these vital links can be re-established.

4. Debt relief – Haiti must pay large sums of money to international entities in the form of debt repayment; for years this has been yet another hamper on true development in Haiti. Be a champion in our legislative body to forgive the debt of Haiti, the most impoverished country in our hemisphere.

5. Foreign trade – In the name of future development, we request the MN and US government change foreign trade laws with Haiti that would allow more sustainable trading. We in the US should preferentially invest in sustainable fair trade goods. We do not want a system of cash crops that could weaken individuals. We want empowerment of the local farmer and artisan to sell their goods in the US.

6. Aid distribution – We have not seen much leadership from Haiti until now. This is likely because many of them have died or are injured and cannot return to work. As the Haitian government is still resetting itself, the US as Haiti’s closest and most prosperous nation must take charge in relief efforts. With this leadership, further and future relief and development can occur through non-governmental organizations and through the Haitian emerging government.

7. Healthcare – We have been seeing death from crush injuries, now starvation; bacterial infections will soon settle in and the likely epidemics of camp-related disease in the months of February and March. We must plan for the future and create a system of public health that will continue for the years and decades to come. In this pursuit let the MN and US governments fully support the efforts of Partners in Health under the supervision of Dr. Paul Farmer, UN Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti.

8. Accountability – We the people of MN want to know what you, our representatives have been doing to aid in the development and relief efforts of Haiti. Please let us know.

Sincerely,

Name
Address
Member of Dayton’s Bluff Haiti Awareness Campaign

Photo Slide Show from Sledding Night last Saturday

Finally - here are some photos from last weekends Sledding Extravaganza!

One in Eight

It was reported in the Wall Street Journal today (February 3rd, 2010) that one in eight Americans has turned to local food banks to meet daily nutritional needs.
One in eight. That means almost 4900 of our fellow citizens here in Bozeman turn to the Gallatin Valley Food Bank to ward off hunger. Lord, have mercy!
What can we do about it?
During the month of February, Christ the King will attempt to reach the goal of collecting 300 cans of soup for the Gallatin County Food Bank.
This coming Friday I will receive my paycheck from Bozeman Deaconess Hospital. I will tithe ten percent of the earnings towards hunger issues. I plan to go to Costco over the weekend and pick up a couple of cases of soup and chili.
Our house has plenty of food. We frankly have an embarrassment of riches in our cupboards. According to the statistics I just quoted, as well as word on the street, there are hungry people in our community who need our help.
When you shop for groceries this month, pick up a can of soup. Pick up a case of soup! With enough members and friends participating, we can meet our goal of addressing hunger here in Montana.
When we reach our goal, I’ll let you know.

New Issue of Bold Cafe: Relationships Around Food

The latest issue of Bold Cafe is here. Enjoy!